You could say you have a long read ahead of you but I prefer to think of it as epic.

Special thanks to Cat and Aleena for helping me at various parts! I won't say much more. We bring the player characters together for our final mega battle.

 
A Philler Preamble

 
Chaos is often thought of as a state lacking order and predictability and yet order itself is only the result of one's unnatural attempt to force his or her own morality and beliefs on the world around the person's outer self. A religion to some and yet something to be feared by others, chaos was to Philler his sole and only driving purpose. For now, the sinister strategist was simply content to watch the scenario playing out before him, wondering if he would actually have to battle these adventurers, but knowing if he did, he could exploit their weaknesses to ensure victory against him, should he chose to do so. And if that failed, he had other options at his disposal, too.

Chaos - delicious, glorious chaos- had begun to be spread throughout the base and the first case - and to Philler, the most interesting - was this man, Sir Fumblies, who had been left amidst absolute chaos. Earlier, Fumblies had awakened to find himself in a prison with two or three dozen others but separated from his Knob Goblin brutes. Fumblies spent the first many hours gathering his thoughts and assessing the situation. After a dream-visit from Kwadlin, Fumblies had a plan which put him in control of the mob. Fumblies quickly lead them to an escape. He had ordered his cellmates to start a mock riot, which riled up his four Knob Goblin brutes, located in the cage across the hallway, into a real riot. It resulted in three brutes throwing the forth through the energy walls of the cage! Ultimately, it was successful and Fumblies and the others easily overwhelmed the guards. Fumblies figured the same trick could be used on the other cages with the guards' bodies, but before he could so much as voice the idea, blaring alarms and sirens started blasting. Almost in synch with that, guards started pouring in on either side, ready to deal with Fumblies and his mob. Though it was hard to tell amidst the confusion and all the bodies, Fumblies got the impression both individual sides of the mob had more soldiers than he had in his entire army, including himself. Worse still, they were already firing blindly at Fumblies and the others, picking off targets almost from the first shot.

Fumblies instantly threw up a shield on his side of the mob/ army and yelled for the others to turn the other way and fight. It wasn't nearly as efficient as he would have liked. That was no surprise, giving the nature what he was working with. Despite their opponent's ranged attacks, the army Fumblies lead plowed into them with expert ability but nonexistent teamwork. Greg the Troll of the Trollz and the four scientifically altered Brutes took the lead, drawing much of the firepower as the five rushed into the Philler guards, tearing them apart. Nevertheless, the firepower was severe, and even as the mob crushed the Philler gang, the guards were able to pick off members of the escaped prisoners. On the other end of the battle, Fumblies struggled to hold the shield in place long enough for his impromptu army to finish up one threat before they could handle the guards Fumblies was attempting to hold off.

As his shield started to give, Fumblies suddenly felt his magic being reinforced. Looking over, he was shocked to see the elderly man from the prison pouring magic into Fumblies's shield. Together, the two were able to force the shield back, crushing into the enemies and sending them running. As Fumblies and his 'army' turned to tend briefly to their own dead and wounded, the Philler gang on the other side also came under an attack of their own...

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(Section by Dash and Cattaras)

 
Meanwhile, Fahari contemplated an escape from her own prison.

Not that you'd know it at the moment. She was sitting in the center of her cell, eyes closed, breathing deeply with her ears and nose twitching.

Compare this calm to the storm that was Cattaras. Pacing the room like a caged tiger (which he was), growling and occasionally stopping to pound on the door and roar for a guard.

Fahari finally growled herself. "Calm, Cattaras. Save your energies for when we do have a visitor. Learn what you can from your environment."

The big tiger growled back. "And just how are you doing that? All I see is you sitting on your tail and cat napping!" He didn't say anything about what a nice tail it was, he was that distracted by his prison.

The panthress chuckled. "There are two guards..." She took another sniff of the air. "About 500 yards to our right. They are discussing... well other than what they could do with me, they are discussing why they haven't just killed you."

