The Displaced Tournament of Power

9:36:43

A rainbow and dark blue aura shot across the arena, clashing against each other and making a spark against them. They clashed, fist meeting fist, foot meeting foot. Their attacks were being traded at such exceptional speed that it was difficult to keep up with their eyes. Eventually they clashed, their forearms meeting each other, they were standing on debris. Struggling for power, but Arkham won the competition and pushed him off the debris and kicked off towards him using Kamisori. His fist cocked back before he fired it only for Dillan to vanish before appearing behind Arkham and delivering a powerful kick to his back, sending him flying across the arena. The Knight crashed through some of the rock formations left on the islands. As he crashed through another formation, in a flash the Ultimatrix user appeared behind him once more and delivered another powerful kick to send him flying again, repeating the same trick multiple times as if playing pinball with Arkham as the ball.

Eventually, the Knight grew tired of this and used his Future Sight Observation Haki to predict where and when Dillan was going to kick him next. When Dillan teleported, Arkham turned around and caught his foot, narrowing his eyes he leaped up and dived down towards one of the islands. He slammed Dillan onto the ground and threw him up briefly in the air to unleash a volley of body blows straight into Dillan. With a grunt of effort, he unleashed an uppercut onto his chin that knocked him into the air and made him crash back down to the katchin ground below them.

Dillan smirked as he vanished again, slamming into Arkham's back hard before vanishing and slamming into his stomach just as hard. “This is fun!” He said, unleashing a blast of energy powerful enough to crack the air right into Arkham’s gut which sent him off his feet. The Knight quickly adjusted and as the blast of energy hadn’t yet detonated, he grabbed it with both hands. Before he could get off the island they were fighting on, he planted his feet back down into the dirt and held the ball. With a growl, he threw it into the air when it was right about to detonate, causing a massive rainbow explosion to bring light into the void.

Arkham used Soru to close in the distance to land a “JUGON!” straight to the face of Dillan. Before he sailed too far away, the Knight grabbed the ankle of the Ultimatrix user. He slammed repeatedly and spun him around. He grunted with effort and chucked him like a ragdoll, sending him further into the arena.

Dillan grunted and groaned with each slam against the ground as he rolled, sliding along the farther island before a cyan aura formed around him. In a burst of speed with a rainbow circle behind him he raced instantly into Arkham's face again, the aura becoming orange as he punched his gut again, causing it to bulge through to his opponents back. With a wild grin the aura shifted again to pink before he vanished in a puff of confetti, a massive cannon appearing in front of Arkham as it unleashed a blinding burst of confetti and streamers.

The Third Commander narrowed his eyes and flipped over the blast before diving down to perform a kick straight to the gut of Dillan. His foot being visible through the Ultimatrix user, “HELL’S GALLANT KICK!” he boomed like thunder. His foot was enhanced with a mixture of Armament, Ice, Magic, and Ki. The blow to the gut made Dillan’s air get sucked out of his lungs and be launched back further into the arena. As he was, he quickly readjusted himself and landed on another platform not so far away. But then, the sounds of machines whirring into life brought his eyes to his surroundings; he was surrounded by guns.

Lots of them.

And they rained fire.

“Shield!” Dillan shouted as a bubble of magic formed around him, blocking all the attacks while smirking a little. “This is interesting.” He muttered, vanishing yet again before a blue slime suddenly began wrapping around Arkham melting away at his armor with acidic smoke flowing off it before the slime wrapped around his head. In a quick move the slime spun around the Knight’s body, digging groves in the armor before it flew away suddenly and shifted into a massive two hundred foot tall alien with red metallic shoulder pads. With a swift move he kicked Arkham across the arena with a circle of dust and debris forming as soon as he made impact, unleashing a powerful wave of Ki and cosmic energy into the direction his opponent flew.

The Knight was once again launched back, soaring across the arena. He snarled, “Damn it, why can’t I get that teleportation thing down? I need to focus!” he thought to himself. The first layer of his armor was already beaten from Ichigo’s assault, now with that acidic slime, it made his armor become less and less concealing. He tried to activate the light capabilities of his suit but found that it was taken away from the damage. He narrowed his eyes and flipped as he detected one of the vines he put up. He grabbed onto it, and like before with Ichigo, he swung around and around until he got more momentum. He then vaulted off towards the blast and flipped again to point his head at it.

“TIME DRAGON’S SWORD HORN!”

