Heroes of Light, Battle! The Ultimate Golsaucian Tournament Begins!

[tiredcharmer]

Who: The Heroes of Light!
When: June 16th-19th
Where: Sparks Golsaucia
What: After weeks of getting hounded by the press, corporations, and prospective fiances, Octavaux Dairesault offers the Heroes of Light a way out: by participating in this year's Golsaucian Gauntlet, taking the form of a fighting tournament.
Warnings/Notes: Tournament arc, congoers.


An Offer You Can't Refuse (Prelude)
It starts not long after June begins. Maybe somebody proposes to you in the middle of the street. Or you're bumrushed by a horde of solicitors who want to use your image for whatever product they're peddling. Or maybe a reporter literally busts down your door to get an interview. Whatever the case, the Heroes soon find it's impossible to find a semblance of peace and quiet in early June. Around every corner and in every building is somebody who is just dying to talk to you, or more commonly, several somebodies, each at cross purposes. Even your homes aren't safe, as a few particularly nutty fans are willing to break and enter to get your autograph.

You have to deal with all of this for a week, until you're contacted by Octavaux Dairesault, organizer of the previous year's smash hit Golsaucian Gauntlet. He's noticed (and perhaps orchestrated) your plight, and offers you a way out: simply participate in his tournament and/or the events around it, and the attention will lessen. Considering how things get worse every day, you don't have a lot of options...

Sparks Golsaucia HeroCon 20XX
As it turns out, the events around the tournament that Octavaux casually mentioned are really a huge, city-spanning con. Cosplayers are everywhere. Artist alley takes up two entire districts. You can't take two steps without bumping into a merchandise stall. Thankfully, the limos Octavaux has provided means that you don't have to fight your way through a horde of ravening fans to reach the centerpiece of the whole debacle: the arena. A massive Colosseum with bleeding-edge technology to allow for the creation of stages drawn from... something. Octavaux refuses to elaborate on that. Whatever the case, you finally have the respite that you need. There's delicious food, cushy bedrooms, exercise rooms... pretty much whatever you want. And best of all, nobody prying into your business. How will you spend your precious, precious free time?

Of course, the tournament isn't all some of you are here for. Maybe you've decided to host a panel, in which case you're contractually obligated to appear among thousands upon thousands of fans and give a spiel. And give autographs. Lots of autographs. With really weird requests too.

Whatever the case... the tournament is about to begin!

Comments

[sassafrisk]

"MEANWHILE, ON THE OTHER SEGMENT OF THE MAP, BOWSER GOES STRAIGHT FOR THE AGGRO STRATEGY AND... WHAT IS THAT SKILL EVEN CALLED? REGARDLESS, IT SEEMS TO BE AN EXCELLENT WAY TO PROVIDE BOTH OFFENSE AND DEFENSE, BUT I DOUBT FLYING BLIND WILL HELP WHEN YOUR OPPONENT CAN SOAR THROUGH THE SKY!"

Frisk smirks at their own pun, making fingers leaning back in their seat as they wait for it to process with Papyrus.

[acapriciousreaper]

"New friends? I think not-" In fairness, Bowser moves... significantly faster than he'd been expecting. Kuja dives out of the way- but only just. There's a cut on his leg, a reminder of the razor-sharp spikes adorning the koopa's shell. Hmm. "No, I think not. Quality over quantity, Your Majesty."

Frisk has the right of it, of course, and he takes to the skies in short order, droplets shimmering as they impact his Protect shield. He changes, then, exchanging the white sherwani he'd appeared in for something altogether more ostentatious, a flowing longcoat, black-blue as midnight, with a feathered ruff in black about the collar. There was a staff, too, one Frisk had got him so very long ago, a finely-crafted thing of ebony. True, it was probably telegraphing his change to [Black Mage] more than a little bit, but it's the thought that counts.

"Tell me, Bowser, do you know what happens to a tortoise when it's struck by lightning?" He [Focus]es, spreading his arms wide as he revels, for the moment, in the storm.

Yes. He is grandstanding. But what better venue to do it in?

[koopacrusher]

Whatever Kuja intends to do next, Bowser decides it cannot be good for him. So he goes on the defensive, entering a Shell Ball. A spherical spiky shield surrounds him, protecting him from whatever comes next, a technique designed to half whatever damage he takes and discourage any attempt to physically touch him.

[songbird_slayer]

The earthquake is enough to rattle products from walls and create a bit of a slippery atmosphere, drinks spilled and utterly useless in their glass shard-filled mess upon the floor. Madhuri pursed her lips- well, damn, so much for setting traps.

Aggressive? Aggressive.

