The Horsemen of Apokolips VS. The Underhills

 Darkseid's Horsemen of Apokolips are:  Darkseid w/ The Infinity Gauntlet and all stones (space, power, time, reality, mind, & soul), Granny Goodness and The Female Furies: Bloody Mary, Stompa, Lashina, & Mad Harriet, Orion, Kalibak, Desaad, Supergirl, Agent Smith (w/ 2 white lightsabers), Zombie Superboy, Megatron, Poseidon, Seaworm #7-10, The Flash (w/ a blue lantern ring), The Juggernaut, Shazam, Apocalypse, He-Man & Battle Cat, Ultron, The Eradicator, Nekron, Black Lantern #3-5, Wedge Antilles in his X-Wing, Biggs Darklighter in his X-Wing, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Erasmus, & The Chimera Crew:  Pilot, Co-Pilot, Gunner, and Crew Member #1-5 in a Heavy Star Cruiser.

The Underhills are General Zod, Matrix (Supergirl), Neo (w/ 2 blue lightsabers), Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Abomination, Excalibur:  Captain Britain, Nightcrawler, Phoenix, Meggan, Shadowcat, Lockheed, Widget, & Kylun, Norma Cenva, Tamerlane, Mogo, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Radaghast the Brown (w/ a green lantern ring), Samwise Gamgee (w/ a blue lantern ring), The Aerialbots:  Silverbolt, Skydive, Fireflight, Air Raid, & Slingshot, Revan Reborn in Anakin Skywalker's Jedi V-Wing, Mera, Black Manta (w/ a Halberd), Percy Jackson, Namora, Seaworm #5-6, Ent #1-3, Maiar #1-5, & Xenomorph #1-4.

Is it too bold a statement to say that these two squads are the best to face off against one another in the entire history of The FFL??   Perhaps it is; but I also don't mind being the guy to make it.  

I feel like a match consisting of two squads so excellent as these should be a fantastic story, one for the ages; but I fear it will not.  No room for banter, witty quips, or toilet jokes from The Neon Master Pogo.  This match is serious; and the tone will reflect that.  

The first wave of battles takes place in the capitol city of The Playoff Planet.  A city I fear will soon be little more than a pile of rubble after these two powerhouse teams have their ways with it.  Skyscrapers and Old World Buildings fall like dominoes as the two squads converge on the concrete.   The vicious and vile Zombie Superboy moves towards Captain Britain; but The Excalibur leader evades his initial attack and manages to get the cloned, zombified Kryptonian in a headlock.  Britain can tell that the zombie is physically stronger than he; but Britain is smart and still has his wits about him.  The Captain manages to muster every bit of strength he has to crack the decaying neck of Superboy clean off his shoulders.  A salty Supergirl, dressed in a tight black outfit; being manipulated by her team leader Darkseid smirks with disgust as she sees Matrix-Supergirl wearing a uniform similar to that which she used to drip with.  She attacks the imposter, screaming about true Kryptonian power and how "she think, she cute".  Supergirl grabs Matrix by her hair and left leg, takes flight and bashes her into a nearby building until the bricks atop the spire and every bone in Matrix's body are completely shattered.  The Eradicator in another showing of sheer Kryptonian derived power takes to the air where he meets Kyle Rayner.  The Eradicator delights in challenge and waits until he sees Kyle Rayner has fully surrounded himself with a green aura shield before he unleashes his heat vision at full potency to watch it slowly burn through first the aura, then the shield, and lastly through Kyle himself.  Nekron does not seem to like the idea of a large gilded being parading around as a self-appointed Dark Lord; so he leads his trio of Black Lanterns towards Sauron who is emerging from a pile of rubble that was once a place of worship for citizens of The Playoff Planet.  Nekron moves swiftly towards Sauron; but the Lord of Mordor does not flinch as he cleaves his mace into the head of Nekron as if he were swatting a fly.  Sauron then lifts up his arm as if to reach out to the three black lanterns whom he simply absorbs into his own evil self as if they were a snack.  General Zod has taken a liking to his teammate Abomination, whose mindless destructiveness reminds him of his old friend Non after his lobotomy.  The two Underhill powerhouses mow through the four female furies with smiles on their faces stomping and lashing out against the four making them mad and bloody as Bloody Mary, Mad Harriet, Lashina, and Stompa fall to their might.  On the other side of the city, The Incredible Hulk is beginning to rage.  He sees a worthy opponent in Kalibak in the distance and they begin to do battle.  Kalibak is known to be able to take a punch from Superman; so therefore he was not killed by the first building leveling punch to the face from The Hulk.  It was the next three dozen that did it.  Banner in his large green form then used the lifeless body of Kalibak as weapon to crush the skull of his partner Desaad.  Darkseid is not happy to see some of his henchmen defeated so easily; so he decides to make a few statements of his own.  He sees the enormous mech known as Tamerlane who has come to battle in a giant oval tank form.  Darkseid, with his fully powered, stone laden Gauntlet comes down hard from the sky on the center of Tamerlane sending debris from the mech flying and stomping the brain of the Titan inside.  Meggan, with near god-like powers of her own rushes towards the freshly landed Darkseid, who glances down at his Gauntlet and smirks before deciding not to even tap into that power yet.  He shoots a glare at Meggan and then takes her out the old fashioned way with a quick omega beam blast, that continues through her body and then torches the wizard Radaghast as well before diminishing.  Kylun caught a punch to the face from The Flash that he certainly did not see coming.  He-Man rides through the three Ents atop Battle Cat with his axe in hand and cuts the three of them down as if he were slicing a trio of candles, while the unlikely team up of Shazam and Ultron combine their powers to make short work of five Maiar.  During this time Apocalypse takes a moment to dissect the four, acid blood Xenomorphs he has recently killed to be used in future experiments.