Time Dragon Slayer Magic surrounded the Knight like an aura of Ki. He dove into the blast head first and pierced through it as if he was a superheated rapier and the blast was a giant block of butter. The Knight used Kamisori to increase his speed, he coated his head in Armament Haki and slammed his head straight into the chest of Dillan. The blow knocked the giant Displaced onto his back, but he wasn’t done. Arkham raised his foot high and started to flip repeatedly, “CONCASSE!” he slammed his foot directly onto the same spot he hit previously with his head. Unleashing further damage onto the torso of the Ultimatrix user.

Dillan grunted before shifting into a black alien with long plug tentacles, wrapping them tightly around Arkham as he slammed the plugs into his torso. In a flash he began siphoning Arkham's energy as fast as he could before spinning around quickly and flinging him around again, shifting into Diamond head and blasting his opponent with a cyan crystal beam, encasing him in heavy crystal halfway between two islands of the arena.

Not even two seconds passed before the crystal started to crack. It cracked more and more and a muffled roar from Arkham could be heard. The crystal exploded, the pieces being flung at a lightning fast pace. His Conqueror’s Haki burst out in power. The Knight flipped over and used Kamisori to land on one of the islands. Upon landing, he put a hand in front of him and skidded to a stop. He inhaled and the magic in the air Quill left over once more became useful as it rushed over to him. Arkham ingested a large portion, regaining back some of the energy he had lost. He stopped and teleported in front of Dillan.

He landed a fierce right straight to the diamond dome of the Ultimatrix user, his fists coated in Armament so it wouldn’t hurt as hard on his knuckles. He landed a left hook, then a right uppercut, and finally, a flip kick that sent his foe to the air. While he himself was mid-air from flipping, he unleashed a “TIME DRAGON’S ROAR!” blasting Time Dragon Slayer Magic straight into Dillan’s body. Sending him flying through the “asteroid field” above.

Dillan slammed into an asteroid before shifting back to his human form, the Ultimatrix now on his chest. “Alright, let's do this!” He yelled, throwing his fists in the direction of his opponent before all the asteroids began getting launched at Arkham fast, some of them turning into molten rock mid flight before he rushed forward as his opponent dodged and destroyed the asteroids. Dillan appeared next to Arkham as he grabbed him by the left arm, a bright light erupting from their connection as his opponent's arm burst clean off. “Alchemy is a bitch, huh?”

Arkham turned to glare at Dillan and decked him right in the face, following up the attack with a tornado kick that sent him spiraling into katchin below. Dillan quickly got up to his feet just in time to see a telegraphed kick from Arkham, his right foot extended, aiming right for the nose of the Ultimatrix user. Dillan in turn dodged the kick, but didn’t expect Arkham to stop on a dime mid-air. He reared back his left foot and crashed it into the jaw of Dillan, once more knocking him into the dirt. Arkham rolled in the air, performing a barrel roll before he stopped and landed on his left foot. His right leg in the air. He put his foot down and turned to Dillan, having no words to say.

Dillan slowly got up and spit out some blood and teeth, smirking at Arkham a little as his body shook slightly. Cracking his neck once he rushed Arkham again with his cyan aura, shifting it to orange for a split second as he collided with his enemy. Sending them both across the arena once more as his aura shifted to orange once more as he began slamming heavy fists into Arkham's face, the orange energy mixing with red as he powered up. “Kaio-ken times fifty!!” He shouted loudly as his speed and power increased once more, cracking the armor on Arkham's face even more.

Arkham’s head whipped back, his helmet starting to dent. Blood trickled through a gap of his mask, and down onto his chin. He gritted his teeth, with a growl his Dragon Force spiked in power and he glared at Dillan. He clenched his right hand which held the gauntlet of the Gallant Knight. Using Soru he appeared in front of his foe and planted his knuckles into Dillan’s kisser. “TIME DRAGON’S IRON FIST!”

And released the Reject Dial.

What was supposed to be an impact of twelve punches of that magnitude hitting the face of Dillan at the same time quickly became one-hundred-and-twelve. The Gallant Knight’s gauntlet blew off from the force of the attack, leaving him with his regular gauntlet. The blow also sent an intense force straight to the dome of Dillan and launched him towards the edges of the arena where he slammed into a large island and completely shattered it. Debris from the island shot towards the void and all over the place.

A bright blast of blue energy shot into the void as Dillan propelled himself up into the air with a makeshift rocket of blue lantern energy, whipping around as he created a powerful replica star beneath the area right under the island Arkham was standing on. He smirked a little more before blasting another beam of purple energy right at the island his opponent was on, shattering it as the gravity of the fake sun pulled at the debris.

