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It had been a long ten years since his last attempt. He had come close, yet not close enough. His purple, blocky looking face was as pristine as ever, radiating all the glory that a state of the art 32-bit processor could render. The sky was black, yet the Polygon Man's realm remained bright. All-Star power coursed through the sky. He had gotten the hang of terraforming with crystals, though the shapes were not very complex. It still gave him a kingdom to preside over. It would all be for moot if not for his coup de grace, his greatest prize. He found himself gazing upon it as he spoke."At last…." Polygon Man gazed upon the sphere in his possession. The energy that coursed through it was a marvel to behold. It seemed to end at invisible borders which formed the shape of a sphere, sometimes spouting All-Star Power into containers beneath. The All-Star core made control of Playstation possible. With it, he could be unopposed. Alas, he knew better than that. It wouldn't be long before challenges to his new regime would spring up across the worlds of Playstation. But he had thought of even that, assembling his own team to take down those would-be problems….Taterazay barely avoided another attack as Madfang Ragewolf torpedoed into the ground beneath him. Ragewolf had somehow found the Patapon hideout. Never mind the fact that Ragewolf was supposed to be dead, but there was something off about him. "Hoshipon, what power is this?" He asked as he slashed at Ragewolf. "Shzump! It is not of this world!" The star-shaped Patapon helpfully replied. "What a great deal that tells me…" Ragewolf got ready to attack again, though this time Taterazay didn't have time to get out of the way. He raised his shield, hoping that would do the trick….It didn't. Ragewolf knocked the shield out of his hand and nailed Taterazay with a torpedo attack. Leading with his claws, he was able to inflict severe damage on the Patapon Hero. Taterazay flew backwards through the barracks, making a large hole in the wall. "Having fun yet?" Ragewolf taunted him. He didn't have time to get an answer, as he was rammed by a shield. Chin Tatepon, the patapon wielding sword and shield was the one responsible. "Grrr! I was sure you were gone!" Ragewolf gritted his teeth. He hadn't a lot of time to do that though, as he quickly found himself putting up his guard against a hail of arrows. He managed to protect his face but the arrows dug into his claws, rendering them unusable without tremendous pain. "You spineless coward!" The dark hero spat at Taterazay. "I at least assumed you had enough dignity to face me like a hero!" Taterazay picked himself up and staggered out of the barracks. "I'm only as strong as the people I protect. I have no problem with that, nor have I ever hidden this! You're the one who attacked without warning, Ragewolf!" Never a strong debater, Ragewolf simply growled at the Uberhero. "You'd better run while you have the chance!" Taterazay shot back, an invitation which Ragewolf accepted without hesitation. He was followed closely by a barrage of spears and arrows, but none hit him. "We should chase him!" Kan Yumipon suggested. But Taterazay shook his head. "There is little point. We will be prepared for his next assault." He thought back to Ragewolf's purple aura as he retrieved his shield. There was something very unnatural about the whole situation. "Hoshipon, you must know something about it." Taterazay turned to the Silver Hoshipon, who remained with the others. "I wish I could say I did, but alas I do not, shzump." Hoshipon insisted. "Then we are in trouble…" The Uberhero muttered to himself. "Will we reach Earthend?" Ton Yaripon asked. Taterazay hadn't even been thinking about Earthend. "This will emerge as being nothing more than a minor setback when all is said and done." He informed his archer. "We'll find Earthend." As soon as he said that, a blue portal opened up which began sucking in the Patapons, starting with Hatapon. "Wh-what's that?! Shzaaaaam!" Silver Hoshipon was next to be sucked in. The three patapons were next, leaving Taterazay to be the last one devoured. Once they were all gone, the portal closed."Face it Crash, I have you now!" Dr. Neo Cortex was closing in on a historic victory over his long time nemesis. He had an aura about him that enabled him to fly around faster with his jetpack and fire seemingly more deadly lasers. Crash ran around frantically, waiting for Cortex to fire a projectile that he could rebound at him. Eventually, Cortex did as much. He fired a plasma blast at Crash, which the Bandicoot noticed. Launching into a spin attack, he