The moment these words escaped her lips, Baiken sheathed her katana, producing an audible CLICK. As this sound reached his ears, a sickening tearing sound rang throughout the street, courtesy of an enormous gash that had appeared on his chest. Blood gushed out of the wound, but he wouldn’t even have the chance to realize this. His eyes had already rolled into the back of his head, and his body soon fell onto its knees. A slick, wet noise then echoed through Baiken’s ears as part of Gohan’s body slid off, starting at the collar and exiting between his ribs.
Once the bifurcated corpse had hit the ground, landing with a wet THUNK, Baiken sat down, keeping both of her legs crossed. She then reached into her pocket, unveiling a small wooden pipe, and quickly lit it. Placing it against her lips, the samurai inhaled for a brief moment, savoring the taste of tobacco on her tongue, and then exhaled a puff of smoke.
“You did a pretty good job, kid. It’s been a long time since I had someone push me to my limits like that. Wherever you end up, I hope I’ll meet you there when my time comes.”
Once these words had left her lips, Baiken pushed herself back to her feet and began walking off, ready to continue exploring this new world and- hopefully– find a way home.
Alright, the combatants are set. Let’s end this debate once and for all! It’s time for a Death Battle!
——————————————————
European Forest, December 2187
“Dammit! Hold still!” A rough, feminine voice demanded as a katana flew through the air. Its target, a woman in a shoulderless red jacket and witch hat, only responded with a wry grin as she leapt back.
“Come on! What fun would there be if I did that?” The red-clad woman, I-No, taunted as she avoided another strike. Before her opponent could attempt a third swing, the red witch strummed her cyan guitar, producing a massive sound wave that knocked her attacker back. “If you really wanna stick that blade in me, you’re gonna have to work for it! Besides, you could at least try to get me in the mood first. I mean, would it kill you to at least try some foreplay?”
“Shut up!” Her attacker demanded while getting back up. This woman, Baiken, shot I-No a furious glare. “I don’t give a damn how you feel about this! Like it or not, you’re going to tell me where he is.”
“‘He?’” I-No smirked. “Do you wanna be a bit more specific? Just saying ‘he’ doesn’t give me much to work with.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit! You know who I mean! Your boss, That Man!” Upon hearing her employer’s name, I-No’s smirk morphed into a disgusted grimace.
“Ugh! Can you please not bring him up?” She asked in annoyance. “I know you probably haven’t been keeping up, but I don’t work for that asshole anymore. If you wanna know where he is, go bother someone else!”
As she finished speaking, I-No strummed her guitar once again, causing a portal to appear behind her.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I believe our little meeting has reached its conclusion.” She said as she leapt into the portal. Just before it could close, however-
“You aren’t getting away that easily!” Baiken shouted as she leapt into the portal, entering just a few milliseconds before it closed. Not even a second later, the samurai felt her feet hit the ground.
“You’re quite a persistent little bitch, aren’t you?” Upon hearing the sound of I-No’s voice, Baiken immediately lunged forward, but her attempted attack was cut short as another strum forced her halfway across the terrain. “You wanna follow me so badly? Then I hope you enjoy your time here! Ciao!”
As Baiken recovered from the attack, she immediately noticed I-No leaping into another portal.
“Get back here!” Baiken demanded as she thrust her empty sleeve forward, shooting out a grappling claw. The claw flew toward I-No at top speed, but it was too late. By the time it had approached her vicinity, I-No’s portal had already closed behind her, leaving the weapon to embed itself in a nearby building.
“Shit!” Baiken swore as she retracted her claw. With her only means of escape gone, the samurai began looking at her surroundings. From what she could tell, she was in some sort of city, though it seemed to have been after some sort of apocalypse. Multiple buildings had been reduced to rubble, while dozens of vehicles lay in disrepair. The corpses of numerous men, women, and children coated the streets, causing Baiken to tighten her grip on her katana. Just where the hell had that witch sent her?
BOOOOOOM!
An explosion suddenly rang out from nearby, kicking up a massive gust of wind that threatened to push Baiken back. Despite this, she stood her ground, putting up her remaining arm to block a cloud of dust that was coming her way. Once it had subsided, she put it down and looked toward the direction the explosion had come from.
‘The hell? Was that ki?’ She thought to herself. ‘Well, I won’t get any answers just standing here!’
With that, Baiken took off at top speed, running directly toward the source of the explosion.
Several city blocks away
BOOM!
Another ki blast shot through the air, completely destroying a distant building. The man responsible for this blast currently stood atop a destroyed rooftop, with one hand on his hip and his other arm currently outstretched. He was a blue-eyed teenager with shoulder-length black hair and an outfit consisting of a black t-shirt atop a long-sleeved white shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of blue-and-white shoes.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” A woman’s voice called out to him. The woman in question sported similar hair to his, though hers was blonde and the left side was obscured behind her ear. Her top consisted of a blue denim vest that covered a black shirt with striped white sleeves. Her lower half was covered by a denim skirt, blue tights, and brown boots. A long time ago, she had been known as Lazuli, but now she went by Android 18, one of the twins responsible for the slow genocide of the human race. Currently, however, she wasn’t destroying the last remains of human society. Instead, she’d spent the past 30 minutes watching as her brother Lapiz, AKA Android 17, destroyed what remained of the town’s buildings. Needless to say, the act had quickly lost its luster, and she was beginning to lose her patience with him.
“All the humans are dead.” She pointed out in annoyance. “The fun part’s over. I don’t wanna sit around here and watch you shoot buildings all day, it’s boring.”
Before 17 could give a response, a new voice suddenly rang out.
“So you’re the ones who were responsible for killing all those people?” Upon hearing this, both of the androids looked toward its direction. They found themselves staring at a Japanese woman who looked to be in her mid-30’s. Her pink hair had been tied into an enormous ponytail that was about as wide as her body and reached down to her back. Her only article of clothing was a red, black, and white kimono, which sported an empty right sleeve. Sitting atop her shoulders was a black jacket that billowed in the wind, similar to a cape. Her feet were covered by a pair of black sandals, and her shins were protected by gold-and-black greaves. A glass eye patch protected her scarred left eye, while her right glared intensely at the twins with its peach-colored iris.
As they stared at this newcomer, 17 looked over to his sister.
“Well, would you look at that? It seems we missed one!” He said somewhat jovially before turning to face Baiken and flashing a cocky grin. “So what do you want, stumpy? If you’re trying to avenge your friends or family or whatever, you’re about 5, maybe 10 pounds too light. And you’re a bit lacking in the whole ‘depth perception’ department to be a-“
FWOOSH!
A brief gust of wind rushed past 17, followed by something hitting him.
“-threat?” He finished uncertainly as he noticed something. Baiken was gone! But where could she have-
“You were saying?” Her voice called out from behind, causing him to whirl around in shock.
“17! What happened to your arm?” 18 asked, sounding somewhat scared.
“What do you mean? What’s wrong with my-“ 17’s question died in his throat, and his expression shifted into one of horror as he looked down at his arm- or rather, the bleeding stump where it used to be. He then looked back up to see Baiken, who had quickly tossed the severed appendage aside. The sight of this caused the android’s surprise to morph into a vicious glare. “You! How did you do that?”
Instead of answering, the samurai turned her back to the android, causing his expression to contort even further.
“Don’t turn your back on me! Give me an answer, dammit! You’re just a human! So how the hell did you move that fast?!” 17 screamed.
“I don’t see any point in answering a dead man.” Baiken said dismissively as she swung her katana through the air, flicking off the blood from 17’s amputation.
“A dead man, huh?” As he said this, 17 leapt forward. “Let’s see how that attitude of yours holds up once I get a hold of you!”
Rather than being worried about this, his target sheathed her katana, creating an audible CLICK. In tandem with this action, the android’s body suddenly split in two, creating a fountain of blood as his torso split off from his waist. Before either half even had the chance to hit the ground, Baiken threw out her hand and fired off a massive ki blast, instantly vaporizing him. The sight of this caused 18 to step back in shock, but before she could attempt to escape, Baiken turned her attention to her.
“You didn’t think I’d forget about you, did you?” The samurai asked, her remaining eye full of burning anger.
“You- what are you?” 18 asked, her tone a mixture of fury and horror.
“What am I?” Baiken repeated. “I’m nothing more than a samurai who’s made it her mission to hunt down creatures like you.”
Once these words had finished escaping her lips, Baiken rushed toward the remaining android, who leapt away in a desperate attempt to avoid her brother’s fate.
Some distance away
A man was currently soaring through the air at top speed. He was in his early 20’s, and his clothing consisted of an orange gi, an undershirt, and a wristband; the latter of which were both blue. His feet were covered by a pair of blue boots that had yellow stripes on the bottom edges. His hair was blond and spiked up, with several bangs sticking out in the front and right sides of his face. A scar ran down the left side of his face, though the most striking feature about him was his left arm- or rather, the lack thereof. His left sleeve had been completely wrapped up, obscuring the stub that remained of his missing limb.
This was Son Gohan, the last remaining member of the Z-Fighters. For the past few days, he had trained alongside his student, Trunks, so they’d be prepared for their next confrontation with the androids. But even with their training, Gohan knew that neither of them had the strength to take on the cybernetic killers. Rather than risking both of their lives, Gohan had decided to go alone, incapacitating Trunks so he wouldn’t attempt to follow.
Even though he knew he was approaching his impending death, Gohan still stared straight ahead at Pepper Town, scanning the area for the androids. The moment he spotted either one, he’d make sure to catch them off guard and-
BOOM!
Gohan stopped flying as he watched one of the androids, 18, suddenly crash through a building, flying through the air back-first as she was knocked away. Immediately after this, he noticed a vague white blur leap after 18 just as she hit the ground. The android attempted to push herself back up, but before she could, her attacker suddenly caught up to her. 18 was only able to briefly vocalize her terrified scream before it was prematurely silenced by an energy-enhanced slash. This swing entered through her collar bone and exited out of her side almost immediately, but she didn’t even have time to register this pain.
At speeds that not even Gohan could track, 18’s attacker threw out a rapid flurry of slashes, each one producing another laceration on her body. After the fifteenth slice, the blur seemed to have had enough, as it stuck a hand out in front of 18’s face. There was a quick flash of light, and then, once Gohan had blinked, he noticed 18 was gone! At the same time, the blur cleared up, revealing a pink-haired woman.
Although the sight of this left him confused at first, Gohan’s mind finally registered what had just happened. Someone had actually managed to defeat the androids! While normally he would’ve been grateful, Gohan couldn’t help but feel slightly uneasy toward this mysterious savior. He could feel the ki radiating off of her, and it was absolutely massive! The thing that really caught his attention, however, was how negative it was. Even though it had noticeably simmered down after her fight with the androids, he could still sense an aura of pent-up anger and rage around her.
‘With how strong she is, I should make sure I don’t upset her. But at the same time, I need to make sure she can be trusted.’ The half-Saiyan thought to himself. “Excuse me.” He called out as he began descending, his boots creating an audible CRUNCH as he landed on the ground.
“Hm?” Baiken said as she turned to face him. The sight of her scarred face caused him to pause in surprise for a brief moment, but Gohan quickly put it aside and spoke.
“I just wanted to thank you for getting rid of the androids. They’ve been responsible for countless deaths over the years, but now that they’re gone…” his expression softened before he continued speaking. “We’ll finally be able to move forward.”
“You’re welcome.” Baiken said half-heartedly as she inspected her katana. After flicking it clean of 18’s blood, she sheathed her weapon and began walking away.
“Hold on! I wasn’t finished.” Gohan pointed out, causing her to stop and look back at him. “This might be a weird thing to ask, but would you mind sparring with me? I wanted to fight the androids myself, but since you already killed them-“
“You wanna fight me to see how you would’ve done against them, right?” Baiken asked. Gohan nodded in response, causing her to smirk.
“Alright, kid. But just a fair warning,” she spoke before gripping her sword, “I’m not gonna hold back, so you’d better give it all you’ve got!”
Though Baiken’s words left him visibly surprised, the half-Saiyan proved quick to save face as his expression returned to a grin. After lowering himself into a fighting stance, he responded.
“Alright. Let’s do this!”
The two stared at each other for a brief moment, Gohan’s green pupils matching Baiken’s peach one. Their leg muscles tensed up in preparation as both prepared to take the first step. Then, after what felt like an eternity, they rushed forward!
As they drew closer to each other, Baiken instinctively threw out a vertical slash, only for her eye to widen as Gohan suddenly vanished from sight. Before she had a chance to recover, Gohan reappeared behind her and threw out a roundhouse kick to the spine, a spinning backhand to her shoulder blade, and a flip kick to the back of her skull. The impact of the last blow forced her to the ground, but Baiken proved quick to respond with a sweep kick that knocked Gohan off his feet. The Saiyan hybrid tumbled to the ground, but before he could hit the pavement-
“Tatami Gaeshi!” Baiken declared as she stomped on the ground. Upon doing so, a green mat appeared beneath her feet and smashed into his jaw, striking hard enough that it actually reversed his momentum. With her opponent’s body now vulnerable, the samurai leapt into the air and struck with two kicks, one to his left pec and the second to his face. A third upward kick then slammed into Gohan’s chin, but he wouldn’t even have the chance to be moved by it.
“Tsubaki!” His attacker declared as she threw out a downward spinning slash. The attack sent Gohan hurtling toward the ground, and upon slamming into the concrete back-first, he involuntarily opened his mouth to cough up spittle. At the same time, he regained enough focus to notice Baiken coming down on him with her right foot extended outward. Realizing the dangers of just sitting there, Gohan placed his hands beneath himself and sprung off, cartwheeling away just as Baiken touched down. The moment she did so, a pillar of pink energy erupted from beneath the ground, but her brow furrowed when she noticed Gohan wasn’t there.
As the energy from the Tetsuzansen began to disperse, however, a golden blast suddenly approached Baiken at alarming speeds. Rolling to the side, the samurai felt the projectile just barely graze her loose sleeve, but she wouldn’t have time to worry about that. No sooner than it had passed her did Gohan rush forward, closing the distance almost instantly. Once he was close enough, the Saiyan threw out a right hook with all his might. Rather than making contact with Baiken’s face, however, Gohan felt a cut form on his knuckles as his fist slammed into solid steel. At the same time, a pink flash briefly appeared in front of Baiken’s body, eliciting a look of confusion from Gohan. Before he could overcome this surprise, Baiken took advantage of it as she lunged forward, already gripping her katana!
“Too slow!” She taunted as she dashed past him, slicing across his chest while doing so. As she reappeared behind him, Baiken thrust her katana downward, stabbing into the Saiyan’s left calf. Gohan’s knee buckled as pain flared through his mind, but it only grew worse as his opponent delivered a vertical slash to his back. An overhead slash followed this, but before he could stagger forward, Gohan felt her grab him by the collar. She then slammed him into the ground, stomping on his back to keep him in place. Before he could even attempt to fight back, Baiken brought her katana down, stabbing him in the side before sending him away with a kick to the chin. It struck hard enough that Gohan was sent hurtling through the air, but Baiken wasn’t content with letting it end there!
“Kuchinashi!” As this word escaped her lips, Baiken leapt after him and delivered an upward slash, dragging both of them through the air. While they were in the middle of ascending, she threw out two straight punches, an uppercut, and an aerial kick. Each of these forced the Saiyan to stay airborne, and it was only once they’d hit their apex that Baiken finished her combo. Thrusting her empty sleeve forward, the Japanese woman revealed what lay within: a feudal cannon that sported a dragon-like frame. The sight of this caused Gohan’s pupils to shrink in surprise, eliciting a smirk from Baiken just as-
BOOM!
A flame-wreathed cannonball emerged from the weapon’s “mouth,” slamming into Gohan’s chest and sending him crashing into the ground. He tumbled across the rocky terrain for a few moments, but he proved quick to even himself out. As he came to a complete stop, however, he noticed a familiar shadow about to come down on him. Out of instinct, the pacifistic warrior leapt out of the way, just barely avoiding Baiken’s latest downward slash. Cursing under her breath, she looked back up just in time to see that Gohan had cartwheeled away 3 times. Despite the distance that now lay between them, Baiken’s only response was to scoff as she threw her sleeve forward once again.
“I’ve got you!” She declared as a grappling claw suddenly shot out from her sleeve. It shot forward at blinding speeds, but Gohan proved quick to react as he leaned to the side, allowing the claw to slide past him.
“Sorry, but I’m afraid that’s not gonna happen.” He taunted before giving a violent tug, pulling the samurai toward him. “I’ll be glad to return the favor, though!”
As she was reeled in, Baiken prepared to throw out another attack, but her opponent proved quicker on the draw. Just before she could unsheathe her katana, a roundhouse kick slammed into her jaw, creating an audible CRUNCH! As the impact sent her spiraling through the air, Gohan immediately boosted after her, an aura of ki surrounding him as he did so.
Once he was close enough, Gohan barreled into Baiken with an uppercut to the jaw. Three lightning-fast tornado kicks then slammed into her gut, forcing her to cough up spittle. Despite this, her pain was quickly replaced by anger as she instinctively grabbed the hilt of her sword. Noticing this, Gohan proved quick to put a stop to it as he threw out a palm strike. Although the attack itself didn’t make contact with her body, Baiken still found herself launched through the air as an invisible force slammed into her. She attempted to recover, but before she could-
WHAM!
Gohan suddenly appeared behind her and delivered an elbow strike to her back. This strike then evolved into a backfist as he brought his arm up, slamming it into her trapezius. A grunt of pain briefly emerged from Baiken’s throat, but it was immediately silenced by an overhead flip kick that smashed into the back of her skull. She let out an infuriated scream as she descended, with it soon petering out into an annoyed growl as she backflipped through the air. The moment she landed, Baiken planted her katana into the ground, creating a trail of rubble as she forced herself to a stop.
[Stop music]
‘Damn. The kid’s tougher than he looks.’ She admitted, briefly releasing her grip on the blade to place a hand against her neck. After applying pressure, an audible CRACK rang out as her joints loosened up. Now feeling more comfortable, she reached out for her sword, grabbing it by the handle and ripping it out.
[Start at 0:15]
With her weapon back in hand, she looked up to where Gohan had been, only to find that he was now rushing toward her. Upon seeing that his fist had already drawn back, Baiken gave a smirk, putting her sword up in defense just as he threw his forward. The punch smashed into the blade…
Only for it, as well as the rest of his body, to phase through Baiken and fade away. Her eye widened in surprise at this, but she quickly put it aside as the TE-YO of shifting air currents reached her ears. Realizing the only person it could be, Baiken immediately turned to face him, having already drawn her blade. Unfortunately, it seemed she had acted too late, as a roundhouse kick nailed her in the jaw. The blow launched her across the street, but just as she was about to land, the air currents began to shift behind her. ‘Not this time!’ Baiken thought defiantly. Keeping a firm grip on her katana, she turned to face Gohan and immediately unsheathed it. The half Saiyan rematerialized in front of her, giving an audible grunt as he threw out a chop.
CLANG!
Unlike before, the hand slammed into the base of the blade, creating another pink flash. Undeterred, he followed up with a right hook and sweep kick, both of which met the same result. Gritting his teeth, Gohan threw out a flash kick, only for his foot to meet the flat of his opponent’s katana. Seeing this, he teleported away, his body immediately reappearing above Baiken. Dropping down, he stretched out his elbow, ready to slam the unsuspecting samurai into the ground-
“Youzansen!” Baiken shouted as she pulled out a fan and leapt through the air, cutting the attack off with an outward slash. It ran across Gohan’s chest, striking hard enough that it not only created an enormous gash, but once again reversed his momentum. As he flew back through the air, Baiken once again threw her grappling claw forward, this time aimed at a diagonal angle. Unlike before, the claw hit its mark, clenching down on Gohan’s outfit. With a grunt of exertion, Baiken tugged at the claw, reeling him back in at blinding speeds. For a split-second, it seemed that Gohan’s body would smash face-first into the concrete, but then his captor let out a single word:
“Tetsuzansen!” She shouted before stomping on the ground, releasing another pillar of pink energy. This time, the energy struck Gohan in the chin, sending him flying back a few inches. Just before he could hit the ground, Baiken threw out a sweeping slash, causing him to let out a pained grunt.
“Tatami Gaeshi!” She declared, stomping on the ground once again. Unlike before, this time the mat smashed into Gohan’s back, sending him into the air. Another Kuchinashi forced him to ascend further, which was then followed by Baiken throwing her empty sleeve forward. A Japanese mace emerged from the kimono, slamming directly into Gohan’s forehead. A grunt of pain emerged from his throat, during which his attacker planted her foot against his chest and kicked off, allowing her to position herself above him. Once she had done so, the samurai unveiled her feudal cannon yet again, firing another shot at point-blank range. The cannonball smashed into Gohan’s face, causing his grunt of pain to evolve into a scream as he was sent flying back.
Rushing forward, Baiken then repeated the process, her mace striking hard enough to actually draw blood. When the cannonball exploded, Gohan let out a cry as he felt numerous burns appear around his face. This scream would soon die in his throat, however, as Baiken threw her arm forward and unleashed a long string of chain-like rope. It wrapped around his body in seconds, muffling his cries as Baiken slung him around. Once he was on the other side, the samurai released her grip, forcing her captive to spin through the air as the chains rapidly withdrew themselves. As he descended, Gohan placed his right leg against the ground and spun to a halt. Looking up, he found that Baiken had once again pulled out her cannon. Using her teeth to bite down on it, the samurai reeled her head back to tug at its fuse, creating a loud BOOM as another cannonball emerged.
Upon seeing this, Gohan crossed his arm over his chest, allowing an aura of gold ki to appear around his body. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, he let loose a determined scream as he thrust his arm out in a diagonal angle. In tandem with this action, his aura erupted outward, forming into an expansive dome of energy.
“Wha-“ Baiken began to ask, only for her question to morph into a pained, annoyed scream as the Super Explosive Wave sent her flying back. As she soared through the air, Baiken watched in amazement as the energy sphere continued to expand, slowly growing larger with each millisecond that passed. Even as she planted her feet against the ground and skidded to a halt, the wave continued to swell in size. It would only stop once it encompassed multiple city blocks, upon which it faded to reveal the destruction it had wrought. Numerous vehicles had been tipped over or destroyed, dozens of buildings were reduced to piles of rubble, and chunks of uplifted ground now lay strewn throughout the streets. Baiken paid this no mind, however, as her attention was drawn more toward the gold-and-orange blur headed her way. Out of instinct, she put up an Azami-
WHAM!
-only for a jump kick to break through her defenses and nail her in the chin. The moment it struck, Baiken found herself uncontrollably flying through the air, smashing through a vacant building in the process. As she exited through the other side, she noticed a familiar golden streak rush past her, but she wouldn’t have time to face it. She had only begun to crane her neck when Gohan struck with a roundhouse kick to the left cheek. The samurai was sent hurtling back, which only grew further as a right hook smashed into her jaw.
Before she could travel far, Gohan grabbed hold of her ankle and began descending through the air, dead-set on sending her to one destination: an abandoned office building. Once they were close enough, the Saiyan let out a grunt of exertion as he slammed the 100 lb woman into the rooftop. The moment she collided, all of the windows in the building exploded outward, causing hundreds of shards to begin raining onto the streets below.
At the same time, Baiken’s body was mercilessly pummeled as she slammed through numerous office floors back-first. She couldn’t control her path, and each collision only seemed to further threaten the building’s structure. With each passing second, the building would shake violently, and it only grew worse as her descent progressed. The shaking would only stop when she hit the pavement, evidenced by an audible CRACK, and that was when all hell broke loose. Upon crashing through the lobby, an orchestra of groaning metal, splitting wood, and collapsing tile filled her ears. As she watched her surroundings come crashing down in front of her, the samurai’s expression shifted into one of annoyance as she spoke five words:
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
CRASH!
[Stop music]
As these words finished escaping her lips, the entire building collapsed in on itself, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and debris. It was thick enough that Gohan began hacking violently as it reached his vicinity. Despite this, he attempted to look through the destroyed area, scanning it with both his eyes and ki. For several seconds, there were no signs of Baiken, but then-
BOOM!
An enormous explosion rang out, while also producing a brief spike of ki. Upon turning toward its direction, Gohan was met with dozens of chunks of debris, all flying toward him at hypersonic speeds. Just when it seemed they were about to make contact, however, he stuck his arm out, firing off another kiai. The invisible wave shot through the air, dispersing the massive cloud of dust and scattering the rubble across the street. But even with this progress, Gohan could still feel something- no, several things fly through the air, all of them targeting him! Before he even had a chance to recognize what they were, four blades had run past a different part of his body, each one leaving a cut. A stinging pain ran through his head as the upper hooks two ran across both sides of his collar, while the lower two had slashed through the sides of his torso. Immediately after this, the sound of four CLANKs filled his ears as each hook embedded itself in a nearby building, but before he could question why-
SHING!
[Start at 0:08]
Gohan let out a grunt of pain as a gash suddenly formed across his abdomen, followed by a familiar pain across his arm. Looking toward its direction, he fought back the urge to scream when he saw what had happened.
As it turned out, Baiken’s latest attack had done a number on his arm. The forearm-length stump had been lobbed off by her slash, leaving his shoulder as the only remnant of his left arm. Blood leaked out of the stump, spilling onto the ground, but its owner would soon find himself preoccupied with other matters.
“Baku!” He heard Baiken shout from behind, followed by something hard slapping against his back. The force from her strike caused him to stagger forward. Before he could even regain his balance, he heard a second shout: “Sakura!” followed by something hitting him from behind. Once again, Gohan stumbled forward, but this time he managed to catch himself mid-step and whirled around. Instinctively, he prepared to leap back and avoid Baiken’s attack, but he quickly realized something was wrong. His leg muscles were tensing up, but when it came time to actually jump, they suddenly gave out, leaving him to collapse onto the ground.
Looking up, he was immediately greeted to the sight of Baiken’s elbow smashing into his face. The elbow strike sent him tumbling across the street, now sporting a bloodied nose, but he quickly put it aside. As he pushed himself back up, however, he did take note of his body. For some reason, one that he couldn’t hope to explain, both his skin and clothes were now flashing blue. He attempted to run toward Baiken, but the moment he tried he instead wound up stumbling forward. Just before he could collapse, Baiken rushed past him, quickly slashing across his chest. The pain caused him to briefly stagger back, upon which the samurai put her plan into action!
“Baku!” Another palm strike hit Gohan in the back. “Tsuki!” She announced, repeating this motion. This time, a hanafuda card bearing the character 月 appeared, hitting him across the back and making him stagger even further. At the same time, his blue glow was now replaced with a yellow, which Baiken was more than willing to capitalize on!
“Ten!” She shouted as she delivered an underhanded upward slash, splitting the card in two and running her blade across Gohan’s back. “Chi!” She continued by throwing out a low sweeping slash to his lumbar. As she swung her blade through the air, charging it with ki, both combatants could’ve sworn they saw an image of a moon. Its surface bore three words, all written in kanji: Ten, chi, and-
“Jin!” Baiken finished as she threw out her energy-infused slash, raking it across Gohan’s back and sending him hurtling toward the ground. Despite this, he proved quick to place his hand against the ground and attempted to push himself back up. Unfortunately, it seemed that his efforts were in vain, as no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t do so! And though he hated admitting it, Baiken’s ruthless fighting style had taken its toll on his body.
Bloody cuts and gashes adorned his torso, the top of which was now fully exposed thanks to Baiken’s final slash. Blood streaked down the right side of his face, turning his sclera a dark pink. To make matters worse, his vision was beginning to fade, and black spots were now dancing in his eyes. The loss of blood was starting to make him feel lightheaded, and his grip was rapidly weakening. Even maintaining Super Saiyan was becoming nigh-impossible, as his hair kept flickering between gold and black. For three seconds, he attempted to continue this struggle, but it seemed that he had pushed his body to its limit. With an audible THUD, Gohan collapsed onto the ground, his hair fading back to its usual black as the last of his stamina drained from his body.
[Stop music]
Seeing this, Baiken cocked an eyebrow. While she’d had her doubts that this kid was human, what she just witnessed didn’t help. He wasn’t a Gear, that much was certain, but that still didn’t explain what the hell he was!
‘Guess that’ll be another question to ask once I find someone who can tell me where I am. I’d ask him, but-‘ she paused to look down at Gohan’s unmoving body. ‘I don’t feel like waiting another hour for him to wake up!’
As this thought ran through her mind, Baiken pulled out a piece of cloth and began wiping it against her blade. Once it was rendered clean, she threw the cloth into the air and, in a sudden flash, sliced it to pieces. As she placed her blade back in its sheathe, Baiken turned her back to Gohan, but not before giving him some parting words.
“You did a good job keeping me on my toes, kid. I’d be lying if I said you could win against both of those monsters, but with that strength, you would’ve stood a chance against the black-haired one. If you want some way to improve, I’d suggest carrying a weapon or at least some armor. Not that either one would help you against me.”
Once these words had left her mouth, she began walking away from the battlefield, leaving Gohan’s bloodied, unconscious form behind. As he lay on the ground, covered in a pool of his own blood, Gohan could feel his life slowly fade away, but he wasn’t willing to give up just yet!
—
Gohan’s Subconscious
Gohan found himself standing in the middle of an empty black void. He looked around, heavily confused as to how he had gotten there. As his eyes scanned the area, he noticed a familiar figure standing in front of him. It was pale and translucent, almost like a ghost, but there was no mistaking who it was.
”Dad?”
Indeed, standing before Gohan was his father, the deceased warrior known as Son Goku. Before he could question why his father was here or where this place was, another figure appeared, this time materializing to Goku’s right.
”Mom?” Gohan asked, the surprise audible in his voice as Chi-Chi looked back at him with a smile. This didn’t make any sense! As far as he knew, his mother was still alive, so why-
A third ghostly image appeared, this time standing at Goku’s right. It was Piccolo, the green, slug-like Namekian who had mentored Gohan when he was only a boy.
A fourth ghost materialized behind Chi-Chi, taking the form of Krillin, the former monk who he’d grown to know while on Namek.
Behind Piccolo emerged a fifth ghost: Bulma, the head of Capsule Corp, who he had befriended during his childhood.
Finally, a sixth ghost materialized, this one appearing directly in front of Gohan. The moment he saw it, the Saiyan found himself taken aback. Standing before him, sporting a smile much like the others, was Trunks. The boy he’d taken under his wing. The one he’d trained so they could fight the androids together.
As he stared at the ghostly images, Gohan could feel something gnawing away at him. Just a few minutes ago, he had been ready to lay his life on the line for a chance to fight the androids, but now something was different. With the androids dead, there was no reason for him to throw his life away so easily. What would his mother think, or Bulma, or even Trunks? Could he really let himself die, knowing that there were still those out there who cared for him? That by doing so, he would be leaving the people of Earth defenseless to whatever threat would come next?
‘No!’
—
Gohan’s eyes shot open, his expression hardening into one of anger as he slammed his fist into the ground, forcing himself to enter Super Saiyan once more as he got back to his feet. He wouldn’t let himself die here! Not while there were still so many people he had to protect!
As this thought ran through his mind, Gohan could feel a tight sensation within his chest. It was like a blaze of anger and determination, one that he hadn’t felt since the first time he had gone Super Saiyan. This well of emotion continued to build up in his body, slowly increasing with each passing second. It was almost like the energy itself was crying out, begging to be released, and Gohan was more than willing to unleash it!
Crossing his right arm over his chest, Gohan felt the energy course through his body, starting off with the familiar golden aura of ki. As it continued building within him, the aura surrounding Gohan would flare up, briefly becoming more flame-like in nature before reverting. With each flare, his muscles would expand in size, growing about an inch thicker before deflating back to normal. As these occurrences grew more frequent, Gohan threw out his arm and let loose a powerful scream, one that spread throughout the city and seemed to reach the heavens itself! The moment this scream reached her ears, Baiken turned toward its direction, and what she saw made her eye widen in shock.
“What the hell?” She asked in audible surprise, though her question was rendered nearly inaudible by Gohan’s transformation.
As the flame-like ki surrounded Gohan, his body began to undergo even further changes. His muscles’ growth had stabilized, having become two inches thicker than they had been prior. Arcs of electricity were now starting to form around his body, though where they appeared seemed to be at random. The first surrounded his arm, the second covered his leg, and the third went around his waist. The energy within him continued to grow, and so too did the length of his hair. Several tufts had begun jutting out, visibly spikier and more rigid than before. With this hair growth came a surplus of electricity, as what was once a brief occurrence slowly evolved into an aura of crackling arcs. Once this aura had made its appearance, the energy within Gohan’s body seemed to have quelled, and his scream soon turned into silence.
No longer was Gohan a regular Super Saiyan. In his desperation to survive, he had unleashed a well of emotion, one that had given him the boost to unlock the next step in Saiyan evolution.
He had become a Super Saiyan 2.
[Stop music]
With the transformation now stabilized, Gohan’s first course of action was to reach into his pants. Pulling out a small pouch, he quickly unfastened it to reveal what lay inside: a small bean, lime green in color and barely the size of a pebble. He brought the minuscule item to his mouth and bit down, producing an audible CRUNCH! Then, as the Senzu Bean slid down his throat, something happened, something that could only be described as a miracle. Almost as if it had a mind of its own, Gohan’s skin began to stitch itself back together, sewing up the various lacerations within seconds. Consuming the bean also seemed to have done more than heal him, as he now had an energy in his step that he had previously lacked.
Now fully restored, Gohan began scanning the area for where Baiken had gone, though he wouldn’t have to search far. As it turned out, Baiken was standing several feet away, eyeing him with suspicion.
“So, what the hell is this? Do you get stronger the more ridiculous your hair looks?” She asked.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I didn’t even know I had this power until now.” He answered truthfully.
“Well, if you’re looking to test it, be my guest.” Baiken offered as she entered a fighting stance, flashing him a smirk. “Just don’t be surprised when I kick your ass agai-“
FWOOSH!
[If rooting for Future Gohan]
[If rooting for Baiken]
Before she even had the chance to unsheathe her weapon, Gohan closed the distance in an instant, punctuating it with a kick to the stomach. As Baiken was sent flying across the street, Gohan reeled his hand back, allowing a ball of blue ki to charge in his palm.
“Kamehameha!” He shouted as he threw his arm forward, firing off the ki in the form of a massive blue laser. It flew toward Baiken at blinding speeds, but she proved quick to bring her sword up, keeping it in a defensive position. The moment it met the base of her blade, the Kamehameha split in two before dispersing into nothingness, but this proved to be the opportunity Gohan needed!
TE-YO!
While Baiken was busy defending against his beam, he appeared behind her and threw out a powerful chop to the neck, causing her concentration to break as she stumbled forward. Before she could recover, he slammed into her with a knee strike to the spine, teleported in front of her, and slammed into her face with an elbow strike. A second knee, this time to her stomach, caused her to lurch over.
With the boosted speed of Super Saiyan 2, Gohan began to rapidly move around Baiken, repeatedly slamming into her with a variety of moves. Numerous punches, kicks, knee and elbow strikes, and many other body blows struck the samurai at blinding speeds. He moved so quickly that, to an outsider, there would’ve been no sign of his appearance. No sign, that is, until he finally decided to stop in front of Baiken, keeping his fist clenched at his side.
[Pause music]
As he ceased his assault, Baiken collapsed onto one knee, panting heavily. Her body was covered in bruises from where the blows had struck, and her muscles ached like she’d just run a marathon. Even as she attempted to stand back up, she could feel pain flare through her body.
‘Damn. Looks like that transformation wasn’t just for show, but still. One second it looks like he’s on death’s door, and now he’s the one kicking my ass. How’d he get this strong so quickly?‘ Baiken thought to herself. She prepared to ask him, but then-
WHAM!
[Continue]
Gohan cut her off permaturely with a high kick, slamming it into her jaw. She flew through the air like a rocket, but Gohan proved quick to catch up to her, punctuating it with a straight punch. This caused her to fly further away, but her attacker continued delivering another punch. Then a third. Then a fourth. A fifth. A sixth.
With each blow, the interval between punches grew shorter, allowing Gohan the chance to set up a seemingly endless combo. Punch after punch impacted Baiken’s body, each one targeting a different weak spot and sending her further through the city. This would soon come to an end, however, as a final punch from Gohan sent her careening into an office building. The glass behind her exploded into a storm of shards, but before she could crash through the window, she felt Gohan grab hold of her ankle.
With Baiken now in tow, he spun around, deliberately slamming her face into the window. He did this again when they reached the next floor, and a third time the floor after that. They continued ascending through the building, each floor accompanied by another spin from Gohan. Baiken attempted to push through the pain and free herself, but her captor proved relentless as he continued smashing her through the windows. Once they had passed the final floor and flown above the building, Gohan released his grip, sending Baiken hurtling through the air.
As he watched her descend toward the ground, her eye darting around for some way to cushion her landing, Gohan raised his arm through the air, keeping his fingers outstretched. Golden energy began to charge in his palm at a rapid rate, expanding with each millisecond.
“MASENKO-HA!” He declared as he thrust his hand forward, firing off a beam that was even large than Baiken herself. It was so large, in fact, that it covered roughly several hundred feet in both length and width. As she watched the beam rush toward her, Baiken’s eye widened in shock. A split-second later, and the Hyper Masenko consumed her body, eliciting a scream of pain as the ki burned away at her body. The beam continued to push her downward, and she would only stop once she slammed into the concrete back-first. The beam continued to burn away at her body, and it would only grow worse as Gohan continued pouring more ki into it. The Masenko continued expanding, its width growing ever larger until finally-
THOOM!
[Pause music]
It exploded outward, kicking up a massive cloud of dust as the ki dispersed in the air. The newfound smokescreen elicited a series of coughs and hacks from Gohan, who was fighting through the smoke to search for Baiken. He scanned the area, using both his eyes and his ki to try and locate the missing samurai. He began to pick up something, but just as he had-
SHINK!
[Continue music]
Faster than he could react, a familiar grappling claw flew out of the smokescreen and embedded itself in his right pec. A grunt of pain emerged from his throat, and it soon evolved into a surprised scream as Baiken gave a sharp tug, pulling him back down to earth. He slammed into the ground face-first, and before he could attempt to get back up he felt Baiken pull him forward.
As he was reeled in, Gohan noticed that she had already grabbed hold of her katana. With little time left to react, he quickly placed his hand close the center of his face, spreading his fingers toward his eyes. Though this action confused her, Baiken put it aside and lunged forward. She unsheathed her katana from its hilt and swung at Gohan’s chest, but then-
“Solar Flare!”
[Stop music]
As these words escaped his lips, a bright flash of light emerged in front of Gohan, leaving Baiken to take the full brunt of the attack.
“Gah! Shit!” She muttered under her breath as her vision faded to white. Despite the searing pain in her retina, she instinctively threw out a slash, aiming at where she believed Gohan was. He immediately responded by cartwheeling back, just barely managing to avoid the katana grazing against his cheek. Then, in an attempt to put more distance between them, he cartwheeled three more times, landing roughly a street away from where Baiken currently stood. If he wanted to end this fight, he was going to need all the time he could get to pull off this next attack!
“KA-“
He brought his hand back, allowing a familiar blue orb to begin growing in his palm.
“ME-“
Sweat began to pour down his forehead as he placed more ki into it, allowing the sphere to swell in size.
“HA-“
The orb’s expansion continued, now large enough that it was roughly the size of an apple.
“ME-“
The blast surged in its growth, now large enough that it encompassed his entire hand in size. As this energy hit its peak, Gohan thrust his hand forward, letting loose the final syllable of this technique’s name.
“HA!”
An enormous wave of blue ki erupted out from Gohan’s hand. It expanded in size the farther it grew, and by the time it had reached the halfway point it was far larger than its target. At the same time, Baiken had only just managed to blink away the blindness of the Solar Flare when she noticed the expansive beam that was rapidly approaching her. In response, she immediately brought her katana in front of herself, holding it in a defensive position. Then, just as she’d done so, they collided!
The moment it slammed into her katana, Baiken’s eye widened as she nearly felt herself topple over. This Kamehameha… it seemed stronger than before! Gritting her teeth, Baiken only grew more adamant as she planted both feet firmly into the ground. She pushed against the Kamehameha with all her might, slowly struggling against the wave of ki. With a heavy struggle, she lifted one of her legs and planted it into the ground as she took a step forward. The opposite foot would then follow suit, allowing her to slowly overpower this immense wave.
Sensing her progress, Gohan responded by placing more ki into the Kamehameha, causing it to undergo a drastic shift in size. It continued to expand until it was roughly the size of a city block, and with it a massive chunk of the city was wiped out. But for Gohan, this still wasn’t enough! He needed more power!
Pulling deep into the recesses of his body, Gohan began focusing everything he had. All of his ki, from what he’d had prior to what he’d been given by the boost of Super Saiyan 2, was pooled into the blast. As his energy poured into it, the Kamehameha suddenly burst outward, now visible from space as it ravaged the city. Everything that became caught in its wake was immediately vaporized, from the buildings, to the cars, to even the concrete beneath Baiken’s feet. But if he expected that this would be enough to put Baiken down, he was dead wrong!
