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A.S.H. Elympios Branch: Episode 2 Part 2

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Because they were newly-formed, the team didn’t had their own vehicles so they had no choice but to run over to their destination. Thankfully for them, said destination wasn’t that far away.

Soon, they had made it over to their destination: Power Stone Shop. The team panted heavily while looking up at the building. For an item shop, it was quite large. Then again, Marina did said that it had a large array of weapons inside.

“Well, we are here.” Samurai Bob said.

“And it is in one place so that means we had beaten the culprit here.” The Wraith added.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Tetsuo asked. “Let’s go in and warn the owner!”

Everyone nodded their heads before made their way inside of the building. There, they took a chance to look around. At first, the large spread of weapons seemed reasonable as they were old-fashioned weapons like swords, spears and bows and modern weapons like guns and bombs.

However, they noticed quite a few oddball items like skateboards, tennis rackets, loudspeakers and even a few instruments. Most of the team was no stranger to seeing fighting with strange weapons but still, all of them can’t help but look in awe.

“Oh! The A.S.H. is here! Quite the honor!”

The team turned their heads to see a young woman with freckles and red hair tied in a ponytail. Her attire was simply with a white dress shirt underneath a bright green dress that has dollar signs on it along with a pink apron that has different coins all over it.

“My name is Mel and welcome to the Power Stone Shop!” She said, bowing her head with her hands together.

MEL/Power Stone 2/Capcom/Owner Of Item Shop/Skilled With Creating Weapons

“Ah, yes, thank you for that.” Samurai Bob said with a smile.

“So what could I do for you today?” Mel asked, brightly.

Samurai Bob scratched the back of his head. “Um, well, the thing is… The reason we are here is...”

“A burly guy with an axe is going to come over and attempt to destroy your shop and everything you worked for.” The Wraith said, flatly.

Mel’s smile vanished. “WHAT!?”

“Wraith!” Samurai Bob scolded.

“What? You was trying to say so anyway.” The hooded man said with a shrug.

Mel stepped back a few steps while shaking her head with her face paling. Most of the team looked in concern.

“M-Miss Mel?” Samurai Bob asked.

“I-It’s HIM, isn’t it?” The redhead said.

Tetsuo’s eyes widened at this. “Wait? You KNOW who is attacking item shops everyone?”

“No.” Mel said before rushing past the team and making his way to the window while looking out frantically as if the attacker was right outside.

“But I know enough that he is becoming the bane of item and weapon shops!” She frowned while turning around. “Because of the attacks, most of my staff had quit on me out of fear!”

“So basically you have to run this place by yourself? Ouch.” Pascal winced.

“Oh, don’t worry, I could handle it.” Mel reassured before sighing. “I mean it is not like I got that much customers these days anyway.”

“They are scared…” Samurai Bob frowned.

“As they should be.” Mel said. “I mean one man absolutely destroying an entire shop with nothing but an axe? I am half-tempted to close down my shop for a while.”

Tetsuo narrowed his eyes. “Well, you don’t have to worry because we are here to protect you AND your shop.”

“Yes, that is our job.” Samurai Bob said, crossing his arms.

Mel gave a weak smile. “Oh, thank you, A.S.H. I feel much better that I got the world’s protectors looking after our shop.”

Everyone nodded their heads.

“So leader, we are here. What is our first course of action?” Pascal asked.

“Huh? Oh, um…” Samurai Bob said before pausing. “Well, Miss Mel, you have access to the roof?”

“Um, yes, I do.” The shopkeeper nodded.

“Good. Then, Pascal and Marina, camp out there and keep your eye out for any suspicious figures coming over.” Samurai Bob instructed.

“Yes, sir.” The two women said in unison, despite clearly having different tones in their responses.

“As for the rest of us, we will stay on the ground floor to confront said suspicious figures.” Samurai Bob nodded.

