Had anyone else been riding through the cold wind of the Russian Cosmodrome heading to the Plague Lands on the other side of the wall, they'd have been complaining the whole way. "Why did I get sent on patrol" or "This is always so dull, nothing but a few Spliced Fallen to kill." Or James' favorite, "We've killed all the big bads so why worry about the minions?" The truth of the matter was that even with the threat that the SIVA virus had posed destroyed and the Devil Splicers left with no leader, the Fallen and other minions of the Dark were still a threat. And so, that was one reason that the Guardian known as James Varrock, who had helped fell Crota, Atheon, Oryx, and Aksis, three of whom were considered Gods, tore through the landscape on his Laurelbearer sparrow. The other reason was that as a Hunter, being in the wilderness was his life. Sure, the Tower had good eats and the various vendors had good or decent buys, but it was always so stuffy, what with all the various representatives, maintenance crew, and Guardians there.

His least favorite place to be was the Hall of Guardians, unless he only had to deal with Cayde-6, the mentor to all the newer Hunters and good friend to most of the older ones like himself. Commander Zavala was always so formal and all business and Ikora all facts and data. In fact, if the Nightstalker gave it any serious thought, he didn't think he'd ever seen either the Titan or the Warlock having fun anywhere. Still, he didn't sweat it any, since he rarely had to deal with either of them since Aksis had been slain and the patrols were done remotely by beacon anyways. The ride had been silent from where he'd touched down as well, with a majority of the Fallen preferring to avoid engaging a Guardian if they could help it. Those that still took pot shots were simply outrun, as James wanted to conserve ammo today. They were reaching the halfway mark to the Plaguelands when Charger, his Ghost companion, spoke up, a whited out image of him appearing as he said his piece. "James, tracking an unidentified object coming at us fast from above."

James growled in annoyance, already preparing to jump off his sparrow and take the object out. It would seem that conserving ammo wouldn't happen as it should for the Hunter today. "You get a scan on it yet or should I shoot first and ask questions later?" The Ghost sighed in annoyance and didn't respond right away.

"It seems that it's a turtle sitting on a cloud. as strange as it sounds. And as far as I can tell, it's not hostile. We should stop and let it catch up." James didn't slow down right away, and so his companion's response was to make the sparrow disappear from under his partner. The Hunter yelped in surprise and tumbled across the ground several feet before stopping, groaning slightly as his shield bar at the top of his HUD flashed at him.

"Sneaky sonova-" His sentence was cut short by the arrival of said turtle on the cloud and all the Guardian could do as it produced it's envelope was stare at it. He'd fought the Fallen on Earth, Venus and the Moon and slain the self proclaimed Kell of Kells. He'd faced down the eldritch horrors known as the Hive on Earth, the Moon and Oryx's dreadnaught and felled two of their gods. He'd faced the military might of the Cabal and triumphed across Mars and on Oryx's dreadnaught again. Even the Vex and their ability to manipulate time hadn't phased him. But this? This was strange, even with the alien monsters he'd faced and survived. Still, when it showed no hostile intentions, which his Ghost smugly pronounced he had been right, he took the envelope and watched the creature sail off into the sky once more.

"Open it already! Clearly it was important enough to send something we'd never seen before to deliver." James glanced sideways at his crimson-shelled companion, who had materialized shortly after the forced stop, and his logic before breaking the seal with a shrug. The letter opened and James read it aloud:

Dear Hero,

You are receiving this letter because you were chosen to undertake a most challenging task. Your life will be endangered if you so choose to selflessly take up arms in defense of your world as well as others…

James regarded the letter in silence for a moment, as did Charger, after reading the information on the Mugen Virus and it's widespread effects. And then he broke the silence at the same time a smile broke out beneath his helmet. "Connect me to Cayde." If a little robot eye could blanche, he would have, because he knew what his partner was thinking.

"You're really going to d-" James held up a finger to stop the little robot and Charger sighed before obliging.

"Cayde here. What do ya need, James?" James could barely contain his excitement for such a far flung adventure.

"Let Zavala and Ikora know their favorite Hunter is going to be unavailable for a time. I just got an invitation to stop a threat that's even bigger than the SIVA outbreak was. Multiple worlds type danger." Cayde's laugh was hearty and understanding.

"Copy that, James. Good hunting." The channel was closed from Cayde's end and, after Charger disappeared back to his place in James' armor with a grumbled misgiving about the adventure, the Hunter tapped yes. The portal appeared and without a moment's hesitation, the Nightstalker stepped into it, on to save his world and many others.

---

In the past when James had passed through a portal, his vision had only vanished for the briefest of moments, the longest of those when he'd traversed to the Black Garden to destroy it's heart. Here, the blindness felt like eternity before it cleared. When it finally did, however, he found himself in the cockpit of his jumpship, a castle of exquisite design filling the forward viewport. While confused on why he was in his jumpship to begin with, he did no question it as he had a sense he was already late. "Well, we're definitely not in Old Russia anymore. Let's go." For once his Ghost agreed and in a blink of digital like lines, he disappeared from the cockpit and reappeared already spriting towards an entrance. An orange creature stopped him and spoke gibberish and then got behind him and pushed him forwards, clearly annoyed.

Taking the cue, James moved quickly and followed the creatures instructive use of the strange elevator, typing in the numbers two and six before stepping in. In a much shorter blind spell, he appeared on another floor, this one covered in the remains of what smelled like a fantastic meal. And it also looked like the Hunter had missed a fantastic food fight. "Well damn, missed food and the fight it seems." The orange creature pushed him from behind again and James moved forwards. "Alright, alright, I'm going, I'm going." Another door near the other end of the mess and to the left stood open and that was where the creature pushed James to. Once he was at the doorway, it was content and left the Guardian to look over the already assembled heroes.

Unfortunately, those he should have recognized, such as Samus, Mario, and Luigi, rung no bells for him, so he instead opted to flip the hood of his cloak down and remove his helmet, after removing the rounds from his Imago Loop and holstering it on his right side again, as Charger appeared and took a seat near the person with orange armor (Samus) and the armor cannon after moving the barrel of his Stillpiercer which rested on his back so he could. He then got the attention of the guy with the flag tattoos, unaware that he'd not yet missed anything overtly important. "I apologize for being late, I got the letter in the middle of a patrol in the Cosmodrome. James Varrock, from the...well, I guess Bungie Kingdom or...maybe it's world."

After Luigi also asked for a more precise question, yet another hero came into the ring. It happens to be another small girl, with darker skin, large light-purple eyes, with two large ponytails, and wears a rather country/farmer-like outfit. Said person introduces herself as Hapu. Luigi then introduces himself, as well as to Narija and Samus respectively. The bounty hunter nods as she raises her hand with a slight wave. With that introduction aside, the amphibious individual began to explain herself.

”I guess I’ve never met someone who could be called a hero. Honestly, I wouldn’t really have considered myself one till the cloud turtle appeared and was told there was a meeting of them that I was invited to. So I guess was trying to find out what the definition of a hero was in terms of this meeting, what I can expect from the people I will be fighting along side.”

Seems rather innocent so far. It's good to know who you're fighting alongside and take note of their strengths and capabilities. Then again, if said person is a spy, then that can cause some trouble. Not like she is one to be one that looks like to be a traitor, but Samus is wary of individuals she doesn't know. From her experience, she'll need more than just a confirmation of "I'm on your side" or something amongst those lines, to grasp her trust completely. The bounty hunter simply nods understandingly as she continues listening to Naija silently.

”In a sense your question outlines the 2 of the 3 general possible answers I was expecting you to give, and which you think makes a hero. But are people here because they are heroic in character, because they have been hailed as a hero or because they have faced down evil and prevailed? Why someone they think they are a hero is maybe a good indication of character, are they proud of their deeds, honored by their people or self assured of their noble motives.”

Ok, now this just turned into English class. Everyone in the bright mind knows what the basic premise of what a hero is and isn't. Yet in Samus' case, to the Federation and other allied empires and civilizations, she is proclaimed as a hero. After all, she did kill the villainous Mother Brain on several occasions, as well as several other vicious space pirate generals, such as the monstrous Kraid, and her own nemesis, Ridley, the space pterosaur.

However, Samus is a bounty hunter. She basically lives off having to do jobs provided by any willing employer. She even somtimes have to to jobs she isn't quite fond of, all to have food on her plate and to ultimately survive. Of course, she doesn't just agree to every single offer, for she has her own interests and beliefs. One time, she almost wiped out an entire planet filled with the metroid aliens (see Metroid II: Return Of Samus), including their queen. All that was left, or at least so she thought at that time, was a single baby metroid, who soon after hatching had followed her 'like a confused child'. Then she gave it to the Federation as perhaps a secret source of unlimited energy, said alien getting stolen by Ridley(see Super Metroid), and at the end of the day, the baby eventually sacrificed itself to save Samus and give her the power to combat Mother Brain.

