Kruel trampled forward and threw his weight at the trio, golden man tits first. Minnie jumped before everybody and parried the attack with her shell. They danced around the library like bumper cars.
Lord Shellie unleashed a draconic roar and dashed at Gamer. After closing the distance, he spewed flames. Persica moved in front of Gamer and yanked her shrooman out. The little mushroom guy absorbed the flames, but writhed and screamed, "Waaah!"
Lord Shellie clamped his mouth shut and was eye-to-eye with Persica. Even with the Proforce active, the mind controlled shellie hesitated.
"Pookie bear..." Persica lowered the exhausted shrooman and gazed into her lover's eyes.
Ripley dove at Asterion from behind. The bull man caught the tail and a claw, but barely held back the momentum. Ripley dragged Asterion away from Hero, and freed the elf up. Hero rushed Persica and stabbed his dildo bat at her. Gamer intercepted by kicking the bat to the side and bringing a knee up at Hero. The elven swordsman blocked with his shield. Gamer glared into the menacing mask, "That's a nice weapon of yours. It'd be a shame if somebody came along and took it from you."
Tears flowed out from underneath the mask and dripped off Hero's chin. Gamer realized that even under Gamindorf's control, there was a part of the character still conscious.
An alien roar penetrated the atmosphere as the purple dragon hoisted Asterion up. Losing his footing, he was open to its scorpion tail. It stabbed and punctured his stomach, but his meaty minotaur hand caught it before it could retract. Similar to Lord Shellie, Ripley breathed out fire. Asterion entered I-frames and fell like an anchor. The flames pinged off his body like bullets against a ship's hull. Asterion whipped Ripley around and flung it out of the library wall hole.
Asterion glared up at the floating Gamindorf, "I'm your next contender."
Ripley's tail snaked back through the hole and wrapped around Asterion's ankle. It yanked him off the edge.
"Asterion!" Gamer pushed Hero away and ran over to the hole. Hero tried to take advantage and spun like a top with his dildo bat extended. That's when Minnie spun into the picture and met with the elf's attack. She kept Hero and Kruel at bay with her defense, and they all ricocheted from one another like a game of Beyblades.
Gamer made it to the hole in the wall. A sheer drop led to the slanted cliff face and wicked forest of the volcano mountainside. Asterion clung to the edge with one hand. The dragon dangled below him, still latched on. It refused to fly so as to weigh Asterion down.
"Give me your other hand!" Gamer dramatically reached down. The howling wind gusted against them.
Asterion, blood trickling from his mouth, smiled gently up at his friend, "Come on, now. I don't get an 'I love you' or a kiss? What kind of deal is that, man?"
"I'll mac on you all we want after this is over..." Gamer promised.
"Gamer, behind you!"
Gamer rolled sideways, and barely avoided the power gloved fist Gamindorf dunked on him. Gamindorf loomed over Gamer with his signature wild grin, "Long live the king."
Gamer and Asterion yelled at the same time, "That's not a video game reference!"
Gamindorf didn't care and pulled out the zapper. He readied to blow Gamer's brain out, and that's when Asterion used his second Super, "Atomic Springboard!"
The bull man did a one-handed muscle up, just to get enough heft to lay that same hand on Gamer. He barely nudged Gamer, but the Super had the same effect. The cheater lurched up, and nailed Gamindorf in the gnads. Both launched into the air. Gamer saw Asterion's thumbs up fall out of sight, and the roar of a pissed off purple dragon.
Gamer belted a Video Games Award-worthy cry, "Nooo!"
He recovered midair and landed on his feet, while Gamindorf righted himself with his psychic abilities. Minnie dealt with Gamindorf's goon squad, while Persica tried to pacify her fiancé. Gamer and Gamindorf's teams were predisposed. The King of Elite Moggers grinned, "One-v-one me, bitch!"
Gamindorf flew straight at Gamer with his outstretched, power-gloved hand. Gamer dodged to the side, lined Gamindorf up with the hole in the wall, and yelled, "Defenestrate!"
He launched with a drop kick, but froze in midair. Gamindorf caught him with his telekinesis. Gamer moaned, "Y'know, I should've seen this coming..."
"Perfect guard this!" Gamindorf eyeballed the hole in the wall.
Minnie bounced Kruel away and headed Gamer's way. When she arrived, she popped out of her shell and grabbed onto him. As much as she pulled, she couldn't overpower Gamindorf. Persica saw the dilemma and abandoned her very confused, mind controlled to-be. The princess grabbed Gamer and tried to free him, too.
"Fuck your power of love," Gamindorf launched them out the hole. Minnie and Persica stayed tandem, and all three plummeted with a chorus of screams. Lord Shellie, Hero, and Kruel gathered. Gamindorf and his array of mind slaves stepped up to the edge. They watched Gamer and the girls disappear in the tree canopy.
Gamindorf stared at his glove, and pulled out his zapper. Though he only had the artifacts of power and courage, thanks to the proximity of wisdom, the Proforce was still in effect. It left a bad taste in his mouth, "Even with all this, I still couldn't kill him..."
Lord Shellie, Hero, and Kruel started to twitch. The Proforce faded slightly, and the Sigma Lord quickly composed himself, "But he failed to kill me, too. My strength is evident, and my victory, undeniable!"
