---

Soon the young mage would begin to stir, due to the ruckus of the station blinking in exhaustion, he would begin to reflect upon his past life when he was not an apocalypse survivor. What was life meant to be for this little mage after his original objective? Was he to be entrusted another mission afterward? Or were he to live the rest of his life like a monk, isolated and ignored by society due to his social struggles and deep study in dark magic. He re-examined his old and worn book of spells. He used to have every single one of these puppies memorized and in fact, he still does. But… he struggles to perform any of them, besides Thunder, which was one of the first spells he learned. Did this have to do with the beam of light that struck him so many months ago? Black Mage was set out on finding the cause of this. He stood up, stretching his stiff limbs as he pocketed his book into his robe and then would attempt to limber up as best as he could. Am I even anywhere near home?... I was just sort of… summoned here in a sense. He clenched his gloved fist in spite of his situation. He did not know anything about the World of Light that Galeem had created, or his unknown rescue from the tiny puff named Kirby, but he knew, he knew that for whatever reason he was revived for some reason or another. He would walk to Leon, look up at him quickly and express “I’m going to supply search. Maybe get rid of some ‘zombies’ along the way” with the tip of his hat, he was gone.

He would traverse another quarter of the building he had yet to have explored on his own. He trod carefully, keeping his staff at the ready if anything with murderous intent planned to eat him alive. He walked down the hall and after finding a more quiet area to rest. He was beginning to bore after the same routine every day.

---

Michael couldn't help but frown as he watched the sack of what he assumed was money hit the counter, intended for the kid and not for him and Franklin. It was followed by the mysterious hourglass soon after. Eh...I guess I'll let the kid enjoy her money... Looking around the store, there was one item in particular that stood out. The Lon Lon milk, which the shopkeeper had given a bottle of to the girl they rescued to heal their injuries. He knew from experience how effective it was at healing, so it was definitely something they should pick up. "Hey, kid, pick up a bottle of that stuff. It's pretty useful." With that, he began to head out, the two exiting the store with Baba still following behind. It had taken some effort, but the rabbit-like creature seemed to be content with following the men around.

Soon after leaving the store, they heard a familiar voice calling out to them. Michael gave a slight wave towards Linkle, while Franklin gave her a nod. "Hey, what's up?"

---

As it turned out, a lot had been 'up' since they had left. Linkle and a few others had gone on a quest to a monster filled lake, something that sounded a little more exciting than the temple they had went to. Michael and Franklin spent some time introducing themselves to the newcomers that had returned with Linkle, as well as introducing them to Baba. "Yeah, he just...came out of nowhere. But he seems nice enough." He followed that with a general explanation of the puzzles they faced, and the things they saw on the way to and from the temple.

Soon enough, more and more of the group began returning to town, having completed quests of their own. Once everyone had returned, the pair and Baba made their way over to the guild hall. Given that Michael and Franklin had skipped the building when they first arrived in town, they were a little surprised to see the appearance of the guildmaster. The resemblance to the Master of Masters was uncanny, and part of Michael wanted to ask if they knew each other, although it didn't feel appropriate given the situation. After speaking to a woman who seemed to be in charge of keeping records on all the quests, he began his speech. It was rather straightforward- they had done enough to let them go after an 'F-rank' monster who, judging by the looks on the faces of their allies, was one of Galeem's champions they had to take down. He followed this with an invitation to a meal, something that the two were more than happy to accept. They hadn't eaten in several hours, and they were beginning to feel the effects of hunger, Michael especially.

Before he headed off to the free meal, though, there was something else that Michael wanted to see to. There were three loot boxes in front of them, a reward for one of the quests another group had gone off on. Walking up to them, Michael reached into his suit pockets and took out his wallet. This was one of the few places where his money would be something more than a useless paperweight. Looking into his wallet, he counted around $100 in cash. If he had access to an ATM, he wouldn't have any problem at all- after the Union Depository job, both he and Franklin had obscene amounts of money to their names- but despite this, the money he had on hand would be more than enough. Taking out three one-dollar bills, he placed each of them into the cash slots of the lootboxes, and stepped back, waiting for their rewards to appear.

”Your minion has quite the lip on it. Or beak.” Kamek complained to V. He ignored his own desire to blast the feathered pest and paid more attention to what he was saying in-between the insults.

”Demons you say, bound to the life of a master hmm. Fascinating. Quite the effective leash that. That certainly solves one of the problems you always get with recruiting external help.” he said, mostly to himself as he mulled the possibilities over and was left grinning.

”Thank you, you de-evolved dinosaur, you’ve given me quite a few ideas and things to look into.” he told the rude bird.

After handing over the position of his minigun to ratchet ”You can keep it. It was doing a number on my spine anyway” and his summoned Dry Bones to Blazermate ”You’ll find them far sturdier than these meat puppets I assure you” and collecting some minion sprites, including the one he had got into melee combat, in the empty exp vile he was ready to head out.

”While I’m sure you'd love for me to stay” Kamek addressed the assembly generally ”Now that V has been found this is as far as I go here. I have a Master and free dinner to get back in the Land of adventure after all. So unless there's anything anyone needs I’ll be off”

---

”Is it Grass?”

”Yeah. Good guess. Your turn.”

”Ok! Hmmmm. I spy with my little eye something beginning… With… oh! oh! K! Definitely K”

”Chicken?” Bowser tried, referring to the Chocobos running around the fields close to town

”Nope”

”Car?” he asked as they got closer to their parked vehicles.

”Nope”

”hmmm” Bowser hummed thoughtful while peering off into the distance, claws idly scratching his jaw as he tried to find the elusive K word.

”Greetings sire. I see the hunt was most successful.” said the Magikoopa who the king had overlooked while playing I spy with his son.

”Gah” Bowser startled before looking down and finding his blue cloaked advisor had wandered out of the town where had been waiting for them to return. ”Oh. It’s you Kamek”

”Yup. It’s him” Jr confirmed Bowser’s guess.

”Oh. Right! Uhh anyway yeah we got plenty of meat. It's goo d stuff to. You handled everything over in the dead zone?”

”I have. They’ve got a ways to go it seems. They need to face two more minibosses before the guardian aparently, but I got them safely to V and so I took my leave in-order to return to your side. I also learned about the existence of powerful evil creatures called Demons that can be bound to the life of a person. Something to look into once I have the time and resources. I asked around before you arrived but didn't learn much other than that the adventurers who have heard of them consider them very dangerous” Kamek explained, the supposed danger of the monsters seeming of little concern to him.

”Got a scheme brewing?” Jr asked

”The start of one certainly. I’ll let you know when I have more, but for now tell me about how things have been since we split ways”

”Oh oh, I we hired this hunter lady with a bird and I hunted things with her crossbow!” Jr began to explain.

The trio continued catching up with each other’s adventures as they got on with turning in their quests, emerging from the blacksmith with pocket fulls of rupees (though not nearly as many as Tora and Poppie) and the 3 loot boxes and promises of dinner from Mina’s restaurant. Afterwards they got together with the rest of the squad at the guild hall to register their successes. Everyone looked to have gotten back in one piece and the Cowboy had even managed to acquire new un-Galeemed party member from somewhere. The King was pleased that they hadn’t gotten captured or killed when left to their own devices, which was an unfortunate habit his regular army had.

Once inside the cubes where deposited on a table in the care of jr.

”uuuuurgh.” Jr groaned after several failed attempts at bonking one of the crystalline rupees against the box and receiving no response. The cubes were spared from more violent methods of opening by the arrival of Michael who generously popped open the loot boxes for them with a few dollars from his wallet.

”Oh nice! But why does only this fake paper money work anyway?” Jr asked as he waited for the boxes to open.

Bowser and Kamek meanwhile handled the Guild business. The wizard had had time to sign himself onto the completion of their two quests but it seemed as though the original two quests per member had been put aside. Bowser was sure this was because their handling of every quest in just an afternoon had done more than enough to prove that his army was the best in the business. Then they got the lowdown on the F class quest from the Guild Master.

”GAH, BUT WE JUST CAME FROM OVER THERE.” Bowser grumbled when finding out where the beast was before adding ”BUT I GUESS WE COULD LOOK INTO THE PIG’S GREEN RAIDER PROBLEM ON THE WAY FOR MORE CASH?”

”What’s this sire?”

”Pig people. Stuck up snobs with tiny houses. Getting attacked by small green people. We could go blow up their problem as a warmup, then head for the town, get some supplies and finally go out into these steppes where they said something big was. Probably talking about the dino we’re after. Whatever its name was.”

”The Saurian.”

”Yeah that.

