---

As Hapu talked with Luigi, Mudsdale turned its head to watch Amaterasu also stand by Hapu. Mudsdale made no sound, but watched with a somewhat sleepy gaze. It was a hard-working Pokémon indeed, but when it wasn't busy together with Hapu, it was quite a docile creature.

Hapu reached up with her other hand; the massive horse bowed and allowed her to stroke its muzzle. Mudsdale looked back towards Amaterasu; the white wolf certainly gave off a noble, holy air, of the type that Mudsdale was familiar with.

Hapu turned back and acknowledged Amaterasu. "Salutations, friend!" she said, giving the wolf a polite smile. She turned back to the others.

Mudsdale gently nudged Amaterasu, feeling some sort of distant kinship with the holy wolf. Perhaps a distant connection among the animal kingdom? Pokémon raised by Trainers tended to be well-behaved and outgoing among other species, even those who are naturally predator or prey. Mudsdale snorted.

[center]

Luigi

Level: 1
Day/Time: Day One
Location: Kingdom of Erion - Raganival, Forest Beyond Castle Grounds
Tag: Samus @Lmpkio, Edward @Aether Spawn, James @Zarkun Amaterasu @Gentlemanvaultboy Hapu @ToadRopes

Actually taking a moment to look around, Luigi was somewhat surprised to find that the rest of the team had already appeared here. He had been expecting... well, something to go wrong to be perfectly honest. People teleporting in to the wrong place or something along those lines... Oh well, there was plenty of time for something to go wrong.

Since he didn't know everyone here (even if they might know who he was), Luigi buried his pessisim for the time being as he raised his hand in a small wave of greet. "My name is Luigi. It's nice meeting some of you for the first time..." Glancing towards the man wearing some kind of fancy future looking armor, he decided to ask "So... do we actually have a plan that requires us to work with the other teams or are we just going to do our own thing and hope for the best?"

James didn't answer anyone right away, instead opting to sweep down the wall from the parapet he was looking at and back a couple of times before being sure it was safe. Lowering the rifle's butt from his shoulder, he turned to address his team mates as Charger appeared from seemingly no-where. Hapu was easy to place, being the shortest of the group and being the only person there with an Islander-like vibe to them. Luigi was, as the Nightstalker had guessed, the Italian in green with the well groomed mustache. And that meant that only Edward Buck and Samus remained unknown to him, but seeing as Hapu had addressed Samus already, that left only the orange armored individual who's gender he had yet to ascertain. "Pleasure to meet you all. I'm James Varrock, Nightstalker with the Vanguard, though I can't use any of my abilities currently, and Guardian of the Last City of Earth. And this floating eye bot here is Charger, my Ghost."

As James spoke, Charger had been running a scan on the other three, four if you counted Mudsdale, three blue lines coming out to make a triangle around them, marking them as friendlies and Fire Team members so that his Guardian wouldn't accidentally shoot them. "I'm pleased to meet you all as well. Don't mind the scans, simply marking you as friendly so James here doesn't let his itchy trigger finger get the better of him. He will also be able to communicate with you remotely if you have a communication device on you, and vice versa." The Ghost is silent another moment before nodding to himself. "Done. Now I only need to do the same scan and sync up with Edward Buck." Shaking his head at the Ghost, James turns to Luigi.

"No idea what the plan is, but if everyone takes awhile to gather, Charger can mark everyone as friendly for me as time permits. Hopefully we won't all end up in each other's way somehow."

---

"Yes let us go," Aku stated agreeing with the assassin, Crash giving a brief nod and thumbs up before jumping in. The jump from the castle to this new world seemed faster then the previous teleport but even timing the landing, Crash stumbled once more head over heels as he exited out of the portal. He brushed his pant legs off as he stood up looking around and gathering the new surroundings while waiting for all the others to step through.

He and those who had gone through thus far seemed to of reappeared in some form of forest, and off in the distance the appearance of a large structure could be seen. Perhaps it was where they needed to go first. He pointed it out to Aku who gave a brief nod of understanding."Perhaps Crash but lets not rush ahead of the others. We are not alone of this expedition remember," , Aku replied.

Crash sighed slightly and leaned against a tree waiting as patiently as he could. Now finally with action so near the bandicoot was restless and willing to see some action, to show he wasn't some weird science experiment gone awry and could hold his own and get the judgemental stares to stop. He had noticed a few stare at him, though he ignored most up until being named as one of the team leaders. Now he had to prove his worth as a hero and that his invitation wasn't a fluke.