She then tilted her head. "Wait... they have gone.. well not silent but they have... Oh!" She blushed, something that caused Cattaras to chuckle after a few moments. "What's wrong? No, let me guess. They decide to pass the time doing manly things to each o-" His head snapped to the door with the scream outside - followed by a roar.

What happened next made even less sense; the Black Paladin stalked mechanically down the hallway, holding a lance in one hand and a crushed chunk of concrete in the other hand.

He was followed by Catrina- naked, carrying her clothing with her, her muzzle bloodied and... well both Felines could take her scent- and both knew not to mention what had been going on. Floating several feet behind her, looking bored and distraught, came the Jester King of Beasts mumbling, "But I wanted to kill a guard..."

"Okay- next time you get to suck him off." Catrina smirked.

After Jester King's eyes went wide, he broke out in laughter. Then he calmed down. "I don't get it."

"Exactly."

Meanwhile, the Paladin looked through the gate from Fahari to Cattaras, then started slamming his fists into the prison, determined to break it open.

"Oh, hit the cage. I'm sure they never thought of that." Then the Jester King reached through the cage, grabbed Fahari, and pulled her through the solid material before letting her phase back into sync with reality. He dumped her on the floor and ordered, "Let's go!"

Cattaras growled. "Aren't you forgetting someone, demon?"

"Not your sister," Jester King taunted. "I was doing her last- oh.. right." The demonic clown glanced nervously at Catrina, then reluctantly reached through to offer Cattaras a 'hand.' "Now you can't say I was never forced to do anything nice to you at clawpoint."

With Cattaras free, it was only a matter of turning their attention to the other cages, most of which were empty. Further down the long hallway, after many twists, they came to a cage which seems to have been broken out of recently. The three Felines scented the air.

"Blackpaws," growled Cattaras.

Catrina smiled. "He was here recently, too. This is a good thing, brother. We need allies, and he is ultimately one of our own."

"Maybe." Cattaras laughed. "It depends on how much trouble he ends up causing for us."

"Then we had better catch up with him soon," suggested Fahari.

"We will." Catrina nodded. "He's got a civilian with him. Knowing him he'd be more concerned with protecting them."

"The 'civvie' is a female," Cattaras pointed out with a smirk. "I doubt 'protecting' her is his first priority."

Elsewhere, Milly pulled back out of the kiss. "Breath-taking, but are you sure we shouldn't focus on getting out of here? I could have sworn I heard a growl in the distance."

Sure, she was thankful to the bard for saving her, but this place was dangerous.. and this was a tiny janitor's closet!

Todd smiled. "Relax, cutie- who's gonna look for us here?" He started to go for another kiss- but jumped as the door to the closed opened- to Fahari.

"Told you." Cattaras smirked in the background as Milly cowered behind Todd.

"Get back! He's got a guitar and he knows how to use it!"

"I doubt that he's lea--" Cattars oof'ed as he was elbowed by Catrina. "Don't worry honey. We're on the same side- for the moment."

"For.. the moment?" Milly asked. "Okay, the moment's good. I'm good with that. We're good with that, right baby?"

Cattaras looked ready to be snarky about the 'baby' comment so Todd spoke quickly. "Sure thing, love. Lemme introduce you to the gang. This here's Cattaras- you gotta watch him he can be a bit of a predator when it comes to women."

"Oh, I thought you were going to say a bit of a hothead," Milly said before quickly catching herself. "Not that you seem hotheaded at all, sir!"

Jester King just laughed uproariously.

"And laughing boy there's the Jester King of the Beasts- though why he's here I have no freakin' idea. Comic relief maybe?"

Jester King looked to both sides overly dramatically, then pointed to himself as if to say, "Who, me?!"

Cattaras chuckled, but Catrina answered. "He's got you there, sweets."

Jester King looked to Paladin for support. Paladin no sold it altogether, looking into the distance.

"The talkative one's the Black Paladin. No one's ever seen him out of his armor. I guess no one's ever felt the need to strip him." Todd smirked, enjoying the introduction. "The half dressed kitty is the Queen of the Feline Empire- Catrina Whiteclaw. Might want to watch her too- she's even more a predator than her brother is." He winked at Catrina.