So is she a hero...? Sure, why not. Infamous towards her enemies, she indeed shows no remorse in striking fear into her enemies, while holding justice on the line at the same time. Naija continues henceforth.

” “It was also a really weird question to try and get to know you... sorry, you and Samus reminded me of some Lumerean scriptures I read in their ruins, I think you were mentioned in them? They seemed to liked to wax philosophical about stuff like ‘what makes a hero’ when they weren’t writing about praising the sun or their weird machines, so it kind of put me in that mindset.”

The amphibian turns to Samus at this stage, who is a little taken back that she has been presented in some sort of scripture. She isn't necessarily the "best" hero, as she doesn't always follow by the book, but she guesses her actions, good and/or bad, were still "achievements" in a sense.

”Um to answer you Samus, I think it’s because I have... killed monsters and things that have done great evil, but more because they were in the way of the answers I sought than because it was right thing to do. But I am here now, so maybe I can fight for a world where the people still live. For all worlds I guess because it is a good thing to do.”

There was a small silence in the room, the tall woman looking down as she then takes a look around her... at all the other heroes summoned as well. So it seems this girl has also faced monsters. Just like her of course. She looks down at Naija and smirks, muttering a faint "Hmph" in response.

"Yeah, you got the gist of it rather well." she responds, as she fixes her hair, "And now, you'll be having that chance to save the lives of billions from this virus. To really make a difference. And to you, along with everyone else in this room, I wish the best of luck."

As soon as she finishes, having already sat down, she sees yet ANOTHER somebody enter the door. Samus sighs again as she turns around to see who it is. Looks like most of the heroes are running a little late. Who knows how many more will come in later? Regardless, the newcomer was a man, who happened to also be wearing advanced armor himself, as he removes his helmet and flipping the hood of his cloak. The man sits down next to her, not saying any greetings to her or anyone else, other then to Guile.

"I apologize for being late, I got the letter in the middle of a patrol in the Cosmodrome. James Varrock, from the... well, I guess Bungie Kingdom or... maybe it's world."

Samus looks at him with a slight curiousity. His armor, while more on the advanced side of style, has more of a medieval touch to it, especially with the helmet and armor style. His weapons however, are regular, high-tech weaponry. He has shoulder length sandy blonde hair with orange eyes, while also sporting a light athletic build. His face also happens to be painted with a light white stripe pattern, though the bounty hunter isn't sure if it's tattoos or not. He was interesting to say the least.

"Dimension would probably be the better word." Samus responds to his statement towards Guile in a rather loose fashion, "By the way, nice retro-themed medieval armor. Guess you're more of the knight-in-shining-armor kind of guy, huh?"

Now that he had a chance to get an idea of what Naija was looking for, Luigi cupped his chin with his (slightly damp) gloved hand. "Well... For what it's worth I don't really consider myself much of a hero either. My brother Mario's the one who generally leads the charge when it comes to saving the Mushroom Kingdom or fighting whatever threat has raised its ugly head... I just tend to go along because someone has to watch out for him..." There was a slight pause before he added with a sigh "Even if he can be rather... egotistical."

---

Hapu nodded to Luigi, Samus, and Naija. "A pleasure to make your acquaintances," she said. "And as representative of the world of Pokémon, Mudsdale and I will gladly work at your side to quell this new threat."

Hapu idly rolled her Poké Ball on the table. She surveyed the characters she would be working with; among those, a crazed, but well-meaning bandicoot, a mystical white wolf, a cheflike fellow with a long tongue. Hapu had to appreciate the variety.

And then there was herself. A well-traveled Alolan riding around on a draft horse. She herself was intrigued about what she had to offer to such an important cause; after all, she was still contemplating her role in representing the holy Tapu Fini.

Listening to Luigi and Naija's conversation, Hapu spoke up. "Perhaps, in regards to your brother, being willing to watch out for him and make sure that hero work does get done is heroic in itself," she remarked. "I believe it is a variable definition, with one constant: the desire to do the right thing..."

Hapu itched her chin. "That being said, it's more nuanced of a definition than some would like to believe. There are those who aware of the danger they themselves pose, and those that believe themselves to be the heroes and yet hurt so many people in the process... and I do not know which is more dangerous."

Hapu leaned back. "Ah, I don't mean to intrude; that is a question I have thought about since my appointment as kahuna," she explained.

Not a soul echoed his greeting, but Slayer did not mind. His idea of pleasantries was, no doubt, outdated and unnecessary. With any luck, this venture would provide him an opportunity to take to heart the new normals that defined this young people's world. For want of anything else to do while he waited for the meeting to begin, Slayer kept a sharp eye out. Now that the assembly of heroes gathered in closer proximity, he could begin to more keenly size up each one. A bespectacled man sporting a neatly-trimmed beard and eye-catching orange accents on his armor gave him a nod of acknowledgment. Pleased to be noticed and indulged with his fellow man's good manners, he returned the gesture. Other than his clothing, the fellow seemed remarkably ordinary. If hero he was, Slayer decided, then he was the Everyman, with whom everyone could relate and identify. Of course, the vampire had little to base this conclusion in, but Freeman's face and manner struck him as essentially personable nonetheless.

Having moved on, Slayer next settled his eyes on an odd pair. The green-clad plumber he'd seen earlier, whose rather odd proportions, unassuming manner, and respectable yet subdued mustache pegged him as someone following in someone else's footsteps. Naturally, Slayer factored in the more grandiose appearance and attitude of the one called Mario into this guess—perhaps the pair were related? No, he was sure of it. One did not live as long as he and fail to develop an eye for patterns. Plus, now that he'd heard the man's name to be Luigi, the parallel between the names was the nail in the coffin. Seated beside the plumber was a woman in functional-looking armor with extravagant green hair. ”Hm.” He inclined his head slightly, as if admiring a piece of art. While he freely admitted that she was easy on the eyes, Slayer couldn't rightfully call her beautiful with the face of an exceptional, exquisite, and eternal beauty fresh on his mind. For the first time, he regretted that his invitation hadn't allowed his wife to come along. They did travel together so often, after all, and he treasured her company.

At about this time, the aquatic female who'd he'd heard introduce herself as Naija ask what makes someone a hero. As far as Slayer could tell, the question was not addressed to him, and since a gentleman did not impose himself on someone else's conversations, he remained silent. When nobody else immediately answered, the vampire turned his attention elsewhere. He spotted a little girl with a serious look as she entered the room. Almost instantly, he recognized a gem of maturity in her, evident in the deliberateness in which she moved alone. When she seated herself and began to speak, the very traditional delivery of her words confirmed what he'd intuited. Hapu, is it? He did not interrupt her, but made sure to offer a polite nod of his head when she happened to glance his way. In doing do he echoed the nod he'd been given moments prior. What goes around comes around, after all.

Luigi took it upon himself to seek clarification for Naija's question, which left Slayer a tad disappointed. He'd been interested in getting to know the others better. He got his wish, thought, when the plumber introduced the woman next to him as Samus. Well, it's a start.

A moment later, someone else seated himself beside Slayer—the first to do so. He took the excuse to turn and face the person so as to better observe him. His dark, almost morbid clothing, combined with a hair-raising odor that surrounded him, gave the Hunter a grim air. A no-nonsense nod came Slayer's way, and he returned the gesture immediately. This man, he felt, was someone who could get the job done. He did wonder if the Hunter would reply to the question at large, though, for Slayer wondered how someone who wouldn't have been out of place at a graveyard qualified as a hero. Alas, the man kept the silence. No matter. Slayer returned his attention to the amphibian as she began to speak.

The somewhat diminutive fishmaiden responded as best she could to her own philosophical question, turned back upon her by Samus. Slayer ruminated on her response. Did one's attitude truly make someone a hero? Did being labeled as such by others do it? Was it because of someone's motives? Or was it a function of what one's actions brought about? When he compared them to his own definition, molded from countless years' experience, he decided that each possibility contained some truth. He pondered how much of what both he and Naija thought of heroism applied to him. After a moment, the corner of his mouth rose in a slight smile. All the same, he would not offer his opinions unless asked.