“I don’t have a qualm with that idea.” The Wraith said before eyeing the weapons. “Besides, there is a few things I wanted to check out.”

Panmusu rolled his eyes before looking at Samurai Bob and nodding his head. The samurai gave a small smile.

“Alright, we all have our tasks. Let’s go.” Samurai Bob instructed as everyone nodded.

“Mel, if you please.” Marina said.

“Oh, of course.” The redhead instructed. “This way, ladies.”

With that, she beckoned Marina and Pascal to follow her. The three women then went up the stairs with the men watching them leave.

“Well, so far, so good. No suspicious figures is going to get the jump on this place.” Samurai Bob said, putting his hands on his hips.

Panmusu happily nodded his head. He, Samurai Bob and the Wraith had all made their way around the shop. Tetsuo paused for a moment before walking over deciding to make the best of his situation.

/-/-/-/-/-/

A long time had passed ever since the team had stationed itself at the Power Stone Shop. The A.S.H. had stayed alert while keeping their eyes out for another suspicious. A few people had actually gone inside but they seemed clean and after getting the items or information they got, they exited without a fuss.

A few hours had passed and the team was started to get reckless. Was the attacker coming at all? Were they even stationed at the right shop? Despite this, they knew that they can’t leave. Especially after seeing how worried Mel was. They had to be ready for the attacker, whoever he was.

Samurai Bob and Tetsuo both stared at the window while watching several people make their way pass. Still, no sign of anyone suspicious.

“I feel like a rat waiting for a cat to come along.” Samurai Bob frowned before taking a sip from a thermos.

“Yeah, let’s show that we can bite back.” Tetsuo said, narrowing his eyes.

Samurai Bob sighed before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a thermos and unscrewing the cap to pour himself a drink. Tetsuo raised an eyebrow when he noticed said drink was clear.

“Say, what’s that you have there?” Tetsuo asked.

“Tonic. My own special recipe, in fact.” Samurai Bob explained. “I drink it whenever things gets hairy and I need to calm down.”

“What? So it is some kind of stress relief?” Tetsuo asked.

“Yes, right now, I am more than a little nervous.” Samurai Bob admitted. “I mean we may be facing off a destructive axe-wielder with superhuman strength. I wonder if we would be able to subdue him.”

Tetsuo’s eyes bugged out before putting his finger to his mouth. “Shh!”

Samurai Bob jumped before Tetsuo pointed to the side. Samurai Bob looked behind him to see Mel talking with the Wraith about something with Panmusu looking on.

“Do you want Mel to hear that?” Tetsuo scolded. “You saw how quickly the colour from her face drained upon hearing that her shop may be next!”

Samurai Bob winced before looking down. “S-Sorry…”

“We are the All-Star Heroes now aka the world’s protectors!” Tetsuo continued. “As such, we must be confident. If people see that the All-Star Heroes are just as scared as they are, they would have no hope!”

Samurai Bob’s face fell when he remembered how depressed Renee was after the Simsville Massacre. If she heard him talking while this, she may lose all hope she had gained after seeing Samurai Bob being given the job.

“Come on, man, a leader shouldn’t act like this! He should be mentally hoisting his teammates on his shoulder to show how much he could depend on him!” Tetsuo scolded. “No, a true leader must never let his team show hesitation!”

Samurai Bob paused before looking out the window sadly. “Wow, it seems that I have more to learn about being a leader than I thought...”

“Yes, you do…” Tetsuo said, narrowing his eyes.

Samurai Bob merely sighed as he continued to look out the window. Tetsuo’s face fell when he realized that he may had been a bit rough on his new leader, even if he WAS right. He let out a deep sigh.

“Listen, pal, I…” Tetsuo started.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Samurai Bob shouted, suddenly.

“Huh? What’s wrong?” Tetsuo asked.

“Look outside.” Samurai Bob said, pointing a figure.