Thinking quickly, he used the gravity part of his suit’s admiral’s capabilities to give some resistance to the pull. He narrowed his eyes and outstretched a hand towards Dillan. From behind the Displaced, a magical circle appeared behind him before blasting an eruption of Time Dragon Slayer Magic onto his back. Disintegrating the part of the cloth on the back of his shirt. Arkham dug into his belt and popped out some capsules. Those capsules exploded into smoke, but then what had to be sixty-seven dark blue orbs shined from the smoke before rocketing out. It almost looked reminiscent of Quill’s Time Dragon’s Flare but instead of spikes, they were pumpkin bombs. They shot towards Dillan and while he tried to avoid them using the speed that cyan aura brought him, they kept pace with him. Even as he weaved through debris, they weaved too, as if they were locked onto him. The orbs split off as he ran from some, he would find himself getting cornered by another.

And then they all flashed bright.

And unleashed a large explosion that covered a massive portion of the arena. Blowing away some leftover “asteroids” from above.

“Ok… time to stop playing around I think.” Dillan said as the smoke began to clear, revealing himself within a magic barrier before he roared loudly. His energy shoots up massively once again, destroying all of the remaining islands aside from one before landing on it across from Arkham. “This has been one hell of a tournament, but I think it's time we end it!”

“Right,” Arkham nodded before roaring as Time Dragon Slayer Magic spiked around him. Giving him a large aura that rivaled Dillan’s. The earth cracked underneath him and the void shook with power, “LET’S END THIS, DILLAN!”

“Let's do it then!” Dillan shouted as he rushed at Arkham with great speed, his whole body glowing with energy before hundreds of thousands of clones appeared, each one erupting in a different source of energy that collided and launched that Arkham with a burst of pure raw powers. The combination of all the abilities and Powers creating a pinwheel rainbow Aurora, lighting up the entire world and bright light as its energy cascaded down and around everyone truly representing the original design of the original Omnitrix, all. “See if you can fight back against everything I have, everything I am. Everything that my dimension and all my friends represent!”

Arkham took upon a fighting stance and used the ice from his Admiral Capabilities to conjure a left arm made of ice. “In my heart, in my soul, I have the will of a Dragon King, I have the will of a God of Destruction, and above all else…” He clenched his fists as Armament Haki and Time Dragon Slayer Magic mixed in his arms. The red Ki that Akainu had given him swirled with the yellow Dragon King’s magic Quill gave him. Making his aura spike and spark with intensity, “...I HAVE MY OWN WILL!” His Conqueror’s Haki exploded outwards and took up the entire arena in his dark blue aura.

Everyone in the arena watched as the two final combatants' attacks collided, eviscerating the rest of the Ring aside from the pillar in the center as a bright light blinded everyone and everything upon collision. Arkham was unleashing every single ounce of energy and power in his attacks, and with his Future Sight, he could predict where Dillan would dodge. He narrowed his eyes and continuously hammered into his foe with brutal strikes, a blow to his Adam’s apple, a kick to his shin that knocked Dillan upside down. And a variety of punches and kicks straight to the torso of Dillan before finally kicking him away with a gold and red kick.

The Dillan he was hitting vanished in a burst of pink energy before another one slamming Arkham hard in the back, sending himself flying down toward the void before blasting him with multiple energies and keeping him distracted as he was pushed closer to the edge. Arkham with a roar kicked one of the blasts of energy away. Gaining some balance, he started to kick off and leap from blast to blast before arriving in front of Dillan with his fist clenched. He slammed his fist and buried his fist into Dillan’s gut, “Time Dragon’s QUAKE!”

The dark blue magic from Arkham’s fist swarmed around the Ultimatrix user and burned around him. The Displaced felt all of the damage he ever took in the tournament come back again, every blow, every slash, everything surged from the depths. Dillan couldn’t help but spew out blood, bile and saliva from the blow. Arkham snarled and raised his hands high to perform a sledgehammer full of Armament Haki and Time Dragon Slayer Magic right onto the dome of Dillan. Sending him down, he opened a palm and sent a variety of Ki blasts raining down upon him as the Commander tried to push the injured Displaced to the depths of the void.

Dillan vanished once more before reappearing behind Arkham, clicking a capsule pill as a ring appeared in his hand latching it to Arkham's neck as it sealed away all of his abilities. Grabbing the mighty Commander and blasting him down into the void directly. Arkham swiftly turned around and outstretched a hand, he narrowed his eyes and noticed that his suit’s abilities had been nullified. He could feel that his strength was draining too, he went to grab the pill with his arms but as he moved his left arm, the ice crumbled away. Leaving him with only one arm again, he clenched his teeth.