Even as her skin became adorned with burns and her clothes were adorned with tatters, she continued walking toward him, letting out a bloody war cry as she continued to push through the beam! Her hand began to emerge from the epicenter of the beam, and Gohan responded by pushing forward. This was it. His last-ditch effort to win against Baiken! He took a step forward, pouring out all of his energy just as she swung her katana.
[Stop music]
For a brief moment, everything seemed to freeze. The destruction of Pepper Town, the growing energy of the Kamehameha, and even the fates of both combatants. Then, once this moment had passed, Gohan’s Kamehameha suddenly dispersed, revealing what had become of their battlefield.
All of Pepper Town had been destroyed, now nothing reduced to nothing more than a crater. The concrete streets and sidewalks were now reduced to barren, charred ground which seemed to stretch out for miles on end. All of its buildings had been destroyed, and in their places were miscellaneous piles of glass and rubble. The vehicles that had once filled the streets were now flipped over or crushed, and even those that still remained intact displayed heavy signs of damage. Not even the town’s flora had been spared the Kamehameha’s wrath, as the trees and flowers that had once dotted the area were now reduced to charred, smoldering shells of their former selves. Looking at it now, it would’ve been hard to believe that this place could have ever supported life, much less that it had once been one of the most populated towns on the planet. Yet two figures stood at the edge of this crater, both set on defying that notion.
Gohan stood upright with his arm outstretched, his hair having reverted to black. The final attack had taken a lot out of him, and it felt like his legs were going to give out at any second. His breathing had gone ragged, and despite his best attempts, he was struggling to stay conscious.
Baiken, on the other hand, was kneeling on the ground, still gripping her katana. Third-degree burns now covered her body, courtesy of taking the Kamehameha head-on, and her appearance had seen better days. The blast had eaten away at several parts of her skin, revealing strips of muscle tissue in her cheeks, forehead, and collar. Her remaining arm was missing several strips of skin, some of which exposed part of her radius and humerus. Her hair was now a disheveled mess, and her kimono had been completely destroyed. The stump of her severed arm was now exposed to the world, as was the sarashi that lay wrapped around her legs. The eye patch that once covered her face was now shattered, and it soon fell to the ground, revealing the scar that lay over her left eye.
For a few tense seconds, all remained silent throughout the wasteland, but then the victor spoke two audible words:
And that’s how you end a samurai battle! A single stroke, then you walk off like a complete badass. Wouldn’t have it any other way!
So, putting the finisher aside, let’s talk about the verdict. When it came to strength, Gohan’s repeatedly been shown to damage both of the androids, who were superior in power to Frieza. Frieza, while in his base form, was able to casually destroy Planet Vegeta, a feat calculated to be 1.7 tenatons, or Dwarf Star Level. If we go by the anime, Frieza’s final form was able to produce an explosion visible from outer space, which is calculated to be 943 MegaFoe, or Solar System Level. Baiken, meanwhile, would scale to Ky and I-No. Both of these characters are shown to becomparableto Sol Badguy, whose body contains the Flame of Corruption, which would erase everything in the universe and merge it with the Backyard, a dimension that is larger thanthe universe. Given that this merging affects two universe-sized realms, this would put Sol, as well as Ky and I-No, at Low Multiverse Level. And keep in mind that Baiken would scale to this, as she’s been shown to fight Ky to a standstill, hasregularlydefeated I-No, and was able to destroy a copy of Justice, whose existence has similar properties to Sol’s.
As for speed, Baiken takes that, as well. If we go by the Dragon Ball anime, Gohan would be superior to Namek Saga Goku, who was able to react to asteroids while on his trip to Namek. This feat is calculated to be anywhere from 2,881 times FTL to 152 million times FTL. Baiken, on the other hand, would once again scale to Ky and I-No, both of whom are superior to Jack-O Valentine, who can move at 32 trillion times the speed of light. Additionally, Baiken’s also shown that she can keep up in battle with Justice, who can move past multiple stars in seconds.
In other words, Baiken was leagues ahead of Gohan in the stat trinity. When it came to non-physical stats, however, things start to get a bit tricky. For experience, you could make the argument that Baiken should take this, as she’s been alive for over 100 years and has spent that time fighting Gears and other monsters. That said, you could also suggest that Gohan’s experience fighting more accomplished and intelligent opponents should give him an edge. It’s a bit hard to say for certain, but I’d say they’re roughly even in this regard. For intelligence, both have shown impressive proficiency in their respective fields, and I can’t really give one the edge over the other here, mainly because we never get an idea of how their mentalities operate during their fights.
Arsenal-wise, Gohan’s only item is a Senzu Bean, and while he could use it to heal himself, it’s unlikely to occur before Baiken blitzes and one-shots him. Not helping his case was that her own arsenal dwarfed his. Her katana gave her better range in close-quarters; she could restrain him with the grappling hook, grappling claw, or chain rope; her fan could give her wider range when fighting up-close; and she could use both the mace and cannon for long-range.
When it came to powers, Baiken’s summoning magic gave her an edge in unpredictability and her ki manipulation would prove effective in close-quarters. That said, Gohan’s own powers surprisingly trumped hers. His zenkai boosts would allow him to boost his stats higher, allowing him to theoretically lessen the gap, his flight gave him better mobility, and his own ki manipulation gave him better long-range options. Despite this, there are some setbacks for Gohan that would prevent him from using his powers. For starters, he needs to heal in order to gain a zenkai, which would be nigh-impossible due to Baiken’s immense edge in stats and his limited supply of Senzu Beans. His flight wouldn’t matter since Baiken could use her grappling hook, claw, or chain rope to pull him back in; and his ki manipulation wouldn’t matter since he mainly fights at close-range.
Speaking of fighting, Baiken easily had the superior fighting style, as her combat is based off of defense and focuses on countering an opponent’s mistakes with high-damaging combos. Her employment of weaponry also gave her an edge here, as her swordplay and wide swinging range would make it more difficult for a hand-to-hand fighter like Gohan to get a good hit in.
There’s also their movesets to consider. As I mentioned above, Gohan’s ki manipulation would allow him to have better long-range options, and he had multiple ways to avoid attacks (Afterimages, Instant Rise, and Wild Sense). He could also use Tenma Defense to defend himself from Baiken’s attacks, and the Solar Flare could serve as an excellent distraction. Despite this, Baiken’s proved superior due to its more potent moves which, when combined with her combo-oriented style, would prove more likely to land a killing blow. It also didn’t help Gohan’s case that she could use Baku to apply status effects that, while temporary, would serve to further affect his performance.
Future Gohan was certainly a formidable opponent, but in the end, he just couldn’t make the cut.
The winner is Baiken.
Baiken (Winner) + Massive edge over Future Gohan in the stat trinity + Larger arsenal + Demon Tools gave her several methods of countering Gohan’s flight + Summoning magic made her more unpredictable + Superior fighting style + Swordplay, when combined with her sword’s range, countered Gohan’s martial arts skills + Baku’s status effects gave her multiple ways to inconvenience Gohan = Roughly even in experience = Roughly even in intellect – Gohan could heal himself by using a Senzu Bean + But this is unlikely to occur given Baiken’s far superior stats, and it wouldn’t matter in the long run – Smaller array of powers + But she either had the means to counter Future Gohan’s, or they wouldn’t be applicable
Future Gohan (Loser) + Senzu Bean gave him an option to heal himself – But it’s unlikely he’d have the time to do so before Baiken blitzes him + Larger array of powers – Which either wouldn’t be applicable or could be countered in some way by Baiken + Better in hand-to-hand combat – Which is nullified due to Baiken’s swordplay and better range in close-quarters + Moveset gave him numerous ways to avoid or defend himself from Baiken’s attacks = Roughly even in experience = Roughly even in intellect – Horribly outclassed in stats – Inferior arsenal – Baiken’s Demon Tools could counter his flight – Inferior fighting style – Baku’s status effects gave Baiken multiple ways to inconvenience him
Whether it’s a natural disaster that brings about the end of all life on the planet, or mankind’s own weaponry being the catalyst that wipes them out, it’s safe to say that there’s no end to the number of ways the apocalypse can begin. And with these changes, there will inevitably be someone who sets out to help those in need. Whether it’s by defending the planet, saving the last of humanity, or dedicating their lives to ending what created the apocalypse, one thing’s certain: they will stop at nothing to accomplish their goals, even if they gain some scars or lose a limb in the process.
Future Gohan, the sole survivor of the Z-Fighters.
And Baiken, the Lone Samurai from Guilty Gear.
I’m Br3ndan5, and I’ll be analyzing their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win a DEATH BATTLE!
——————————————————
Future Gohan Age: 23 Height: 5’9 Weight: 134 lbs Occupation: Martial Artist, Mentor First Appearance: Trunks The History – The Lone Warrior (August 11, 1992) Themes:
Feats: Pre-History of Trunks: -As a child, survived Vegeta and Nappa’s attack on Earth, ultimately playing a role in the former’s defeat -Withstood Frieza torturing him -Was the only survivor of the Z-Fighters after the rest had been killed by androids 17 and 18 -Achieved the legendary form of Super Saiyan after the Z-Fighters’ deaths -Trained by himself for 13 years with the intent of taking down the androids
History of Trunks: -Began training Trunks in the hopes that they’d be able to beat the androids together -Fought against 17 and would’ve beaten him if 18 hadn’t intervened -Saved Trunks from being vaporized -Protected Trunks when the androids bombed the Super World theme park, albeit at the cost of his left arm -Fought the androids one last time, ultimately dying after they bombarded him with a heavy barrage of ki blasts -His death gave Trunks the final push to becoming a Super Saiyan
In the Age 764, peace had begun to return to Earth. The Saiyan warrior Goku had slain the tyrant Frieza and his father, King Cold, ensuring that their empire would no longer thrive. Unfortunately, this peace wasn’t destined to last. Two years later, Goku would be one of many victims to die of a lethal heart virus, and the world would then erupt into chaos thanks to Dr. Gero, a scientist who had worked for one of Goku’s oldest enemies, the Red Ribbon Army. With Goku dead, Gero decided that the time was ripe to take vengeance upon the world and unleashed two of his greatest creations, Androids 17 and 18. Unfortunately for Gero, the two androids (who are actually cyborgs) proved unwilling to listen to his orders and rebelled against him, killing the old man in the process.
With nothing better to do, the androids began terrorizing the world, earning the attention of the Z-Fighters. As they fought against the androids, Gohan left the battlefield and, with the help of his friend Bulma, began searching the world for the Dragon Balls, seven mystical orbs that they believed could help them save the world. Unfortunately, the Dragon Balls had been rendered unusable thanks to the incompetence of the Pilaf Gang, and it would stay this way with the death of the balls’ creator, Kami.
With the deaths of his friends now rendered permanent, Gohan’s rage would hit its peak, allowing him to break through his mental barriers and achieve the legendary form of Super Saiyan. As the last remaining member of the Z-Fighters, Gohan would dedicate the next 13 years of his life to fighting the androids, but no matter how hard he tried he could never defeat them. During this time, he would befriend Trunks, the half Saiyan son of Bulma, and (at Trunks’ request) started training him. On several occasions, he would attempt to encourage Trunks to obtain Super Saiyan as well, but to no avail.
Eventually, while fighting the androids in a theme park, Trunks would be rendered unconscious while fighting 18, forcing Gohan to carry him to safety and hide. This plan would work until the androids decided to bomb the park in the hopes of driving them out. Although he was able to save Trunks, it would come at the cost of losing his arm in the resulting blast.
Despite this handicap, Gohan would continue training Trunks, even getting him to nearly go Super Saiyan at one point. After this attempt, the two would notice Pepper Town being attacked by the androids. Trunks attempted to convince Gohan to let him join, and although he seemed to accept at first, Gohan chose to knock him out in order to prevent the boy from dying. Despite knowing he stood no chance, Gohan rushed into battle, ready to battle the androids one final time. Though he held his own for a bit, the androids eventually managed to overpower him, leading to his death. While the world may have lost a hero that day, it would soon gain another, as Gohan’s death would serve as the catalyst for Trunks to push through and finally achieve Super Saiyan.
Strength: -Knocked Trunks away with a kick to the chin -Traded blows with 17 -Knocked Trunks out with a chop to the neck -Kicked 17 with enough force to send him crashing through a building -Slammed 18 into a roof hard enough that the building’s windows were blown out
Speed: -While sparring, avoided multiple hits from Trunks -Avoided ki blasts and multiple blows from 17 -Intercepted a blow from 18 -Avoided multiple strikes when 17 and 18 tag-teamed him
Durability: -Shrugged off multiple blows from 17 -Was smashed into a store window by 18 -Survived a brutal beating from 17 and 18 -Survived Super World being bombed, though it left him with a scar and an amputated left arm
Personality: -Due to the apocalyptic future he lives in, Future Gohan is more serious and aggressive than his naive, awkward, and laidback present counterpart -Is shown to be internally pained and mentally stressed after years of challenging the androids alone -In moments of peace, Gohan is shown to be much more calm and cheerful, often enjoying life for what it’s worth and even suggesting that others do the same
Weapons and Equipment:
Senzu Beans: -Mystical beans that possess great healing properties -When consumed, they fully restore his energy and physical health -Are capable of healing impalement and broken bones -Keeps them in his pouch, though he only has one or two on hand due to their limited supply
Techniques:
Ki: -A form of energy in the Dragon Ball universe -Created from Future Gohan’s own life energy -Formed using three elements: vigor, courage, and mind -Uses it for the following techniques
Flight: -Self-explanatory
Zenkai: -A genetic trait that is shared by all Saiyans -Allows the user to recover from injuries at a faster rate and grow stronger, with the latter being caused when they either heal from a near-death experience or endure a great struggle while fighting -Upon healing, a Saiyan’s body will “learn” from the experience, allowing their instincts and natural resistances to greatly improve -The more severely he’s damaged, the greater the zenkai will be
Ki Blast: -An energy wave of ki
Kiai: -Future Gohan places ki into his hand as he strikes the air, creating a powerful shockwave that strikes opponents from a distance
Invisible Eye Blast: -A kiai fired from the eyes
Super Explosive Wave: -Future Gohan charges ki inside of himself before forcing it to explode outward in the form of a massive energy sphere -Can increase its AOE by outputting more ki from his body, resulting in a variant called “Ki Explosions”
Super Afterimage Strike: -Future Gohan moves around the battlefield while using afterimages to distract his opponent
Instant Rise: -Future Gohan rapidly ascends through the air, moving so quickly that he seems to teleport -Used as a way to avoid oncoming attacks
Wild Sense: -Future Gohan dodges an attack by moving swiftly before countering with a punch or kick that sends the opponent to the ground or into the air
Down Burst: -Future Gohan fires an energy sphere to the ground, creating a smokescreen that blinds the opponent
Intercept: -Future Gohan blocks his opponent’s attacks before quickly moving behind them. When they turn to face him, he delivers a powerful kick to the chin
Sonic Rush: -Future Gohan kicks his opponent away before teleporting behind them to deliver a chop, followed by a hook and a sweep kick. He then finishes by kicking them into the air before slamming them back down with an elbow strike
Masenko: -Future Gohan places both hands above the head, one in front of the other, with the palms facing the opponent and the fingers going in opposite directions. He thrusts his hands forward, calling out “MASENKO-HA!” as he fires a beam of yellow or white energy
Hyper Masenko: -A stronger, larger variant of the above
Kamehameha: -A powerful ki blast fired from both hands after being charged between the user’s palms
One-Handed Kamehameha: -Future Gohan performs several backflips to distance himself from the opponent. After doing so, he charges ki into his hand, slowly chanting the technique’s name before thrusting his arm forward and firing a blue beam
One-Handed Kamehameha mk. II: -Same as the above, but upon firing it Future Gohan pours more energy into the beam, increasing its power and prolonging the amount of time he can fire it
Fierce Combination: -Future Gohan strikes a fighting pose as he charges at the opponent and kicks them into the air. He then flies past them before roundhousing and punching them away. Before they can travel any farther, he grabs them by their ankle and shouts “Die!” as he flies downward, slamming them into the ground. Finally, he backflips away and shouts “Watch it!” before firing a Kamehameha
Tenma Defense: -Future Gohan charges his ki, using it to summon a large white barrier that either knocks opponents away or deflects attacks
Solar Flare: -Future Gohan places his hand close to the center of his face with the fingers spread toward his eyes. He then calls out the technique’s name as a white light flashes outward, blinding everyone in the surrounding area -Mainly used to gain the upper hand, make a hasty retreat, or set up a more complicated attack without fear of interruption -Never used on screen, but in the Dragon Ball Super manga Trunks says that Future Gohan taught him this move
Special Beam Cannon: -Future Gohan raises his index and middle finger to his forehead and begins charging ki between them. After a few seconds, he points them forward, producing two thin beams, one being straight and the other coiled around the first -Capable of drilling through its target, and it will explode against them should they prove too durable to pierce
Power up to the Very Limit: -Lets Future Gohan regain all of his ki while also providing a slight increase to all of his stats
Forms:
Super Saiyan: -Multiplies his base power by 50x -Evidenced by his hair and aura becoming gold, while his eyes turn green -Obtained after witnessing the deaths of the other Z-Fighters
Weaknesses: -Despite his strength, he’s nowhere near as powerful as his present counterpart -Lacks the use of his left arm, which greatly hinders his abilities in combat -Has a limited supply of Senzu beans -Has a finite amount of ki -Super Saiyan drains him of his energy the longer he uses it -Senzu beans have limits to what they can heal, as they can’t cure diseases or regrow severed limbs -The Future Trunks arc rendered his sacrifice worthless
(“You know you can’t win! You can’t destroy what I really am! Even if you manage to kill this body, someone even stronger would surface and take my place! Not one death will go unaccounted for, not one!”)
——————————————————
Baiken Alias: The Lone Samurai Age: Unknown, but should at least be a little over 170 Height: 5’4 Weight: 100 lbs Occupation: Samurai, Guardian to Kum Haehyun (Xrd REV 2) First Appearance: Guilty Gear (May 14, 1998) Themes:
Feats: General -Survived the destruction of her village when she was a child -Trained herself in swordsmanship so she could hunt down Asuka R. Kreutz (AKA That Man) for his role in destroying her village
Guilty Gear -Entered the Second Sacred Order Tournament in order to seek out That Man and get revenge on Justice, the Gear responsible for Japan’s destruction -Though she was eventually forced to retreat after Justice overwhelmed her
Guilty Gear Xtra -Briefly fought with Ky Kiske, with the battle ending inconclusively due to interference from Tyr
Guilty Gear X -Nearly killed Testament and Dizzy, only choosing to let them live because she was more focused on finding That Man
Guilty Gear XX All Paths: -Defeated I-No, Robo-Ky, Zappa, Bridget, and Anji Mito Path 1: -Defeated I-No (again) and Potemkin -Managed to locate That Man, but was unable to kill him Path 2: -Defeated a brainwashed May and Robo-Ky (again) -Learned of the Post-War Administration Bureau’s existence after defeating Robo-Ky Path 3: -Defeated I-No and Anji again -After defeating Anji, chose to spare his life in exchange for all of his knowledge on That Man
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus All Paths: -Defeated Potemkin, Robo-Ky, and I-No Path 1: -Defeated Johnny, May, Jam, Eddie, and Anji -Reluctantly began traveling with Anji Path 2: -Had a brief spar with a suppressed Slayer, which ended inconclusively -Defeated A.B.A, Venom, Chipp Zanuff, Justice, and I-No (again) -Killed I-No and became an infamous serial killer
Guilty Gear Isuka -Defeated Leopaldon, a Megadeth class Gear -Megadeth class Gears have enough power to wipe out an entire civilization
Guilty Gear Judgment -While searching for a bar, saved a village that had been overrun by monsters -Destroyed a living three-headed pillar -Mercy-killed a woman who had been forcibly fused to a giant plant monster -Killed a giant, mutated wolf -Killed Inus, the king of the Underworld -Murdered Judgment, a sorcerer who had absorbed Inus’ powers
Guilty Gear Dust Strikers -Killed Gig, a massive insectoid Gear
Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 -Defeated Answer, the personal assistant of Chipp -Swore her life to protect Kum Haehyun -During an attack on the Colony, defended Haehyun alongside May and Answer
The year was 2073. Thanks to the efforts of the scientist Asuka R. Kreutz, also known by the confusing alias of “That Man,” the long-abandoned Gear Project had finally begun to make progress toward advancing evolution. By combining the DNA of various species with the cryogenically preserved cells of his deceased friend Aria Hale, Asuka had managed to create Justice, the first complete member of the Gears, a race created by combining the best aspects of multiple species.
Unfortunately, this progress would soon hit a snag thanks to the efforts of a being known as the Merciless Apocalypse, who would harvest Justice’s DNA and unleash it upon the nation of Japan. The Gear cells would mutate most of Japan’s population which, when combined with the spacial anomalies known as Information Flares, led to the infected becoming incredibly dangerous and unstable Anti-Matter Gears. The Information Flares would begin to merge reality with the Backyard, another dimension that would disintegrate both the body and soul of whatever enters it. Realizing this, Asuka would be forced to activate Justice and use her Gamma Ray to destroy Japan, an act that he would regret for the rest of his life.
Those who survived the nation’s destruction would be placed under the care of the United Nations and placed in special colonies. Unfortunately, these were still vulnerable to attack, as Justice would show when she commanded her Gears to lay waste to one of the villages. One of the few survivors of this massacre would be Baiken, a child who had witnessed the bloody deaths of her parents and friends after having her left eye gouged out and her right arm severed. Amidst the flames of her village, she could see the silhouette of That Man, and she would swear vengeance upon him and his creations. From that day forward, Baiken committed herself to learning the ways of swordsmanship and began collecting a series of tools for one purpose: to hunt down That Man and the Gears so she could make them pay for what they’d done.
Strength: -Her sword strikes are strong enough to send a giant, mutated wolf crashing through a metal wall -Can slice a washitsu house and its surroundings in half with one strike -Is able to effortlessly lift and slam someone into the ground with enough force that they spin through the air multiple times -Keep in mind that she’s able to do this to the likes of Bedman, who weighs 1,468 lbs (counting his bed), and Potemkin, who weighs 2,672 lbs -Sliced through a massive Gear arm -Traded blows with Ky, who has been able to match Sol blow-for-blow -Her strikes are strong enough to nearly kill Testament and Dizzy -Traded blows with Zappa, Bridget, Anji, Potemkin, I-No, May, Robo-Ky, Eddie, A.B.A, Venom, a suppressed Slayer, Chipp, and Answer -Destroyed Robo-Ky -Stabbed I-No to death
Speed: -Kept up with Justice, who can move at MFTL+ speeds -Kept up with Zappa, Bridget, Anji, Potemkin, May, Robo-Ky, Eddie, A.B.A, Venom, a suppressed Slayer, Chipp, and Answer -Escaped a collapsing lava pit in the span of a few seconds -Managed to escape a collapsing castle within seconds -Has been shown to match Ky in speed -Ky has been able to keep up with Sol, who is vastly superior to Jack-O’
Durability: -Survived the loss of her right arm and having her left eye gouged out when she was a child -Shrugged off multiple attacks from Zappa, Bridget, Anji, Potemkin, I-No, May, Robo-Ky, Eddie, A.B.A, Venom, a suppressed Slayer, Chipp, Justice, and Answer -Took hits from Ky, who has clashed with Sol numerous times
Skills:
Expert Swordsmanship: -Despite being self-taught, Baiken’s expertise in swordsmanship has allowed her to repeatedly go toe-to-toe with Ky, a veteran soldier and commander of the International Police Force
Weapons Mastery: -Has incorporated various weapons into her fighting style (See “Weapons and Equipment” below)
Personality: -Is aggressive, brash, impulsive, and antisocial, motivated solely by revenge with a strong desire to kill That Man -Post XX, she’s noticeably mellowed out, becoming more expressive toward others and less obsessed with pursuing That Man -Rather foul-mouthed, often cursing violently when irritated or angered -Holds an intense hatred toward Gears due to their role in her family’s deaths -Has occasionally expressed pride in her heritage, though she hates how people treat the Japanese like a special race -Is willing to accept the consequences of her actions and has condemned herself to damnation for her sins -Has a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later -Will violently threaten anyone who attempts to obstruct her goals, including children -Enjoys drinking sake
Weapons and Equipment:
Katana: -Strong enough to cut through most Gears without issue -Is extremely durable, being able to hold up in multiple clashes with Thunderseal, a blade charged with electricity -The only visible damage it’s taken was a light chip after failing to cut through Dizzy -Implied by Slayer to be sentient, with a strong desire for bloodshed
Demon Tools: -A group of weapons Baiken hides within the sleeve of her severed arm -Consists of a Japanese mace, a feudal cannon, a bladed fan, a chain rope, a grappling hook, a claw, and a spear
Powers:
Ki Manipulation: -Can manipulate the ki in her body and use it to fire massive, short-range energy blasts
Magic: -Baiken can use magic to summon tatami mats (See “Moveset” below)
Immortality: -Seems to possess some type of immortality, as she’s been alive ever since the destruction of Japan, which occurred over a century prior, yet hasn’t visibly aged past her 20’s or 30’s -Though she can still be physically injured or killed
Moveset:
Tatami Gaeshi: -Baiken uses magic to summon a tatami mat near her and proceeds to stomp on it, smacking any nearby opponents and sending them flying -Can also be used in the air, though the mat will almost immediately drop to the ground
Youshijin: -Baiken thrusts an anchor into the ground with enough force that it comes back up almost immediately after -Mainly used to deal with aerial opponents
Zakuro: -Baiken pulls out a giant bladed pinwheel that spins several times, skewering anyone who gets close -Can only be done diagonally -Used to counter aerial opponents
Azami: -Baiken holds her blade in front of her in a defensive position, allowing her to block enemy attacks -Is able to block multiple attacks at once -Can also be used in midair
Kuchinashi: -An upward slash followed by a trail of pink energy -Mainly used as a followup to Azami or Suzuran
Mawarikomi: -Baiken dashes behind her opponent -Followup to Azami or Suzuran
Sakura: -A straight jab coated in pink energy -Followup from Azami or Suzuran
Rokkonsogi: -Baiken dashes forward, slashes at the opponent, and appears behind them -Followup from Azami, Kabari, or Suzuran
Yashagatana: -Baiken unveils a shotgun from her sleeve and fires it -Can be used after Azami or Suzuran
Tsubaki: -Baiken moves forward as she performs a midair spinning slash -Used after an aerial Azami
Ouren: -Baiken leaps across the stage and somersaults past her opponent, slashing them across the back -Used after a midair Azami
Kikyou: -Baiken slashes downward -Mainly used in midair. If used on the ground, Baiken will leap forward before performing the move
Kabari: -Baiken throws out a grappling claw to grab her opponent from afar and reel them in -As seen above, she can also perform it diagonally
Tetsuzansen: -In Accent Core R, Baiken thrusts her katana through the air and follows up with a spinning diagonal slash -In Xrd, Baiken stomps on the ground, releasing a small pillar of pink energy -Can be used as a followup from Kabari
Himawari: -Baiken rushes toward the opponent, grabs them, leaps through the air, and drops them headfirst with enough force that they spin through the air multiple times -Mainly used as a followup from Kabari
Suzuran: -Baiken rushes forward, holding her sword in a defensive position and its hilt in her mouth as she does so
Youzansen: -Baiken spins through the air, slashing with a giant bladed fan as a trail of sakura petals fall behind her -Mainly used in midair. If used on the ground, Baiken will leap into the air before performing the move
Force Breaks:
Baku: -Baiken pauses for a brief moment before smacking the opponent with one of three different types of kanji, each having a different effect: -Sakura (桜) prevents them from dashing, backdashing, or jumping -Tsuki (月) makes them enter a counter-hit state that increases the amount of damage they receive -Tsuru (鶴) prevents them from blocking Baiken’s next attack -Each effect lasts for about 14 seconds
Triple Tatami Gaeshi: -Baiken stomps on the ground, this time summoning three tatami mats that simultaneously smack the opponent away
Overdrives:
Tsurane Zanzuwatashi: -Baiken stomps on the ground before delivering an underhanded upward slash and a low sweeping slash. She then swings her blade through the air as the image of a moon bearing the kanji for Heaven, Earth, and man suddenly appears. Once it appears in full, she finishes with a final, energy-charged slash
Metsuda Kushoudou: -Performed after a successful Azami or Suzuran -Baiken turns around, her back facing the opponent as she fires off several grappling hooks that slam them into the air and latch onto an object behind them. She then reels herself forward, performing an iaijutsu quickdraw slash on the airborne opponent
Instant Kills:
[1:19 to 1:28]
Tate Shunmaku: -Baiken crouches for a brief moment before dashing past the opponent and sheathing her sword. The opponent is then launched through the air as their body is slashed multiple times
[2:44 to 2:59]
Garyo Tensei: -In Guilty Gear XX, Baiken rushes toward the opponent. Should she make contact, she will cut through them before sheathing her blade, revealing that they have somehow teleported to a room. After several seconds, the opponent’s blood splatters on the wall as they lifelessly fall to the ground -In Guilty Gear Xrd, Baiken cuts through the opponent as they teleport inside of a washitsu house. The sliding doors then close behind her and the opponent. After a fish hops through the garden’s pond, the doors become splattered in the opponent’s blood as both the house and its surroundings are sliced in half. Baiken then sits cross-legged and lights her pipe -Interestingly, some of Baiken’s dialogue after completing this move suggests that the opponent is still alive, though it’s likely they’ve been left heavily injured
Weaknesses: -Has an extremely short fuse -Is somewhat stubborn -Lacks the use of her left eye and right arm, though this doesn’t seem to affect her in battle -Fighting style heavily relies on combos and focuses on defense over offense -Possesses few ranged options -Some of her Demon Tools (like the grappling hook, claw, or mace) can be rendered useless in certain environments -Has a chronic smoking habit -Suffers from PTSD over Japan’s destruction
(“Winning and losing doesn’t mean a thing. I’ll survive, and I’ll keep fighting… Until I find That Man.”)
Alright, the combatants are set. Let’s end this debate once and for all! It’s time for a Death Battle!
——————————————————
Metropolis, New York
Metropolis, the City of Tomorrow. Throughout this bustling city lay numerous skyscrapers and technology the likes of which the rest of the world could only dream of. But there was one aspect that everyone knew of: its protector. An alien who, despite his immense power and abilities, still took it upon himself to protect humanity. He went by many names: Clark Kent, Kal-El, but to most of the people in this city, he was known as Superman. While most of Metropolis’ denizens admired him and were grateful for his actions, there were still some exceptions to this rule, and one such person was currently making her way toward the city.
Her outfit consisted of a blue spandex suit with red fabric covering her collar and shoulders. A golden star symbol adorned her chest, and diagonal lines of matching color spread across the shoulders, separating the red and blue. Her hands were covered by a pair of red gloves, while her feet were adorned with red boots. Wrapped around her waist was a red sash, held in place by a circular gold piece.
This was Carol Danvers, formerly known as Ms. Marvel and currently the seventh person to bear the name Captain Marvel. Currently, she was flying through the air, staring straight ahead at the City of Tomorrow. For what reason, you may ask?
While on a mission for SHIELD, she had come across some records about experiments involving genetic modification. She’d scanned through the reports, most of it she dismissed as being the standard mad scientist “take-over-the-world” schlock, but there was one word that caught her attention. Apparently one of the subjects had been experimented on with the DNA of a Kryptonian. The moment she read that word, Carol couldn’t help but recall something she’d seen some time ago. It was from a newspaper article discussing the city of Metropolis and its hero, a Kryptonian named Superman.
Once she had completed her mission, the former military brat decided to take a small detour on her way back home. It wasn’t going to be that much of an issue. All she planned to do was make sure Superman is as good as people claimed. If it turned out he was, she’d leave. Otherwise, she’d prepare for the worst and fight him.
Unfortunately, it seemed she wouldn’t get that far in her plan. She’d reached the city in no time, but it was over an hour later and she was still searching. Despite her best efforts, the former Ms. Marvel had found nothing, not even a sign of him. The only thing she’d managed to accomplish was ensuring that everyone in Metropolis had seen her. Not helping her case was that no one seemed to know where Superman was. She’d asked several people, but their responses didn’t answer her questions in the slightest. As she continued flying through the air, Carol let out an annoyed sigh.
“Maybe I should just throw in the towel. Seriously, it’s been an hour and still no sign of Superman. Where the hell is he?”
”If you’re looking for Superman, you’ll have to wait. He’s a little busy with the League at the moment.” Hearing this new voice, Captain Marvel looked toward its direction. Upon doing so, she found herself staring at another heroine, though what Carol paid more attention to was her costume.
Floating in front of Carol was a tall woman who towered above her by 4 inches. Her blonde hair was put up in a bob, and her outfit mainly consisted of a legless, long-sleeved white bodysuit that hugged at her figure. A pair of blue elbow-length gloves covered her hands, while thigh-length boots obscured her feet. A red belt was wrapped around her waist, while a matching cape billowed behind her. The most striking feature, however, was in the chest section of her bodysuit. A massive rectangular hole had been carved out, revealing her overabundance of cleavage to the world.
After getting over her initial surprise at this woman’s appearance, Carol gave an annoyed sigh.
“Well, that’s just great.” She muttered. “And you are?”
”Power Girl.” The woman responded as she extended her arm outward.
”Captain Marvel.” Carol introduced herself as she returned the handshake.
”Pretty sure that name’s already taken, but anyway, why do you want to meet Superman so badly?”
”I just want to make sure he can be trusted. I don’t know that much about him, definitely not enough to be a fan, but I wanna at least get a general bit of knowledge. Just to make sure we don’t have any alien troubles. I’ve seen that crap way too much, and I really don’t want a repeat of the Skrull incident.”
”Well, there’s nothing you need to worry about. Superman’s a hero. He’s been that way for over ten years. What makes you think he’d suddenly snap and turn evil?” Power Girl pointed out.
”Tell me, have you ever heard of the Sentry? He was the exact same. Extremely powerful, everyone liked him, then one day he snapped and nearly killed everyone. And from what I can tell, Superman already ticks off two of those boxes. Call me pessimistic, but I’m pretty sure if he’s not kept in check, we’ll see a repeat.”
“And I’m telling you there’s no way that would ever happen. So I’ll give you two options. If you want to meet him, you can wait for a few more minutes. Otherwise, you can turn around and leave.”
“How about I choose option 3? I’ll look for him myself!” Carol countered as she took off, shooting right past Power Girl. She wouldn’t get far, however, as Karen suddenly flew in front of her and pushed her back. The Avenger shot several feet through the air, but she eventually managed to stop herself mid-flight. Looking back, she noticed Power Girl flying toward her, with the Kryptonian stopping only a few feet away.
“I’m not giving you another warning. Leave, or else.” Upon hearing this, Danvers scoffed.
”Like I’d actually choose to leave!” She said as she lowered herself into a fighting stance, energy resonating in the palms of her hands.
“Fine. When you’re down, just remember that I gave you the chance to settle this peacefully.” Power Girl responded as she entered her own stance.
In a sudden burst of speed, Captain Marvel shot toward Power Girl, having already reeled back an energy-enhanced fist. Once she was close enough, Carol threw out a right hook, only for her supposed target to effortlessly catch it. Then, with the greatest of ease, the Kryptonian countered with a hook of her own, striking hard enough to send Carol hurtling back. The Kree hybrid didn’t even have time to recover before Power Girl continued her assault, throwing out dozens of body blows. Even with her enhanced reflexes, Marvel was still having trouble registering Power Girl’s attacks. That didn’t mean she couldn’t feel them, however.
Each passing second was accompanied by several more punches and kicks, all of them seemingly aimed at her vulnerable spots. But even with this pain overwhelming her mind, Carol refused to give up, which she was all too willing to show Kara. Gritting her teeth, the captain began channeling a glowing orange energy into her hands.
“Back off!” Marvel demanded as she swung her arm outward, firing a crescent-shaped blast of energy that sent Power Girl skidding back. Willing to exploit this to her advantage, Carol lunged forward and struck her in the stomach, eliciting a grunt of pain from her opponent. A rapid series of hooks and jabs then followed this gut punch, with each one targeting Power Girl’s chest, face, and shoulders. In the middle of this combo, however, Karen had managed to recover from the pain, and she proved quick to adapt to her opponent’s tactics.
Using her superior speed, Earth-Two’s Woman of Steel began weaving through the hits while countering with her own. Every hit Carol threw missed its mark as Karen leapt out of her range, which was then followed by the Kryptonian retaliating with another attack. Each of these blows were slowly overwhelming the Avenger, but they were also having another effect: really pissing her off!
Channeling energy into her palms, Captain Marvel thrust both of her hands forward and fired off a massive golden beam. It was large enough that it could have easily encompassed Power Girl, but she proved quick to react as she descended beneath it. Once the attack had dispersed, Power Girl soared back up to Carol’s level, emphasizing this by swiftly delivering an uppercut to the jaw. The moment the fist made contact with her chin, Carol found herself shooting through the air at hypersonic speeds. A mach cone formed around her body, but she proved quick to right herself in midair, producing a sonic boom in the process.
Once she had come to a complete stop, Carol looked back down at Metropolis, now receiving a bird’s eye view. She expected to see Power Girl flying toward her, likely reeling a fist back to prepare another combo, but instead all she found was a bustling futuristic city. Keeping her guard up, the captain began feeling a familiar buzzing sensation in her head. Immediately recognizing what was causing it, she whirled around, preparing a roundhouse-
WHAM!
[Stop music]
-only to be cut off as Power Girl delivered a sledgehammer to the back of her skull. The impact of the punch sent Carol hurtling through the air, a cone of fire surrounding her body as she did so. She could only briefly notice her surroundings, which were now whipping past her with how fast she was going. She couldn’t tell where she was heading, nor how far she was going. She wouldn’t even have time to correct her path, as her body slammed back-first into a billboard before she could even think of doing so.
ZRRR-ZZZ-ZRRR-ZRRRT!
The moment Danvers slammed into the panels, an explosion of electricity erupted out of the destroyed advertisement, creating arcs that shot out from every direction. These arcs traveled several feet away from the sign, producing a sight that caused several citizens to look up in surprise. Upon doing so, they were met with a rather unnatural sight. Instead of dispersing, the electricity seemed to shrink back, almost as if time was reversing itself! With each passing second, the electricity continued decreasing in size, rapidly losing its mass until there was nothing left- nothing, save for one person.
As she pulled herself out of the destroyed panel, Captain Marvel’s annoyance soon morphed into confusion when she noticed something familiar about her surroundings. From everywhere she looked, old-fashioned skyscrapers stared her in the face, nothing like the futuristic ones found in Metropolis. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a building with the words “Daily Bugle” displayed in massive letters.
‘Did she hit me hard enough to send me all the way from Metropolis to Manhattan?’ Carol thought to herself. Upon realizing this was the case, her expression morphed into an annoyed glare.
“Alright, she’s a bit stronger than I thought.” Carol admitted, only to stop as she noticed an arc of electricity emanating from her arm. Clenching her fist, the heroine smirked as she watched the energy explode out of her hand. “But let’s see how she handles this!”
As these words left her mouth, Captain Marvel once again took to the air, now coated in an aura of electricity as she flew back to Metropolis. Unbeknownst to her, Power Girl was in the midst of doing the same when her super-hearing picked up an odd sound. She could hear the sound of wind rushing past someone, and this person’s body seemed to be constantly crackling with electricity. Turning toward its direction, Karen prepared to defend herself from this new arrival-
BAM!
-but was cut off by an energy-enhanced punch to the face, causing her to reel back.
”You didn’t think you’d get rid of me that easily, did you?” Captain Marvel asked.
”A small part of me was hoping it’d be that easy, but since you seem to be so persistent-“ Karen cut herself off as she lunged toward Carol and threw out two straight punches. “I guess we’ll just have to do this the hard way!”
As these words left her mouth, Power Girl grabbed hold of Marvel’s outstretched leg. Then, with the greatest of ease, she began spinning the heroine around in circles, moving faster and faster with each rotation. In only a few seconds, a whirlwind had formed around the two blondes, and both were moving so quickly they couldn’t even be seen! This would soon change, however, when Starr released her grip, flinging the helpless captain across the city. As she soared past numerous city blocks, Danvers proved quick to backflip through the air, managing to level herself out. In the process of doing so, her seventh sense started acting up again, this time warning her of an attack that was approaching her front!
Looking toward its direction, Captain Marvel found that Power Girl was now in front of her, having already thrown out a straight punch. Despite having little time to react, Carol, through what could only be described as a miracle, put up her arm just in time to block the strike. As she parried the blow, Carol countered with a right hook to the face, sending Power Girl staggering back. Then, before the Kryptonian could recover, she followed up with two more hooks to the face, a knee strike to the stomach, and a roundhouse to the jaw. The moment this kick struck her, Power Girl found herself launched through the air at hypersonic speeds, but her attacker still wasn’t done!