Another warrior with the semblance of a soldier arrived and placed himself next to Samus. Clearly, bounty hunter was mulling over Naija's response. Most of the room's occupants remained as quiet as Slayer himself, most likely waiting just as he did for the meeting to officially commence. Another of the more recent arrivals, Hapu, weighed on on the subject. Slayer found himself rejecting what she suggested as the quintessential constant of heroism. After all, if the desire to do the right thing was the cornerstone, why was he here? To phrase his stance simply, something on someone's insides did not a hero make. He felt obliged to offer his thoughts as a form of help, but he wanted to make sure they wouldn't fall on deaf ears first.

The setting sun peered faintly over the horizon, tinting the sky and its few clouds in a spectrum of warm Autumn color that faded seamlessly into the darker shade of oncoming night, and the grass, along with a certain vulpine’s fur, swayed lightly in the fair breeze. Fox sat atop the nose of the Great Fox, taking in the peaceful atmosphere as he watched the day quietly come to a close. Peace and quiet described most of his days now, but it did come with a familiar sense of boredom on account of having no battles to fight or jobs to do. Soldiers for hire weren’t exactly in demand during times of peace, but that didn't stop him spending his days keeping a vigilant eye out for anything that might threaten that. After the Subspace Incident, it was hard for him NOT to suspect that the Nintendo Kingdom’s much enjoyed peace might not last.

To think that they were all brought to the very edge of oblivion, a mere step away from universal erasure, all because some so-called “god” arbitrarily deemed their very existence an affront onto creation, or perhaps it viewed creation as a whole to be a blasphemous indignity; hence its unforgiving desire to to undo it. For this reason, they called it Tabuu. A fitting named for what conducted itself like an abusive parent forcing a child to gather and destroy all of its creations in the hopes of stamping out its sense of wonder along with its will to create, almost as if to say “it’s time to grow up.” Was that really all they were, though; a mere product of some child’s overactive imagination?

Fox shook the thought off before allowing himself the chance to dwell on it. None of that mattered now. They united, fought, and prevailed as they always do, and the multiverse was all the better for it thanks to them. For once in his life, there was actually some semblance of reassurance in knowing that he wasn't needed, because it came as a sign that he had done something right. The best he could hope for at this point was that no such calamity would ever befall them agai-

“Huh?” Fox's ears twitched to the sound of a smiling cloud daintily floating his way. Its passenger appeared to be a literal turtle with goggles holding an envelope. Fox leaned forward with a hand out to accept the letter, to which the messenger receded back into the smiley nimbus and promptly took off. If the message was coming from Tetris Castle, as indicated by the seal and overall elegance, he knew it had to be important. He broke the seal and began quickly scanning through the letter’s contents.

Dear Hero,

You are receiving this letter because you were chosen to undertake a most challenging task. Your life will be endangered if you so choose to selflessly take up arms in defense of your world as well as others…

He couldn't believe what he was being told. After all this time he was suddenly being told that he was right to be wary for so long. Apparently, the threat had already started making itself known to the villains of various worlds - some of whom welcomed it with open arms - yet he somehow didn't see it coming despite his best efforts to seek out otherworldly threats. Worse yet was that this affected ALL “kingdoms” and every world that resided within and around them; not just his own.

Fox began to think about his old team - his friends. Peppy was enjoying a much deserved retirement, Slippy took up a much more stable life working with his dad, taking R.O.B. with him, Falco was God-knows-where doing God-knows-what, and Krystal… well, that was a little more complicated. All he really knew was that she wasn't here, and he couldn't blame her. Either way, Star Fox was no more, so he would be going this one alone. His conscience wouldn't permit him to ask that they return to his side once more to face something like this, but he didn't want to leave without telling them where he was going and why, just in case it was the last chance he would get. He made his way to the briefing room and sat down to record his last transmission to send out before his departure.

---

Once he was finished, Fox made his way to the forward hangar bay that housed the last remaining Arwing; his. It still managed to get him around, but in its current state of maintenance, who even knows if it was combat-worthy anymore? He hasn't actually had to take it into battle for the better part of two years. Besides, it's been with him for so long and served him well enough that it has earned its rest. He smiled as he placed a caring hand to the airship’s side and lowered it in a caressing motion as a way of offering a subtle, sentimental farewell to his trusted vessel.

He walked to the very edge of the hangar overlooking the grassy, rolling fields and the now starry night sky, sparing a brief contemplative glance at the calming beauty that presented itself to him before pulling out the letter. With no further thought he clicked the ‘yes’ option with his right index finger and released the envelope after magically resealing itself, watching it vanish into a stream of clear smoke and stardust as it was carried away by the wind. Then, a luminous, white, circular portal manifested over the open space in front of him, and he stepped into it with no further hesitation, allowing the inviting light to overtake him.

---

A grand scene faded into view from the gentle white, revealing an exceedingly vast castle foyer gleaming with pristine architecture. Strangely enough, it was virtually empty save for the strange round guide at Fox’s feet that he scarcely noticed. It appeared slightly tired, as if it had been doing this all day, but it still managed a welcoming “smile” in greeting to maintain a modicum of cordial enthusiasm. It spoke in a noise of unintelligible droning that Fox was unable to interpret without a working translator module (Where’s Slippy when you need him?), but its instructive gestures were clear; it wanted him to follow. The creature spontaneously disappeared as Fox stepped into the elevator and input the indicated floor number.

The doors opened to reveal the unexpected aftermath of what was presumably a food fight. Shattered dishes lay strewn about every square inch of floor, various fruits and vegetables (particularly oranges) were splattered against the walls, the disfigured remains of a cheesecake plummeted from the ceiling, tables were overturned into clusters and clearly used for cover, all the signs were there, but it all seemed harmless enough. He could only hazard a few wild guesses as to who may have been involved/responsible, but the thought wasn't really worth entertaining much further. Fox carefully resumed his pace toward the large double doors, making sure not to step in any of the mess of comestibles leading up to them, and casually pushed the right door open as he entered.

It seemed that the briefing had yet to actually get underway, so thankfully, his relative tardiness wouldn't adversely affect him in any significant way. Looking around he recognized only Samus, the Mario Bros, and two council members: Rosalina and Guile. He knew of Guile mostly through stories of heroism that in some ways mirrored his own, and of course, Mario’s unsurprising attendance almost immediately narrowed down Fox’s mental list of possible suspects for the evident chaos that took place just outside prior to his arrival. The rest were entirely new to him, and a couple of them were pre-engaged in the exchange of pleasantries and conversation with Samus and Luigi, the only other two here he had any shared experience with. He wasn't one to impose, so he opted against giving out any formal or informal introductions and propped himself against a wall at the back of the room, roughly adjacent to a couple of unfamiliars that resembled a Victorian huntsman and an aristocratic gentleman. Here he waited patiently for the meeting to officially start.

"Yeah, you got the gist of it rather well. And now, you'll be having that chance to save the lives of billions from this virus. To really make a difference. And to you, along with everyone else in this room, I wish the best of luck."

That was a relief, she wasn’t sure why, but she felt like she had something to live up to when it came to Samus, like she in her adventure she had flowed a path Samus had first defined. She seemed like one who you did not want to draw the ire of and her well wishing and agreement to her awkward speech lit a little flame of pride in her heart.

”Thank you, good luck to you as well”

Samus turned to greet another armored warrior equipped with those boxy weapons. She should find out what those where and what they did. Luigi then responded to her query.

"Well... For what it's worth I don't really consider myself much of a hero either. My brother Mario's the one who generally leads the charge when it comes to saving the Mushroom Kingdom or fighting whatever threat has raised its ugly head... I just tend to go along because someone has to watch out for him..." There was a slight pause before he added with a sigh "Even if he can be rather... egotistical."

Ah, he was a bit like her, do the right thing but, while not for the wrong reason then at least not for the best one in their own opinions, she thought his was rather noble. His specific circumstances reminded her of Li, whom had dutifully followed her on her adventure and gotten kidnapped by the creator twice for his trouble. Luigi seemed like a nice person so far, hopefully they could become friends.

” Doing something to protect the people you care about seems like a good reason fight, particularly if they are endangered because they are saving a whole kingdom.”

saving a kingdom was definitely the kind of thing that sounded heroic, though If Mario was who she thought he was then the individual might have been in it for the glory.

”Mario being the one in red I presume?” She points over at the similarly dressed man ”He does seem rather... boisterous and a little full of himself. ”

She had noticed the rather Dandy gentleman while looking across the room. Had he been here this whole time? Surely she would have noticed him earlier if he had. More memory loss? That was worrying. She waved at him in greeting anyway. As she added this to the list of things to be questioned later, a large and intimidating mental document already, she absentmindedly added.