prepared to return the blast to sender. But not this time. The blast nailed Crash and knocked him to the ground. The marsupial lost consciousness, unable to figure out how he was beaten by that attack. Cortex could scarcely believe it. He had won. After all this time, he had won. It surprised him so much that he could do nothing except stand there for a short while. His first action was to celebrate wildly. "YES!" He cheered. "Finally, I've done it! I've done it! Now nothing stands between me and world domination!" He rubbed his hands together in glee. "But I'll finish off this rodent first! Do you hear that-CRASH?!" Cortex looked on in horror as a blue portal appeared and took away Crash, robbing him of a great triumph. "Well, it could be worse." Cortex laughed nervously in an attempt to calm himself down. "I mean, maybe it's taken him to another world. Yes, that's right! I don't have to worry about him anymore!" His celebration was cut short though, as a purple portal appeared to take him away."Pupuru. You can't keep believing these readings. It's all a load of hot air." Puni warned her friend. Pupuru nodded half in understanding, more so being absorbed in Etanya's fortune telling. "At least let me know what it is this time?" Puni asked, sighing in defeat. "Well," Pupuru began, somewhat sheepishly. "I….uh…..well…." She gripped her skirt. "She wants to know when she's gonna get married." Pupuru's face went red. "Etanya!" Etanya ignored her complaints. "Isn't it a little early to be thinking about that kind of thing?" Puni questioned. "I guess….but that guy with the horns is giving me the creeps. I need to know that I'm not gonna be spending the rest of my life with him." Puni could accept that argument. "I guess that makes sense. But what if you find out that you will be marrying him?" Pupuru froze. She hadn't considered that possibility. At all. Death would probably be a preferable alternative."Aha!" Etanya announced, drawing the attention of both of them. "Well?" Puni asked, leaning in to see what it was Etanya had come up with. "Is it Gigadis?" She asked. Etanya shook her head. "It doesn't appear so." An expectedly vague answer, as far as Puni was concerned. "What does it say exactly?" She asked, hoping to expose Etanya. The fortune teller's face became more serious and ominous as she uttered her next line. "You will find a lover. He will be harsh and intimidating, he will be mysterious and sometimes cruel, but he will be the one. You will know him when you see him." Pupuru lapped it all up like it was an oasis. "You can't be serious." Puni replied with her regular deadpan voice. "Firstly, that sounds incredibly unhealthy. Secondly, that sounds wrong. Why would any spirit say something like that?" Etanya paid no attention to her criticism, merely responding "It is what the spirits say. I cannot change that, on my word as a fortune teller." She began to tidy away everything, while Puni turned to leave. "Let's get out of here, Pupuru." Pupuru had already gone, without even announcing it. The young sorceress was walking through the village while considering what the spirits had allegedly said when she heard laughter that forced her to stop in her tracks. "Hey wait a second….""I wonder who that is…?" She pondered. "Did that sound like anyone you knew, Kuu?""Kuu…." He hoped it wasn't anyone. He long had an aversion to males, despite Pupuru not knowing the origins of it. She had one theory, that his previous owner was just so irritating and arrogant that it instilled an undying hatred of men within him for life. Speaking of his previous owner, here he was. With horns on his head and a cape attached to his purple suit, he looked about ready to launch into another song and dance routine. Pupuru tried to ignore him, but he was persistent today. "I feel like today is the day, Pupuru dearest!" He announced. "The day you give up?" Pupuru asked herself under her breath. Gigadis continued. "I have the power I need to make you mine!" He stomped his foot into the ground as he began to give off a purple aura. "So you'd best come to your senses now!" Pupuru braced herself for a fight. "No matter how many times you ask, the answer's always gonna be the same! Not a chance, creep!"Gigadis' expression hardened. "I'll destroy this accursed town if that's what it takes!" That wasn't the usual indignant tone he took when making outlandish threats. In fact, that sounded a little too real. He lunged at Pupuru, barely giving her enough time to get out of the way of his attack. The building behind him was reduced to rubble. He turned around, dusting himself off. "Just a demonstration." He explained. "Care to make your choice