Organization XIV - The Story So Far

Dispatch flipped off the Behemoth's neck as the dragon clasped its jaws around it, swearing softly under his breath. Hey, I wasn't done yet! he thought to shout, but instead spat off to the side. For a minute or so there, he'd been satisfied to get to fight this creature, but now that its weak point was found and the battle neared its end, it was clear that it was just a mindless animal. It hadn't assessed threat, there wasn't a hint of strategy in it, and while Dispatch could feel the power behind each attack, not one of them had been targetted. In fact, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of disdain that so many had allowed such a thoughtless monster to be their end. One or two, sure, that wouldn't have been so much of a disappointment, but the smell of blood and death pervaded the whole arena. This wasn't fun any more. Now, he just felt like he was wasting his time.

Dispatch took a couple of short hops back, still not missing a beat. He took a deep breath, concentrating his energy into his sword-arm. A light-blue glow began to encase his blade, and his energy flow seemed to slow down, and so Dispatch growled, "Haaaaaaa..." The glow grew brighter, more intense, and the Saiyan's volume increased with it. "HaaaaAAAAAA...!"

If this is as strong as Heartless get, I'll be back at the Time Nest before dinner. "Alright, let's end this!" he shouted, the light from his sword bright enough to cast his shadow three times behind him. With a mighty, "HAAAAAAAAAA!" he swung his sword towards the ground, loosing all the energy he'd built up within it as one more shockwave, one that tore the very ground beneath them as it ripped towards the immobilized monster's face.

Gestalt glanced at the woman, opening a corridor of darkness between them with a quick gesture. "It's safe in there if you want to hide." Closing the hand into a fist, the wisps of darkness continued to flow out of it. "I'm putting everything into ending this now."

Brahaam, Itch... thank you. I couldn't ask for a better chance.


Holding up his sword, the roars around him quieted as he channeled his limited power into the blade once again. He marked Jackie and Dispatch in his vision - they were acting, as well. He'd have to avoid getting too close to either's strike zone.

Envisioning the maneuver he was about to attempt, it occurred to him that this wasn't unlike the process of magic: creating an image and actualizing it. It was all the same. This and other thoughts passed from his consciousness as he entered a trance.

Take all these feelings, my anger, my sorrow, my dread...

Surging forward, he slipped across the titan's frame, landing on the other side, blade outstretched. Black blood threatened to burst from the gash he'd left, but he wasn't done. Zipping across again, he had cut through it three times before the burning in his flesh began to become unbearable. Nothing else seemed to be moving.

While the blessing of Hermes allowed him to circumvent a great many problems with this acceleration - the friction would've rendered him unable to move, for one - he was still physically heating up. His actions required a great deal of energy, much of which was converted to waste heat. It wouldn't take much more to keep him from being able to grip the sword, let alone continue pressing the attack. Another cut. The world was silent.

...and cast it all to the flames!

Later, he would be unable to recall exactly how he'd even thought to do it. But the heat accumulating in his fragile vessel couldn't be endured - so rather than stop his motion or be consumed, he channeled it away from his body and into the blade. Imbued with the ever-growing heat, honed to a perfect edge by his will, and spurred on by rage, his reforged sword tore through the Heartless's flesh as if it were empty air.

When he thought his body was about to give out, that force that he'd been holding back, it pushed him forward still. Something he couldn't understand, that had grown with him over the course of these battles, swelling with his antipathy. This venom, the desire to utterly obliterate the creature until nothing remained, sustained him as he ripped and sliced through every part of the behemoth's body.

Gestalt struck again and again, hurtling through space in moments too brief for him to perceive anymore. Conscious control was impossible - only prediction and instinct could enable him to aim, leap, strike, and land without crashing to earth and falling apart. After what felt like a thousand cuts, but lasted for a scant few seconds, he finally stopped moving as a safe distance, his half-cape flaring over his shoulder.

When it was over, he stood with his back to the creature, held upright only by anticipation, still clutching his instrument of death. Waiting to hear its body hit the stadium floor before his did. The silent world shattered, and he returned to reality. The ground was scarred with countless black burns, left in the wake of his onslaught - but it would all be washed away by Dispatch's singular overwhelming strike.