”The matching outfits you both have are cute though ”

....

Nope, nope nope she should not have said that, hero's probably did not like being called cute, goodbye possible friendship and dignity. No, wait, its OK, look Hapu is speaking, she should pay really close attention to that and just pretend what she just said never happened. Problem solved.

Hapu spoke up. "Perhaps, in regards to your brother, being willing to watch out for him and make sure that hero work does get done is heroic in itself," she remarked. "I believe it is a variable definition, with one constant: the desire to do the right thing..."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintances, and as representative of the world of Pokémon, Mudsdale and I will gladly work at your side to quell this new threat. That being said, it's more nuanced of a definition than some would like to believe. There are those who aware of the danger they themselves pose, and those that believe themselves to be the heroes and yet hurt so many people in the process... and I do not know which is more dangerous. Ah, I don't mean to intrude; that is a question I have thought about since my appointment as kahuna,"

”No it’s fine we don’t mind at all. So um...”

Actually what she had said was quite interesting even if it had involved several things she had never heard of, she hadn't minded focusing on that at all. Throwing caution and polite conversation protocol to the wind in her flustered state Naija’s inner curiosity bypassed the bureaucratic division in charge of the question document and instead loaded all of the queries straight into her mouth and fired them indiscriminately at the women.

”Who is Mudsdale? what's a kahuna? What kind of person does hurtful things but thinks they are a hero?”

---

When James Varrock entered the room, as he apologized to him, Guile’s attention was on another matter. A shadow fell over Quina as suddenly standing before him/her/it was the American fighter. He stared her/him/it down with blue eyes empty of sympathy. Without a word uttered to her/him/it, he stepped passed her/him/it, grabbed the back of the Qu’s pink sweater and bib and dragged her/him/it out of the chair and back toward the door of the Reception Hall. Once he passed through the door, he left her/him/it there before marching back over to the table where s/he/it left her/his/it culinary monstrosity and scooped the tray up. Haphazardly, he tossed it at the door and some of the bits didn’t quite make it out of the Council Room, but it didn’t matter because most of it did. After taking out the trash, he slammed the Reception Hall door closed behind her/him/it and even locked it in case the creature tried to waddle back in. Guile then reclaimed his position at the end of the round table and spoke on a volume that would drown out the small talk so that those who actually cared about why they were summoned, could hear him. He crossed his arms behind his back, standing At Ease as it was called in the military, and said:

“Let me begin by sayin’ that we don’t know much about this thing. I know, big surprise huh? You were all expectin’ us to have all the answers. That’s how most games go, right? But we don’t. That’s why you’re here. The Seven before you are the last remaining characters of their games. Then again, there may be still some survivors out there. We were proven wrong when the turtle was able to summon you all here and believe me when I say we weren’t expectin’ a crowd. Any help we can get to figure out this thing would be appreciated, but for now, I’m going to have Dr. Solus explain all the speculation science mumbo-jumbo.”

The square transformed into the holographic head of an alien creature with a red and white head and solid-black eyes.

“Hello. Hello. My name is Dr. Mordin Solus. Genecist here in Platform City. Mugen Virus, quite nasty. Much to speculate. Collect samples and bring to me. More samples; more information. Speculation. Virus is contagious. Host filled with grandeur, and then madness. Avoid contagion with an experimental vaccine I have,” the doctor explained in his quick and choppy speech.

Mario scratched his head beneath his hat before he noticed Samus had removed her helmet again. He didn’t seem to care that she sat with Luigi, a fish girl and some kid @ToadRopes. Mario walked over and sat his big butt between Hapu and Samus and stretched his arm out comfortably along the back of the bounty hunter’s seat. He grinned up at her and rubbed the back of his neck in shame as he quietly told her (so as not to disturb the meeting), “Hey, I hope you aren’t still upset about the potato. I was only foolin’ around.”

“Vaccine comes from Umbrella Corps. No Umbrella scientist is here. Always infected. I perfected the vaccine. It may help.”

Guile who was frowning from trying to process the doctor’s speech pattern interjected, “Everyone is gonna get a shot before they leave the castle. We’ve all taken it, and we don’t know how effective it will be having never acquired an actual sample of the M-virus, but it’s better than nothing. I’m sorry that we don’t have anymore information to offer regarding it, but we’re hoping that when you guys go on this mission I’m about to tell you that you can bring us something back.”

The square flicked from Mordin Solus to a whole different universe.



Universe: Atlus
World: Vanillaware
Kingdom: Erion

Setting: The Kingdom of Erion is divided into multiple nations. The two main nations are Raganival, the warrior land in the north, and the fairy kingdom of Ringford in the south. The two kingdoms have been raging an eternal war in the wasteland that was once the Kingdom of Valentine. The focus of this mission will be in the nation of Raganival. In Erion, there are powerful crystal weapons called Psyphers. When a person dies, the body releases balls of lights that are called Phozons. Psyphers are able to suck up the phozons to make the weapons stronger. Phozons can also be used to grow plants and fruits that grant healing, resistance, and destructive properties. Phozons can also empower creatures. The phozon crystals that make the psypher weapons grow in the Netherworld. There are two types: blue and red. Red is the more powerful crystal but it is also the more negative. The technology in this world is medieval and magic is the dominant source.

Story: Raganival is ruled by Demon Lord Odin. In this world, a magical cauldron has the power to bring about Armageddon or eternal peace. It is controlled by a magical ring called the Ring Titrel. Demon Lord Odin killed the fairy queen Elfaria to possess the ring and use the cauldron to conquer all of Erion. However, a sudden madness has overtaken him. Demon Lord Odin plans to destroy all of Erion. Just before he lost his sanity, he sealed his daughter Gwendolyn in a crystal with the Ring Titrel. Without the power of the cauldron, Odin’s desires can only be reached by sending his army of Valkyries into the world to destroy it. Ringford, however, is resisting.

Mission: A General Brigan has contacted the Seven requesting help to stop Demon Lord Odin and return Raganival to what it once was. He says he knows where Princess Gwendolyn is hidden and can lead the heroes to her. If they can get ahold of the Ring Titrel, then they may be able to use the cauldron to undo the chaos.

Special Abilities Available: Yes

XP Event: Yes

Special Items Available: Yes


The Seven want to avoid using items outside the universe a mission takes place in. The crossover of items could lead to power struggles, and so therefore, all items issued to the teams are native to that universe.

Squad Leader: Baromett Seeds x4, Muggle Seeds x3, Napple Seeds x3.

Team Leaders: Baromett Seeds 2, Muggle Seeds 1, and Napple Seeds x3.

Item Description

• Baromett Seeds – 12 Phozons – These seeds produce two sheep when they grow. The sheep will wander around and will need to be slaughtered in order for them to transform into Lamb Chops that characters can consume to have their health restored to 100%.
• Muggle Seeds – 8 Phozons – Muggles look like mangos and can be eaten twice. When consumed, they will heal two moderate injuries the first time and second time. Moderate injuries are: 2 degree burns, dislocation, subcutaneous cuts or stabs not in vital areas, disorientation, mild concussions, and broken bones.
• Napple Seeds – 18 phozons – Napples look like apples and two are produced from one seed. Napples can be eaten three times so a character can partially eat one to receive two moderate heals, eat it a second time for two moderate heals, and eat a third time or eat the whole thing to get healed 100%. Napples when completely eaten leave behind a hard and sturdy core that can be lobbed at enemies. Napples also when completely consumed give the user 5 XP.

Teams were generated using a randomizer from Random.org. Team leaders decided by using decidermachine.com.

Team One: Hunter, Ezio, Slayer, Crash, Quina

Team Two: Luigi, Edward, James, Samus, Amaterasu, Hapu

Team Three: Fox, Gordon, Garrett, Naija, Mario

Team Leader/Squad Leader names are in bold.


