Basic Trope: Allies arrive just in time to save the heroes.
- Straight: Alice and Bob are surrounded by Emperor Evulz and his Mooks, facing certain death. Charles arrives and smashes Evulz and his mooks with his troops.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice and Bob, defenseless littlest cancer patients, are about to be nuked by Evulz. Then, he is nuked by very high precision nuke thingies launched by Charles and his troops.
- Every single time Alice and Bob are in trouble, Charles and his troops show up to save them.
- Downplayed: Alice and Bob are facing a large number of mooks in what promises to be a very close battle. Midway through, Charles and his troops arrive and are just enough to tip the odds in the heroes' favor.
- Justified:
- Alice and Bob set up a Last Stand in order to lure Evulz to battle in order to be defeated by Charles and his troops.
- Alice and Bob have a magical item that allows them to call for Charles for help when they need it the most.
- Charles has Psychic Powers that tell him when Alice and Bob are in trouble, so he can send in his troops to save them.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Bob have Evulz surrounded, but then his mook army arrives and defeats them.
- Alice and Bob are surrounded and fighting to their last, and another division of Evulz's mooks arrives.
- Alice and Bob rescue Charles, who is in trouble.
- Subverted:
- Charles and his troops turn on Alice and Bob.
- Charles and his troops were The Redshirt Army. The result was a Curb-Stomp Battle, and they were quickly decimated.
- Charles and his troops show up too late to make a difference.
- Charles and his troops run away.
- Double Subverted:
- The betrayal of Charles and his troops turned out to be fake to let Evulz have his guard down, so they can finally rescue Alice and Bob when Evulz isn't looking.
- Many of the troops involved in Charles and his troops' betrayal pull a Heel–Face Turn at the last second.
- Charles and his troops show up too late to make a difference in the fight, but early enough to evacuate Alice and Bob to the nearest hospital Just in Time.
- It turns out that the real Evulz was outside, and the Evulz and the mooks surrounding Alice and Bob were just robots so Evulz can finish his evil plan outside. Charles and his troops shut down the robots, kill the real Evulz, and rescue Alice and Bob in time.
- Parodied:
- At the sight of a single troop, Evulz and his mooks wet themselves in terror and flee.
- Charles and his troops save Alice and Bob from tiny problems.
- Zig-Zagged: Charles and his troops save Alice and Bob from Evulz and his mooks' wrath, but then they betray them, only for some of the troops seemingly make a Heel–Face Turn, which turned out to be fake to let Alice and Bob's guard down so they can help Evulz and his mooks kill Alice and Bob, until Diane and her army arrives and kills the Charles, his troops, Evulz, and his mooks and rescue Alice and Bob.
- Averted: Charles and his troops never arrive. Alice and Bob fight their way out to safety instead.
- Enforced: "We've written Alice and Bob into a corner. We need a way to get them out of danger."
- Lampshaded: "Thank God Charles and his troops arrived in time."
- Invoked: Alice and Bob send a message to Charles in order to send in his troops.
- Exploited: Evulz isn't after the heroes; he wanted to kill Charles and his troops, and he knew they would show up if Alice and Bob were in serious danger.
- Defied: "We can't spare any troops to rescue Alice and Bob and risk more losses!"
- Discussed: "Only one way we can get out of this one. A bunch of allies arriving just in time to save us."
- Conversed: "Well, at least they were saved at the last second. Would be a Tear Jerker to see Alice and Bob die."
- Deconstructed:
- Because they expect Charles and his troops to save them, Alice and Bob don't fight very hard. When Charles and his troops don't show up to rescue them, they lose.
- Charles and his troops don't show up on time, so Alice and Bob commit suicide, deciding that it's Better to Die than Be Killed. Turns out they Gave Up Too Soon, as Charles and his troops show up minutes after Alice and Bob shoot themselves.
- Charles and his troops rescues Alice and Bob, but Charles loses all of their best warriors in the effort.
- After making one costly rescue too many, Charles and his troops decide not to save Alice and Bob.
- Because they expect Charles and his troops to save them, Alice and Bob make reckless decisions that eventually lead to their deaths.
- Reconstructed:
- Turns out Charles and his troops were a bit late; they arrive a few minutes later and smash Evulz and his mooks.
- Charles and his troops revive them from the dead, and they then kill Evulz and his mooks in a Curb-Stomp Battle.
- Charles decides to hire more troops when he reaches home.
- They then later come back with more troops thanks to Diane, and they save Alice and Bob just in time.
- Charles and his troops arrive just in time just before Alice and Bob die, and rescue them.
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