As Gestalt turned from Evelyn and Theo, another shadow unformed next to the portal. Out from it's hidden embrace strode Isis and Zero, offering a helping hand to the two of them. "Almost at the aftermath, so allow an amicable appendage to assist in assuaging awful alay-ances!" Never one to be brought down by nearly anything, it seemed, Isis was as chipper now as she ever was, and Evelyn and Theo hurriedly scuttered towards the dark portal, Zero inserting a fist and twisting, closing it behind them. With a look at each other and a nod, the two separated, Isis darting over to the beast and Zero towards the small ring.

The beast howled its final roar as its flesh was torn and neck cleanly decapitated, and while the beast had nearly come to a full halt, it did not fully stop. The crowd roared and surged at the final showing from Team Hermes, and cries of 'Dispatch! Dispatch! Dispatch that beast!' and 'Gestalt! Gestalt! Save us, Gestalt!' could easily be heard all around the ring, even over the thrashing of the beast, or the commotion coming to a crescendo in the Small Ring. As the Ring opened, Hero found a blade planted in his chest from behind, and with the flick of his wrist, Finn O'Leary cut through Hero's ribs and heart, storing his blade in the same swift motion. 

Goeiz looked on in horror, but maintained his composure as a new contestant flew into the ring, instead of out of it. Before he could voice his concerns, both Zero and Finn turned to Goeiz. "We Need You To Push That Ghost On Top Of That Monster, Right Now," Finn said calmly. "I Suspect You Have A Spell That Could Do That, And We Have Someone In The Right Spot If You Need To Switch Places Or Whatever."

Before he could even think to respond, Goeiz understood that these two were right. The only way that monster would perish, after all that had happened, was complete erasure. Summoning forth from deep within, searching the roots of the mountain of his power, Goeiz pulled a spell from within himself, and began the chanting to move Guen to the Large Ring. Finn reached out a hand to shield him from the passage of time, Zero to shield Goeiz from the consequences and feedback of his own spell. Guen lurched forward, desiring to smother the first things closest to her, rather than escape her prison, and shortly subsumed both gods, but couldn't reach Goeiz in time. A glow surrounded her already brilliant form, and Isis' own form, as she stood within the bubbling wretch of the Behemoth, and in a flash, the two traded places. Isis alighted on the ground in front of Goeiz, and Guen sank into the Behemoth, at first subsuming it, and then a moment later, a desperate cry sounded from within Guen, as it tried to claw its way out, and both sank into each other, fading from view in moments.

And at last, it was over. 

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AND INDIVIDUALS FROM ACROSS THAT SPECTRUM AS WIDE AND BEAUTIFUL AS THE RAINBOW, WE HAVE IT! WE HAVE FINALLY ENDED THE BEHEMOTH AND THIS TITANIC ROUND THREE!" Hades was even more on fire than usual, as though the final moments of Guenivere and the Behemoth had been an especially moving Muse to him, the sight of it sending him into an artistic fervor from which he could not calm down. "PLEASE ALLOW US A FEW MINUTES TO REVIVE OUR FALLEN HEROES AND TALLY THE POINTS! A STANDING OVATION FOR OUR CONTESTANTS, PLEASE!"

The crowd erupted in applause.

Nearly collapsing from relief, Gestalt fell to one knee as the tension keeping him upright faded. Turning to look back at the demise of both the creature and Guen, he pulled himself together enough to stand. With a swing, he flicked the grime off his sword and sheathed it, giving the others a thumbs-up. "Feels... pretty good, bein' a hero. I could get used to this."

The uproarious cheering filling his ears, the brilliant sunlight filling his eyes, and sweet air still filling his lungs, he threw up his arms and yelled in triumph. It was almost enough to make him forget the grisly spectacle, and how much death there had been today. But then, they would be revived soon. He made a note to thank Itch and Brahaam in person when they returned.



"WOOOOOO! Hell YEAH!" Elated screams erupted from the monk, who practically bowled over the person next to them leaping out of their seat. "Now that's a finale! If the gods aren't happy with that, I dunno what would do the job!"

Admittedly, it had been pretty fucked-up, watching people die brutally. This whole 'resurrection' thing was kind of perverse. It was good to give contestants license to go all-out, but it seemed unnatural. But the sheer awesomeness of the battle had been enough to blow those thoughts away, or at least push them down for now.

The survivors looked a bit haggard, but they were still there. The guy with the tail and the short guy with the sword had done some impressively-flashy moves before the coup-de-grace. Now that they got a better look...