now?" Pupuru felt her stomach drop. It really did look like her only option was to go along with him. But her fortune said this wouldn't happen….it couldn't be. But as she lamented her fate, a blue portal opened up behind her. Looking back at Gigadis as he geared up for another attack, Pupuru realised her options were limited. "Come on Kuu, let's get out of here!" Scooping up the rabbit-like creature in her arms, the two disappeared through the portal. Gigadis lunged for it, but before he could get there the portal closed, vanishing into nothingness as quickly as it had appeared.Zero slashed at Sigma, the Z-Sabre colliding with Sigma's beam sabre. He wanted to tell himself that this was just another encounter with Sigma, but that wasn't the case. There was something seriously wrong. He didn't know what it was though and didn't have time to worry about it. Sigma was firing energy waves at him, giving him just enough time to avoid them. Zero fired the Z-Buster back, but it seemingly did nothing with the blasts deflecting off the maverick leader."Have you given up yet?" Sigma asked mockingly. "Not until you're history!" Zero responded, firing a Zankourin at Sigma. It seemed to do more damage, as Sigma had to struggle to hold it off. But grabbing it with his hands was a strategy Zero did not expect Sigma to use when dealing with a giant shuriken attack. He was able to stop it until it was nothing, with an ear to ear grin on his face afterwards. "I hope you have more up your sleeve than that." Sigma taunted as he slowly advanced towards Zero. "What, you think one trick is enough to stop me?" Zero asked, gearing up to attack again. Sigma beat him to the punch though, literally. Zero was met with a heavy punch to the head that disoriented him and knocked him to the ground. "Pathetic!" Sigma picked Zero up and threw him away like a ragdoll. "I expected more from someone like you!" Zero rolled out of the way of a stomp-kick and slashed at Sigma. "I don't know what you're doing, but I'll figure it out!" He slashed again before charging up the Z-Buster and firing, making Sigma stagger. "As if you'll live that long!" Sigma laughed. "It starts with you, then X, then whoever else stands in my way!" Zero sent energy waves towards Sigma with the Z-Sabre, unfazed by his speech. "Even with this new power you can't defeat me. What a joke." Sigma destroyed each attack with his own beam sabre. "So you think you're winning then?" The maverick leader pressed. "Why not run away? It'll give you time to say your farewells." Zero stood his ground. "Running away isn't something I do." Then a portal opened up beside him. "What the-" He turned to Sigma, "Another-woah!" He was caught off guard by the portal sucking him in, closing immediately afterwards. Sigma was disappointed, but didn't think much of it. "More cowardly than you appear, aren't you, Zero?" He mused.Shadow couldn't see who he was fighting, but he knew who it was. He had seen the Egg Carrier towering over Station Square and had gone to inspect it. When the city erupted into flames, he had suspected Eggman and his goons but had found that the portly scientist was nowhere on board. His empire was destroyed in the blink of an eye by his greatest creation, Metal Sonic. Metal had taken on a regal appearance from when he had last overthrown Eggman, but this time he meant business. He seemed to be giving off this purple aura that heightened his abilities. Sonic and his friends were nowhere to be seen. Maybe Metal had taken care of them….Shadow barely got out of the way in time. Metal charged past him again, turning around upon realising he missed his target. The yellow blur tackled him to the ground before kicking him away, then getting in position to kick him back in the opposite direction. "Face it, Shadow! This time I am supreme!" Shadow slowly picked himself up. "You're tougher than last time, that's for sure. But you'll get defeated all the same once people know who you really are!" Metal walked towards him. "I've been thinking about that, Shadow. Here's the deal. I don't want that to happen. If it does, I'll know it was you and I will make you regret it." Shadow wasn't fazed. "You think that scares me? I'll give my life to stopping tyrants like you!" Metal laughed. "Oh no, Shadow. I know that. I was thinking more along the lines of your friends. They'll be the ones to answer.""They can protect themselves!" Shadow dismissed Metal's threat, but his voice betrayed him. Metal launched three quick kicks, knocking Shadow to the ground. "I'm not so sure." The robot taunted him. "Annihilate!" Metal was unprepared for the barrage of rockets that assaulted him, unable to