It is not simply that the city storyline is complete; but that the city itself is no more.  

Deep within the sea of the Playoff Planet at the very crust of the core two powerhouse water teams square off.  These two water teams are so formidable that they almost seem as a microcosm of the full squads themselves.  The Underhills outnumber The Horsemen; but the greatest water warrior of either side:  Poseidon belongs to Darkseid's batch of brawlers.  The territorial Seaworms do battle amongst themsleves while Poseidon handles the rest.  The heroic Percy Jackson sees what must be done and knows that he cannot allow Poseidon to be victorious here and join his fellow Horsemen on the surface.  Percy, flanked by Mera and Namora grabs the Halberd from the grips of his teammate Manta and combines it with his own powers as he uses the Halberd to Cast Bolt 2 frying the depths of the Sea with magic lightning killing himself, The Seaworms, his own partners, and even Poseidon the King.  

We now move to the desert.  Actually, this was once the beautiful green forest of the Playoff Planet, it just appears as a desert now after the destruction these two squads have done.  Several of the combatants from each side, some with vehicles some without have taken high to the sky above the arctic areas, as well as some residing outside the atmosphere in space.  But the majority are here in the nearly destroyed forest area as previously mentioned.  It is that ground battle that continues to rage that we will return to briefly.  

Thrawn and Erasmus, aboard The Heavy Star Cruiser have changed course to head towards the Green Lantern Planet Mogo, while Darkseid has teleported himself directly to the surface of Mogo along with his son Orion and occasional girlfriend Granny Goodness.  Wedge and Biggs in their X-Wings engage in an outnumbered dogfight with Revan and the five Aerialbots.  Wedge hits Revan's ship with a proton torpedo blowing it out of the sky; but Revan manages to eject out onto the snowy landscape (it may take him a while to get back to the battle).  The two X-Wing pilots then kick up the thrusters and get the Aerialbots to follow them through the atmosphere and into space where they plan to corner the flying Autobots back by their capitol ship and commanding officer Admiral Thrawn.  Supergirl, The Eradicator, Megatron, and Ultron take flight to leave the planet as well to rendezvous with their partners on the enemy planet of Mogo.  

Despite the great power of the two about to meet their doom; Neo slices his way through Apocalypse, while Agent Smith sends swords through the chest of Rachel Summers before the two Matrix powerhouses engage each other in a pitched quadruple lightsaber battle for the ages atop the forest's highest valley.  We will have to return to that as well, for neither combatant seems able to gain the upper hand over the other.  Rachel Summer's Phoenix Force left her body and quickly attached itself to the similarly powered Norma Cenva.  