Few things could leave the Hunter feeling concerned. However, magic was certainly one of them. Where he came from, magic was a strange phenomena only controlled adequately by the insane, and the inhuman. Even his own basic grasp of the concepts made it harder to keep himself sane. He figured he would leave the details to the other members of his team. At the end of the day, the mission boiled down to a search and rescue, followed by a hunt. Names and places were excessive detail in this scenario. As the meeting adjourned, he gave a respectful nod to Amaterasu, before making his way to the 49th floor.

The Hunter made his way to receive his vaccine. There had once been a time where he had been afraid of needles. His time in Yharnam had seen to that. Without regular infusions of blood, a hunter was as good as dead. He took the vaccine without complaint. The Hunter REALLY hoped it would work, as his particular fighting style was very messy by necessity. Healing from blood made you much more willing to get soaked in it.

The Hunter mulled over his team as he approached the teleporter. He had hunted in pairs before, but rarely more than that. Still, two of the team members looked like adequate hunters in their own right. He had no qualms about them. The orange creature @Argetlam350 seemed strange to lead a group of this nature, but the strange mask that floated nearby him thrummed with power to his eldritch senses. Plus, the whispers spoke of this "Crash" as quite capable, if eccentric. He really was only concerned with this "Quina" character.

Noticing he was a little late to the proverbial party, the Hunter made his way through the portal to catch up. Finding himself in a forest with the group, he couldn't help but be reminded of the forbidden woods before Byrgenwyrth. Turning to his team, he said "Sorry about the delay. I'm the Hunter. May the blood bring us to a good hunt."

Quina gave one last look around the chamber in the castle as Ezio, then Crash, then The Hunter stepped through the teleporter to begin their adventure, or expedition, or journey to rescue a princess. Some of what Ezio had said had managed to sink in, like an unwary traveller being gobbled up by quicksand. The other things that Quina had been told stood around the edge of the quicksand, watching, and fervently hoping that the same thing wouldn't happen to them.

"Quina see Slayer on other side," Quina took a step towards the teleporter, then stopped to look up again to the Slayer, clearly curious about something, "and no be scared. Quina hero! You see. Also, bring pipe. Pipe look good."

With what presumably passed for a heroic speech in Quina's mind concluded, she, or he, takes the final step through the teleporter and the first step out into the forest. There was no sense of disorientation, or confusion, on the part of Quina; stepping through a teleporter to travel to some unfamiliar place made just about as much sense as anything else that happened to him, or her. After extracting an oversized fork from her, or his, sleeve, Quina held the weapon/cutlery in one hand and gave a little salute to Crash with the other. Then, questioning whether or not the salute was with the correct hand, Quina swapped the weapon to to her, or his, other hand and saluted with the other just to make sure.

"Made it Orange Team Leader Crash," said Quina, as if there was any doubt of that whatsoever, "Hero Quina is.. oh, trees, forest, good place for hunting, probably mushroom too, exciting..."

Quina's voice trailed off into a quiet, rambling monologue about mushrooms.

As Guile dragged the corpulent chef creature outside in an apparent act of discipline, Fox casually made his way closer to the round table, careful to avoid bumping into the perturbed military man or being splashed with whatever stray debris from the plate of barely identifiable mess that didn't make it out the door. It begged to question why that thing didn't just stay out there, where the food obviously was, if all it wanted to do was stuff itself. One might argue that the Major did it a favor. Though, it was somewhat concerning to have such an inattentive participant in this supposed gathering of heroes. If that was who the Seven were counting on to save the universe, then they really must have been desperate for whatever help they could find, but only time would tell.

With that taken care of, the briefing was officially underway, but it was less than helpful to be told that the Council knew as much about what they were called here to deal with as they did. They were instructed to take a precautionary vaccine before embarking on their mission, which was either simpler than it sounded, or sounded simpler than it was. Travel to a magical world, defeat a demon lord and his army, rescue his daughter (a princess, of course), and use her magic ring to activate a cauldron that will somehow save the world. Fox was able to comprehend the gist of it, but magic and how to deal with it wasn’t exactly his forte. This didn’t worry him, though, for with a diverse team of sixteen, there had to be someone who was well enough versed in it to mean something.

Just as the meeting was coming to a close, assigned teams were brought up on the display, and to his surprise, Fox wasn’t being tasked to lead. He didn’t object to changing out of his usual role and following the lead of another, but he also couldn’t help but be curious as to the logic behind the selection of teams and their leaders - or if there was any at all. He took a moment to look over his teammates; three of which he didn’t recognize in the slightest. As they appeared, they were: a conspicuously well-armed, well-armored scientist (Gordon), a dark cloaked figure and likely rogue (Garrett), an amphibious humanoid (Naija), and of course, Mario. The latter had a notably egotistical exuberance about him, but it was a well-known fact that he was good enough in action when it counted to make up for the defects in his personality.