"Which one is her br.." then her eyes fell on Cattaras. "Oh. I'm Milly. I.. well, I'm working part time through college. That's how I met Todd. I really don't have anything special. I mean, I can create sonic shields, but that's it."

Todd murred and nuzzled her. "You got plenty special, darlin'."

"Aww.. Someone's found a playtoy." Catrina smirked this time.

With that, Milly held her hands in front of her face and let out a shriek-whistle Todd, the Whiteclaw siblings, the Paladin, Jester King, and Fahari. In turn, the air vibrated around each. "It isn't much, but it should help deflect attacks for a while. Can we please go now, if it's okay?"

After their ears recovered Todd grinned. "Sure thing, love. But let me just tell you the dark, broody one is named Fahari- don't want to leave her out."

"I am not broody." Fahari brooded. "I am simply not as talkative as the others, Goddess be praised."

"Me, neither!" came Becky's voice from the distance. The others seemed rather surprised to see her. She explained Dash and Aleena needed a few minutes to recover and sent her to find help after Aleena detected their life signs. Both Todd and Cattaras smirked at that- although Cattaras's smirk was a tinged with a bit of something else.

Milly shook her head. "Wow, I never thought I was being recruited into such an odd group."

"You should see the ones we left behind, honey." Catrina smiled at her. "Besides- unless you're wanting to tag along with foxboy I'm not going to make you come with us."

Milly simply hugged his arm. "Someone's got to keep him safe."

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(Section by Aleena and Dash)

 
Dash tried to get his breath at an even pace. "So.. that whole thing was.. a dream? But.. Not a dream? It felt so real. The pain of being electrified.. the joy of …" Dash shook his head. "Are you okay to go on, Aleena?"

"I am. I am no stranger to attempts at mental manipulation, but I will admit, this did catch me off guard."

"That was insane. We need to.. actually.. it feels like decades since we've been here. We need to.. what?"

"Make sure all the other captives of Philler are rescued," Aleena filled in, pulling Dash to his feet.

"You said something about other life signs when you sent Becky off just now?" Dash asked. Aleena had done just that barely a moment earlier.

"I did." Aleena nodded. "Come, there's a bunch of furries down the hall. One of them is Cattaras, and one of them is Catrina."

"Oh, goodie," Dash said, holding his head. "Aren't we still at war with them? In the past.. I mean.. in the real world?"

Aleena threw her arm around her lover to hold and comfort him. "I believe so. Don't worry, it'll come back to you. Even now my nanites are fixing you up. The emotional trauma you've suffered... that will take more time to heal, I'm afraid."

"Thanks," Dash said, holding an arm around her. Then he stood up and set his jaw. "Looks like we've got a job to finish. Let's go."

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It had taken several attempts, but Sunset had finally relaxed enough to teleport out of the restraints holding him. After a few seconds pause, he teleported down to Vixen, then teleported the two to an electrical lock, which Vixen had picked before Sunset had barely analyzed it.

"That was easy," Vixen boasted as she strutted outside the door.

"Yeah, yeah," Sunset waved her off. "Might want to slow down and watch out for.."

Whatever he's saying is interrupted as a large, black metallic arm threw Vixen back into the prison. She tumbled over the floor. Sunset quickly teleported to stop her momentum before she could slide into the electrified portion of the floor, which covered most of the room under the cages. The cage which Sunset had just teleported them out of moments ago.

"Are you okay?" Sunset asked. Vixen just muttered something about needing a few more minutes in the gas, with a loopy smile on her face. A rather large and odd looking Fifth Column robot with shining black metal, with twin metal "arms" and "legs," stared them down. The right arm almost looked like it had a metal guitar built into it. Presumably for sonic attacks.

"Great, they sent a Column Death March after us," Sunset explained to Vixen, who looked up and groaned.

"Why're there three of them and why're there cartoon birds flying around their heads?" Vixen asked. "Maybe I hit my head too hard.."