The hooded observer raised a hand to their concealed chin. "Hm, the woman with the spear was most impressive." Channeling that energy without being fried is most impressive - that big green fellow was melted down into slag from exposure to it, but she was able to keep it under control. Furthermore, her positioning was integral to the final maneuver, even if that may have been unintended on her part. She is clearly no ordinary mage.


Slipping between the joyous patrons of the stadium, the figure silently made their way out of the stands. Perhaps I ought to arrange a little rendezvous.




Opening a fresh dark corridor, Gestalt waited a moment before looking inside. "Hey! Everyone still in here?! I can let you out now! Just come towards this exit!" He carefully stepped through the threshold, wary of an attack from one of the fighters he'd thrown in without consulting first. "If you can't move, I'll make another one that's easier for you."

For the briefest of moments, a slight satisfaction surged through Dispatch as the monster continued to move, even without its head. For just a fraction of a second, he thought that its toughness might outweigh its lack of intelligence. But when the ghost-girl simply appeared by the Behemoth's side and seemed to absorb it in an instant, his grip tightened on his sword. He raised his arm as if to throw it to the side, with half a mind to demand single combat, once she was brought back, but for now all he could do was to flick his sword to remove some of the black gunk that had gotten stuck to it during the fight. A swordsman does not disrespect his weapon. A slight against him is not his sword's fault.

Even still, it definitely felt like he'd been slighted. The taste of bile rose in his throat, and he set his teeth. Sure, not all of these opponents were strong enough to be worth his time, but plenty of them were. The large woman, Pottymouth, even the ghost girl. Why was he wasting his time with beasts? And why were the ones running the tournament not allowing them to just fight, one on one? Or even team versus team? There hadn't been a straightforward bout, other than the one in the Small Ring, the entire time. The closest had been the maze battle.

Dispatch's eyes unlocked themselves from where the unwelcome intruder had stood, and traced a path down to his blade. It needed to be cleaned; bits of gunk and goo still clung to it. But he hadn't expected to be gone from the Time Nest for multiple days, so he'd left his cleaning materials there.

"...Gods, is nothing going to go well today?" Normally he'd have used the singular, but with so many of them around, he may as well have hoped that one of them was listening. Actually, maybe that wouldn't be a bad plan. Maybe it'd be worth his time to go see Lord Ares, or Lord Hades, since they'd approached him during their sign-up.

Not far away, the roar of the crowd didn't seem to faze Tabago. Not that he would have been seen even if it did, with Hades' cloak of darkness still shielding him from view. With the Behemoth slain, and this round of the tournament concluded, it wouldn't be long now. His part was coming, and soon.

Emerging from the dark corridor was Japser, looking shaken and with a friction burn across his face from diving into the Dark Corridor. He was quickly followed by Evelyn and Shin before walking away towards his spot for tallying points. Evelyn trudged out from the portal, a wounded Shin leaning heavily on her shoulder. She paused for long enough to locate Gestalt and nod to him, whispering a soft thanks before taking Shin to the arranged meeting spot. From all over, the surviving warriors seemed to be suddenly overcome with exhaustion, and at a loss almost. Each began shuffling towards their designated spots, as if compelled by another force than themselves, or perhaps out of resignation.

With the usual preliminary fanfares and revivals done, Hercules strode towards the front of the gathered teams alongside Lord Hades, who seemed especially pleased with himself for whatever reason. Hercules spoke first. "Great heroes, and warriors from all over! You have conquered this trial with aplomb, and we all celebrate your achievements and heroics in the face of adversity, and also celebrate your teamwork and ingenuity today! Presenting scores will be Lord Hades himself today!"

Hades' smirk did not diminish as he strode forward to speak. "An excellent job to all of you, but reminder: the scoring was 5 points for surviving, 3 points for destroying a horn, breaking teeth and claws was 2 points, cutting limbs was 5 points, and beheading was 10 points! And for the lucky contestant who is considered to have truly slain the beast, we will be awarding 20 points! In order of these bonus points, we'd like to award the following!