Using her newly amped speed, Danvers charged toward Kara and began unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks at faster-than-light speeds. Each of these blows struck her in either the face or stomach, while also sending her flying back even further. This combo would only end once Carol had slammed her into a building via a punch to the ribs. The moment her body collided with it, every window in the skyscraper exploded outward and began raining down onto the streets below.
As Metropolis’ citizens ran away in an attempt to avoid their fates, Marvel grabbed the Woman of Steel by her cape and quickly took to the air, dragging Karen along for the ride. As they continued their ascension, Carol took the time to grind her opponent against the metal frame. Rather than hurt her, however, all this seemed to do was piss Power Girl off. With each inch they traveled, her anger only grew further, and eventually she’d hit her breaking point!
“CUT THAT OUT!” She demanded in annoyance as she whirled around, slamming into Carol’s face with a right hook. Upon contact, a sonic boom erupted outward as Captain Marvel’s jaw gave a resounding CRACK! The heroine then felt herself get launched through the air, with an angered Power Girl not far behind.
In a matter of femotseconds, the Kryptonian had managed to close the distance between them, emphasizing it with a left hook to the temple. Carol was sent spiraling toward the ground, but she wouldn’t have the chance to hit it as Karen sped past her, landing on the concrete below. As the corkscrewing captain approached her, Power Girl threw out a right cross, swinging her arm as hard as she could! The moment the blow made contact with her skull, Danvers found herself sent hurtling across the street, only stopping once she slammed into a car back-first. The impact caused her to lurch over and cough up spittle, but she proved quick to shrug it off and began pushing herself back up. As she did so, she felt her seventh sense buzz through her skull. Much like before, it was coming from the front, but now she was getting attacked from… two directions?
[Stop music]
Looking up in confusion, the Kree hybrid found herself staring at a pair of red beams, both of which were approaching her at alarming speeds. Most people who witnessed this would’ve been scared or at the very least somewhat nervous, but Carol Danvers was not most people! As the beams approached her, her only response was to raise her arms in defense and plant her feet firmly into the ground. A smirk appeared on her face, but it soon faltered as she realized something. Even from where she was standing, the temperatures those beams were giving off seemed to be pretty… hot.
Carol’s eyes widened in realization, but she wouldn’t have time to correct her mistake before Power Girl’s heat vision blasted her. The moment it collided, it took everything Carol had not to black out. The beams seared through her body, having already eaten away at her costume and now moving onto her skin. Her arms were immediately covered in burns, and each passing millisecond was only making it worse. But even with this pain threatening to overtake her, Captain Marvel still stood her ground. Planting both feet firmly into the ground, the hybrid then began focusing all of her energy into another part of her Kree physiology: her absorption powers.
“What?!” Power Girl questioned, surprised by what she was seeing. Rather than harming Carol, the thermal beams seemed to be getting absorbed into her body. Upon realizing this, the Earth-2 heroine immediately ceased using it, but the damage had already been done.
[Stop music]
As the last of Power Girl’s heat vision became absorbed into her body, Carol brought both arms back and flexed, letting out a brief war cry as a wave of energy erupted out of her body. It proved quick to disperse, revealing that her appearance had changed once again.
The most noticeable change in Carol’s body was the new aura she was surrounded by. Much like before, electricity was crackling around her body, but now a red aura of heat had entered into the mix. Her tattered sleeves hung loosely at her sides, revealing that the absorption had done more than give her a new aura. Rather than being covered in burns, her arms seemed to be completely fine, though Power Girl noticed they seemed a bit more muscular than before. Although she was curious as to why that was, she wouldn’t get the chance to investigate, as Carol cut her off.
[Start at 0:15]
“Turn up the heat as much as you’d like! I’ll be sure to pay you back tenfold!” As these words escaped her lips, Danvers’ hands began glowing with energy. Then, in a surprising burst of speed, she swung her arms through the air, firing off three photon blasts. Power Girl responded by swatting each one aside, sending them crashing into the nearby concrete, but before she could prepare herself for the next attack-
WHAM!
Carol slammed into her with a straight punch, having moved so quickly that she seemed to teleport. A gut punch followed this, then a backfist to the face. Karen was sent flying back, but Marvel used her boosted speed to suddenly reappear behind her. A cross to the spine stopped Karen’s momentum, striking hard enough to make her bend over backwards. A pained grunt escaped her lips, which would only increase as a knee strike slammed into her shoulder blade. The alien heroine felt her back seize up from the strike, and Carol proved quick to exploit this!
Before Karen even had the chance to recover, Carol slammed into her with a jumping roundhouse to the nape, sending the Kryptonian flying. As she reached the apex of her ascension, Power Girl proved quick to flip through the air, evening herself out. Then, as she began descending onto the street, she planted her left hand into the ground, slowly grinding to a halt. Once she had come to a complete stop, the heroine’s super-hearing began to pick up the sound of someone rapidly approaching her. From the sounds of things, they seemed to be coming from behind, and that meant-
“Too slow.” A familiar voice called out. Power Girl turned toward it, while at the same time twisting her body. Carol’s blast erupted from her hand, missing its target by a few centimeters, and said target responded by slamming into her jaw with a powerful elbow strike.
”Sorry, what was that?” Power Girl asked rhetorically as she smirked. “I thought you said I was too slow. Well, tell me. Does this look too slow to you?”
As these words escaped her lips, the Kryptonian intercepted the recovering Kree with an uppercut that sent her airborne. Before Carol even had the chance to react, Power Girl began pinballing her through the air, leaving the Kree hybrid reeling as she was rapidly dragged up and down. With each hit, the Woman of Steel only seemed to grow faster, throwing out numerous punches and kicks at ludicrous speeds. As she landed her 20th hit, Power Girl clasped both hands together, brought them back, and delivered a swift hammerstrike to the skull.
BOOM!
The moment it made contact, a massive shockwave erupted outward, causing brief tremors to erupt throughout Metropolis. The surrounding buildings began to shake, and various citizens looked around in a mixture of worry and confusion.
While all of this was occurring, Captain Marvel found herself descending onto the streets, courtesy of the blow she had just taken. A small streak of blood ran down her face, but this was the least of her problems. Her head throbbed from where she’d been hit, her ears rang like an alarm was going off inside them, and her vision was so blurred that all she couldn’t even make out her surroundings. After blinking it away, however, the Avenger began recovering her senses, and the first thing she did was balance herself.
Flipping through the air, Marvel suddenly forced herself to stop, her body levitating only an inch away from the concrete. She wiped the blood from her brow, narrowed her eyes at the sight, and then flashed a baleful glare at Power Girl. Eager to get some payback, Danvers brought her fists back up, allowing them to erupt with energy before throwing them forward. Unlike before, this time they were clasped together, with all of her fingers pointed directly at Kara.
A massive beam erupted out from her palms, instantly hitting the Kryptonian heroine dead-on. While her opponent staggered back, Marvel took the opportunity to charge an orb of energy in her palm and swiftly closed the distance. Once she was close enough, Carol slammed the orb into Power Girl’s stomach and forcibly detonated it, creating a massive explosion. As said explosion forced her to skid back, Power Girl noticed something odd. She’d had her suspicions due to the changed appearance, but now there was no doubt about it: Carol’s attacks were getting stronger.
In an attempt to find answers, the former Earth-2 denizen began looking Carol over, all while putting up an arm to block an oncoming punch. Annoyed by this, Danvers continued her assault, throwing out punch after punch, but her target was having none of it!
As each blow came her way, whether energy-enhanced or projectile-based, Starr blocked them with the greatest of ease. At the same time, she looked her fellow heroine over, scanning the Kree hybrid from head to toe. Thanks to her x-ray vision, Kara could now see the energy filtering itself through Carol’s body, but she noticed something was off. Squinting her eyes, the Kryptonian then applied her microscopic vision, allowing her to get a close-up of the energy’s molecular structure. Dozens of volts of electricity, a surplus of heat cells, and thousands of photon particles were spreading throughout Carol’s body, all of them moving equally across her body.
’So you can absorb energy, huh? Alright, then let’s switch things up a bit!’ Power Girl thought just as Carol threw out an underhanded blast. The orb was intended to smash into Karen’s jaw, but she quickly leaned back, allowing it to sail past her. Undeterred, her attacker used the momentum of her swing to leap into the air. Then, after summoning another orb in her free hand, Carol descended with a diagonal lunge. Unfortunately, this also seemed destined to miss, as the Woman of Steel quickly leapt out of range. Growing more frustrated with her inability to hit Power Girl, the captain’s attacks grew increasingly speedy and erratic, while her supposed target casually moved out of the way.
As her attacks continued to miss their mark, Marvel grit her teeth before pouring more energy into her body. Then, in a sudden burst of speed, she begin flying circles around Power Girl, rapidly pelting her with photon blasts and energy-infused blows. Each one slammed into the Kryptonian’s body, producing a miniature explosion upon contact. Despite this, neither one seemed to be accomplishing much. Sure, Power Girl was letting out audible grunts of pain at her stronger attacks, but other than that she wasn’t really showing any signs of pain. If anything, her costume seemed to be taking more punishment than she was! The white bodysuit that clung to Karen’s body was now covered in burns, with some mild tears here and there. The cape had also been affected, as evidenced by the multiple burn marks that had torn through its fabric. But Power Girl herself? At worst, she only had a few bruises or scuff marks! The sight of this left Carol both astounded and annoyed. Just how durable were Kryptonians?
Although Carol wasn’t aware of it, she wasn’t the only one feeling annoyed at this situation. Each time a blast hit her, Power Girl felt herself grow more and more irritated. Normally in this situation, she would’ve used her attacker’s speed against them and decked them in the face, but there was just one problem: Carol’s strategy. In the interval between blasts, she would purposefully move out of range, leaving Karen to be stunned by another blast when she tried to attack. The paralysis would only last for a few microseconds, but this was still enough time for Danvers to go in for a punch before repeating the process.
Needless to say, the constant hit-and-run tactics were getting on Power Girl’s nerves. She’d spent the time between each hit trying to cool off, making sure she’d have a clear head so she could think up a way to counter these attacks. Unfortunately, it seemed that Carol wasn’t willing to give her the time of day.
Wait, “cool off?”
An idea suddenly entered into Kara’s mind, one that caused her look of irritation to morph into a smug expression. At the same time, Carol moved in for her next attack, this one a straight punch to the Kryptonian’s face. Upon seeing her adversary’s new expression, however, Marvel cocked an eyebrow.
’What could she be planning now?’ The Kree heroine thought to herself. As if to answer her question, Power Girl inhaled, only to just as quickly exhale. The moment she did so, a massive gust of wind slammed into Captain Marvel at full force. Despite nearly being blown back by the frigid air, Carol continued moving forward, but she soon noticed that she was drastically slowing down. A thin layer of frost had already spread across her body, and it was quickly evolving into small patches of ice. Gritting her teeth, Danvers continued to push herself forward, ignoring the ice that impeded her movement. Unfortunately, this stubborn attitude would prove costly, as the ice continued to spread across her body. Not helping was that her rapidly freezing body was slowly being pushed back by the wind, impeding whatever progress she had made.
Noticing this, Carol began putting her Kree biology to work as she focused all of the stored energy into her cells. Each one began to vibrate at an increasingly fast rate, rapidly building up heat to combat the opposing cold. In no time at all, her body had coated itself in an aura of flame, which melted the surrounding ice and allowed her to keep moving. She cocked her fist back, ready to slam it directly into Power Girl’s jaw-
WHAM!
[Stop music]
Unfortunately for the captain, her target was quicker on the draw, having thrown out her own right hook to the face. The punch struck with enough force that Danvers was launched out of Metropolis, her body descending through the air until she landed in West River with a loud SPLASH!
The moment her body became submerged in water, a jolt went through Carol’s nervous system. Out of reflex, she nearly opened her mouth, but she forced it to remain shut at the last second. At the same time, she noticed a familiar white-and-blue figure through her blurred vision, causing her to smirk as her hands lit up once again.
Back on the surface, Power Girl was using her telescopic vision to scan through the river for some sign of Marvel. A familiar blue outfit entered her line of sight-
FWOOM!
[Start at 0:09]
-followed by an orange photon blast erupting out of the water, causing her to pull back. Undeterred by this, Carol threw out several more blasts, all of which Power Girl continued strafing through. As she drew closer to Marvel’s current location, Karen noticed her opponent’s muscles were tensing up. Then, in a sudden burst of speed, Captain Marvel shot out of the river, having already prepared an uppercut for the Kryptonian! She closed the distance between them in an instant, throwing her fist out with as much force as she could muster! It flew forward…
Only to miss as Power Girl leaned back, causing Carol’s fist to lightly brush past her chin. The captain soared past her white-clad adversary, her grin contorting into a look of horror as she realized she’d missed. Before she had time to rectify this mistake, Karen took advantage of the newfound opening as she lunged forward, slamming her fist into Marvel’s gut. The moment it struck, Carol doubled over, her eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets as she felt the wind get knocked out of her. If she expected Power Girl to stop at this, however, she was dead wrong!
Instead, the Woman of Steel was throwing out hundreds of body blows at faster-than-light speeds, each one specifically targeting a vulnerable part of Carol’s body. All of them were delivered with enough force that, had she been an ordinary person, her bones may have been shattered to pieces. Hell, even with her Kree physiology, these punches were still threatening to break her bones, and their rapid delivery wasn’t helping matters!
As each of these punches slammed into her, Carol’s desperation to survive only seemed to grow further. She began doing her best to fight through the pain, slowly bringing her arms up and focusing energy through them. Then, just as Power Girl was about to throw out a final right hook-
THOOM!
She found herself thrown back as Captain Marvel unleashed the dormant energy, producing a massive explosion that sent her soaring across Metropolis’ streets. As she uncontrollably flew through her cousin’s home, Power Girl desperately tried to avoid crashing through its buildings, but it seemed her attacker wasn’t willing to comply!
Carol was relentlessly bombarding her with photon blasts, and each one sent her flying further across the city. But even as this onslaught continued to hit her, Karen realized something: each blast seemed to be getting weaker, and she wasn’t the only one to notice this.
As she continued throwing out photon energy, Carol could feel her boost in power slowly leave her. Each one required her to expend more of her supply, and she was quickly running out. If she wanted to keep this up, she’d need to find some way to refuel, but given her current situation, it wasn’t going to be easy. She’d need some kind of distraction first!
Throwing both arms forward, Danvers fired off a massive beam in Power Girl’s direction. It slammed into the Kryptonian at full force, eliciting a grunt of pain as she was sent flying through the air. Realizing the opportunity wouldn’t last long, Carol immediately took off toward the west, flying through Metropolis as fast as she could! She recalled that earlier, while searching for Superman, she had noticed a nuclear power plant laying somewhere toward the west. If she wanted to put her plan into action, she needed to find it, and fast!
As she scanned her surroundings, Captain Marvel’s expression lit up as she spotted the power plant, which stood several hundred feet away. With her objective now in sight, the Kree heroine took off toward its direction, moving so quickly that a mach cone formed around her. Once she was close enough, Carol crashed through the roof and crashed onto the ground.
[Stop music]
Looking up, she smirked as she stared straight ahead at what she’d been looking for: a nuclear reactor. Grabbing hold of it, Danvers then began focusing her Kree powers to their fullest extent, rapidly siphoning the energy from the reactor. With each second that passed, Carol felt more power flow through her, and it was slowly starting to affect her appearance. Her skin was losing its original color, slowly fading into a bright red. Her eyes had also begun changing in color, now rapidly shifting between blue and gold. As the last of the reactor’s energy was drained into her, Carol smirked as she opened her eyes, revealing that they now shone a bright gold.
Meanwhile, Power Girl was soaring through Metropolis, using her x-ray vision to scan every inch of her surroundings. Given Carol’s ability to absorb energy, it was safe to assume that she had retreated to power herself back up. All that was left to figure out was where she’d gone. There were several places in Metropolis that held enormous power output, but narrowing them down was-
ZZ-ZZZZ! CRACK! ZZZZRRRRTTT!
The sound of crackling electricity filled Power Girl’s ears, causing her to stop and look to the right. The moment she did so, she noticed two things: the first was the nuclear power plant, currently drained of its energy. The second, and more important of the two, was the red, blue, and gold blur that was currently speeding toward her at faster-than-light speeds! Although its arrival left her surprised for a brief moment, Kara proved quick to regain her bearings and brought her arms up, reacting just in time to block a left cross.
BOOM!
The moment the blow collided with her arm, a massive shockwave erupted outward, causing the landscape around them to violently shake! The force sent Power Girl reeling back, and her attacker proved quick to exploit this. Leaping into the air, the golden blur then came down with a diagonal punch, slamming into her left temple. The moment it struck, Power Girl was sent hurtling to the ground, blood now leaking from where the blow had connected. Although she was left somewhat dazed by the strike, Karen quickly evened herself out, preventing her body from hitting the pavement. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t stop her assailant, who smashed into her with a two-handed punch.
Upon impact, the heroine from Earth-2 found herself coughing up flecks of blood, but this was the least of her problems. A right hook smashed itself into her jawline, sending her hurtling through the air. The golden blur flew after her, stopping her ascent with a powerful knee strike to the stomach, forcing her to lurch over. As she coughed up a combination of spit and blood, Power Girl noticed something familiar about her attacker- or more specifically, her costume. The knee currently planted in her stomach was clad in blue spandex, and she could see a brief portion of a red sash wrapped around its waist. With her suspicions confirmed, Karen attempted to intercept the next attack, but her opponent proved quicker to act. Just before Power Girl could look up, an elbow struck her spine, sending her crashing into the streets below.
As she lifted herself out of the concrete, Starr immediately looked toward her attacker’s direction. Currently suspended above her was Carol Danvers, as she’d suspected, though her appearance had undergone a drastic change. Her skin was now a deep shade of red, while her eyes had gone blank, their blue irises now replaced by a bright gold. Her hair seemed to be lit aflame, and this same energy crackled from her palms.
Thanks to the surplus of energy within her body, Carol had managed to evolve, ascending from a mere human to something else. No longer was Power Girl facing Carol Danvers, the seventh Captain Marvel. Now she stood face-to-face with the pinnacle of Kree evolution: Binary!
As she looked the transformed heroine over, Power Girl couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Noticing this, her opponent responded with a smirk.
”What’s the matter? Not used to fighting someone on your level?” Binary taunted as she used her boosted speed to suddenly appear in front of Karen. The evolved being then threw out a right hook, aiming it right at the heroine’s jaw.
”Cute.” Power Girl responded, smirking as she casually grabbed the fist mid-strike.
”That you think you still stand a chance at fighting me one-on-one?” Carol asked as she prepared to deliver another punch.
”No. It’s that you think you can beat me with a sunburn and some burning hair.” Power Girl responded as she cut her opponent off with a hook of her own. It struck Danvers in the jaw, causing her to stagger back. She proved quick to recover, however, and retaliated with a sudden blast from her eyes. Power Girl proved quick to duck under this, countering the beams with a hard uppercut to the chin. The punch sent Binary hurtling through the air, but she proved quick to regain control. Once she had stopped in midair, the heroine looked back up toward Power Girl’s direction, only to notice the Kryptonian was no longer there!
Before she could even question where Karen had gone, Carol’s seventh sense flared up yet again. Turning toward its direction, the Kree hybrid instinctively threw her hand forward, firing off a beam of photon energy directly into Power Girl’s chest. The beam sent her hurtling back, and before she could fully recover, Binary activated another of her powers. With a simple gesture, Power Girl suddenly felt herself grow heavier, and she soon fell toward the ground. Though this left her somewhat surprised, Starr proved quick to regain her bearings and, with some mild difficulty, repositioned herself in midair.
Upon landing, a massive crater formed beneath her feet, and it only seemed to grow deeper with each passing microsecond. In tandem with this, Power Girl began to notice something odd. Despite her best attempts, it was getting harder for her to support her own weight. As the crater grew deeper, she collapsed onto all fours, slowly sinking deeper into the ground.
Gritting her teeth, Power Girl began pushing herself back up. Every muscle in her body ached, her bones felt like they were all supporting a heavy weight, and the exertion was causing her to sweat up a storm. But even with these setbacks, she refused to give in!
With a heavy struggle, Power Girl managed to raise one foot and planted it into the ground. Then, as she pushed with all her might, the Kryptonian managed to prop herself up on one knee. She let out an annoyed huff, but before she could continue getting back to her feet, she noticed a shadow rapidly approaching her from above. Realizing it could only be one person, Kara attempted to defend against the inevitable attack, but her increased gravity made that harder than she’d expected. She hadn’t even fully raised them before-
WHAM!
-a left hook slammed into her jaw, sending her flying across the street. As she watched the Woman of Steel fly through the air, Carol responded by shooting forward, closing the distance between them almost instantly! A white flash briefly flashed in her clenched fist, and once it had faded, she revealed her new weapon. From the looks of things, they seemed to be twin strips of gold energy, both solid in composition and adorned with spikes.
With a smirk, Binary threw out a right hook, taking the opportunity to slam the knuckles into Power Girl’s face. The blow produced four cuts on the Kryptonian’s cheek, but she wouldn’t have long to worry about it. A left hook smashed into her other cheek, producing a similar reaction. Though pain flared through her mind, Power Girl turned back to Carol and flashed her a glare. The moment their eyes met, Danvers’ seventh sense began to flare up, and she responded by raising her left arm. This proved to be an appropriate choice, as Kara had immediately thrown out a left hook. As the fist made contact with her forearm, Binary retaliated with a right gut punch, eliciting a grunt of pain from the Kryptonian. Three rapid hooks then followed, each one producing bloody cuts on Power Girl’s cheeks and forcing her to stagger back. To finish her combo, Carol threw out a powerful uppercut, slamming into Power Girl’s chin. The moment it made contact, Binary began focusing her energy into the knuckles, charging each of their atoms at a rapid rate. With each millisecond, the construct’s composition would grow more unstable, evidenced by its rapid vibrating, until finally-
KRA-KOOM!
-the knuckles erupted into a massive explosion of thermal energies, sending Power Girl flying through the air. Rather than let it end at that, however, Carol flew after her, continuously throwing out punch after punch. Normally, these wouldn’t have affected Power Girl, but thanks to the added power of Binary, she was left reeling from each one. With every punch she took, Starr was sent further through the air, and by this point she was coming dangerously close to exiting the stratosphere. Unfortunately for her, it seemed this was what Carol had intended, as the former captain reeled her fist back and began gathering energy between it. Then, once it had filled to the brim, she threw it forward, letting loose a massive explosion of energy!
PHWOOOOOM!
[Stop music]
The moment it slammed into her face, Power Girl let out an annoyed scream as she found herself soaring through the air at a rapid rate. Her body grew faster with each passing millisecond, forming a cone of fire as she passed through the layers of Earth’s atmosphere. Meteors became nothing more than vague blurs, and the colorful gases of the thermosphere didn’t even register until she had passed through them. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem that her trip was destined to end there, as she continued to fly through space, only stopping when her back slammed into something solid. The moment she did so, a massive cloud of dust kicked up, completely obscuring her vision, but it proved quick to fade. Once it had, Power Girl began to get a better look at her surroundings.
Surrounding her field of vision was a pitch-black sky, with Earth laying directly in front of her. The pale ground beneath her was filled with craters, no matter where she looked. Quickly realizing where she was, Kara sighed as she pulled herself back up. The moment she did so, she was surprised to find that Carol’s powers weren’t weighing her down. In fact, she’d gotten up with no trouble at all.
‘Looks like your powers don’t work if there’s no gravity to manipulate!’ Power Girl thought as she smirked, only for it to drop as her super-hearing picked up a new sound. A confused “Hm?” emerged from her throat as the sound of crackling energy filled her ears. Looking up, she watched as a trail of energy shot through the air at blinding speeds, touching down onto the Moon in no time! The moment it did so, a massive cloud of dust kicked up, quickly dispersing to reveal Binary. Upon seeing that Power Girl was still alive, the evolved heroine couldn’t help but smirk.
‘Seems she’s a bit tougher than I gave her credit for.’ She thought to herself. ‘Good. I was looking for an excuse to start cutting loose, anyway!’
As this thought entered through her mind, Carol rushed toward her at top speed, moving so quickly that a trail of rubble emerged beneath her. An energy-enhanced punch seemed dead-set to make contact with Power Girl’s jaw, but the Woman of Steel leapt to the side before intercepting it with a right hook. The force of the blow caused her head to snap to the right, but other than that Binary showed no signs of pain.
”That all you got?” She asked. While the vacuum of space would’ve normally muted this taunt, Power Girl’s enhanced hearing allowed her to pick up on it. Even if she hadn’t, Carol’s next actions would’ve gotten the point across. No sooner than these words had left her mouth did the Kree retaliate with a backhand. It struck hard enough that Power Girl found herself flying across the satellite, her body hopelessly tumbling across the rocky terrain. This would continue for three seconds before Karen planted her hand into the ground, letting her grind to a halt. Upon doing so, however, her hearing picked up a new sound: a familiar, crackling sound.
Her eyes widening as she realized what it was, Power Girl wasted no time in throwing herself forward, intent on escaping the blast’s radius. Unfortunately, it was clear from Binary’s smirk that Karen had greatly misjudged the amount of energy she’d expended. When she heard it beneath her, Power Girl had expected a blast of energy that was roughly her height and width, maybe a bit larger for Binary to ensure she’d be caught in the crossfire. What she hadn’t expected was this!
An enormous pillar of energy erupted from beneath the Moon’s surface, its size large enough to encompass multiple city blocks, and it only seemed to keep growing! With each millisecond that passed, the column of combined photon and heat would only expand further. In roughly five seconds, it had increased to the point of being comparable to a nuclear bomb, and so too did its power! The energy began to eat away at Power Girl’s costume, exposing more of her skin to the bombardment. Burns were starting to form across her body, and the energy it was outputting had nearly caused her to black out. Even with her best efforts, she could still see black dots dancing in her eyes, and they seemed to be growing larger with each second that passed. Any second now, Power Girl was going to lose consciousness. Carol was going to win, and there was nothing Karen could do to stop it.
‘Bullshit!’ Karen thought defiantly as she clenched her fist. ’I haven’t survived this long just to lose like this! I’ve survived numerous Crises-‘
Starr worked up the courage to place her foot through the air and brought it down, taking a step forward.
‘I’ve taken on Superboy Prime without any trouble-‘
Another step forward.
‘-faced off against the Black Lanterns-‘
A third step soon turned into a fourth. A fifth became a sixth. In no time at all, the Kryptonian had rapidly built up speed, and she was using it to her fullest extent run through the column of energy.
‘-and battled mad New Gods. Compared to them-’
The blast continued to eat away at her stamina. Every muscle in her body screamed at her to give in, but she wasn’t going to give up so easily.
”THIS IS NOTHING!” Power Girl declared as she leapt out from the column of energy.
”What?!” Binary asked, audibly shocked just before a left hook nailed itself into her jaw. The force of the blow sent the Kree heroine rocketing through the air, moving so quickly that fire began to surround her entire body. Rather than worry about this, however, she instead began focusing, allowing her body to begin absorbing the energy of reentry. Once she had come to a stop, Carol looked down just in time to see Power Girl soaring toward her at faster-than-light speeds. In an attempt to stop her Kryptonian adversary, Binary thrust her hand forward, exerting her control of gravity-
KRACKT!
-only for a right hook to suddenly smash itself into her jaw! The blow sent Danvers reeling back and hurtling through space, but Karen wasn’t finished! With a sudden burst of speed, Power Girl slammed into Binary with a double-handed punch to the stomach. As the Kree heroine was sent flying further through the depths of space, her opponent responded by using her speed to immediately close the distance. Another punch or kick would then impact against Danvers’ body, resulting in a seemingly endless process of punching, launching, and closing in. Or at least that’s what it seemed.
Several punches later, and the Kree punching bag felt something solid slam into her back. Though the thought of what she landed on briefly crossed her mind, it was quickly silenced as another punch sent her crashing through the ground. She wouldn’t even have the chance to recover, as the surrounding reddish-brown debris began to collapse on top of her.
[Stop music]
As the Venusian rubble collapsed over Carol, Power Girl immediately boosted through the air, her destination laying straight ahead: the Sun. Her previous clashes with Carol had taken a lot out of her, and if she wanted to keep this up, she’d need to refuel.
’I don’t have much time, though.’ She thought to herself. ‘She’s probably digging her way out as I speak.’
Little did Karen know, her assumption was correct. While she was busy drawing closer to the Sun, Binary had thrust her hand forward, firing a column of energy that tore through the planet’s mantle. Now free of her prison, the fiery heroine soared through the air, her gaze focused solely on her surroundings.
‘Now, where is she?’ Binary thought suspiciously as she scanned through the depths of space. While in the middle of doing so, however, she suddenly let out a scream and clutched her head.
For some reason, her head suddenly began to throb, and it only seemed to be getting worse. Her seventh sense was acting up again, but if it was having this kind of reaction, then it must’ve been serious! As this realization came to her, the former Ms. Marvel opened her eyes, and it was then that she was met with an extremely chilling vision.
Standing before her was Power Girl, fully healed of her injuries with her right arm currently outstretched. Binary looked down, unintentionally coughing up blood as she found the Kryptonian’s fist was embedded in her stomach. No, embedded didn’t fully cover it.
Power Girl’s fist had torn through Binary’s stomach, leaving a fist-sized hole that bore straight through her abdomen. Binary let out several strangled gasps, trying in vain to form some sort of plea for mercy, but she found herself unable to speak. Noticing this, Karen raised her arm higher, carrying the disemboweled heroine by her newly-created stomach cavity. The two alien heroines now met each other’s gaze, Carol’s gold eyes staring directly into Karen’s blue. The Kryptonian’s eyes flashed red for a split second, and then everything went black.
A gasp of shock emerged from Binary as the vision ended, allowing her to return to reality. She blinked several times before looking around, keeping her guard up just in case. With the vision she’d just received, she knew that Power Girl would likely attack from anywhere. And with what she had just been shown, it seemed her current state wasn’t going to cut it. If she wanted to survive, she’d need more power!
[Stop music]
As this thought ran through her mind, Carol noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Turning to face it, the hybrid found herself staring directly into the Sun, but rather than being blinded, she responded with a smirk. It seemed she’d just found the answer to her dilemma!
Meanwhile, floating along the Sun’s surface was Power Girl, who was currently stretching her arms. Though it had only been a few seconds, the Kryptonian had already absorbed enough energy to give herself a drastic boost in power. Her muscles were flowing with renewed energy, and the injuries she’d previously sustained had now healed in their entirety. Just a few more seconds, and then she’d… wait a minute.
Focusing her telescopic vision, Karen managed to get a closer look at who was approaching, though she already had a feeling she knew who it was.
’Yeah, that’s her, alright.’ Power Girl thought to herself as she watched Carol stop and extend both arms forward. The moment she saw this, Starr’s eyes widened slightly. ‘Wait. Is she planning to-‘
Kara wouldn’t get the chance to finish her thoughts, as Carol began extracting energy. Two massive wisps of flame emerged from the star’s surface, meeting in the middle of her palms.
For some reason, her head suddenly began to throb, and it only seemed to be getting worse. Her seventh sense was acting up again, but if it was having this kind of reaction, then it must’ve been serious! As this realization came to her, the former Ms. Marvel opened her eyes, and it was then that she was met with an extremely chilling vision.
Standing before her was Power Girl, fully healed of her injuries with her right arm currently outstretched. Binary looked down, unintentionally coughing up blood as she found the Kryptonian’s fist was embedded in her stomach. No, embedded didn’t fully cover it.
Power Girl’s fist had torn through Binary’s stomach, leaving a fist-sized hole that bore straight through her abdomen. Binary let out several strangled gasps, trying in vain to form some sort of plea for mercy, but she found herself unable to speak. Noticing this, Karen raised her arm higher, carrying the disemboweled heroine by her newly-created stomach cavity. The two alien heroines now met each other’s gaze, Carol’s gold eyes staring directly into Karen’s blue. The Kryptonian’s eyes flashed red for a split second, and then everything went black.
A gasp of shock emerged from Binary as the vision ended, allowing her to return to reality. She blinked several times before looking around, keeping her guard up just in case. With the vision she’d just received, she knew that Power Girl would likely attack from anywhere. And with what she had just been shown, it seemed her current state wasn’t going to cut it. If she wanted to survive, she’d need more power!
[Stop music]
As this thought ran through her mind, Carol noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Turning to face it, the hybrid found herself staring directly into the Sun, but rather than being blinded, she responded with a smirk. It seemed she’d just found the answer to her dilemma!
Meanwhile, floating along the Sun’s surface was Power Girl, who was currently stretching her arms. Though it had only been a few seconds, the Kryptonian had already absorbed enough energy to give herself a drastic boost in power. Her muscles were flowing with renewed energy, and the injuries she’d previously sustained had now healed in their entirety. Just a few more seconds, and then she’d… wait a minute.
Focusing her telescopic vision, Karen managed to get a closer look at who was approaching, though she already had a feeling she knew who it was.
’Yeah, that’s her, alright.’ Power Girl thought to herself as she watched Carol stop and extend both arms forward. The moment she saw this, Starr’s eyes widened slightly. ‘Wait. Is she planning to-‘
Kara wouldn’t get the chance to finish her thoughts, as Carol began extracting energy. Two massive wisps of flame emerged from the star’s surface, meeting in the middle of her palms.
”Hell. No.” Power Girl said irritably as she rushed forward, hellbent on preventing Danvers from absorbing anymore energy. While she did so, Carol noticed a blur briefly emerge from the sun, causing her to put her guard up. Her eyes shifted around the area, searching for where her opponent was going to strike next. Her seventh sense alerted her to an attack directly in front of her, causing her to instinctively leap away from Power Girl’s gut punch. As she watched the fist fly past her, Danvers let out a sigh of relief. If she’d been a second too late, that vision may have come to-
Her thoughts cut themselves off as another buzz entered her mind, this time warning about an attack from her right. She whirled around, attempting to block it with her arm-
WHAM!
-only for Power Girl’s fist to break through her defenses with a left hook, sending the Kree flying back. As she came to a stop, Carol began focusing her newfound energy, forcing it to manifest into a new shape. The energy trails began extending outward, quickly solidifying into a pair of golden blades. Now armed with her new weapons, Binary boosted toward Power Girl, instinctively throwing out her arm to deliver an outward slash. In response, Kara quickly leaned back, allowing the blade to just barely graze her top. Undeterred, Danvers used the momentum of her attack to whirl around and deliver a spinning slash. The blade descended through the air, but it would meet the same result as Karen leapt back. Two slashes, both in an X pattern, followed suit, with their target ducking under each.
Before Carol could attempt a third attack, Power Girl rocketed forward, slamming into her with a punch to the stomach. The force of the blow sent Danvers hurtling back, coughing up several flecks of blood. She wasn’t sure, but she felt like that punch had done some significant damage to her insides. If she’d been in her regular, human form…
Binary quickly shook the thought from her mind. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about possibilities and “what-ifs.” Right now, the only thing that mattered was beating Power Girl!
With this thought in mind, Carol began drawing more energy from her surroundings and channeled all of it into two sources: her hands. The blades that surrounded them began to grow in length, rapidly increasing with each millisecond that passed, and Carol was more than ready to use them!
In a sudden burst of speed, Binary appeared in front of Power Girl, thrusting her powered-up construct forward like a javelin! Though her opponent’s newfound speed briefly caught her off guard, Kara proved quick to recover as she grabbed hold of the blade, stopping it only an inch from her stomach. Gritting her teeth, Binary began exerting herself even further, slowly pushing her construct forward. Starr responded by slowly pushing back, ignoring how the sword was digging into her fingers. What she did acknowledge was the strength behind Carol’s construct. With every second that passed, Binary continued to push her sword further, but she wasn’t the only one who could absorb energy!
Thanks to being in close proximity to the Sun, Power Girl’s strength was increasing rapidly. Whatever Binary had absorbed, it was nothing compared to the solar energy Kara was taking in, and this was beginning to show itself. As the energy continued adding to her strength, Power Girl’s grip grew tighter, and with it she continued to push the blade away from her stomach. Noticing this, Carol attempted to swing her free hand, but just as she brought it into the air Karen twisted her captive arm to the side.
CRUNCH!
[Stop music]
Had they been on Earth, the sound of Binary’s bones snapping, followed by her blood-chilling scream, would have echoed throughout several city blocks. As the pain overloaded her mind, Carol instinctively swung her free arm through the air. The construct slashed across Karen’s face, producing a massive gash and eliciting an annoyed grunt. Although the nearby solar radiation ensured that it would heal, the pain had been enough to make her release Carol, which the ex-captive quickly took advantage of!
Now free from the Kryptonian’s grip, Danvers wasted no time in delivering a counter attack, this time thrusting her free arm forward and converting the construct into something else. Rather than a blade, the Kree heroine decided to aim for something a bit more… blunt.
As a flattened end appeared in front of her, Carol threw her newly formed battering ram as hard as she could. The bludgeon smashed into Power Girl’s stomach, eliciting a cough of spittle and blood from the Kryptonian as she was sent flying through the air. The head of Starrware hurtled through space, unable to stop herself, and Binary wasn’t willing to give her the time of day!
With the surplus of solar energy now coursing through her veins, Danvers rushed toward the helpless Karen at top speed. Once she was close enough, the Kree heroine wasted no time in wailing on her. Energy-infused punches and kicks slammed into her without any semblance of mercy, sending Power Girl flying further through the depths of space. Each one threatened to break her bones, and the intensity of these attacks only seemed to increase that risk. She could already feel her bones reaching their limit, and if this continued any longer she’d be fighting with a handicap. But if this idea worried her in any way, she didn’t show it. If anything, it seemed to have the opposite reaction: it was really starting to piss her off!
As more body blows continued to smash into her body, Karen clenched her fist in anger. Then, in a sudden burst of rage-fueled strength, she threw out a left hook as hard as she could muster! The resulting impact was enough to send Carol’s body flying dozens of feet away, a silent scream adorning her face as she soared through space. Once she had come to a stop, the former Ms. Marvel felt that something was off. Placing her hand against her jaw, Carol was surprised to find that it had been completely broken. Even with her healing factor, this was still going to take some time. She wouldn’t have this luxury, however, as Power Girl had already closed the distance between them!
Using her newly restored energy, Karen combined both speed and strength to deliver a nonstop barrage of punches and kicks. Each one struck a designated area of Carol’s body, from pressure points to vital organs, and the ever-increasing speed was only making the damage worse! Carol could feel each of her bones crush themselves under the weight of Karen’s blows, and her organs were suffering a similar fate. Not even her regeneration seemed to help, as Power Girl was actually throwing her blows out faster than the healing factor could act! And it was this fact that ultimately proved to be the last straw.
While she normally would’ve been able to hold out, the constant punishment she was taking left Carol nigh-defenseless. She would briefly black out from the pain, only for another strike to force her to wake up. But even as she suffered this seemingly endless combo, Carol still found it in her to resist!
With great difficulty, she managed to bring her miraculously still functional left arm up. Then, after swiping it through the air, the heroine had- through what was either coincidence of sheer dumb luck- managed to grab hold of Power Girl’s wrist. She began focusing her Kree genetics, trying to sap some more of Kara’s energy for herself, but then-
CRUNCH!
Starr had grabbed hold of the outstretched arm and casually applied pressure, reducing the limb to splinters of bone. A scream threatened to emerge from Carol’s mouth, but a quick exhale of ice breath silenced any chance of that happening. The surrounding molecules began to slow down, shifting into chunks of ice around Danvers’ head. These chunks grew at an alarming rate, increasing in size with each millisecond until a massive block had coated Carol’s entire face. Realizing this, she began attempting to focus her remaining energy into thawing it out, but this proved to be the opening Power Girl needed!
Grabbing hold of the frozen heroine’s arms, Karen then tugged on them, dragging their owner into a knee strike that caused the ice to shatter like glass and send its captor flying back. Rather than let it end there, however, Power Girl rushed toward her, nailing the hybrid with a left straight punch. The moment it made contact, Carol was sent soaring toward the planet Mercury, desperately trying to stop her trajectory. This effort would prove futile, as Power Girl lunged forward and smashed into her with a right hook. The impact sent her Kree adversary crashing onto the planet’s surface, eliciting an involuntary cough of blood and spittle.
Not one to give up so easily, Captain Marvel placed her hand on the ground and began working up the strength to push herself back up. Unfortunately, it would seem that fate wasn’t on her side. The moment she began pushing, a flare of pain surged through her body, and she immediately collapsed. As she lay on the gray, rocky terrain, desperately gasping for breath, Carol noticed a familiar shadow floating above her.