"That's.." Sunset teleported them into a corner, just in time to avoid a volley of tiny exploding missiles from the machine monstrosity. Sunset finished his thought as he laid her in the corner. "A definite possibility."

Vixen sat up, but she still had that loopy, confused grin on her face. "So, how tough can he be?"

"Tough," Sunset replied as the odd looking metal creature looked around, seeming confused.

"So how do we.. ya know.. beat it?" Vixen asked, though her eyes drooped shut. At least she had the presence of mind to keep a grip on her walking stick.

"I'm thinking I can handle this problem on my own," Sunset answered, "while you get your head together. Stay here."

She tried to protest meekly, but gave it up as Sunset teleported into range of combat on the enemy. As Vixen's eyes slipped shut, Sunset went to work, hacking at the oversized Column Death March, avoiding its deadly attacks as well as the energy-sapping shields. Sunset continued to teleport and to dodge its attacks, slicing at the metal mayhem maker with Sunset's energy laced sword, but the thing had so much defense that defeating even one usually took multiple heroes working together. Five minutes into it, and not as much damage done to the enemy as he'd have liked, Sunset found himself backed into a corner, trying to get enough energy to teleport away and out of immediate danger. The Death March machine raised its fist high in the air, ready to try to smash Sunset.

When it brought its fist down, Sunset rolled to the side to avoid an attack that never came. He looked up to see Vixen, still woozy but fighting, wrapped around the creature's head, slamming into it with her staff. She must have been unaware of its stamina dampening attack since she quickly got dazed and fell off. It went to step on her, but an orange and black striped blur of motion slammed into it, sending it back. Sunset barely paused long enough to recognize the blur- Cattaras- before slicing into the leg support area of the machine. The "knees," so to speak, were hardly a weak spot, but they were Sunset's best option.

"Hope you brought backup with you," Sunset said, holding a defensive position as he circled the mechanical monster. Vixen pushed herself to her knees and hands, but collapsed, then pushed her way back up to one knee.

"I'm all the backup we need," Cattaras said with a mighty roar. "Are you saying you don't think we can take this overgrown tin can opener on our own?! How hard could it be?" Cattaras leapt to tear the thing's head off, but it swatted him away with a metallic forearm. "Shut up," Cattaras growled as he rolled through and came to his feetpaws. Before he could accomplish anything else, Black Paladin rushed into the room, smashing into the enemy and sending it flying into the wall with metal shaking impact. Catrina, Sebastian, and Aleena lead the others in a coordinated attack on it.

"Great," Cattaras complained to Sunset. "The idea was we'd finish it off before they caught up."

"Don't worry," Becky said, smiling. She ran into a big hug from Cattaras. "I'm sure there's plenty of other things we can beat up, big kitty!"

"Good point, little one." Cattaras only briefly embraced her. "Are you travelling with any others?"

"Yeah," Becky said with big eyes. "There's Fumblies and his big army. We gotta catch up with 'em too! We found out about 'em when Aleena hacked the system. We also found out where Mr. Big Bad is."

Sunset teleported in between the two, causing both Becky and Cattaras to jump back in shock. "Good. I'm anxious to meet the one behind all of this and settle things once and for all."

They left, joining Todd, Milly, Jester King and Paladin. Between Aleena's hacking into the overall system and Catrina's legendary hunting prowess, catching up to Fumblies proved to be fairly easy.

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"Stand down!" Fumblies ordered his gang as he suddenly came face to face with Catrina, Dash, and Aleena. Which was a good thing, since his massive mob, which had only grown, had no idea who these people were.

"Please do," Dash said, unsure if Fumblies, a staunch Feline Empire member, would attack Dash on sight or not. Fortunately, Dash had their queen Catrina and two of her Elite 7 on his side. (Well, for now.) "I see you've set some of the prisoners free, too."

Like Fumblies, Dash, Catrina and the others had done what they could get burst the prisons open, not knowing that Philler had anticipated this possibility and simply didn't care.