Tetsuo quickly obliged and looked out the window. There, he noticed someone was making their way towards the shop. However, he was burly-looking with a brown cloak over him, thus covering his entire body.

Tetsuo narrowed his eyes. “Well… THAT’S not suspicious.”

Samurai Bob nodded his head. “Yes, but let’s not jump the gun just yet. Let’s just confront him.”

“Gotcha.” Tetsuo said before looking back at the others. “Yo, guys! We are going to check something real quick! Hopefully this should only take a few minutes!”

“If you say so.” The Wraith said as Panmusu nodded his head.

Samurai Bob and Tetsuo had both nodded their heads and made their way outside of the shop before making their way over to the man.

“Pardon us, sir but could you take off your hood for us, please?” Samurai Bob asked.

The cloaked figure paused. “And why should I?”

“We just want to see your face.” Tetsuo said, sternly. “Now quit making it harder for everyone here.”

“Oh and who exactly to command me what to do.” The cloaked figured challenged.

Tetsuo narrowed his eyes. “Buddy, I don’t know who you think you are but WE are the All-Star Heroes.”

The cloaked figure paused at this. “Oh, so you must be the ones who been selected to be Elympios’ new protectors. I guess I must had missed that news report.”

Suddenly, the man gave a toothy grin.

“Well, that makes things even better for me.”

BANG!

“ACK!”

Inside of the store, Mel gasped in horror while the Wraith and Panmusu looked shocked at what they were looking out the window. Several passerbys screamed in horror before running off in fear.

The cloaked figure stepped in pain as he shook his hand to ease the agony. However, while doing so, he revealed a large sharp-looking axe. Samurai Bob and Tetsuo looked shocked before narrowing their eyes.

“Nice shot, Marina!” Pascal cheered from the roof.

“No problem.” The sniper reassured while still aiming her sniper rifle.

Samurai Bob reached into his sheath and pulled out his katana and pointed it at the cloaked figure.

“Sir, you are under arrest for suspicion of destruction of various shops.” He said, sternly. “Drop your weapon now and get on the ground.”

The cloaked figure merely scoffed. “You think that just because your coward of a sniper got a cheap shot on me, I should surrender?”

With that, he used his free hand to take off his cloak to reveal his full appearance. He had dark skin with contrasting long light blue hair that went past his shoulders. He wore a dark purple long-sleeved shirt with matching gloves over with a white vest, blue pants and black boots.

BARBATOS GOETIA/Tales of Destiny 2/Namco/Killer Of Heroes/Insanely Powerful/HATES Items

While startled, Samurai Bob didn’t broke from his stance. “Sir, don’t be foolish. You are outnumbered six to one AND you have a bullet in your weapon hand. All you doing is making this harder for yourself.”

Barbatos merely smirked. “You really don’t know who I am, do ya?”

With that, he raised his axe with a mighty, earth-shattering yell.

“BBBBBUUUUURRRRREEEEEAAAAA!”

With that, he swung his axe at Samurai Bob and Tetsuo. The two of them quickly jumped back to avoid the attack. However, they weren’t able to avoid falling on their rears because of a large tremor.

Marina acted quickly and aimed her sniper rifle at Barbatos’ shoulder and fired. However, the blue-haired man somehow saw this coming and quickly blocked with his axe, deflecting the bullet.

However, Tetsuo had decided to take advantage of Barbatos being distraction and rammed his shoulder right into Barbatos’ shoulder, tackling him to the ground and pinning his arms down with his hands.

“Alright, buddy! You just earned an one-way ticket to prison!” Tetsuo announced.

“Like hell I am going there!” Barbatos yelled. He then slammed his head into Tetsuo’s forehead. The attack not only stunned Tetsuo but sending him flying backwards and skidded back on the ground. Barbatos then got back to his feet.

Only for Marina to fire another shot straight into Barbatos’ shoulder. The axe-wielder cried out in pain before glaring up at the roof of the shop.