The Underhills have The Horsemen outnumbered in the woods; but Zod and his team cannot help but think The Horsemen are stalling them on purpose.  Zod and Spider-Man square off against He-Man and Battle Cat, while John Stewart and Norma Cenva attempt to catch The Flash.  In the depths of the remaining hills Juggernaut and Shazam are a handful on their own for the remaining members of Excalibur, Hulk, his arch-enemy, and Samwise.  

He-Man leaps off of Battle Cat as the two partners separate but stay close to take on the duo in front of them.  Spider-Man slings a flurry of webs at He-Man; but they barely serve to slow down the Eternian.  He-Man and Battle Cat then move to surround Zod, Spidey leaps into the middle to defend his teammate; but Battle Cat gets a hold of him with his jaws and rips him in two.  General Zod uses the loss of his partner to a tactical advantage and brings a double fist down on the neck of Battle Cat to cracking his vertebrae.  He-Man is now enraged to see the final death of his steed and best friend.  He-Man attacks with bloodlust as he engages General Zod in a pitched battle.  They trade blows that could one shot dinosaurs; but neither one falls.  It isn't until Zod realizes that He-Man is his equal in strength that he takes to the air and takes advantage of his other powers that he gains the upper hand.  He weakens He-Man with an intense blast of heat vision to the upper body and freeze breath to the lower body before coming in at break neck speed to pummel the Eternian and finally finish him off.  The Flash rushes in with the speed force to take out his second green lantern of the day as he blasts through the chest of John Stewart; but Norma Cenva taps into the speed force mentally and with a mere thought sends The Flash into a far off universe where he met a quick death.  

  

Juggernaut tests his strength against Abomination and finds that his claim of being unstoppable is verified as he mows through the gamma ray monstrosity; but when it comes to The Hulk, the madder he gets the stronger he gets.  The Juggernaut doesn't only get stopped but gets smashed when the Hulk hits his peak strength.  Shazam is taking on Excalibur all by himself.  The British X-Men seem to have the upper hand against Shazam; but none of them are quite powerful enough to put a deadly hit on the young incarnation of Captain Marvel.  But once Hulk becomes available and joins his teammates, they are able to finish off Shazam for good.

The Aerialbots are not able to compete with Wedge and Biggs in the dogfight; but once they get into space The Aerialbots merge to form Superion.  Once the gestalt is created they are able to smack the X-Wing of Biggs into the cosmos; but Superion then finds himself confronted with the heavy star cruiser under the command of Grand Admiral Thrawn himself.  The Heavy Star Cruiser, makes a play like it is moving towards Mogo; but it sets its weapons array on the target of Superion instead.  Although Thrawn and Erasmus, despite their tactical military genius, were not aware of the speed Superion could attain in space.  The two military masterminds of The Horsemen's plan, along with their ship and crew found themselves unable to defend against the firepower and sheer brute strength of the Aerialbot Gestalt who blasts apart their ship.  Wedge watches from his X-Wing as he notices a chink in the armor of Superion that he exploits with a perfectly aimed proton torpedo.  This blasts apart the combiner and causes the five Aerialbots to split back apart, killing Fireflight in the process.  The other four planes regain their composure and begin to fly straight; but are met by Supergirl, Megatron, Ultron, and The Eradicator on their way to Mogo that make short work of them.  

Neo and Agent Smith finally reach an end to their epic lightsaber battle as they both reach a point of digital exhaustion and join each other in death with an almost identical dual lightsaber thrust to their mutual chests.  

All remaining members of The Horsemen of Apokolips begin to arrive on the surface of Mogo, as they know that their victory is contingent on the destruction of the green lantern planet.  The primitive natives of the planet Mogo rally together to defend their world and begin to attack Darkseid and his Horsemen; but despite them numbering in the tens of thousands they serve as little more than a nuisance.  Supergirl and the other fliers arrive safely; but Wedge's X-Wing cannot make it through the green energy aura.  Wedge manages to survive after some excellent aerial maneuvers and ejects to safety to join his crew.  

Back on The Playoff Planet:

Four rings are still flying around the closed system of The Playoff Planet (three green and a blue).  The green ring once held by John Stewart calls to the other three as they meet in the sky.  They stop in the vicinity of each other as if they are simply taking a break from their duties to have a casual conversation.  Once together, the rings fly in unison to the only spot they feel appropriate.  They land on the hand of a small unassuming Hobbit, answering to the name of Sam.  