1. XP. The GM will reward your team with XP after battles with minions, bosses, etc. The only XP you will keep track of is word count. Understand, the GM will monitor your numbers to make sure your math is correct and that you’re not giving your character too much or too little. So be sure to use a calculator and double check all calculations.
2. P.O.. During missions, there will be a posting order that you all will need to follow. Each team has its own P.O., but if one team gets ahead of another team, then this rule may change to put everyone on the same P.O. Otherwise, one or two teams may be waiting on another team to catch up. So be mindful of your posting speed. Some of us have lives and work for a living.
3. Items. In this post, your team was given items to start off with. The team leaders and the squad leader are the only ones who have these items in their inventory. If anyone on the team is injured, then it is up to the team leaders and squad leader to decide how to go about distributing the healing items.
4. Items Part 2. In Odin Sphere, the items are very unique. You cannot just take out the jar of Muggles and start eating them like pickles. The food has to be grown. For every enemy that dies in the mission, their bodies will burst into Phozons. If a squad leader or team leader has planted a seed, then the seed will collect the phozons. There are a certain amount of phozons needed to grow the seed and it’ll be up to the team leaders and squad leader to make sure they don’t forget the planted seed when collecting phozons to grow it. If your team has to run back to get a plant, you delay the mission due to negligence. The seeds can be grown beforehand and the fruits kept for when they are needed. You will know how many phozons are released because the GM will specifically tell you in the post.
5. Planting. Do not try to plant more than one plant. Regardless, the phozons will go to one plant at a time. You don’t know how many phozons are going to be released before you have to move to another area, so just don’t even bother. Just do one plant at a time and learn to prioritize.
6. Napples. So I’m sure you noticed that the Napples provide XP when grown. They also have the most Phozons that need to be collected. Which plant you choose to grow is up to the team leaders and squad leader. If the Napples are not harvested before the mission is over, then you just lost the XP you could have gotten from them. There is no way to get it back either. If you also forget to plant the Napples, and a boss dies, which will produce the most phozons, then you missed out on them. Planting the Napples after a boss battle will not count.
7. Enemies. The GM will be controlling all of the enemies to include the minions. The primary enemies in this battle will be Valkyries and they are not pushovers. They are warriors who are experienced in combat, so if you weren’t certain about your combat writing, you’re about to learn just how well you do. The GM will wait for all teams to post before writing one complete response post. This way, the GM can better keep track of actions.
8. Figure it Out. I’m going to be pretty Dark Souls about this game. You guys will have to figure out how to beat the bosses. Hints will be revealed in the writing, but it’ll be up to you guys to figure it out. If you can’t figure it out, do not get frustrated. There are 16 brains in this game. Someone will figure it out and be able to help out the entire team.

The square winked out of existence. Guile looked over the group of heroes and informed, “All of you will need to report to the 49th Floor using the warp elevator to get your shots. There’s going to be a teleporter that you can use to cross dimensions. Thank you all for answering the call and try not to get yourselves killed.”

You do not have to write out your characters going to floor 49 for vaccines if you do not want to. Even if you do write it out, do not post to any NPCs, assuming the GM will write a response to you because the GM won't. All teams are required to report directly to Erion. All heroes will emerge together in the forest outside of Raganival Castle. The GM will make another post to initiate the beginning of XP generation as soon as all characters are gathered in the same area. The same XP initiation post will be another GM post to present the mission tasks.

"Dimension would probably be the better word." Samus responds to his statement towards Guile in a rather loose fashion, "By the way, nice retro-themed medieval armor. Guess you're more of the knight-in-shining-armor kind of guy, huh?" Well, James could think of several things he'd been called before, but knight-in-shining-armor was most definitely not one of them.

"Never been called that before. And less a knight-in-shining-armor and more just willing to get the job done to protect the Last City." It was at that point that the briefing began and, for once, James paid attention to what was being said. It seemed that the leaders of the Seven Kingdoms, or the Seven, were about as clueless to the real nature and effects of the Mugen Virus as those that they had called on for aid, though James had to admit that he saw similarities between the M-Virus and SIVA. All the same, Charger recorded the entirety of the briefing just to ensure that they had the information they needed in case his Guardian did his usual daydreaming to kill his boredom.

Upon the briefing's completion, James was among the first to stand up and head back to the elevator after acknowledging Tattooman's statement with a nod. The hall with all the food in it still seemed to be something of a mess, but James was able to find a plate of french fries that had escaped the food carnage and snatched up a few, eating them before putting his helmet back on and pulling his Imago Loop free to reload the cylinder and holstering it again. "I didn't recognize any of the names of the people we're teamed up with. Did you?"

"Not a one. Any hits turn up in the Vanguard's recovered history database?" The Ghost moved like it was shaking it's head and James sighed as he punched in the numbers for the 49th floor. "Well, keep searching I guess. Maybe the Pre-Collapse records contain something about them and maybe not. Best to know for sure." The elevator hummed to life and the Guardian stepped into it, finding himself in a room full of rushing scientist looking types. All the information available would likely have made Ikora incredibly excited, but all James found himself doing was rushing to get out. He was close to going out to do what he'd agreed to do, have a crazy adventure and save many worlds including his own. He felt a prick on his arm as one of the scientist looking types injected him with the vaccine.

Once he was sure it hadn't done anything to his shielding or armor, he followed the aide, or he assumed it was one since the Tower didn't have many, to another portal. Looking back a moment, he grinned under his helmet before pulling the Imago Loop free of it's holster. Charger sighed as he vanished from sight once more. "You know that where we're going, neither of us will have likely seen anything like it. Unfamiliar territory and the like." James' grin only grew larger.

"I know. Fantastic isn't it?" And then he leapt through it.

---

This time, the moment of blindness was far more familiar, lasting only a brief instance before he came out at a roll and landing in a kneeling position, his hand cannon up and ready to fire. Fortunately, he only found empty air and a forest around him. Charger did his imitation of a whistle at the site, James more than sure he was taking footage and recordings of the area for the Vanguard. "Well, I'll be honest, I've never seen this many trees before. At least not in one place." Charger tsk'd at him.

"Venus, dear James." The Nightstalker growled in annoyance at the sarcastic statement and holstered the Imago Loop. He'd noticed his inability to summon his grenade, his smoke bomb, or his Voidlight Bow, along with an inability to double jump during the transfer to the Tetris Castle. It was only after he'd brought it up that his Ghost companion had bothered to mention he'd have to reunlock those skills. Wishing he could get his Bretomart's Stand out, something else he'd lost, but settled instead for drawing the Stillpiercer from his back and scoping up on the castle in the distance through the trees. He decided he'd watch for movement on the ramparts while he waited for his team.

---

With seemingly everyone having gathered into the council room, Guile began to debrief them on their first mission and giving all the information that they had on the Mugen Virus. Most of the information came from a strange alien looking creature that Crash couldn't help to compare to his brief racing rivalry with the alien called Nitros Oxide. Shaking the thought from his head, Crash kept his attention as best he could on what was being said and on where they would be heading first. A place called Odin Sphere, to face off against a mad demon. Crash could say he fought many creatures but a demon was going to be a first for him. Teams flickered on the screen and Crash was surprised to see him placed as team leader for team one. He gulped slightly at the challenge of that, he had been good with leading his own family against Cortex but total strangers was going to be an entirely different task. First though he had to get past an even greater challenge.... Getting a shot. He shuffled his feet slowly, to prolong the inevitable.

---

Crash rubbed his arm after getting the shot, complaining in gibberish as he made his way to meet up with his team. Along the way he grabbed the given inventory items that they were allowed to bring into the world. There were no wumpa fruits but from the information the peaches would suffice. Having caught briefly a few of the people's names while listening to the idle talk before the meeting began he got a good idea on a few names, at least enough to know who was on his team apart from his translator Aku-Aku. There was the rather unsettling man that simply went by the title Hunter, he seemed human but catching a slight glance at his eyes made Crash not think he was entirely human. The rather odd creature called Quina who never seemed far off from the human called Ezio. Speaking of Ezio, he seemed to be an all right fellow. Finally there was Slayer who was more of a late comer to the meeting so Crash had yet to really form any opinion on him.

Checking again that everything was in his bag, he made his way to the teleporter that would transport everyone to Odin Sphere. When the rest seem to be there he had Aku introduce them.

"Hello everyone, we have yet to introduce ourselves, this marsupial is Crash Bandicoot from the Sony Isles and I am Aku-Aku," the floating mask stated warmly ",I am here merely as translator for Crash since few understand his unique speaking pattern." To prove the masks point Crash said hello in his normal gibberish talk to which he doubted anyone understood him at all. He then edged closer to the teleporter ready to get the mission underway. The sooner he got this adventure with, the sooner he could get back to N. Sanity Island and return to his busy days of sleeping and eating wumpa fruit.

---

In response to Naija, Hapu explained some of the nuances of her home. "Mudsdale is my partner Pokémon; a draft horse of the finest caliber," Hapu replied. "As for kahuna... those are the people chosen as liaisons for the guardian deity Pokémon. They are to oversee the protection of the islands and appease the mighty land spirits. In the case of my island, I am the humble servant of Tapu Fini, and therefore the servant of Poni Island, my proud home."

