[Mr. Game & Watch]

“Come now! You gotta remember that staff party! Everyone was there!”

“…Arle isn’t part of the Sunshine Stadium staff…”

“Not the Sunshine Stadium staff party! The staff party! You know, everyone who owns a staff is invited to the staff party! Oddly specific prerequisite I must say, but there were tons of mages gathered from all over the Life Sphere! And some people who specialize in bo based weaponry, but they’re ostracized in the staff community mostly.”

“…Arle uses a staff?”

“Well, probably sometimes! She wouldn’t get invited to the staff party if she didn’t!”

“…How did we get in?”

“There isn’t a party in the Life Sphere that we don’t host! Except for the ones that don’t hire us, but can they truly be considered parties!?”

“LI-TTLE AR-LE! LI-TTLE AR-LE! LI-TTLE AR-LE! WOOOO!”

“AH HA HA HA! Do you hear that, Big Top!? The audience’s appreciation of Little Arle has reached critical mass! You know what that means, don’t you!?”

“…No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the audience feedback be so high before…”

“It’s Chump Charity time!”

“…How many times do I have to teach you this lesson?”

“Wait WAIT! This time the Chump Charity is in favour to the audience’s favourite! Let’s spin that wheel and see what we get!”

Momentarily, a wheel drops into the Ref’s box and Ballyhoo grabs a peg on the board and spins it wildly. Round and round it goes, until it lands on a space that says ‘Beehive.’ Like a beach ball floating through the stands, the audience began to punt the Beehive amongst themselves until a rather passionate fan spikes the item onto the battlefield, aiming it directly at Death.

Beehive:
Cannot be shielded or reflected. When a target is hit, it does 10% damage initially and the bees swarming around the target will continue to do 4% per turn for 3 turns.

[Accuracy Roll: Vppc2Z87p_1d20+5] <14>

“AH HA HA HA! That one is my favourite! Don’t you just love bees, Big Top!?”

“…No…”

“Good follow up!”

HP: 58% Appeal: 33		HP: 23% Appeal: 150

1d20+5

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Death stood stark still, facepalming himself. But at least he got to be a bit of a fun jerk to face when it was necessary. "Aw, you don't need to be scared around me, though I am sorry for being a jerk in asking you when I already know what, how, and why it happened... Nigh omnipotent you know, and all things considered your soul is in the right place for me to see you ascend to the pearly Gates of heaven since you are a good person in my non-existent eyes. Pity this fight end with me actually losing to a child who not only knows magic, but also to this damn poison.. oh well, what can you do?" Death said jovially to Little Arle, it was his way of being the troll to his opponent, though he only did it to be friendly to the child. What he did say however was spot on, Little Arle was indeed capable of going to heaven should she die, though it would be Death that takes her spirit there, rather than anyone else.

At this point he would notice the fireball coming his way and attempted to get out of the way...
DEX ROLL A: 12(no dice here)
BURN RESIST CON ROLL: 1+2=3(damn)

Death's robe seemingly caught on fire, just because of just one lousy ball of flame, but he needed to get ready as he would be subjected to a bolt from a god next, and he needed to concentrate on the fight...
DEX ROLL B: 20(not sure if this roll will no-sell the thunder spell)

Then to add insult to injury, Death was smacked hard by a beehive, and attacked by a swarm of bees, the only problem to them stinging a reaper such as Death was that Death didn't have any actual skin to sting him on, he was literally a pile of Bones and he didn't mind, as those that stung would drop dead anyway.

Death would then take his bony finger and wipe the blood off of the sharp blade, then sucked it off his skeletal finger with his own mouth. "Your blood is spicy, I can tell you like your curry. This fight is almost over, let's give these people a show! On a minor note, better dodge like crazy, because here comes a familiar spell." Death said with fervent glee, simply hurling a very familiar jet black orb of ice magic at lightning speeds to really get the job done in record time.
WIS ROLL: 20+1=21(critical Orb of Gahena Hadouken @ Little Arle, 7% dmg and 100% Chance for a DEX modifier drop if it connects)

Death then began juggling his miniature sickles again, only this time he launched 2 separate waves of them, sadly his STR mod went downhill because of the burn.
STR ROLL A: 10-1=9(below average Twin Sickles @ Little Arle, 2 hits of 4% dmg if it connects)
STR ROLL B: 18-1=17(slightly better Twin Sickles @ Little Arle, 2 hits of 4% dmg if it connects)

Death would then again do what he did in the fight with Tomoko, Dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Appeal roll: 16-3=13(not bad, still got a long way to go Death.)