”Doesn’t really matter right now anyway because the new guy’s got the right idea. Foods ready and I am starving.” Bowser said, despite being one of the few people in the building who had had lunch.

”Also it being a dinosaur is only a guess.” Kamek added, before turning to the Guild Master and asking ”Now that we’re properly certified for taking on this quest, what can you tell us about this ’Mr. F’ as you called him?”

Magnumus Agoston, Centurion.

Level 3 - (23/30) EXP
Location: Lumbridge, Land of Adventure
Word Count: 452

@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN

---

Centurion didn't manage to catch anything. He had no bow, and his armor was loud and clanking. His compatriots quickly disposed of any foul beasts headed their way, so Agoston took on the task of doing his part in carrying some of the meat and other loot scavanged from hunted animals. All in all, it was a successful hunting trip. Probably? It was kind of hard to tell. The huntress seemed pleased, either way. Afternoon was finally setting, and the sunset was a beautiful thing to behold. Still, he began to grow homesick. It reminded him of the Fire's Eclipse. Once every summer, the sun would set in a unique way. Mt. Ignis, the dormant volcano next to his hometown of Cinder's Mill, would cup the sinking sun like a bowl. The sun, for a brief moment, would look like a big, glowing orange fruit in the bowl of the volcano. It almost looked as if Mt. Ignis was erupting once again after it's thousand year slumber. Fortunately, such a thing never happened. He wondered if Cinder's Mill was still there. Our perhaps it had been taken somewhere, like Lumbridge. He hadn't seen his mother in years- where was she? Was her house abandoned and quiet? Gathering dust? What about all the dogs, cats, and rats? Were they wandering the abandoned town, or had they been swept away by Galeem's power?

Too many questions. It was beginning to gloom up the celebration. A feast was in order. The guildarm was immensely busy, and a vast majority of his fellows in arms were gathering back in Lumbridge. Even Ryu was there. Agoston would have to keep an eye on him, just to see what he would do next. It was good to know that some people maintained who they were.

"Quite the busy day we've had," he remarked to Tora, Poppi, and Bowser. He glanced around at the gathering group. "Good to see you all again. Linkle, Micheal, Franklin, I hope you are well. Courier! Greetings! I'd say the rest of your names but I'm sure I've forgotten them, and we don't have all night. Though, there are some of you I don't recognise." One individual particlarly caught his eye. A white-haired, cat-eyed man with two swords sheathed on his back.

"Greetings, compatriot," he decided to introduce himself. "My name is Magnumus Agoston, Centurion. I have a question. Why do you have two swords on your back. Is it incase the first one breaks?" Certainly there was a more outlandish reason for it, but it was the first one he could think of off the top of his head. Personally, Agoston had a squire's horse carry his extra weapons.

To say Tora was impatient would be an understatement. One just had to look at him fidgeting about to question the wisdom of telling a Nopon that a big dinner was imminent, especially a free one. He only looked away from the guild's doors once, to say “Hello!” when the Centurion greeted him. The moment Mina's assistant Chef Kowalski arrived in the Guild with the first trolley of food, Tora applied himself to it liberally. Balancing his ovular rotundity atop a stool meant for humans, the Nopon wolfed down a bowl of baurun steak noodle soup, relishing each messy bite. Poppi looked appalled. “Masterpon!” she admonished, “Don't you have any table manners?”

“Muh?” After slurping down the leftover broth, Tora pushed the bowl away and wiped his mouth with a wing. That essentially answered the artificial blade's question for her, but Tora saw fit to start with the excuses. “W-well...Tora live alone whole life, and use dinner table only once in while because of work. So...not really?”

A crestfallen expression had taken over Poppi's face. “That so sad.”

Chuckling, Tora shrugged. “Meh, maybe seem so, but so long as Tora pursuing dream, always happy deep inside.”

Confusion welled up as Poppi shook her head. “No, Poppi mean 'sad' like 'pathetic.' It good thing adventure mean Tora get out more.”

“Meeeeeh!” her masterpon moaned. With a push he got down from his stool, and walked off mumbling, “Tora go get more food. So tasy-tasy and nice. Never diss Tora...” his journey back to the trolley met with distraction, however. First, he passed by Hat Kid, whose visage made him smile. Ever since people started using spirits on themselves, he couldn't help but dread that on beholding allies returned from some trip that he would find them marred beyond all recognition, their essences polluted and twisted. Hat Kid, however, looked just the same as ever. While on the young side himself, Tora felt a certain responsibility for the child, since he was the one who freed her from Galeem. “Hello!” Tora greeted. “Good to see little kid well, meh.” Using his wing, he patted the top of her hat, then was on his way.

Next, his eyes alighted upon three interesting-looking boxes currently under scrutiny by Michael. Even more fascinating to Tora was the stuff in Michael's hands, so green and alluring. Memories of the morning struck the Nopon, and he waddled over with a bright look in his eyes. “Ah, friend Mike-Mike going to open boxes! So that what money look like in own world. Can Tora feel?” Evidently he saw nothing wrong with the question at all, but his request went unfulfilled. Instead, he settled for watching the man open the boxes, wondering with great anticipation what would be inside.

The first box devoured Michael's bill greedily, clicked repeatedly, then burst open to launch four objects skyward. Three glowed white, and the last one shone blue. When the blobs of light hit the ground, they manifested into loot. Both of the first two appeared to be spray paint cans, but each bore a different image. One depicted a goofy-looking face made by Jak, who most everyone here encountered back in the Paved Wilderness. The other featured a funny-looking Mario. Next came the blue item, an entire set of iron horse armor, neatly piled up. Last was a skull cap.

Tora blinked twice. Aside from the horse armor, everything seemed like trash. “That it?”

In the second box were two whites and two blues. The whites included a burn heal and a sticker of some cloud guy. However, the box also produced a couple of pretty good-looking arm guards and something strange: a glowing piece of what for all intents and purposes appeared to be a strip of skin with a picture of hat kid on it, but with different-colored hair and clothes.

Lastly, the third box divulged three blues, and a third color: purple. One blue was a little charm with mushrooms on it. Another appeared to be a pair of long arms that floated off the ground, possessing a subtle glow like someone who'd just absorbed a spirit. The last proved to be another scrap of skin, this one bearing the likeness of Tora in swimwear. In seeing it, the Nopon's eyes bugged out, and he hurried to snatch it up and stuff it in a pocket. “Meheh, nothing to see there, meh. Ooh, what that?” he blurted out, trying to draw attention to the last item. It was the upper part of what appeared to be a nondescript stealth outfit with highly technological goggles, all sparkling gold. Fascinated by the goggles, Tora picked it up. “So cool!” He put it on its head, probably just to joke around, but the moment he did its fabric started to unwind. “MEH?!” It spread over him like a horde of snakes, knitting itself into a new shape, and in a matter of seconds the piece of gear became a full outfit perfectly adapted for his body shape.

Tora stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. Its goggles and mask completely covered his face, muffling his voice. “Hello? For moment everything dark and weird, but now can see very good.” He flapped his wings experimentally, testing the fabric. “Uh, but Tora sorry for touching Mike-Mike's prize. Will try to...meh...take off...” After a moment of prying, the costume seemed to give in, and unraveled itself back off him to assume its former shape. Panting, Tora put it down. “Whoa...it like, adjusting costume anyone can put on.” He withdrew the skin from his pocket, peering at it closely. “This one, and Hatty's, probably only for person pictured. But, uh...Tora not try this, meh.” He put it away again and awkwardly shuffled off.

At last, he arrived at the long-awaited food trolley. He took some fried king bean tofu and a platter of glazed lanternfruit skewers. He left the braised lapizard tail and stir-fried lapizard legs for the others, along with the candlegourd soup, slime tang yuan, cheepchi century egg, baurun spare ribs, taka berry jelly, and tropius fruit salad. Dessert could come later.

On the way back to his spot, he overheard the Courier talking to Peach. Her highness didn't appear anywhere near as captivated by the potted wiggler and 6 seemed to think she'd be, and she instead made sure it found its way to the guildmarm's desk. She wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, after all, and the company of a silly-looking pet might make her day a little easier. Tora ended up passing by Geralt as well, and little too closely thanks to the crowded array of tables. “Meh, 'scuse...” he started, only to choke up when he saw Geralt's scary red eyes. “Whoa! Meeh...Tora mean...whoat a day to make a new friend! Hello and welcome!” He hurried the rest of the way back to his seat and plonked himself down. He pushed the tofu over to Poppi for her to run her olfactory sensors over, then started chomping on the lanternfruit. After a bit, however, paused to speak. “Isn't weird that team still have red-eye in midst? Could turn against us any time,” he told the people to either side of him, being Poppi and the Ace Cadet. “Maybe before head out everyone should beat up, free, and heal? Tora can give heart.”