‘Shit.’ She thought as she tried pushing once again, this time focusing all of her energy into acting as an adrenaline boost. She began propping herself back up, using her unbroken arm to support her weight, but before she could continue this struggle, Power Girl descended onto her like a hawk. Once she was close enough, the heroine from Earth-2 threw her right fist forward, causing Carol’s eyes to widen in horror just as-
THOOOOOM!
[Stop music]
A massive explosion erupted outward, large enough that it could be seen from space. For several seconds, a massive cloud of dust covered most of the planet’s surface, but once it had faded the aftereffects could be seen clear as day. Captain Marvel’s body lay perfectly still, though with one major difference: it no longer possessed a head. The moment Power Girl’s fist collided with Carol’s face, it had completely torn through her skull, though there was little evidence to suggest this. The explosion had vaporized any possible blood or skull fragments, while its heat had cauterized the decapitated stump. The only signs of Marvel’s fate were the fist-shaped imprint where her head had once been, as well as the now bloodied glove of Power Girl. Speaking of which…
Power Girl looked down at Carol’s body, a mix of emotions stirring inside her. While she felt some slight relief that the fight was over, it was overwhelmed by the other feelings within her: horror at what she’d just done, guilt for taking someone’s life, and anger at herself for not seeing the signs and pulling her punch at the last second. A sigh emerged from her lips as she looked down at the captain with a somber expression. She hadn’t meant for it to end like this. That last punch should’ve only knocked Carol out, but instead it had been the blow to unintentionally take the captain’s life.
”I know you can’t hear me, but I’m sorry it had to end like this.” She said aloud, her voice somehow carrying through the vacuum of space. Her eyes flashed red for a brief moment, and then-
FWOOM!
Two beams of heat vision emerged from Kara’s eyes, consuming Captain Marvel’s body. Under the intense heat, the corpse was rendered charred and blackened almost immediately. A split second later and the body would collapse, now reduced to nothing more than ashes. As the heat vision dispersed, the last remains of Carol Danvers were swept up by a sudden gust of wind, scattering them throughout the planet’s surface.
Power Girl watched for several seconds as the wind blew away at Carol’s remains, her emotions still stirring up inside of her. Then, with a melancholic sigh, she turned her back to where Carol had once lain and took to the air, ready to begin a long journey back to Earth.
—
Well, looks like Marvel has just lost its flagship character!
From the start, this match was pretty clear-cut. When it came to strength and durability, Power Girl and Captain Marvel both had some impressive feats, as they’ve regularly contended with some of their universe’s heavy hitters. The difference comes when you look at who they’ve fought against. When it came to strength, Carol’s shown the ability to knock out the Gray Hulk, who was able to destroy an asteroid that was twice the size of Earth. This feat has been calculated as 169 zettatons, or Planet Level. Additionally, she’s been able to tradeblows with Iron Man, who survived being stuck in a black hole. Trading blows with Iron Man, by proxy, would make her superior to The Thing, who has consistently fought the star-creating Miracle Man.
So Power Girl takes strength and durability, but what about speed? Well, Carol would once again scale to Iron Man, who was able to fly to the planet Baluur and back within a short amount of time. This feat was calculated as being 111,506 times FTL, and while it’s certainly impressive, it still paled in comparison to Power Girl had. She’s shown to be capable of blitzing Wonder Woman, who can react anywhere from 2.72 to 16.34 quattuordecillion times FTL, and has kept up with Black Adam, who’s said to be faster than Superman.
Keep in mind that these are all feats from the Post Crisis era. By scaling her to Pre-Crisis feats, she’d once again be comparable to Pre-Crisis Superman, who can move fast enough to tear through the fabric of spacetime and fly faster than infinity.In short, Power Girl completely decimates Captain Marvel in the stat trinity, but what about the other factors?
Well, experience is a bit hard to decide. Both have fought their fair share of supervillains and served as members for numerous superhero teams, but in the end I’d just barely give this to Carol, as her time in the military would’ve given her an earlier start in her career. This military experience would’ve also included training in both armed and unarmed combat, though Power Girl’s tutelage under martial arts masters like Wildcat and Mongo Krebs would let her trump Carol in CQC. She’d also have the edge in terms of intelligence, since her Kryptonian DNA gives her superior mental capacities and enhanced memorization skills.
When it came to powers, both were evenly matched in mobility due to their flight, though other than that they each had their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, Carol’s energy absorption rendered Power Girl’s heat vision useless, it gave her a way to heal herself, and she could use it to boost her stats. Her photon blasts gave her an edge in versatility when it came to long-range, and she could even morph her stored energy into constructs, giving her an edge in unpredictability. There’s also her seventh sense, which seems like it would be beneficial since it lets her predict her opponent’s next move. The only problem is that it activates at random, and while she’s used it to dodge a blast moving at faster than light speeds, Power Girl’s speed is so far beyond hers that Carol would get blitzed before she could even react.
It didn’t help that nearly all of Power Girl’s powers gave her an edge over Carol. For example, she could counter Marvel’s energy absorption by drawing more energy from the Sun, which would provide a further boost to her stats. The super breath could be used to freeze Danvers over or blow her back, and the x-ray and microscopic visions could allow her to discover Carol’s energy absorption. Even if she didn’t and Carol tried to surprise her by, say, sucking out her energy, Power Girl’s withstood similardrains before and kept fighting. Hell, with her vastly superior stats and penchant for close-quarters, it’s likely Carol wouldn’t even get that far before being taken out.
And it’s not like going Binary would help out either. Sure, it increases her stats, gives her better energy manipulation and gravitokinesis, but there are quite a few drawbacks with it. The main problem is that to obtain this form in the first place, Carol needs to absorb a massive amount of energy, which she wouldn’t have the chance to do before Power Girl blitzes her and one-shots. And I already went over why Karen would resist her absorption, so that’s out too.
Even if we ignore all this and assume Carol entered this form from the start, it wouldn’t change the verdict, since Power Girl would still hold a massive edge in stats. There’s also the fact that one of Binary’s more overpowered abilities, transmuting an opponent’s molecular structure, wouldn’t work on Power Girl, who was unaffected by a blast that was meant to rearrange her atoms.
In the end, while Carol may have held an edge in experience, Power Girl far exceeded her in every other category: physicality, fighting skills, intelligence, and powerset. In short, this was one opponent that Carol just couldn’t power through.
The winner is Power Girl.
Power Girl (Winner) + Eclipsed Carol in the stat trinity + Better combat training + More intelligent + Larger array of powers + Could resist Carol’s energy absorption and Binary’s abilities + Would be able to blitz Carol before Binary ever becomes an issue = Mobility = Both could boost their stats by absorbing energy (Power Girl via solar radiation and Carol via her surroundings) – Less experienced – Heat vision was useless due to Carol’s energy absorption + Though this wouldn’t matter due to her preference for close-quarters – Carol’s seventh sense could let her predict Power Girl’s moves + If it weren’t for the fact that it activates at random and Power Girl could blitz her before it activates
Carol Danvers (Loser) + More experienced + Energy absorption rendered Power Girl’s heat vision useless – Though this wouldn’t matter due to Power Girl’s preference for close-quarters + Photon energy gave her an edge in versatility and unpredictability + Seventh sense could let her predict Power Girl’s moves – If it weren’t for the fact that it activates at random and Power Girl could blitz her before it activates = Mobility = Both could boost their stats by absorbing energy (Power Girl via solar radiation and Carol via her surroundings) – Even with Binary, she was still outclassed in stats – Wouldn’t be able to access Binary before getting blitzed – Inferior combat training – Less intelligent – Smaller array of powers – Power Girl could resist her energy absorption and Binary’s abilities
When it comes to superheroines, there are plenty to choose from. From Supergirl and Batgirl to She-Hulk and Spider-Girl, it’s safe to say there’s no end to the amount of heroines one can find in comics, and each one has left their mark on the industry in some way, shape, or form. Such is the case for today’s blonde, beautiful powerhouses!
Power Girl, the Woman of Steel from Earth-Two!
And Carol Danvers, sixth successor to the legacy of Captain Marvel!
I’m Br3ndan5, and I’ll be analyzing their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win a DEATH BATTLE!
Thanks to Dynamo1212 for the Power Girl bio and MadnessAbe for the Carol bio.
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Power Girl AKA: Kara Zor-L, Karen Starr, Kara of Atlantis, Nightwing, Karen Danvers, Karen Steele, Supergirl, Galatea, The Girl Of Steel, The Woman Of Steel, Power Woman, Powergirl Height: 6’3″ Weight: 200 lbs Occupation: Businesswoman, Superhero First Appearance: All-Star Comics #58 All Star Super Squad (February 1976)
Feats: -Was the Supergirl of Earth 2 -Is a member of the Justice Society of America -Founded her own technology company Starrware -Was one of the founding members of Infinity Inc -Was a member of Justice League Europe -Used to work with the Birds of Prey -Teamed up with Supergirl to free Kandor from Ultraman -Along with Atlee, saved Manhattan from Ultra-Humanite -Helped Vartox cure his people of a contraceptive bomb -Worked with the Justice League to hunt down Maxwell Lord -Stopped a cyborg called C.R.A.S.H. from destroying New York City
Born on the dying planet Krypton, Kara Zor-L was rocketed off of her home planet by her parents Zor-L and Allura In-Z in an attempt to save their daughter from their own inescapable fate. The rocket, known as a Symbioship, kept the infant in stasis, as she was still developing at the time. During its trek through space, the ship’s AI would run a virtual reality program, allowing her to interact with life-like copies of everyone on Krypton, including her own parents.
Twenty years later, the Symbioship would find its destination and land on Earth, where she would meet Kal-L, her cousin and a fellow survivor of Krypton, as well as his wife, Lois Lane. The two would welcome her into the family with open arms and help her adjust to life on Earth. During this time, she would take on the secret identity of a computer programmer named Karen Starr, while also using her Kryptonian powers to fight crime as the superhero Power Girl.
Unfortunately for Karen, this life wasn’t destined to last. Several years later, a creature known as the Anti-Monitor would begin his quest to wipe out the multiverse, forcing Karen to team up with an army of various heroes and villains from other Earths in an attempt to defeat him. While they proved successful in doing so, it would come at the cost of multiple Earths being destroyed, with Karen’s being among the casualties.
With her home destroyed, Power Girl was left to live in the New Earth universe, though the world was having trouble adjusting to her existence. Since she wasn’t supposed to exist there, Kara’s memories became scrambled, and she was given a new origin. According to this new history, she was the daughter of an Atlantean sorcerer and had been frozen in suspended animation for several millennia before waking up in the present day. Unaware of this change, Power Girl would make history in New Earth, joining teams such as the Justice League Europe and the Justice Society of America.
It wouldn’t be until an encounter with the sociopathic empath Psycho Pirate that Power Girl would regain her memories, with the Superman of her Earth later returning and revealing that he and several others had survived the Crisis. He also revealed to her that he intended to recreate Earth-Two, as he felt that the new Earth had become too desolate and grim.
Although she was at first conflicted, she ultimately began to oppose the idea upon learning that another co-conspirator in the plan, Alexander Luthor, was actually planning to destroy New Earth in an attempt to bring back the multiverse. Although she tried to fight him, she was captured and placed inside of the machine he had built. She would later be freed and partake in the final battle, which would end in a tearful farewell to the dying Earth-Two Superman.
After this, Kara would continue her role as a hero, playing a pivotal role in the revival of the Justice Society. At the same time, she would create Starrware Industries, a company designed to help provide solutions to the Earth’s environmental problems; began mentoring the young heroine Atlee; and would continue fighting crime as Power Girl.
Physicality:
Strength: -Shattered a giant magic sword -With Martian Manhunter, Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, and Green Lantern, pushed a giant ball of space junk -Easily broke out of Green Lantern constraints -Punched Wonder Woman hard enough to send her to Canada -Beat up an alternate universe version of Superman -Is stronger than Supergirl -Staggered the Kingdom Come Green Lantern -Caught a giant alien space ship that was hurling towards earth -Strong enough to hurt Captain Atom with her blows -Hit Despero hard enough to make him scream -Knocked around an alternate Mary Marvel -Choked out Guy Gardner -Managed to knock down Black Adam with her blows
Speed: -Is fast enough to outpace Wonder Woman -Can keep up with the likes of Superman -Kept up with Black Adam, who is said to be faster than Superman -Managed to take a gun from someone without them noticing -Moved through a city in seconds -Caught one of the Crimson Avenger’s bullets and tossed it back at him -Caught up with a missile and diverted its direction
Durability: -Tanked blows from a powerful demon -Shrugged off a blast that rearranges atoms -Is mildly annoyed after getting hit hard enough to send her to the moon -Endured several hits from Wonder Woman without a scratch -Withstood hits from Superman -Took blasts from Booster Gold, Fire, and Ice -No-sold a punch from Aquaman -Took a laser blast to the face and is barely scratched -Survived a brutal beating by Superboy Prime -Endured being strangled by Black Adam -Suffered no damage after taking Supergirl’s heat vision at point-blank
Skills and Abilities:
Expert Hand to Hand Combatant: -Has trained under several martial artists -Trained under Wildcat, a world renowned boxer and hand to hand combatant -Knows Karate after receiving training from Mongo Krebs
Genius Intellect: -Kryptonians naturally have superior mental capacities than most humans -Has shown enhanced memorization, intelligence and computational abilities -Is a capable business leader and manager -Assembled a device that took Mr. Terrific several days to make
Solar Energy Absorption: -Kryptonians gain their powers through exposure to solar radiation from a yellow sun -The closer she is to a sun and the longer the exposure, the stronger she becomes -Exposure to blue sun radiation increases her capabilities greatly
Heat Vision: -Can fire beams of intense heat from her eyes -The intensity and area of effect can be increase or decreased at will -Her eye beams can hurt the likes of Black Adam and stagger the Kingdom Come Superman
Electromagnetic Spectrum Vision: -Can see into most of the electromagnetic spectrum -Can see and identify radio and television signals along with other broadcast frequencies -Able to avoid detection by radar or satellite monitoring methods with this ability -This ability allows her to see the aura generated by living beings
Super Hearing: -Can hear any sound at any volume or pitch -With enough skill and concentration, she can block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific frequency
Telescopic Vision -Can see things at extremely great distances -Able to see with better acuity in darkness, and to a degree in total darkness
Microscopic Vision: -Can see extremely small objects and images down to the atomic level
X-Ray Vision: -Can see through any volume of matter except lead -Able to focus this ability to “peel back” layers of an object, allowing hidden images or inner workings to be observed -Scans a laboratory with her X-Ray vision -Uses X-Rays to locate Hakkou
Flight: -Can defy the force of gravity to fly -Capable of flying at faster than light speeds
Super Breath: -Able to create hurricane force winds by breathing really hard -Can also freeze whatever she breathes on -Can also reverse the process to pull large volumes of air into her lungs -Froze an IX Negaspike, a monster that can eat an entire planet -Freezes Supergirl’s Sanctuary
Weaknesses: -If exposed to Kryptonite, she will become weaker and eventually die if she’s around it for too long -Though it should be noted that only Kryptonite from her Earth can affect her this way, otherwise she’s immune to it -Vulnerable to magic -Gradually loses her powers when away from yellow solar radiation -For some reason, drinking diet soda makes her act aggressive and erratic -Her portrayal in Injustice 2
(“Atlee, I fought Superboy Prime, Black Lanterns, mad New Gods and survived multiple Crises. I think I understand more about evil than you probably ever-“) ——————————————————
Captain Marvel Real Name: Carol Susan Jane Danvers Other Aliases: Ms. Marvel, Warbird, Captain Whiz Bang, Binary Height: 5’11” Weight: 165 lbs Occupation: Superhero/Adventurer, Commander of the Alpha Flight Space Program, Formerly U.S. Air Force Captain, NASA Head of Security, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent First Appearance: Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (March 1968) Theme:
Feats: -Prior to gaining her powers, worked as a Special Operations agent for the U.S. Air Force, participating in several covert missions across the globe -Among these missions, worked alongside Wolverine and The Thing and battled the likes of Sabretooth and Black Widow -During another mission, underwent several hours of electric torture without breaking and manipulated her torturer into unintentionally freeing her, allowing her to kill him with her bare hands, gain the intel she was sent to find, and escape -Survived being knocked into a Kree weapon that altered her DNA, making her half-Kree as a result -Became a member of both the Avengers and X-Men -After being hit with a ray that evolved her into a higher being, became known as Binary and traveled and explored across space alongside the Starjammers -A decomposing clone of Carol, made up from her memories absorbed by Rogue, managed to nearly defeat her and only lost due to Magneto’s intervention -Utilized all of her cosmic energies to save the Sun, causing her to become human once more and rejoined the Avengers as ‘Warbird’ -Played an instrumental part in defeating Kang the Conqueror during the Kang Wars -Became the most popular hero on Earth following the fusion of the mainstream Marvel Universe with the House of M alternate reality -Became the leader of the Mighty Avengers, the New York-based heroes group following the Civil War -During this time, battled the returning Hulk and his Warbound, M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. forces, and the Brood -During the Skrull Invasion, battled and single-handedly killed several Skrulls and Super-Skrulls, and led an effort to bring survivors to the Raft -All this after being shot by Nick Fury, who mistakenly thought she was a Skrull in disguise -Following an assassination attempt on her ordered by Norman Osborn, split into four energy beings that managed to reform back together into her main body -Alongside with Spider-Man and Marvel Boy, battled the Hulk after he had become Nul, Breaker of Worlds -Saved New York City from a Kree attack, though suffered brain damage and memory loss -The memory loss was the result of her having a brain tumor that grew worse with the usage of her powers, and she still did all this anyway -During this time as an amnesiac, became a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy -Was one of the survivors of the initial destruction of the Multiverse, leading to Battleworld -During this time, was corrupted by Mister Sinister, and killed Madeline Pyror -Became the commander of the Alpha Flight Space Program, the first of Earth’s lines of defense against space-based threats -Took on the entire Spartax Armada by herself, forcing them to back off from the planet they intended to invade and colonize
Born to an abusive household and under poor living conditions, Carol Danvers often worked hard in an attempt to get her father to see her as equal to him. Unfortunately, her father refused to believe men and women could be equals, and when the time came to pick someone to send off to college, he chose his eldest son, Steve, despite Carol having better grades.
Unfazed by this, Carol would eventually join the military at 18, becoming the top member of her Air Force class and eventually rising into the force’s intelligence ranks. She would later resign from the Air force to join the Navy, where she met and befriended the Kree superhero Mar-Vell. During a battle with an invader named Yon-Rogg, Carol was knocked into the Psyche-Magnitron, a Kree device that turns imagination into reality. This machine altered her DNA and gave her the abilities of a Kree warrior, though she wasn’t aware of this at first since she’d constantly black out whenever they appeared.
After this incident, NASA would fire Carol due to her repeatedly showing an inability to maintain control over the various superhuman occurrences. Being extremely pissed-off, Carol did the same thing that other people do on Twitter when they can’t do their jobs properly: write a story that blames your problems on everyone but yourself. Unlike the vast majority of Twitter users, however, she actually published it as a book, making her a minor celebrity and even getting her a job as an editor.
After suffering several more black outs, Carol would manage to fix this problem with the help of the god Hecate and the Kree inquisitor Ronan the Accuser. Now able to use her powers without going unconscious, she took on the title of Ms. Marvel and began working alongside New York’s other heroes, even earning a spot on the Avengers.
Years later, after the death of Mar-Vell, Carol would take on his mantle, becoming the sixth person to succeed him as the superhero Captain Marvel. In this role, she’d fight off an invasion from the Brood, briefly work with the Guardians of the Galaxy, started a second Civil War, and defended Earth from the alien empire known as the Chitauri.
Physicality:
Strength: -Her normal strength level is said to be between Class 25 and Class 90, or likely at Class 75 -This would mean she could normally lift 75 tons, or 150,000 lbs -Backhanded a military tank being hurled at her -Can destroy metal and concrete with her bare hands -Can easily lift and throw cars, often weaponizing them as battering rams or projectiles -Is strong enough to hurt and kill powerful alien races such as the Brood, Kree, and Skrulls -Strong enough to knock out Cassandra Lang/Stature, when she grew to her full height -Supported the full weight of a collapsing tower -Even when weakened, lifted and pulled a full subway train by herself -Punched an alien into space with a single strike of her left arm, which Carol admits is her weaker arm
Speed: -Is capable of moving at speeds far greater than any human athlete, and beyond the speeds a human eye can react to -Her reflexes are quick enough that she can react to speeds far greater than that of any human being -Is fast enough to evade machine gun rounds and lasers
Durability: -Is capable of withstanding high-caliber rounds, great impacts from powerful beings, falls from great heights, exposure to extreme temperatures and pressure, and immensely powerful energy blasts -Can survive the vacuum of space -Has repeatedly survived falls from outer space to Earth -Shrugged off using her own body to keep a train with passengers from crashing -Took several punches from a bloodlusted Wonder Man, all of which sent across a city -Took several high powered magical blasts and spells from the Traveler, and still won while suffering a broken arm -Survived being point blank in a nuclear explosion and was perfectly fine and alive 12 hours later -Survived being within the explosion of the Psyche-Magnetron, which was of similar if not greater size than a nuclear explosion, and was only briefly stunned
Superhuman Stamina: -Can extert herself up to 24 hours before needing to take a rest -Fought off a Skrull invasion on New York for an entire day without resting so she could save time for reinforcements
Skills and Abilities:
Expert Combatant: -Extensively trained in hand-to-hand combat and armed combat through her military training -Is a skilled markswoman as well
Expert Pilot: -Is trained in piloting multiple vehicles due to her Air Force training -Can fly both human-made airplanes and jets, as well as alien starships from the Kree, Shi’ar, and other similar races
Experienced Spy: -Did undercover work all over the globe prior to gaining her powers -Has developed highly advanced espionage skills, including infiltration, surveillance, interrogation, and disguise
Multilingualism: -Can fluently speak English, German, Russian, Japanese, and even the alien languages of the Kree and Shi’ar
Powers:
Flight: -Can propel herself into the air and fly at immensely high speeds -Has been shown to fly at three to six times the speed of sound for several hours, but this is not her true limit -This can range from 2,301 to 4,602 mph -Has flown to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere in just under two minutes, and on two separate occasions
Flash Precognition: -A form of seventh sense -Allows Carol to predict her opponent’s next moves and counter them -Is unreliable and activates at random
Toxin/Poison Immunity: -A result of her human/Kree physiology
Photonic Blasts: -Can fire powerful concussive blasts of photon/stellar energy from her hands and fingertips -Can be fired in the form of beams, orbs of energy, shockwaves along the ground, or beams that can split and hit multiple opponents -Powerful enough to incinerate zombies, overload the systems of the robot Sappers, and deal immense damage to Count Nefaria, who can match up to the likes of Thor
Energy Absorption: -Body is capable of absorbing different types of energy, down to magical energy, to temporarily enhance her own powers -With enough power, can augment her strength and energy blasts to the power of nuclear weapons -Can regenerate from injuries by absorbing energy -Absorbing the power of an entire city allowed her to curbstomp Iron Man -Absorbing the power of a nuke allowed her to have enough power to match the Sentry -Absorbing Monica Rambeau, who can transform into energy, allowed her to easily destroy a giant robot -By absorbing enough power, Carol can transform into her Binary form
Binary: -Carol’s higher evolution into a being of cosmic energy -Was created when Carol absorbed the powers of a white hole
-Can generate extremely powerful amounts of heat, radiation, light, and other forms of energy in this state, augmenting her power even further -Lets her manipulate gravity, breathe in the vacuum of space, become cosmically aware enough to sense all energies and disruptions across the galaxy, and fly at FTL speeds
Weaknesses: -Is suseptible to telepathic attacks and immensely powerful magic -While she can absorb energy, she won’t be able to absorb it if there’s too much for her to handle -Has gone through periods of alcoholism that put Tony Stark to shame -The infamous comic where she was forcibly impregnated -Modern-day Marvel
Alright, the combatants are set. Let’s end this debate once and for all! It’s time for a Death Battle!
——————————————————
A massive building was currently laying in the middle of New York City. It stood at 600 feet by 500 feet and sported a frame crafted from a combination of oak and various metals. Its inside consisted of a grandstand that surrounded a massive fighting ring. The ring in question was blank white and almost featureless, save for the massive logo that lay in the middle: a red circle containing the letters DOATEC written in black.
Indeed, this massive building had been constructed by DOATEC’s employees to serve as the battlefield for the company’s latest Dead or Alive tournament. And given the numbers they were pulling in- both in terms of contestants and in terms of spectators- they seemed to be doing extremely well! Hundreds of fighters from across the world had chosen to participate in the tournament, and the stadium’s seats were filled to the brim. Thousands of people were occupying the seats, and while all of them were of differing backgrounds and ages, they had all gathered here for one reason: to watch the world’s greatest fighters duke it out to decide which one was the best!
To say that the audience was extremely hyped was an understatement. Even as they approached the finals, everyone in the stadium was cheering or screaming, and all of them were clamoring for the next match. They wouldn’t have to wait much longer, however, as the announcer suddenly made his grand entrance onto the stage, keeping a firm grip on his microphone. A wide grin appeared on his face as he took in the applause, and then he began speaking.
”LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” He shouted excitedly, his voice echoing throughout the entire stadium. “WE’RE NOW ENTERING THE FINAL ROUND OF THE SEVENTH ANNUAL DEAD OR ALIVE TOURNAMENT!”
The crowd erupted into cheers, but these cheers would soon be silenced as the announcer directed their attention to the left corner.
“IN THIS CORNER, WE HAVE THE FAMOUS HEIRESS OF THE SHIRANUI CLAN AND ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE KING OF FIGHTERS’ WOMAN’S TEAM, MAI SHIRANUI!”
A platform suddenly rose from beneath the stage, slowly ascending until it had met the ring’s height. Upon coming to a complete stop, its lone occupant stepped forward. She was a fair skinned woman with dark brown hair that had been done up in a waist-length ponytail. Her clothing consisted of a red, sleeveless, side-tie dress with white ropes around its shoulders. Her waist was covered by a black sash that contained gold lining and an intricate pattern. A pair of fingerless red gloves covered her hands, and her feet were concealed by black two-toed shoes with red lining.
As she made her way to the middle of the ring, Mai struck a pose, causing the audience to erupt into cheers and shouts. Once these screams had died down, the announcer continued.
”AND IN THIS CORNER, WE HAVE THE LEGENDARY NINJA AND CHAMPION OF THE VERY FIRST DEAD OR ALIVE TOURNAMENT, KASUMI!”
No sooner than these words had left his mouth, another platform rose through the air, revealing the next combatant. She was a slender, petite woman with copper hair that was done up in a back-length ponytail. Her outfit consisted of a side-tie dress, much like Mai’s, but there were some noticeable differences. The first was its color, as its fabric was a rich shade of blue, contrasting with Mai’s red. Additionally, its top contained short, puffy sleeves and white trim. Stitched on its back in gold was her name, written in Japanese. Her skirt was adorned with a white phoenix, while her legs were covered by a pair of thigh-length stockings. Low heeled sandals obscured her feet, and her arms and legs were covered by a set of blue-and-white guards. A pair of pockets lay near her waist, and a wakizashi was currently strapped to her side.
After walking down the pathway and toward the ring, Kasumi stopped directly in the middle of the arena and looked directly at Mai. The two kunoichi then bowed in respect. As they rose back up, Kasumi was first to speak.
”I wish you the best of luck, Shiranui-san.” She said as she lowered herself into a fighting stance.
“Same here, Kasumi-san.” Mai responded as she pulled a paper fan out of her cleavage and followed suit.
“IT SEEMS BOTH COMBATANTS ARE READY TO GIVE IT THEIR ALL! WHO’S GOING TO TAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP? WILL KASUMI SUCCEED IN ADDING ANOTHER VICTORY TO HER TOURNAMENT RECORD, OR WILL MAI OBTAIN THE TITLE SHE’S BEEN FIGHTING SO HARD FOR? LET’S FIND OUT!”
While the announcer was giving out this message, both Kasumi and Mai felt their legs tense up in preparation. They stared each other dead in the eye, waiting to see who was going to make the first move. Everyone in the arena would soon find the answer when the announcer gave a single command:
The moment this word had escaped the announcer’s lips, Mai rushed forward, closing the distance between herself and Kasumi almost immediately. Then, before Kasumi had a chance to register her sudden appearance, Mai threw out a hard punch to the stomach, forcing the nukenin to lurch over. Refusing to let up, Mai delivered two swift punches to the chest before sending Kasumi into the air with a high kick to the face. Kasumi ascended for a brief moment, and just as she began descending through the air-
“Ryuuenbu!” Mai declared as she spun in place, her outfit’s tassels catching fire as they slammed into Kasumi’s face. The Dead or Alive champion felt a small burn form on her face as she was launched several feet away, but she proved quick to recover by backflipping through the air. As she skid to a halt, Kasumi looked back up just in time to see Mai flipping toward her.
“Hissatsu Shinobi-Bachi!” Mai shouted as she approached the shinobi, wreathing herself in flames as she came down on Kasumi with a powerful elbow strike! The moment the strike made contact, however, her target’s body suddenly faded away, replaced by a flurry of cherry blossom petals. Mai’s confident expression morphed into one of surprise, which would only grow as her opponent’s voice rang out from behind her.
”I see that!” Kasumi declared as she reappeared, emphasizing her words with a swift elbow strike to Mai’s nape. Her opponent stumbled forward, the strike having caught her off guard, and Kasumi was more than willing to capitalize on it! With blinding speed, she delivered two punches to the upper back before throwing out a third to her lower back, striking hard enough that Mai cried out as she involuntarily bent over backward. Kasumi then followed up with a roundhouse kick to Mai’s exposed face, and just as quickly threw out a donkey kick that sent the heiress rolling across the arena. Rather than let this inconvenience her, however, Mai placed her hand on the ground and used her momentum to spin back onto her feet. Then, using her speed to her advantage, she lunged forward with a sudden knee strike to Kasumi’s chin. The force behind it sent Kasumi stumbling back, and with her guard momentarily down, Mai proved quick to take her revenge!
She started by throwing out a lunging elbow strike to the stomach and followed with a hard-hitting uppercut that caused Kasumi’s head to snap back. Unfurling her fan, Mai then delivered two quick, diagonal swings, creating an X-shaped slash across Kasumi’s dress. Bringing her arm back, Mai began channeling flames through the fan before following through with a third strike, this time backhanding Kasumi across the face. Despite its seemingly ineffective appearance, the strike slammed into Kasumi with enough force to break her concentration, forcing her to stagger back once again. With her opponent’s concentration broken, Mai charged into her, hitting Kasumi with another powerful elbow strike. The strength behind it was enough to make Kasumi’s knees buckle, but she stubbornly forced herself to remain upright. Unfortunately, it seemed that Mai was counting on this, something Kasumi would learn only a second later.
“Hishou Ryuuenjin!” Kasumi heard just as a flaming somersault kick slammed into her jaw, sending her into the air. Leaping after her, Mai appeared above Kasumi in a matter of seconds, a slight smirk on her face as she dropped down with a cry of “Yume Zakura!”
Mai’s knees buried themselves in Kasumi’s stomach, with their combined weight sending the two kunoichi hurtling back toward the ground at breakneck speeds. Just when they were milliseconds away from making impact, however, Kasumi suddenly disappeared into a pink flash once again. Mai’s eyes widened in shock, but before she could regain her bearings, Kasumi just as quickly reappeared, emphasizing it with a diving elbow attack that seemed to phase through Mai. Despite this, the strike had clearly hit its mark, as the Shiranui clan’s heiress was now flying toward Kasumi at a diagonal angle.
Turning to face her, Kasumi stopped Mai’s aerial descent with a flip kick to the head, slamming her into the ground hard enough that she actually bounced back into the air. Willing to exploit this to her advantage, Kasumi lunged forward with an elbow to the stomach, followed up with two knee strikes to the chin, and sent Mai flying with a dropkick to the chest. Despite her pain, Mai was still able to make out the image of her opponent disappearing once again, and this time she had a good idea where she was planning to strike!
Kasumi reappeared behind Mai some distance away, already preparing to continue her combo. Unfortunately, she would soon find herself in for a rude awakening as she watched her supposed target suddenly flip through the air, shooting her a pointed glare.
“Houou no Mai!” Mai announced as she cartwheeled through the air, her legs wreathing themselves in fire. Now forced to play on the defensive, Kasumi put her arms up to block the rapid flurry of kicks. While she proved successful on this front, this combo was still having an effect on her. With each kick, another burn was added onto Kasumi’s skin, and it was quickly eating away at her defenses. Realizing this, she began analyzing her opponent’s fighting style. Given Mai’s focus on speed, this meant her attacks weren’t as powerful as they could’ve been. This meant all Kasumi had to do was find the right opening to exploit. Such as one right… there!
To finish her combo, Mai threw out a final kick, but this attack was cut short as Kasumi caught it mid-strike. Before Shiranui had a chance to fight against her opponent’s grip, Kasumi stepped to the side and slammed her into the ground. The heiress bounced through the air once again, and Kasumi lunged forward to exploit this!
Once she was close enough, the nukenin threw out two straight punches, a jump kick to the trapezius, and followed this up by kicking off of her back. This last action had struck hard enough to send Mai hurtling across the arena, but Kasumi knew better than to just leave it at that. Using her teleportation, she appeared in front of Mai once again and stopped her trip with a cartwheel kick to the head. Mai slammed into the ground face-first, but she quickly recovered, a grimace on her face as she looked back up. She noticed Kasumi preparing another attack, but unfortunately for her, Mai proved quicker on the draw!
Just as Kasumi was about to throw out a second kick, Mai countered it with a sweeping kick that knocked her off her feet. As Kasumi was about to tumble to the ground, Mai followed up with a somersault kick to her jaw, reversing her momentum and briefly sending her airborne. While this was occurring, Mai brought both arms up to her chest, clasping one hand over the other and raising her index fingers.
“Kagerou no Mai!” She shouted, causing two spiraling columns of flame to erupt around her body. They slammed into Kasumi, creating several noticeable burns and sending her flying through the air. Rather than letting it end at this, however, Mai opted to continue her attack! Using her speed to her advantage, the kunoichi threw out three body blows, a flip kick that nailed Kasumi in the jaw, and briefly sent her airborne with an upward dropkick.
“Hanaarashii!” Shiranui declared as she spun through the air, stretching her arms out to ensure that she’d hit her adversary. This precaution proved successful, as both Mai and Kasumi were dragged further through the air, with the latter repeatedly being battered by the former. As they reached the height of their ascension, Mai immediately dropped down, slamming into Kasumi with an airborne-
“Hissatsu Shinobi-Bachi!”
The moment it slammed into her chest, Kasumi’s body suddenly burst into flames, causing her to let out a scream as she rocketed back toward the ring. With no control over her flight path, Kasumi could do nothing as she slammed into the arena, hitting the floor hard enough that it cratered beneath her!
[Stop music]
As the pain of her landing flared through her mind, Kasumi involuntarily opened her mouth, coughing up several flecks of blood. With a pained groan, she began pushing herself up, slowly rising back to her feet as Mai called out to her.
[If rooting for Mai]
[If rooting for Kasumi]
“You’re pretty strong, Kasumi.” She admitted before rushing forward. In response, Kasumi reached into her pouch and threw out five kunai. The airborne blades flew toward Mai at supersonic speeds, but with an almost casual air, the heiress managed to leap past them, and upon reaching the height of her ascension she immediately dove toward Kasumi. Expecting some sort of attack, Mugen Tenshin practitioner brought her arms up to block it, only to become confused as Mai seemed to phase right through her.
Keeping her guard up, Kasumi looked around the area, only to notice the shinobi out of the corner of her eye. She whipped around to defend against her attack, but it was too late. Before she had even fully turned around, Mai suddenly kicked her through the air. Then, using her speed to her advantage, the heiress began attacking from all angles. Diagonal, horizontal, vertical, it didn’t matter. Mai kept slamming into Kasumi’s body, and each hit would send the unfortunate kunoichi further into the air.
“But strength alone…” Shiranui paused as she wrapped her legs around Kasumi’s neck. As they began descending toward the arena, Mai began spinning around, intent on disorienting Kasumi to prevent what had occurred last time. This plan proved successful, as despite her best efforts, Kasumi couldn’t focus enough to properly teleport. Most of her vision had been obscured by Mai’s thighs, and the small portion that wasn’t was moving too quickly for her to tell what she was looking at. Just looking at her surroundings made her dizzy, but these would prove to be the least of her worries as they drew closer to the ring.
”Can’t compare to the speed and precision of Shiranui style ninjutsu!” Mai finished as she slammed Kasumi into the ground headfirst.
THOOM!
[Stop music]
The moment they made contact, a massive ball of fire erupted underneath the two ninjas. The ball exploded outward, quickly extending until it was 20 feet from all sides, and Kasumi was caught directly in its epicenter! As the explosion appeared beneath her, Kasumi found herself launched across the arena. A pained scream emerged from her throat, but it was quickly silenced as she hit the ground back-first. She rolled across the ring for several feet, but eventually came to a halt.
As she placed her hand against the ground, trying to push herself back up, Kasumi felt her body flare with pain. The explosion had covered her face and torso with burns of varying degrees, her skin had several bruises from Mai’s attacks, and her muscles felt like they were on fire. But even with this pain wracking her mind, Kasumi still attempted to push herself back up. Seeing this, Mai responded with a smirk as she slowly strutted forward.
“I’m impressed you’re still able to stand up, but don’t you think it’s time to give up?” She asked, stopping as she put her hands on her hips.
”Give up?” Kasumi repeated as she pushed herself back to her feet. “I don’t give up so easily! You said that my power can’t match your style’s speed and precision, right? Well, let me show you something that not even the Shiranui style can counter!”
Kasumi paused for a brief moment as she cupped her hands to the side. A pink ball of ki began charging up between her palms, and as it grew, she continued speaking.
”The ultimate technique of Mugen Tenshin!”
As her ki continued to grow in strength, Kasumi began preparing herself as her ultimate technique continued to grow in power. After roughly three seconds of charging, she decided that now was the time!
“TORN SKY BLAST!”
As those words left her lips, the Kunoichi of Destiny thrust her hands forward, firing off the gathered ki in the form of a massive pink laser. As she witnessed the legendary Mugen Tenshin technique rapidly approach her, Mai’s smirk only grew.
”Is that so?” Shiranui asked as she slammed her fist into her open palm, with the latter’s index finger being raised. “Then let’s see how your ultimate technique holds up against this!” She taunted.
“SHIRANUI SUPER…”
While these words left her lips, a spiral of flames began to gather around Mai’s body. Each of these flames were contributing to a fiery aura that began surrounding her body, and it was growing hotter with each passing millisecond. But this aura wasn’t the only thing Mai was building up. She was also busy focusing these flames into another part of her body: her hands. Her palms and fingers were quickly building up fire for her next attack. By this point, the Torn Sky Blast had made its way halfway across the ring, and it was then that the red-clad kunoichi decided to strike. As her aura spiked in intensity, Mai thrust her arms forward and gave a shout of
“BURNING MAI!”
Upon doing so, a torrent of fire erupted from her palms, rushing through the air at speeds rivaling the Torn Sky Blast. The two waves met in the middle of the ring, creating a shockwave that produced a massive tremor throughout the entire stadium. Both women could feel themselves being pushed back by the force, but they merely dug their feet further into the ground, refusing to let themselves be overpowered. Gritting their teeth, the two ninjas began putting more power into their techniques, causing both attacks to grow in size and strength with each passing millisecond until finally…
KRA-THOOOM!
[Stop music]
Their respective waves exploded outward, creating a flash of light that blinded the spectators. As their vision grew clearer, they looked back at the ring, only to find that it was now covered in thick smoke. While they were unable to see what was happening, they weren’t the only ones suffering this problem.
“Where’d she go?” Mai muttered between coughs as she cautiously advanced to the middle of the stage. With each step she took, the heiress would look around the area, searching for any sign of Kasumi’s presence. Unfortunately, the thick layer of smoke had made it impossible for there to be any chance of that happening. Instead, she was left to stumble through the dark, with nothing to do but… wait-
Mai cut herself off as she heard something fly through the air, seemingly heading toward her. Instinctively, she backflipped through the air, allowing her to narrowly avoid being impaled by several kunai. To retaliate, she quickly threw out several flame-wreathed fans, all of them aimed at a diagonal angle, but they ultimately hit thin air. Landing on her feet, Mai continued scanning the area in an attempt to find the source. Eventually, she managed to find it! Although she could barely make it out, Mai could see a vague shadow running across the arena some distance away. Eager to get the drop on it, Mai cartwheeled toward the blurry image.
”Hissatsu Shinobi-Bachi!” She shouted as she performed the attack a third time, once again hitting her opponent dead-on!
…Or at least that’s what she expected would happen.
Just when it seemed the Hissatsu Shinobi-Bachi was about to make contact, Kasumi cartwheeled back, causing Mai’s attack to whiff. Refusing to let her recover, Kasumi teleported above Mai and immediately punished her mistake with a powerful dropkick to the face. Mai staggered back from the pain, and it was then that Kasumi chose to strike!