"24 points to Team Hermes-Hephaestus, for one horn, two claws, an eye and a dismemberment! And what a bea-UTIFUL beheading!
"12 points to Team Dionysus-Aphrodite, for one horn and 3 shattered teeth! Bravo Itch!
"And that, tragically, ends those. We will award points to those who survived as well from each team!
"Once more, 15 points for Jackie, Gestalt, and Dispatch, as well as Jill, Theo, and Goeiz for another 15! 30 total!
"For team Aphrodite-Dionysus, we have Mage, Alle, Kailee, and Itch! 20 points!
"Team Hades-Ares! Only two survivors, Orlando and Jasper! 10 points!
"And finally, Team Zeus-Hera! Shin, Evelyn, congrats on being the sole survivors! 10 points! But!

"We determined that the cause of death of the great behemoth was in fact Guenevere, so that's another 20 points! 30 points total! Way to steal ahead of the rest, as expected of our patron and matron's handpicked chosen! Now, the final totals, in reverse order...!"

"69 points for team Hades-Ares!"
"73 points for team Aphrodite-Dionysus!"
"85 points to Team Zeus-Hera!
"118 points to the wild and spectacular Hephaestus-Hermes!"

Hercules steps forward at this moment. "And it is here I must offer my condolences to teams Hades, Ares, Aphrodite, and Dionysus. The finals are for the final four teams, to fight their partner team each before the final contest against the winners of each!"

Gestalt blinked once, slowly. "...Huh?"

Did he just say we- we're fighting our partner team next? And the bottom half of the bracket is getting dropped?

He turned and looked towards Jill, Goeiz, and Theo, their allies up until now. Thinking back to how outmatched he'd been in their practice fight on the first day. They were formidable as both enemy and ally. There was a little sting, knowing they would have to battle again, probably to the death this time. And yet, he couldn't help but feel the rush of excitement at the upcoming challenge.

More worrying, though, were Teams Zeus and Hera - it might come down to a fight between them and Kain's friends. After what had happened in the second round, it felt wrong to expect him to enter a deathmatch with his own sister. Then again, who knew what the contests would really be? Maybe it wasn't going to be straight fights at all. None of the previous events had been simple elimination battles. Yeah, he was worried for nothing. He had to be.

So he stood tall - as tall as his stature and fatigued body would allow, anyway - and extended a hand to the members of Team Hephaestus. "I'm grateful for all you've done, but don't think that means I'll take it easy on you."

A sudden flicker of movement drew his eye, to the very hand he'd held out. A wisp of black smoke escaped his outstretched fingers, a sight he just barely caught. There was something unsettlingly familiar about it. He had to have seen it a thousand times. ...I must be seeing things. Probably just worn out from the fight.

His hand fell back to his side, curling into a tight fist. He'd never pushed himself so hard as to start hallucinating. Was that something to be proud of, or worried about?

At the mention of the finals, Dispatch paused, midway through kicking up a pile of sand. Their next opponents were the team they'd partnered with after that pre-tournament match? That one had actually been pretty fun. And this time they'd played most of their cards, so there was no reason to hold back. Or at least...not much. He stole a glance over at Team Zeus: Pottymouth, the huge lady, and Magic Man's sister. Somehow he didn't see them losing in the semi-final. And they were people he'd been looking forward to fighting this whole time. Dispatch cracked his knuckles; Round 3 had been a disappointment, but this was different. He'd seen what the other teams could do, and that meant this was gonna be good no matter what.

He took a few steps to approach the other team, giving them a gesture that was half-wave and half-solute, and offering a smirk and five words: "See you in the finals."

The crowd, taken by the constant roller coaster of emotions over these last few days, erupted into cheers, confusion, and chaos, reacting strongly in every which way to the sudden news. Hades himself seemed rather pleased with the result, but made no further immediate comments. A little ways away, Kain could see Finn, Isis, and Zero, huddled close, but staring straight ahead, a conjoined gaze at some faraway object more distant than the looming stands. Kain felt his fist curl, the feeling of his fingernails deep in his palm, and sighed, relaxing again.

Jackie felt a shock to her system upon hearing the words, her mind immediately racing and then shortly wondering if she'd zapped herself with her magic. A couple of loose sparks in her hand confirmed she was still okay, before reeling for a moment. Her magic reserve was empty, for one, in a way it hadn't been in...well, once was six months ago, when she fell through that dark night into Traverse Town, but before then, she could hardly recall any time except the first day she began to channel her magic that she'd felt this empty. Only twice before in her life had she felt so empty inside before, and now it was echoed in her mental state. She could hardly take in the news, and stood in shock.