“You like projectiles so much? How much you like it now!?” Barbatos roared before pumping his axe in the air. “HELL HEAT!”

Suddenly, his axe had started to glow red as he floated up into the air. Then, he released a series of purple fireballs at the roof. Marina and Pascal’s eyes widened in shock before jumping back. They managed to avoid the attack but the fireballs hit the roof hard, resulting in a large fire.

“No!” Pascal yelled before rushing towards the fire and concentrating.“In the name of Smokey the bear, only I could prevent forest fires! MAELSTORM!”

With her strange incantation, she surrounded herself with a large whirlpool which spun away at the fire. While it did stop the flames from spreading, it didn’t little to stop it.

“Oh no! My magic may not be enough!” Pascal said before casting another spell. “Marina, find a fire extinguisher or something and help me kill those flames!”

“But how about the attacker?” Marina asked.

“Even if we stop him, this place will be destroyed anyway if we don’t get rid of this fire!” Pascal called out.

Marina gritted her teeth in frustration. “V-Very well.”

With that, she turned around and ran off back inside of the shop to find the nearest fire extinguisher. Even though Pascal was right about killing the flames, she was still concerned about Barbatos. His strength was beyond comprehension and to add insult to injury, he seemed quite blood-thirsty. All he could hope was that the rest of her team would be able to stop him.

Meanwhile, Barbatos swung his axe in a horizontal fashion. Samurai Bob yelped before quickly ducking underneath the attack. Acting quickly, he swung his katana at Barbatos. However, Barbatos quickly blocked the attack and quickly shoved the samurai away.

By this time, Panmusu had hopped out of the shop, followed by the Wraith. The former then charged up an energy ball in his hands and released it forward. Barbatos however, saw this coming and easily swatted it away with his free hand.

Panmusu just narrowed his eyes before zooming towards Barbatos at an alarming speed and doing a jumping uppercut to the blue-haired man’s stomach. He then swung around, sweeping Barbatos off of his feet with his tail. Panmusu smirked before jumping onto Barbatos’ chest and doing a series of punches to Barbatos’ face, not giving him a chance to react.

“Nice one, little guy!” Tetsuo grinned, clenching his fist.

Unfortunately, all this was doing was angering Barbatos. “Get off me, you little pest!”

With that, he swung his fist into Panmusu’s face. Everyone looked in shock as the Breloom was sent flying high into the air before falling to the ground like a rock.

“Panmusu!” Samurai Bob cried out.

“Don’t worry, little buddy! I gotcha!” Tetsuo yelled. With that, he leapt up into the air and grabbed Panmusu before he could hit the ground. While the Pokemon was saved from a nasty fall, he was knocked out instantly by Barbatos’ punch.

Suddenly, Barbatos rushed over shoulder-first into Tetsuo, sending him and Panmusu flying backwards until Tetsuo crashed back-first into a window making Mel cry out in horror.

“Tetsuo! Panmusu!” Samurai Bob gasped.

The Wraith narrowed his eyes. “Impressive strength. However, in the end, you are just a glorified meathead.”

With that, he rushed over to Barbatos. The axe-wielder quickly swung his weapon at the Wraith but the latter swerved his head back to avoid the blow. Then, a snake had shot out of his hood and bit Barbatos on the shoulder.

“Ack! Why you!” Barbatos growled before he felt his body going numb. “H-Huh? My body feels strange...”

“Heh. Whether they are for the law or against it, muscleheads are all the same.” The Wraith said, smugly while putting one fist on his hip.

However, his grin vanished when he found a large foot into his torso.

After being kicked by Barbatos, the Wraith flew straight into Samurai Bob, knocking the two to the ground. The two men groaned before slowly getting up, holding their heads.

“I-Impossible…” The Wraith said, weakly. “He was supposed to be stunned for at least a minute.”

“W-What IS that man?” Samurai Bob groaned.