“No, this can’t be how this ends!” He snarled and reached into his belt pocket to pull out a capsule. He popped it open and revealed a grappling hook, he aimed it at the small island that held the large pillar and narrowed his eyes. His helmet was in ruins and the screen that allowed him to see through it was shattered, he hadn’t noticed before because he was so into the fight he was using Observation to see rather than his own eyes. However, given that his physical, magical, and his suit’s abilities were being restricted right now, his focus on Observation Haki started to wane.

He grit his teeth and closed an eye to focus in on the stands, he squinted the eye. His heart was beating at a rapid pace, he didn’t have time to slow down, nor did he have time to waste. He had to fire it, but his visor was fractured and even if he wanted to, he didn't have another arm to take his helmet off so he could see better. He only had one, and in that arm’s hand was the grappling hook.

He heard Quill’s voice echo in his mind as he descended lower.

“...what would you have wished for had you won the tournament?”

Another voice responded, something familiar to him that he hadn’t heard in a long time; Noel’s voice.

“A way to return to the way things used to be, to be back in my world as a human…”

He heard Noel’s voice say longingly in his head. He clenched his teeth and held his grip tight on the grappling hook.

He remembered what he had said back in the cave Quill brought him in.

“...I’m going to win this tournament no matter the cost, I’m going to win for Noel…”

Arkham could feel tears start to form under his mask.

Another memory appeared soon after; Quill’s final words to him.

“I hope you win this thing. Make sure to keep your promise to Noel…”

With desperation filling his heart and a grunt that was more of a cry, he pulled the trigger of the grappling hook.

And saw the grappling hook go higher and higher and higher, shooting for the island. He struggled against his tears, hoping that he could make it. That he can still fulfill the promise he made to himself, and to give someone he trusted, he respected, and he bonded with a chance at his old life again.

The grappling hook kept going.

“Go! G–go!” He said to himself quietly. His breath hitched as he watched the hook go even higher…

…And miss.

The grappling hook was a few inches off and didn’t manage to hook onto anything. Anything except the void. A gasp escaped his lips and his eyes widened, allowing tears to flow freely under his helmet. He didn’t bother to pull the trigger one more time, to try again. The recoil would push him back further and by then, the island would be out of reach. He just watched as the line rippled aimlessly and the hook was as far as he could see. Eventually, what was left of the arena was out of his sight entirely. Being consumed by the black. He could feel the void slowly encompassing him.

He wondered if this is how Akainu felt when he lost; when he promised Arkham that he would defeat Ichigo. He wondered if this was how Bullet felt when he fell into the void, how Fujitora, how Lord Twigo, how everyone felt. He didn’t know for sure, but this… This loss.

This hurt more than any blow he suffered in his entire life.

He closed his eyes and let go of the grappling hook. He let out a shaky sigh and let go…

…And thus, the Arkham Knight, Michael Johnson…

…Had been eliminated.

The Ultimatrix user, Dillan, stood as the victor, standing on the island. He was the only one, the only one remaining in the tournament. There was no other fighter, no other warrior, no other God, no other demon, devil, angel, spirit, golem, nothing was there except him.

Dillan looked around breathing heavily as he reverted back to his base form, holding Ruiner in one hand as he held his left shoulder to keep it from falling off. He looked around more before turning to the stands, looking at all of the fallen foes and new friends before slowly eating a senzu bean. “So what now!” He asked, slowly healing.

Slowly pushing off his throne, Katakuri performed a mighty leap and landed in front of Dillan. Causing the void to shake from the action alone. He stood up tall and high above the user. Without a word, he raised his hand and seven planet sized Dragon Balls started to float up high. Meeting the arena. Dillan and the King were surrounded by the Super Dragon Balls, “Now, you make your wish. It can be any wish…” He then gave a glance down at the Ultimatrix user, “...but give everyone a wish. Otherwise this tournament would have been for nothing.”

Dillan frowned a little before rubbing his chin in thought, looking around at everyone that competed and fought so hard for their individual wishes. He smiled softly before looking up at the super Dragon balls. “I wish that any transformation I have that can use ki has full access and master of divine ki!”

“Well, Super Shenron isn’t out yet,” Katakuri tapped his foot and started to speak the ancient language, “!esira ,nornehS”

The Super Dragon Balls glowed brightly and shined like stars. Their shine shot to the sky and collided together to form a colossal golden dragon that was easily the size of the sun. “.ti tnarg llahs I ,erised uoy revetahw ,hsiw uoy revetahW .nornehS ,nogarD lanretE eht ma I” the voice of Super Shenron boomed.