"I have, and as you can see, I've got this situation well under control." Fumblies looked at Catrina as he said this with an air of authority.

"Ohh, is that so?" Catrina purred. "Then do you know the location of this mysterious 'Philler?' I'd love to have a chat with him and get my claws in him, personally."

"My intel indicates he's off premise," Fumblies said, a little annoyed at being questioned. "So that will obviously have to wait another day."

"We know where he is," Dash explains.

Fumblies didn't believe him, and simply raised an eyebrow to express his doubt.

"It is the truth," Aleena said, stepping forward. "I've hacked their system, so follow me, and I can get us to the mysterious Philler."

"I'd rather stick to my original plan, thank you," Fumblies said, but Catrina stepped up, eyes like daggers.

"You'll be obeying my orders, which are simple. You and your thugs follow us. Got it?"

Fumblies thought about protesting, but simply sneered. "Yes, my queen. I'll follow your orders but this had best not be a wild goose chase."

"Is that a threat?" Catrina asked, ready to push the issue, but Aleena and Dash stepped between them as did the just-arrived Cattaras.

"After everything we've been through," Dash said, weary of this whole situation, "I'd prefer it if you waited until we escape from this maniac. Kill each other later." Dash turned to look Fumblies in the eyes. "So are you coming or not?"

"Everybody, just follow me," Fumblies said. Maybe they all needed just a little controversy. Or not. Either way, the others fell in line behind him, ready to get a little revenge on the mysterious figure behind all of this.

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Philler looked at one of the Fifth Column's steampunk (or gaslight) inspired "computers," if it could be called such. The technology had been incredibly expensive, but had proven itself more than worth the price.

Right now, it was showing the impossible; Sir Fumblies and a horde of others were drilling through solid rock somehow! If he didn't know better..

Fumblies turned to the dozens of guards and assistants in the room.

"Activate security code Flash-Gordon-Is-Approaching!" Philler ordered.

"What do you mean, 'Flash Gordon is approaching?!" A stunned green skinned woman (with an obnoxious looking headpiece) asked in annoyed confusion.

Philler ignored her. "Prepare for battle!"

"But sir, there's no way they could.."

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We switch scenes in the middle of the minion's sentence to disprove it.

"Still can't believe you two hacked that thing," Cattaras said to Aleena and Cyber Sunset. Indeed, just a few feet above them, Aleena and Sunset had put the Column Death march to work, using it to amplify Aleena's own laser into a laser drill somehow. The thing could also punch through rock, making it an effective way to dig through the several dozen feet of solid rock in front of them.

"The idea was Sunset's, so give him credit," Aleena said.

"True," answered Sunset. "But I'll freely admit the majority of the hacking was thanks to you and that suit of yours."

Aleena simply nodded.

"Get ready!" Cattaras suddenly called out.

"We're almost there!" Catrina said. "They're looking to ambush us."

"Hmm, stay tight, everyone," Dash said. "But we need to get an advantage here. An ambush could devastate us. Not something I'm anxious for."

Fumblies stepped forward and called Catrina, Sunset and Aleena into a circle. "Stop drilling for a second. They're right. We need a plan."

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A momentary distraction and a key scene

Along with the chaos, two noteworthy but unfamiliar figures moved in the chaos to the back, dragging a couple injured fighters to the side in an attempt to get them out of harm's way.

Both of the young adults, maybe not even out of their teens, were from a previously unknown area of the world outside Seaside Town and Honorburg. The lanky male had on animal skin "trousers" and a silk tunic. He held a wooden shillelagh at his side, ready and able to do damage with it, but he seemed rather uncertain of this situation as he looked at his powerful shapely ally.

She glanced up at him, wondering what he wanted. Herself, with dark brown skin to contrast his much paler white skin, wore rather tight leather pants and equally tight vest, giving him a look as if to ask what was on his mind.

"This isn't our fight, ya know?" he said. "And they're going for the big boss. Ya ready to bail out and get home?"

The look changed an expression which clearly questioned his sanity.