After briefly assessing what he could about his team, the other teams, and the mission, Fox wasted no time getting inoculated and stepping through the portal to the unknown to reconvene with his team, arriving third behind the scientist and the fish maiden who was set to be their leader. He couldn’t say simply based on appearances whether or not she would be capable of doing so, but he was ready and willing to help her pick up whatever slack, if any, she may not be able to handle. Hopefully, it wouldn’t actually come to that.

---

Ich. Being in charge of another unit wasn't something Buck was quite ready to get back into, but he supposed now wasn't the time to let that bother him. Though the scientist was a good touch to the operation. Buck didn't know who he was or if he was really any good, but he seemed focused though his chopped speech. Seemed like he knew what he was doing, and that was enough for Buck to accept sending these people off on the first mission. Of course, this was what we all signed up for, was it not?

Buck followed the others out, receiving the supplies and getting his shot, before heading on through to the teleporter. His helmet was on, and his assault riffle was ready, but lax. Looking around, he didn't like being in a universe other than his own. At least back with the UNSC, it was quite clear who our enemies where. Spotting his team, he steadily walked over trying to come up with a good enough introduction fitting of leader and comrade.

"Greetings. So, any of you know a good place to get a drink around here?" Buck chuckled, before clearing his throat and giving a nod to everyone. It would be good to have someone with better knowledge of the area, but he didn't think they'd be so lucky. "Name's Buck, pleasure to meet all of you. And you there, James. Call this studio favoritism, but I'm going to make you second under me. This is a big fireteam, and I could use someone to help me manage. You still follow my direction, but all immediate decisions fall to you. Look to your squad and help each other out."

"Alright everyone." Buck called out, trying to grab the attention of the odd collection of various genres of characters gathered here today. "We have our mission. Save the land from evil and bring back a virus sample. Saving this kingdom has priority, but don't forget we have our own reason for being here. I know a lot of you don't know who each other are, I myself only recognize a couple of your faces. Communicate. Learn each others strengths and weaknesses with in your team and play them to your advantage. Keep behind cover. I don't want to send home body bags after the first level. If you need help, that is what I am here for. I will make it my priority to assist your team best I can. As for how your team operates, I will leave that to your team leader. Just don't stray too far; if we aren't relatively close when trouble strikes we can't help. Ezio, I'd like to rematch if you think you can go toe to toe when we hit back to command. Now, give them hell."

"Naija, Crash. How you take your team, I will leave to you. Just find a way to communicate back to me when things go south. Strain out your voice box and empty out your ammo if need be. I don't like the way this night is coming upon us, so I'm going to hold till morning. If your team works better in the dark, go for it. I'll be up to supply aid, even if minimal." Buck sorta ran out of words, so he just held up his hand in a thumbs up before heading back to his own team, calling out as he walked off. "Here if you need me. We want to try to head out at first light."

Buck casually walked back over to his group, taking out 3 Baromett Seeds, 2 Muggle Seeds , and 2 Napple Seeds to give to James."Alright team, we head out at first light. I don't like the dark and the remainder of the day will help us get to know each other better. James, catch. I want you, Samus, and Luigi to run inventory, support, and guerrilla tactics. My helmet can hook up to whatever communications you have, so go where I say you go, but all else I'll leave to you. Hapu.... No offence, but stay behind me. You know your partner better than I do, so don't wait for me to act. Wolf." Buck didn't really have anything to say to Amaterasu, so he just nodded. "Us three will mostly be headed straight towards our objective. We might be in the thick of things, but James will be there beside us unless team 1 or 3 need assistance. If you have any questions or suggestions, I'm open at anytime throughout our mission; but for now enjoy the rest of the day."

---

---

Ammy looked up at Hapu's giant horse monster as it nudged her. Grunting back at it, she raised up her a paw and placed it on the creature's lowered head much like Hapu had just done. She couldn't exactly give it a proper rub without proper hands, but she did her best. The horse was definitely more than a horse, that was clear from its bearing, though exactly how much more she wasn't sure. At the same time, though, it was totally a horse. She wondered if it a similar mindset to hers? She'd have to sit down with it and figure it out, probably over a meal if she could scrounge one up for them.