Putting down the tofu, Poppi breathed a sigh of happiness before she passed it back to Tora. “Not bad idea. Even if red-eye person seem normal, if that awful hand appear again, it might take control.” She narrowed her eyes at Geralt. The Witcher sat far enough away that he shouldn't be able to hear her Masterpon's conspiring, but he might notice the extra attention anyway.

Meanwhile, with the guildmaster gone again, the guildmarm had to answer Kamek's request. She seemed to be at a loss. “Um, I'm sorry sir. The scouts understandably didn't want to get very close. All I know is that it was big, dark, had a long tail, and stood on two legs. They also said some parts of it glowed.”



Spellbound, Nero and V watched for a few moments as Blazermate attempted to get her zombie thralls to dance. Their twisted musculature and rotting joints made articulate movement difficult, but the medabot worked adamantly, translating her instructions through the Suffering Arm into howls and cries to whip the sorry suckers' cruddy choreography into shape. Eventually her earnest efforts came up against the wall presented by her subjects' collective inability, and Blazermate resigned herself to sitting by the group. Nero couldn't help but give a short, wry laugh along with her at the absurdity of the situation. “Heh. Well, that's something I won't be forgetting anytime soon. But don't get too comfortable. We need to keep moving, and having you around to keep the zombies under control will come in handy.”

V designated their path with his cane. At the far side of the plaza from the partially-ruined cathedral was a road leading eastward. The other Qliphoth roots loomed above the city in more or less that direction, visible despite the haze of night fallen over the afflicted city, and that street would take the heroes to their goal. He started to walk, with Griffon taking off to soar ahead, but after only a couple steps was seized by a wracking cough. Almost doubling over, he leaned on his cane, his body clenched in pain. “Ahh...” he intoned after a moment. “Indeed...we have little time to lose.”

With V momentarily unwell, Nero took charge of the situation again, looking around at the others. “Alright, let's get ready to go. Heal up, load up, whatever. Nico will find her own way around, so don't worry about her. If you need to have a look around, suit yourself, but we're not waiting.”

He watched for a moment as Kamek gave up his minigun to Ratchet before heading off, then turned his attention to Jak and Daxter, who'd taken the Ent's spirit. After a bit of discussion, the former abruptly introduced the spirit to his little friend's chest, who with a yell fell to the ground and began to glow. A moment later the ottsel erupted into a shifting mass of brilliant light and color, but Jak seemed totally nonplussed. Instead he approached V, who had just about recovered his composure. Since what Jak said warranted nothing more than a nod of acknowledgment, V watched what was happening to Daxter with mild curiosity. Before the group's collective eyes, the radiant mass tripled in size, sprouting branchlike protrusions. When the light died down, Daxter was much larger, with wood rather than fur in a number of places, like armor.



When the surprise wore off a few moments later, V tapped his cane by his feet, and a carpet of dark particles appeared beneath him. Without a word he surfed off, using his cane to steer as Shadow carried him across the ground. Nero had already departed, leading the way for the heroes.

---

The streets that lay in the heroes' path proved to be cluttered with all manner of debris, from wrecked cars to torn-off hunks of buildings, and most of all, zombies. With Blazermate on hand, however, no standard undead could oppose them. With only base instincts to drive their husks forward, they fell under the command of her caterwauls en masse. Their new master's power led to a rather uneventful trip, though on the whole not much more pleasant. Even the air itself in Redgraccoon City stung the lungs, and every step brought one tangibly deeper into this realm of death.

Not long after they rounded a corner and the purloined corner store contained therein, a whirring noise from the sky made itself evident. The steady beat drew the eye long before its maker became visible, flying out from behind a tall office building. Sleek and black, the helicopter coasted over the dismal metropolis without any acknowledgment at all of those traveling below. Tracing its path revealed something nobody had yet noticed: a yellow circle of light imprinted on the underside of the clouds, the product of a powerful spotlight aimed straight upward. The helicopter meant to help the beacon's lighters, however, was needing help itself. At a distance, a flock of golden winged things followed the helicopter, getting closer and closer. When they drew near enough, the small ones sprouted blades from their undersides and lunged, but their efforts bore little fruit. It looked like the chopper might escape until the big one got too close, sprouted a giant drill, at tore into the vehicle from behind. Sparks flew, flames came to life, and the helicopter fell from the sky.

Neither V nor Nero said anything, but the hastening of their movement said enough.

After another few minutes, the group came upon a section of road that had been torn up and raised, as if by an earthquake. A short climb brought them to the top, and afforded them a good look at what lay ahead. The next city block was home to a large police station, from whose roof the distress beacon shone. Horrifically, the helicopter from before had crashed into the station itself, buried in one of the corridors on the second floor. To make matters even worse, the station itself was completely surrounded by a massive horde of zombies. At the moment they kept their distance in a giant, imposing ring, standing in the streets or among other buildings, but the piles of corpses and wreckage around the police station spoke volumes about what must have been a desperate defense lasting multiple days on the part of whoever was holed up inside. The darkness made it hard to tell how many there were, and how many more ravenous swarms awaited unseen.

Something moved on the police station roof. A very keen eye could spot two women, one with brown hair and the other with white, peering out over the city. The latter had somehow spotted the newcomers and was trying to get her friend to see them, but nobody could hear either of them.

---

Though not a long-standing face at Lumbridge, Ryu boasted a name well-known to the general populace, and it took just minimal inquiry for Linkle to track him down. Sitting alone in one corner of the guild hall, no doubt position to attract the attention of potential challengers, the white-clad martial artist watched the girl approach.

Everything about he man screamed ‘fighter’, almost to a fault. His gi was dirty and stained, his feet calloused, his skin and muscles hardened by endless battle. One had to wonder, just looking at him, if he did anything but wander around on foot and fight. Yet there could be little doubt his chosen lifestyle made him a formidable warrior.

He seemed to understand just why Linkle had come. “Good evening. Are you prepared to face me?”

Linkle kicked one of her new boots against the other as she stood in front of Ryu. "Yep. Nice to meet you, Mr. Ryu. I'm Linkle." She said, infectious peppy. Her old boots were swung over her shoulder like a soldiers knapsack. They were much longer than the new pair, but somehow lighter, and she had to hold her crossbows in her hands because there was nowhere to holster them.

The only weapons Ryu looked like he had were those huge calloused knuckles of his. She held up her crossbows. "What are the rules?"

Pausing for a moment, the martial artist considered Linkle's question. Evidently not many prospective opponents really asked him for terms of engagement. "Not much," he replied after a short time. "I'd like to see you fighting at full strength, but you can set the pace for our battle. Whatever your methods," he said, acknowledging her weapons, "I will rise to meet the occasion. I prize the fight itself, but I fight to win as well."

Linkle grinned at that confidence. "Okay, so long as you don't mind." She said. "Just promise you'll tell me if I nick a vital spot. So, where to?"

Ryu inclined his head toward the door. "Outside. The street will serve as our arena." He led the way out of the guild and outside the castle grounds. Despite his assurance that any old street would be fine, he went an extra distance to make sure that he and Linkle would not be situated in a dense, highly populated area. While the man showed nothing but politeness, an air of tension arose as the pair's footsteps brought them closer and closer to fierce confrontation. After what seemed like seconds, Ryu turned about. He tightened his headband and assumed a fighting stance, bouncing in place. "I am ready."

Linkle took a deep breath, bouncing from side to side herself. She felt out the weight in her new shoes. She wouldn't be able to move as fast in these, but she bet they would make her kicks harder. She laid her other pair on the ground beside her. Then, deciding to lighten her load as much as possible considering the circumstances, piled most of her equipment on top of them. The bow, the orange swords, anything she had stuffed into her shorts, everything except the shield.

She turned back to Ryu, rolled her shoulders, raised her crossbows, and said. "Ready."

She waited but a moment longer, for the words to register, then dashed forward toward the man. She'd been right, she was definitely slower than before. As she ran she threw both of her arms forward, blasting a pair of bolts at Ryu as she closed the distance.

Ryu's breathing changed as he focused. The girl would be keeping her projectile weapons, but how many projectiles had flown his way in his life? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Her bolts moved swiftly, but he determined how long it would take them to reach him and moved appropriately. As the first bolt came his right arm flashed across, striking with the back of his knuckle. His parry sent the bolt spinning off to the side. The next second his other hand swerved to the left, deflecting the second bolt, and after that Linkle arrived. Ryu chose to meet her headlong rush toward him with a sobering donkey kick. He cannoned forward the weighty side kick, exploiting his range advantage over his much smaller opponent to its fullest.