get a shield up or retreat in time as Omega attempted to end his threat. Omega only stopped when his arm cannon was at risk of overheating. Metal looked wounded. Not seriously enough that the fight would end then and there, but enough that he could no longer fight at his maximum capabilities. "Omega…the same goes for you too…." He threatened. "I possess the capability to terminate you here and now. I suggest you do not make unreasonable demands." The E-Series droid reminded him. "I see. Well Shadow, if you think you believe that your friends are strong enough to handle me on their own, then it can't be helped. I'll just have to defeat them all the same. Still, you'll have to make a decision before we meet again, because I will kill you the next time we meet. And there will be a next time." Metal took off at blistering speeds, with Omega being just a second too late with his minigun fire.Shadow picked himself up again. "Thanks Omega." He said, dusting himself off. He had learned to mellow out a little, at least around the members of Team Dark. Rouge was nowhere to be seen, and that was who Shadow was most worried about when Metal made his threat. Omega had very little emotional intelligence, but he knew that much. "Perhaps we should consult with Rouge." He suggested. Shadow thought about it. He was deeply concerned about the consequences of such action. Metal was very much capable of following through on the threat he made. But before either of them could say anything else, a blue portal appeared and began to suck both of them in. Not having time to grab onto anything, both disappeared through before the portal closed as though it was never there.One by one, the All-Stars found themselves teleported from their own worlds abruptly. They ended up in strange and often hostile locations with nothing but the bare essentials to defend themselves, and not the slightest notion as to why any of it was happening.
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Ellie slowly woke up. She was upside-down, barely able to make out a lot of her surroundings. But it looked very sandy. There were some old white adobe houses around the place, scattered without any organisation seemingly across the desert landscape. Someone was looking at her. A young girl wearing a red dress and brown boots. Ellie groaned as her vision returned to normal. The girl gasped."She's awake!" She went to get help. A weird looking guy in red, with a green sword and a blond ponytail had a look. Next to him was a man with long brown hair, sporting what looked like a full cowboy outfit. "I told ya she wasn't dead." The cowboy spoke to the man in red."I guess you were right." He admitted. Ellie picked herself out of the pile of sandbags and corrected her posture. She took a moment as all the blood went back down to her body. "What's your name?" The girl asked. Ellie remained apprehensive, realizing she wasn't anywhere familiar. "Where the hell are we?" She asked. "We don't know." A brown haired woman approached her. "Seems like we were all brought here against our will. By otherworldly forces, if you can believe that." Skeptical as she was, it sounded similar to what had happened to her. She had been taken through a portal, but she assumed it was a strange nightmare. Next thing she knew, she had woken up here. "What do you know about what's happening?" Ellie asked. "Probably as much as you do. Lara, by the way." She introduced herself. "I'm Pupuru." The young sorceress added. "Zero." The robot nodded. "John. John Marston." The cowboy nodded as well. "Is that everyone then?" Ellie asked. "No, there's more." She jumped at the sound of the voice behind her. The man with glowing orange eyes was certainly an intimidating sight. "Colonel Mael Radec of the Army of Helghan." He introduced himself. "Jesus, you could approach me like a normal person." Ellie shot back, still somewhat in shock. "I approach you with caution. As you do with us." The Colonel replied. "For instance, you haven't told us your name yet. I find that suspicious.""If it bothers you that much, it's Ellie." Someone else informed him. Ellie turned around to see the red-haired woman with her bow drawn. "Oh shit!" Ellie quickly drew her hand gun and pointed it at her. "Hold on, what's going on here?" Zero stood between the two of them. "Why don't you tell them, Ellie?" Aloy taunted her. "That fucking earpiece won't save you this time!" She warned Aloy, before trying to lunge through Zero to get to her. "That's enough!" Zero held back Ellie with one hand. Something clearly wasn't right. Granted Ellie wasn't the strongest person around but she was certainly strong enough to hold her own