Meal 39
"Such a riveting tale," commented Obamon reaching through the few remaining pages of the book. "However, it would be foolish to not take care of them all before any get the chance to escape." Approaching her stove, this lit the fire and waited for it to heat up before slipping in a page. She watched it burn till the ashes of the page became indistinguishable with the other ashes. Grabbing another page she readier to burn it."
"You aren't thinking of ending the story now, are you? Cause I cannot allow that."
"Who's there?" asked Obamon. "I was certain I didn't have any more visitors here."
"I am an old visitor from ages ago," said a man in a black hood and a pair of white gloves. "But I'm sure you remember me very well."
"You!" she cried. "You were the visitor that time who gave me this book and those recipes! You were the cause of what happened to me!"
"Some of my finest work too," he bragged. "In all this time you have not disappointed me in the least and let me say you are looking especially lovely with all the power you've accumulated my dear." Once of his gloved hands floated over to her. It wasn't attached to the rest of his body and it didn't look like there was anything in his sleeve either. The hand gently held her hand feeling just as solid as a normal one even as if it was attached to the rest of him. The hand then returned to his body.
"Then you have been watching me this entire time," she assumed.
"I like to keep an eye on my previous underlings," he explained. "For the most part I allow them to do as they please, but I cannot allow you to end the story just yet."
"Why not?" she asked. "And more importantly, who in the world are you?"
"Well, to get introductions out of the way, my name is Null, a writer and a gifted one at that," he explained. "And you are probably one of the best tales I've ever weaved."
"Me a tale?" she asked confused.
"Naturally," he explained. "I could write with regular paper and a pencil, but my favorite way to write is with life. The raw emotions that can only be captured with such a method is poetry itself."
"So you twisted my life in order to create another story?" she asked. "Transformed me into a monster!"
"Seems my presence has helped stir awake your good side," commented Null. "I had hoped that side of yours had long since buried." His eyes glowed red and Obamon's blue eyes changed to her demonic orange ones. A devious grin spread across her face and she bowed down to him. "That's better."
"Master," she hissed. "What is your bidding?"
"Just to wait until the last possible moment before burning the last few pages," he instructed. "The group I'm in is currently... entertaining... and I desperately need this story to interest our guest. As of yet, he hasn't so much as given it a glance, but I must hope something truly grand will change that. So, until then, continue on, but do not burn those pages until the very last moment. Those fools might be trying to survive, but they are just pawns in a bigger game that they don't even realize they are a part of."
"Will I still be able to complete my own desires?" Obamon drooled. "My power is great enough to leave this forest confine. "There are so many out there just waiting to be put in my care... So many to love... to feed... to devour!"
"You'll be able to do as you please once you are done," he promised. "This will be the end of my story of you. It has truly been an epic novel."
"It has been fun too," she added.
Walking away, Null vanished into a portal. "And when your story ends you will no longer be needed," added Null.
"Heheh, so lame," laughed the clownish character laughing his ass offer as Null returned. The bells on his feet and his jester's cap jingled as he chortled. "You try to act all cool, but you come off just like most of your writing, one big cliche!"
"Shut up, Jester," groaned Null. "When was the last time you told a decent joke? Perhaps I should more accurately say, have you ever told a decent joke?"
"Children, children," lectured the other one, an octopus-like fiend with snotty green tentacles connected only to a head. "Both of you are lousy just as much as the other. No need to bicker about who is worse."
"And you are just so perfect, Void," Null replied sarcastically.
"I am your big brother after all," he pointed out. "I'll always the best because I'm number one and you are number, uh, well not number two or three. Maybe somewhere in the high fifties."
"Fifty!?!" cried Null.
"High fifties," Void corrected. "Like fifty-seven or fifty-eight."
"Fifty-eight sounds about right!" laughed Jester.
"And you can be number fifty-nine then," said Void.
"F-f-f-fifty-nine!?!" cried Jester. "Me lower than him?"
"Maybe fifty-seven," added Void. "Hard to say. Numbers never lie, but when you are that low there is hardly a difference."
"You give me such a headache," groaned Null. "You really do, you know that."
"Just fulfilling my role as your big brother," he told him. "And I'll be ready to rub your latest failure in your face." He snickered as he slithered off. "I'm going to go check in our our little friend. Try not to miss me too much."
"You better hope Obamon does a good job," Jester told him. "If this smile wasn't painted on my face you'd see just how pissed I am."
"Don't worry," ensured Null. "There are a few surprises still to come and that Cyrus fellow might help things along too. Just wait, the finale is fast approaching. And just between the two of us... I have something else planned for after this plan as well."