Hapu frowned. "As for those few whose ill spawns from goodwill... there was an incident in another region in the world of Pokémon about five years back. A group named Team Plasma. To help the creatures we call Pokémon... they have hurt not just people, but the very creatures they sought to protect. Blindly following the orders of a corrupt sage."

Hapu held out a hand. "But that is all I have heard; I was very young then. As I am now; and undoubtedly, I have much yet to experience. But here comes our briefing."

Hapu folded her hands and listened intently to the briefing (giving a somewhat aghast look to Mario as he plopped himself in between her and Samus, but being the youngest and newest kahuna she was used to condescension). It was a lot of information to process, but she recognized that it was all quite important, and thus, she paid the utmost attention.

"A world of magic, hm?" she remarked to herself. "Mudsdale doesn't fare well in the face of special-type attacks. I will have to be on my guard, for my Pokémon's sake..."

---

Thus came the time for Hapu's and Mudsdale's vaccination. Hapu stoically took her shot, and helped calm Mudsdale down enough for the horse to get its vaccine.

"It's okay, Mudsdale," Hapu said, stroking her horse's muzzle. She patted the horse's muddy hair as the doctor performed the procedure, and then Hapu returned the horse to its Poké Ball.

"Thank you very much," Hapu said, dusting off her lap. She immediately made haste for the portal; this was a crisis. No time for dallying. The Ultra Beasts did not wait for anyone, and Hapu conjectures that whatever this "Mugen virus" is, it would offer no better concessions to the game worlds.

She went over who she was assigned to; she was amongst the ranks of Luigi and Samus, but other than them, she was not quite sure who the others were.

Hapu was not quite used to Guile's military tone; hailing from the decidedly laid-back Alola region, the drill sergeant was not an archetype the kahuna had witnessed (though she was certainly aware of the man known as the "Lightning American" in the Kanto region). Whatever her thoughts, one thing was certain: it was time to get down to business.

"Mudsdale, we're going into a world to where we've never been!" Hapu declared, holding her Poké Ball in her hand. "No fear, partner! This is our duty, for if such a threat exists, then it isn't just Poni Island we must stand for!"

Hapu peered into the clear red case, watching the miniaturized draft horse Pokémon nod in agreement. Good, he is calmed; the mere pinprick is nothing to the mighty earth, she thought.

She tossed the capsule into the air, and it sprung open, releasing the brown-and-black horse in a flash of light. The mighty animal pawed the ground as Hapu climbed aboard. Despite being almost half the Pokémon's size, Hapu quickly saddled up and spurred Mudsdale onward. Mudsdale snorted and trotted forth, disappearing to worlds unknown, to the land of Raganival.

---

Mudsdale snorted and stomped on the loamy forest earth. Hapu was met with a fresh, deciduous air much different from the tropics of Alola. "Whoa," Hapu said to Mudsdale, to calm the horse Pokémon down.

Through the trees, Hapu could make out the dim silhouette of a castle. The trees were lush, the soil firm... and yet, Hapu knew if they were called to this place, there was sure to be the underlying danger. Of course, it was outlined in the briefing that danger was present...

Hapu decided it was best to wait for the assigned leader, Edward.

"Never been called that before. And less a knight-in-shining-armor and more just willing to get the job done to protect the Last City."

Samus subtly nods at the man's (James Varrock's @Zarkun) response, understanding the motive. The "Knight-In-Shining-Armor" statement was mostly to be considered as more of a joke, a play on the medieval stereotype of such armory, and the fantasy tales that involved said armored knight, in saving a princess or some other artifact. Of course, it can also be one person likes such style anyways. It is a rather EXTREMELY retro style to have such kinds of armor designed in the fashion, at least in her own universe. She hasn't really encountered anyone wearing it for who knows how long, only finding the original suits empty in museums.

She then bolts her head towards the door, only to see Guile throwing out the pink blob that is Quina, along with it's stuff. He then slams the Reception Door, ending with a loud thunk. Samus knew that Guile can get short-tempered, but has never actually seen it in action. She may not like Quina that much but then again, even she thought it was a little... unnecessary. Then again, it also means that one shouldn't fuck around with the buff military man. He then proceeds to explain the situation at hand; they don't know what the cube is, the Seven before them thinking they were the last ones remaining, but was proven false, and having a Doctor Solus explain the Mugen-Virus, mentioning of a vaccine.

As the alien scientist explains what he knows, Samus almost didn't see that the certain red-uniformed plumber began approaching her for the second time since the introduction outside at the mess hall. When she catches him coming from the far side of his eye, she makes a mental groan of disgust as she tries her damnest to keep focused at the situation at hand. God, does she remember how much she hates him. He may be one of the most popular heroes in the multi-dimensions, being known for saving Princesses, taking down the King of the Koopas, Bowser, and even saving his entire galaxy twice, he surely hasn't aged mentally for the past decade or so. He is absolutely not Samus' type in the slightest, hell, she's not even interested in getting a boyfriend at this stage. Yet, even when sitting beside Hapu, Mario manages to plop down next to her and stretch his arm out comfortably along the back of the bounty hunter’s seat. The bounty hunter looks down next to her with a resting bitch face, to see him grinning and rubbing the back of his neck in shame.

“Hey, I hope you aren’t still upset about the potato. I was only foolin’ around.” Mario says apologetically to her quietly as to not disturb the meeting.

Despite still having some reasonable manners in his arsenal, Samus rolls her eyes as she crosses her arms, ignoring him as she listens on. She hears that the vaccine came from Umbrella Corps and that the scientist has perfected it. The woman heard of this corporation before on inter-dimensional TV. It's infamous for the "vaccines" regarding the transformation of horrifying mutants. They reminded her heavily on the X-Parasites that she's heard about on the planet SR388 (See Metroid Fusion), who can replicate their hosts' physical appearances and memories, killing them afterward. Samus thankfully hasn't encountered them yet, and hopes she never has too*.

Eventually, the briefing ends as the cube shows another universe, the Kingdom of Erion in the Altus Universe. This is where their first mission is going to take place. It's pretty straight forward: get ahold of this one ring, stop this guy, and turn everything back to normal. Samus then takes a gander at the teams and where she was placed in. She was placed in Team 2, with Edward Buck being squad leader. The others involved were Luigi, James Varrock (apparently the person she just talked to before the briefing was coming along), Amaterasu (the wolf creature), and Hapu. Thankfully there was no Mario or Quina seen in her group. She breathes a sigh of relief as her slight "worries" were proven false. The square then fades out and Guiles orders everyone to get a shot, head over to the teleporter room and form up into their assigned groups.

Sounds like a plan.

The bounty hunter gets onto her feet, gets the shot from the room, and proceeds to head towards the teleporter room. As Samus exits the elevator, she sees James leap into the portal to the unfamiliar territory that is beyond. Looks like someone's rather eager to get things moving. Even then, other than what she's shown, she has little idea on what to actually expect. Regardless, she too jumps into the portal as well, planting herself a location for the rest of her group to form up.

Another round of speech cycled through the meeting hall. Slayer spotted the fishmaiden waving his way, so he responded with a polite semi-bow to her as well. Not long after, the mood of the room took a turn as Guile, evidently deciding to get down to brass tacks, ejected the rotund, loose-tongued Quina from the assembly. A moment later the creation followed the cook, and the unchallengeable crash of the doors being shut resounded through the premises. As he watched the American saunter back to his rightful place, Slayer idly wondered why Quina in particular warranted the trouble. To be sure, the creature did seem frustratingly insipid and unconcerned with the matter at hand, and therefore could be said to be providing negligible value to a gathering of heroes with heroic intent. Because of this, Slayer did not feel inclined to move a muscle in the simple cook's defense, but then again, few of those present were treating the matter with the seriousness it deserved.

Guile wasted no time in beginning his speech, and Slayer leaned forward, his elbows on the table and his fingers interleaved, to listen. The announcement that the organization that the soldier helped to represent couldn't offer much information on the adversary did not bother him too much. In many cases during his life, Slayer himself served as the vitally important information broker and hint giver to more heroically-inclined individuals he came across. Having less than a healthy awareness of the situation wasn't convenient, of course, but he only needed some time to observe in order to develop a pertinent understanding. He mulled over Guile's words about lone survivors and so forth, putting into perspective the first concrete details he'd received concerning the virulence of the nebulous Mugen Virus. A holographic alien appeared to drop a few details that Slayer logged away. A shot, eh? I don't believe one necessary, but I might as well. Solus's succinctness left him unprepared for the deluge of information that followed. He found himself forced to pay close attention indeed to the description, story, and other details about the Kingdom of Erion. ”Slay a demon and rescue a princess, is it? Ah, the very stuff of the old tales! Perhaps one day they'll tell tales of us.” When the report on Erion's items came up, he gave it his focus. If the virus was as deadly as he'd been lead to believe, no strategic advantage could be wasted.