against most people. Yet Zero held her back like it was nothing with freakish strength. "What the hell?!" Ellie struggled against Zero's grip for another little while before giving up. "You too, drop the weapon." He instructed Aloy. The outcast shook her head. "Believe me, this girl's bad news." She explained. "You said the same about me." Zero reminded her. "I'm still not sure about that.""Well, for all we know everyone here could have ulterior motives. But unless you feel like trying to find help yourself in this place where the first people we met tried to kill us, let's stick together." Lara argued. "I mean, you guys tried to kill me when you first saw me." A purple dragon flew back to them. Ellie nearly collapsed at the sight of it. "This is a dream. This is all a dream." She repeated to herself. "I'm afraid this is all very real. I'm Spyro, by the way." The dragon introduced himself. "This guy here is Sparx." He added, trying to keep track of the dragonfly that kept circling him. He then looked to someone standing behind Ellie, a man in red armour, sporting a red headband holding back his spiky blonde hair who was giving him a death stare. "Come on man, if I wanted to kill you I would have done it. Either now or back when we fought the first time." The man turned his head away. "Fine. For now we're allies. Nothing more." Ellie turned around to him. "Are you with the military or something?" The man turned back to face her, his demeanour immediately much softer. "Oh, nothing like that. I'm Dart Feld, by the way. I gather that you're Ellie?" Ellie nodded. "Pleasure to meet you." He smiled warmly."What's your deal with the dragon?" Ellie asked. Dart's expression hardened again. "Dragons are kind of like a pest where I'm from. They cause trouble. I don't know this one, but I can't be sure that he won't do the same." Again his eyes went back to Spyro warily eyeing him. Spyro paid no attention, but then he suddenly remembered something."Oh yeah, we saw a load of those weird guys coming this way. The skeleton dude should be back any second now." As if on cue, a skeletal knight rushed towards them, failing to stop in time to save himself from crashing into a wall, sending his bones flying. "There he is." If Ellie wasn't sufficiently weirded out before, she was now. "That's Dan, by the way." The arms and legs reattached themselves to the body while Dan's head looked around for Ellie and gave a goofy smile that seemed incapable of malice. However, missing his bottom jaw and one of his eyes meant that Dan looked freakishly uncanny to the young woman, even more so as he placed his head back on his neck."What the fuck? How is that guy still alive?" She asked Zero in a hushed tone. "I don't know. One day it's mavericks vs maverick hunters, the next day everything's complicated." Ellie paused for a moment. "Sure…yeah." She desperately wanted this to be a dream, but this all felt too real to be her imagination. "Those people….are they far away?" Lara asked. Spyro shook his head. "They won't be long. In fact, I would have said they should be here by now." There was a loud cacophony of groaning and screeching from a group of people approaching them from the horizon. The way their skin looked devoid of colour and their wounds hadn't healed properly…."Infected." Ellie realised, pointing her gun at the horde. "You know about these people?" Lara asked. Ellie nodded. "They're not people. I can tell you that much. Just shoot for the head and don't stop 'til they stop moving." They were about to open fire on the rapidly advancing horde when machine gun fire decimated it. The stragglers were cleared up by a woman in black with a giant sword who moved like an acrobat from kill to kill, taking no time at all to dice up the carnivorous cadavres. "Well, that saves us a lot of trouble. But who are those guys?" Ellie questioned. "We know them. Heads up though, if you thought we were weird, these guys are a whole other level." The killing machines approached. 