He reestablished his link to them and they stopped fidgeting. Gamindorf holstered the zapper and flexed his power glove. With Lord Shellie at his disposal, a new plot could be made, "A few bad apples stand in our way of total control. No doubt they'll come crawling back to face me. I am the only one on top, now. Let us claim the rest of your people, Lord Shellie. Let us start the greatest win streak in the history of gaming. To the throne room!"
***
Asterion and Ripley spiraled out of control over the canopy. They wrestled one another with pounds and scratches, with the only thing keeping them afloat being Ripley's haggard wingbeats. Eventually, a square strike to the jaw from Asterion lowered their altitude enough for those very wings to catch on a treetop. They crashed through the canopy and plowed into the ground. Volcanic rock sprayed up from the crater.
The dragon erected its tail, and stabbed down towards the grounded minotaur. Asterion grabbed it right before it could penetrate his face. His muscles bulged as he strained to keep it from killing him. The tip was inches away from his snout. For once, he couldn't afford to die. The respawn would take too long, and the chances of Gamer dying...
Ripley made things worse by stomping on Asterion's torso. He grunted, and the dragon pulled its tail up. It readied another strike, however, a beam of energy struck it in the chest. Ripley flew backwards and clutched the burn wound. Asterion glanced up to see a spaceship parting the trees with its metallic form. It resembled a futuristic battle armor helmet, and colored orange. The windshields in the front were green tinted. It fired more beams at Ripley, but it dodged and flew away in anger. Its roar echoed in the skies. The firepower successfully chased it away.
Asterion took a moment to catch his breath. The spaceship hovered over the ground, and a door opened up somewhere on the top with the futuredoornoise.mp3. A figure raised up out of the ship, silhouetted by the canopy's shadows. The figure floated down, gently, and hovered like her ship.
The woman matched Asterion's height. She wore a blend of orange battle armor and a sky blue skirt. The armor covered her whole body, and the skirt was battered from years of combat. One of her arms was a whole ass cannon. Her long, blonde hair defied gravity, and the back was tied into a ponytail. Her beauty matched a model's, and she exuded maternal energy.
"Impeccable timing, I'd say. Any moment later, and I fear you'd know the lethality of Ripley. The stars were surely aligned..." the woman's voice soothed the ears.
"Thanks for the save, but who are you?" Asterion greeted the spacefarer.
The woman bowed her head, "I am Samanthus Rosalina Orion. I'm happy to meet one of Persica's travelling companions, Mr. Asterion."
***
On the highest floor of the fortress, the devastation of the bobs left the chapel without a floor. Gamindorf summoned his powers to raise up the slabs of stone like elevators. He created a suspended bridge of debris and they walked over to the doors near the destroyed confessionals. Gamindorf entered first.
They stepped into the throne room. Huge pillars, chandeliers, and portraits of Lord Shellie decorated the room. A runner carpet went from the chapel door to a large, golden throne with red cushioning. Gamindorf expected the throne to be empty, since Lord Shellie was now under his control, but a tall nun claimed it. She sat crooked, with one leg slung over an armrest, and twirled a gas mask on a finger.
Gamindorf and his squad stepped halfway to the throne. The One Who Wins explored the woman and found a strange nostalgia with her face. Her pompous posturing and expression irritated him, "And who are you?"
Sonia tapped her slung leg's heel against the side of the throne while resting her chin on a propped up arm, "I'm first place."
***
In the forest below, Gamer fluttered his eyes open. Critters all around freaked out at the sudden arrival of him, Minnie, and Persica. Branches and leaves rained around them. He held the tome of wisdom in one hand.
"Hoo, boy, this thing is great. All I need is a pointy hat and my witch outfit will be complete," Gamer sat up and laughed.
"I'd say you can take one of the shellie mages', but they were tossed out of the fortress with the rest of the troops," Minnie denoted. She hopped to her feet and helped Gamer and Persica to their feet.
"That artifact belonged to Princess Sellda. Though we rarely interacted, she was a kind and considerate soul," Persica reminisced.
"You okay?" Gamer asked the princess.
"I will be. Thank you for saving me," Persica wobbled on her feet. Her wedding dress was ripped, and some of the fall left scratches along her arms and face. She glanced up through the canopy and to the hole in the fortress wall, "Gamindorf's power is terrifying. Lord Shellie couldn't even..."
"Don't let it beat you down. Gamindork is using Shade's coding. They're fighting fire with fire against me."
"I do not know this Shade character."
"We gotta give the lore dump ☝️🤓," Samira said.
Gamer slapped his forehead, "Right, you're out of the loop. I'll explain it between chapters."
"Whatever the matter is, we have quite a mountain to scale. Physically and metaphorically," Persica stared up at the fortress.
"Bro, what's the plan? Gamindorf won't go down without a real fight. No more one-shot kills for you," Samira showed concern.
"Ultimately, we need to take out his gooners, disarm him of the Proforce artifacts, and overcome his virgin abilities," Gamer listed out the objectives. The list beat out every other opposition by a mile.
"Troof! ( '～｀ヾ) We're in the fire now! Gotta lock in!"
"We will save Lord Shellie. I will not lose the yin to my yang," Persica showed conviction.
"We need to help the shellies. I don't want my people being misled or mind controlled!" Minnie showed hers, too.
"We do it all in one fell swoop," Gamer grinned. "We're gonna steal Gamindorf's virginity."