"That was so cool!" Linkle said. Now she didn't feel bad at all for bringing her weapons. As he rushed forward to meet her she spun, fire erupting from her boot as she brought it around in a counter kick looking to lock heels with the man and see if that extra weight was worth anything.

The two kicks struck and clanged off one another. Had the archer's boots been any lighter, Ryu's mighty donkey kick would have powered straight through and struck her square in the torso, but instead he was forced to spin. Working with the cards dealt to him, he pivoted deftly, and span back into his normal fighting stance with his hands nearly clasped by his side. A brilliant blue orb of spirit flame whirled to life between his palms, and the next second he thrust them forward. "Hadoken!" he called, as the fireball flew Linkle's way.

Linkle knew she wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time. As Ryu had been setting up to cast his blue sorcery Linkle has been trying to regain her balance, the unfamiliar weight causing her leg to land awkwardly after the deflection and throwing off her stance.

She's already learned how to deal weird projectiles though. The tips of her crossbows flashed red and she fired off a pair of bombs at the Hadoken ball.

The short distance between Linkle and her opponent meant that her bomb arrows barely got to travel before they hit the Hadoken together and blew up in both fighters' faces. Neither received much injury given the bombs' relatively small blast radius, but the smoke left behind obscured the sightline between them for a brief moment. In that instant Ryu launched himself into the air, hurtling around with one leg outstretched in an incredible hurricane kick. It blew away the smoke in dramatic fashion, offering Linkle a fleeting glimpse of the coming storm as Ryu yelled, "Tatsumaki senpukyaku!"

All Linkle could do as the fighter came spinning out of the smoke was defend herself. She got her footing and then turned, putting her back and the spider shield on it in the path of the mans kick. She braced herself.

The kick impacted, striking again and again. Pain spread across her back like the pounding of a drum, but the full power of the kick was spread out by the shield and the weight if the boots kept her from going flying, though the power of the kick did send her stumbling forward.

Linkle turned the stumble into a roll, getting some distance on the man and spinning to face him as she rose. She pulled up her bows and fired off a few bolt, to punish him if he'd tried to chase her too close.

It had been a while since she fought a human sized opponent one on one. Well, technically one on one. The smaller enemies that had usually surrounded them were never much of a factor, save to let her build up her momentum. You could go at them like you would a horde, but sometimes it was better to bait out an attack you could dodge then punish when it left them open. She was getting a good look at Ryu's moves, and that spinning kick was deliciously punishable if you could bait it out of him at the right time.

Even as Linkle rolled away, trying to get some distance, Ryu did not let up for a second. He executed a strange maneuver, dashing forward only to crouch and immediately stand again. Somehow, the crouch carried his momentum forward while also allowing him to dash again, and when he did it over and over he practically slid across the floor after her. When she fired some bolts his way he opted to crouch while blocking, creating a defense that almost completely negated the bolt's damage. Still, it gave Linkle the chance to slip away again.

That suited him just fine. Linkle's attacks from any range dealt little damage, and she couldn't pick up momentum in a fight like this. Ryu began to gather energy, warning her, "You will not be able to zone me out. Shinku..." Another Hadoken blossomed between his hands, but this one grew explosively. It swelled up to the size of a wrecking ball, forcing Ryu to close his hands and compact it back down, but it swelled up yet again. "Hadoken!" When he thrust his hands forward, a giant beam of blue energy blew into Linkle in an instant. Ryu adjusted his aim while firing to track attempts to evade, too. It lasted only two seconds, but those seconds were more than enough to convince any foe that Ryu should not be underestimated at a distance.

Linkle again had no choice but to rely on the spider shield, but this time she had to drop a crossbow to use it. She whipped the shield off her back and held it in front of her, her entire body shaking as the beak impacted. Her guard only held for a second, her arm buckling as the beam engulfed her. The shield went spinning off her arm, landing a good ways away as the beam bowled her over and sent her rolling even further away scorched and throbbing all over.

Linkle pulled herself up off the ground, shaking her head. Well, she definitely didn't want him doing that again.

Her crossbow lay on the ground between the two of them. She had to have that back anyway. She dashed forward at Ryu again, the tip of her bow glowing red as she waved it in a little circle in front of her. Bombs flew in a general bombardment, looking to dissuade the fighter from using those strange crouch bursts of speed he'd used to chase after her earlier. As she reached the other bow she rolled forward so as not to lose her momentum, scooping it up in her other hand and adding a shower of normal arrows to her bombs as she closed the distance.

A volley of explosive arrows sailed Ryu's way, and he jumped. Though high for a human, his jump did not reach high enough to evade the blasts, and the force flipped him end over end as he fell. Linkle's arrows caught him before he hit the ground, comboing him until he hit the dust. It took only a moment to right himself, but the fighter had taken a good hit. He stood back up and, as Linkle drew near, threw out a quick low foot to try and catch her off guard. His legs and arms were visibly tense with muscle.

Linkle saw the leg coming and hopped into the air over it, bending her knees and lifting her legs up before suddenly stomping down to they and catch his foot.

Stone-faced as ever, Ryu watched Linkle fall for it as she tried to punish his crouching light attack, one of the fastest-to-recover techniques in his arsenal. The answer was obvious.

"Shoryuken!"

Ryu launched into the air in a rising uppercut, putting the strength of both his legs and arms into it. The invincible technique blitzed straight through Linkle's kick to dealt her a solid blow. As she sailed away, Ryu landed and, after resuming his fighting stance, started moving toward her once more. When she hit the ground, she would have to wake up, and Ryu already had his next move in mind.

Linkle saw fairies on the insides of her eyes as she sailed thought the air. Was this what it felt like to be on the receiving end of a weak point smash? Yeah, it must be.

She couldn't even see him as she stared up at the orange sky. It was peaceful for a second, all oat a chance to catch the breath that had been knocked out of her, then gravity took hold again and started to bring her back down to the street.

She didn't that. She spun herself, holding in the air and shooting bolts in vertical circle around her, more to arrest she fall and try to regain her balance than anything.

Her knees almost buckled as she landed on the ground, unsteady but on her feet.

Ryu moved out of the way of Linkle's spray of bolts, preparing to strike after she hit the ground. When she landed, however, she looked only a few taps away from hitting the ground. He stopped for a moment, wondering if she could take another blow. He let his muscles slacken a touch, and asked, "Are you able to continue?"
Linkle had been starting to raise up her bow, but stopped in kind as she saw Ryu's tension slack a little.

"Are you kidding?" She said between deep breaths. "I could keep...I mean I could go......no." She let her legs slide out from under her and collapsed onto her butt. "You're really something."

This time, Ryu allowed himself to smile. "You did well. Keep training, fighting, and growing stronger. That is all I have done to become 'something'." He approached Linkle and held out a hand to help her up. Once he did, he walked over to where he left his bag and knelt to rummage inside. When he returned to his challenger, he presented to her two spirits resting on the palm of his hand. "This is for your earnest effort. Take one." Inside one’s core was a young woman with sparkling blue hair. The other harbored a burly man with a shock of blonde hair, rising like a pillar atop his head.
Linkle stared down at the girl with the icy blue hair, carefully reaching down and plucking the girl from his hand and holding her up to her eye. "She's pretty." She said absentmindedly. It was surprising that the spirits were actual people and not creatures like she was used too. She looked up at the warrior curiously. "If you wouldn't mind talking about it, where did you get these?"

Her question returned Ryu's face to it usual steely composure. "We met. We fought," he said, in a low, matter-of-fact tone. "None of them would admit defeat. If I did not destroy them...they would have destroyed me. It seems to be the way of this world. But I do regret it." He briefly examined Linkle's face, her eyes in particular. "I have felt the urge too. To attack and attack, heedless of the outcome. I suppose I am fortunate to have fought back violence for so long, and attained the Power of Nothingness. I am glad that you and your friends, too, seem free of it." Since his new acquaintance had selected her spirit, he went to put the last one away.

His words made her think back, for the first time, to her time under the lord of lights control. She wondered if it had been fun, hunting down that height pink little thing that had used the last of his strength to free them? The thought made her shutter, but at least she didn't think she'd been aware of it. He'd not only knew something else was in his head, he was fighting it.

She went through the familiar motion, holding the heart on top of the spirit she'd accepted from Ryu. As he rose from his bag she held it out to him. "Here." She said. Looking over the arrow shafts still sticking out of the man. It was more than Geralt at least. Maybe enough. "Take this. It's what kicked him out of my mind. You'd be able to make them too, if you worked at it."