“All those muscles and you hide behind your pitiful tricks!” Barbatos growled before got into a defensive stance with energy flowing around him making his hair and clothes waiver. “EVIL SPHERE!”

After letting out the loud shout, he engulfed Samurai Bob and the Wraith in a dim black sphere. Suddenly, purple balls of energy appeared in the sphere and struck the two men multiple times. They both screamed in pain before falling back on the ground. Samurai Bob was still conscious but the Wraith had passed out.

“You call yourself the All-Star Heroes? You are nothing more than a bunch of amateurs!” Barbatos taunted before stomping over. “I should kill you guys where you stand!”

“Get away from them!”

Barbatos’ eyes widened before looking up. He then saw Tetsuo stampeding towards him. Despite startled, the blue-haired man swung his axe at Tetsuo. However, the brown-haired man jumped to the side to avoid the blow and did a hard chop on Barbatos’ hand. Barbatos winced as he dropped his axe.

“Heh! Not so tough now without your axe!” Tetsuo taunted. With that, he pulled his fist back and sent it into Barbatos’ face as hard as he could.

Which would had happened if Barbatos didn’t easily got the fist and starting to squeeze it tightly making Tetsuo wince.

“Do you think I am helpless without my axe?” Barbatos retorted. “Worm! All it does is prolong the inevitable!?”

Barbatos then punched his free hand out but Tetsuo had caught the fist before it could hit him. The two then went into a power struggle with each other.

However, Tetsuo seemed to be losing as he found himself going onto one knee. He winced with wide eyes in pure horror at the outcome on the battle.

Then, while still keeping his grip on Tetsuo’s hands, Barbatos lifted the ex-construction worker up before slamming him on the ground hard.

“Die! Die!” Barbatos then stomped onto Tetsuo’s back as multiple times. A lightning bolt seemed to accompany each stomp. Tetsuo cried out in pain.

Mel looked on in horror at what was happening. The A.S.H. were being beaten by a bunch of sick dogs so easily by one man. It seemed like she was hoping for too much for her shop to be safe.

She sadly looked down at Panmusu who was still unconscious. How he was able to take a punch from that beast and survive was anyone’s guess. Even when they were clearly outmatched, they were still fighting to protect her.

Mel then looked over at the side. Suddenly, her eyes widened in realization. She was inside of a weapon store.

Meanwhile, Samurai Bob used his katana to get up onto his feet. Despite still feeling the pain from the spell, he rushed over to Barbatos who was still stomping on top of Barbatos.

“Get away from him!” Samurai Bob yelled before swinging his sword at Barbatos. However, the samurai’s shout had alerted Barbatos to the attack, giving him enough time to jump back and avoid the blade. Samurai Bob tried again with a vertical attack and managed to catch him in the chest.

Barbatos winced in pain before his hurt expression quickly turned into a furious one. He then grabbed Samurai Bob by the throat and lifted him off of his feet. Samurai Bob winced in pain before slashing the arm that had him. But while Barbatos winced, he just slapped the weapon out of Samurai Bob’s hand.

“Samurai Bob!” Tetsuo called out as he tried to get up to save Barbatos. However, he quickly cried out in pain falling onto his face.

As he laid on the ground, his eyes slowly widened. He was in pain. Not that he was immune to it but he wasn’t hurt enough that he would literally too hurt to move. What could this happened? He could literally block falling steel girders with his fist so how was this man easily outmuscle here, let alone by a long shot? Barbatos scoffed before kicking Tetsuo in the side, sending him sprawling him away.

“Tetsuo!” Samurai Bob said, weakly. However, Barbatos tightened his grip around his neck.

“Forget about this pathetic waste of space? It should be YOU should be concerned for!” Barbatos scolded.

Tetsuo watched on the ground as Barbatos knelt down and picked his axe. His eyes then widened in horror when he realized that Barbatos was going to kill his friend. Even though he only knew Samurai Bob for a short time, he seemed like a friendly and kind man.