Revan regroups with his fellow Underhills just in time to hear the plan.  They know that the Horsemen intend to use all of their might to destroy Mogo and then return to The Playoff Planet to finish off The Underhills.  But The Underhills are more capable of travel than The Horsemen realize.  With Widget's teleportation powers, and Norma Cenva's ability to fold space they are able to transport the entire squad to the surface of Mogo where the finality of this match will need to be decided.  

ON THE SURFACE OF MOGO:  THE FINAL CHAPTER:

The Underhills arrive on the surface of Mogo to be greeted by by a grin from Darkseid and an order with no words to his Horsemen.  Simply a gauntlet covered finger point towards their opponents that his squad understands as a symbol for an all out attack.  Neither side holds anything back as they engage in the final stage of a battle so epic that these words have not done justice to it in the least.  Revan pops his lightsaber for the first time in this match and Force runs in swiftly to remove the head of Granny Goodness.  Zod engages in his third brutal and pitched battle of the day when The Eradicator steps up.  They both take flight and begin throwing down high in the skies of Mogo.  

Mogo is normally far more than a free floating space rock; but since Darkseid's arrival he has been using The Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones to suppress both the natural and the green lantern powers of the planet.  Darkseid plans to test the stones in due time to see if they are indeed powerful enough to destroy this entire living planet with a snap of his fingers; but he is biding his time.  The Underhills believed that they were enacting a surprise attack when they arrived on Mogo; but this is exactly where Darkseid wanted them.  Exactly where he planned to end them for good.  

Wedge pulls out his blaster and takes aim at Shadowcat; but Kitty Pryde phases herself and allows the lasers to travel right through her.  She moves on the rebel pilot grabbing his blaster, phasing it and placing it into his body.  She then unphases the object providing an uncomfortable death for poor Wedge.  

Norma Cenva meditates deeply in a bit of hidden brush.  She taps into the cosmic brain of Orion and simply makes it stop functioning.  

Zod finds himself in a state of utter exhaustion as he stands over the lifeless body of The Eradicator.  As he tries to recover, he assures himself that clones may be tough; but they are no substitute for a real Kryptonian.  

Hulk leaps in towards Megatron and knocks the large Decepticon to the ground; but he composes himself quickly.  Supergirl flies in to defend her partner, grabbing hold of the Hulk and powerslamming him to the ground.  Captain Britain starts delivering some haymakers on Ultron; but he finds that he is hurting himself just as much as he is the vibranium robot.  Sauron enters the skirmish as well; but this fight is far from over as the two sides, like always are evenly matched and won't be resolved quickly.  The Hulk almost gains the upper hand over Supergirl; but their fight gets broken apart by the entry of Sauron.  Ultron and Supergirl end up switching positions, just as Megatron transforms into his gun form and is caught by Ultron.  Ultron imbues his own powers into the already, fully energon charged single shot that Megatron has been building towards.  Ultron takes aim with Megatron in hand and hits The Hulk with a perfectly aimed shot to the temple of the green goliath, shockingly bringing him down.  Supergirl does not miss a beat and gets a choke hold on Captain Britain yelling USA, USA loudly just to taunt the mutant as she crushes out his last bit of life.

Samwise, with his Elven dagger in one hand, a frying pan in the other, and a pair of hands covered in rings bravely runs towards Darkseid; but the master of Apokolips simply swipes his hand left and knocks the halfling away.  Widget and Lockheed fly in next; but Darkseid grabs Widgets with his Gauntlet covered hand to crush the robot into oblivion, while simultaneously grabbing the dragon Lockheed by the throat with his naked hand.  Lockheed opens his mouth and hits Darkseid with a blast of fire, as he is being choked out; but it has no affect on The Horsemen leader whatsoever.  Darkseid knows that the time has come to truly put the limits of his limitless powers to the test.  He drops to one knee and places his hand on the ground as if to feel a pulse from the living world.  He then smirks, looks at his own hand and the weapon attached to it and snaps his finger.......

Instantly the ground starts to quake.  The earth begins to crumble away.  Volcanoes erupt.  The seas begin to boil.  The sky becomes as black as sack cloth.  Not only is the mind that was once Mogo completely destroyed but the corpse planet is on a brutal path of destruction along with it.  The only question is how many minutes people have to possibly get off this rock before this match is declared a draw from nothing surviving this act (even me).  The few remaining members of both squads continue to achieve victory; but they are doing more battling with the unnatural disaster itself than they are with each other.               