---

Death
HP: 78/170
Shield:18/60(regenerating)
Status: thriller time!
Poisoned (2)
Burned (7)
Invisibility cloak cooldown: 1 turn

---

I didn't forget about that 1.5 damage multiplier for the crit on Orb of Gahena. The actual calculation was 7.5 done by calculator, I just used the 7.

[Mari]

The cheering of the crowd brought a bright smile to Arle's face. She was a star! How much more could a kindergartner ask for? Well--Probably to understand what the heck Death was saying, actually. She got some of it, but there was just no helping things when he started referencing things she had no concept of. "...What's ...heavan?" Arle asked in confusion, only for Death to promptly give her another reason to be afraid of him. Arle could feel a repressed, older part of herself get set off by the gesture. Luckily, she was just a figment of Little Arle's memories right now. Little Arle giggled nervously. "Ehehe... I eat it erryday at school for lunch." she awkwardly replied. She swore she was in danger here somehow, but she wasn't quite certain what was going on. Was that skeleton going to eat her?! --Oh right, the fight! She should probably pay attention to that. Nothing could go wrong if she defended herself!

...Or tried, anyway.

p2W_px57p_1d20+3 (Arle's Orb of Gahena Dodge)
p_1d20+1 (Arle's Twin Sickle Dodge)
p_1d20+1 (Arle's Twin Sickle Dodge)

"Waaah!" Arle cried out as she was bounced around and cut up by the sickles, getting up and hugging herself with a little grimace as she found herself stricken by the cold again. Her teeth chattered a bit as she stood there, plotting her revenge. She didn't like the cold, dangit! Summoning up another firebolt, she let the scorching warmth pierce the cold enveloping her before tossing it at Death!

p_1d20+4 (Arle's Fire; Does 7% damage and has a 50% chance to inflict a burn)

While Death was distracted by that, Arle braced her feet against the ground and held her hands outstretched! A brilliant holy light formed between her hands.

"I can't go ta' heavan! I have to go to school! Holy Laser!!"

A piercing blast of holy light would shoot across the arena at high speeds, reacting explosively once it reached the end of its range! ....Right upon Death.

p_1d20+6 (Arle's Holy Laser; Does 23% Damage and has a 40% chance to inflict Healing Suppression)

Arle then rushed forward, hustling as fast as her little form could carry her before bouncing into the air. A bracelet that looked too big for her began to glow in her palm. It might not be completely obvious what she was doing--that is until she hit the ground, of course. When Arle landed, it was as if a train had slammed into the ground at high speed, sending a powerful shockwave radiating out from her feet that threatened to blow Death away!

p_1d20+4 (Arle's Elephant King Bracelet; Does 39% Damage)

Arle then bounced off the ground as if she were on a trampoline, laughing as she twirled about in the air, performing a little twist before landing back on her feet, staggering slightly as she landed.

p_1d20+5 (Arle's Appeal)

Arle

Damage Taken:	46%
Bubble Shield:	55%
Appeal Points:	150

Status: Normal
Healing CD: 1 Turn Left
Thunder CD: 1 Turn Left
Holy Laser CS: 3 Turns Left

1d20+3·1d20+1·1d20+1·1d20+4·1d20+6·1d20+4·1d20+5

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Note: Thunder is supposed to target WIS (Mari forgot to mention), so Death does manage to dodge this attack since his +1 modifier makes it a 20 attack roll vs a 21 dodge roll. Thunder should also be doing -3% less damage as per Little Arle’s mechanics.

In addition to that, damage that Death has taken has been re-evaluated as previous attacks Little Arle has made have been ignoring the -3% damage penalty that this transformation is supposed to be putting into effect (Star Storm and Growth for example). Death gains +6% HP, Little Arle loses 12 Appeal as a result.

“…Death seems rather unfazed by that swarm of bees…”

“How could we be so foolish, Big Top! Those bees can’t do anything to him! He’s just a skeleton! There’s no flesh to sting!”

“…Wouldn’t their stingers still be jabbing at his bones?”

“What sense does that make, Big Top!? The pain inflicted from bee stings are based on the venom they inject!”

“They’re still stabbing at him.”

“He’s a pile of bones!”

“By that logic, how does anything hurt him?”

“One does not simply injure a God, Big Top! Death is a God, right!?”

“…I don’t know about that, Hades sure got a whooping the last time he was in here…”

“That was God vs God, Big Top! This is the embodiment of death versus a toddler! Those are two completely different situations!”

“Are we sure that this isn’t just a skeleton that donned a cloak and a scythe then started calling themselves Death? What power does Death have on a planet where people more often than not turn into trophies instead of dying anyways?”