Also, there was a part of him that Tetsuo could relate to after hearing that about his experience in the Simsville Massacre. And now, he was about to see a good man killed right in front of him. He struggled to get up to his feet but while it was a bit easier to get up, his pain was still catching up to him.

“Elympios was foolish to select your weaklings as its protectors.” Barbatos said, darkly before pulling his axe back. Samurai Bob winced, preparing for the worst.

BOOM!

All of a sudden, an explosion had collided with Barbatos causing him to fly backwards and drop Samurai Bob, leaving him rubbing his sore throat. Tetsuo looked in horror before turning his head towards the direction of where the explosion came from.

His eyes widened when he saw someone wearing completely clad in knight armour while wielding a bazooka.

Barbatos got back to his feet with a furious look on his face, looking around for the guilty party that had attacked him. It didn’t took him that long to find said person.

“YOU!”

Suddenly, he dashed towards the person in the suit of armor at an alarming speed. While startled, the person merely aimed their bazooka at the person and fired a missile at Barbatos, hitting him dead on.

However, much to everyone’s horror, it didn’t little to stop him. Before anyone could react, he grabbed the armored person by its throat, making them dropping their bazooka.

“NO...”

He then slammed the person on the ground, creating a large tremor.

“ITEMS…”

He then stomped on the person a couple of times.

“EVERRRRR!”

With that, he swung his axe upwards with fire surrounding his weapon, striking the armoured person in the air. Samurai Bob and Tetsuo looked in horror as the person landed on top of the bazooka breaking it in half. There was nobody could survive an attack like that.

A smirk crept across Barbatos’ face as he looked as his look. He then started to laugh evilly at his success.

“That is what you using items in a fight!” Barbatos taunted as he continued laughing.

However, his laughter slowly stopped when he heard a noise. The sound of groans. His eyes bugged out before looking down to see the armored person slowly sitting up.

“How… How is that possible?” Barbatos asked, taken emotionally off-guard for once.

“It’s… My armor.” The armored person said, slowly.

“What? Your armor?” Barbatos questioned.

“Yes, it is specifically built to withstand any attack. Including YOURS.” The armored person explained. “And the only person who could forcibly remove it is the user!”

Barbatos’ pupils shrank before he gritted his teeth in anger. “Come out of the hunk of junk and take your death like a man!”

“I don’t think so! I refuse to just sit back and let you destroy everything that I worked for!” The armored person scolded.

Samurai Bob and Tetsuo both looked surprised by this.

“MEL!?”

All Barbatos did was narrow his eyes. “Ah, I see. Only someone who sells such cowardly tactics would use them.”

Suddenly, he grabbed Mel and hoisted her over his shoulder before stomping off.

“H-Hey! Where are you taking me!?” Mel demanded.

“To find a way around your armor so I could kill you.” Barbatos explained. “Be grateful that you pissed me off enough to actually ignore your shop and these pathetic beings for All-Star Heroes.”

“Mel!” Tetsuo yelled before getting up his feet. However, he found himself collapsing on his knee, still feeling the pain.

“Guys! I have healing potions inside my shop! Take as much as you need to heal!” The shopkeeper called out. “Just please! Save me!”

Samurai Bob and Tetsuo looked in horror as they watched Barbatos stomp away while carrying the armored Mel away. They had gave their word to protect Mel and yet they had to be saved by her and let her get captured.

Tetsuo gritted his teeth while punching the ground angrily. His first mission as an All-Star Hero and he had failed miserably.
Last Part: tinyhammer.deviantart.com/art/…
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Along with some character interaction and adding in another character, we see the main villain in this episode and he promptly teaches the team the hard way about having a fledging hero team do a mission on their first day.
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SSBFreak's avatar
Good use of Mel. :) I always found that she was a bit of an underrated character in Power Stone 2 anyway and it's always good to see someone using her again (I guess that's like me and Ally Gator =P).