Katakuri turned to Dillan, “Now say your wish.”

Dillan looked at Super Shenron. "i shiw taht any transformation I have taht can use ki has full access and master of divine ki!”

The Eternal Dragon’s eyes glowed and Dillan’s body glowed bright with Divine energy, “.detnarg neeb sah hsiw ruoY” With a flash the Super Dragon Balls shot towards the heavens, lighting up the void one last time before it split off into seven trails. As Dillan looked up, he felt himself surging with this new Divine power; he certainly was stronger, way stronger than before.

Dillan smiled a little as he snapped his fingers as the arena was repaired, before looking up at the stands. “All the leaders of your teams come down here! I have a surprise!”

“You all heard the man,” Ed said as he waved his hand over the stands then over the arena where the captains found themselves deposited. All the Captains but Arkham, Ed noticed. Katakuri gave glance up at the Crimson Sage and softly shook his head. Ed gave a single nodback and stayed silent.

The whole time Ichigo kept glaring at the alchemist, who just paid him no mind, though he knew a slight confrontation was going to happen. Ichigo was cocky beyond belief and only a good beating would set him straight for the time being.

Berserker, much to the Golden Sage and everyone else's confusion, was brought out by a group of black garb women. Nobody could see their faces, even if they tried to pierce through the hood that casts a dark shroud. They knew he never had them before. One thing was for certain, they seemed to care about his health and wellbeing.

“For crying out loud, how does he do some of this shit?” Gar huffed. “He may be my older brother but he scares the hell out of me with his BS.” The parasite fairy looked around, “So what's going on?” He looks at Dillian and Katakuri.

Katakuri merely looked at Dillan, his arms folded over his chest. He gave a subtle nod as if to say: ‘Go on’.

Dillan grins a little with a shit eating and cheeky grin at Katakuri. “Sorry, I monkey pawed that wish.”

Katakuri merely raised a brow with intrigue.

Dillan smiled more. “I have a namekian transformation and you just gave it divine ki.”

He sighed, and looked down at Dillan, “Dillan,” his arm stretched out and he put a hand on Dillan’s head to pet it. “No.” he said firmly.

Dillan pouted and crossed his arms. “Oh fine, but anyway. Here.” He said snapping fingers with a grin as a bright light flashed around everyone, restoring to life everyone that lost their lives appearing before them all. Landing on the ground with a heavy thud was Quill’s cloak-covered corpse jerked with life. Scrambling out of the cloak he was wrapped in, the body sat up with a startled jump.

“Woah, okay, that was fuckin’ jarring.” Quill said… although something was off about his voice. “The hell…?” He mumbled, looking at his right arm - the one that’d been blown to shreds due to the explosion - with confusion as it now sported faint hot pink markings instead of blue ones.

Katakuri nodded at all of them, “Dillan, you are crowned winner. You have bested one of my Commanders, to that, you have my respect.”

“Congratulations young man. You have some respect from me as well,” Ed smirked as he walked up. “All of you, that was most entertaining. All of you don't have to worry about the time lost in your home universes either. I sent none of my copies to put them in stasis until you return.”

Dillan nodded with a grin. “Thanks even if you didn't, I could have used clockwork to go back in time, besides I was on a dimensional road trip before coming here. But damn I wasn't expecting to actually win, I only joined in for fun!”

“You deserved it,” Sora said with a smirk. “You gave us all a good show. Heck, you dominated me completely.”

“I agrèe with the keyblade master,” Gar gave a content nod. “You gave it your all and to the victor the spoils have gone. I only ask you to take it easy on Ichigo. He's not a bad guy, just got a little drunk.”

Dillan laughed heartily. “Oh no, I don't blame Ichigo for anything! I wanted to finish our fight just as badly, infact. Im hoping we can meet up and finish it after a few days! One on one, I wanna see who would have won if he stayed in.” Dillan said before smirking more. “Considering I didn't use half of my tricks and gadgets.”

“At the time it would’ve been my halfwhitt younger brother,” Ed cut in. “Shinigami have many years of life burn and at the rate he was going he only lost about fifty years worth with another couple thousand to go before he would've been in danger. Though now that you have divine power you stand a much better chance of winning against the orange idiot.”

“He's still going to lord this over Asta,” Gar added.