"Ahhh, no?" he guessed. "You really wanna fight this one? Not sure we're ready for it."

She shook her head, sad that he didn't get it. "We might not be ready but they kidnapped us, so this is our fight and we must NEVER run out on a fight!" She held up a pair of knives; more were strapped to her body. "We've recovered our weapons, so we're not helpless. But I say we fight together, and if need be, die together."

He hesitated, then simply nodded, refusing to leave her side in such a dangerous time, even to save himself. "Okay, you're right. Let's go."

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Barely three minutes later, the drill finally broke through, and indeed, a small group of well armed guards and thugs rushed over, opening fire with 1920's style pistols and in some cases, futuristic lasers type beams. Oh, and two exploding, whistle-as-they-go-through-the-air missiles.

The only thing they did was take out the robot, which stood alone until the attack reduced it to little more than strap metal.

That was part one of the attack. Part two saw Cattaras and Catrina lead the charge with a chi inspired burst of speed, so fast the human eye could barely follow. Behind them came the Black Paladin, relying on his mystically enchanted armor to protect him, and Jester King, floating through, keeping himself insubstantial to the attacks and generally looking bored and dorky. He pulled Sir Fumblies, also kept insubstantial, behind him. Meanwhile, Cyber Sunset used a burst of energy to teleport him and Dash into a dark corner. Sunset vanished momentarily, teleporting to grab Aleena and bring her to Dash's side. The three were in perfect position to ambush the mob, which was already distracted by the other half of the initial attack. The two-pronged attack took out most of the initial forces for the remaining army. Oh, about that army..

As they drilled towards the secret hideout, Fumblies, Catrina and Cyber Sunset split up the army, with those most capable of leading a separate faction taking the wounded and those uninterested in the final battle off to escape, hopefully saving those who they could along the way. This left only a dozen or so of the other prisoners outside Cyber Sunset and the Kingdom adventurers. This number didn't include that girl whom had been kidnapped with Todd, and steadfastly refused to leave his side. Still, he convinced her to stay to the back of the 'army' to tend to the wounded and protect those she could with her ability to summon a light sonic 'shield' around allies to offer protection.

On the other side of the room, with several guards between them, Philler, the one behind the entire situation, smiled. They'd thought they'd figured just a little about him, little knowing that even his objective, to steal Kadlin Bearsmasher's control of the zombified dragon, was only the tip of the iceburg. His plans included so much more and even this unexpected intrusion into his well guarded sanctuary would prove to turn things to his advantage, assuming of course the heroes survived.

Several of the city's thugs had sided with Fumblies and his ilk but they were the first to fall to Philler's army. Without hesitation, Philler suddenly began walking through his own army, going to confront the heroes. His army parted, keeping an eye on Philler as if to guard him even though they know his power was quite enough to deal with any potential threat.

"So it would appear your escape attempt comes to an end," boasted Philler once the grumbling and battling had come to a momentary stop.

"If we'd wanted to escape, genius, we'd have gone the other way.." Vixen explained, finally shaking off the effects of the earlier gas and not totally happy about it.

"Maybe you should have," Philler again bragged, raising his hands and causing lightning to reign down on the heroes. They scattered! Philler tried to laugh, only to find himself stumbling forward when a walking staff got slammed his spine and the back of his skull. He turned around, glaring. He saw Vixen standing, holding her walking stick like a bo. "Heh.. you missed one."

He went to attack her, but a throwing knife whizzed by his face as a wooden shillelagh capped his knee, causing him to drop to one knee. It was the two young travelers from earlier in the story.

"Make that three!" the male said. With a roar, Philler pulled a strange, small mirror from somewhere; we're not sure where. With a flash of soundless thunder, three beams struck out. Vixen dodged one, while the other beams hit Vixen's two unnamed assistants, causing them to vanished.

"Eep!" Vixen said, using her foxlike agility to avoid the odd blast, which then dissipated. The guards had, of course, jumped in to prevent the others from attacking Philler en mass. Catrina and Cattaras found themselves confounded by set of three teleporting, elemental controlling mages, while Dash and others found themselves under attack by Council of the Fifth troops.