Another bit of news that stood out to Slayer was his team assignment. In an unlucky turn, he knew the names of none of his teammates save Quina, who he'd determined to be the portly chef that Guile kicked out prior to the meeting's commencement. Though he sighed to consider that his group might have dead weight from the start, he did not consider the thought of completely discounting the cook. Slayer sensed something monstrous about the creature—that it had latent power that perhaps only needed some direction to be truly terrifying. He filed that idea away for later as he stood up from his seat to head to the elevator, through which he proceeded as instructed to the 49th floor. All of the standing and sitting around, coupled with a somewhat restrictive load of orders and advisement, starved his refined taste of material to observe or admire, but Slayer was nothing if not a patient man.

In due course he got his shot, though he was obliged to relax his muscles so that the needle could penetrate his skin. Having yet to meet up with his group, he concluded that they must be accumulating at the outgoing warp and made his way there at a dignified pace. He arrived to find an partly-clothed orange animal standing on its hind legs, a floating tribal mask, the dour man in black, the quiet man in white, and of course, Quina. Speaking on its own, the mask took the initiative to introduce itself and the bandicoot, revealing him to be the team leader. Slayer creased his brow; was this unintelligible, anthropomorphic animal really in charge? He tweaked his mustache before giving a wry smile. Everything about this situation was positively insane, so why not? Clearing his throat, the vamprie held a hand over his chest and bowed his head. ”Glad to make your acquaintance. I am Slayer, and I hope I shall be of use during our expedition.” He withdrew his pipe from a coat pocket with his raised hand and placed it in his mouth, waiting for his other assigned teammates to introduce themselves as well.

Luigi didn't get the chance to say much more due to the fact that the meeting started, through he couldn't help but lean in to whisper something softly to Naija before offering the cube and their briefing his full attention. Truthfully it was rather rare for him to get this level of detail before going on some kind of mission; Defeating Bowser and his minions tended to be a more 'charge in and deal with whatever comes' kind of affair rather then a properly planned operation, but enemies like King Boo required some thought in order to overcome (and thus privately why he believed that Mario tended to be captured by him a lot).

Still, the mission itself seemed easy enough... through he gulped a little at the mention of having to get vaccinated. "Oh boy..."

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

Rubbing his arm a little where he had gotten the injection, Luigi looked around at the forest that he was currently in... and noticed that Hapu was currently with him. "So we're waiting here for the others then?" He asked, just confirming that they were in the right place.

Quina watched the door of the Council Room slam closed in front of him, or her, and stood there patiently for a few moments. This was clearly some sort of mistake on the part of the Hair Force man, Guile, a case of mistaken identity perhaps. Or a misunderstanding about the food, perhaps the expectation was to make sure there was enough for everyone? Perhaps they were planning a surprise party, and Guile didn't want to ruin it? All of these ideas simmered in Quina's mind while she, or he, stood in front of the locked door, expectantly waiting for it to open up.

Then it dawned on him, or her, what was going on. Slowly, Quina turned around to look at the reception hall. Even after the food fight, the little green-haired creatures work had made sure that there was plenty of food left over. Without saying a word, Quina waddled over to the nearest table, and began to eat. With the room to him, or herself, there was nobody to say stop, there was nobody to say no, there was simply endless tables of food to indulge. Some of the beleaguered Lemming servants began tidying up the Hall, and Quina shooed them away whenever they got too close. An unspoken agreement was made, and a few of the little green haired, blue-robed things stood near Quina with their arms outstretched, turning away any of their fellows that get too close with a shake of their head.

---

With breakfast and the briefing in the other room now concluded, Quina got up from his, or her, seat at one of the now empty tables and quietly followed along behind the others as they went over to the teleporters. By remaining as quiet as can be, Quina hoped to blend in with the others, being rather curious to see what it was that he, or she, missed. Like the others, Quina received a shot, after seeing the rest of the gathered heroes receive them with varying amounts of bravery. Quina continued to just follow along, right up to the threshold of the outgoing warp portal; some seemed to step through without a second thought, others stood right on the very precipice of adventure. Including a floating, talking mask. That was interesting.

"Hello Aku-Aku, and Orange Crash and Slayer," Quina looked rather excited by this turn of events, the confusion over the being-thrown-out-of-the-meeting thing now just a poorly recalled memory buried under a layer of cake and soup, "am Quina, this is Friend Ezio..."

Quina gestured, with a gloved hand, to her (or his) side, where Quina had expected Ezio to be. It took a few seconds for Quina to realise that Ezio wasn't by his (or her) side and then, with eyes widening, Quina glanced around, trying to spot the assassin to no avail. This wasn't too surprising, as not only would Ezio be more than capable of blending into a group to not be easily seen, but Quina hadn't seen him since getting thrown out of the Council Room.

"...Ezio hiding. We go on expedition," Quina continued, changing subjects as more ideas pressed themselves against his (or her) mind. Looking from the mask, to the brightly coloured creature, to the older looking gentleman with a pipe, it was clear from Quina's expression that he, or she, had absolutely no idea what was going on. Then again, Quina always sort of looked like that, it was sometimes hard to tell.

"Expedition?"

Hapu’s explanation left Naija with more questions than answers frankly, but it did give her specific terms to investigate later. She hoped the castle had some kind of archive that she could use to get up to speed on all this land stuff. What she got out of it was Hapu was a kind of priest/guardian of a deity of their island and that Mudsdale was this guardian deity she was speaking on behalf of. Naija did not have good experiences with gods or priests, but she would give the women the benefit of the doubt for now, she seemed like a decent individual.

At this point Luigi whispered something in her ear that would probably lead to more embarrassing incidents if the meeting had not started with the expulsion of Quina Quen, which she would have spoken up about if she hadn’t been so busy being flustered.

The talk gave her something to focus on and her mood quickly shifted to a combination of appalled and frustrated, the 7 where the last survivors and the collective had little to no information about the greater foe. Naijas head was planted firmly on the table muttering about not ever knowing what she was getting into before livening up at the exposition of the location they were traveling to.

Demon kings and people sealed in crystal, magic rings and cauldrons of doom or rejuvenation. Demon was kind of an evil god and she had experience killing those. This seemed to be in her area of experiance, what was not was the fact that she was apparently the leader of a team. The closest experience she had to that was Li and a pet following her around while they adventure. The team also consisted of none of the people she had spoken to so far, apart from the brief introduction to Garrett. It also had Mario in it, who had forcibly inserted himself next to samus, much to the warriors distaste, that was going to be a handful.

The meeting came to its conclusion and they were ordered up to the 49th floor for something called a vaccine and to teleport to the kingdom of Erion, in her worrying about her new responsibility resulted in her arriving near the rear of the procession, just in time to see Hapu calm down her large earthy creature she called Mudsdale. Ah, so she had been wrong about that then, the creature had presumably been in her inventory at the meeting, like how she kept her helper pets in there when they were not in use, though the beast was certainly larger than any she had commanded.

What followed was a brief argument over why a person in a white coat was trying to stab her with a small metal object, followed by an explanation of what a vaccine was, another argument about how you can make a vaccine without having a sample of the thing you're protecting against, before she finally relented and accepted the dosage. Then there was the council's item policy as she was forced to trade out her stores of food for the odd seeds mentioned in the briefing that she was being given as team leader. Leaving the teleport room smelling of seafood she hopped through the portal and arrived in an area full of what she assumed where trees with a large stone structure looming in the distance.

She decided to find an elevated position to watch for her team's arrival and eventually settled for a large 5ft diameter bolder nearby which she promptly sat down on. Mario and Garrett she would recognize and wave to when they arrived but Fox and Gordon she would have to find once the whole group was here, or perhaps they might know the two who she knew already.

She would also need to introduce herself to the Squad leader Edward when he arrived. She believed she had heard him as the armored man who had initially taken responsibility for the food fight.