“True,” Ed nods. “It's a good thing that he'll be free for the next one, if he's invited of course.”

Dillan chuckled softly before rubbing the back of his head. “I only wished for the divine energy to try and create my own super dragon balls to grant everyone's wishes… speaking of which.” He said, before vanishing.

Watching as Dillan vanished, Quill then looked over the present captains and opened his mouth to speak. “So, uh… sorry to rain on the victory parade, but…” He chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. “Fuck this is gonna be awkward…” He mumbled a little before clearing his throat.

“I ain’t Quill.” The body looked at Katakuri next and the King saw two orange eyes instead of Quill’s red eyes. “Hi, I’m Ruiner, the Ruiner Nergigante. Creative name, I know. And, well… Quill’s soul ain’t in this body.” Ruiner deadpanned with an unsure tone of voice. “Nor are the others.”

Noel had been dead silent since things were now discluded. The False Bahamut King had been in deep thought, pondering about his future since it was unlikely he’d be able to return to his home world.

As Noel watched on, he heard the sound of creaking metal, slowly turning gears, and feet dragging across the katchin floor. Turning his head, he would see the Arkham Knight, looking wounded, broken and battered. His left arm completely gone with some sparks flickering out where it once was, his right arm was in no condition to be used with force. He saw Arkham’s melted and cracked armor, his dented and cracked helmet. He slowly made his way over to the Dragon.

And fell to his knees.

Arkham put his right arm by his side and pressed his forehead into the floor in front of him. “...I’m–” His voice started to shake. His voice changer started to crackle like radio as it switched between voices, “–I’m s–sorry… I-I failed in my promise… The promise I made to you and I didn’t even tell you it… I wanted to wish you home. But I…” He took in a deep breath and looked up at Noel before bowing his head back down. “...I’m sor–sorry, Noel…”

Noel stared at the Arkham Knight; his eyes a flurry of emotions of anger, disbelief, annoyance, sadness, yet a lot of it was being held back by his human side. An uncomfort moment of silence had gone by until it was broken was a long sigh. "It's.." Noel paused for a moment to snort, releasing a ring of smoke from his nostrils. "It's alright, you at least tried for my sake.." he said as he turned to look at black almost cosmic skies. "..At least I got to spend some time here before I have to go back.."

Arkham clenched his fist, “...You shouldn’t have to… If I was only stronger. If I was str–st–” he slammed his fist into the ground and immediately shattered it. He clenched his teeth, biting back a cry of anguish, “...I’m… So… Fucking sorry…” he slumped. His eyes trained on the floor as his suit crackled with broken wires.

“Hey..” Noel began as he placed his large paw over Arkham’s shoulder. “It's not about if or if not you had the strength to win it but, how well you adapted, and you did get far. It's.. at least something you’ve gained if there is ever another time.” he said, trying to put some small positivity into this despite his dragon’s side screaming to incinerate him right there and now. With a silent spoken word of Curaga, blue and green light danced around Arkham, healing the best his magic could do.

Tina walked over to Noel, “Hey, big guy, do you…” she looked out towards the celebration that was happening on what was left of the arena, “...Wanna leave now?”

“..Yea, my hopes are pretty much shattered at this point..” Noel said somberly.

A small tear was in Tina’s eye as she gave Noel a nod and turned to Arkham with a look of sympathy. She opened her mouth to try and say something to him, but the words didn’t come out. Failing, like a bird dying before it could ever take flight. She closed her eyes and shook her head, allowing the tear to fall down her cheek. She spun on a heel and opened her hands, her palms glowed blue and a large portal appeared for Noel to enter.

Falling over onto his four legs, Noel started to head toward the portal, only to stop in mid-step.

“Wait…”

Noel turned back around to see Arkham, attempting to push himself to his feet. But failing on the account of his body breaking apart despite Noel’s magical efforts. His left foot crumbled like a soggy cookie, so he could only manage to get to one knee. The Knight outstretched his stump towards the Dragon, “...Before you go, buddy…” a smile appeared underneath his mask. “...One fist bump...”

Noel fist pumps Arkham stump without a word with a closed paw.

He gave a nod to the Dragon, “Goodbye, Noel.”

And with that, Noel went through the portal Tina had conjured. The portal remained for a few more moments before it closed. The Eliatrope sat down on the floor, looking on with weary eyes. The Knight let out a sigh as his stump crumbled away down to midway from his forearm.

“I hope one day, whether it’s one week, one month, one year, or even a few decades, that we meet again. And I can show you around my world.”

He bowed his head.

“See you soon…”