Vixen roared as Philler dove at her; she hit him over the head with her walking stick, threw some magic ice cubes at him, and dodged another shot from that mirror. "Hey knock it off.."

Vixen turned at the sound of gunfire and dodged a volley of missiles from a TekWreker, one of the Fifth Column's newest machines, crafted by Contessa Gray's finest soldiers, the Council of the Gray. Cattaras dove on it with a mighty roar, grabbing it from behind and lifting it off the ground, before slamming it down. Aleena leaped past a couple of generic prison guards and immediately set to hacking the TekWreker's system, as Vixen swung her walking stick at Philler, who blocked, grabbing it mid air before blasting her with that strange small mirror of his.

"Not agi-" Vixen started to say as she vanished from sight.

"You horrific THIEF!" Jester King yelled, phasing in and attacking Philler, twisting his limb with superhuman flexibility to the point where by all rights, it should have snapped off his body as his foot connected with Philler's head. As Cattaras left another small group of enemies in pools of their own blood in the background, Jester King screeched and dodged Philler's counter attack with superhuman ease. "That was MY mirror to steal!" Jester dodged under several attacks before Philler finally caught the Jester King, holding him above his head by the Jester's neck. A second later, he dropped the Jester as Cattaras swiped, his hand claws digging into Philler's abdomen.

"What's the deal with the beams?" Cattaras. "If he's disintegrated them, I'll.."

"No such luck," Jester said, sounding amused although he wasn't. "Just teleporting them into another dimension, which is in many ways a mirror to our own. I know. I was doing it to these KOL idiots.. Hey Doggitty, I THINK I'LL DO SOME MORE OF THAT right now!"

With that, Jester jumped at the stunned Philler, phasing through Philler's hand, grabbing the mirror, and phasing it away as the Black Paladin rushed in to cover him from additional attacks. "Much better! Now, should I start with Aleena, one of those idiot swordsmen, or-" A bright light from the mirror bathed the Jester King. "Me? Ulp*"

Jester King vanished. The light engulfed Black Paladin, who also vanished, as the mirror fell, not to the ground but rather back into the hands of a smirking Philler.

"You've got your mirror," Catrina taunted. "But we've taken out most of your guards."

"Or taken them over," Aleena said as three robot type things, horribly primitive by her standards but dangerous enough, surrounded her.

Philler's smirk widened. "Then I guess I don't need them." With a wave of his hand, the robot closest to Aleena exploded dramatically, sending her staggering forward and directly into a beam from Philler's stolen mirror.

"ALEEEEENA!" Dash called out in desperation as a few feet away, Cattaras roared loud enough to be deafening. Shaken from seeing Aleena vanish, neither Dash nor Cattaras were prepared for the beam of light streaking from the mirror towards the two. Catrina chi-streaked from the other side of the room and dove at her brother, hoping to push him to the side, but as she got within feet of him, Sunset teleported, grabbed Cattaras, and teleported him to the side. Elsewhere, the two robots who'd been under Aleena's control shook it free and turned to attack Fumblies and Becky, only to have four of Fumblies Knob Goblin brutes engage them in battle, freeing Becky and Fumblies, aided by the buffs of Todd Blackpaws and his girl Milly, to battle off the few remaining soldiers. Seeing she was in serious trouble, and at the orders of Todd, Milly turned and ran towards the tunnel they Adventurers had dug, hopefully to find her way out of this prison.

Meanwhile, seeing Cattaras ported out of safety, Catrina twisted her momentum to take her towards Dash, pushing him to the side. She paused, almost stunned by her own actions. The momentary lapse in concentration allowed the beam to hit her instead. Dash turned, weighed up the odds, which were clearly against them at this point, and again set his jaw, a sign of unrelenting determination in Dash's own mind. Aleena was .. gone, as were several others.. A confused Becky was clutching that focus device yeti toy of hers as if trying to decide on her next attack. Cyber Sunset finished off the final two guards. The last two brutes beat down the last enemy robot, but it exploded in a surge of electricity which left the brutes stunned.