“WAIT! Does that mean I can’t die of old age!?”

“…I guess. Is that a thing that happens to your species?”

“I have no idea! I’ve never seen another of my species in my entire life!”

“…How were you born?”

“OH! Look at the time, folks! It seems this fight is about to wrap up soon!”

HP: 86% Appeal: 56		HP: 46% Appeal: 153

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Death glanced at Little Arle, perplexed. However that did not stop him from trying to avoid the fireball.
DEX ROLL A: 1(Death will take that damage, he is already afflicted with the burn status, that ailment still remains unchanged)

He could not get out of the way in time to prevent his robe from being singed yet again. This however was nothing compared to what he expected to get hit by, and he was evenly matched with the spell to boot. But sadly...
DEX ROLL B: 17(I'm going to say this attack is going to hurt...)

The attack had the intended effectof doing the damage and sealing off any moves death had for healing himself... If he had any healing moves in his arsenal to begin with.. He would then tryand hilariously fail in dodging the third attack.
DEX ROLL C: 7(this is not kosher at all...)

Death crumpled into what was considered a literal pile of bones, his robe flying off as he clattered. Unfortunately for Little Arle, said bone pile began animating itself to come back to life albiet with the fact that she took off a significant chunk of his health, he was unphased by the pain and his eyeless sockets now shone with an ominous glow of red in the form of dots which were his actual eyes, and in his true skeletal form no less. "Oh dear, I might just lose this... Just so you know, you don't want to incur the wrath of the referee by killing me here and now, that would cause you to get disqualified from having future matches for about three months. And you still don't have to worry about losing your soul to me by way of me swallowing it, I'd never do that to a child unless it was a direct order from my master." Death said courteously, another of his reaper robes shrouding his body. He was having fun, and his trollish nature towards Little Arle was proof of it.

Without warning Death lashed out, aiming to deliver a brutal barrage of attacks starting with his Spinning Scythe.
STR ROLL A: 17-1=16{Brutal Spinning Scythe @ Little Arle, 5% dmg and 100% Mortal Wound chance if it connects}

Followed by another round of Twin Sickles.
STR ROLL B: 13-1=12{Twin Sickles @ Little Arle, 2 hits of 4% dmg if it connects}

Culinating in the form of quite literally the 'Business End' of Death's Plastic Scythe being used to invoke a far more dreaded reason to fear this reaper's actual blade.
STR ROLL C: 18-1=17{Lethal Deathscythe @ Little Arle, 20% dmg if it connects}

Death would then turn his back to Little Arle, Pissed to learn that he might lose, bit glad he found a worthy opponent to play with. He didn't leave the arena however, instead opting to sift through the wreckage of Funky Kong's Barrel Biplane, in search of Lt. Surge, that way the Lightning American could tend to his own wounds and exact Swift and sudden retribution on the ape.
Appeal roll: 18-3=15{and he manages to get Lt. Surge out of the wreckage too! Too bad Funky Kong, Death won't be letting anyone die on his watch.}

---

Death
HP: 6/170HP CRITICAL
Shield: 23/60(regenerating slightly...)
Status: Pulling Lt. Surge out of wreckage!
Poisoned (1)
Burned (6)
Invisibility cloak cooldown: Armed and Ready!
Deathscythe cooldown: 2 turns

[Mari]

(( Holy Laser has increased accuracy as part of its mechanics, as I explained in the chat. Thanks for catching that, G&W. I'm not 100% used to Little Arle's new mechanics yet. vwv ))

Arle giggles very nervously as Death got back up and ... did that at her. It reminded her of her kingdergarten final exam, where one of the first monsters she'd had to confront had been a tea loving skeleton who was so zen he tricked her into thinking he was just a regular old skeleton until she got close and he abruptly came to life. It had scared the hell out of her at the time. And why did everything Death say sound reassuring, yet somehow fail to comfort her? She felt distinctly threatened and she wasn't sure why. "O-Oh... I wouldn' wanna do that..." Arle half-heartedly replied, not because she wanted to kill Death but because she was just kinda having a hard time getting past the feeling that the feeling wasn't mutual. It kinda sounded a lot like he was forfeiting though! Which was all fine with her. She really wanted to just... run away and cling to Peach for a while until she felt safe again. "Condia!" Arle incanted, a healing magic enveloping Death!

((Death's poisoning has been cured, and the duration of his burn has been reduced by 2 turns! Arle gains 6 appeal points for her honorable gesture.))