"Meatier?" asked Glenn confused. "It sounds more tasty than threatening. Just what is it?"
"A meatball powerful enough to destroy whole worlds," explained Snow. "It is on its way to us right now and with the state this world is in, it wouldn't even need to be half the size it is to do that."
"Well, can't we do something to destroy it?" suggested Glenn.
"You still don't get how big this thing is," Dillon explained, the derp not in his voice showing Glenn just how serious the situation was. "Maybe one of the others capable of destroying a planet could do something, but not us."
"It's a Food of the Gods anyway," added Yure. "It would recover any damage we'd do to it. Right, Mr. Snow?"
"Yeah," answered Snow. "It would heal any damage it was given fairly fast. I doubt we'd have the combined strength to damage more than ten percent."
"Well, can't we get some of the others to help us?" asked Glenn. "I mean, even if we don't do anything, they're bound to see something that massive and do something on their own."
"They're probably all too busy in fights of their own," said Drag. "And from the way things look, we're quite a ways away from them. There probably isn't enough time to find them thanks to that incident with the One-ion Ring. You made a good point that they could do something when Meatier is in sight, but there is a huge problem with that."
"Meatier has an ability that keeps it hidden from notice," explained Snow. "If you don't know about it you can't even tell it exists until it is too late. Zane can't detect it with his aura, Tagmer can't even smell it's greasy aroma and that is probably the most shocking thing of all."
"So, can we see it yet?" asked Glenn. "Since we know it is coming."
"Yeah," answered Dillon moving his arm upwards and pointing, his finger trembling as he did. "It's right over there."
Gazing out to where he pointed, Glenn had to peer with all his might, but then he saw it, like a spec in the distance, but it was little by little increasing in size. His body began to tremble. "Th-that's it?!?" he cried. "Wh-why can't I stop trembling?"
"Instinct," explained Yure failing to keep his diaper dry. "Even if you don't understand it mentally, your instincts know that the end is fast approaching." His eyes began to water as he looked out at Meatier. "We've been feeling like this for a bit longer than you and it's only getting worse the closer it gets."
"I think I get it," commented Glenn. "This is nothing compared to Sundae or the One-ion Ring or anything else we've faced. This isn't something we can fight against. All we can do is wait for the end then."
"Actually, I think I have an idea how we might be able to stop it ourselves," replied Snow. "I didn't realize it before, but I still have my pizza manipulation powers and they might be just what we need."
"You think you can do something with that to destroy Meatier or something?" asked Drag.
"Or something," repeated Snow. "But I don't know if I can do it on my own. I might need all of you to help me out with all your magic too. I'm rather low on stamina right now so we'll need to scrape together what we all have and even then, we need to time it just right. Praying might help too."
"Sounds like you aren't sure this will even work," stated Glenn. "Do you even believe we can make it out of this alive?"
"I'll believe we will with all my might," said Snow. "Doubting ourselves now won't do us any good. We have to believe we'll live through this to see tomorrow."
"Yeah!" agreed Drag trying his best to sound high-spirited. "Live to eat another day!"
"L-live to derp another day," added Dillon.
"Live to cuddle my plushies another day!" mewed Yure.
"Live to play with my doggeh another day!" cheered Snow.
"I am not your doggeh!" snapped Drag.
"Heheh," chuckled Glenn able to smile again. "Well, you got me convinced. Let's all live."
"Then for the time being, we wait and rest," explained Snow. "When the time comes, we have to make a miracle occur. The others have their fights, but this one is ours and it might be the most crucial one of all."
"Mega?" replied Darkmane confused as he saw Krystal's form changed. Her body flabbed out making her look as obese as a hippo. Her udder doubled in size and was wrapped with a bow at the base. She had a glittering, golden cowbell attached to a collar around her neck. Her normally inch tall horns had grown and curved resembling those of a steers. Her tail had also widened and the round tip have become a bell as well. Her tranquil face even seemed more calm and serene than before too, but looking at it only angered Darkmane more. "So you transformed! Big deal! There is nothing my claws can't cut through! I thought this new form might be something to worry about, but all you are is a bigger target!" Spreading his arms he swiped both of them through her body, tearing through her flesh and slicing Krystal into three pieces, but as his claws ran through the other side of her body he discovered that her body wasn't cut through in the least. There was not even any indication of his attack. "What the? How did my attack fail?"
"You did not fail attacking me," she told him. "In fact, you did cleave my body to pieces, but even if you do, it will never defeat me."