Darkseid is reveling in his destructive achievement; but he is still facing an attack from The Dark Lord Sauron that is not to be trifled with.  Zod has finally met his match has he engages in yet another (Becks style) pitched battle with his first true Kryptonian of the day: Supergirl.  Nightcrawler and Shadowcat work their way over to the fight in progress between their friends Norma Cenva and Revan, who are taking on Ultron and Megatron who has reverted back to his large robot mode.  

Norma Cenva looks deep into the optics of Megatron who is being kept busy by the ever elusive Nightcrawler and Shadowcat.  She looks into the shared memories of hundreds of generations of her sisters and back to her own mother.  A mother she did not get along with; but who fought a war with a noble cause to destroy thinking machines like the one before her.  Norma unleashes the Phoenix Force taken from Rachel Summers and attaches herself to Megatron.  She sends them both into a fiery oblivion an incalculable distance away leaving even more destruction in their wake on this already crumbling planet.  Shadowcat phases through Ultron to disrupt his circuitry, while Nightcrawler delivers a drop kick to Ultron's face.  Although it is the great Force wielder Revan who finishes Ultron off by sending a Force aided lightsaber through the robot to slice him into four pieces.  As Revan attempts to turn off his saber he looks down slightly to see a detached robot hand still around his neck.  It is then that he feels his windpipe close for good.  

Supergirl has gained the upper hand over Zod and is pummeling him into the what is left of the ground.  Shadowcat looks at her beloved friend Nightcrawler and speaks:  "Hey Kurt, remember that thing Professor Xavier told us never to do??  That thing he said would never be worth it in any scenario".  

"I remember my friend.  I also remember that he was correct and that we defeated Magneto that day without doing that horrific act".  Replies Wagner.

"I think this day might be worse Buddy".  Says Kitty.

Nightcrawler reaches out for Kitty Pryde's hand and says:  "The Lord is our Shepherd, let him forgive us for what we are about to do".  

A loud BAMF is heard as NIghtcrawler teleports his own body into that of Supergirl.  The phased body of Shadowcat does the same as she unphases herself inside the Kryptonian woman who was finishing off their commanding officer Zod.  

Sauron approaches Darkseid with murderous intent, ready to end this battle once and for all.  The Great Deceiver of Mordor swings his mighty Mace not twice but thrice at the wielder of the Infinity Stones; but Darkseid dodges the first two swings and then catches the spiked ball with his Gauntlet encrusted hand.  Darkseid holds Sauron steady while glaring at The Ring of Power.  Darkseid then blasts Sauron's arm clean off at the wrist and watches as The One Ring falls to the ground.  The massive winds blows the lifeless hand and ring away where they land at the feet of Sam.  Sam looks at The Ring and then looks to the broken body of his team leader General Zod, who lay dying on the broken grounds.  "You cannot wield it Lad.  Don't try it".  Zod says with his dying breath.

Sam picks up The Ring knowing that it may transition him to join with the forces of evil; and puts it onto his left finger next to The Flash's old Blue Ring.  Not invisible to one carrying the reality stone, he approaches Darkseid who asks him curtly:  "Who are you supposed to be"??  

"I'm The Lord of the Rings" replies Sam.  

The commandingly powerful Darkseid asks yet another question:  "Do you intend to fight me Little One"??

Both combatants knowing full well, who would win a one on one fight, Samwise replies:  "No Sir Mr. Dark Side.  I plan to finish what you started".  

With those words.  Sam does not hesitate to take The One Ring back off of his finger and cast it into the fiery chasm below them.  The Ring hits the magma inside the crust of the planet and ushers in the inevitable end of what was once Mogo.  The ground opens up underneath the last few living creatures and swallows them into the abyss of dust as it dissipates in the dark of space.

.......

........................

An indefinite amount of time later, a tiny hobbit awakens in space, concealed by a blue and green aura.  Uncertain of his whereabouts, the small creature looks down at the rings on his fingers and asks them a question:  "Where are you taking me"??

The ring answers telepathically:  "We are taking you to The Universe Bowl Mr. Gamgee".