More alarming was James's scanner thing washed over them. She rounded on it curiously as the triangle engulfed her, and the explanation that it would keep her from accidentally getting shot again was encouraging. Her ears were still tingling. She barked an affirmation at James and his...Ghost? It didn't look like a ghost, but then again other worlds were strange.

It was right around that time that their leader appeared. When Edward mentioned that they would be setting out at first light she was half tempted to give that to him right now, but resisted. It suddenly going from evening to bright and sunny afternoon would most likely stir up all kinds of trouble in the world. It would definitely let the Demon Lord know something wasn't quite right. Besides, their orders were apparently to relax so Ammy plopped herself down on the ground and took in the scenery so more, making sure to keep her ears and nose tuned in to catch any movement in the forest that wasn't their own.

James nodded in Edward's direction when he spoke as Charger set to integrating communication's with the man's armor. The assignment to second in command caught the Nightstalker off guard, but he saw no reason to argue it. He'd worked in fire teams before, especially ones as large as this one was. After all, taking out Atheon or Crota would have been damn near impossible by himself and Oryx was a nightmare he didn't want to think about. Catching the seeds as they were thrown to him, he stored them in a pouch and then signaled Charger to get everyone marked as friendly, which the Ghost set about to doing with his triangular beam. Preferring to play it safe upon reaching the chef like creature, he stays further away but still marks her/him/it as friendly before continuing.

He started to sit down and settle in for the night but then decided against it after a moment, instead approaching their team leader and tapping his shoulder lightly. "So you sure you don't want some extra firepower up the middle? Might wish you had once we're going."

---

Hapu shook her head. "I take no offense," she said to Edward. "And Mudsdale and I will do all in our power to act on the benefit of the team, and in extension, the world in which we all live."

Mudsdale, on the other hand, accepted Amaterasu's touch; it had never been stroked by anything other than a human. It was quite an experience for the large horse.

Mudsdale sat on the ground, causing a small tremor in the vicinity due to its sheer weight. Hapu unbuttoned a pouch on her belt loop and scooped out a handful of dry oats. Mudsdale swung its head over to Hapu's hand and in a single gulp gobbled up the oats. Hapu petted Mudsdale's muzzle, and Mudsdale snorted.

Hapu seemed stoically unbothered by anything; the Ghost's scan was explained, and she deduced her situation under Edward quite quickly. She acknowledged that she was here to do a duty, and knew how imperative it was to cooperate. And cooperate, she did, and thank goodness it was with these fine men and women, and wolf. James did not seem as optimistic as she, which simply made her more determined to help the team as much as possible.

---

The Council Room emptied quickly once the brief was over. The heroes proved to be dutiful, immediately rushing off to get their vaccinations and convene in a world they didn’t know much about. Mario wasn’t upset for having not been selected as leader. Instead, fish girl had, and despite what anyone thought, he was okay with it. Mario had experience being a part of various parties and was confident the heroes would all prevail. Fish girl had nothing to worry about for she had the best one of the best heroes on her team.

When Mario had joined the others on the other side of the portal, he took a moment to take in the forest…it looked somewhat normal. It was too enchanting to seem like any old forest but who was he to assume? The trees in his world had smiley faces and to Mario that was way more normal than trees without faces. How would they all know if the trees were mad? He noticed fish girl wave his way.

She found a high place so I didn’t have to go lookin’ for her. Smart girl, Mario thought as he walked over to stand below her. He had a yellow bandaid with a red mushroom on his deltoid and a red strawberry lollipop that he was happily sucking on.

“Hey Fish Girl,” he greeted her. “Nice spot. I don’t think I would have found you in the crowd (mostly because he would have been too lazy to bother looking).”

He then grinned, the sucker stick poking from his cheek. “So I guess its me, Fox, Gordon, you, and the thief! You should feel relieved to know you have so many legends on your team. This whole mission is gonna be a cake walk!”

Mario then held up two fingers at her (peace) before turning to the other members in his party.

The squad leader dove straight into business, calling for everyone’s attention with his assertive voice alone. They learned that the team leaders were free to do as they felt was necessary, but the squad leader was going to wait until daylight before he attempted to make heads or tails of the situation. They knew what was supposed to happen from the brief, but so far, they didn’t have any guidance whatsoever.

Grasping his sucker by the stick, Mario sucked on it thoughtfully as he glanced around at the other groups, and then noticed that Samus and Luigi were on the same team! The plumber frowned his brother's way, but said nothing. Mario had been planning to impress the bounty hunter by showing her his strength. He was no longer the pudgy plumber she remembered.

The bounty hunter raced over to Mario and removed her helmet. Falling to her knees she rested her hands on the plumber’s shoulders and leaned in close to him, “You’ve gotten stronger, Mario. I love strong men.”