Arle's anxiety was then proven right, however, as Death attacked her anyway! "Wah!!" Arle blurted out, creating a wall of transparent magic to block Death's attacks! They hit the magical shield, bouncing off harmlessly!

((Arle has bubble shielded Death's Spinning Scyth and Twinsickle))

KVuJpzdUp_1d20+3 (Arle's Deathscythe Dodge)

She then dropped the shield and frantically squirmed to flee out of the way when a much more powerful attack came at her! Thankfully, she was just barely able to dodge at the last moment, staggering slightly as she turned to confront Death for what he'd done. "Hey! You told me to stop 'cause you couldn' take another hit. That's cheating!" Arle indignantly pointed out. In all fairness, she had a point. Death had more or less just pretended to forfeit by calling for a cease-fire on Arle's end and then attacking her when she obliged. If one could not continue fighting, it was their responsibility to tap out after all! There were very likely rules against this sort of thing, but well... Arle wasn't about to wait for some adult to protect her. "Gwowf!" Arle blurted out. On cue, a bunch of vines burst from the ground and attempted to wrap around Death, restraining him! ...But this time it was a bit different. The vines had no thorns or needle-like hairs on them like before.

p_1d20+4 (Arle's Critical Growth! ...These vines has no thorns. They do no damage, but grapple Death to restrain him. Arle will earn 20 appeal points for her honorable gesture of grappling Death without hurting him if it hits.)

Arle

Damage Taken:	46%
Bubble Shield:	36%
Appeal Points:	228

Status: Normal
Holy Laser CS: 2 Turns Left

1d20+3·1d20+4

[Mr. Game & Watch]

As Death uncovered the remaining bits of biplane, he would quickly notice that there was no body to recover, that is, Lt. Surge was nowhere to be seen! Underneath the barrel with wings strapped onto it was a rather large burrow, one that his trophy could easily fit through.

“WOAH! Do you see that, Big Top!? Lt. Surge keeps himself in such great physical condition that even his trophy can dig him out of dire situations!”

“…Wait, if he isn’t down there, where is he?”

“Here.”

“AH!”

“By now you should probably stop being scared by my sudden appearances.”

“You got crushed by a biplane!”

“I got better.”

“Lt. Surge has been through wars, Big Top! That probably wasn’t the first!”

“My Pokémon know when to retrieve me.”

“Funky Kong’s about to become one dead ape…”

“He has a match to finish judging. I haven’t been around to watch the fight, so I can’t judge it properly. Besides, psychological warfare is far more impactful than anything I can do immediately. He’ll know I’m coming for him, but he won’t know when it will happen.”

“…That’s assuming that Funky Kong stresses over anything.”

“OH! Look at that crowd’s love for Little Arle! It’s reached critical mass again! Time for CHUMP CHARITY!”

“…Death looks like he’s on his last legs already, I don’t think that’s such a good idea… Besides the match is basically over.”

“Not just yet, Big Top! We need to see if Death can out pace those vines! And I’m spinning the wheel anyways!”

Round and round the wheel in the sky keeps on turning! It clicks across the pegs until it lands on a big red piece of the pie, the legendary bird of fire sketched on it. It looked like it was drawn on with a dabbing of crude crayons, no doubt being of Ballyhoo’s artistry.

“OH! It looks like our skeletal friend’s already badly singed! The cruel irony!”

“…That isn’t ir-”

“Woah is me, Big Top! We tried very hard to catch that bird! Do you have any idea how many Pokeballs I had to throw at that thing before it was caught!? A sad day indeed! It may only get worse for Death if he doesn’t dodge that snare of vines!”

HP: 160% Appeal: 84		HP: 46% Appeal: 228

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Ironically enough, Death knew that It. Surge could take care of himself, as the Grim Reaper found out when he saw the hole. And he Willingly let the vines take hold and restrain him, since there was no point in dodging a crit grab.

He did however keep calm, since he knew the fight was over. "Thank you kiddo. I actually wanted you to either block or dodge those attacks since I was a in a bit of a temper. You truly are a worthy opponent, the second girl to actually prove yourself. The reason I say you are the second is because Shanoa came first." Death said with calm indifference, the hood of his robe falling off his skull, which turned to face the commentators booth, beady red dots in eyeless sockets glaring at Ballyhoo out of concern for his own sanity.

The poison was purged and the burn lessened but still singed him, and the final round of bee stingers struck.

Though Death could not be truly killed by any mortal attacks, merely inconvenienced. After all, he will only yield to those who have his true weakness; the Vampire Killer Whip.