Ryu, engaged in the messy and painful activity of removing bolts and then tightly binding his wounds with bandages from his bag, paused to consider the heart in Linkle's hand. Spiritually attuned as he was, he could still feel the touch of Galeem in his core. Anything to give his heart some peace was worth a little risk. Gingerly, the martial artist accepted Linkle friend heart, and was immediately restored. He closed his eyes and breathed deep of the cool evening breeze, a free man at last. "Thank you," he told her, plain and simple. "You've got a good spirit, miss. Take care not to give it all away." He held his hand in the direction of the Adventurers' Guild. "We should eat before it's gone."

Linkle just nodded, happy to have been of some real help. She went to gather her things, pulling on her regular boots so her legs didn't feel quite as heavy as she slowly followed the man back, heavy boots dangling from one hand and the blue spirit in the other.

Along the way she held it up to be face and spoke intimately to it. "Hi. I'm Linkle. Nice to meet you....whoever you are. Sorry I don't know your name. Would you still be friends with me, though?" She glanced wistfully at Ryu. "It turns out I could still really use the help."

Jak was the one to claim the spirit dropped by the Ent. As he gave it to Daxter, Kamek took his leave, giving his minigun to Ratchet and leaving the area. The blue robed mage certainly bounced back and forth didn't he? Blazermate thought to herself. Kamek did leave Blazermate with some skeleton turtle things before he left though, and out of curiosity while Daxter transformed, she bit a few of them to see what they would turn into. They mostly just got bulkier and got way more spikes, although one did light itself on fire and wasn't too bothered by the fact. Daxter didn't take that long to transform, turning into a bigger, more wooden and treelike version of himself. "Aaand thats why I didn't want that part. Cool tree form, but I'm sure termites wont be fun." Blazermate said as Daxter transformed. She could clearly see his weak point, which she was sure everyone could see, and noticed he gave off some sort of weird cloud. Thankfully she knew that Daxter wasn't too bothered by fire, otherwise the flaming Dry Bones would probably be a concern for him.

However her more immediate concern was V, who seemed to collapse with a haggered cough. Before she could respond however, the guy flew off on a cloud of shadows, Nero having left to go ahead as well. "Well if hes fine, I guess hes fine. Lets go boys." Blazermate said, gesturing to both her team mates and the zombies, who shambled along behind the van as they drove down the city streets. The Dry bones kept up remarkably well, only being beaten by the chargers, but some of the slower undead were left behind. This didn't bother Blazermate too much though, since there were undead everywhere for her to control.

Since she could command the lesser undead, things were pretty peaceful. The fowl air didn't bother her at all unlike some of the others due to her inability to breath or smell, so she spent her time traveling commanding whatever zombies she saw to do odd things for her amusement. for one group she commanded them to dance, most she commanded to clean, and some she just told to lie down and sleep. Since they were moving at a fairly decent pace, she didn't have much time to bark more than a short order at every zombie group that passed by, but at least her playing with them kept everyone safe.

After turning down a street, the group saw a helicopter being attacked by gold winged creatures which were clearly not undead. At first the helicopter did fine, until what appeared to be their boss smacked it from the sky before just flying off somewhere. The helicopter crashed into an area with some shining distress beacon on top of it. "OK, what are THOSE things, and do you think I could command them? Probably not..." Blazermate said, watching the scene unfold.

A few minutes later the Van was forced to stop as a barrier of road blocked their view. Blazermate flew up a bit to see what was over it, she saw the police station, surrounded by undead and their corpses. She couldn't really make out who was on the station, but they didn't look undead to her. However the undead surrounding the station and all the corpses nearby did explain a lot about the situation. Whoever was inside was just like Nero and his group, just sitting around needing to deal with all the zombies and demons. "Hey guys, think we might find more allies in there? They seem good at fighting zombies." Blazermate said at her team mates who had to climb the rubble pile.

Seeing a fun opportunity, Blazermate called all undead surrounding the station that could hear her call to group up near her, while telling them to avoid going near the station itself. Whatever undead were in the area complied, and soon Blazermate had a horde near the wall she had found herself sitting on. With a wave to the police station, she commanded the zombies to dance, using what she had learned before to try to make them a bit more in sync. She didn't really think things through too well though, as the one flaming dry bones set whatever zombies were near it on fire, almost adding to the absurdity she was trying to present. Getting an idea due to the darkness surrounding the area, she commanded whatever zombies were on fire to run towards the darkness, illuminating it with their burning corpses if only briefly. This area was infested, and she was sure that something here wouldn't listen to her commands.

”Well it’s better than nothing I suppose. Lets us know what to look for. Vaguely.” Kamek replied with only a little sympathy for the Guildmarm’s apologetically vague response to being asked about the target of their F rank quest. The wizard had little energy for feeling annoyed however and so instead headed to dinner to recharge, passing by where jr was watching the loot boxes being opened in the process.

”Wow. Well now I’m glad it didn’t take my actual money” Jr said, sharing Torra’s disappointment as he initially took in the assortment of cosmetics that the boxes had divulged. ”Because if I'd spent some I would be super mad”

As it was he was only mildly annoyed, as the boy’s nose was quite sure that the veritable buffet of delights Mina would be more than making up for the poor state of her other quest reward. The second box wasn’t much better, though at least the armor in it was usable by the party rather than being for an animal they didn't even own.

The final one had the most interesting stuff, namely a little badge (a common source of power back in their world) a pair of arms with a sprite like glow and a true one size fits all stealth suit.

”Oh hay. I know that cloud guy. From that adventure with Geno where a giant sword stole my castle. What's his name again. Marshmallow? Something like that.” Bowser said as he arrived to look at the items and spotted the sticker among them. The king reached down with a claw, carefully picked up the sticker of Mallow and then applied it to his hat ”Paper me mentioned something about stickers having power.” he explained.

He then proceeded to dump the Cave Crawler Skin (A sturdy, water-resistant hide that can be prepared with salt and tanned it make high-quality material), Breakfast (That smell...that consistency...there's no mistaking that this milk's well past its expiration date. If you don't die drinking (eating?) it, you'll surely come out of the ordeal with a hardier constitution), Homeward Bone (Bonfires, resting places for lost souls, are fueled by bones of the Undead. In rare cases, the strong urge of their previous owner's to seek respite enchants their bones with a homeward instinct. Returns someone who breaks it to their last established resting place) and two wooden boards (A sturdy length of oak. The sort that might be used to blockade windows during an undead invasion) on the table with the loot box items that he apparently decided was the squads current item grab bag.

”Now. Where’s that dinner? I could eat a herd of horses.” he said as the last of the items were deposited. ”Come on Jr, you can play dress up afterwards” he told his son who had put on the steal suit to become a cyberpunk ninja turtle and was about to investigate the pair of sprite like long arms.

”Awww.” jr said before obediently popping of the suit and following after, though not before grabbing the mario spray can, quite sure he’d be able to cause a bit of mischief with it at some point.

The trio gathered together at the table after collecting their hard earned dinners. Kamek had a small helping of Tropius fruit salad and a bowl of candle gourd soup, while Bowser had a large helping of baurun spare ribs, having already acquired a taste for them in the field and jr had some taka berry jelly and a few spare ribs from his father's portion. As they were digging in Kamek decided now would be a great time for a status update on how the rest of the people on their quest where doing who were not attending the dinner.

”So I have spent a little time over with our other squad in the Dead zone, and I imagine some of you might be interested in how they are doing?” Kamek asked, mostly rhetorically, before beginning a bit of storytelling.

”First off, you’ll be pleased to hear that they are all alive, though it’s not like that area hasn’t been trying its hardest to change that. There are no lovely restaurants over there I can tell you that for sure.” Kamek said before taking a bite out of a Tropius banana and savoring the flavor. While the adventure had so far been rather draining the old Koopa was definitely enjoying the masterfully prepared food he was getting to eat during it. The catering in Bowser’s castle wasn’t exactly what he’d describe as top notch.

”When I first arrived they were being in the mist of being assailed from every side by hordes of the undead, led by these two great for armed monsters big as Master Bowser!” Kamek told the team ”Bullets and spells where flying this way and that while some of our allies went toe to to with the brutes. In the end, Donnie and Nero took one down with an impressive team attack and they ran the other over with a van. Now using the sprites of those corpse controlling monsters they turned the table on the whole area, because Blazermate gained the ability to command the hordes of undead herself.”