Mario grasped her arms, sliding his hands up to take her hands in his as he stared into her beautiful blue eyes.

“That’s not all that’s changed about me,” Mario told her smoothly. He then smirked. “Come on, I’ll show you how I swing my hammer.”

“Oh!”

Mario was grinning perversely at his little mental fantasy when the ground suddenly shook. The plumber was pulled from his thoughts as he spread his arms to keep his balance. The sound of tree branches snapping and leaves hissing surrounded the party and rhythmic vibrations could be felt through the ground—footsteps? Several women with knight-like helms, winged skirts, and greaves emerged from the trees. There were five total before a silhouette of a man—no, a giant! Appeared beyond the next set of trees. A gargantuan fist clenching a hammer, crashed through a branch that had been in his way. A wall of solid muscle lined with four metal shields appeared before the group before the leaves cleared from the giant’s face. Beneath a spiked helm, the man’s red eyes burned malevolently above a thick, red beard. The skins of two bears rested on his shoulders and seeing as the man was ten-feet tall, those were some massive bears.

The giant brushed some leaves from his chest, using his other hand that clenched a horn that would never run dry. His burning eyes settled on the heroes and before he even bothered to introduce himself, he brought the horn to his mouth and eased his head back as he drank heavily from the brew. His throat muscles pumped audibly as he drank to his satisfaction. Lowering the horn, a merry grin expanded on his face amidst the hair that covered it.

“So this is who they all sent?” the general said, sounding disappointed or unimpressed. “I’m General Brigan, General of the Raganival Army. I requested for you all to be here.”

Thrusting out his tree-trunk arms, a bit of his brew sloshed out of his horn, as he explained, “This is Raganival.”

He then pointed at the castle in the distance, “And there is the Demon Lord’s Castle. Currently, Odin is there but he is planning to go to the Abandoned Castle in Elrit Forest. Gwendolyn and the ring are in that castle. The Shadow Knight, Oswald also guards that castle and won’t let us get to her so easily. If Odin gets to the castle before us, then Oswald will be murdered like the…heh. If he really thinks he can stop Demon Lord Odin alone, then he is a fool.”

“These forests are treacherous and full of powerful monsters even more so since Raganival has been at war with Ringford. The fairies may get in our way, but no matter what we must get to the castle. We will need some of you to distract Demon Lord Odin to give us time to reach the Abandoned Castle. The Demon Lord is no easy foe.”

General Brigan examined the gathering briefly and his grin dissolved behind a doubtful scowl. “…I just hope The Seven have kept their end of the deal. I do not know what to make of these…warriors before me.”

Mario was giving the general an ugly look: here

The general had quite the impressive beard and mustache combo. He raised a hand to his own mustache and started stroking it as he pondered growing a beard. Did Samus like beards? He then happened to glance over at Slayer and his mustache. It was…decent he supposed. It still wasn’t as thick as his. Mario continued to stroke his mustache and partially listen to what the general was saying.

“Who is the leader of this group?” General Brigan asked before taking another swallow from his horn.

A short while after she sat herself down she was graced with the arrival of 2 Individuals who, while they did not speak a word between them, situated themselves around her and where presumably Fox and Gordon. Gordons look of disgust confused her till she sniffed her hands, realizing that they were covered in various oils and residue from when she unloaded her stores in the teleporter room and that smell carries much better in air than it does in water. If they wanted to stay quiet she could leave general introductions and ability questioning till the others arrived so no-one would have to repeat themselves.

At this point she spotted mario arrive but before he could wander over Edward spoke up about what he expected, which was apparently a large degree of autonomy on her and Crash’s part on when and what they did but he was apparently waiting for daybreak to set off. She gave him a thumbs up that she had heard and turned back to the arriving Mario.

“Hey Fish Girl, Nice spot. I don’t think I would have found you in the crowd.”

“So I guess it’s me, Fox, Gordon, you, and the thief! You should feel relieved to know you have so many legends on your team. This whole mission is gonna be a cake walk!”

She decided this was as good a time as any to introduce herself properly seeing as Garret already knew her name at least. It would not do to be known as fish girl by her team after all.

”Hello Mario, my name is Naija ” She turned to the other two ”It is nice to meet you both as well, Fox and Gordon ” She payed attention too who reacted to which name to learn who they were without awkwardly asking. ” Once Garrett arrives I suggest we do what Edward recommended: get to know each other's skills a little better and decide whether we head out tonight or tomorrow”

She returned Mario’s odd 2 finger gesture before he turned away to leer rather lecherously at samus. She hoped her team would not be complacent due to their apparent Legend status.