"You're a tease, you know that? Guess I'll just come to you!" The air wavered, and from the ripple in the air emerged the tiefling, ready to rumble. But seeing as he was ready to make his own shockwaves...

"SURPRISE!" Her voice was like a storm, blasting outward in concussive force in her Thunderwave, her signature. All the while, with the guitar strapped to her back, still somehow playing a helpful tune, backed the way she withdrew her beloved whip and let it unfurl in the air, ready for her next strike.

[legalcy]

Ultra Magnus jammed the staff of the hammer into the ground, keeping him in place as the air pressure increased and decreased in quick order.

Slightly disoriented, the hammer collapsed into a more portable form. The Magnus Armor transformed into a large truck and barreled down the street towards the source of that shockwave.

Madhuri would finder a large vehicle crashing through the walls of the shop and into the single occupant in a forceful Car Crash.

[einspine]

"THAT'S MY MADDIE!!!!!" He shouts a bit louder than necessary, googly eyed and applauding wildly... despite being an announcer. "I MEAN. WELL. MADDIE IS HER OWN WOMAN! BUT AS HER DEVOTED BOYFRIEND I CAN'T HELP BUT CHEER FOR SUCH A SHOW-STOPPING STUNT! THE GRAND ENTRANCE. THE BOOMING VOICE." He slams a hand down, gesturing with the other.

"THE UNPARALLELED MUSICAL PERFORM-"

That.

That is a truck. Ultra Magnus just turned into a truck and is flying toward Maddie.

"H-HEY!!! NO HITTING PEOPLE WITH TRUCKS! EVEN IF YOU ARE THE TRUCK. BECAUSE...

WELL. JUST BE CAREFUL ABOUT RECKLESS DRIVING!"

[acapriciousreaper]

Well, Kuja did have something prepared, but since Bowser's gone to so much trouble to immobilize himself and render himself blind, how could Kuja possibly do anything other than take advantage?

He keeps the spell primed, and books it for where Madhuri's having a traffic collision. Shame, really, to abandon a perfectly good line like that- but he makes sure to smirk for the cameras before he leaves. If he was trying to get Bowser to flinch and go on the defensive, then that's alright. He's not retreating for a tactical advantage at all, he's bluffing. It's all part of the plan, and he most certainly is not improvising in the heat of the moment. That would be unsporting.

[songbird_slayer]

The commentary really was something else. Papyrus, such a silly boy...

But now there was a truck coming at her. "Oh. ...Oh, my."

With it hurtling at her, she had some options. She could either open a door and step through it, or she could make this a little more interesting. Madhuri quickly opened the pocket of her coat and withdrew her handkerchief.

A mark began to gleam over the surface, her Glyph of Warding and she held it before her. "Toro!"

So, yes. She'll take that truck to the face. But with striking her came a pillar of explosive lightning magic that rocked from her central point and outward. Sure, she'll feel it in the morning, but she had to give a show, didn't she?

[legalcy]

Madhuri should be thankful that the Magnus Armor was not at full size. Otherwise, this truck could have well destroyed the entire building. As it is, much of the shop - rather, the imitation of a store. Minimus doesn't have to worry about the damages - is wrecked when he barrels into her.

He is promptly rewards with a blast of light that knocks him onto the opposite end of where the building used to be. He transforms back right after he hits the ground.

"Clever." Her skills are incredible, but so are his. It's risky to keep a distance between himself and a magic-user if she has incredible skills like this. While he was pulling himself up, he aims a Righteous Shot from his gun.

There's also the issue of the rain. The holes created from his entrance is letting in the deathly precipitation.

[koopacrusher]

This had not been the first time during the past year that one had retreated when Bowser tried to use the shell defensively, but Bowser had no issue with this. Leaving his Shell Ball, Bowser, rather than going after Kuja, seeks cover just in time to observe a truck collision. He won't go back to the fight just yet, not before he witnesses what happens in his absence from it. He'll study just how these Heroes of Light behave.

[einspine]

"LOOK AT THAT RADIANT BURST OF POWER FROM MY DEAREST, MOST DARLING MADDIE! IT'S SUCH A BRILLIANT COUNTERATTACK THAT EVEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DID NOT SEE IT COMING!!!"

Though that gun seems a bit concerning. Nonetheless, she managed to take on a flying truck. Clearly, Maddie is the champion. The beacon of hope in these trying times!

He gasps, though, as Magnus hits his target. "BUT WHAT AN ENORMOUS IMPACT! OUR OTHER COMBATANTS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO BE EXTREMELY CAREFULLY. ESPECIALLY GIVEN THEIR LACK OF RAINCOATS."