Rushing forward at top speed, she slammed into Mai with an elbow strike before following up with two straight punches to the gut, causing the heiress to grunt in pain. Another elbow struck her face, followed by a roundhouse kick that briefly sent her through the air. A second roundhouse kick struck her jaw immediately after, sending the King of Fighters competitor sailing across the stage. Gritting her teeth, Mai quickly backflipped through the air, allowing her to regain balance and skid to a halt. While getting back to her feet, she noticed a familiar pink flash out of the corner of her eye.
Remembering what had occurred every other time this happened, Mai waited, keeping her ears peeled for any suspicious sounds. Unfortunately, this attempt at preparing herself would prove moot, as Kasumi inaudibly reappeared behind her before beginning her attack. She started by throwing out two quick straight punches, a hook to the right shoulder blade, and ended the combo with a powerful roundhouse that sent Mai flying several feet away. Just when it seemed that she was about to hit the ground, Mai placed her hands against the ring and used her momentum to cartwheel back to her feet. Once she’d recovered, Mai found herself attacked once again, this time by a hook to her lumbar, a roundhouse to the left shoulder blade, and a donkey kick to her thoracic. Yet again, the heiress found herself flying through the air, but she quickly righted herself in midair and landed on her feet.
Before she could even attempt to think of a way to counter Kasumi’s newfound approach, Mai suddenly felt a dropkick smash into her face. As she attempted to recover from the sudden attack, Kasumi teleported away once again, but rather than continue her assault, she instead rematerialized some distance away. Kneeling down, the nukenin let out an exhale as an aura of gold ki began to surround her body. The moment it appeared, the burns and injuries she’d previously suffered at Mai’s hands began to mend themselves back together. Three seconds later, Kasumi pushed herself back up, now back to peak condition. As she rose to her feet, the first thing she noticed was the slowly disappearing smokescreen, which she decided to make the most of.
Meanwhile, Mai was still scanning the area for Kasumi, keeping a firm grip on her fan and keeping her ears peeled for any suspicious sounds. She had come to the same realization as Kasumi, and she suspected that the opposing kunoichi was attempting to exploit it. This suspicion would ultimately prove true, as the nigh-inaudible sound of sandals slowly treading across the ground came to her. Turning toward its direction, she noticed a familiar looking shadow and chucked her fan as hard as she could.
Realizing she’d been spotted, Kasumi ducked underneath the fan and picked up the pace, gripping her wakizashi as she drew closer. She soon emerged from the smoke, unsheathing her blade just as Mai leapt into the air. The wakizashi hit thin air, and its wielder soon found herself struggling for freedom as Mai wrapped her legs around her neck. Then, with the greatest of ease, Mai tossed her into the air!
Kasumi soared through the air, unable to stop as her body continued to gain more altitude. All she could do now was watch as the ring beneath her rapidly shrank in size, leaving her with a bird’s-eye view of the entire arena. As her mind raced with questions on how she’d obtain a safe landing from this point, Kasumi noticed something rapidly approaching her. For a split-second, she caught a glimpse of a familiar red-and-brown blur flying after her, followed by a massive shadow suddenly appearing above her.
Instinctively, Kasumi looked up, bringing both arms in front of herself just in time to feel a powerful axe kick to slam into her. Despite blocking the brunt of the attack, Kasumi could feel the wind rushing behind her as her body accelerated toward the ground. With a slightly pained grunt, she flipped through the air, repositioning herself seconds before hitting the ground beneath her. Her impact was accompanied by an audible CLANG as she hit the scaffolding feet-first, causing the audience to look up in surprise as they realized they could finally see both combatants.
[Stop music]
While this was occurring, Kasumi looked up to find her opponent descending on her with another Houou no Mai and quickly leapt back. The moment her feet hit the ground with an audible CLANG, Mai immediately realized she had missed, but before she could attempt to regain her initial advantage, Kasumi went on the attack! Reaching into her pouch once again, Kasumi threw out a rapid flurry of kunai, but Mai proved quick to react.
“Ryuuenbu!” Mai declared as she spun around, her tassels catching fire yet again. The kunai flew toward her at supersonic speeds, but the fire-infused fabric quickly deflected each one, leaving them to fall to the ground. Once she’d stopped spinning, Mai quickly pulled out another fan and threw it hard as she could before leaping through the air. Kasumi sliced the projectile in half with Shrouded Moon, only to realize that Mai was about to come down on her once again.
The red-clad kunoichi threw out an axe kick, but it was quickly blocked as Kasumi put her arms up. Noticing this, Mai proved quick to kick off of the nukenin’s chest, spinning across the ground upon landing, and went back in with a roundhouse. As if by instinct, Kasumi immediately brought up her arm, using it to grab the outstretched leg mid-strike. Then, using it as leverage, she leapt over it and countered with a roundhouse of her own. Mai was sent flying and slammed into the ground several feet away, but a swift cartwheel sent her back to her feet. As she looked back up, Mai’s expression shifted into one of surprise as she found that Kasumi had closed the distance faster than she’d expected. In fact, the Dead or Alive champion was now coated in an aura of pink ki as she rushed toward Mai, her right hand maintaining a firm grip on Shrouded Moon.
Once she was close enough, Kasumi unsheathed the wakizashi and delivered a lightning-fast horizontal slash, moving so quickly that she seemed to phase through Mai’s body! Rather than ending it at that, however, Kasumi turned back around and delivered an overhead slash to the back. Mai cried out as the lacerations appeared on her body, but this pain was only beginning. Shrouded Moon had only begun to dip toward the ground, but before it could scrape against the scaffolding, Kasumi reversed its momentum to deliver an underhanded upward slash. The force of the slash pushed the Shiranui heiress forward, leaving her defenseless as Kasumi performed a front-flip, spinning her blade as she delivered three slashes. Each slash ran across Mai’s back, creating a new cut and spraying blood onto the floor. The moment her feet hit the ground, Kasumi finished her combo with a powerful outward slash to the thoracic spine, launching Mai across the scaffolding.
A pained scream escaped Mai’s lips as she was sent flying through the air, but it quickly died down as she felt the wind brush against her back. Under most circumstances, this would’ve caused someone with Mai’s injuries to feel a coarse, stinging pain, but this feeling only seemed to piss her off.
With a frustrated growl, Mai backflipped through the air, recovering in seconds as she forced herself to grind to a halt. Then, in a sudden burst of energy, the red-clad kunoichi leapt through the air, closing the distance between them so quickly that Kasumi wasn’t able to react until-
WHAM!
A powerful axe kick nailed her in the head, forcing a grunt out of her as she doubled over. Not willing to end it there, however, Mai followed up with a powerful right hook, then a left that caused Kasumi to stagger back. She barely even had a chance to register the pain before Mai sent her flying with a hook kick to the chin. As she spiraled through the air uncontrollably, Kasumi attempted to recover by righting herself in midair, but she’d soon find herself interrupted as Mai suddenly appeared in front of her, nailing her in the face with a dropkick!
Kasumi stifled a cry of pain as she felt Mai’s feet smash into her face, the impact creating a CRUNCH as she felt her nose break. Unable to stop herself, the bleeding nukenin slammed into the steel beam at full force, creating an audible groan as her impact dented the metal. Involuntarily, Kasumi opened her mouth, coughing up several flecks of blood as she watched Mai dive toward her. The red-clad warrior had crossed both arms in front of herself, forming an X-shape that grew larger with each millisecond that passed.
As the distance between the two continued to shrink, time seemed to slow down for Kasumi. The drops of blood she spat out were decreasing in speed, to the point where they were barely moving, and Mai’s descent seemed to have drastically slowed down.
Gritting her teeth, Kasumi clenched her fist as she felt a surge of adrenaline flow through her. Then, after placing both hands against the beam beneath her, she sprang up, performing a backwards cartwheel as she flew through the air. Reaching out, the blue-clad shinobi grabbed hold of Shrouded Moon and pulled it into her sheathe as she gracefully landed on the ground, immediately falling onto one knee.
In the time it had taken all of this to transpire, Mai had slammed into the ground, her hands stopping just inches away from chopping through the steel beam that currently supported her weight. Her eyes widened in shock at Kasumi’s speed, and as she looked up to see where Kasumi had gone, it was at that moment the Eternal Heroine chose to strike!
Gripping Shrouded Moon, Kasumi suddenly lunged forward, smashing the wakizashi’s hilt directly into Mai’s stomach. The suddenness of the attack caused Mai’s pupils to shrink as she felt the wind get knocked out of her. Then, with a fluidity that rivaled the calmest river, Kasumi unsheathed her sword and swung in an upward arc, sending Mai airborne yet again!
A scream of pain and worry escaped Mai’s lips as she flew through the air, now sporting a massive gash that ran from her stomach to just below her chest. This scream would last for a few seconds before suddenly dying down as she noticed a familiar shadow above her. Pain morphed into confusion as Mai looked up, and just as she had, Kasumi’s thighs suddenly wrapped themselves around her neck.
”MMPH?” Mai’s question was muffled as Kasumi began spinning through the air, rotating her body once, twice, three times, four times. With each nanosecond that passed, Kasumi would continue spinning, dragging her opponent with her as they continued their descent. By now, they were moving so quickly that Mai couldn’t even make out her surroundings. Like Mai had done earlier, Kasumi had wrapped both of legs tightly around her opponent’s neck, replacing most of Mai’s vision with a close view her thighs. The little that Mai could see was moving too quickly for her to register, and with their speed rapidly growing, so too were the effects. Mai could only watch as both the arena and its spectators were turned into an indistinguishable, multi-colored blob. The only thing she could register at this point was the ring, a white blob that she and Kasumi were quickly approaching! The two kunoichi were a few inches away from making impact, and just when they were a split-second away from doing so, Kasumi suddenly released her grip. Planting one foot against Mai’s back, she quickly kicked off, using the heiress’ body as a springboard and slamming her into the ring!
KRACKT!
[Stop music]
Mai crashed into the ring headfirst, landing hard enough that she cratered the floor upon impact! At the same time, Kasumi backflipped through the air, gracefully landing on her feet. As she rose to full height, Kasumi instantly spotted Mai’s body laying a few feet away and rushed over.
Kneeling down, Kasumi quickly turned Mai over, allowing her to see the damages in full. The heiress’ eyes were closed, a result of the impact instantly knocking her out. Blood was spilling from where she’d hit her head, no doubt the result of the impact cracking her skull, and the lacerations on her body weren’t helping matters.
Concerned by this, Kasumi took a brief moment to place her open palm against Mai’s chest. A golden aura then surrounded both women, similar to what had happened with Kasumi earlier, though this time both were the recipient. As Kasumi’s nose repaired itself, Mai’s lacerations stitched themselves back up almost instantly, her bruises disappeared from sight, and her skull mended itself back together in no time at all. But even with her healing abilities, Kasumi could tell that it would still be some time before Mai regained consciousness. She wasn’t the only one to realize this, either, as the announcer took note of the unconscious ninja and briefly cleared his throat before continuing.
”AND MAI SHIRANUI IS DOWN! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT LOOKS LIKE THE WINNER OF THE SEVENTH DEAD OR ALIVE TOURNAMENT IS KASUMI!” Upon hearing this, the entire crowd erupted into cheers and applause, all of its members showering the tournament’s champion with praise. In response, Kasumi gave a polite bow before making her way toward the arena’s exit.
—
Now that’s what I call a fight between ninjas! And even better, the fight didn’t extend to 2 parts this time! Anyway, let’s move on to why Kasumi won this.
In terms of strength, Mai would be Large Island Level due to scaling from Verse, who created a storm above a stadium. Mai scales to this since her team is perfectly capable of fighting Verse more efficiently than Antonov, who was able to survive an attack from him. By comparison, Kasumi would scale to Ryu Hayabusa, who was able to defeat the Demon Statue, which could destroy entire countries. Additionally, Ryu has shown that he can use the Art of the Piercing Void to produce a black hole, which has been calculated to be Large Planet Level. While the two have never fought directly, Kasumi’s been able to defeat opponents who have either been able to directly challenge him or have been acknowledged by Ryu himself as a worthy rival (such as Jann Lee). Additionally, Kasumi was able to defeat Alpha-152, who could perfectly mimic Ryu, and has defeated the same opponents as Ryu in Ninja Gaiden 3. Among these opponents are an evil clone of Ryu, which further justifies this scaling.
When it comes to speed, Mai would scale to Takuma Sakazaki, who casually stopped a laser that traveled from a satellite to the surface in less than a second. This comes out as 11.3% the speed of light, and Mai would scale to this since she’s been able to fight against various characters who are superior to Takuma, such as Kukri. Kasumi, on the other hand, would once again scale to Ryu Hayabusa, who has multiple Massively Hypersonic feats.
And in case you’re wondering, no, Mai’s appearances in Dead or Alive wouldn’t really change that much for the verdict. Mai never really interacts with the cast in any meaningful way, and even if she did, her appearances are likely noncanon. Even if these appearances were considered canon, this would only make Mai and Kasumi equal in the stat trinity. There’d still be the other, non-physical stats to consider.
For example, Kasumi easily had better experience, as she’s been shown to fight other threats such as the Lords of Alchemy, while Mai’s only experience in fighting comes from participating in the King of Fighters tournaments… which she never actually wins. For intelligence, it’s a bit harder to decide. Both are fairly skilled in terms of their respective martial arts skills, but Kasumi’s also shown expertise in swordsmanship and stealth, whereas Mai lacks either of those things.
There’s also their mindsets to consider. Mai’s often shown to be extremely cocky, arrogant, and ditzy, which isn’t a good combination against the comparatively more level-headed and calm Kasumi. When combining this with Mugen Tenshin’s focus on defense and evasive maneuvers, Mai’s fight would become even harder since her fighting style focuses more on offense and speed. Even if Mai did start to overwhelm her, Kasumi could just switch tactics and begin wearing her down with stealth.
In fact, one of the things that really gave Kasumi the edge in this fight was her arsenal. Mai’s got an unlimited supply of fans, and that’s it. Sure, she could add power to them with her pyrokinesis, but even then Kasumi still took this aspect in terms of quality. She has Shrouded Moon, which gives her an edge in close quarters, and her kunai grant her better long-range options compared to Mai’s Kachousen. And since Mai’s outfit is designed to expose her body to the entire world, Kasumi’s bladed weapons would prove extremely effective against her.
Now let’s talk about their powers. Mai’s pyrokinesis could augment her attacks, which would make it harder to fight up close, and she could imbue her fans with fire for extra damage. Additionally, her hammerspace, as stated above, gave her an unlimited supply of fans. By contrast, Kasumi’s teleportation grants better mobility around the battlefield, she could heal herself with ki manipulation, and the Torn Sky Blast provided her with better long-range options and a massive AOE that Mai likely wouldn’t be able to avoid.
To summarize, Mai was easily the faster of the two, and her pyrokinesis would make it harder for Kasumi in close quarters, but Kasumi’s greater strength, durability, experience, arsenal, powers, and more level-headed nature gave her the win.
In the end, Mai’s chances of victory were a bust.
The winner is Kasumi.
Kasumi (Winner) + Stronger + More durable + More intelligent and strategic + More experienced + Larger arsenal + Better mobility + Mugen Tenshin Ninjutsu gave her a perfect counter to Mai’s more offense based fighting style + Better in terms of stealth – Though this wouldn’t matter since she doesn’t use it in combat + Bladed weaponry would prove effective against Mai’s mostly bare skin + Calm and level-headed nature meant she could exploit Mai’s arrogance to her advantage + Superior long-range options + Ki Manipulation could let her heal off any damage Mai inflicted – Slower – Mai’s pyrokinesis could make close quarters combat difficult
Mai Shiranui (Loser) + Faster + Pyrokinesis would give Kasumi trouble in close quarters + Hammerspace gave her an unlimited supply of fans – Though Kasumi’s arsenal was larger and more effective – Weaker – Less durable – Less intelligent – Less experienced – Lacked any options for mobility – Inferior when it came to stealth – Lack of armor meant that Kasumi’s bladed weaponry would prove extremely effective – Arrogance could hinder her throughout the fight – Kasumi’s more defensive fighting style countered hers completely – Inferior long-range options – Kasumi’s Ki Manipulation would allow her to heal off whatever damage Mai inflicted
Kunoichi, a term used to describe the female practitioners of ninjutsu. Throughout fiction, there have been countless examples of this archetype, but none are quite as big- or as bouncy– as these two.
Mai Shiranui, Heiress of the Shiranui Clan.
And Kasumi, the Kunoichi of Destiny.
I’m Br3ndan5, and it’s my job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win a DEATH BATTLE!
Thanks to Strunton for the Kasumi bio.
Mai Shiranui Title: The Alluring Ninja Girl Age: 19 (Fatal Fury 2), 20 (KOF‘94), 21 (Fatal Fury 3, KOF‘95), 23 (Real Bout Special), 24 (Real Bout Special Dominated Mind) Height: 5’5 Weight: 106 lbs Occupation: Ninja, Heiress of the Shiranui Clan First Appearance: Fatal Fury 2 (December 10, 1992) Theme:
Feats: General -Was trained in the ways of ninjutsu by her grandfather Hanzo and his rival/old friend Jubei Yamada -Is a regular in the King of Fighters tournaments -Is somehow able to always find Andy no matter where he goes
Fatal Fury -Defeated Wolfgang Krauser -Defeated Jin Chonshu and Jin Chonrei
King of Fighters -Formed the Woman’s Team alongside King and Yuri Sakazaki -Alongside King and Yuri, defeated Rugal Bernstein -With help from King and Yuri, defeated Omega Rugal -Defeated Chizuru Kagura and Goenitz with help from Kasumi and King -Alongside Chizuru and King, defeated Orochi
King of Fighters: Maximum Impact: -Defeated Duke
King of Fighters: Maximum Impact 2: -Defeated Luise Meyrink and Jivatma
Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle -Tricked Andy into taking her on a shopping spree -Fought Laurence Blood, though she was ultimately defeated
Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture -Fought Hauer, a servant of Laocorn, but ultimately lost -Defeated Panni, another of Laocorn’s servants -Participated in the final battle against Laocorn
King of Fighters: Destiny -Alongside Yuri Sakazaki and King, defeated a group of thugs -Formed the Queens Team with Yuri and King -While corrupted by the Black Crystals, fought and defeated Andy -With help from Athena, Yuri, and Benimaru Nikaido, distracted Rugal Bernstein long enough for Kyo to recover
King of Fighters: Maximum Impact (manga): -Fought Lien Neville, a top ranked assassin -Though she lost -Interrupted Lien’s attempt to snap Athena’s neck
Strength: -Can lift and throw enemies far heavier than her -Her elbow strikes are strong enough to break through enemy defenses -Knocked Laurence flat on his face with a Ryuuenbu, burning him in the process -Knocked Hauer down a flight of stairs with a Ryuuenbu -Judo-flipped Panni -Knocked out Panni with a Hissatsu Shinobi-Bachi -Can throw her Kachousen (See “Weapons and Equipment” below) with enough force to knock out a fully grown man -She’s also been shown to throw it hard enough to knock Andy off his feet -Her punches and kicks are strong enough to harm Andy -Traded blows with Luise and Jivatma -Used her ninjutsu training to blow back Lien, who was in the middle of choking her out -Traded blows with Lien -Sent Lien flying with a strike from her Kachousen
Agility: -Regularly performs flips and backflips while airborne -Can leap across stone pillars with ease -Can walk on water -Leapt up a flight of stairs to avoid a wind attack from Hauer -Avoided a stone-shattering kick from Lien by backflipping
Speed: -Can change into another pair of clothes within one second -Can move fast enough to leave afterimages -Outran Black Noah’s explosion -Escaped a NESTS base that was seconds from exploding -Avoided a rapid series of sword swipes from Laurence -Can move fast enough that she appears as a blur -Avoided an electrified chain being hurled at her -Can outspeed Andy -Kept up with Jivatma -Intercepted a punch from Lien, who can move fast enough to leave afterimages -Interrupted Lien’s attempt to snap Athena’s neck by throwing a fire-infused Kachousen at the assassin’s wrist -Backflipped to avoid a kick from Lien that destroyed multiple stone tiles -Dodged multiple attacks from Lien
Durability: -Traded blows with Andy, whose punches can break ribs -Unharmed after being knocked into a freezing lake by Andy’s Hishouken -Withstood wind attacks from Hauer, whose aerokinesis is powerful enough to slice through steel -Was fine after Laocorn kicked her into the stone floor of the temple they were fighting in, though she lost consciousness soon after -Took multiple hits from Jivatma -Remained conscious after Lien attempted to choke her out -Took a knee strike to the stomach from Lien -Continued fighting Lien even after being hit hard enough that she was left coughing up blood
Skills:
Master of Disguise:
-Thanks to her training in Hensōjutsu, Mai can flawlessly disguise herself to resemble other people and even mimic their voices
Master of Stealth: -Her training in Shinobi-iri has made her adept in sticking to the shadows -Has yet to show this onscreen, however
Personality: -Extremely cheerful and temperamental -Somewhat airheaded -Admires any kind of beauty or attractiveness -Compares boys who flirt with her or acknowledge her beauty to Andy, but says they aren’t as cute as him -Dreams of getting married to Andy Bogard and will go to lengths that can even creep him out -Is extremely defensive of her attire -Should it be criticized, Mai will either attempt to explain that it is traditional garb for the women of the Shiranui Clan, or she will become insulted and confrontational -Somewhat arrogant, often boasting herself to be number 1 -During battle, she tends to be somewhat cocky, often taunting her opponent whenever she gains the upper hand -That said, she knows when to get serious, especially if Andy’s life is on the line -Can become extremely crass and vulgar when angered Weapons and Equipment:
Kachousen: -Also called the Butterfly Fan or folding fan -Has a seemingly infinite amount of them -Mai uses them for both long range and close range attacks (See “Techniques” below) -Can infuse them with fire for greater power (See “Powers” below)
Powers:
Pyrokinesis: -Allows Mai to generate flames and control them -Can use this to infuse her attacks with fire -Can channel fire through her clothes, weapons, or anything she touches –Makes her resistant to fire
Hammerspace: -Can pull out a seemingly infinite number of weapons and items from nowhere -As seen above, she can pull out an entirely different outfit from an umbrella and instantly change into it
Surface Scaling: -Thanks to her training in Shinobi-iri, Mai is capable of climbing any surface
Fighting Style:
Shiranui-Ryuu Style: -Mai’s fighting style -It consists of 18 disciplines: -Seishinteki kyōyō – spiritual refinement -Taijutsu – unarmed combat -Kenjutsu – sword techniques -Bōjutsu – stick and staff techniques -Sōjutsu – spear techniques -Naginatajutsu – naginata techniques -Kusarigamajutsu – kusarigama techniques -Shurikenjutsu – throwing weapons techniques -Kayakujutsu – pyrotechnics -Hensōjutsu – disguise and impersonation -Shinobi-iri – stealth and entering methods -Bajutsu – horsemanship -Sui-ren – water training -Bōryaku – tactics -Chōhō – espionage -Intonjutsu – escaping and concealment -Tenmon – meteorology -Chi-mon – geography -She generally focuses on Taijutsu, Kayakujutsu, Hensōjutsu, and Shurikenjutsu -Allows her to latch onto walls
Moveset:
Kachousen: -Mai throws one of her fans at her opponent -Can infuse it with fire for added damage
Hissatsu Shinobi-Bachi: -Mai performs a cartwheel kick before following up with an elbow strike -Has an enhanced version where Mai covers herself in fire to deal more damage
Fuusha Kuzushi: -Mai grabs the opponent with her legs, flips them over, and slams them into the ground
Yume-Zakura: -Mai grabs an aerial opponent and knee drops them, landing far away
Sayo Chidori: -Mai performs a heavy swing with her fans -Can be used to negate projectiles
Ryuenbu: -Mai imbues her kimono’s tassels with flames and spins around, striking the opponent -Can be used to negate projectiles or inflict major burns on anyone that gets close to her
Hishou Ryuuenjin: -Mai performs a fire-infused front flip kick
Musasabi no Mai: -Mai leaps into the air and dives toward the opponent
Shiranui Kyuukyoku Ougi: -A more powerful version of the Musasabi no Mai
Burning Mai: -Mai unleashes a torrent of flame that sends her opponent flying back
Swallow Saturnalia: -Mai performs a flipping blade kick
Dragon Flame Romp: -Mai spins through the air, repeatedly striking her opponent with fire-infused Kachousen
Blossom Storm: -Mai begins spinning rapidly, producing a miniature hurricane -Can only be used in water
Hakuro no Mai: -Mai performs a quick dance move where she hits the opponent with her fans
Sui Chou no Mai: -Mai throws out three consecutive Kachousen -Can infuse them with fire for extra power
Houou no Mai: -Mai leaps into the air and performs a fiery cartwheel, battering her opponent repeatedly before kicking them away
Kagerou no Mai: -Mai surrounds herself in a spiral of flames, dealing massive damage to nearby opponents -Has a variant where she creates two clones made of fire
Hanaarashi: -Mai rushes toward the opponent and repeatedly strikes them with her fans as they rise through the sky
Shiranui-Ryuu Kyuubi no Kitsune: -Mai pounces on the enemy and blitzes them while covering them in flames -Once this move is completed, the flames explode
Shiranui Ryuu Kunoichi no Mai: -Mai strikes the enemy into the air and repeatedly dashes past them, creating flames in the shape of the 女 kanji. Afterwards, she strikes a pose, causing the flames to explode -An alternate version has her use her speed to blitz the opponent before grabbing them with her legs and slamming them into the ground
Weaknesses: -Has yet to win a King of Fighters tournament -More used to fighting on a team -Favors speed over power -Can be somewhat ditzy at times -Her cocky attitude during battle will often lead to her prolonging the fight -Though she has also shown that she knows when to drop it and get serious -Pyrokinesis only extends to the flames she creates, and it doesn’t protect her from other types of fire -Her win/loss record is pathetic –Way too obsessed with Andy
(“With a body and strength like this, you thought you had a chance?”)
——————————————————
Kasumi AKA: The Kunoichi of Destiny, Female Ninja in Captivity, A Kunoichi’s Destiny, Super Hot Ninja Age: 19 Height: 5′ 2 Weight: 106 lbs First Appearance: Dead or Alive (November 26, 1996) Theme:
Feats: -With the help of Christie, escaped the Mugen Tenshin Village -Fought and defeated her rival, Ayane, multiple times -Won the first Dead or Alive tournament -Defeated Bayman, Gen Fu, Bass, Zack, Lei Fang, Tina, and Jann Lee -Killed Raidou and avenged her brother -Defeated Kasumi α, a clone of Kasumi -Defeated Helena and Kokoro -Defeated her brother, Hayate -Defeated Christie and Rig -Defeated Alpha-152, another clone of Kasumi, twice –Defeated the building sized Obaba -Can defeat enemies and bosses that challenge Ryu Hayabusa, including Evil Ryu
Born the daughter of Shiden and Ayame, Kasumi was born into the Mugen Tenshin’s head family, making her second-in-line to the title of clan leader, after her older brother Hayate. Things were looking pretty good, until the day the rouge ninja, Raidou, returned to the village and obtained a powerful ninpo spell. Raidou left Hayate in a death-like coma, which caused Kasumi to leave her village, causing her to become a nukenin in the process, and enter the first Dead or Alive Tournament to take down Raidou.
Strength: -Can grab and toss Bass Armstrong, who weighs 346 lbs -Can launch Tengu, who weighs 496 lbs, nearly 7 feet into the air in less than a second -Sent Ayane flying back with a single strike -Can slice through armored men, metals, and monsters like butter -Overpowered Regent of the Mask -Slams people into the ground with enough force to make their upper torso explode -Scales to Ryu Hayabusa, who can do the following: -Defeat the possessed Statue of Liberty –Block a massive sword swung by a building-sized goddess -Defeat the Tengu of Destruction, who dispersed a large amount of clouds -Defeat the Demon Statue in his NES game which was considered a planetary threat, capable of destroying an entire country and above using nuclear weaponry on
Speed: -Incredibly nimble and agile -Can run along walls -Dodged Ayane’s kunai tossed at her -Dodged Ayane’s Torn Sky Blast Technique -Can outpace other shinobi -Can leave behind afterimages –Dodged a RPG-7 missile in midair -Can block and evade automatic gunfire at point blank range -Scales to Ryu Hayabusa, who can react to and dodge lightning
Durability: -Survived a series of explosions that spanned a large room -DOA characters can keep fighting after being electrocuted -Can survive falls from hundreds of feet with no issues -Endured hits from Jann Lee, who could destroy a tree with a single strike -Can endure being rammed into by a charging dinosaur -Can tank hits from Evil Ryu -Scales to Ryu Hayabusa, who survived being at ground zero of an explosion that consumed most of Mt. Fuji
Weapons and Equipment:
Shrouded Moon: -Kasumi’s main weapon -An elegant wakizashi, imbued with the mystical powers of the words “mist” and “moon”
Kunai: -Versatile combat knives -Forms six kunai to create a Windmill Shuriken
Skills and Abilities:
Fighting Style: -Mainly uses Mugen Tenshin Ninjutsu -Focuses on evasion and defense -Utilizes grapples and tackles -Defeated Alpha-152, a clone that could use Kasumi’s, Ayane’s, Hayate’s, and Ryu Hayabusa’s fighting styles
Expert Swordsman: -Skilled enough to take down hordes of armed men by herself -Has held her own against enemies that can challenge Ryu Hayabusa -Defeated an evil clone of Ryu Hayabusa
Stealth Expert: -Trained in the art of stealth and espionage –Can mask her presence in smoke-filled areas -Hardly uses this in combat, however
Teleportation: -Teleports short distances -Accompanied by sakura pedals
Ki Manipulation:
Spiritual Regeneration: -Uses ki to heal herself -Can do this until her ki runs out
Torn Sky Blast Technique: -Also known as the Art of Rending Wind –A powerful Mugen Tenshin technique that releases ki through an open palm
Weaknesses: -Has been defeated by the likes of Hayate -Has a finite amount of ki –Dislikes violence and will only kill if necessary -Was tricked into going to Zack Island… twice
Alright, the combatants are set. Let’s end this debate once and for all! It’s time for a Death Battle!
————————————————–
Snow Town, 9th Hierarchical City of Akitsu-Kou
The sound of boots crunching against snow echoed throughout the abandoned streets as one man trudged through the cold, unforgiving land. His green eyes scanned the area for any signs of life. Massive houses made of wood and brick adorned his surroundings, all of them lit from the inside and covered in snow, but he knew firsthand that each one remained unoccupied. It was odd. He recalled seeing the occasional snowman with each city block he passed, and he could clearly see the frozen over, igloo-like turrets that towered above the houses, which indicated that there must be at least one person inhabiting this place!
The man closed his eyes and exhaled, his breath visible in the town’s cold air as he recalled the events that had led up to this.
—
“Stop! Get away from me!” Knives Millions screamed in desperation as he realized what his brother was going to do. Instead of listening, Vash the Stampede only responded by focusing his energy into the cable he was holding. The energy shot through the cable, exiting out through the Ark and, by extension, Knives himself. Now knowing they were both connected, Vash proceeded to bring his end of the cable up to his neck. Electricity crackled out of the plug for a brief moment, and then it happened!
The moment it entered into his body, both Knives, Vash, and the various Plants let out bloodcurdling screams of agony. A fiery pain spread throughout Knives’ mind as he felt his body start to break down. Veins appeared across his entire frame, and the Plants that had helped make it up were slowly trying to push themselves out. To make matters worse, the energy had created an adverse effect on the Ark, as the once sentient ship was now roaring in agony. Knives looked down toward its direction, and he soon saw why: its entire frame was being disintegrated! With every second that passed, another portion would be consumed in a white fire, leaving the organic vehicle to suffer a pain even worse than its master’s!
An enraged scream emerged from Knives’ throat as he desperately spread his Angel Wings, forming them into tendrils that grabbed hold of the disintegrating ship. Then, using some of his own energy, Knives began repairing the ship, regenerating all of the damage in a matter of seconds while also integrating his own consciousness into it! He wouldn’t let Vash throw away all of his hard work so easily!
“You haven’t reached me yet, Vash!” As his body fused itself to its new vessel, Knives looked down to see the wire still attached to his body. “This wire connection must be your last chance. You’ve done well at cornering me like this, but…” he paused for a brief moment to focus his energy, and with it a small blade began to form from his new body. “There is absolutely no way I’ll lose to these humans!”
As these words escaped his lips, Knives brought the blade down, fully intent on severing the wire. Just when it seemed that he was about to do so, however, his vision seemed to go black for a brief moment. Upon its return, a CLANG echoed out as he struck… tile?
[Stop music]
His eyes widening in surprise, Knives then looked up at his surroundings, and it was then that he realized something was wrong. No longer were his surroundings that of the desert planet Gunsmoke. Instead, he found himself standing inside a large cave, his feet resting against tiled floor. Wait, his feet?
Confused, he took a brief look at his own body, and this caused his confusion to morph into a look of surprise. There didn’t seem to be any of the Ark attached to him. In fact, he looked just as he had prior to fusing with it! How was this possible? Could it have something to do with whatever had brought him here?
Shifting his gaze, Knives began studying his surroundings further. Each tile on the ground was inscribed with some sort of rune in its middle. His only sources of light seemed to come from the surrounding fire and lava, though this didn’t help him figure out his current surroundings.
“Let me guess, you’re probably wondering where you are and how you got here.” Hearing this new voice, Knives turned around, and he was met with the sight of a voluptuous woman in a purple-and-black witch’s costume.
“That would be correct.” He confirmed as he raised his arm, extending a blade to the point where it was only a few centimeters from her throat. “I’ll only ask this once: why did you bring me here, and for what purpose?”
“Maybe if you put that sword down and let me explain, you’d find your answer.” The mysterious woman responded, her tone somewhat frosty as she pushed the Angel Wing aside.
From there, this woman- Nine the Phantom- had told Knives of his current situation. According to her explanation, he had been selected as one of the “qualified,” a set of individuals who were given the privilege of surviving the end of the world. Apparently, he had been transplanted out of his universe and into this one by a being called the “Master Unit: Amaterasu.” Because of his status as a qualified, he was now tasked with defeating a woman by the name of Hades Izanami. By doing so, she explained, he would obtain the Azure, a power that would allow him to reshape the world as he saw fit.
Naturally, when he’d first heard this, Knives had scoffed. This sounded like some sort of naive, childish fantasy. A power that would grant him whatever he desired, and all it would cost was the life of one woman? At first he thought it sounded too good to be true, but then he began thinking on it a bit more. If this “Azure” really did exist, then he could use its power to bring about a new era to Gunsmoke. He could finally wipe the slate clean. The human race would no longer exist, and in their place would be paradise- an Eden for himself and all of his siblings to remain in for eternity!
[Stop music]
—
Opening his eyes, Knives’ attention became drawn elsewhere as he could feel a familiar sensation entering his mind. It was faint, but he could still feel this sort of… buzzing enter his subconscious. This only happened if he was around another Plant, and with the frequency he was receiving, it could’ve only been one person.
“Vash?” He asked aloud. Was it possible? Had his brother also materialized in this new world? And if he had, then that meant-
Knives cut off his thought process and chuckled.
“You just always have to get in my way, don’t you, little brother?” He asked aloud, his tone joking and humorous in spite of their recent conflict. As these words left his mouth, Knives took to the air, using his wings to begin flying over Snow Town. Although he wasn’t aware of it at the time, he would soon find himself victim to yet another confrontation, though it wasn’t with someone he had expected!
On the other side of town, casually trudging through the snow was another blond man, whose green eyes were remaining focused on his surroundings. He could sense a mysterious presence in this city, one he had never encountered before, and it seemed to be approaching his direction at a rapid pace. As he felt the air currents shift around him, Jin Kisaragi looked up just in time to see a vague blur crash several feet from him. Recognizing this new arrival as a possible threat, Jin placed a hand on his sheathed blade, mentally preparing himself in the event that he’d have to remove it and defend himself. To his surprise, the figure instead chose to remain still, allowing Jin to see its true form once the cloud surrounding it had dissipated.
Standing before him was a blond man of equal height. His hair had been fashioned into a sort of buzz cut, and Jin could notice a small streak of black across its left side. Most of his body was covered by a beige cloak, though Jin could still make out his hands and feet, and that was when he noticed something odd. For some reason, both of these limbs were a bright cyan, a sharp contrast to the peach skin tone on his head. Extending out of his back were a pair of white, metallic wings. But rather than focus on this person’s appearance, Jin’s attention was drawn to something else. He could feel a malevolent aura emanating from the man’s body, one that caused him to raise his guard even further.
“Well, it’s about time I found someone in this frozen trash heap.” Knives said, his tone joyful before he noticed the swordsman’s current expression. “There’s no need to be so defensive. I just need some directions.”
“Directions to where?” Jin asked, his tone on edge.
“Not where. Who. I’m looking for someone named Hades Izanami.” Upon hearing this, Jin’s gaze hardened slightly.
“So you’re another one of the chosen.” Jin surmised. “And what exactly do you plan to do once you’ve defeated Izanami? What is it that you desire?”
“What do I desire?” Knives repeated as a small grin appeared on his face. “All I want to do is recreate the world I came from, to give the humans who mistreated my sisters their long overdue punishment. Every day they would be abused, forced to supply resources to an ungrateful species before being thrown aside as if they were nothing more than garbage! If I were to obtain the Azure, I could strip my sisters of their prisons, and then humanity would be forced to fight amongst themselves. And once the last remnants of that putrid garbage have fallen, I’ll build a new world, one where we can thrive without any oppression or conflict!”
“So you want to play God?” Jin asked, his tone sounding somewhat testy.
“If that’s what you want to call it, then sure.” Knives said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. Hearing this caused Jin’s grip to tighten.
“I have made it my mission to not let the Azure fall into the wrong hands, and if that’s truly what you desire…” The former major paused for a brief moment, and then, as he unsheathed the Mucro Algrescro: Yukianesa, he continued with, “Then I’m afraid I can’t allow you to go any further!”
As these words left his mouth, Jin threw out a swift quickdraw slash. Yukianesa flew through the air-
CLANG!
Only to meet a cyan blade that had extended out of his target’s forearm. The two struggled for a brief moment, but Knives eventually pushed Jin back. The Hero of Ikaruga skid back a bit, but he proved quick to stop himself and stared his adversary in the eye. Knives’ only response was to close his eyes and sigh in disappointment.
“I shouldn’t have expected anything less. It looks like no matter where I go, you humans are all the same.” He lamented as he applied more strength to his push, causing Jin to skid back several inches. Opening his eyes, the Plant glared at Jin with contempt. “What gives you the right to judge me? You’re no different than your brethren! Arrogant, loathsome, downright disgusting!”
“Hmph. Spare me your words.” Jin responded dismissively. “Your opinions on humanity don’t concern me. As far as I’m concerned, they’re nothing more than the ravings of a delusional madman intent on condemning an entire species for the actions of a select few.”
As he finished speaking, Jin lowered himself into a fighting stance before continuing.
“And if your plan is to judge humanity, then I will be the one to judge you!” Upon hearing this, Knives chuckled.
“Trying to play the hero, are we? Alright then!” Once he had finished speaking, Knives tore off his cloak, revealing what lay underneath. The first thing Jin noticed was that Knives was completely naked, revealing that the peach skin on his face continued down his neck before fading into a cyan color. His lower half seemed to lack any genitals, instead sporting a completely blank space where they would’ve been. Small, spike-like extensions protruded out of his legs and wrapped around the outside of his thighs. Though he couldn’t have possibly known about it, Jin was currently looking at the result of Knives fusing with almost every one of the Plants on Gunsmoke. The naked science experiment looked at Jin’s neutral expression and responded by giving a smirk. He then swiped his arm through the air, causing a blade to extend out of his forearm.
[If rooting for Knives]
[Start at 0:21] [If rooting for Jin]
“If that’s what you want, then come on and fight me!” Knives declared with a grin. “But just as a warning: if you decide to step forward and take me on, I won’t show you any mercy! I’ll make your death as slow and excruciating as I can!”
At hearing this, Jin scoffed before running forward, with Knives responding in kind.
The two blonds soon met in the middle of the street, with both swinging their respective blades through the air. A loud CLANG echoed throughout the streets as their swords collided, producing a massive shockwave throughout the block. The snow surrounding them became dispersed, but both men remained unmoved as they glared intensely at each other. They continued struggling against each other for a brief moment, only to leap back upon realizing that they were getting nowhere. The moment their feet hit the ground, the two men lunged forward, ready to deliver their next attack, but it was ultimately Jin who proved quicker on the draw.