The thief would be Garrett she assumed, who had not arrived yet, but perhaps he was sneaking about somewhere, stealing stuff. Naija did not think this with disdain, she had a tendency to take anything she thought was interesting during her adventure(through their owners were long dead) and as a result her home was decorated with statues, banners and trinkets from the various places she had visited. If anything she was worried he would find all the best treasures before her.

While she was looking the ground started to quake as a large humanoid(she had fought and killed larger) accompanied by several armor wearing females arrived and announced himself as General Brigan, General of the Raganival Army. He gave a flurry of exposition from which she gathered the following things.

One mission was to go to the visible castle and distract the demon lord
Another was to go to an abandoned castle in a dangerous forest and confront a shadow knight to retrieve the sleeping princess and her ring.
She imagined a third would be to get that cauldron as well, though that may come after the two previous tasks.
Fairies are powerful monsters that live in forests
This giant did not think highly of any of them
She really liked the ladies armor and was going to see if she could ‘find’ some during their expedition

She looked to Edward to see how he would respond. Hopefully the two could hash out a plan of attack using the 3 teams.

As roles and duties were being handed out in a truly militarist fashion, Luigi wouldn't deny the fact that he felt like he was a little over his head; He wasn't a member of the military, he was just a plumber that when push came to shove couldn't stand by and let his brother run off alone to face whatever army that Bowser or whoever had risen up to threaten the Mushroom Kingdom (through he had to admit, considering how often the Kingdom was threatened the Mushroom Kingdom Military wasn't exactly the grandest of organizations...). He would simply do the sensible thing... and just do what Samus and James told him to do because clearly they had a better idea of what needed to be done then he did.

Then the giant arrived...

Luigi looked up at the man with a small amount of awe and concern; The fact that such a large person could exist naturally was astounding, but he couldn't help but ponder how easily he could mortally wound someone a more... normal size just because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. With a small nervous gulp, Luigi was about to do everything in his power to avoid the General's attention... when an idea popped up in his head that would require information that the Giant General might be able to provide.

Shivering from nervousness, Luigi held up a hand before calling out "E-Excuse me. I'm n-not in charge but by any chance would you know what kind of terrain the Demon Lord is planning to travel through and how he plans to travel through it? " The further that Luigi got, the more confident his voice grew... through he was still shivering somewhat due to actively calling the attention of General Brigan onto himself.

As Samus walked through the portal into the new world of Erion, the rest came through, first by Luigi, then Hapu, Amaterasu, and then finally the team captain Edward Buck. Everyone else began to arrive in the same area as well, As they all entered, her team began to formally introduce themselves.

"Samus Aran." the bounty hunter blatantly replies as she just finishes checking her arm cannon, "Intergalactic bounty hunter and warrior. That's all you need to know about me, at least for now."

Samus was more of the person the dispense with the pleasantries and get right into the action. Of course, not until orders come from their Team Captain. She was more of the person to get things done alone, but she wouldn't mind being in a team as long as they swiftly and effectively get to their objectives. The green-haired woman turns to hear out Edward Buck.

"Greetings. So, any of you know a good place to get a drink around here?" Buck chuckled, before clearing his throat and giving a nod to everyone. It would be good to have someone with better knowledge of the area, but he didn't think they'd be so lucky. "Name's Buck, pleasure to meet all of you. And you there, James. Call this studio favoritism, but I'm going to make you second under me. This is a big fireteam, and I could use someone to help me manage. You still follow my direction, but all immediate decisions fall to you. Look to your squad and help each other out."

Samus stays quiet amongst the crowd. Of course the person most like him would be picked. Two almost "dual-copies" are placed in command. She wasn't jealous or anything, in fact, she did expect it. She just thought it was a little ironic. At least he's rather more honest about it. Regardless, it's better not to say anything at this stage. The leader begins to speak again.

"Alright everyone." Buck called out, "We have our mission. Save the land from evil and bring back a virus sample. Saving this kingdom has priority, but don't forget we have our own reason for being here. I know a lot of you don't know who each other are, I myself only recognize a couple of your faces. Communicate. Learn each others strengths and weaknesses with in your team and play them to your advantage. Keep behind cover. I don't want to send home body bags after the first level. If you need help, that is what I am here for. I will make it my priority to assist your team best I can. As for how your team operates, I will leave that to your team leader. Just don't stray too far; if we aren't relatively close when trouble strikes we can't help. Ezio, I'd like to rematch if you think you can go toe to toe when we hit back to command. Now, give them hell."