Much of team Hephaestus didn't want to look too directly at Team Hermes, but Theodore and Brahaam both made the effort and Brahaam even managed a smile as he did. "Lad, I certainly hope to see you there too," Brahaam offered to Dispatch, before turning to Gestalt and eagerly shaking the man's hand in a firm grasp. "And you! Surely not. Wouldn't dream of giving it anything less than 100 percent." And with that, he simply turned and left, leaving Theodore.

"Having as much time to prepare for such a turn of events as you," Theo murmured to the group, "I can only say I'm just as shocked, and... I will hold no hard feelings against any of you, come what may. I admire the heroism of each of you, and after all is said and done, would be quite glad to see each of you in the future, with more deeds and experience under your belts. But for now... well, we'll see you again, but this is good-bye."

Well, I'd call that an amicable parting. Glad everyone's taking this so well. Gestalt smiled faintly to himself as he turned from their former allies. "I suppose we'd better use our time to recover and think of ways to prepare for the coming battles. If I'm not careful, I'll get eliminated even quicker than in the second round!"

Not knowing exactly how the next event would unfold - it would be a direct competition between teams, but the exact nature was as of yet unrevealed - the only real preparations one could make were to be ready for anything, and to know their opponents' weaknesses. And to find ways to cover their own, strengthen teamwork, think of counter-plays...

The short swordsman folded his arms as he walked, eyebrows knitting together. He'd actually done very little practice with his team, mostly just discussion, while he took to training alone. Perhaps it would be wise to ask to all do some kind of exercises together? But his experience in training together with others was nigh on nonexistent.

No, first, I need to find some time to ask Kain how he feels about fighting his own friends down the line. Maybe it's cold, but I must know if he's going to be a liability. He is too powerful to remain an uncertain variable. And I need to polish my own techniques further - something happened when I went in for the kill. Where did that strength come from?

He glanced at the ruined earth where the great beast once stood, mere minutes ago, dominating the colosseum with its horrible presence. Perhaps it had been some form of magic he'd tapped into that he was unaware of? His amateur excursions into the art had been progressing well, but he didn't have the language to articulate what he had done. It was effective, but something about the few scrapes left at the crater's edges made him uneasy.

As the young fighter contemplated, a figure in the stands pushed through the crowds to stand on the balcony above him, shoving aside a particularly heavyset patron to rest their hands on the edge and lean over the side for a better look. It was the short-haired monk, nodding to themselves before putting one foot on the railing, preparing to leap down. But they seemed to think better of it as the crowd's jostling nearly sent them tumbling down, forcing the ambiguous-looking fellow to rethink their idea, clutching the stone for support.



On the other side of the seating area, the hooded figure kept their gaze fixed on one of the contestants, even as the many colosseum-goers filed out around them. ...It'll take a while to get through all these people, and by then, no doubt they'll be long-gone. My best hope is to simply ask where I can find her later.


Laying a hand on a nearby patron's shoulder, the figure spoke clearly over the din. "Tell me, do you know where the contestants of Team Hermes are staying right now?"

Kain was having a difficult time keeping his emotions off his face and bottled up properly, and subtle signs belied his true inner turmoil on the matter. His eyes were permanently downcast, his shoulders hunched, his posture poorer than normal, and after a moment, he took to pushing the pad of his thumb against the knuckles of his forefinger, back and forth, as though playing some tune only he knew. Bringing himself to action, even for a small moment, he breathed loudly, and deeply. "Well, if we don't fight Finn, Isis, and Zero first, we get to at least come in second place. I can't believe how close we were to success, and now just like that, snatched. Tch." Unlike his normal usual stoic and firm candor, even during harrowing moments, Kain seemed especially perturbed by this turn of events, and his speech was low, and growling. 