---

Death
HP: 1/170HP CRITICAL
Shield: 28/60
Status: Grappled
Burned(4)
Deathscythe cooldown: 1 turn

[Mari]

...Little Arle glanced up at the commentator's booth for a moment before returning her attention to Death. Something bad was about to happen. She could tell! The tiny mage tilted her head slightly at Death's words, glancing up to the sky and quietly wondering to herself. The second girl to ever prove themselves..? Wow~! That sounded really cool actually! She felt like she was making some sort of statement about girls being capable of being strong now! After all, Death had to be like a bazillion years old right? Clearly not every girl who tried succeeded, making this an achievment! A bright smile manifested itself on her face and she giggled light-heartedly. "Thank you Mr. Death. I was gonna heal you right now but I think it'd jus' hurt you worser 'cause you're a skeletin..." Arle absent-mindedly rambled, idly stuffing a finger that had gotten cut into her mouth. She'd known her healing spell to ocassionally burn unholy creatures instead of healing them, and this seemed like a pretty unsafe time to test that theory. She'd already forgotten that Chump Charity was in play.

Arle

Damage Taken:	46%
Bubble Shield:	41%
Appeal Points:	256

Status: Normal
Holy Laser CS: 1 Turns Left

[Mr. Game & Watch]

As the timer reached its peak, the alarm shaped like a monkey with cymbals began to clang wildly, echoing throughout the arena. Oh wait, that monkey was actually Funky Kong. The swingin’ simian grew a wide grimace, tossing away his musical instruments and leaping onto the battlefield. “Ha ha! Looks like we come to the end of another slamma jamma!” he eagerly announced as he reached behind his back. He pulled a couple of shining bananas from who knows where and passed them both over to the contestants. “Wrinkly Kong always said that nothing clings yah closer to life than a good ol’ banana! And I wouldn’t want to live in a world where she’s wrong!”

The gorilla slammed his chest and turned to the audience for a moment. “Enough snack-a-lacking! It’s time we choose a winner out of these two totally tubular troopers!” Once more, Funky Kong reached behind his back and pulled a sheet of paper out from wherever he stored his things, looking at it very carefully. “Ah! I knew I forgot to pick up milk at Sigma Mart!” he stated with a snap of his fingers and just as quickly put his grocery list away.

“Now that that’s not hexing my mind, I’m about to lay the smack down on all ya’ll with my official rating of this match! Arle! You showed the best strategy out there today! Death could pull any trick he wanted on you, but you had just the right answer to show him what for! Not to mention your own strategies that kept this scary skeleton on the ropes! Speaking of! The ball was clearly in your court throughout the course of the game, so that’s another crystal coconut to add to the bunch! Not to mention your fighting prowess oozes of style! I couldn’t keep my eyes off of you!” the ape announced as he tossed a thunder badge her way for every aspect that he highlighted.

Funky Kong turned to Death and quickly patted his pockets. As he felt nothing left in them, he shrugged to the embodiment of death. “Sorry my dude, looks like I’m all out of badges to give! You did great too, my brudda, but Little Arle’s got the jam that everyone wants on their toast, if ya know what I mean!”

	DEATH	LITTLE ARLE
DAMAGE	46	169
APPEAL	84	256
BADGES	0	90
TOTAL	130	515

“WOAH! That’s the highest score I think I’ve ever seen! Well my monkeys, it looks like my job here is done!” Funky Kong announced. He waved to the crowd once more, showcasing his pearly whites before rushing over to his crashed barrel plane and hopping into the cockpit. Without a moment’s hesitation, he broke both his feet through the bottom of the barrel and lifted what remained of the aircraft with his body. He scampered off not too long afterward.

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Death snapped himself back to reality, he knew he lost, Slogra and Gaibon were witnesses to this, and they obediently helped their master loose from the vines. "Savor your victory child, you have earned both that and my respect." Death said as his durable Plastic Scythe was swapped back out with his ultra-hardened Stainless steel Nintendium Scythe. He then made to leave, the fog obscuring him and his subordinates, though to be on the safe side, Little Arle was now safe, having bested Death himself, but woe betide Funky Kong, he made himself a menacing new enemy, one he will never be able to escape from no matter how hard the ape tried. "Note to self: entomb Funky Kong's soul in the River Styx where it will never see the light of day again." these words were eagerly anticipated by his minions, who also wanted to ensure that Funky Kong got the worst punishment possible.

The fog lifted, Leaving Little Arle alone in the arena, perhaps Princess Peach and the others would celebrate her victory against the Grim Reaper, maybe even invite others to join the party.

---

Death
End Presence