"What does that even mean?" he asked growing more and more irritated. "Tell me what kind of trick you are using?" Going into a slash frenzy, Darkmane cut and sliced Krystal's body all over, but the results never changed. "Are you an illusion? Are you no longer solid? Maybe you are somehow nullifying my magic! Tell me what kind of trick are you using?"
"I am not using any trick to avoid your attacks," she explained. "All your attacks are hitting and they would kill me, but in my Mega form, my regeneration abilities have increased exponentially. As you slice my body, it heals back up. Before you can cut me in two, my body has almost fully healed. And no matter how many times you attack or for how long, you will never be able to damage me."
"Like I'd believe you!" he roared. "Just because you think it won't work doesn't mean it is true! I can rend anything with my claws and I am going to chop you to bits!"
"And I'm sure you will," she told him, not moving a muscle to defend.
Attacking her wildly at every angle, slashing through her body and stabbing his claws through her, the results were the same every time. Krystal was not damaged at all and finally, Darkmane slowed down exhausted from his frenzied barrage. "Ok, I believe you now," he panted. "Why is that?"
"Your attacks work," she explained. "And you have cut me to pieces countless times, but the instance you attack me, I instantly begin to heal. As fast as you damage me, my healing matches it and makes it appear that I nothing happened to me."
"Does that mean you are invincible then?" he asked.
"Of course not," she told him. "Using my Mega powers consumed a tremendous amount of power. If I don't use it conservatively I'd be too exhausted to move, something I cannot allow to happen. I still have to find him."
"So then why did you even bother to battle me if I am not who you are here to find?" he asked.
"I must do as Obamon wishes," she explained. "I have very little will of my own and when I find him... I'm afraid that when that happens... I will have no choice, but to obey her will..."
"And do what?" he asked.
"Krystal? Is it really you?" called Zane as he approached her. He stared in awe at her new form.
"Zane..." she replied, biting her lower lip as her eyes watered. "It- It really is you..."
"I didn't expect to find you here," he admitted as he approached her. "How did you get here? Why do you look like that? What happened to Obamon?"
"I wanted ever so badly to see you again," she sobbed. "To hear your your voice... to feel the warmth of your embrace."
"To make me gag at this tender moment," thought Darkmane. "But this presents me a perfect opening. I can't do anything about her right now, but I doubt this one is as resilient as her!" Looking between the two of them, Darkmane made certain their attention was focused on one another before slipping behind Zane. "Let's see if I can cut you to pieces." He slashed at Zane from behind, but the Lucario swiftly dodged the strike and countered in one fluid motion as he turned around and swung his fist striking Darkmane in the face and sent him tumbling backwards like a stone skipping on the water.
"You sound so upset," commented Zane, not paying Darkmane any mind. "What's the matter?"
"I wanted to see you," she said once again. "But I didn't want to see you... not like this."
"What do you mean?" he asked growing more concerned. "Please tell me!"
"I desperately wanted to be with you again and Obamon granted my wish, but she twisted it," she cried. "Now that I have found you... I have to kill you..."
"Kill me..." repeated Zane as Krystal opened her maw to use Hyper Beam. It charged almost instantaneously and she fired it at Zane. The swift Lucario dodged out of the way just enough to avoid a direct hit, but the heat the attack gave off singed him right through his fur.
"Ugh," groaned Darkmane getting back up and rubbing his cheek. "Faster than I expected... stronger too. Huh? What's that?" Looking ahead of him, he saw the Hyper Beam coming straight at him at an insane speed. "You've got to be sh-" He received the full brunt of the attack and the attack exploded immensely. Zane watched it, the shockwave of the attack pushing him back even as he resisted it. The damage from the Hyper Beam reached from where it hit Darkmane just short a couple yards of reaching where Zane stood.
"Obamon has made you a lot more powerful," commented Zane eyes wide open at the sheer force of her attack. "Is this your Mega Form?"
"It is as Obamon gave me," she told him. "It was given to me with the ultimate goal of finishing you. B-but I don't want to. I don't want to kill you. And now because I have been so selfish you have to suffer even more. I can only beg of you now, please kill me now while you have the chance. Save everyone and stop Obamon. I know you can do it."
"Krystal," Zane spoke. "I cannot lift a finger against you. You know that." Lowering his head, his eyes leaked tears. "I love you too much to ever harm you. And I cannot bear to allow you to be used as a weapon under Obamon's control to attack our friends. If I must, then I will receive it all. And I know, you will find the strength to break free."
"Z-zane," whimpered Krystal as she approached him. They looked into one another's eyes for a moment, then with a powerful Mega Punch, she struck Zane's torso.
Tanuki Kill dodged as Cyrus lashed out at him with his nine tails. He ran circles around him as he waited for an opening. "Aren't you going to do something else besides attack at me with your tails?" asked Kill.