Jackie reached for just a moment towards Kain's shoulder, then withdrew it as though he might lash out at her. A pained expression clouded her face, the full weight of the words not truly dawning on her. Sure, they were strong... but they'd come up with some ridiculous from-behind victories this past week. Was it all truly for nothing at this point? "Lord Hermes had said that victory wasn't even a firm necessity, correct? If we come in second and give them a good showing, shouldn't that be enough? And even if we do fight them first... that's not reason to not go down swinging. You haven't yet. I haven't. None of us have. I feel like I'm one of two people who hasn't died yet this whole tournament, and I cannot believe the willpower each of you must have to breathe your last and get back up and walk back to this ring day after day." Jackie, gripping her own fist tightly, fingerless gloves revealing calloused pads, half-stomped her foot and shifted her weight, unintentionally making a literal line in the sand for her figurative one. "We all came together for... some reason or another. I'm trying to get to my dad. Even if I did die, for good, during this, I don't think that would stop me. I'd find a way, make a deal, and come back and keep moving forward. Dispatch and Gestalt came to my rescue one day, out of nowhere, and Gestalt and his lord have their own things going on. They're trying to get at the heart of all this, and fight for a greater good beyond all this."

"It won't matter when fate itself ordains you die like a dog, Jackie." Kain's remark wasn't callous, wasn't cruel, wasn't said with anything other than kindness and empathy. "Finn and I fought for what felt like a full year trying to get our timeline fixed to a point where all of us could survive, looping in on ourselves to buy even just a little more time. In the end, it was a miracle we got the four of us out of there alive. I'm surprised they were even alive this long after all of that."

"You admit it, then! You can work a miracle, if you have the right circumstances! Show us, then. Show us what we need to do, and we'll make this happen. We'll win. So what are you fighting for, and what are we fighting against? Let alone Finn, Isis, Zero, what about Team Hephaestus? What's the plan?" Jackie was becoming more and more insistent, her tone almost pleading. "Because if you don't have one, I'll do it. I don't have the luxury of stopping now."

Kain took a deep breath, hung his head, took his glasses off, rubbed his face, and then recomposed himself. "Well, if I'm going to explain... all of that, I may as well do it with a full stomach. C'mon then. Let's get some food first."

His opponents having given him their farewells, Dispatch turned back towards the rest of Team Hermes, his mood elevated, only to find Jackie and Magic Man debating something about fate and dying. His teeth set as he approached. Normally, he wouldn't have said anything about it, and he knew that, but something compelled him to speak in this case.

"We all die someday," he said as he drew near enough to be heard. "But the best of us get to choose when and how." He fell into step beside them at the mention of food, and his sudden serious demeanor vanished without a trace. "So! Food and strategy again, then? Count me in."

Once dinner had come into full swing, Kain picked at his food for a while before addressing the earlier topic. "In fairness, I don't think I've ever mentioned what I'm doing here, or why I decided to commit to your team over finding my old friends," Kain began. "Without drawing out needless details, I'm from another world entirely. Some of you might think of it more as an alternate reality, compared to the world travel you may have experienced recently, coming and going from Traverse Town. From that reality, I came into another, either connected to this one or able to travel from it to... here, I suppose. Fundamentally, though, the reality I was brought into afforded me new powers, as well as power to Finn, Isis, and Zero. It would have been given to our other friends... had they made it, but sadly, despite our best efforts, we wound up in what we referred to as a 'dead timeline'. For us, it meant eventually fading away into nothing... or, we could try and escape it. The vast outer reaches of space, or void, or what have you, beyond the reality we were brought into was called The Medium for us. At its furthest reaches, we managed to escape, but not altogether. Due to the nature of The Medium, space can be extremely compressed, or extremely sparse, and there's no real way to tell where you're going at any given point. One moment, I was with everyone else, and the next... they were gone."

"How did you manage to escape after all that? Couldn't you have wound back up where you started, and...?" Jackie started to ask the question, but let it linger, assuming Kain would pick up on her meaning.

He nods once before continuing. "I was told by a Finn of another timeline that my job was to make it out of the Medium by continuing forward. So long as I did that, I'd get out, and he told me that beyond that he couldn't see but by some intuition or some... insight he had, that I needed to get out to help someone else." Kain finished with a small sigh before angrily stabbing at his food and chewing viciously. "So that's why I'm upset. Even though Finn can't 'see' in the future, or Isis either, Zero still has her power and the other two can still 'feel out' their power and use it. You saw him in the Small Ring, I'm sure, Finn wasn't slowed down for anything. Imagine what he's like when he's at full capacity."

Jackie paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully, sipping lightly at a glass of rosé as she pondered what was in front of her. "Is it not possible to hold Finn and Isis in place, then? Are each of them so truly powerful that even the most careful thread of action, accounting for even the smallest variations and possibilities, cannot hope to win against them as a united front? And, to that end, do you truly believe your success in your mission lies beyond our own success?"