'Machines' was no misnomer for the first two either. The woman introduced herself upon noticing Ellie. "YoRHa No. 2 Type B." Ellie paused. "Excuse me?" She hadn't expected something like that to come out of the woman's mouth. Nor did she expect her to be wearing a blindfold."Um….Ellie." She introduced herself. The small robot she had with her explained basic information about her to 2B. "Biological female, aged twenty. Carries mutated genes which help her resist the parasitic fungus, cordyceps." It was impressive, but nevertheless alarming. "How the hell did-" "Pod 042 is an android which assists YoRHa No. 2 Type B in combat through various means. One such means is the gathering of intel on opponents through highly advanced scanning technology combined with an extensive database." The robot which had provided that answer was far less human in design when compared to 2B. He was shorter and stockier, boasting a red and black colour scheme with his eyes being two red dots on a black screen. His movements were clunky, but it was undoubtedly him that had obliterated the zombies with his machine gun fire. Yet his hands had no machine guns in them, so it must have been hidden away somewhere in him."I am E-123 Omega. The last and most powerful of the E-Series robots." Omega explained. "My associate here is-" He walked out in front of Omega, looking at Ellie for himself. "A hedgehog." Ellie answered. "Why not?" She had given up trying to make sense of it all. But to all of them it was strange. Waking up in a world where everyone had seemingly gone crazy and your only allies were people you barely knew. "Hey, Tarzan. I didn't get your name." Ellie called out to Aloy. "Well, it's nice not to be 'outcast' for once." She muttered to herself before replying to Ellie. "It's Aloy." It was a stupid name. But there would be time for explaining how that was the case later. Now, they had to somehow band together."Do we have any idea what caused us to be taken here?" Aloy asked. "Negative." Omega answered. "But we all seem to have the same story." Lara noted. "With the portals opening up and taking us here….so they must be connected." Pupuru thought about her own experience before getting here. There was a portal, unquestionably. But Gigadis had some kind of new power that he didn't have before. "Were any of you guys in fights before you got teleported?" Some of them immediately perked up upon hearing that. "Yeah. How'd you know?" Zero replied. "Well, I was fighting this guy who I knew before all this. But he was stronger than usual. He had this purple aura around him and….I think that's what made him stronger." Zero thought about it. "That makes sense alright. Sigma was always tough, but never as tough as that." Shadow nodded. "I was fighting this guy I…couldn't even see him, he was moving so fast." Omega noted Shadow's hesitance. "I didn't notice any difference." 2B argued. "The machines seemed a little more aggressive than usual, but not anything too unusual." Aloy agreed. So was there a pattern or wasn't there? The attempt to find common ground was now a failure."Maybe it was only some of us." Zero suggested. "What does that mean?" Radec asked. "I mean, if we were able to meet up then it figures that maybe our adversaries met up as well." He turned to Pupuru. "Little girl, was there some purple stuff coming off that guy you fought?" Pupuru nodded. "That's right." Sir Dan agreed, muffling something about a character called 'Zarok' with emphatic gestures that nobody quite understood, though the sentiment remained clear. "Right. So they must be collaborating too, right?""Well colour me surprised!" They all turned to the source of the voice. Sigma strode onto the scene, accompanied by Gigadis and a gangly, pale wizard with what looked like horns underneath his hat. "Zarok!" Sir Dan exclaimed. "I suppose even a stopped clock is right twice a day, eh Zero?" Zero tensed up in anticipation of an attack. "My darling Pupuru, I'm sorry we had to cut off so abruptly the last time." Gigadis apologised with a dramatic bow of his head. "But now I'm here to rescue you from the clutches of-" Zarok slapped him in the back of the head with his trident. "Ugh." Pupuru rolled her eyes. "You've got to be kidding me, haven't you gotten a life yet?" Gigadis rubbed the back of his head. "Not since you asked the last time…."A man in a beige trench coat wearing a white shirt with a red and black striped tie stepped forward. "Let me see. Ellie Williams, Dart Feld, Spyro, Zero, Shadow the Hedgehog, John Martson, YoRHa No. 2 Type B, Lara Croft, Sir Daniel Fortesque, Aloy, Pupuru, Colonel Mael Radec and E-123 Omega. Am I missing anyone?" He asked, looking around for dissenting opinions. "Who are you to know such things?" Radec demanded. "That's not important." The man answered, returning his gaze to Shadow. He smiled upon seeing Shadow return the scowl. "Let's just say it's my job to know. My associates here have a bone to pick with you all." He looked one last time before beginning to walk back the way he came. "Well, good luck fellas." He spoke to his associates. Zarok looked at the team that contained his enemy before him and then back at the man who was walking away. Surely he wasn't serious about leaving them to it, right? Bah! It didn't matter. He would prevail regardless."It seems the armies of the dead