Thrusting his hand forward, the Hero of Ikaruga immediately conjured up a blade of ice out of thin air and launched it at Knives. The sword flew toward the Plant at blinding speeds, and he just barely had the time to tilt his body to the side. Despite Knives’ best efforts, the sword had still managed to slash across his forearm, producing a decently-sized cut, but he proved quick to put it aside. Turning his attention back to Jin, his eyes widened in shock as he found that his opponent had suddenly appeared in front of him! Yukianesa was already in motion, moving toward Knives like a blur, but then-
CLANG!
He raised his other arm and formed a second blade, resulting in another collision. A grin appeared on Knives’ face as he raised his free arm, intent on ending the fight early by driving his sword through Kisaragi’s throat. Just as he was starting to thrust it forward, however, Jin swung his arm once again. A wave of ice materialized in front of him, stopping Knives mid-strike and immediately encasing him in ice!
With his opponent now immobilized, Jin wasted no time in beginning his counterattack by delivering a swift upward slash. The moment it struck, Knives was freed from his prison and sent flying back, but his freedom was short-lived as Jin closed the distance between them, having boarded a massive slab of ice. The Musou Senshouzan slammed into Knives, freezing him once again, but he was once again freed by a swift slash from Yukianesa. Millions rolled across the ground, but before he could try and push himself back up-
KRACK!
A massive tombstone of ice struck him from behind, courtesy of Jin planting his katana into the ground. Even with what he’d experienced from the blade, pain still flared through Knives’ body as he felt the ice smack against his back. It slammed into him hard enough that he flew back toward Jin, who stopped his flight with a sudden kick to the stomach. Knives lurched over, unintentionally coughing up spittle, but this hit had also helped him regain focus. He noticed Jin’s hand was already gripping Yukianesa. As his opponent unsheathed the Nox Nyctores and swung it through the air, Knives immediately leaned back, causing the blade to sail a few centimeters past his face. Upon seeing that Yukianesa had missed its target, Jin began sheathing it, mentally steeling himself for when his opponent would unleash another attack.
He wouldn’t have to wait for long, as Knives pulled himself back upright and swung his sword-arm once again. While it soared toward Jin, Knives began forcing the blade to extend in length. It was now large enough that Knives could’ve easily cleaved him in two, but just before he could test that theory-
SHINK!
Jin unsheathed Yukianesa, producing a circular flash that seemed to have a crystalline snowflake embedded in its middle. The moment he saw this, Knives froze up, stopping the blade only a few centimeters from the field. Unfortunately, this would prove a costly mistake, as Jin threw out a swift slash aimed at the chest. Realizing this, the Plant quickly rectified it by swinging his sword once again!
CLANG!
The two weapons collided once more, but this time the winner was becoming much clearer. With each second that passed, Jin continued applying pressure to his hold, slowly pushing Knives further back. The cyan-skinned blond responded in kind, but his determination would only be rewarded with failure as Jin pushed even harder, breaking his guard and staggering him.
“Gale!” Jin shouted as he followed up by delivering an upward slash, launching the Plant into the air. Refusing to let him recover, Kisaragi immediately leap after Millions, drawing Yukianesa from its sheath once he was close enough. Then he chose to act!
With immense speed, Jin threw out a swift flurry of horizontal slashes, each one producing another laceration on Knives’ body. Once he had reached the apex of his ascent, the Hero of Ikaruga finished his combo with a downward vertical slash, tearing open a massive gash in Knives’ chest and sending him back to the ground. Knives slammed into the snow, his impact kicking up a massive cloud of frost, but even then he could still see Jin’s silhouette. The blue-clad hero had formed a massive construct of ice, one that resembled a bow, and it was currently pointed at Knives.
“Arrows of Ice!” He shouted as he notched its drawstring back. An arrow, one even larger than the bow itself, suddenly formed inside of the string, and it was pointed directly at Knives. After making sure he had lined up his shot right, Jin let out another declaration:
“Let everything freeze!”
With that, Ragna’s brother released his grip, allowing the arrow to fly toward Knives. As the arrow approached him, Knives’ eyes widened in fear and his breathing stopped for a brief moment. There was no way he could avoid it, not at the speed it was going, anyway! Not unless…
SHING!
Almost as if on instinct, a white blur emerged from Knives’ body, effortlessly pulverizing the arrow into mist. Though this left him confused, Jin put it aside as he chose to continue firing. Arrow after arrow emerged from the bow, all of them shooting through the air like a machine gun, and there seemed to be no sign of stopping! Unfortunately, it seemed that whatever had defended Knives was continuing its attempts, and it seemed to be more persistent! In fact, it seemed like more had arrived!
Every time another arrow shot out of the bow, it would be destroyed, and the distance between the mysterious objects and Jin would continue shrinking. Realizing he was getting nowhere, the swordsman-turned-archer allowed himself to drop through the air, firing off a final arrow. In tandem with his descent, one of the objects had swiped at his former location. Although he’d avoided a direct hit, a grimace still formed on Jin’s face as it sliced through one of the blue strips on his jacket, with the weapon’s tip grazing his forearm.
‘So he’s using some sort of blade to try and get at me from afar?’ Jin wondered as he flipped through the air, landing gracefully on the ground. The moment his feet hit the ground, he noticed several blurs appear in his line of vision and reacted accordingly. Quickly aiming his palm forward, Jin summoned a translucent green barrier, and it was at this same time that-
THOOM! THOOM! THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!
[Stop music]
“What?!” Knives asked as he felt his Angel Wings stop mid-strike, having been repelled by an object of equal force. At the same time, Jin took note of his opponent’s new weapons. From what he could tell, these seemed to be extensions of Knives’ wings, and they were rather strong! While his barrier may have shielded him from any damage, Jin could still feel the force behind each strike. Making a mental note of this, he thrust his arm out even further, forcing the barrier to explode and causing all of the blades to scatter.
[Start at 0:32]
Realizing this opportunity wouldn’t last, Jin wasted no time as he rushed forward at top speed, swinging Yukianesa in wide arcs with each step he took. As he felt his wings become moved aside, Knives’ immediate response was to reorganize them and spawn more. In no time at all, Jin had become completely surrounded by a void of razors, all of them set to close in and run him through! Unfortunately for Knives, it seemed that his opponent had other ideas.
Almost as if he were doing it subconsciously, Jin quickly unsheathed Yukianesa, and performed a sweeping slash, repelling the front row of blades. More began hurtling toward him, but Jin only responded by picking up the pace! The Nox Nyctores became nothing more than a blue blur as its owner continued swinging, knocking away Knives’ onslaught of blades with the greatest of ease! It didn’t matter where he attempted to strike from, nor how large the blade was. If it was in Jin’s way, Yukianesa would divert its path, freezing it solid in the process! Each swing was slowly bringing him closer to Knives, though the Plant wouldn’t even realize this until Jin had sliced through the final wing. With his adversary now in sight, Jin charged toward him at top speed! Now only a few inches from colliding, he thrust his hand out and summoned forth a massive construct shaped like a wolf’s head. It flew toward the cyan-skinned experiment-
THOOM!
[Pause music]
Only to crumble as it met some sort of invisible barrier. Confused, Jin threw out another slash, only for an equal force to push him back, causing him to skid back. Once he had come to a stop, the hero cocked an eyebrow at this. This man didn’t seem to be using Ars Magus, so how had he summoned this barrier?
“Confused?” Knives asked with an amused grin. “Really, after that last assault of yours, what makes you think- even for the tiniest second– that I’d ever let you lay that blade on me again?”
Jin merely scoffed as he planted Yukianesa into the ground once again, causing Knives’ eyes to widen as he felt a familiar construct slam into him. The moment the tombstone struck him, Millions found himself frozen solid once again, with his barrier dissipating in the process. Now that he had a clear shot, Jin wasted no time in beginning his attack!
[Continue]
Closing the distance in an instant, the former major threw out an upward kick and followed up with a sweep that knocked the frozen Plant to the ground. Before he could land, however, Jin threw out a vertical slash that sent him into the air. Leaping after the immobilized blond, Kisaragi gave a horizontal swing, followed up with another vertical, and sent Knives further into the air with a diagonal battoujutsu slash. Rather than leave it at that, Jin conjured up another board of ice and rammed into Knives. The moment they collided, he delivered a horizontal slash that freed Millions from his prison, but Jin still wasn’t done!
A downward diagonal slash ran across Knives’ face, producing a gash where it struck and sending him crashing back to the ground. Just before he could hit the snow, however, a flash of blue light covered Knives’ body, causing Jin to instinctively shield his eyes. It quickly faded, but before he could regain focus, something slammed into him from behind, leaving a massive cut across his back!
Despite the pain coursing through his mind, Jin proved quick to flip through the air, letting him land gracefully against the snow. Looking back up, he found himself staring at Knives, who looked down at him with a smirk before waving his hand through the air. Though this action left him somewhat confused, Jin soon realized what his opponent was planning as the sound of something rushing toward him made its way to his ears. Turning toward its direction, Jin prepared to counter it, but before he could-
SCHLICK!
One of Knives’ amputated wings had sliced across his hand, preventing him from grabbing Yukianesa. Another white blur whizzed past, causing Jin to stagger back as a second feather ran through his forearm, creating another laceration. Three more of the razor-sharp quills ran past the major’s body, leaving three bloody scratches across his stomach. Another four quickly followed, embedding themselves in his pecs and causing him to stagger back. Pain flared through Jin’s mind once again, but he put it aside as he reached for Yukianesa.
Grabbing hold of the katana, a barrier briefly appeared in front of Jin’s body, and at the same time, another of Knives’ feathers hit his body. When it struck, the swordsman rushed forward, throwing out a flurry of quickdraw slashes to deflect each of the oncoming feathers. By this point, neither Yukianesa nor the feathers could be seen. The only signs of either’s existence could be seen with the ice particles created from the shattered projectiles, as well as the numerous cuts on Jin’s body. The two continued struggling, though it was slowly becoming clear who the victor was.
Even with the progress he was making by using Yukianesa, the feathers were still cutting apart Jin’s body. For every feather deflected, another five razors would run across his body, slicing apart more of his skin! Despite the pain that was wracking his body, Jin attempted to continue fighting, but then-
SCHLICK!
[Stop music]
One of the larger feathers had embedded itself in his stomach, causing him to lurch over and vomit up blood. Another large one slammed into his chest, causing his knees to buckle as he collapsed to the ground. A stream of blood emerged from Jin’s mouth, but before he could try to muster the strength to keep fighting-
SHING! SHING! SHING!
The razors that had impaled his body suddenly ripped themselves free, causing blood to spurt out of his torso and stain his remaining clothing a deep crimson. He tried to push himself back up, but he would only get halfway there before the pain overloaded his mind, forcing him to fall onto his back. A few seconds later, Knives landed on the ground, his boots crunching against the bloodstained snow. He looked down at Jin’s bloody, laceration-covered body, and after what felt like an eternity, he smirked.
“I’ll admit, you did a pretty good job getting as far as you did, but it looks like your time’s up. Now rest, hero.” He spat the word venomously before turning his back to Jin. As he began walking away, Knives finished by declaring. “The rest of your kind will join you soon.”
CRUNCH!
“Just where the hell… do you think you’re going?”
Knives’ eyes widened in surprise at the voice. When he looked toward the source, his expression hardened slightly, though it still displayed a bit of shock.
Jin Kisaragi was still alive, though the previous onslaught had clearly left its mark. His blue coat and military uniform were both reduced to tatters, numerous scars adorned his body, but he had somehow managed to find the strength to stand back up. He looked Knives in the eye, anger blazing through what was otherwise a cold, steel gaze.
“Did you really think… that would be enough… to finish me?” Jin asked between ragged breaths as he continued seething with rage. “Do you think I’d actually allow myself… to be killed by someone like you?”
While these words were leaving his opponent’s mouth, Knives was noticing an odd feedback in his mind. He could sense a well of strength emanating from Jin’s body, and it was enough to send a chill down his spine. But even though this brief twinge of fear had entered his body, Knives quickly put it aside and began chuckling.
“Well, you’re quite the persistent bastard, aren’t you? But since you’ve gotten this far, maybe you can tell me what your plan is.” A smirk formed on Knives’ face as he continued. “Just think about it for a second. Your body’s practically at death’s door, you can barely stand, and you haven’t even been able to land so much as a glancing blow on me. I, on the other hand-“
A wing suddenly sprouted from Knives’ right shoulder, extending so quickly that Jin just barely managed to block it with Yukianesa.
“-have more than enough power to wipe you off the face of the earth!” He finished, emphasizing his boast with a victorious smirk. As he forced the cyan appendage to retract back to his side, Millions’ expression changed once again. His pupils shrank and his smirk evolved into a full-blown psychotic grin as he asked “So tell me, ‘hero,’ what are you planning to do now? Are you going to fight until the bitter end, or maybe I should just spare you the trouble and end this little farce right now?”
While those last words were exiting his mouth, Knives forced his wing to curl around his shoulder, its end pointing straight at Jin’s head.
“As if you had to ask!” Jin responded as he gripped Yukianesa and slowly brought it up. “I don’t care what power you have, or what state my body’s in! Even if it’s until my last breath, I won’t rest until you’ve received judgment at my hands!”
Laying the sheath in the palm of his left hand, with his thumb placed against its bottom, Jin gripped Yukianesa’s hilt with his right.
“So feel free to attack me with whatever you’d like. No matter what it is, it won’t change the outcome! None shall escape!“
Once those last words had escaped his lips, Jin’s body seemed to let loose an explosion of energy, causing Knives’ brow to raise in intrigue. Although he wasn’t aware of it, what he just witnessed was a sign that the Hero of Ikaruga had just tapped into his Overdrive, Frost End.
[Start at 0:40]
In a sudden burst of speed, Jin rushed toward Knives, who immediately responded by allowing his wing to shoot forward. As it flew through the air, the wing began changing shape, morphing into some kind of sickle. The newfound weapon came down at an angle, no doubt to bifurcate Jin through his collar, but its target proved quick to respond as he swung Yukianesa through the air! The moment both blades collided, Knives’ wing became coated in ice, causing its owner to grimace in pain.
Before he could recover, Jin grabbed the frozen portion, snapped it off, and hurled it at Knives with all his might! The blade soared toward its former owner, positioned to impale him through the shoulder, but then something odd happened. It was caught, not by Knives himself, but by an enormous, white tentacle that had suddenly emerged from his arm. This newfound limb crushed the impromptu weapon to dust, and several dozen more sprouted out from Knives’ arm immediately after!
Jin’s gaze hardened as the tentacles suddenly rushed toward him, and he only responded in kind! The moment they reached out to strike, he unsheathed his katana and began parrying them like a madman! The moment each one struck the flat of his blade, the tendrils became coated in a thick layer of ice. A swift amputation would then follow suit as Jin continued rushing forward, countering the tentacles as he continued blocking and swinging Yukianesa. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be enough to keep Knives down, as he only responded by summoning a legion of tentacles.
Hundreds of tentacles rushed toward Jin at blinding speeds, but he didn’t seem to be alarmed. In fact, his expression shifted into a cocky smirk as he conjured up a red, runic barrier. This shield symbolized a technique he had learned from a certain legendary hero, which Knives would soon experience as a tentacle slammed into it. The moment it struck his barrier, Jin activated the technique known as-
“Empty Sky Form…”
Knives let out a grunt of pain as he felt something slice past him, amputating his tendrils and arm-blade while also trapping him in a block of ice! Instead of leaving it at that, however, Jin rushed through him a second time. A third. A fourth. A fifth slash ran Knives through, and once he had emerged from the other side, Jin immediately sheathed Yukianesa. The blade made an audible CLICK upon its insertion, and with it Jin finished the technique’s name.
“Winter’s Reposte!”
The moment these words escaped his lips, Knives’ prison suddenly exploded outward, with its captive screaming as he was violently thrown to the ground, his entire body now covered in lacerations. Knives placed his hands against the ground, trying as hard as he could to push himself up, but a sudden wave of exhaustion forced him back down. Gritting his teeth, the Plant continued attempting to push himself back up, though in doing so he involuntarily opened his mouth. A stream of blood emerged from his mouth, pooling directly in front of him.
As he looked down at the crimson puddle below him, Knives’ expression contorted into one of pure, unbridled fury! It was bad enough that a human had managed to damage him this badly, but now this trash dared to spill his blood?
Rage began to cloud Knives’ mind as he pushed himself back up, quickly getting back to his feet. He turned to face Jin, but the major cut this action short with a sudden uppercutting slash. Vash’s brother reeled back in pain as another gash appeared on his face, and Kisaragi proved quick to exploit this newfound opening. A rapid flurry of swings struck Knives head-on, each one leaving another cut on his body. Despite this, Jin could tell that something was wrong. Although he hadn’t noticed it before, Knives’ body was actually managing to regenerate from each cut almost immediately after it had been made! Even the injuries that had been inflicted prior were nowhere to be seen!
‘How the hell is he healing from Yukianesa’s blade?’ Jin thought in confusion, only for his expression to quickly harden. ‘If he can do that, then I need to end this before it goes any further!’
As this thought entered his mind, Jin raised Yukianesa through the air. Then, with a cry of “Arctic Daggers!” he brought it down! The moment he did so, a crescent-shaped wave of energy shot out from the permafrost blade, approaching Knives at blinding speeds! As he watched the beam speed toward him, Knives’ only response was to let out a smug “hmph” as he forced his wings to spawn. As if sensing the oncoming threat, they immediately folded themselves over their master, and the moment the beam slammed into them-
KRRRRRK!
It exploded against the makeshift shields, causing Knives to let out a chuckle.
“How pitiful! If that’s the best you can do, then-“ whatever he was about to say soon died in his throat as he realized something was wrong. He’d intended to spread his wings outward and use them to attack Jin, but nothing happened. Confused, he attempted to retract them back into his body, only to reach the same outcome.
‘What’s going on here? My wings… why can’t I move them?’ He thought as he grit his teeth. ‘All I did was block that beam of ice. Unless it actually managed to-‘
Knives looked down at the ground, and his pupils shrank as he realized his suspicions were confirmed. While he’d managed to block the beam, it seemed that Jin’s Touga Hyoujin still had the last laugh. The moment the two had collided, the beam exploded into a thick layer of ice, covering the wings’ surface and leaving their owner stuck to the ground. Unfortunately for Knives, his situation was about to get far worse, as Jin suddenly planted Yukianesa into the ground. In tandem with this, three tombstones of ice erupted from the ground and ran themselves through Knives’ body, coating him in a block of ice once again. With his opponent now immobilized, Jin ripped Yukianesa out of the ground and sheathed it, simultaneously shattering the tombstones and freeing Knives once again.
[Stop music]
As he fell to his knees, Knives began to feel a familiar pain spread through his mind. In addition to leaving three large, bleeding holes in his body, those last attacks had also created another adverse effect. The pain from each one seemed to have spurred his sisters into awakening, and they desperately wanted out!
Knives’ body convulsed for a brief moment, causing Jin to raise an eyebrow in confusion. This convulsion shot through him again, this time causing all of his veins to begin popping out. It soon passed, and his body quickly morphed back to normal. But then a third one started up. Soon it was followed by a fourth. Then a fifth. Each time this convulsion spread through Knives’ body, his veins would emerge, and various patches of skin would form into something else. Feminine arms, legs, and faces of varying sizes all began to emerge from his body, though there was something wrong with each one.
All of the limbs seemed to be bent at unnatural angles, yet they desperately grasped at the air. The faces all seemed to be stuck letting out silent screams of terror, screams that were vocalized through Knives himself.
As if to make up for the unheard cries of his “sisters,” Knives was letting out a chilling scream of agony. Just like his fight with Vash, he could feel the other Plants continuing to push themselves outward, and each convulsion was only making it worse! He felt like his mind was about to split apart, and every fiber in his body felt like it was on fire!
While he didn’t share his adversary’s pain, Jin could still sense what was occurring on a more spiritual level. Each time Knives convulsed, Jin would feel some sort of mental feedback. Hundreds of presences made themselves known to him, all screaming in unison. Through these screams, he began to feel a surge of emotion through the air. Whatever was causing this, they seemed to be in pain, and each one shared the same desire: to obtain freedom. Each time Knives’ body moved, another of these creatures would add to the feedback, and Jin could feel their presences growing closer.
‘What is this? Are these his “sisters” he was talking about?’ Jin asked himself. ‘It seems like he’s been absorbing them into himself, overriding their wills with his own, but why?’
While these questions swirled through Jin’s mind, he felt the presences continue their screams, but then something odd happened. He could feel each one start drifting away, fading into a subconscious buzzing as a new scream emerged. As he snapped back to reality, Jin began to realize where this scream was coming from: it was Knives!
As he felt the other Plants try to tear themselves free, Knives let out another scream, but this one was different in tone. Rather than a tortured roar of pain, his growing determination had caused the scream to evolve into one of pure, unbridled willpower.
‘I’m sorry, sisters, but I can’t let you leave me just yet!’ He thought as he forced his body to stabilize, trapping his fusees back inside.
[Pause]
As he pushed himself back up, subconsciously healing his gaping wounds in the process, Knives turned his attention back toward Jin. The NOL alumni now bore… Knives couldn’t even tell how to describe the expression. If he had to guess, he’d have said it was some sort of crossroads between disgust, confusion, and anger.
“Just now, I felt the presence of hundreds of people. All of them were originating from one point: your body.” Jin’s expression hardened, becoming an angered glare before he continued. “Is this what you’ve done to your ‘sisters?’ You claim that humans abuse them and regard them as nothing more than a fuel source, only to turn around and use them to fuel your own demented goals?! How can you claim to be dispensing judgment on humanity? Going by your own logic, you’re no better than we are!”
[Continue]
This statement seemed to spark something within Knives, as his otherwise neutral expression morphed into a hateful glare. Then, much to Jin’s surprise, he suddenly appeared in front of him, Angel Wing already mid-swing. A resounding CLANG echoed throughout the street as Yukianesa reacted immediately, automatically defending its master from the oncoming strike.
“Don’t you ever compare me to garbage like you!” Knives demanded as he swung a second time, causing Jin’s feet to begin digging into the ground. “Everything I’ve done, every action I’ve set in motion, it’s all been to free my sisters! True, I needed to fuse their conscience to my own, but there was no other way I could’ve done it! Either I could let them share their minds and bodies with mine, or I could allow them to continue suffering in their cages! What other choice did I have?”
“Did you try communicating with humans first? Did you let them know what they were doing to your siblings? Did you ever once try doing that?” Jin asked as he stood his ground, slowly overpowering Knives and pushing him back.
“You sound just like my brother. He listened to the words of the woman who raised us and believed her little sob story, then he became perfectly fine with humanity as a whole. Even though we’d discovered that she covered up how her crew members had killed an infant!” Knives snapped as another wing emerged from his body, only for Yukianesa to intercept that as well. “What makes you think I’d be willing to talk with someone like that? If the woman who raised us was capable of something like that, why should I bother giving any of you a chance?”
“What was she like?” Jin asked. This seemed to catch Knives off guard, and he blinked in surprise.
[Stop music]
“What?” He asked in confusion.
“The woman who raised you. How did she treat you before you discovered her secret? And what about after?”
“She tried to make us feel like we were one of them. She said she opposed Tessla’s murder, and that she’d committed a violation of regulations in order to save us.” Millions admitted.
“Then if she was willing to do all of that, what reason do you have for doing what you are right now?” Jin questioned as he broke off their clash and threw out a wave of ice, only for Knives to leap back to dodge it.
“Because by looking through Tessla’s report, I saw the truth behind humanity!” Knives declared as he extended his right arm outward. A wing shot through the ice, coming extremely close to impaling Jin through the chest, but he responded by conjuring another barrier. Scoffing at this, Knives continued swinging away at it, each collision producing another chip in the shield.
“It doesn’t matter how pleasant you try to appear or what good you claim to do! In the end, all of you- whether you know it or not- were only able to succeed by profiting off of my sisters’ lives. Even here, I can still see the flaws in humanity! Just looking at you, I can feel the pride radiating from your body, that arrogant sense that you believe you have some sort of power over me!”
As he continued speaking, Knives’ swings grew in intensity, producing more cracks against the shield.
“Well, tell me! How’s that pride treating you now?” Millions asked excitedly as he summoned more wings to strike the barrier. Seeing this, Jin forced the barrier to explode, scattering the wings through the area. Knives himself was also pushed back, but before he could regain his focus, he heard Jin’s voice in front of him.
[Start at 0:44]
“So that’s it, then?” Instinctively, Knives attempted to summon another blade, but Jin proved quicker on the draw as a diagonal swing nailed the Plant in his chin. The cyan-skinned blond was sent flying through the air as Jin once again planted Yukianesa into the ground, creating a massive tower of ice that trapped Knives inside.
“If that’s the reason for your crusade against humanity, then you’re more of a madman than I thought!” Kisaragi declared as he threw Yukianesa into the air. The Nox Nyctores spun as it ascended, repeatedly smacking the frozen Plant in the face.
“You were convinced you saw humanity’s nature just because of one bad experience, and then you use that as a means to justify genocide?” Jin asked as he leapt through the air and caught his blade. Then, with lightning-fast speed, he began wailing on the frozen immortal, rapidly hacking away at his frozen prison.
“You use it as a reason to put your own siblings through excruciating pain?” He asked between slashes. “To cause suffering toward those unrelated to your sister’s death?” As the intensity of his slashes grew even further, the Hero of Ikaruga continued speaking.
“You see yourself as being above humanity, and appointed yourself as worthy of condemning them. But no matter how you try to justify your actions, it still doesn’t change the fact that you’re nothing more than a damn hypocrite! Your actions are no better than the humans you claim to despise!”
Once these final words had escaped his lips, Jin threw out a final, downward slash. This freed Knives from his prison and immediately slammed him into the frozen ground below.
[Stop music]
The moment he made impact, Knives involuntarily opened his mouth, coughing up blood as he did so. Jin fell to the ground soon after, still maintaining his pointed glare. The genocidal Plant responded in kind as he tried to push himself up, ignoring the newfound lacerations that coated his body.
“Don’t lecture me, you bastard!” Knives snapped between ragged breaths. “You can label me as a false judge, call me a deluded madman, I don’t give a damn! Even if my actions destroyed everything, even if it left me as the last being on Earth, I wouldn’t have any regrets about what I’ve done! Nothing will make me regret the path I’ve chosen!”
In tandem with these last words, Knives’ right arm began changing shape. It started by splitting itself in half, with the upper and lower portions twisting and bending themselves in unnatural ways. His fingers began sinking into his hands, replacing themselves with sharp extensions that were protruding from both halves. These extensions then began taking on a more definitive shape, quickly evolving into an entire set of fangs. The malformed arms were also changing shape, forming into what could only be described as an alligator’s jawline.
With this demonic maw now fully formed, Knives pointed it directly at Jin, which caused it to open even further. As it did so, Jin noticed something forming from within its throat. It seemed to be some sort of black orb, and it was constantly crackling with white electrical energy. Just as soon as he’d seen it, however, the mouth spat out its mysterious ball!
The moment he saw this, Jin’s instincts took over as he rolled to the side, causing the ball to miss him by only a few inches. This proved to be the right choice, as not even a few seconds after dodging it, the orb suddenly expanded in size! The wind suddenly picked up, creating an audible howl as it rushed past Jin’s ears. To make it even more concerning, all of the wind seemed to stop only a few inches from where he was standing. Confused by this, Kisaragi looked over his shoulder, and what he saw caused his eyes to widen in horror.
The sphere Knives had fired had suddenly grown in size, and it was quickly devouring everything. The snowy terrain that surrounded it was being rapidly dragged in. The trees and houses followed soon after, their structures collapsing and being torn to shreds as they were pulled forward.
In a desperate attempt to avoid the fate of his surroundings, Jin leapt back, throwing out three ice swords in an attempt to destroy the sphere. Once they got near it, however, each one seemed to be caught in a vacuum. The blades flew into the heart of the projectile, only to suddenly disappear from sight. No, disappear wasn’t the right word. It was more like they had been absorbed!
“W-what the hell is this?” Jin asked, his tone one of simultaneous irritation and fear. As he turned his attention back to Knives, Jin’s eyes widened as his attacker fired off three more of the spheres. As they flew toward him, Jin leapt into the air, sailing over the black holes as he conjured a board beneath him. It began to fly through the air-
CRUNCH!
Only for its flight to come to an abrupt end as Knives swung his left wing through the air, shattering it! With his only means of escape now destroyed, the combined gravity of the black holes began pulling Jin back. As they grew closer, Jin’s eyes widened in horror as panic began filling his mind. He was staring directly at the black holes, which at this point might as well have been death itself! Once he made contact with them, these voids would consume his very being, and there was no way he could avoid them!
These were the last thoughts to enter Jin’s mind before his body entered the voids’ proximity. He felt his left arm violently contort and twist as it became absorbed into Knives’ black holes. The pain of his limb being ripped apart caused Jin to let out a bloodcurdling scream, and then his vision went black.
[Stop music]
As he watched this from where he stood, Knives gave a triumphant grin. This human had been a nuisance, but it was over! That sanctimonious, self-righteous piece of garbage had finally been wiped out!
“Heh… heh heh heh!”
Once this realization had come over him, Knives began chuckling, which soon crescendoed into full-blown joyous laughter.
“Hahahahahahaha!”
While he was in the midst of this laughing fit, however, Millions noticed a white flash enter his field of vision. At seeing this, the Plant stopped laughing and looked toward its source. Upon doing so, he was met with something odd. All of his black holes seemed to have disappeared from sight, almost as if they were never there!
“What the hell?” He asked in confusion. ‘What was that light, and how did it cancel out my black holes?’
[Start at 0:06]
As this question blared through his mind, Knives noticed something standing in the epicenter of where his attack had been. No, it seemed to be someone. And when he noticed who it was, Knives’ brow furrowed in irritation.
Standing in the middle of the desolate crater was Jin Kisaragi, his body surrounded by some sort of white aura. He opened his eyes, which now shone with conviction, and met Knives’ furious gaze. Then, after his legs tensed up for a brief moment, the Hero of Ikaruga gave a powerful battlecry as he rushed forward! Rather than being concerned at this, however, Knives’ only response was to give a cocky grin.
‘Does he actually think he’ll be able to close the distance between us in time? There’s really no limit to human arrogance, is there?’ He began chuckling as he aimed his transformed arm forward, firing off another black hole. The projectile flew toward Jin…
Only to suddenly disperse into nothingness thanks to the Power of Order’s influence. Seeing this caused Knives to cock an eyebrow in confusion.
‘Is this where that light was coming from? Has he somehow managed to negate my black holes?’ He thought. His gaze hardening, Millions attempted to test this hypothesis by firing off four more black holes. They flew toward Jin, only to suddenly disappear into nothingness much like before. Seeing this caused Knives to grit his teeth. With his black holes out of the picture, there was only one weapon he had left that could possibly stop Jin. He didn’t want to use it, but this human garbage had forced his hand!
His gaze hardening, Millions attempted to test this hypothesis by firing off four more black holes. They flew toward Jin, only to suddenly disappear into nothingness much like before. Seeing this caused Knives to grit his teeth, but he wouldn’t be able to think up another way to counter this newfound power. Jin suddenly leapt into the air, and now he was diving toward the Plant like a hawk.
“ARCTIC DUNGEON!”
[Stop music]
Once these words had escaped his lips, Jin descended onto the ground and slammed Yukianesa into it as hard as he could! The moment it made contact, both Knives and a majority of the town became frozen in solid ice! Jin then began pushing his katana in even deeper, causing Knives’ icy prison to begin growing in size. With each millisecond that passed, the Plant’s body grew further entrapped in the Seithr-infused ice. But even with his body had been frozen over, Knives still refused to give in!
Gritting his teeth from within the ice, Knives realized that with his current situation, he only had one weapon that could get him out of it. He didn’t want to use it, but Jin had forced his hand!
His right arm began changing shape, starting with his hand elongating and his fingers fusing into some sort of gun barrel. This shapeshifting was causing a spider web of cracks to begin forming across the ice, rapidly weakening its structure with each passing nanosecond. Then, to deliver the coup de grâce, a pair of wings emerged out of Knives’ forearm, causing the ice to explode outward and send Jin flying back.
[Stop music]
“What was that?” He asked in confusion. Keeping a firm grip on Yukianesa, Jin looked back at Knives, and his eyes widened in surprise at what he saw.
Knives’ right arm was now a massive cannon. From the looks of things, it seemed to be formed from his own skin, and a massive white sphere had formed inside of his forearm. To make matters worse for Jin, Knives had aimed it directly at him, and a white light was now glowing out of its barrel. Then, before the Hero of Ikaruga even had a chance to react, Knives fired his Angel Arm.
A massive beam of antimatter emerged from the cannon’s barrel, immediately consuming Kisaragi and the very land that surrounded him! A scream of pain and fury emerged from the former major’s throat as he felt the Angel Arm’s blast tear him to shreds. The lacerations he’d suffered earlier were nothing compared to what he was feeling now! It was almost as if his entire body had been set on fire, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t endure it! Then, as if he were attempting to add to the pain, Knives added more power to the Angel Arm, widening the beam’s range! The fully-powered Angel Arm erupted outward into a massive explosion of white, causing Jin to let out a final scream of pain and rage, a scream that would soon fade in tandem with the beam.
Once the energy from his cannon had dispersed, Knives wasted no time in scanning the area. Given what Jin had done before, it was likely there was still the chance he was alive. He looked around intently, searching for any sign that this might be the case. Instead, he was met with the smoldering crater that was now Snow Town, which seemed to extend as far as the eye could see. Nothing seemed to remain of Jin Kisaragi. Nothing except for-
“Hm? What’s this?” Knives asked curiously as he bent over and picked up a nearby item. Upon bringing it closer, the blond realized what he was looking at: it was Yukianesa, surprisingly still intact after the Angel Arm blast. In fact, it seemed like the katana hadn’t even been damaged by the beam. Realizing this, Knives raised an eyebrow in intrigue as he grinned.
“Well, this is interesting.” He admitted as he studied the Nox Nyctores for a brief moment. After admiring its craftsmanship and looking it over once again, he placed the katana back in its sheath and strapped it to his leg. Then, after he’d made sure it was secure, Knives summoned his wings and took to the air once again. As he looked toward the horizon, Knives couldn’t help but grin. With the power of this katana at his side, no one would be able to challenge him. Not these humans, not Izanami, and certainly not Vash!
As he flew through the air, Knives began laughing once again. His laughter echoed throughout the remains of Snow Town, and it would only fade once he had left the desolate wasteland.
———————————–
First Relius dies to Kira, now Jin dies to Knives. Man, Blazblue’s blond guys don’t seem to have that much luck in the ring, huh?
Anyway, deciding the winner for this fight was honestly pretty hard, but not for the reasons you might think. While I was writing this, Blazblue’s stats kept getting upgrades, downgrades, debunks, it was a mess. Every time these updates came out, the verdict would change. First I was going to have Jin win, then Knives, then Jin again, then Knives again. At one point I felt the match was close enough to warrant it ending in a draw, but then another update came out for Blazblue’s stats that caused me to reconsider. So, with that bit of trivia out of the way, let’s get into why I ultimately picked Knives as the winner.
When it came to strength, Knives ultimately had the edge. While he doesn’t have as many concrete feats in this department, being able to damage Vash, who survived being blasted by a fully-powered Angel Arm, would put Knives at Planet Level. Jin, on the other hand, has shown that he can trade blows with the likes of Ragna, Hakumen, and the Black Susanoo; the latter of whom wields the full power of the Susanoo Unit, which would grant Susanoo the ability to fight the planet-destroying Black Beast and puts him on par with the likes of Hades Izanami. Izanami could output the same energy as the Corpus Sepulcro: Requiem. which she herself says is 10^31 joules, or Small Planet Level. Given that Jin was shown to fight Susanoo, albeit briefly, he should scale to this.
Speed was another aspect that Knives took. He’s shown the ability to blitz Vash, who could react to blasts from an Angel Arm, which can reach the Moonin seconds, putting both Vash and Knives himself at Relativistic speeds. By contrast, Jin would be Sub-Relativistic at minimum due to being superior to the likes of Iron Tager, who can fly to the exosphere and back in seconds. At maximum, he would be Sub-Relativistic+ due to dodging Take-Mikazuchi’s beam, which can move at 6% the speed of light, though it should be noted that this is with the use of assumptions and highballing. And in case you’re wondering, no, the calc that put this beam at Faster Than Light speeds wasn’t legit. It relied too heavily on assumptions, such as Take-Mikazuchi’s height above the atmosphere and the timeframe only considered the speed the beam traveled until it was close to Earth.
So, in short, Knives takes the stat trinity pretty hard. What about the non-physical stats?
In terms of intelligence, both have shown some impressive feats in this regard, and they could both use them under certain circumstances. Knives mainly uses his intellect to manipulate people, which he could also do here by taking advantage of Jin’s arrogance and prideful attitude. Jin, on the other hand, has shown that he’s been able to use his swordsmanship and martial arts abilities during a fight.
Similarly, experience was another hard one to decide. Sure, you could say Knives should take this since he’s been alive for much longer. The problem is that he spent that time scheming, leading the Gung-Ho Guns from the shadows, or absorbing Gunsmoke’s Plants to further his plans. The amount of actual fights he’s been in can be counted on one hand, and they were all against his brother, Vash. By contrast, Jin had better combat experience due to participating in more one-on-one fights in his series, and his service in the NOL’s military further solidifies this.
When it came to arsenal, Yukianesa granted Jin some impressive abilities. Its ice, ability to attack the soul, and the ability to negate healing factors meant that he could theoretically bypass Knives’ durability and healing factor. Its ability to automatically defend the user would also make it harder for Knives throughout the fight, though this is assuming it could react in time.
Knives’ Angel Arm was more than strong enough to kill Jin, on top of being too fast for Jin to react to. The Angel Wings give him better offense, defense, and mobility; all of which are furthered by their ability to grow in size. His black holes let him bypass Jin’s durability, in addition to being faster than Jin could react to. His barriers also gave him another way to negate Jin’s attacks, and his Angel body gave him an edge in unpredictability due to how it lets him spawn Angel Wings from anywhere.
In terms of powers, Jin easily had the edge in variety. His enhanced senses could possibly let him sense Knives’ weapons before they hit him, he could summon freezing winds, he has a healing factor (albeit one that’s inferior to Knives’ own), and then there’s his hax resistance. Admittedly, from the massive list of what he can resist, the only thing that’s relevant here would be his ability to resist mental manipulation. Thanks to remaining unaffected by the Boundary, which floods the minds of those who enter it with infinite amounts of information, it’s safe to say that he could easily resist Knives’ telepathy. Admittedly, this doesn’t even matter since Knives never really uses his telepathy, but it’s still worth noting. Finally, there’s the Power of Order, which is arguably one of Jin’s strongest abilities. There’s just the unfortunate problem that it likely wouldn’t come into effect.
You see, the Power of Order exists to combat threats to the world, and while Knives outclasses Jin in the stat trinity, that doesn’t automatically make him a threat to the world. Maybe you could argue Knives’ Angel Arm would meet that requirement due to its planet-destroying capabilities, but there’s a slight problem. Even if it did see Knives as a threat, the massive gap in stats means that Jin would most likely be dead before the Power of Order could affect him.
Not even Jin’s Unlimited Mode would be able to save him. While it increases his durability and applies Frost End by default, it does nothing for his strength and speed. This means Knives could still blitz or one-shot him with his superior stats and weapons. Admittedly, Knives’ sadistic nature would prevent him from using the black holes or Angel Arm right off the bat, but it’s likely he wouldn’t even need them. As I stated above for the Power of Order, Knives’ already superior power ensures that he’d have already killed Jin before it could even take effect.
It was knife knowing you, Jin. Maybe next time you won’t be fighting an opponent who’s better “armed.”
The winner is Knives Millions.
Knives Millions (Winner) + Outclassed Jin in the stat trinity + Could manipulate Jin’s prideful and arrogant mindset to his advantage + Angel Arm could easily one-shot Jin, on top of being too fast for either him or the Power of Order to react to + Angel Wings boosted his offense, defense, mobility, and range + Black holes could bypass Jin’s durability, on top of being too fast for him to react to + Barriers could negate Jin’s attacks + Angel body grants him an edge in unpredictability + The Power of Order is unlikely to regard him as a threat + Even if you argue that his Angel Arm would count, he still blitzes Jin before it could come into effect + Superior healing factor – Though Yukianesa’s ability to negate all forms of healing and bypass durability by attacking the soul rendered this moot – Less experienced – Smaller array of powers + Though he makes up for this since the powers he does have are more suited for combat – Sadistic nature would prevent him from using his black holes and Angel Arm at the start + But given how he already outclasses Jin in physicality, this isn’t really a problem – Jin’s ability to resist mental manipulation rendered his telepathy useless + Though this isn’t an issue since Knives never uses his telepathy in the first place
Jin Kisaragi (Loser) + More experienced + Intellect was more suited toward combat purposes + Larger array of powers – Though most of them were useless + Could bypass Knives’ durability and negate his healing factor with Yukianesa + Yukianesa could automatically defend him from Knives’ attacks – But that’s assuming it could react in time to counter them + Unlimited Mode could lessen the gap in durability – But even with its boosts, he’s still heavily outclassed in the stat trinity – Arrogant and prideful nature would be easily exploited by Knives – Had no counter to Knives’ Angel Wings – The Angel Arm is far beyond what Jin could survive or react to – Knives’ black holes could bypass his durability, on top of being too fast to react to – Knives’ barriers could negate Jin’s attacks, and they were superior to Jin’s own barriers – Inferior healing factor – The Power of Order is unlikely to register Knives as a threat – Even if it did, Knives still blitzes and one-shots Jin before it could take effect
Sibling rivalries can be some of the hardest things one can deal with. Whether it’s to gain the favor of your parents, get revenge on something the other’s done, or just to be a dick, there’s no denying that under the wrong circumstances, these fights can strain or even break a family’s relationship to the point of no return. And while most rivalries involve the siblings attempting to outdo the other, these two have taken their obsessions a bit too far. Not only are they willing to kill their brothers to complete their goals, they also take this obsession to some rather… let’s just say disturbingly invasive levels.