"Why bother expending more energy than I need to when this is proving so effective?" he asked. "No sense fixing what isn't broken."
"You sure about that?" he retorted as he broke through a gap in the tails to get within range of Cyrus. Using his magic on his he struck at Cyrus with fattening magic, making his sculpted belly and chest expand with blubber. It spread to his arms and legs and then to his rear and even to his tails. As the tails were filled with fat they became too heavy to lift.
"Attempting to weigh me down," commented Cyrus. "An impressive strategy, but it won't be enough." Countering with a belly bump, he knocked Killajor back and followed up with a powerful blast of magic of his own. Quickly recovering, Killajor deflected the magic back at Cyrus and added his own magic in as well. Cyrus took the hit, but it didn't seem to have any effect on him. "Even your best efforts efforts are proving useless against me. You must as well surrender and accept the con-"
"Just shut up," snapped Killajor shaping his magic into the shape of a blade to skewer Cyrus through his throat. He then proceeded to use his magic to unleash a barrage of blades throughout the rest of Cyrus's body like it was a pincushion. He then had the blades shred through Cyrus's body tearing it to pieces. "Now fight me seriously like you said you would."
"Very well," he replied as his pieces began to come together and reform. "I was merely trying to save us both some time. After all, this world has very little time left and I do not intend to remain here when that time is up."
"Not much time?" asked Killajor. "This is the first time I'm aware of such a thing? How much do we have left?"
"A couple hours, maybe less," he answered as he quickly reformed back to his fattened self. "Unfortunately, it does not seem like escaping will be possible until only one side remains, meaning that i have to destroy all of those opposing me."
"Then that makes it all the more necessary that I kill you as well," stated Killajor.
"I won't let you do that," countered Tagmer making his entrance. "Thomas is still inside there."
"Thomas?" asked Cyrus. "Oh, that fat-loving other half of me. He was very useful in reviving me, but I no longer have any use for him. He can just remain a faint memory in the back of my mind."
"No, he's still in there and I'm going to help bring him out," replied Tagmer.
"We have a temporary truce," stated Killajor. "But I don't want you to interfere with my fight," snapped Killajor.
"There won't be a fight if I can get through to Thomas," retorted Tagmer. "Now try and remember all the good times we've had. All the meals we've eaten and all the fun times we've had. We can't just all of that go away. So I beg you... look deep inside and find yourself."
"Futile," scoffed Cyrus. "Thomas no longer exists. There is only I- ugh! Wh-what?!?"
"T-T-Tagmer..." groaned Thomas. "I-Is that y-y-you?"
"Yes it is," panted Tagmer nervously as he watched his friend returning to him. "Keep fighting. Let the power of fat and deep fried foods compel you!"
"Is this seriously going to have a such a cheesy resolution?" groaned Killajor. "This was supposed to be my epic battle."
"Oh, Tagmer," moaned Thomas. "I must have done such terrible things under Cyrus's control. How many people have I hurt? How will they ever forgive me?"
"I've been struggling with the guilt too," admitted Tagmer. "But we'll work through it tog-"
"Grah!" roared Remgat as he emerged from Tagmer's shadow and attacked Thomas rending him with his claws and sinking his teeth into him.
"Remgat!" cried Tagmer. "You were hiding in my shadow?!?"
"Heheh, yeah," he hissed. "Hoping to get the chance to kill Cyrus and you did such a good job to lower his guard. You've done such a great job being a witless lackey to me."
"You do know that Cyrus wouldn't be killed just because you've torn him to pieces," commented Kill. "I tried that and he quickly recovered from it."
"Then I'll devour him on top of that," retorted Remgat fiercely tearing apart with his fangs, like a famished beast. Tagmer and Kill could only watch in horror as he devoured the kitsune, every last bit of him. "Not bad and I got some room for dessert for the two of you as well."
"This won't end well," commented Killajor.
"It'll be quick," promised Remgat. "Very painful no matter what of course."
"I meant for you," Killajor continued.
"Don't be ridic-" he began to play before he was engulfed in cosmic power and reduced to dust. In his place stood Cyrus, back to normal.
"Seems Thomas was not as gone as I had originally thought," said Cyrus. "Fortunately, Remgat was so kind as to help me regain control. I won't let that happen again. And now to dispose of the two of you." All nine of his tails curled together forming into one massive tail radiating intense cosmic power. Cyrus aimed it at Killajor and Tagmer and readied to fire it at them.
"Uh, continued truce?" asked Tagmer to Killajor.
"Agreed," replied Killajor.