Oh! Dash forgot about Fahari, who'd just jumped out of the shadows, landing on Philler's broad back and forcing him to his knees, with Fahari locking one arm around his throat and the other around his head. Cattaras leaped at Philler. Cattaras's claws again slashed through Philler's skin and soft muscle underneath. With a roar that could rival Catrina and Cattaras put together, Philler threw them to the side. Clutching an open wound that was bleeding like a waterfall, Philler otherwise ignored the wound and held up the mirror, aiming it at Cattaras, who was struggling to get his vision clear.

Then Dash leaped at him, ready to finish him off with Dash's original broadsword. It might have been enough to kill Philler, had Philler not blocked it. Instead, Dash found himself shoved to the side and ignored. Philler aimed the mirror and fired it at Cattaras, but at the last split second, Cattaras was again teleported out of the way of the blast by Cyber Sunset.

It didn't matter. As if anticipating where they'd show up, Philler turned to the side and fired another blast at nothing. Cyber Sunset and Cattaras then teleported a few inches in front of the beam. Cattaras roared as he and Sunset vanished, either for good or into another dimension. Becky, screaming at this point, fired a solid shot of ice at Philler, looking to freeze him solid. Sadly for Becky, that very same attack acted as a perfect conduit for the next burst of light, which enveloped her. She vanished with a long, drawn out, whiney "Awwwwww!"

It was enough distraction for Dash to grab the hilt of his enchanted broadsword and slam it into the back of Philler's head. Wounded and now nearly frozen, Philler stumbled forward, hardly being able to see as he fired the beam blind, catching Fahari, even as her kick staggered him back before she vanished in the same horrible burst of light. Dash, blinded by rage, swung the sword, eager to behead the hideously wounded Philler. Inches before the lethal swing could connect, light exploded around Dash, who vanished.

"Your turn," Philler said, sending out an extra large burst of light at Fumblies, the only standing enemy of his left.

"Yes, it is," Fumblies said, calmly as the light streaked before him.. then stopped. "See, I've been studying your magic. I'm a mage too, if you weren't aware, and once I'd studied your magic properly, as taught to me by my mentor Kwadlin, it's mine to control."

He sent the wave of light back to Philler, fully expecting the mystery man to vanish. He didn't.. but the mirror shattered in his hands, sending glass into the hands and open wounds of the mystery man of Honorburg.

"Good enough," Fumblies said, nearly tripping over someone. Fumblies caught himself and kicked the unconscious guard's body. "Watch where you get knocked out, pal!"

Philler chuckled, and prepared to blast Fumblies, but Fumblies hit him first, with sleazy, icy, stinky, burning and even terrifying soul crushing spells, pounding the already wounded Philler, who fell to his knees.

Fumblies grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the ground, choking Philler with one hand. "Now you'll tell me how to get them back or.. else.."

Fumbiles eyes went wide as Philler's face suddenly shifted and changed as if by magic. Fumblies recognized the new image he shifted into.

"Kwadlin?!"

"Indeed, and here's another little secret," the wounded and barely conscious Kwadlin said. Fumblies grip loosened as, impossibly, that same light from earlier surrounded them.

"The mirror is a lie," Kwadlin said, as twisted and mysterious as ever. Fumblies realized it wasn’t the mirror. It must have been Philler (no, Kwadlin) all along who was behind the dimension altering bursts.

He realized this as he felt himself fading into the other world.

Told ya it was epic!
Even if it was ultimately a 'to be continued.'
That's okay, because it sets up the next mission. Philler wins this round.
It's really, really fun- but a serious challenge- putting that mix of characters into a Finale.
As I write this, I'm preparing to do the same thing for the Finale to "Holiday!"
Which saw a total of eleven handlers, handling a total of eighteen player characters!
I hope you enjoyed The Philler Gang; feel free to check out the spoilers and the main page now that you've finished reading the whole story.