won't be enough this time. Confound it." Zarok pounded the end of his trident off the ground. "Regardless, you will not leave this desert alive." More zombies rose out of the ground and began ambling in the direction of the group. Ellie, John and Lara opened fire with their own guns. Spyro began spitting fire at the corpses, incinerating them before they got close. Zarok looked up in annoyance, firing a blast of magic from his trident that Spyro easily avoided and countered with another blast of fire that almost struck the wizard. "Gah!" He shrieked as he had to sidestep the blast, falling over as he did so. Spyro laughed. "Up here!" He taunted. That taunt lasted all of five seconds as Sigma rocketed up to his height using boosters in the soles of his feet. "Better now?" The robot asked, drawing his beam saber.Spyro fired a blast of fire at him, only for the reploid to disappear into digital streams and reappear behind him. He then struck him in the back with the beam saber, sending Spyro towards the ground. Omega opened fire on Sigma with his own guns and managed to strike him. Sigma returned fire, his hand giving way to an energy cannon which fired a powerful blast that knocked Omega onto his back. Zero leapt into the air and attacked with the Z-Saber, scoring a good hit on Sigma before being put in his place by the leader of the Reploids. A well timed punch sent Zero back down to Earth, but something else was coming up. A sword, spinning like a boomerang, collided with Sigma's head and knocked him off course. He returned to the ground and saw 2B rushing at him, the sword she had thrown returning to her side. Sigma was able to get his Beam Saber up in time to block her overhead swing, but her little robot companion 042 swung from the side and scored a hit that forced Sigma onto one knee. 2B's swings kept coming, though they could not yet pierce Sigma's armour. Attempting to change up her strategy, 2B charged up a slash, but this proved to be a mistake. Seizing the opportunity, Sigma fired a strong blast from his buster, knocking the YoRHa android back. He smiled as he stood up. "Well, it seems Zero could learn from you..." He began to emit a dark purple aura that seemed ominous to 2B. Without further hesitation, he charged at her with the Beam Saber outstretched.Gigadis made his move towards the group too, aiming for Pupuru. As a demon, he was capable of sprinting much faster than the average man. He had a clear path to her too, with all the other All-Stars distracted. Or so he thought. He tripped and fell to one knee with a heavy grunt upon feeling a sharp pain in his back. Turning around he saw Radec holding a combat knife that had his blood on it. The very sight was quite shocking. Radec to him appeared as a demon, as he was.Pupuru was amazed. Most men would be afraid of Gigadis' demonic features and yet Radec had fearlessly taken him on, despite not knowing her. She was beginning to see something...Gigadis on the other hand was livid. It was a cheap shot. How dare he! He turned around and glared at Radec, already bearing his slashed at the Helghast, who rollled back out of the way. He then quickly reached for his side arm and fired, directly into Gigadis' face. The loud 'bang!' indicated a highly damaging shot that scored a direct hit on Gigadis' face. The corpses which Zarok had summoned managed to prevent a co-ordinated assault from the rag-tag team, but they still had a numbers advantage when it came to those who could seriously affect the tide of battle. One which tried to hit Radec from the side was swiftly decapitated by his combat knife as he returned his attention to Gigadis, who dived over him entirely just as Radec managed to duck and roll underneath him. "You dare mock me?!" An indignant Gigadis demanded. "You make a mockery of yourself, without any assistance." Radec responded. Such a response succeeded in making Gigadis completely blow his top. He breathed fire while roaring at the ground with such intensity that the whole ground began to shake. He began to emanate a purple glow, not dissimilar to the one which Pupuru remembered from when he had destroyed her town. The impact was so great that it knocked the young sorceress off her feet and caused something shiny to fall out of her bag.Shadow was rapidly throwing Chaos Spears around, mowing down the hordes that approached the group from one side out in the open desert. He hadn't seen fighting this hectic since- "Shadow!" Omega had picked himself off the ground. "Metal is approaching...we have approximately fifteen seconds." Shadow looked to where Omega was pointing. Sure enough there was a yellow dot approaching, rapidly growing in size. "Damn." Shadow swore. He wasn't sure what to do. The impact he would create at that speed would surely wipe out the humans amongst them at the very least. He looked around. 