Not surprisingly, Ezio was next to Quina when s/he waddled in with a mountain of food, and the Assassin edged a little to the left when Guile took hold of the little being and dragged him/her out of the room bodily, followed by the plate and finally, the click of the lock on the door. He spared a mental wince of apology and sympathy for Quina as s/he wou.d be missing out on the briefing. Not to mention, it was their first mission to boot! However, all thoughts on filling his friend up on the details were pushed to the back of his mind as Guile began the briefing in earnest. He wasn't entirely surprised at the lack of information but felt rather wary of the effectiveness of the vaccine. Even so, like the Street Fighter said, it was better than nothing, and at least after the successful completion of this mission, they would have access to more information regarding the Virus. Ezio's gaze was fixed unerringly on the cube and the written information it provided, trying as best he could to memorize it all. Location, terrain, background, mission objective, teams and members of each. He was pleased to note Quina's name near his in Team 1 and didn't find any objections in Crash Bandicoot being marked as team leader, for he was content in following orders unless they were obviously suicidal. He would provide his opinion when asked for or whenever necessary, and depending on the nature of his team. Were they to be the scouts? Support? Frontline heavy hitters?

When the briefing ended, he remained seated for a little longer as the majority of the heroes filed out of the room, not wanting to be swept in the rush to level 49. It also provided him time to mull over the facts they had been given and an opportunity to ensure his inventory remained unchanged. Counting to the one minute mark, he exited the Council Room silently, heading upwards to receive his shot. Although the concept of letting some unknown near his bare skin to stick a needle in didn't appeal to him and he had watched at the person vaccinating him like a hawk, the entire process was over in five minutes.

Back at the lower level, Ezio made his way over to the teleporter that would take them all to the Erion Kingdom, easily picking Quina out in the crowd despite his/her lack of height. With his relatively sharp eyesight, he could see conversations between the members of his team already ongoing, meaning his tardiness had cost him to miss out on whatever pleasantries - of lack thereof - were being exchanged. Slotting himself seamlessly beside his friend, Ezio greeted the other members of Team 1 with a courtly half-bow, holding it for half a second. It didn't hurt to be polite to people who he was going to trust to guard his back, after all.

"Apologies for keeping you waiting. I look forward to working with you all, cara squadra." He said as he straightened, allowing his Eagle Vision to flicker on as he scrutinised the four of them individually. As expected, now that he recognised them as allies, all of them appeared blue in his vision, even the enigmatic Hunter he half-expected to turn up grey. Nonetheless, he wasn't complaining as it would allow him to keep a much better track of his team during the mission. Although the mask floating by Crash's side didn't register as an anything, he noticed that the others weren't bothered by its presence. Maybe it was a topic they discussed before he arrived, so he dismissed it with a mental shrug. Satisfied, he deactivated the ability, returning his eyes from gold to its usual brown.

"We are not going on an expedition, mio amico. We are tasked with a mission to liberate the Kingdom of Erion from the Demon Lord Odin and save a certain Princess Gwendolyn." Ezio turned to Quina, laying a firm hand on his/her left shoulder. "However, you need to get to the 49th level in order to get a shot of vaccine. Precaution from being infected by the M-Virus."

Removing his hand, Ezio faced the teleporter, tilting his head slightly to the side as he studied it before he closed the distance between him and the contraption. "Well, shall we? There's no point in lingering, I suppose. We can always discuss tactics and strategy after we see the terrain." He muttered, throwing a glance over his shoulder and stepped in, half-hoping that the transport process wasn't as disorientating as the last one was.

---

Luigi had appeared next to Hapu. "Indeed! I'm waiting for Edward, our assigned leader," Hapu replied. "Perhaps it'd be best to stay together for now so as to make it easier for the others to gather."

Hapu slid off of Mudsdale's back and held out a hand to Luigi. She noted that she was about two thirds the tall plumber's size, but this mattered not to the kahuna.

"In any case, I'm glad that none of us have to tackle such a crisis alone; companionship is a value highly placed in the world of Pokémon," she added, gesturing for a firm handshake.

"Also, where did Samus go? I believe she was shortly behind me and Mudadale in terms of getting her vaccine?"

Hapu turned back to the portal. "Oh, whoops, there she is. I feel rather silly. Ho, Samus! And..."

Hapu didn't recognize the other man, James, by name. "I apologize, I had little time at the meeting to become acquainted with everyone before the briefing. I am Hapu."

---

Ammy appeared in the forest amid the others, still nipping at the area of her shoulder where they'd injected her with that horrifying needle. The worst thing was that she couldn't quite reach, her head could not quite twist that far into itself, and it was frustrating here to no end. That stopped, however, when she got her first view of Erion.

Normally in a meeting like that she'd have taken the opportunity to lay down her head and just trusted that any really important information would be at least half remembered from beyond the veil of sleep, but Guile's shocking display of no-nonsense barbarism had nipped that plan in the bud and she'd sat straight and at attention for the rest of it. She'd learned the situation of the world, the items of the world, the inhabitants of the world, but none of it had even remotely prepared her for the beauty of the world. She snaked her way around her teammates back and forth looking at trees and sniffing the air and just enjoying the aesthetics of the place. This landscape was gorgeous, and that was saying something because she'd seen some gorgeous landscapes in her time.

Her attention was arrested as the child, Hapu, slid herself off her mighty steed and started chatting with the familiar green guy. Ammy looked around and realized that she hadn't been "introduced" to some of these people properly. She supposed it would be a good idea, at least, to know all their names instead of just Samus's. Besides which, when she wasn't on the back of her horse Hapu was quite small. She of all people knew that small people could handle themselves brilliantly, but this was a strange world after all. There was no telling what could be lurking in the trees or under the ground, ready to pounce on the unaware. So she shadowed Hapu, sticking close and wagging her tail, both to learn all the names and because anyone that had an horse that well kept didn't deserve to have unfortunate accidents happening to them.

Gordon followed Guile into the briefing room and took a seat. He took in all the information as fast as his analytical mind would allow, folding his arms as he processed it. Apparently, the Mugen Virus had already spread to another universe known as 'Altus'. The verse was home to the Kingdom of Erion, which in turn was divided into multiple nations. The mission was going to take place in the nation of Ragnavial. Crystal weapons called Psyphers, which absorb Phozons, given off when a person died. The technology there was limited to a medieval scale, and magic was the dominant power.

From what Gordon understood, the gathered heroes had to go in and save someone known as Princess Gwendolyn, the daughter of Demon Lord Odin, the ruler of Ragnavial. He had killed the fairy queen Elfaria to possess the ring and used the cauldron to conquer all of Erion, but he was overcome by madness. Just before losing his sanity, he locked his daughter away in a castle with the Ring Titrel, a magical ring that controls a cauldron that can either doom the world or bring eternal peace. The heroes were supposed to go in, rescue the princess, recover the ring, and undo the chaos.

Even then, Gordon found it pretty hard to understand, but went along with it. He had been put into stasis by the G-Man after the Black Mesa Incident, and awoken more than two decades later to save Earth from the Combine. Or, as Gordon saw it, four incredibly busy days. He hadn't had much sleep, either, and was fueled by coffee and an endless desire to survive. But travelling to another dimension, retreiving a relic and saving a princess?

Sounded easy enough.

The gathered heroes in the room were then assigned to various teams, each member's face flashing on the screen along with their name. Gordon paid close attention to this. He waited until he was assigned to a team, then let out a silent sigh. He was placed with Mario. The guy who had started the food fight and threw a table at him. Sure, he wasn't happy, but he knew what he was capable of. His other teammates were Fox McCloud, whom Gordon recognised as another legend, Garrett, a master theif from what he understood, and the fish lady named Naija. The team was lead by the last one. Freeman glanced over at her. She didn't really look like leader material, being a mere five feet in height, but he wasn't one to judge. Besides, he knew never to underestimate someone or something. Take headcrabs, for example. They were around the size of a house cat, but those things were vicious.

The briefing over, Gordon headed over to floor 49 using the Warp Elevator, where he received a vaccine that supposedly granted him immunity to the effects of the Mugen Virus. Following this, he headed over to the teleporter room and stood in front of the glowing portal, ready to begin another adventure. He took a breath, adjusted his glasses, made sure his suit was on correctly, and jumped in.



Gordon reemerged in a forest of sorts, a large stone structure looming in the distance. He looked around and located his leader, the fish girl. She was sitting on a large boulder, seemingly waiting for the arrival of her team. Walking over, he greeted her with a polite nod. His face scrunched up in disgust when he found that she smelled like fish. Taking a step back, be turned away and pulled out his pistol and inspected it. He pulled out the magazine and checked how much ammo he had, before slamming it back in and cocking the weapon, the hammer sliding back into place with a click. With that done, he holstered it in its usual place on his thigh.

Sure, his pistol did an abysmal amount of damage, but with its almost lack of recoil and fire rate, it made for a deadly weapon in the hands of a skilled user. He favoured it over most other weapons in his arsenal, except his trusty shotgun and handy crowbar, the latter of which had grown on him since Black Mesa.