Ah yes, communication. Always important when in a squad. Samus isn't necessarily used to such a thing, since again, she usually works on her own. The last time she has done such a thing was somewhere during her Federation training back in her universe. As the other groups began to move out, Buck casually walked back over to his group, taking out the 3 Baromett Seeds, 2 Muggle Seeds, and 2 Napple Seeds to give to James.

"Alright team, we head out at first light. I don't like the dark and the remainder of the day will help us get to know each other better. James, catch. I want you, Samus, and Luigi to run inventory, support, and guerrilla tactics. My helmet can hook up to whatever communications you have, so go where I say you go, but all else I'll leave to you."

Samus makes a light nod and salute to his statement. At least she gets a respectful position on the front lines... well that's actually to be expected. She isn't ill to that way at all.

Suddenly, the ground begins to shake as several women with knight-like helms, winged skirts, and greaves emerged from the trees, followed by a huge male giant, clenching a hammer. He was a rather scary and ominous-looking fella, but yet the bounty hunter did not flinch, even as the giant looks down at her group, asking who the leader was. She would refer to Edward Buck, but alas she still stays quiet.

She wasn't exactly the type of person who likes beards all that much anyways...

, Brigan @Holy Soldier

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The giant general was as tall as the wandering king of Kalosian legend, with eyes glowing red like those of a battle-hungry Lycanroc. Retained by women who appeared to be valkyries, this Brigan gentleman looked down upon our heroes. Hapu acknowledged that part of this may be due to her stature and age. And yet she remained unbothered, for all were equal in the broad face of adversity.

Still she hadn't expected so many people to brush her off or look down on her. She certainly wasn't angry, but she did think to herself that the people of her own game were a lot more, well, accepting.

She decided not to make comment as Brigan spoke. Even under his disappointed tone, Hapu kept in mind that the seven rulers had extended pleas to every single one of these fine folk for a reason, that they would not desire to put anyone in danger that they do not have to.

Mudsdale was a little miffed at the prospect of a giant taller than it, though the horse measured over eight feet of equestrian might. It gave a somewhat uncomfortable snort.

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Seeing that most of his team had made it through Crash was ready to get things started. Crash grabbed the Hunter's hand briefly giving it a shake after the introduction. Before being able to relay his thoughts to Aku, one of the other team leaders spoke up, one of the heavily armored humans that Crash remembered to be called Buck. Crash gave a salute to the man when he was done to show he got the message and then return to the rest of his team but stopped mid step when the ground shook under his feet. He let out a startled 'WOAH!' as several giant women and a giant man appeared. Crash calmed himself quickly though as the giant mentioned himself as friend and asked who was in charge. Crash didn't hesitant to point towards to Buck since he did seem to be the head of all the groups.

He pondered slightly on what the giant said. He was accustomed to fighting tough foes, many larger then him but only having met the new people he was working with his mind wondered what exactly their experience was. He would soon find out he assumed.

"I believe we perhaps should follow Buck's example in that we spend the night and rest before heading off. It will also give us time to learn what are new allies have on this demon we will be facing and perhaps more information on what lurks in these woods," Aku suggested to which Crash gave a nod to ",Does anyone wish to oppose this idea and have another suggestion?"

A steady stream of heroes arrived and made their way through the portal to the first world in need of help. Slayer, though giving only a cursory glance at each one, swelled with pride for the first time to know that he formed a part of this gallant crew. The excitement caused a smile to appear on his face. When his team assembled and the time came to depart alongside the others, he waited for Ezio, Crash, and the Hunter to put their best feet forward into the unknown before making to join the expression. He stopped for a moment to glance at the group's oddball chef when it spoke to him in reply, tilting his head ever-so-slightly when it warned against him feeling scared. ”Never fear, my young friend. Not a trace of doubt afflicts my heart. I shall be sure to bring my pipe along.” To make especially sure, he clenched it between his teeth as he ran his fingers through his hair and stepped into the portal.

Just as it had for the others, the sight of a forest greeted him upon arrival. He emerged into the middle of a cross-team conversation of which Edward Buck, the soldier chosen to be the courageous taskforce's squad leader, was in charge. Reasoning that Crash would represent him if he partook in the exchange, Slayer turned his attention elsewhere. The gloomy woodland that stood in rather ominous serenity in every direction betrayed little about the world. The suddenness with which he -and by extension the rest of the heroes- were thrust into this world made him wonder if the Seven had some sort of contact with which everyone might rendezvous. The bulk of his past experience with such operations made it awfully likely, after all. With this in mind, Slayer folded his arms and waited, and in the background the conversation went on. Despite his respect for the latent power of Quinoa, he did not think twice about tuning out its lengthy discourse on mushrooms.