Knives Millions, founder of the Gung-Ho Guns!
And Jin Kisaragi, the Hero of Ikaruga!
I’m Br3ndan5, and I’ll be analyzing their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win a DEATH BATTLE!
——————————————————
Knives Millions AKA: Knives, Lord Knives Age: 150’s Height: 5’10” Weight: Unknown First Appearance: Trigun – Chapter 14: Diablo (July 30, 1996) Theme:
Feats: -Discovered the true nature of the Plants and the horrific experiments performed on them -Along with his brother Vash, survived the Big Fall, which he was responsible for -Killed the last remaining relative of Rem, his and Vash’s adoptive mother -Telepathically forced Vash to activate his Angel Arm, causing the destruction of July and starting Vash’s criminal record -Formed the Gung-Ho Guns to act in his stead while he healed from his injuries and to eliminate Vash -Defeated Nicholas D. Wolfwood and made him look after Vash -In the anime, fought Vash in a showdown and almost killed him -Absorbed thousands of plants, increasing his power exponentionally -Launched “The Ark,” a floating ship designed to absorb other Plants to deny humans of any resources -Fought Vash and the forces from Earth and almost destroyed them -Saved Vash from the exploding Ark and brought him to safety -Made peace with Vash and found redemption before dying
Born on one of the many ships dedicated to the space colonization program Project SEEDS alongside his brother Vash, Knives and his brother were actually part of a species known as Plants, living experiments created by humans in order to power and give life to whatever planet the SEEDS members chose to colonize. Vash and Knives were unique among the other Plants for two reasons: the first being that they were male while the other Plants were female, and the second was that they were able to live without the need of the special containers used by the other Plants.
Upon their birth, the two brothers were adopted by the female scientist Rem Saverem, who treated them kindly and taught them about the values of life. Her teachings led Knives to begin studying Earth’s history and wonder if humanity would ever accept him and Vash as equals. Unfortunately, his curious attitude would eventually lead to him disobeying Rem’s orders and convincing Vash to come with him and enter a part of the ship that she had previously told them was off-limits. Upon entering, the brothers found the decaying, mutilated remains of Tessla, another independent Plant that had been born before them. Near the Plant’s corpse were files detailing what the crew members had done, which Knives read aloud.
As it turned out, the crew had experimented on her while she was still in the womb, repeatedly dissecting her and treating her as nothing less than an animal. Despite the crew members realizing how morally wrong it was to treat her like this, they were too late to change anything. Upon her birth, they discovered that their poor treatment had resulted in Tesla’s body being covered in tumors. They tried to remove the tumors, but no matter what they did her condition continued declining until she had lost her hair, began giving off a foul odor, and fractured her thigh bone when she attempted to get up. After being alive for 229 days, Tesla suffered a seizure, and despite being given medication, her biological functions ceased working and she finally died.
Both brothers were horrified by this, though they showed it in different ways. Knives fell into a shock-induced coma, while Vash locked himself away and attempted to commit suicide by stabbing himself with a knife. Fortunately, Rem managed to intervene, though it resulted in Vash accidentally slicing her hand open, with the blood loss causing her to pass out. Horrified by what he’d done, Vash helped nurse her back to health, and while doing so, regained his trust in humanity after Rem revealed her own troubled past to him.
Unbeknownst to them, Knives, who had only recovered seconds after Rem revealed her past, began to feel that Plants and humanity could no longer coexist. Fearing that he, Vash, and their “sisters” would share Tesla’s fate, he began tampering with the ship’s controls, rerouting the entire fleet to crash onto the nearby planet Gunsmoke while also making sure that any ships containing the other Plants would survive. Upon discovering the rewritten circuitry, Rem sent her adoptive sons into an escape pod as she stayed onboard to try and correct it. To Knives’ dismay, she was able to do so, but it came at the cost of her life, much to Vash’s horror.
While on the pod, Knives revealed to Vash his involvement in the event, now known as the Big Fall, earning his brother’s anger. Despite their hostile attitudes toward each other, with nowhere else to go Vash was forced to tag along with Knives as they wandered Gunsmoke, occasionally watching the surviving humans build cities around the crashed ships. Eventually, Vash would end up getting captured in a small town, with Knives deciding to free him by murdering the entire population. Horrified by this, Vash wound up using a nearby gun to shoot Knives in the shoulder, with Knives retaliating by slicing off his left arm. The two brothers would then separate, with Vash choosing to wander the planet and unintentionally becoming a wanted criminal due to Knives’ interference, while Knives began forming a group of criminals known as the Gung-Ho Guns, hoping he would be able to convince Vash to join his side through using the gang to show him the evil of humanity.
Physicality:
Strength: -Easily snapped the spine of Legato, who tanked one of his weaker Angel Arm blasts -Can damage Vash, who survived full powered Angel Arm blasts
Speed: -Easily blocked a sound based attack -Cut down 3 assassins who attack through sound before they could react -Easily matches Vash, who constantly dodges heavy gunfire -Traveled out of orbit and to a space ark within a couple of seconds -Blitzed an entire space satellite system in a few seconds after reaching space in a second -Fast enough to block advanced earth cannon fire at point blank range -Managed to blitz Vash, who’s fast enough to block Angel Arm blasts
Durability: -Was shot in the thigh by Vash and was more alarmed that Vash shot him than the injury itself -After Vash shot him in the shoulder, he calmly observed it before cutting off Vash’s arm, telling him to aim better -After getting shot by Vash’s Angel Arm during July, he simply told Legato to shut up for being too loud -Survived getting shot in both shoulders and thighs -Withstood Vash’s weaker Angel Arm blasts, which can easily destroy cities -Tanked a blast from a weapon powerful enough to destroy a country -By using his Angel Wings, he can survive Angel Arm blasts powerful enough to destroy planets
Weapons and Equipment:
.45 Long Colt: -Custom made black revolver -Larger than other revolvers -Can fire six rounds of .45 caliber ammunition -Has a range of over 200 ft
Skills and Abilities:
Master Marksman: -One of the few people capable of matching Vash -Possesses excellent aim
Devious Schemer: -A dangerous and deceptive planner -Manipulated some crew members into killing each other -Caused the Big Fall, killing innocents including his adoptive mother Rem -Orchestrated the plan to make Vash experience true despair -Launched the Ark in an attempt to kill off all humans by taking away all of their resources
Healing Factor: -Can heal from injuries thanks to his Plant heritage -Quickly heals from all of his bullet wounds -Was shot in the face and healed from it instantly -Eventually regenerated from being blown apart by Vash’s Angel Arm blast
Psychic Powers: -Is a powerful telepath -Can manipulate fellow Plants and humans -Almost causes a plant to combust to kill humans -Manipulated Vash’s Angel Arm, causing him to accidently destroy July -Killed crew members one by one via manipulation and made them suffer some insanity -In the anime, made Chapel literally bend over backwards
Angel Arm: -Knives’ strongest weapon -Used by tapping into his Plant powers -Knives can manifest it as either a massive cannon (as seen in the anime and several parts of the manga) or as a mass of blades (which is the form it takes for most of the manga) -In its cannon form, it can do the following: -Fire blasts of antimatter and black holes -Easily destroy entire cities -Destroy the moon in one shot -Put a giant crater in the moon -Is said to be powerful enough to destroy a planet -Drains his life energy with every use and kills him if he uses it too much
Angel Wings: -Feather-like monomolecular blades -Able to produce smaller versions on his hands -Can use them to fly at faster than light speeds -Are durable enough for him to use them as shields to block full power Angel Arm blasts -Can be weaponized as extremely sharp blades and monomolecular wire –Can increase their size to the point of becoming this large (Knives Giant Wings)
Angel Body: -Gained from absorbing almost every Plant on Planet Gunsmoke -Greatly increases his physicality and abilities -Can manipulate his body and produce Angel Wings anywhere
Teleportation: -Can distort space to teleport himself
Force Fields: -Can create energy barriers to block attacks
Black Holes: -Knives can produce small black holes, similar to Vash’s black hole bullets -Unlike Vash, he can use these black holes without the need of a gun -Devour anything they touch -Each one has a range of 300 feet
Weaknesses: -Sadistic and psychotic, prefers to see his victims suffer -Angel Arm drains his life and will slowly kill him when used too much -His angel body is unstable, and the Plants can leave his body should he either become emotionally unstable or experience too much pain -Should this happen, his body will be almost completely drained of power, leaving him near-death and unable to use his Plant abilities
(“After 15 years, are you still holding on to that ridiculous nonsense? That fantasy world created for you by a woman who lived and died by contradiction?”)
——————————————————
Jin Kisaragi Aliases: The Hero of Ikaruga, Major Kisaragi, Knight of the N.O.L., Power of Order Age: Unspecified (most likely in early- to mid-20s; younger than Ragna) Height: 5’10’’ Weight: 134.5lbs Blood Type: A Species: Artificial Human First Appearance: BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (November 19, 2008) Affiliation(s): Novus Orbis Librarium, 4th Thaumaturgist Squadron Themes:
Feats: -Acquired Yukianesa from Saya as a child -After being driven mad by Terumi’s influence and Yukianesa’s, aided Terumi in burning down his childhood home, killing Celica, and cutting off Ragna’s arm -Was adopted into the prestigious Kisaragi family -Joined the Novus Orbis Librarium, swiftly rising through the ranks and earning many honors and awards -By killing Tenjo Amanohokosaka, was instrumental in ending the Ikaruga Civil War, and became known as the “Hero of Ikaruga” -A version of him from the first timeline jumped into the Boundary, and after a century, became the legendary Hakumen -Has repeatedly clashed with his estranged brother, Ragna the Bloodedge -And in some cases, has won over him -Through his willpower alone, awakened the Power of Order and regained the ability to draw and control Yukianesa, effortlessly defeating Tsubaki Yayoi with this power -Along with Hakumen, fended off Mu-12 -With the aid of Noel and Makoto, freed Tsubaki from the Imperator’s Mind Eater curse -With the aid of Ragna and Noel, defeated the Gigant: Take-Mikazuchi -With the aid of Mu-12, fended off a berserk Ragna, though this event greatly injured him -Aided Kagura Mutsuki in defeating Azrael, dealing the finishing blow himself -Briefly fended off the Black Susano’o -With the use of the Hihiirokane, forced Ragna and Yuuki Terumi to the Blue so that Ragna could finish off Terumi once and for all -Actually donned the fabled Susano’o Unit himself (different from Hakumen) -Battled with Ragna for one final time, in a bid to stop him from erasing himself
As an artificial child born and raised in his early childhood in an experimental facility, the life of the one known as Jin would be anything but normal. Whisked away from the laboratory along with two other children by the legendary warrior Jubei, Jin would then be raised alongside his siblings in a church tucked away in the woods, inhabited by a kind nun. From there, he would begin to experience a more normal childhood, until his sister Saya grew sick. His brother, Ragna, decided to tend to his sick sister, earning the jealousy of Jin. This, along with the properties of a mysterious sword that Saya gave him and the influence of an enigmatic man known as Yuuki Terumi, would be the primary driving force that would drive Jin to madness, aiding Terumi in burning down his childhood home, killing the nun that raised them, robbing Ragna of his arm, and taking away Saya. Terumi then took away the memories of this event, and the now-truly-orphaned Jin would soon be adopted into the highly-esteemed Kisaragi family, where he would then on be known as Jin Kisaragi.
With his new status in life, Jin joined in the Novus Orbis Librarium and quickly rose through its ranks, being showered with multiple honors and awards and eventually being hailed as a hero. However, Jin’s true desires and motives lay elsewhere—in his desire to reunite with his estranged brother, and kill him with his own two hands…
Physicality:
Strength: -Is comparable to Ragna, as he is born to oppose him -Can trade blows with some of BlazBlue’s top tiers, such as Ragna, Hakumen, and Hazama -Can damage Take-Mikazuchi with his strikes -Should be stronger than the likes of Makoto and Tsubaki -Briefly traded blows with the Black Susano’o
Speed: -Directly reacted to Take-Mikazuchi’s laser blasts point-blank -Can keep up with the likes of Ragna, Hakumen, Tsubaki/Izayoi, and Hazama -Capable of dodging attacks from the Black Susano’o, albeit briefly
Durability: -Constantly takes hits from Ragna, who wields the Soul Eater drive and has traded blows with some of BlazBlue’s top tiers -Has taken hits from Tsubaki, Hakumen, Hazama, and the like -Can survive Take-Mikazuchi’s lasers -Could take hits from the Black Susano’o, although this should be the very limit of his durability -Though to be fair, Jin was fighting to perceive him and not to kill him
Skills and Abilities:
Genius Military Leader: -Led the campaign to Ikaruga, earning him the title of “Hero of Ikaruga”
Master Swordsman and Decent Martial Artist: -His fighting style is more refined and elegant than Ragna’s
Immense Willpower: -So much that it had awakened the legendary force known as the Power of Order within him
Skilled Cryokinetic: -His moveset mostly revolves around attacking with intricate formations and weapons forged out of ice
Barrier Creation: -Self-explanatory
Personality: -Calm, cold, and aloof—a complete foil to Ragna’s rudeness and sailor mouth -Denounces such concepts as love and friendship, believing them to be lies that humans use to their advantage -Though this is likely self-denial -Cares little for the feelings of others -Evidenced by how he treats Noel -Has no qualms about killing anyone who would get in the way of his goals -However, when he is around Ragna, his personality changes drastically—from an aloof sociopath, he becomes a borderline psychopath with a nigh-childlike personality and a maniacal laugh; he gains the indomitable desire to kill his brother -This is most likely due to the influence of Yukianesa, which amplifies his emotions -This doesn’t seem to affect the immense care he has for Tsubaki, his only childhood friend, as he will put aside any murderous desires he has if it means saving Tsubaki -In Centralfiction, this madness seemed to quell, as he now refers to Ragna as the “Black One” much like his future self, Hakumen -In Centralfiction, he actually cares deep down about his siblings (Ragna and even Saya), showing signs of his maturity -Collects vintage motorcycles
Weapons and Equipment: Mucro Algescro: Yukianesa: -A Nox Nyctores, the final stage of Ars Armagus—a set of weapons made specifically to combat the Black Beast -Nox Nyctores place great mental burden on their wielders and often attempt to remove “needless” emotions, with the potential to drive them insane or turn them apathetic -Jin is a victim of this side effect, as the blade amplifies his emotions to the point of driving him insane and causing him to act, well… the way he acts –However, ever since Jin learned to control the Power of Order, Yukianesa has steadily lost its influence over him, and Jin’s use of the Yukianesa has grown more refined -Has no blade of its own; however, when drawn, it manipulates seithr particles and water vapor in the air to create a blade of permafrost -Permafrost blade is said to be able to “erode life” and is cold enough to freeze Azrael, a man who remained unaffected while in absolute zero temperatures for two years -Can damage the soul and negate any form of healing, to the point where not even Phenomenon Intervention can reverse the injuries it inflicts -Phenomenon Intervention is a technique that allows a user to reset the timeline and rewrite reality to better fit their own desires –Much like other Nox Nyctores, it can fight, move, and warn Jin of oncoming attacks on its own -Ragna has noted this blade to be sentient
Resistance to Reality Warping, Existence Erasure, Time Manipulation, BFR, Information Manipulation, Memory Manipulation, Causality Manipulation, Probability Manipulation, Conceptual Manipulation, Quantum Manipulation, and Fate Manipulation: -Thanks to the Power of Order, Jin is able to overpower the effects of Phenomenon Intervention, which includes the above
Transmutation Resistance: -As one of the Qualified, he is immune to the Embryo’s ability to turn everything into Seithr
Resistance to Mind Manipulation: -Unaffected while being in the Boundary, a dimension that when entered, results in the victim being overwhelmed with infinite amounts of information, dating all the way back from the beginning of time and encompassing all timelines
Resistance to Poison Manipulation, Insanity Infliction, Biological Manipulation, and Stat Reduction: -Can resist the effects of Seithr, which can induce addiction, cause the body to deteriorate, and reduce the power of others
Resistance to Perception Manipulation: -Has resisted the effects of Ars Magus, which nullifies the user’s senses
Resistance to Healing and Regeneration Negation: -Has fought against Ragna, whose Azure Grimoire can negate any form of recovery
Resistance to Petrification and Gravity Manipulation: -Can create an Ars Magus Barrier, which is said to protect its user from these effects
Resistance to Death Manipulation: -By using the Power of Order, Jin was able to negate the effects of Immortal Breaker, a technique that forcibly places the concept of death into its victim’s mind
Resistance to Power Nullification: -Was able to still use his powers even after the activation of Kushinada’s Lynchpin
Resistance to Explosion Manipulation and Spatial Manipulation: -Withstood hits from Bolverk, which can pierce through space with its shots
Power of Order: -The ability to hold true to one’s convictions no matter what -Is neither good nor evil, only existing to maintain balance to the world -Usually manifests as a white aura that surrounds the user -Was awakened through Jin’s sheer willpower, allowing him to awaken Yukianesa to his bidding -Allowed Jin to slowly fight off Yukianesa’s malicious influence and use the weapon to his advantage -Allowed Jin to survive Tsubaki’s Immortal Breaker, which literally forces the concept of death upon its victim -Prevents the alteration of its user’s destiny -Allows him to sense Phenomenon Intervention and resist its effects -Can use it to stabilize his or another person’s existence should they begin disappearing
Moveset:
Frost Bite: -Jin’s Drive -Has the power to freeze the foe completely on hit -Some of his special moves that end with a D command will consume 25% of his astral heat
Wolf Head: -Unleashes a wolf head of ice Ice Wave: -Unleashes a wave of ice Ice Tombstone: -Conjures tombstones of ice Snowflake Aura: -Exactly what it says on the tin
Hishouken (Ice Blade): -Fires an ice sword forth Hishousetsu (Flying Ice Strike): -Tosses out a snowflake-shaped crystal as a stationary projectile Fubuki (Blizzard): -Slashes diagonally upward with a quick battoujutsu slash Rehhyou (Violent Ice): -A vicious uppercut slash that launches foes skyward
Musou Senshouzan (Crystal Strike): -RIDE THE ICE CAR!!! -Conjures a board of ice, which Jin rides upon to charge his foe; often follows up with a sword slash
Musou Tosshougeki (Freezing Crystal Strike): -More powerful version of Musou Senshouzan; freezes foes on first hit, then breaks ice on second
Hirensou (Dual Ice Strike): -Draws sword in a circular flash which freezes; follows up with a swipe to shatter the ice and send the foe flying
Sekkajin (Snow Flower Storm): -Wildly slashes out with sword Hizansen (Ice Slashing Flash): -Basically an air version of Fubuki that is aimed downward
Hizangeki (Ice Slashing Strike): -More powerful version of Hizansen, in which Jin slashes upward diagonally to freeze his foe just before Hizansen takes effect
Overdrive, Distortion Drives, and Exceed Accel:
[0:25 to 0:52]
Frost End: -Jin’s Overdrive -Allows Jin to freeze the foe with each hit of Yukianesa -Lasts longer the lower Jin’s health is
Touga Hyoujin (Ice Fang): -Jin unleashes a bladebeam at high speeds at the foe -In Overdrive, Jin freezes the foe with one slash of the bladebeam, then stabs Yukianesa into the ground as the foe is struck multiple times
Hiyoku Getsumei (Moonsong): -Jin forms a bow and arrow of ice and shoots upward at a 35 degree angle; the arrow suspends the foe in midair and hits multiple times -When performed midair, the bow is aimed downward
Kokuujin: Yukikaze (Judgment: Snowstorm): -Jin projects a barrier in front of him -If the barrier is hit, Jin will immediately counter with a quick iaijutsu quickdraw slash, which freezes the foe, and the ice will shatter when Jin sheathes his blade -In Overdrive, after the first strike, Jin will slash through the foe multiple times before sheathing his blade
Kokuujin Ougi: Gekka Hyourou (Empty Sky True Form: Crystal Moonstorm): -Jin’s Exceed Accel -Starts off with the 4th strike of Sekkajin; afterward, Jin will stab his blade into the ground and trap the foe within a huge tower of ice; Jin then tosses the blade upwards while it is whirling, hitting the foe multiple times; he then leaps upward, catches his blade, and slashes at the foe multiple times before culminating his attack with a slash that shatters the tower and knocks the foe into the ground -In Active Flow, Jin strikes more times before unleashing the final blow
Astral Heat:
Rengoku Hyouya (Arctic Dungeon): -Jin concentrates all his power on his sword and stabs it to the ground -The resulting ice freezes the foe over, and after 5 seconds, Jin tugs his sword from the ground and sheathes it -When Yukianesa clicks into place in its sheathe, the ice trapping the foe is instantly shattered, instantly killing the foe -Can only be used when at 35% health or lower
Forms:
Unlimited Mode: -The form that Jin takes upon accessing his full power -Increases Jin’s durability -The effects of Frost End are active by default -Many attacks can now freeze the foe over, including attacks not from Yukianesa -Increases the potency of Jin’s cryomancy, enhancing some of his ice-based attacks -Lasts as long as the opponent does
Weaknesses: -Obsessed with Ragna to a fault -This has since toned down, if not died out, in the events of the latest game -Rather arrogant and prideful -In combat, is a jack-of-all-trades, but a master of none
(“I am the cold steel… the blade that will restore balance to this world! Nox Nyctores, Yukianesa, activate!!)
Alright, the combatants are set. Let’s end this debate once and for all! It’s time for a Death Battle!
————————————————–
It was a hot summer day in the bustling metropolis known as Diamond City. The Sun was mercilessly beating down on everyone’s necks, and it seemed to be growing hotter with each second that passed. Despite the blazing heat, everyone was trying to find some way to fight it, though they all had their own way of doing it. Some had decided to make the best of the situation and headed to the beach, while others cooled off by going to one of the city’s many ice cream stores. Some of the more introverted denizens took the heat as a sign and decided to stay in the comforts of their own homes, enjoying the cool air of the A/C. One such example could be seen from some distance away, currently residing in a white house that sported orange roofing and a massive blue W attached to its chimney.
If one were to peer inside of this house, they would’ve been treated to a rather disgusting sight. An old-fashioned TV sat against the wooden floor, blaring audio of multiple stations as its impatient viewer rapidly surfed through channels. The floor was littered with plastic TV dinner trays, old candy wrappers, several dozen empty soda bottles, and even small scraps of garlic were strewn across the room, all of them forming into mountains of debris. A single red sofa sat in the middle of this pigsty, and sprawled across it was the man responsible for this mess.
To say that this man was overweight would’ve been a massive understatement. His stomach alone resembled a balloon filled with cement, and his stubby legs made it a miracle he was even able to walk at all. Not helping matters was his face, which sported a bulbous pink nose that sat atop a large, black zigzagging mustache. If one wasn’t repulsed by this man’s facial appearance, they would have noticed that he was dressed in a yellow undershirt and purple overalls. Despite his pudgy frame rendering it almost impossible, his feet were covered by a pair of pointed green shoes. The most notable aspects of his attire, however, could be seen with his gloves and hat, both of which were adorned with a blue W in their middles. This was Wario, head of the company Warioware, and he was currently searching for something, anything, that would let him pass the time.
As he lay on the sofa, absentmindedly picking his nose, the greedy antihero began slowly looking off to the side, barely paying any attention to what was on the TV. This would soon change, however, as a commercial soon caught his eye.
”Are you looking for a way to escape the summer heat?” The narrator asked excitedly. At hearing this, Wario’s eyes lit up as he pushed himself upright. “Do you need something that will kill time while also giving you a mini vacation away from home?” The overweight Italian nodded. It was almost like this commercial was speaking directly to him! “Then come spend your money at Hallelujah Land! We’ve got all sorts of attractions: discover the mysteries of the universe in Space World, regain some of your lost youth in the Small Child Zone, or witness the Dasaiger fight against their arch-nemesis, Evil Hands, in ‘Hero Show: Fashion Squadron Dasaiger,’ the stage play that’s proven popular with both children and adults alike!”
”But where do I find-a this place?” Wario asked as he grabbed hold of the TV, violently shaking it in an attempt to get an answer out of it.
“And if you’re wondering ‘But wait, Narrator, you haven’t told us where Hallelujah Land is,’ well I’ll tell you right now! You can find it at-“
As the commercial’s narrator explained where the park could be found, Wario leapt to his feet and ran toward the garage, his speed far beyond what one would’ve expected given his frame. Unfortunately, in his haste he had left right before the narrator closed the commercial with the following message, spoken in an incredibly fast tone:
“Hallelujah Land is not responsible for any injuries incurred or profits lost. By entering Hallelujah Land you automatically agree to our clause that we have the right to deny potential customers any refunds regardless of their legitimacy.”
As the commercial ended, Wario hopped into his car, which appeared to be a purple Cadillac sporting a stick of his mustache on its hood. With a twist of the ignition switch, the engine roared to life and the car itself began to peel out at top speed. It was moving well beyond the legal limit of any state, and Wario himself seemed to be making it a goal to drive as recklessly as possible! Cars swerved out of the way, horns blared at him in annoyance, and multiple red lights were run, but the treasure hunter paid it no mind. To him, all that mattered was making his way to that park. Given how that commercial had looked, it was safe to say he had finally found something to pass the time, at least for a little bit.
Several minutes later
”WHAT?!” Wario screamed, his tone a mixture of rage and astonishment. “What do you mean, $20? Who the heck would pay that much for a stupid slice of pizza!”
”Look, tubby. I’m not the one who makes the prices here. Besides, it’s not like you need any more with how much lard you’re packing! If you wanna complain about our prices, you should take it up with the boss.” The disgruntled pizza vendor snapped.
“The boss?” Wario repeated.
”Yeah, he’s right over there.” The man responded, pointing to a building some distance away. Wario looked toward the finger’s direction, and he found himself staring at a massive castle some distance away. “But good luck trying to convince him. I’m pretty sure he’s just gonna kick your ass. He’s still pretty sore about what happened with the last guy that entered the castle.”
”Well, he’s gonna have to deal with it! Nobody rips off Wario and gets away with it! Only I get to pull that kinda stunt on these schmucks!” With this declaration, the microgame designer prepared to run off at top speed, but he stopped in place at the last second. A sudden gust of wind hit the vendor in the face, and his apathetic expression shifted to one of shock at what he was seeing!
”Hey, you have to pay for that!” The man pointed out in annoyance as he watched Wario swallow the entire slice in one bite. The yellow-clad plumber let out a loud burp before turning to the vendor and giving a cheeky grin. Before he could raise any more complaints, however, Wario had already taken off, making a b-line straight for the castle.
Meanwhile, inside of the Money Castle, one man sat in the middle of its main room. Velvet curtains were draped around the room, and hundreds of dollar bills floated through the air. Sitting atop a golden throne was a tall man with spiky green hair. He wore a breastplate, thick braces around his wrists, and armored boots; all of which were gold. Beneath this set of armor lay black spandex that covered most of his body. This was Halekulani, the manager of Hallelujah Land, and he was currently watching his profits grow at an intense rate. With each second that passed, another several thousand dollars or gold coins would enter Halekulani’s profits, and to say that this pleased him would be an understatement.
’Good! Just a few more minutes and I’ll have recovered from what Bobobo and the rest of those idiots did to my reputation. It’s been a long time coming, but soon I’ll finally be back to my usual stability!’ A smirk appeared on the park manager’s face, though his thoughts were soon cut off by a loud CRASH as something barreled through the left of one of his castle’s walls. The sight of this caused Halekulani to raise an eyebrow in intrigue. As the dust began to clear up, Wario could be seen, an annoyed frown on his face as he looked the armored businessman in the eye.
“So you’re the boss of this place, huh?” the intruder asked.
“You’d be correct, mister…” Halekulani responded.
“Wario.”
”Wario.” He finished. “Though I should ask why you’ve decided to come here, of all places. If you’re here to complain about my prices, you should know that by entering Hallelujah Land you automatically forfeited the rights to any refunds.”
“And where’s it say that, bub? I didn’t see any rules like that when I got here!”
”Well, if you watched our commercial-“
”I did.” Wario snapped.
”Then tell me,” Hale paused as a projection screen came down from the sky, “do you remember this part of the commercial?”
The commercial played again, displaying the same enticing images and giving the same descriptions as before. When it came to the end, however, Wario could hear the narrator’s voice once again:
Though the rapid-fire speaking left him somewhat confused, Wario understood the basic gist of the message. This guy had duped him! The entire park was nothing but an overpriced sham! Admittedly, this was no different than something he would’ve pulled off, but it still angered him nonetheless!
“Now, if you have no further complaints, I must ask you to leave. I have more important matters to attend to than listening to a moron who couldn’t read the fine print!” Halekulani said sternly.
”Honestly, you’re the only moron I see around here! Do you really think I’m just gonna walk away without tryin’ to take my money back? Nah!” In tandem with this, Wario cracked both of his knuckles before continuing. “I don’t care what it takes, I’m-a gonna get that refund, and then maybe I’ll go for your park, too!”
”If you really think I’ll let you take over Hallelujah Land so easily, then you’re sadly mistaken!” Hale declared. “I’d sooner die than hand over control of my profits to a fat oaf like you!”
”You’d rather die, huh?” Wario chuckled. “Alright, I can arrange that!”
With that, the overweight Italian began running toward Halekulani, who responded with an amused smirk as he remained stationary in his throne.
Before Halekulani could even have a chance to register his opponent’s speed, he found himself launched out of his throne and into the air by a powerful shoulder tackle. The impact caused him to cough up several flecks of blood as he continued ascending through the air. He felt like he’d just been hit by a bulldozer! But what could have caused this much pain? It couldn’t have been that morbidly obese fool, could it?
He would soon get his answer as said fool suddenly appeared in front of him, having started to rapidly spin in place as he flew after Halekulani. The moment he made contact, Halekulani found himself launched through the air once again, his speed even more dangerous than it was before! The thought of regaining control of his flight path briefly crossed his mind, but before he could enact this plan-
CRUNCH!
He slammed back-first into one of his castle’s banisters, causing him to grunt in pain as he involuntarily coughed up blood. The moment he made contact with the railing, a small tremor seemed to erupt throughout the castle, freeing him from his unintentional prison and sending him back to the ground. Though he was still in pain from his landing, the Hair Hunter proved quick to reposition himself, making it so that he landed on the ground with a loud THOOM as a crater appeared beneath his feet. The moment he landed, Hale noticed blood dripping from his lip and quickly wiped it off.
“Well, I’ll admit you’re stronger than I thought, Wario. Very few have actually managed to make me bleed from a hit like that.” He complimented.
“Heh, heh. Thanks for the compliment, goldie. So, do you wanna see some more of this impressive strength of mine,” Wario paused to flex his surprisingly muscular arms, “or would ya rather just spare yourself the embarrassment and pay me back my money?”
“If you want your money back so badly, then be my guest.” Hale responded, his eyes lighting up for a brief moment as a panel suddenly opened from beneath the overweight plumber. Confusion spread on Wario’s face as he looked around, unsure of what to expect. He briefly tapped his foot against the floor impatiently, only for his confusion to grow as he instead felt his foot hit thin air. Looking down, his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he began to realize that he was now standing on thin air. Unfortunately for Wario, it would be in this same moment that gravity chose to return, sending him crashing into a pool beneath him. He hit the surface back-first, causing a surplus of dollars to begin flying through the air…
Wait, dollars?
Upon seeing the money descending through the air, Wario proved quick to grab hold of the several fives and twenties in front of him. He quickly jumped through the air, put his newfound cash in his nonexistent pockets, and landed on the ground with a loud THUD! This impact caused more money to begin rising through the air, and Wario made sure to collect all of it! Opening his mouth, the greedy anti-hero then inhaled as hard as he could! In tandem with this, a funnel of sorts began to appear in front of Wario’s mouth, greedily sucking the airborne money into his gaping maw. The suction only seemed to be growing stronger with each second that passed, sucking in more of Halekulani’s profit and converting it to Wario’s own!
Speaking of which, Halekulani was walking toward the pool, intent on seeing what had happened to Wario. He expected to see that the pudgy businessman had been converted into another coin, but his expression soon contorted into one of surprise at what was happening instead. Sitting in the middle of a mostly empty pool was Wario, who had only just finished sucking up the last of the surrounding profits.
”What did you just do?” Hale asked furiously. Upon hearing the sound of his opponent’s voice, the plumber turned to him and grinned.
“Just taking your suggestion to get some of my money back. Thanks for that, by the way.” Wario responded as he leapt through the air and crashed back onto the surface. The moment he landed, another tremor leveled the entire castle, causing Halekulani to briefly stumble back in surprise. Once he’d regained his balance, the Hair Hunter looked back at Wario and began chuckling.
“I’ll admit I didn’t expect you to escape my money pit like that.” He confessed as a grin began to spread on his face. “You’re pretty interesting! Maybe I’ll even start to use my Gorgeous Shinken seriously!”
“Gorgeous Shinken?” Wario asked, tilting his head in confusion.
“Yes!” Hale responded, his grin growing in size. “I created the Gorgeous Shinken specifically to compliment my iron grip over my money. All of its techniques, and all of its powers, are founded solely on money!” His eyes lit up as he raised his hands, and in tandem with this, several hundred gems began to ascend through through the air.
“In fact, let me show you its power firsthand! Golden Shinken Ougi…” he paused for a moment before thrusting his arms forward and letting out a shout of “Falling Jewels!”
Once the name of the technique had escaped his lips, the jewels shot toward Wario at hypersonic speeds. As he watched the gems approach, Wario’s only response was to reach into his overalls and pull out a red, white, and yellow flower with eyes. Crushing it in his hands, Wario’s appearance suddenly changed. His undershirt and hat faded to a bright white, while his overalls turned a bright yellow.
With Fire Wario now activated, the overweight businessman looked back to at the approaching jewels and quickly responded. Keeping his hands open, Wario summoned a fireball in each hand and quickly threw out a rapid barrage. Wario’s arms were moving so quickly that they couldn’t even be seen, but even an outsider like Halekulani could see the results of this speed. With each inch that Wario moved, another fireball would shoot across the room! The frontmost rows of Hale’s Falling Jewels were shot out of the air and sent clattering to the ground, while the other rows were quickly following suit. Seeing this, as well as the supposedly unending stream of projectiles approaching him, Hale proved quick to raise his arms in defense. Unfortunately for the Hair Hunter, while he was successfully defending against each one, he was still feeling the effects of each ball. Every time one hit him, the same burning pain would shoot through Halekulani’s body, in addition to pushing him back ever so slightly.
But even with the constant pain he was experiencing, the theme park’s manager was managing to pull through. Using his control over money, Halekulani forced several thousand bills and coins to begin pooling behind himself, forming it into one big pile. Even though he noticed this, Wario proved quick to push it aside. With what this green-haired loser had done before, he was probably just going to create some kinda barrier around himself.
Although he was initially confident in this assessment, the pyrokinetic miser’s attitude was slowly beginning to slip away as the ever-growing pile took on a new form. It started to grow more slender, and two massive extensions began to form from this “body.” A head soon began to form, with a pair of massive red eyes and a beak formed from hundreds of gold bars. The two extensions began to solidify, taking on the shape of wings. This construct then opened its beak and, despite lacking any vocal chords, let out an ear-piercing screech.
”So how do you feel about this, Wario? The next step in my Gorgeous Shinken’s evolution! Gorgeous Shinken Ougi: Golden Phoenix!” Hale shouted victoriously as the phoenix gave another screech. Upon witnessing the sight of this massive beast, Wario’s eyes shrank in fear as a small squeaking sound emerged from his backside, causing his Fire Flower form to dissipate.
The phoenix continued its screeching as it suddenly swooped down, its beak open and fully prepared to catch its pudgy prey in its gullet. Seeing this, Wario did the only sensible thing he could in this situation-
“WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”
He ran like a little bitch.
Wario booked it as fast as he could, his entire frame sweating and jiggling like a cup of lard-filled Jell-O. He was panting heavily with each step he took, but he forced himself to keep going. There was no way he’d let that dumb money bird get him!
“SCREEEEEEEEE!”
’That-a sounds a lot closer than I thought.’ Wario noted as he looked over his shoulder. A terrified scream emerged from his throat as he noticed the phoenix was growing dangerously close to his current position. He prepared to pick up the pace, but this decision would ultimately be cut short as the phoenix descended onto him with a loud CRASH!
An explosion of dollars and coins began to spread across the area, coating the other half of the room in a sea of money. The sea then began to shift and morph back into its original form, but as it solidified something seemed to bump across its body. First it hit the bird’s stomach, then its neck. A third bump extended out of its head, and it was during this attempt that Wario would shoot out of the reconstructed phoenix, though something was different about him. Now he was wearing a hat of a green dragon with giant nostrils and small wings.
Now wearing the King Dragon Pot, Wario began flying through the air, only coming to a stop once he was near the ceiling. He quickly flipped in midair, positioning himself so that he would land on the surface. Then, using his surprisingly impressive leg strength, he leapt back down toward the phoenix, forcing his hat to open its mouth and spew flames. These twin streaks hit the phoenix head-on, igniting several of the coins and flesh that made up its body. A screech of pain emerged from the bird’s throat, and it was then that Wario saw an opening for his next attack!
Reaching into his overalls once again, this time he pulled out three small items. All of them shared the same appearance, being small, cartoonish bomb with white eyes and stubby orange feet. The moment he removed them, each one seemed to spring to life in Wario’s hand as they let out a bizarre, high-pitched noise.
Realizing he only had one shot to get this right, Wario looked down at the phoenix’s throat for a brief second. Then, once he felt he’d gotten the timing right, Mario’s antithesis threw each of the Bob-ombs one after the other, sending them flying toward the vulnerable construct. Each one flew down its throat, with the phoenix itself seemingly none the wiser. It quickly batted at its face, patting out each of its flames before turning to Wario and giving him a deathly glare.
”What? Do you wanna get some revenge or somethin’? Well, go right ahead, ya overgrown turkey! I’m standing right here!” He bragged, only for his expression to become thoughtful as he put a hand to his chin. “Well, floating, but- BAH! I think you get the point!” He admitted as he waved his hand through the air.
Needless to say, the phoenix certainly did, as it gave another “SCREEEEEEEE” before flying toward Wario at top speed. While doing so, however, three TICKs emerged from its underbelly. Upon hearing this, the money-made construct looked down at its stomach and gave a confused squawk. Fortunately for it, this confusion would prove to be brief, as not even a second later-
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Bob-ombs detonated themselves, causing several parts of its to briefly swell before bursting into a combination of money, fire, and smoke. Much like before, however, Wario wasn’t content with the sight of money just floating in front of him so freely, so he opened his mouth once more. This time, the funnel seemed to be even larger than before, almost as if to accommodate for the size of its former opponent! Then, in a sequence that could only be described as the Poltergust on steroids, the Italian-turned-vacuum-cleaner began moving his head from left to right, sucking all money from the surrounding area into his endless maw. Unfortunately, he would soon realize what a mistake this was when he closed his mouth. He couldn’t explain why, but he suddenly felt really… heavy. Realization dawned on the plumber’s face, and as he put two and two together he spoke two words:
”Oh no!”
With the weight of several hundred dollars and coins now added to his body, Wario began falling through the air, his descent akin to a massive anvil falling from a massive skyscraper. A loud CRASH echoed throughout the castle as Wario’s now obese form slammed into the floor, cracking dozens of surrounding tile beneath him. As he struggled to get up, panting heavily in the process, Wario could hear Halekulani chuckling to himself.
“Well, it looks like you’ve certainly packed on a few pounds.” The theme park manager taunted as a smirk spread across his face. “Maybe you’d like some assistance in shedding it?”
”Not… interested. I can… fix this… myself!” Wario admitted between breaths.
”Oh, please!” Hale admitted as he reached into his armor and pulled out several coins. “I insist!”