”That lady never stops being useful huh.” Bowser noted

”Indeed. With the dead at our robotic medic’s command we traveled in search of a man named V, a friend of Nero’s, and ended up fighting this hulking walking tree that stood taller than any of the buildings in this town.” Kamek continued

”This tree giant, or Ent as they can be known as, well it could create great shockwaves like master Bowser, span waves of little nut beasts armed to the fangs with knives, send out exploding warts on legs filled with paralyzing gas and shoot out volleys of gas bombs from its back. Quite the threat I assure you. It was a bit touch and go, the team's hammering away at this weak spot of its while it retaliated with more and more new powers till V, the very man we were looking for, arrived. He summoned a giant demon of shadow that could match the strength of the Ent and so let us turn the tables on it and break its kneecaps. In the end the tree was felled and then Blazermates minions tore it to splinter.”

”now according to that V fellow there are two more monsters that are the roots of this giant tree dungeon that's growing over the whole city, at the center of which resides the guardian they seek. They’ve got a long way to go, but from what I saw I think they’ll do just fine.” The wizard concluded his story.

”Yeah big tees are cool and all. But what we were up to was way cooler.” Jr said right as the wizard finished his ego bruised my the mere suggestion that others were having more epic adventures than he had had on their grocery collection expedition.

”So we went west to do the mining quest there were these green four legged things with nor arms that exploded right? Tora was using them to blow little mining holes but I found out that they exploded more when you hit em with electricity! So I zapped one and then got Kamek to make one super huge and used a Goomba to bait into exploding, Kaboom!” jr said as he enthusiastically told the tale via a stream of consciousness ”It blew this massive hole in the canyon and exposed tons of gems and stuff which we got and traded for bucket loads of rupees.”

”And and and we went hunting! I mean we got someone to do a lot of it for us but I also picked up a thing or two while we were at it and shot one real good with a crossbow!”

“Kyu!” interjected Mimikyu, who was sitting on the table next to jr. The small Pokemon was scooping up bits of taka berry jelly from a small plate it had been given using shadowy tendrils and taking them in under its costume, presumably to whatever it had that counted as a mouth under there.

”Oh. Yeah. and Mimikyu helped.” jr added, the small spook nodding enthusiastically in response its inclusion in Jr’s brief tale.

”One of you probably eating it right new even and I bet it’s the best tasting bit!” Jr boasted before adding ”I’m probably going to buy a bow with the mining money. Or a crossbow. Or some kind of hunty shooty thing anyway. I can probably make it better too… cool trick arrows or an autowinder or something. Then I’ll be able to hunt all the time and we won't have to worry about hiring people to get us food”

”Mmm, that’d be good!” Bowser said in between great mouthfuls of spare ribs, bringing a smile from his son’s face. ”We’d need a way to cook it too though.” he added

”Oh. yeah... well we’ll think of something!” Jr insisted.

”So, that’s been what we’ve been up too. That and plant gathering. How about yourselves.” Kamek asked after the boy was done, while also filling a gap in Jr’s retelling of their afternoon activities.

Well, that was certainly surprising; finding out that Malo had put out a search and rescue warrant for his business rival under the written guise of clientele. Unsurprising was the way in which he attempted to write off any perceived sentimental notions on his part, pretending to practicality by "maintaining competition," which only served to make his half truth all the less convincing to anyone who thought about it. Seriously, didn't business competitors usually, like, try to control, subvert, or stamp out their competition through any and all means, often going so far as to implant their own corporate agents into powerful positions of government office to gain advantageous leverage on the free market with no regard for how their actions and influence ultimately degrade society as a whole? Be that as it may, it was admittedly nice to see a case where they help each other out for once; that they could continue to compete in more civil, mutually respectful fashion, and even treat each other more like potential partners than sworn enemies. Perhaps, there was some hope for ethical practice to find its place in a capitalistic system… (Pffft… HAHA HA HA HA HA-…)

Speaking of good business, the child shopkeeper was quick to conclude theirs, fulfilling his end of the deal, handing out the promised reward solely to Hat Kid with seemingly casual disregard for her compatriots. Having re-obtained the first (or technically third) of many Time Pieces, she momentarily suspended herself in her usual celebratory animation before acknowledging the imbalance of requital, but her teammates left the store before she could properly address that with them, Michael requesting that she pick up a bottle of the healing milk that Tressa just partook of. She looked from the swinging doors back to Malo, tacitly putting in the order with casual nod, allowing for context to take care of the rest.

While her face didn’t show it, she was astonished at the price point for a single bottle of milk: 100 rupees. The given explanation didn’t help, for apparently, the bottle itself made up ninety percent of the cost, with a refill of its contents being worth merely ten. Rather than try to cut a deal with Malo, as she attempted to do with Pyro Man back at Hammerhead, she figured now that she had the means to pay for it that she would instead prefer that to doing him any more favors today. Besides, cheapness wasn’t in her character, certainly not so much that she would subscribe to the idea that improving or preserving one’s health wasn’t worth paying for. Some things were just valuable enough to justify the expense, even if the degree of such tended to be exploitative. Though, if she was going to pay that much for the jar itself, she would make especially sure to get her money’s worth out of it, using it for future refills, storage, or whatever. She’d be fine offering a drink to whoever needed it, but she would be keeping the bottle.

With her transaction complete, Hat Kid took the milk and what was left of the monetary reward in her free hand and exited the store, richer than when she arrived, but poorer than before she left. Their timing could hardly have been better, for Linkle and the Courier, joined by some unfamiliar faces, returned from their chosen quests around that time to meet them outside. Kid stashed away the Time Piece she was cradling into her inventory before anyone else got too close to be curious enough to ask her more questions about it. It was just as everyone else started trading stories of their exploits that Hat Kid heard something on 6’s radio that made her head perk up attentively. Talk of “mysterious hourglasses” trending set off a few silent alarms in her mind. The report suggested that numerous people had already come to possess a few, which wasn’t good news to her no matter how she cut it. Either those people had no idea what they were dealing with, or they knew (or found out) exactly what they were doing and made a point of acquiring them. Regardless, there was little she could do about it at present, and they certainly weren’t going anywhere, so she would have no choice but to table this concern for when they set course for the ‘Sleepless City’... wherever that was.

As Bowser’s crew was making their way back in, the group once again dispersed for the meantime; some heading for the Guild Hall, others to finish their errands. Hat Kid, having taken care of her business already, followed with her team behind the former for little other reason than because she had nowhere better to be at the moment. This being her first time to set foot in the hall since arriving, she hadn’t until now been introduced to the Guildmarm or Guildmaster, the latter of whom could almost be mistaken for MoM (the Master of Masters) by appearances if not for the more colorful accent, mannerisms and overall character. This was also the first for her hearing about ‘ranks’ and such, as he informed them that they had collectively achieved one satisfactory enough to go after what could only be the region’s big bad, going by the description. He recommended, of course, that they make no hurry to take it on, and out of the string of nigh impenetrable slang that made up his suggestions, she could pick out and agree with one: grubbing (and possibly resting) before the hunt.

While the chefs started bringing in the first round of food, Kid stuck around Michael to see what his payment to the loot boxes yielded, returning the kindly Nopon’s smile in passing while they waited--said smile contorting into a ‘3’ shape with the head pat. Half of the rewards from the first box were mostly garbage, as far as she was concerned (unless she later felt the itch for graffiti vandalism at the expense of the depicted subjects…), but the skull cap did stand out to her. She inspected it briefly to see if it could provide her with an ability, or if it would just act as a flair for one of her existing hats. Either would be fine with her, but she wanted to wait a moment to give whoever else might want it a chance before claiming final dibs. The only other unclaimed item from the other two boxes of use or interest to her was specifically for her: a new color palette. Being as no one could rightfully contest her for it, she collected it, examined it for a moment, and stowed it away for possible application later.

After sorting through the loot, she took a seat at the dinner table and helped herself to a serving of the two sweeter delicacies, the tang yuan and jelly, taking however big a portion of each she could manage without getting greedy with them. She would rather not get sick on it later, after all, and remembering halfway through her second dish the Koopa King’s haul from earlier, this made the second time today that she would be fed out of Bowser’s hand, a fact she would be sure not to remind him of lest she end up having to cover one of his bills one day. She was neither intent on, nor in her means to grab any checks for royalty.

Speaking of payments, she tried to strategically seat herself next to Michael and/or Franklin to give back what she owed them, pausing some ways into her meal to pull out the bag of rupees, set it down on the table between her and either of them, and sliding it over, relinquishing to them what was left of the funds before taking her spoon back in hand to resume eating. Sure, they may have been fine without it, but it wouldn’t sit well with her to have their help cutting her quest time and labor in half only for them to come back from it empty-handed. She understood a little too well what it was like to help someone out who then didn’t want to give her what she was owed, which she had mentioned to Michael earlier. Besides, she already spent what would have been her share of it anyway.