The vampire did not have time to grow disappointed. Slayer became aware of a noise that became louder at a steady rate. A tremor beneath his feet, beating in time to the sound, informed him that it belonged to something large, heavy, and headed right for him. Attuning himself to the disturbance, Slayer watched the trees with eyes peeled, and before he expected it to, something appeared from the foliage. Rather than something huge and intimidating, however, it appeared to be a lady in armor. The unanticipated guest took on the semblance of a vanguard, scout, or honor guard in Slayer's mind, so with curiosity piqued he observed the arrival of more valkyries, and before long their superior made himself known. From the greenery emerged a humungous man that instantly made Slayer's gorge rise. His ludicrous proportions, with each inch of skin almost disgustingly overmuscular, coupled with the fact that he wore less clothes than a pro wrestler, made the vampire's eyebrows furrow and mouth curve into a tight frown. Furthermore, the giant's eyes glowed a lustrous, caustic red, which in Slayer's experience typically signified that their owner was evil. Nevertheless, he stayed his hand even as the swollen barbarian glutted himself with drink, and listened.

All things considered, Brigan's dissatisfaction with the heroes could be expected. Slayer knew, and not just because he was with them, that this crew was impressive to look upon. The giant's disdain spoke of an ego that only considered himself to be worthy of respect. The seconds slipped by as General Brigan explained the heroes' situation to them, giving a workable approximation of the region, their objectives, and so forth. Satisfied with the information, Slayer gave his pipe a puff and glanced at Crash to hear what the Bandicoot had to say through his interpreter. Aku Aku communicated a plan that Slayer could find no reasonable qualms with, but he couldn't say that he liked it, either. When the mask asked for any objections, the gentleman spoke up first. 'If I may, I have a suggestion. I do not require sleep, and we do not all need be present to learn from our new friends. I submit for your consideration that I explore the surrounding area. Of course, I will be quiet and avoid any confrontation. To remain behind would bore me, to put it simply.” He wondered what the area had in store. To hear about monsters was one thing, but to see them in the flesh would be far more interesting.

Quina's rambling discussion on mushrooms (featuring heavy use of words like "yummy", "fuzzy" and "soup", which should give you an idea about the quality of such a discussion) came to a halt when the giant figure of General Brigan displaced several trees to arrive, with his entourage, in front of the group and brief them. Quina tried his, or her, best to pay attention, even though her (or his) eyes seemed to follow every sloshing movement of the massive General's drinking horn. Sure, his sheer size and all this talk about monsters and fairies and distracting a Demon Lord was very interesting, but that horn didn't seem to be running out. Once the briefing was concluded with the rather dismissive comment about the "warriors", Quina turned back to look to the team leader, Crash and the talking, floating mask.

"Quina not oppose, Orange Leader," Quina nodded happily, before adjusting the chef's hat on his, or her, head, as it had slipped down slightly from such a vigorous gesture of agreement, "we make camp, have food, make plan, nap. Oh! I make stew. Team stew! Mushrooms."

At this point, Quina began extracting the leftover bits of food she, or he, had stashed away in the pockets of the salmon-pink jacket he, or she, wore. There wasn't much left, due to Quina's tendency to absentmindedly take things from the aforementioned pockets and eat them, but it was a start - a few pieces of hard cheese, half of a bread roll, a slightly squashed banana and a rather more crushed meringue scavenged from the top of a cake. Quina glanced around at the members of Team One, as if trying to work out how to turn the meagre handful of food into something that'd feed them all.

"If Slayer Man goes explore, Slayer brings back mushrooms, yes? Good ones. Best ones, like I said, remember?"

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The smell had hit her before anything, the strong mix of strong alcohol ands body odor reeking its way through the trees before the man actually (@Holy Soldier) appeared. He reminded her of Susanoo, if you removed all the quaint country bumpkin charm with a ragged axe. She stood up quickly, shaking her head at this being their contact, before stretching. That was two naps today that had been over before they began.

Straightening back up she barked at the general to get his attention, then jerked her head at Buck before pacing over and standing at his side. it looked to her that there was no time for resting and getting their bearings, at least for whoever went to find the sleeping Gwendolyn. It was better for them to leave immediately, before the Demon Lord finished his preparations and needed distracting. She was all for being the distraction team, it would be fun to cut her teeth on the Demon Lord of another world, but that decision was best left to their leader.