2B was struggling to keep up with an amped up Sigma, Radec was on the backfoot against Gigadis, Pupuru was down and she had dropped her green emerald, and Sir Dan's attacks were landing without fazing Zarok too much. The others were gunning down the zombie horde which grew more numerous by the second."Wait a minute!"Shadow looked again at the green emerald which had fallen from Pupuru's satchel. No way...how had she...? The glowing dot was rapidly approaching. There would momentarily be no more time for arguing. "Gather around me, now!" He ordered to the group as he dashed over and scooped up the emerald. With so many of the group on the backfoot already, it was a command that none of them questioned as they backed up against each other. "Chaos..." A large energy field began to envelop all of them. "What the hell?" Ellie demanded as the attacks that bombarded them ground to a halt, with Sigma and Gigadis being forced out and the lowly zombies being disintegrated."...CONTROL!" Just like that, the All-Stars were gone. Not a moment too soon either, as the yellow dot crashed into the ground where they were with a seismic 'boom!'. "What?!" Sigma demanded. "Running again! That coward!" Under the cover of dust, Metal's liquid form changed back to the man who's likeness he had used to introduce himself to the All-Stars. Once the dust cleared, no one was any the wiser. "Shadow the Hedgehog...he used Chaos Control to teleport away. Cowardly, I'll agree. But he recognised the futility of this fight. That tells us something.""You certainly did your research." Sigma remarked. "I suppose I could say the same for Zero. That's the second time he's fled in two fights. He must be terrified." A wide smile formed on Sigma's face as he thought about the implications of that. Gigadis wasn't so pleased. "Nrgh! That orange-eyed man made a fool of me!" He took his frustration out on a nearby boulder, shattering it with one punch. "You are a fool!" Zarok chastised him, casting a demeaning glare in his direction. "Chasing a girl like that around, ugh." He rolled his eyes. "I must admit, though it is within Fortesque's cowardly nature to flee, the nature of how he has done it both times mystifies me.""The second time was because of the Chaos Emerald in Shadow's possession." Metal spoke up, still disguised. He looked away from them all, and at the crater which he had left as a result of his impact. The fact that one Chaos Emerald was in this world likely meant that all the rest were as well...Shadow stood a chance if he knew where to find them. If. "The Chaos Emerald allows its user to manipulate time and space around them, if they know how to use it. Shadow does, to great effect." He explained, before turning back to them. "The first time, I'm still not sure about. Polygon Man owes us an explanation.""Tch!" Sigma scoffed. "It would have been nice to know about such objects before we set out. Surely they would cement our victory if we were to acquire them?" Metal nodded. "It would appear so. Unfortunately, there's no telling where they might have ended up in this scrambled world. They could be anywhere, and we may have to fight for them. In fact, we know now that we're going to have to fight for one at the very least." The idea of such a battle wasn't too daunting to the group, but they knew it would not be a certainty if what their ally had said was true."How is it you know about that emerald in the first place?" Gigadis asked."...I have done extensive research on the world Black Doom came from. These trinkets were of interest to me. This particular emerald was something I found shortly before I met you all."That seemed to satisfy Gigadis for now. Neither Sigma nor Zarok had any of their own questions to follow this up with. Of course, it wasn't the truth. He couldn't let them know the truth. It wasn't specifically them. It wasn't Sigma's deadly virus that scared him, or any magic spell that Zarok was capable of. Metal was an ever evolving machine. His ability to scan and copy the abilities of others allowed him to be very adaptable to most situations and to constantly expand his diverse arsenal. It wasn't the great leader Polygon Man, who actually did know who Metal was. No, it was...someone else. One member of the team who simply could not be trusted with that information and if he were to suspect that one of the other members knew, he would obtain that information by any means necessary. If he knew...Well, Metal didn't want to think about that.