Geralt turned to the man who'd addressed him, giving a nod in greeting. "Geralt of Rivia. As for the swords, they're for different kinds of foes. One is steel, made for men and beasts. The second is silver, and it's used for rituals and fighting magical creatures and monsters. It can suppress the natural regeneration some of them have pretty well, actually." Geralt gave the man, Magnumus Agoston, a look over. Heavily armored and clearly built like a warrior. Not the most outlandish character he'd come across by far. If anything, he'd probably fit in among the soldiers of Nilfgaard, though that was hardly a compliment.

As he ate, Geralt noticed some of the others receiving their rewards, as well as some kind of...objects appearing out of a series of boxes they were fiddling with. Not wanting to interrupt his meal or pry, Geralt simply kept eating his Baurun ribs and fruit salad. That is, until Tora nearly bumped into him. Turning around to look at the....thing....as it spoke, Geralt found himself a bit overwhelmed with questions. What was it? What did it eat? How did it get around on such stubby legs? Were those ear things arms?

And it was walking away and Geralt had no idea what it said beyond "Whoa!" So much for that conversation....

Oh, now it was looking at him and talking to a...little girl with huge gauntlets on her arms? This place was weird. Were they talking about him? It was possible they'd heard the rumors about him or were just curious about his swords like that Agoston fellow was.

Not that it particularly mattered to him. They weren't bothering him, so he wouldn't bother them. He wondered if Ciri would have made friends with some of them. Probably. That girl was much friendlier than he was, somehow. Certainly wasn't anything he or Yennefer taught her....

---

The Black Mage's exploratory path quickly took him away from the safe, fortified central area of the police station. With others going about their business and not suspecting any bad intent from their sorcerous comrade, nobody batted an eye at him using the wall console to open the shutter closing off reception. From there he could proceed through and into the western hall. That corridor wound around the outermost part of the entire west side interior, bringing him back around to the operations room, and with the records room locked tight, he could go nowhere else. Through the windows, worrisome glimmers of movement could be seen amidst the dark. While at the moment the residents of the station enjoyed a lull in the onslaught, standing at the windows never failed to chill one's spine, as if something out there were watching.

It didn't take long for Vivi to reach the operations room. Inside, scattered chairs spoke of a sudden exodus, but there appeared to be no foes nor objects of interest. A few moments after he stepped inside, however, a tremendous crash shook the entire building. Things flew around and dust fell as the structure rumbled, with much of the force seeming to come from the area the Black Mage traversed just moments ago. The newly frightened Mage scampered quickly to pick up many of the fallen items, as to prevent any damage from harming them. After he tilted his hat back on to the top of his head, front and center, he returned the object back into their assumed original locations from which they flew away. Uh-oh. That certainly did not sound good. As he looked down the hallway to figure out the cause of the quaking that was being produced, he scratched his chin in curiosity. Upon seeing the helicopter, he would slightly jump in shock, not expecting an aerial vehicle to have crashed into the hallway. He climbed across the rubble to get a better view of the pilot's seat and the helicopter itself, keeping his wooden staff at the ready. But before he reached the vehicle, there came a sound like two heavy feet hitting the ground. The silence that followed was thick and heavy, full of tension. Straining his ears over the dying flames and the whipping wind outside turned up nothing, for a few seconds. Had it been the Black Mage's imagination? Then the entire bulk of the mangled helicopter lifted upward, revealing a goliath of a man with stone-gray skin, a black coat, and hat. Without a word, the man started to walk Vivi's way.

Upon seeing the man, Black Mage would stumble back in fright and distress. After he picked himself up, he began to walk backward, as he picked up the staff he dropped from the fright this man gave him. Unexpectedly, the Mage would begin to talk to the man, saying "Are you okay sir? That crash looked pretty nasty, do you have a name?" He continued to back himself up, as the man continued to approach him, not responding to Vivi's questions. As the guy got closer and closer, throwing punches when he got close, Black Mage would charge his Thunder attack, now being engaged by this foe.

When he created a large interval between him and the man, he would unleash his lightning spell, aiming directly for his head. The man stumbled for a split second before trying to attack the Mage again. It had no effect, in fact, the electricity barely even seemed to slow the giant down. He walked straight through the arcing lightning, closing the distance with deceptive speed thanks to his long strides. When the stranger got close enough, he pulled his right arm back and unleashed a rock-hard right hook at the Black Mage's head.

Black Mage took the blow with a sense of thought, unsurprised. After he rubbed the slight blood that protruded from his nose with a part of his sleeve, he would run for his life, expecting that this mysterious figure was out for fatalities. He would grab his staff, and run into the operations room he had seen recently. While the man continued to catch up to Black Mage, he decided to crawl under the table with ease, due to his relatively short height. He would clutch his wooden staff in fear and worry, and close his eyes, looking for the feet of the gray man.

The wizard's mad run, hastened by fear and pain, carried him swiftly away from his attacker. From the moment he rounded the hallway corner, however, he could hear it: the steady tramp tramp tramp of heavy boots on the police station floor. Once Black Mage pushed through the doors, those footsteps counted the seconds he had to hide. Only a moment after he took cover beneath a table, the doors he left ajar pushed open once again. So big was the giant that he needed to bend down to get through, and once inside he took a look around. No other doors had been opened; his target was here. If the realization gave him any satisfaction he made no sound indicating it -or anything else- whatsoever. Only his hefty footfalls broke the terrifying silence.

One by one, the stranger started to remove obstacles. He brushed aside tables and chairs, the hollow podium, supply carts, and the janitor cart with nary an ounce of effort. It would be only a matter of moments until Black Mage's hiding place fell victim, and the sorcerer flushed out.

He didn't know where to run, didn't know where to go, but he feared to bring this monster to the group who were already unprotected as is. He cast a quick, well-planned thunder attack, which would traverse to the man as he would come skulking out of the building, the chain of shock hitting him in rapid succession. He would pass the record room, for he banged on it for unbecoming help. He would run from the door, he would circle the hall again, looking behind himself to watch for the person who was chasing him and yes, he was indeed being followed still. He would try something daring, after releasing a barrelling chain of lightning attack directly at his face, he would slide underneath his legs with ease and run the general direction of the way Mr. X's back was faced. He would sprint at full value, as he put barely any distance between the man and him, but it partially saved him none-the-less.

Desperation drove the Black Mage to expend yet more of his dwindling mana supply in a bid to escape his tormentor. His efforts resulted in a ray of hope as the lightning barrage proved enough to momentarily stun the giant, slowing him just long enough to let the wizard slip by. Seizing his golden opportunity, Black Mage rushed back the way he'd come. Light and nimble, he could scoot over or around the debris in his way, while X could only trudge through while he moved again. In a stroke of profound luck, the sorcerer exited the operations room into the hallway, leaving his pursuer's sight and making his escape.

He rushed, frantic, back down the hall toward the helicopter's crash site, and almost reached it when the wall burst open. Through the dust and decimated mortar the giant lunged, the impact rattling the window to Black Mage's left, into the Black Mage's way. After pausing for only a split second to confirm his target's location, X moved to strike him again. As the punch came throttling towards Black Mage, he took a deep dive backward, figuring out the main movements of Mr. X. He would run the opposite direction in where he came, as he ran from the helicopter and the stone giant. He would bang on the Record Room for a split second before making a run from X yet again.

Instead of making a break for the window, or attempting to maneuver around Mr. X, Black Mage turned tail yet again. He rushed back through the hall and into the operations room once again, his breathing growing ragged from all the exertion. He did not realize that the hole his pursuer made joined the hallway and the operations room together, so by the time the wizard got in there again, X had simply returned through the gap made moments ago. Spurred on by panic as X closed in, Black Mage beat on the door to the Record Room, and this time it came open.

He made a run for it from X, but the giant was hot on his heels. With his target dead to rights, the giant raised both hands to shatter Black Mage's back with an overhead slam. In front of him, however, stood a new and unfamiliar figure: a man in an indigo suit. Not moving even as X thundered his way, the stranger held up, of all things, an ordinary-looking camera. One word reached the Black Mage between his pursuer's stomps. "Move." Black Mage would jump to the side of the wall, listening to the man with complete understanding. He held his staff, short in-breath while simultaneously avoiding X's attacks. He ducked his head as the man held up the camera, Black Mage assuming it was more than meets the eye.