He then flicked each of these coins all at once, sending them flying through the air, and it was then that something odd happened. Wario’s fattened jaw dropped in surprise as he watched each of the figures leap from their confines, all of them armed with swords. These knights ran toward Wario at top speed, and while he tried his hardest to run, the battalion quickly caught up to him. Each one swung their sword, intent on skewering the fattened businessman like a pig! As he watched the blades approach his stomach, Wario closed his eyes and prepared himself for the inevitable collision. The swords sank into his flesh-
BOING!
Only to suddenly be repelled by an equal, if not superior force. Upon seeing this, the knights stared at each other in confusion, all of them trying to figure out what had just happened. Out of curiosity, one of them thrust his sword once again, only to meet the same effect. Upon realizing that he hadn’t been reduced to a pincushion, Wario opened his eyes and gave a devious grin. Noticing this, a fearful expression began to appear on their faces as they realized what a horrible mistake they had just made. Before they could rectify this by running, Wario grabbed hold of the two closest ones and leapt through the air. This ascent would only last for a second, however, as the obese game designer quickly hit the ground stomach-first, producing a massive earthquake. These tremors spread throughout the entire arena, with even the remaining knight and Halekulani stumbling back and falling onto their backs.
’Well, it seems he’s a bit more of a challenge than I thought.’ Hale thought to himself as he watched Wario crush his knights completely flat. Despite his fattened arms, the plumber was somehow managing to crush two of them into a ball. He then raised this ball to the side, shifting into a pitching stance as he stared the remaining knight. The last one looked at the fattened Wario in terror as its attacker gave it a malicious grin. Then, using his years of sports experience to his advantage, Wario proceeded to chuck the crumpled-up ball as hard as he could! It flew toward the remaining survivor at hypersonic speeds, with said victim pulling a shield out of nowhere and desperately raising it in an attempt to defend himself. The now shaking knight braced himself, and then-
CRUNCH!
The upper half of his body was crushed under his former comrades’ combined weight. As he watched this, Wario began to feel his body grow drastically lighter, almost as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, which he soon realized to be the case as he looked himself over. Thanks to exerting himself, he had managed to shed the weight of his Fat Wario form, reverting him back to the (admittedly still overweight) normal Wario. With this knowledge in mind, he took a moment to perform a celebratory flex, but it was at this same time that the sound of clapping filled his ears. Turning around, he found himself staring at Halekulani, whose expression remained calm despite what he had just seen.
”I’ll admit, Wario, I’m rather impressed. Few could survive the attacks from my Gorgeous Shinken, much less counter them in the way you did.” Once he’d finished speaking, Hale ceased clapping as his expression started to contort, going from calm and serene to a manic grin. “So as a way of rewarding you, allow me to unveil my ultimate technique!”
He paused for a moment to cross his arms over his chest, causing a bright green aura to begin building up around himself. Once this energy had hit its peak, he suddenly threw his arms outward, letting out a shout of:
”GORGEOUS SHINKEN YAMI OUGI: DEATH MONEY SUGOROKU!”
As these words escaped his lips, the energy erupted out from his body, with Wario bracing himself for impact. Instead, much to his surprise, it didn’t come. In fact, the energy seemed to be affecting his surroundings more than it was him! The ceiling and walls were twisting and distorting, their colors morphing into a darkened sky full of gray clouds. The ground was turning into a flat golden color, accented by blue circles that contained black outlines and orange question marks in their middles. From there, various structures rose from underground to accompany this bizarre land. These ranged from Easter Island heads, to skyscrapers, to dinosaurs, to even pyramids! In the middle of this world stood a medieval castle, one that seemed to be placed on some sort of pedestal.
With this new world formed around him, Wario began scanning the area. He took note of the structures, the spaces, and how there seemed to be pathways connected to each one. In other words…
”So your ‘ultimate attack’ is a board game? Eh, I’ve seen worse.” Wario admitted, giving an indifferent shrug.
”That’s correct.” Halekulani responded, though Wario noticed it sounded somewhat distant. Looking toward its direction, he found that the game’s creator was currently sitting on his (miraculously repaired) throne. “If you want to return to the real world, all you have to do is reach the end goal.” “Sounds fine by me!” Wario said as he grabbed hold of the massive die that lay to his right. “Let’s see what I can-a get!”
With a grunt, he tossed the die into the air. Upon hitting the ground, it rolled for a bit before displaying his number: four. Once he had reached his destination, the question mark faded to reveal a new message: 200,000 yen.
“It seems you’ve stopped on two hundred thousand.” Hale announced. “In that case, I’ll materialize your soul first.”
”Wait, wha-AAAAAAAHHHH!“ Wario’s question evolved into a horrified scream as he watched a white ball emerge from his body. This ball soon stopped in midair and began to take on appearance similar to Wario’s own face.
”And now I’ll add that two hundred thousand yen to your soul!” The green-haired gamemaster announced as he extended his hand outward. In tandem with this action, the appropriate amount of bills shot out from the specter’s form, and it was then Wario felt something odd on his nose. Believing it to only be a mild itch, he attempted to scratch it, but a peculiar sound emerged when he tried. Confused by this, he tried scratching a bit harder, but this met the same result. As his opponent’s bewilderment grew, Halekulani decided to explain.
“Whenever I take money from your soul, your body feels its effects. If you don’t make it to the end before a certain number of turns, your body will turn to diamond. If that happens, you’ll automatically lose the game!”
“Well, there’s no way I’m-a gonna let that happen!” Wario declared as he threw the die again, this time hitting a five. Once he’d landed on the appropriate space, the Italian antihero noticed the words BONUS STAGE written underneath his feet. “A bonus? Alright! What am I gonna win?”
He would soon get his answer as Halekulani descended from his throne, landing a few feet away from the game designer.
“Congratulations, you who’ve stopped on the bonus stage! The rules say you’ll receive a present from me.”
”A present, huh?” Wario asked suspiciously. “What kind of present?”
”Death.” Hale said flatly as he took a martial arts stance, summoning several bills in front of himself. These bills flew toward Wario, who responded by turning his back to his attacker. Then, something odd happened: he bent over and stuck his ass out toward Hale. A grunt emerged from Wario’s throat as he visibly strained himself, which was then followed by a low, guttural sound.
BBBBBRRRRRPPPPPPPTTTT!
An almost visible cloud of green gas emerged from Wario’s exposed rear, with the fart actually being strong enough to blow the money and even Halekulani himself back. The smell entered the Hair Hunter’s nose almost immediately, causing him to reel back in disgust as he tried to fan it away. With his opponent now distracted, Mario’s rival chose to run toward the die once again.
”Come on! New roll! New roll!” He said desperately as he tossed the die against the ground, this time producing a three. The moment he saw this result, Wario took off toward the space, landing just as Hale had recovered from his nasal assault. Once his eyes had adjusted and his vision had returned to him, the Heavenly King noticed his adversary’s current position and grinned.
”And there goes another fifty thousand from your soul!” He declared gleefully as the dollars drained from Wario’s soul once again. This time, the diamond infection began to appear on Wario’s forearms and stomach, causing his eyes to widen in shock.
”So no matter what I do, I’m still in danger of losin’ my soul, right?” He asked.
”You’re right on the money!” Hale responded, giving a smirk as he teleported back to his throne, which now contained the money from Wario’s soul. “Think of my Death Money Sugoroku as a race against the clock. Every time you throw that die, you lose more of your soul and run the risk of losing the game.”
”Well, that’s a pretty stupid concept for a game! It doesn’t even sound like it’d pass as one of my microgames!” Wario snapped, only for his expression to shift as he began thinking. “Wait, are there any rules saying I need to use that die for the game?”
“No. You can use whatever you’d like, just as long as it lets you progress through the game.” Hale explained.
”Good to know.” Wario responded, flashing a grin as his body became covered in a flash of bluish-gray light. Once it faded, the greedy Italian could be seen once again, now wearing a pair of goggles and a red beret. A paintbrush and an easel currently lay in his hands. After dabbing the brush in some paint, the plumber-turned-painter pointed his brush forward. An easel suddenly materialized in midair, and it was then that Artsy Wario went to town! He was making rapid strokes across the board, mixing the easel’s primary colors to form new ones, and then using these new shades to improve his creation. As he watched this from where he sat, Halekulani raised his eyebrow in confusion. Just what was he planning?
”Oh yeah! That’s-a good one! Just a bit here, and…” Wario made a small stroke across the canvas, and once he had finished his creation suddenly appeared out of thin air. After all of that devotion, all of that time, he had created… a door?
‘A door?’ Hale asked, echoing the narrator’s own confusion. ‘What good does he think a door will do?’
He would soon get his answer as Wario entered through the door, with both the creation and its master vanishing into a puff of smoke. The obese cheater reappeared almost immediately, having made his way to the space labeled “GOAL.”
”Heeheeheehee… Ehehehehehe… WAHAHAHAHAHA!” Wario’s uproarious laughter echoed across the land as he closed his eyes and began celebrating. It took some time, but he had done it! He had finally beaten this stupid game! The head of WarioWare continued laughing as he opened his eyes, but once he did his laughter died in his throat.
”Eh? What’s going on? Why isn’t everything goin’ back to normal?” Wario asked, his jubilation turning into sheer, unbridled confusion. He’d reached the goal, hadn’t he? That green guy said he’d return him to the real world once he reached the end, so why wasn’t everything going back to normal?
After looking around the space for a bit, he found his answer. Laying to his right was a sign that read “AND CONTINUE TO PART 2.”
”Part… two?” Wario asked, almost like he couldn’t comprehend what he was reading. “Part… two?” He repeated irritably.
Steam began to emerge from Wario’s ears as his skin began turning a bright shade of red. Then, as this anger hit its peak, the obese Italian let out an enraged scream as he began violently stomping on the ground. He then appeared some distance away, repeatedly pounding his fists against the ground like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Tears began streaming out of his eyes as he screamed out “Why? WHY?!” He then teleported away once again, this time delivering a powerful headbutt that pulverized one of the Easter Island heads to dust. Another teleport, with the enraged miser this time grabbing hold of the die and chucking it as hard as he possibly could. It sailed toward Halekulani at speeds faster than the eye could track, and when it made contact-
BONK!
It bounced off harmlessly, almost as if he’d been hit with a dodgeball rather than a blunt object. As he saw this, Wario snapped out of his rage and looked at the Heavenly King in confusion.
”What the heck was that?”
“Oh, did I forget to mention?” Hale asked in amusement. “Anyone who participates in the game is unable to add in their attack on myself, the game master.” Looking toward Wario’s soul, he then extended his hand outward. “And as penance, you’ll be paying six-hundred million yen!”
The bills shot out from Wario’s body once again, furthering the pile around Halekulani’s throne. As he watched this, Mario’s antithesis gnashed his teeth angrily. There was no way he was going to participate in this game anymore! Especially not when it had crappy rules like that!
”Alright, so maybe I can’t-a hit you…” he admitted through grit teeth. He paused for a brief moment as he placed his hand into his overalls and pulled out… a bike pump? Halekulani raised an eyebrow in confusion.
”But that doesn’t mean I can’t destroy your stupid game board to spite you!” Wario finished as he placed the pump’s head into his mouth and repeatedly pressed against it. With each pump, Wario seemed to grow in height by several feet, and the rapidness was only making him grow further and further. By the tenth pump, Halekulani found himself staring up in bemusement at Wario, who looked down at the game master and gave a deep laugh that echoed throughout the entire board. The now skyscraper-sized plumber then began running around the area at top speed, taking time to deliberately destroy anything in his way. Cities, Easter Island heads, pagodas, it didn’t matter what stood in Wario’s way. The moment it entered his line of sight, the obese giant would crush it underfoot before throwing a Bob-omb at its remains as he moved on to the next one. An orchestra of explosions and earthshaking footsteps echoed throughout the Death Money Sugoroku, with the game’s creator only being able to look on in a combination of horror and shock at what was occurring.
’What’s going on here? This shouldn’t be possible!’ Hale thought defiantly as he witnessed the hundreds of smoking craters adorning his land. ‘No one should be able to destroy my Death Money Sugoroku so easily! Especially not some morbidly obese fool!’
Yet despite his constant denial, all the Heavenly King could do was continue watching as Wario laid waste to his pride and joy. As he continued watching this event unfold, Hale clenched his fist in ever-increasing anger. Once this anger had hit its tipping point, courtesy of Wario deciding to go the extra mile by flipping him off as he continued the destruction, Halekulani decided that enough was, well…
”ENOUGH!” He screamed as he stood up from his throne, throwing his arms out in an X-shape to emphasize his seriousness. Despite their drastic size difference, Wario was still able to hear him, and he turned to face the Hair Hunter with a cheeky grin.
”I take too much pride in my Death Money Sugoroku to let some fat eyesore like you disgrace it! If you’re going to insult my ultimate attack with your petty antics, then I’ll-“
Whatever Hale’s threat was going to be died in his throat as Wario slammed into him with a downward punch that sent him into the ground. As the dust cleared, Hale could be seen, slowly lifting himself out of the crater that had formed beneath his body. Once he had fully lifted himself up, the theme park owner involuntarily lurched over and vomited up blood.
THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!
Three deafening steps echoed across the terrain as a familiar shadow began to loom over Halekulani’s beaten form. Looking up, the green-haired miser found himself staring up at the massive purple orb that was Wario’s stomach.
”Ehehehehe… Looks like someone’s losin’ their touch!” Wario taunted. “I thought that hit would’ve added some more diamond onto me, but looks like I just found a way to get past that rule o’ yours!”
Hearing this caused Halekulani to grit his teeth in fury. Not only was he having to deal with the humiliation of his ultimate attack turned against him, but he also had to listen to this idiot mock him for that!? No! No! He could handle many things, but that was where he drew the line!
A low growl began to build up in Hale’s throat, only for it to suddenly crescendo as he threw back his head and let loose a roar of pure, unbridled fury! This scream echoed throughout the entire board as all of the money he had collected shot toward the green-haired miser, surrounding him in a massive tornado of paper bills. The winds picked up in intensity, spinning faster and faster with each passing second. Wario briefly thought to absorb the stolen cash back into his wallet, but before he could do so, the tornado of money suddenly exploded outward in a massive burst of green energy! This explosion grew in size with each millisecond that passed, becoming large enough that it had even managed to push Wario back several feet. Despite this, the giant plumber kept his feet firmly planted against the ground, refusing to let himself be moved any further by the enormous green dome. After several seconds had passed, the energy dispersed to reveal Halekulani, though he had undergone a drastic change in appearance.
For starters, he had shot up to double his previous height. In fact, he was now tall enough that he faced Wario’s stomach at eye-level. His hair had also transformed, having grown to double its length and even managing to become spikier than before. His armor was now encrusted with various jewels, though the most prominent changes came with his new crown of gold and the three bracelets that adorned both of his wrists. He eyes were now a blank white, but he stared at Wario with the bloodthirstiest grin imaginable.
No longer was the plumber fighting Halekulani. Now he was facing off against the Heavenly King’s evolved form, one that could only be brought out through desperation to defeat his opponent: Ultimate Halekulani.
“I’ll give you this, Wario. You’re the second person I’ve fought who’s managed to push me this far! But there’s one difference between him and you.” He paused to raise his arm toward Wario, opening his hand out as he did so. “I highly doubt that you can survive this! Gorgeous Shinken Ougi: 10 Billion Dollar Bazooka!”
As these words escaped his lips, a massive beam comprised of energy and money shot out from the extended palm. It shot toward Wario at blinding speeds, but the rubber-clad miser had the perfect response to the oncoming assault. As the beam seemed set to vaporize him, Wario turned around, bent over, and proceeded to stick his ass out. A grunt of exertion emerged from his throat, and then…
BBBBBRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPTTTTTT!
Much like before, a fart emerged from the plumber’s crack, though this time something was different. As if to answer his opponent’s attack, Wario’s fart had taken the form of a massive beam of green wind. The moment these two blasts had collided, both began struggling for dominance, with both combatants struggling to overpower the other. Hale would pour more energy into his 10 Billion Bazooka, but Wario would respond by exerting his waft even further. It seemed that this stalemate would continue for eternity, but eventually a winner would be decided. Another grunt emerged from Wario’s throat, and with it his attack suddenly expanded outward. The moment this happened, Halekulani found his own attack blown back at him, as well as a foul stench that surrounded his entire body. Even though he was coughing and retching from the smell, the park manager still managed to put a hand over his mouth as he tried to keep his guard up. Given the last time his opponent had done this, it was safe to say that it was likely his attempt at setting up another attack!
Unfortunately, even with the benefit of this knowledge, Halekulani still found himself subjected to a vicious attack as Wario lunged forward, slamming into him with a clothesline. The impact caused Hale to cough up blood as he felt the limb barrel into his torso, but before he could recover, Wario grabbed hold of his head and slammed it against the ground. Before Halekulani could even hope to recover, his captor began running around the board at top speed, intentionally dragging the transformed manager along for the ride. As the tremors from Wario’s run spread throughout the destroyed board, he took the time to continue applying pressure to his grip. Halekulani’s face continued to scrape against the terrain, tearing away at his skin and producing several bloody scratches. The captive Hair Hunter grit his teeth in anger, desperately trying to place his hands against the ground or raise his knees to push himself back up. This attempt would find itself interrupted, however, as Wario suddenly raised his arm and proceeded to throw the Hair Hunter as hard as he possibly could!
Halekulani screamed in fury as he ascended through the air, his body moving so quickly that a cone of fire had actually surrounded his body! He couldn’t fight back, nor could he actually try to divert his path. All he could do was continue screaming until finally-
SSSSSSSHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRIIIIIIPPPPPP!
He had actually managed to fly out of the board game and actually tore through the page itself! The moment he saw this, Wario’s expression shifted from being one of arrogance and assured victory to confused bewilderment. Then it began to dawn on him what exactly he had just done: he may have just found a way out of here! A shit-eating grin appeared on Wario’s face as his leg muscles tensed up for a brief moment. Once this moment had passed, the Italian giant shot into the air, producing a crater underneath himself as he flew toward the impromptu exit.
While his opponent was busy exiting the Death Money Sugoroku, Halekulani found himself crashing back-first onto solid ground. As he placed a hand against the floor, the battered manager noticed that it looked completely different. Rather than tan, burn-ridden terrain, he was now resting against purple metal. Looking up, he found himself staring at a familiar, domed orange ceiling. After realizing where he was, Hale began chuckling. Raising his hand into the air, a pedestal suddenly rose from beneath it, with the top sporting a golden lion head and a red button on top. Almost as if by coincidence, the moment this pedestal appeared, Wario himself suddenly appeared out of thin air. Mario’s obese antithesis crashed against the ground, his weight producing a small earthquake as he landed. Despite stumbling back, Halekulani proved quick to secure his position as he gripped the pedestal, using it to balance himself until the quake had passed. Once it had, he let go of the makeshift support and grinned as he slammed his hand against the button. Upon doing so, the ground beneath them seemed to slowly rise into the air, much to Wario’s confusion.
”Eh? What’s goin’ on here? Do you got something else planned here, goldie?” He asked, sounding slightly annoyed as he spoke the last question.
“That’s right.” Hale answered before chuckling once again. “You know, normally I’d be upset in this situation. Not only did you demand a refund from my park, you’ve also made a fool out of me,stolen my money, and ruined my Death Money Sugoroku! But I suppose for now, I should thank you. After all, if it weren’t for you forcing me out of my ultimate attack, I wouldn’t have been able to move the battle here!”
As the last word escaped Halekulani’s lips, the elevator came to a complete stop, revealing their new location. They were currently on Money Castle’s rooftop, and surrounding them was Hallelujah Land, spread out as far as the eye could see. Wario looked around the area before turning back to his opponent.
”So ya moved it to the roof. So what?” Wario asked with a shrug. “All you’re doin’ is giving everyone a front row seat to me kicking your butt and takin’ back what’s mine!”
”Is that so?” Hale asked as he entered the same martial arts stance from before. “Then let’s see how well you can back it up!”
No sooner than these words had left his mouth did Halekulani lunge toward Wario, throwing out a strong right hook that slammed into the plumber’s face. For some reason, the fist itself actually began sinking into his skin, which Hale noticed felt oddly rubbery. Before he could think on this any further, his supposed victim responded with a punch of his own that sent the Heavenly King stumbling back. The yellow-clad plumber then slammed into Hale with a shoulder tackle, actually cracking his armor and making the manager cough up blood. Refusing to give him a chance to recover, Wario quickly slipped on a pair of spiked brass knuckles and threw a straight cross. Blood began to trickle from Halekulani’s nose, but this would prove to be the least of his worries as his opponent continued wailing on him. The hooks, crosses, and uppercuts Halekulani received were being delivered so quickly that he couldn’t even see them. The only signs that they existed came in the form of his damage, which consisted of an increasingly cracked set of armor and his bloodied face. But even with the beating he was currently receiving, Halekulani was still forcing himself to push through!
Just as Wario was about to land a right hook, the green-haired miser instinctively raised his arm to defend. Then, in what can only be described as a stroke of blind luck, Halekulani had managed to parry the oncoming cross. Realizing this, he grabbed hold of the still outstretched arm and pulled it forward, slamming into the giant with a wicked headbutt. Upon reeling his head back, the armored businessman noticed something odd. Wario’s face seemed to have caved in, but before he could think on it any further, it had regenerated back to its normal form.
As anger overtook his mind, Wario threw out a powerful left hook, but this would also be caught as Halekulani brought his hand up. The plumber wouldn’t even have a chance to think of a way to counter before his captor slammed a knee into his stomach. He then repeated this gesture again, planting the knee in even further, but that’s when he noticed something confusing. To test if his theory was correct, Halekulani began grinding his knee in even further. He couldn’t feel any bones, nor did there seem to be any organs where he’d struck. It was almost like Wario’s body had been hollowed-out. He briefly thought back to what Wario had done with that pump. Could that inflation somehow have hollowed him out?
Eager to test this theory, Halekulani released his grip on the head of WarioWare, allowing the fat man to stumble back from the pain. Before the plumber could regain his footing, Hale threw out a donkey kick to the stomach, causing Wario to collapse onto the ground back-first. As his opponent struggled to get back up, Halekulani noticed a tiny white plug, one that seemed connected to the miser’s ass.
‘So that’s what you were hiding.’ He thought to himself as he bent down and grabbed hold of the plug. Then, much like one would do with a scab, he quickly ripped it off!
The moment it was removed, Wario’s body began to shrink in size as the air slowly left his balloon suit. In only a few seconds, the fat businessman had gone from completely towering over his opponent to barely reaching his ankles. As he noticed this, Wario looked back up at Halekulani and flashed him an extremely awkward grin.
“Heh, heh, heh… uh, no hard feelings, right?”
“If you think you’ll earn my mercy with a half-assed apology like that, you’ve clearly grown more desperate than I thought!” The Hair Hunter taunted as he grabbed Mario’s obese rival by the head and hoisted him into the air. Wario began waving his feet through the air in a desperate attempt to escape, but Halekulani interrupted these attempts at freedom by repeatedly driving his fist into his gut. Each time these hits made contact, another grunt would emerge from the plumber’s throat, and his captor spent the time between punches taunting him.
“I’ll give you this, Wario. You’re certainly an unpredictable opponent. If it weren’t for my mastery of Gorgeous Shinken, you might’ve actually been able to beat me!” He then began applying pressure to his grip, creating a series of cracking sounds. “But in the end, you’re weak! TOO WEAK!”
Once these final words had left his throat, Halekulani decided to give the plumber a taste of his own medicine, slamming Wario into the ground and leaving him buried in the metal floor. This would only prove to be a minor setback, however, as the plumber quickly wrenched his arms out of the prison and pushed himself back up.
”Too weak, huh?” Wario sneered. With a chuckle, he reached into his overalls and pulled out a clove of garlic. Remembering what happened the last time his opponent had done this, Halekulani threw his arm out and fired off a quick blast of money. Unfortunately, he proved to be too slow as Wario quickly popped the clove into his mouth and swallowed it whole. As the last bit of garlic slid down his throat, an explosive, yellow fart cloud emerged from his butt. The cloud briefly covered his entire frame, but it soon faded to reveal the fat man’s new form.
Rather than a shirt and overalls, Wario now wore a pink one piece suit dotted with pictures of sentient yellow garlic. Placed in the middle of his stomach was a big, fat, cyan W. His hands and feet were now covered by magenta gloves and boots, while a purple cape billowed behind him. A purple cowl covered the plumber’s face, with a blue W stitched into its forehead. This was Wario-Man, the, er… “heroic” alter ego of WarioWare’s CEO.
In a sudden burst of speed, Wario-Man had closed the distance between them, delivering a powerful left hook that caused Hale to stagger back. He proved quick to recover, however, and threw himself back toward the obese superhero. Once he was close enough, Halekulani threw out a cross. It flew toward Wario at hypersonic speeds, but just before it could make contact the supposed target opened his mouth. Halekulani’s expression shifted from a smug grin to a look of horror as his entire arm entered Wario’s mouth. Before he even had the chance to rectify this mistake, Wario had closed his mouth and bit down. HARD.
CRUNCH!
“GGGGUUUUAAAAAA!” An incomprehensible scream of pain emerged from the Hair Hunter as he felt the hero’s razor-sharp teeth crush the bones in his hand. Although pain flared through his mind, it was quickly replaced by seething rage as Halekulani threw out another punch, this time aiming between Wario-Man’s eyes. The fist slammed into his opponent’s forehead, but Hale noticed that he seemed unaffected. In fact, it was almost like he hadn’t even been hit!
Before he could think on this any further, Halekulani found himself launched through the air as Wario unhinged his jaw. An enraged scream began to form, but it died in his throat as Wario flew after him and delivered a left cross to the chest! A resounding CRACK rang out as Halekulani’s armor shattered like glass, with the golden shards descending to the ground as Wario followed up by delivering a double axe handle. The moment it made contact, Halekulani slammed onto the ground back-first, though he didn’t even realize it at first. He only noticed his new position when he saw that his ultimate attack was now staring him in the face. He blinked, and once his vision had adjusted he noticed a pink blur approaching him at top speed. In response, the head of Hallelujah Land quickly cartwheeled back to his feet, landing just as Wario-Man had slammed into the ground rear-first. The moment the overweight superhero hit the ground, a massive tremor shook the floor panel, causing Halekulani to stumble back.
Refusing to give the Heavenly King a chance to recover, Wario slammed into him once again, but this time something was different. Rather than using a shoulder tackle, the pink-clad superhero had decided to ram into Halekulani with a yellow motorcycle going at over 200 miles per hour! This beast of a hog, the Wario Chopper, struck Halekulani hard enough that he found himself vomiting a copious amount of blood onto its front. Despite the pain he felt from having a wheel grind into his chest, the green-haired manager still mustered up the strength to grab hold of the bike, forcing it to stay in place. Seeing this caused its rider’s expression to tighten in annoyance.
”Hey! No messin’ with my bike, go-OOOOOO-“ Wario-Man’s annoyed complaint morphed into a surprised scream as Halekulani proceeded to lift the Wario Chopper over his head. Then, with the greatest of ease, the Hair Hunter dropped his adversary’s motorcycle on the ground, leaving its rider to roll along the metal ground. As he got back to his feet, Wario grunted in annoyance, but this died in his throat as he noticed something odd. Everything seemed to be a bit darker, almost like a massive cloud was suspended over the entire castle. Confused, he looked up into the sky, and that was when his jaw dropped in shock!
Suspended above the castle by roughly twelve feet was a massive blanket of money. The sight of this money filled Wario with two emotions: shock and admiration. Shock at how much money there was, and admiration at how much had been gathered in one spot.
“I see you’ve finally noticed. Beautiful, isn’t it?” Halekulani called out. Wario, who was still looking intently at the giant pile, nodded half-heartedly. “It’s good to see that there are some out there who enjoy the beauty of money. Tell me, how would you feel if it were to, say… be the cause of your death?”
”Yeah.” Wario said, still mesmerized by the money. As Halekulani’s words registered in his brain, however, the plumber blinked. His expression dropped into one of fear as he begged “WAIT! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!”
”Well, if you say so!” Halekulani taunted before looking to the sky.
“RAIN DOWN! GORGEOUS SHINKEN SAISHUU OUGI: ONE HUNDRED TRILLION DOLLAR FINALE!”
As the name of his last-ditch attack rang out across Hallelujah Land, Halekulani released his telekinetic grip on the money, causing the ocean of money to rain down from the heavens! The sight of this left Wario frozen in fear, his body too paralyzed to do anything. At any second now, both he and Halekulani were going to be crushed under 100 million metric tons of money, and there was nothing he could do! He couldn’t run, he couldn’t jump, he couldn’t even try a counter-attack! He was stuck!
GGGGGRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGLLLLLLEEEE!
Or was he?
The sudden growl of his stomach had brought the Italian back to reality. In fact, it had given him a devious idea! You could even call it a… foul plan!
A cocky grin made its way onto Wario’s face as he grabbed hold of his motorcycle. Rather than attempt to ride it, however, he chose to go for a rather unorthodox response. In what could only be described as something out of a cartoon, Wario opened his mouth as wide as he could and swallowed his entire motorcycle in one gulp! Once he had felt it enter his stomach, Wario ran toward Halekulani and quickly leapt over him, creating another tremor as he hit the ground. An annoyed grunt emerged from Hale’s throat as he stumbled, only for a familiar pair of arms to wrap around him.
”What?” He muttered as he attempted to move his arms, but he soon found that he couldn’t for some reason! “What.. the hell… is this?” He asked between grunts. Although he wasn’t aware of it, the Maruhage’s Heavenly King had been placed in a full nelson, leaving him unable to move.
”Let go of me!” He screamed furiously.
”Hmmmm…” Wario muttered as his leg muscles tensed up for a moment. “NAH!”
PPPPPPPPPRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTT!
The obese superhero then did the unthinkable: he unleashed a massive, almost nuclear fart that shot both himself and his captive into the air! A furious scream emerged from Halekulani’s throat as they flew through the air, which would only stop after they had flown through the storm of money. Once they had passed through the other side, Hale began spitting out the dozens of bills that had entered his throat. After the last of the cash had escaped his throat, he looked over his shoulder to ask Wario an important question:
”What are you trying to do?” He screamed as they continued flying through the air, now ascending past the clouds and into the upper atmosphere!
“What’s it look like, greenie? I’m-a winning this little fight of ours!” Wario declared as they reached the apex of their ascent. Gravity began to take its hold on the two, producing a cone of fire as they began descending toward the surface. Halekulani’s eyes widened in horror as he realized what his opponent was planning, and this terror only grew when Wario wrapped his stubby legs around his waist.
“YOU IDIOT! IF WE FALL FROM THIS HEIGHT WE’RE BOTH GOING TO DIE!” Hale screamed furiously.
”Maybe it’s dangerous for a wimp like you, but you’ve got another thing coming if you think a something like this will put me down! I’ve survived this kinda stuff all the time!” Wario boasted as they descended through the clouds. “In fact, let me tell ya right now, goldie! I’ve tangoed with the worst pirates the world has to offer!”
Hallelujah Land was slowly growing larger as they continued their descent.
”I’ve taken on any losers who got between me and my treasure, and I’ve always come out on top!”
It was now large enough that both men were getting a bird’s eye view of the theme park, allowing them to see all of its rides.
”I’ve fought my way to get to the top, started my own company from nothing, and I’ve got more treasure than your stupid park has combined!”
They soared past the park’s ferris wheel, eliciting screams of surprise from the riders.
“I’ve done all of this stuff, but you thought you’d beat me by throwin’ money my way? You wanna know why it didn’t work?” Wario asked as he leaned into Halekulani’s ear. “Because nothin’ you could’ve done would’ve helped against someone like me!”
“And what exactly gives you the right to say that? Who are you to judge my Gorgeous Shinken?”
”Well, if ya need a reminder, then I’ll give it to ya one last time! The name’s Wario! And I’m,” the Italian paused as he began spinning in place, creating a corkscrew of flame as they continued falling. Halekulani’s screamed once again, with it growing in intensity as they rapidly approached the Money Castle. In only a few seconds, his scream had become so loud that many of Hallelujah Land’s visitors looked up in surprise. Upon seeing the enormous meteor that was headed their way, the numerous families and employees began desperately running toward the nearest exits. Parents were either hoisting their oblivious children through the air or keeping a firm grip as they dragged them by the arm. The park’s enforcers, the Hell Killers, had also begun their escape, with most using their respective Shinkens to get ahead of the crowd. And while all of this chaos erupted, Wario and Halekulani had been rapidly approaching the Money Castle!
“NUMBER ONE!” Wario finished. As he watched the metal roofing grow closer, Halekulani let out a panicked, furious scream, and then-
BOOM!
A massive explosion of fire and smoke shot through the air, spreading across the entirety of the Money Castle and extending throughout the entire park! The smokescreen lasted for several seconds, but once it faded one figure could be seen. Although the impact had reduced him back to his base form, the greedy businessman still rose to his feet, and then…
He pumped both hands into the air, forming a W with his fingers as a victorious laugh escaped his throat!
“WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah! Take that, loser!” Wario taunted before continuing to laugh over his opponent’s corpse. Halekulani’s limp body laid against the ground, having taken the full brunt of the explosion. His entire upper torso was practically nonexistent, while his lower half had been rendered unrecognizable. Despite this, the obese antihero paid it no mind. Only one thing mattered: he had finally beaten Halekulani, and now all of that money belonged to HIM!
Well, I guess that’s one way to end a fight. And I’m not even a big fan of wrestling, either.
Anyway, let’s talk about this fight, because it was honestly one of the weirdest battles I’ve written. When it came to strength, Halekulani didn’t have that much going for him in terms of concrete feats. Backhanding ghosts, destroying a wall of ice, and damaging the likes of Don Patch and Jelly Jiggler are certainly impressive, but there’s not that much else to him since he mainly uses his money-based powers when fighting. If we’re using scaling, he could likely be scaled to Bobobo, who destroyed the Sun while fighting against Giga. Admittedly, the Sun in question is way smaller than the one in real life, plus this fight happened sometime after Halekulani’s defeat. That said, the issue with the Sun could be chalked up as an artistic liberty since Bobobo is a gag manga, and technically Halekulani could still be scaled since the fight with Giga happened before Bobobo got a power-up that gave him an enormous buff.
Outside of showing more concrete feats due to participating in fights, Wario also took strength in scaling, too. He’s often been shown to fight the Mario Bros, even beating both of them at the same time. The Marios have both shown the ability to compete against and fight alongside Rosalina, who shielded Mario, Peach, and Bowser from a massive black hole that threatened the entire universe. According to herself, she has done this numerous times, with “the cycle never repeating itself in quite the same way.” Additionally, Wario’s strength has been shown to be almost comparable to Bowser, who is implied to have survived the aforementioned black hole.
As for speed, it’s no contest. Halekulani’s lacking any real feats in this regard, whereas Wario has a plethora of these feats. Without employing scaling, Wario’s reacted to a ball that was thrown fast enough to catch fire in the atmosphere, broken the sound barrier with his Shoulder Bash in Wario Land 4, and even outswam a black hole. With scaling, he would once again be comparable to Mario, who has shown the ability to pilot the Starship Mario, which can move across galaxies in seconds.
So Wario takes the stat trinity pretty hard. What about the non-physical stats?
Well, experience is another aspect that Wario takes. Halekulani’s only been in two fights, and he didn’t really do much in either. By contrast, Wario’s had a history of fighting others, hunting for treasure, and he’s often competed in various kart races and sports competitions. Similarly, Wario’s also got the edge in intelligence. True, he doesn’t really use his smarts while fighting, but his expertise in close-quarters and grappling put him ahead of Halekulani, who has never really been shown to use his intellect during a fight.
When it comes to arsenal, Halekulani’s only got his bills and coins, and while his powers ensure that he can use them competently, Wario takes both quality and quantity. In short:
-Power-ups and pots give him an edge in attacks and versatility -His Bob-ombs can easily destroy Halekulani’s money, ruin the Gorgeous Shinken’s attacks, and even damage Hale himself -His brass knuckles, balloon suit, Power Suit, Power Flower, and Donkey Kong mech all boost his strength, with the latter increasing his durability -The Power Suit and mech also grant better ranged options and possess something that gives him an edge in mobility (Power Suit and thrusters) -His buckets can blind Halekulani and would be extremely difficult to remove -Megavitamins can give him better long-range options, a way to heal himself from damage, and a possible way to poison Halekulani -Goodstyle gives Wario a versatility advantage thanks to his different forms -His vehicles boost his speed even further and give him a mobility advantage -Garlic can heal him, power his farts, and turn him into Wario-Man
Then there’s their powers. Halekulani’s ability to manipulate money, transmute people into it, and grow stronger by absorbing it are certainly some impressive hax. His ability to turn people into cars was also a pretty dangerous ability. That said, Wario also had his own impressive abilities. For starters, his cartoonish nature ensured that even if Halekulani’s money transmutation did affect him, it would only be temporary. His ability to absorb money by inhaling it would also nullify several of the Gorgeous Shinken’s abilities, including the transmutation. I say this because every time Halekulani’s used transmutation, it’s always been from the outside, not the inside. There’s also nothing that suggests he can use money to transmute people from the inside.
Wario’s ability to resurrect himself with money was another power that put a massive damper on Halekulani’s attacks. Of the Gorgeous Shinken’s moveset, it would easily damper the 10 Billion Dollar Bazooka and One Hundred Trillion Dollar Finale. His snot and fart-based attacks could also counter most of its techniques, the former by rendering the cash too sticky to use and the latter by dispersing Hale’s larger attacks.
“But what about the Death Money Sugoroku?” I hear you ask. Honestly, the Death Money Sugoroku was probably the biggest threat Halekulani had to Wario. With it, he’s nearly invincible, can bypass Wario’s durability by attacking his soul, and its money-draining abilities rendered several of Wario’s greed and money-based powers moot. So why did Wario win if the Death Money Sugoroku was that much of a threat?
Well, for starters, there’s the massive gap in stats, especially speed. Because of Halekulani’s vastly inferior physical stats, he likely wouldn’t be able to use this before Wario blitzes and one-shots him. Wario’s weaponry could also destroy the board, which would give him the ability to harm Hale without the risk of becoming diamond. There’s also the fact that he had several means to escape the board. He could go for the straightforward route and beat Halekulani to death after removing the board’s obstacles. Artsy Wario could likely paint an exit to the game. In fact, Wario in his base form could either hypnotizeHalekulani (which is something Halekulani has shown no resistance to) or he could just use his strength to literally break the fourth wall.
Finally, there are their transformations. Ultimate Halekulani can boost his stats, which lessens the physical gap by a slight margin, and it gives him access to more powerful attacks like the 10 Billion Dollar Bazooka and One Hundred Trillion Dollar Finale. He could also combine it with his money absorption to further close the gap. There’s also his other transformation: No-Money mode. Unlike his ultimate form, it’s unknown if this gives any buffs, and its only attack seems to be a massive explosion. The most damning thing about this form is probably its requirements. In order to use it, one would have to completely drain him of his money (which Wario could certainly do), but Wario has his way to counter each form. He could easily blitz Hale before he ever reaches either form, I’ve already described how he can counter Ultimate’s attacks, and he’s more than durable enough to survive No-Money mode. Not helping was that Wario had his own transformations to use.
Of his power-up based forms, Fire Wario gave him ways to destroy Halekulani’s money, Metal Wario buffs his strength and durability, and Bunny Wario boosts his mobility by a pretty decent margin. Tree Wario also has some pretty impressive abilities. He could use roots to attack or ensnare Halekulani, make him trip balls by unleashing spores (rendering him unable to focus in the process), or he could just bypass Halekulani’s durability by melting him with a mouth beam. Then there’s his ultimate form: Wario-Man.
Although it runs on a time limit, Wario-Man grants a drastic boost to his stats, he gains the ability to fly, and his attacks gain similar buffs. Then there’s its biggest advantage: his invincibility. Thanks to this, all of Halekulani’s attacks would be rendered useless, giving Wario all the time he’d need to take Hale out.
Halekulani was definitely a powerful opponent, but he just couldn’t cash a break when fighting Wario.
The winner is Wario!
Wario (Winner) + Took the stat trinity by leagues, which would only increase further thanks to his transformations and weapons + More experienced + More intelligent + Larger arsenal + More versatile powerset + Superior in hand-to-hand combat + Better mobility + More unpredictable – But Halekulani regularly fights opponents like that + Larger number of transformations + Inhaling and ability to resist transmutation rendered Halekulani’s money-based attacks useless + Wario-Man’s invincibility only furthers this + His powers countered the Gorgeous Shinken’s abilities – Death Money Sugoroku could bypass his durability and drain his money + But Wario has multiple ways to bypass it or get around it
Halekulani (Loser) + Used to fighting unpredictable opponents + Death Money Sugoroku would be a huge threat to Wario – But that’s assuming he could even use it, and even then Wario had several ways to get through it – Everything else
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Brendan’s Versus Battles 
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