Alternate timelines? ...Then are the friends we're clashing with even the same ones he knew, or identical alters? ...Does that even matter? To him? To us? To the mission?


Gestalt sat with his food uneaten, staring at the table, head almost visibly steaming from attempting to process the sheer boundlessness of reality if multiverse theory was confirmed to be real. Something which he only barely grasped to begin with, frankly.

Hesitating, he spoke an uncertainty into reality. "So then, if the whole point is to ensure our success, then if we fail, not only would our quest have been for nothing, so would yours."

If that's true, then we have to succeed at any cost, no matter how steep.

The thought came with a twinge of... something. A cold feeling in the pit of his stomach, distinctly terrible, but unlike the fear of dying on the field. It made his hairs stand on end. Choking back this new sensation, he took a hurried sip of water.

"Hold on. If Finn can see every possibility, then he must know what the best outcome is. He would try and guide things to their best conclusion, even if it meant letting us win the fight, wouldn't he? Either he's ultimately going to do what's best for everyone, whether we win or lose, or else, he can't see as much as we thought. Which means his vision is far from perfect, and we should be able to do something about it. If his sight isn't absolute, there's a flaw somewhere."

The small swordsman sighed. "I'm sure we'll figure something out in time for that fight. Provided we win our next one, that is. It'd be pretty stupid if we got so caught up in figuring out how to counter another team entirely that we failed to prepare for Team Hephaestus and got our asses kicked, huh?"

Standing up and leaning on the table with both hands, he looked around the room. "We already had one skirmish with them, to test out everyone's abilities, and we've fought alongside them. We know what Brahaam, Goeiz, Theodore, and Jill are capable of. If our teamwork is stronger than theirs, we'll come out on top! If we work together, while frustrating their attempts to do the same, we can win."

Thinking back to their first skirmish, though... "We'll have to focus on disrupting their cooperation pretty hard, though. Their team is very practiced with it. They were able to hold entire conversations in hand signs, and they took up their formation in seconds. Plus, they could switch places and opponents without missing a beat. If things aren't going their way, they'll try and rotate members or gang up."

"Theo and Goeiz seem the most capable of finishing off any of our number, while Brahaam and Jill are better at supporting their allies. I think it'd be smart to take out Goeiz first, but he'll do his best to keep away from us - so we take out Jill or Brahaam first to weaken their cohesion. Once they're down to two, we can try to separate them, or surround them."

"Jackie can keep Brahaam at bay with her spear and spells, Dispatch can overwhelm Jill. I can attempt to distract Theo - I've learned a lot about fighting people bigger than me. Kain, do you think you could keep Goeiz at bay entirely if you don't put any focus on powering us up? I'm curious if we can handle them on a level playing field, to be honest."

Dispatch's gaze flicked over to Jill briefly, then back to Jackie. He shrugged. "I can take any one of 'em," he replied. "Probably two, even, if I need to."

He thought back to all the missions he'd taken on. He didn't have to fend off multiple opponents often, but he'd done it enough that he knew how, comfortably. What bothered him more was that he hadn't seen the Chief since early in the morning, prior to the matches. He'd been hoping to invite him to dinner again, but there was no sign of him, and there hadn't been in the stands during the fight, either. He'd said he'd be watching, hadn't he? So...where was he?

Dispatch shook his head, trying to clear it and focus on the fight ahead of him. "Still, is that what we're going with? Split 'em up and go one-on-one, that simple? ...I like it."

Kain held up one finger. "Sure, it's possible for any one of us to defeat any of them, but there's the teamwork aspect, as Gestalt pointed out. Beyond that, however, we have to consider what makes Theo and Goeiz so dangerous. Theo has his Vorpal Blade, a sword that cuts anything except its own sheathe, it seems, and Goeiz can warp reality in ways we... despite having experienced it, struggle to comprehend."

"So we throw Dispatch at Jill, then, and disrupt what we can of their cohesion?" Jill piped up. "Meanwhile the three of us could take to the air to create an offensive they couldn't retaliate against easily. Or... hypothetically if we charge up enough we could hide in the ground. I don't know if it would work, but it's a possibility considering I did warp straight through solid matter the other day. There's also the matter of... well, we don't know what their boon from Hephaestus is, unless it's Vorpal. Or your sword, Gestalt."