Sure enough, the newcomer took aim at X as he drew dangerously close, holding the lens up to the eye covered by his hairdo. There was a flash, filling the hallway with light for a split second. When it faded a moment later X had brought his fist within inches of the photographer's face, but it came no closer. A shimmering field had enveloped the giant, like an enormous cube of glowing, ever-so-slightly distorting gelatin, and it encased the motionless tyrant inside. Lowering his camera, the newcomer heaved a heavy sigh. "Alas, just about the farthest I could get from art," he remarked, his accent a smooth Italian. "Yet, it seems bent on remaining hideous." With no further acknowledgment of the wizard he just saved, the man proceeded into the field. Unlike X, who seemed completely frozen, he moved through the shimmer without issue and exited the other side before proceeding in the direction Black Mage came from.

In the Records Room, he left behind a number of supplies hastily scrounged together in preparation for transport. The few piles of ash on the ground could only suggest at what happened here however long ago, but the medicine, food, and ammunition gathered on the projector cart looked prime for the taking. One item stuck out among the rest: a vial of liquid energy.

Black Mage would look in the room and give the vial a light shake, as to see what it may do. He would cock his head at the strange object and put it inside of his interior pocket. He would go back into the hall and gaze at the man who had just saved his life. He would stay away from the cubic room, unsure of its dreadful origins and try to converse with the man. "Thank you... I had no way to stop that Mongoloid and I assume you did this for your own reasons rather than me, but I still wanted to express my thanks." He would give a mild bow before fixing his cap and looking back up. "Did you use any dark arts to conjure that petrification? Or does it just occur... Naturally?"

The stranger gave the Black Mage an annoyed look. It contained not just irritation, but disdain as well. His one eye held a whole city's worth of ego and sophistication. Without even introducing himself, this little wizard started prying into his abilities. A moment passed before he said anything, clearly at his detriment. "...In this place, I can do all sorts of things. There is no real explanation, nor need there be." Something about his gaze changed, for just a moment. That eye sized the sorcerer up, not as a person, but as an object, like food to buy. Then the look passed. "If you want to thank me, you may appreciate my art later. For now, I have photos to take." A glance back toward X, locked in a snapshot of time. "Conventional photos, of course." With that, he proceeded to ignore his new acquaintance and continued on his way.

Black Mage walked away from the man, obviously more involved in self-interests. It was obvious this person wanted isolation and had great amounts of belief in his ability. He would keep the vial of energy in his pocket before he would return to X, examining the still image, maybe even looking for anything of possible use. He pats the frozen image down, along with pokes as to assure that the goliath moves not. He would take a step back, kick X in the shin, and clench his foot in pain from the harshness of the once alive beings knee. Bad idea, Bad idea! Ow ow ow!...

He would walk his weary body back towards the base of operations and report to Leon, relaying the experience he had just experienced.

As soon as the food trolleys were brought out, the gathered group seemed to grow all the more lively - and they were already quite the loud bunch. It didn't bother the Cadet one bit, in fact he often found himself smiling as he listened to the stories being passed around the room. Ace Cadet felt no shame in helping himself to generous portion of pretty much all the food that had been wheeled out. Hunters could eat a lot under normal circumstances, but he hadn't eaten for a few hours and he'd just been freed from mind control. He was hungry. As the red head shoveled food into his mouth he overhead the pretty, metallic girl scold her companion for his lack of etiquette. Shucks, Cadet thought to himself, feeling a bit bad for the little guy. It sucked to be scolded by a cute girl. Of course, Cadet was feeling bad for him all the while stuffing himself in a similar way. It took a few moments for the hunter to realize this, and almost sheepishly he slowed down too, even though admonishment hadn't been meant for him.

Soon enough the first course was over with, and like most of the group Cadet wandered over the mysterious boxes. As he did, he listened in to the little blue robed guy's story he was surprised that their "posse" was even bigger than just the people gathered in the Guild Hall. He didn't question why they were split up, it was kind of obvious. The faster the evil guys were defeated, the better, and with their large group they could afford to split and send the best crews for each job in opposite directions. The rest of Kamek's story was making his head spin though... so he ignored it. Instead he approached the pile of items quickly forming in the center of the room, some spawned from the boxes and some dumped there by the others.

"Wow, cool!" Cadet remarked, poking and prodding some things. The group were choosing items for themselves, so he could too right? Sure he was like, one of the newest members if not the newest, but a squad is a squad! "No one's gonna mind if I take these, right?" he asked with a grin, picking up a few items from the pile: the Cave Crawler Skin, Homeward Bone, and the arm guards from the loot box. He tucked the skin and bone into his bag as another round of food was delivered. He'd wanted to compare the arm guards to the bracers he currently had on, but that could wait. After serving himself another heaping helping, the Cadet made his way back to his previous spot beside the little guy - "Masterpon"...? He'd have to work on the names.

Ace Cadet was in the middle of devouring what was probably his seventh lanternfruit skewer when Tora pointed out the white haired hunter - who the Cadet knew as Geralt from his time living in Lumbridge - and mentioned beating him up. The red head nearly choked on his food, coughing lightly and looking at Tora with surprise. He leaned a little closer to the whatever-he-was in order to half-whisper to him.

"Is that how it works??" It wasn't like Cadet didn't trust the little guy, he was just still very new to this saving the world business. Besides that, Tora was small, fluffy, had a cute way of speaking and an air of helpfulness... kind of similar to certain hunter companions. What wasn't to trust?

He looked back to Geralt, not at all subtle about his staring. Geralt was a respected hunter here in Lumbridge, and he supposed if they all jumped him... actually now that he was looking at the other man a little closer... he looked a little more familiar than just having seen him around town, but Cadet couldn't quite place that feeling.

A lot happened. The Ent died, Jak shoved its spirit into Daxter of all people (about time he started pulling his weight around here, Donnie figured, though like with Blazermate he was worried about the obvious risks), and after some banter, they all hopped into the van to travel to the next objective. The second root of the Qliphoth.

What Donnie found interesting was that the bird bound to V could count as a demon. Usually, they were powered by visible Fel magic, but Donnie knew a bit about the arcane from his enchanting work, and he could detect no visible trace from V or his demons.

The metaphysics had to be different. It was the only explanation.

More concerning, though, was V's talk of the "underworld," like it was an alternate dimension with its own ecosystem. The Twisting Nether was the closest his world had to that, and it wasn't anything quite as complex as that, especially when the Nether's demon-making abilities turned out to be powered by Sargeras using Argus as a living battery, and Argus was dead now.

Clearly, Nero and Donnie had not been thinking of the same demons when he tried to show off his demon-slaying credentials. He doubted that these demons were originally space aliens, for one.

Which meant that he had jumped in blind. Excellent. This was a bad move.

In any event, as he waited in the van, he ate a travel ration and some water, and then walked up to Nico's shop, counting out a sizeable pile of gold and asking, "What can I get for a hundred gold coins? Do you have anything that would help a melee fighter like me?"

---

Dammit, I can't jump out of a moving car! Donnie thought as the winged beings downed the flying machine above them. I should fly up there and stop them, but I can't because I'm in this van!

His heart sank as they ended up at some kind of building with the words "Police Station" written on it. There had were some survivors in there, and they had held off the hordes outside for some time, if they were still alive by this point...

Wait, was Blazermate doing what he thought she was?

...Yes. Yes she was in fact making the undead dance for her entertainment as a method of disaster relief.

He turned to Blazermate, somewhat bemused, but a bit taken aback by the whole thing. "Yes, we should check in there. It's not just a matter of finding new blood as it is rescuing survivors. We have a teleporter, we can send them to the Land of Adventure, and from there to World 1-1. It's safer over there."

In any event, he figured it was better to let the survivors come and investigate than just run up the doors of a heavily-fortified police station filled with jumpy, terrified defenders and refugees. They'd probably think he was infected or something anyway. He figured the dancing zombies would be enough of a change of pace to get them to come looking.

Unless, of course, everyone else moved in, in which case he'd obviously get out of the van like everyone else.

Magnumus Agoston, Centurion.

Level 3 - (23/30) EXP
Location: Lumbridge, Land of Adventure
Word Count: 332

---

Agoston nodded at Geralt after a moment. "Greetings, Geralt. Silver and steel. Monster slaying. Fascinating stuff- there's so many stories in this room it boggles the mind. In my world, the creatures feel utterly mundane compared to the magic beasts of other lands. Though I suppose you and other people probably feel the same way about the things living in your lands. Still, I suppose that's what nights like tonight are for; to regale each other of tales from distant and alien places."

He laughed heartily as Poppi made a brief appearence. "That one's name is Poppi. Friendly enough- and more courageous than they look." After a moment he caught a glance of one of the delicious meals being prepared. "If you'll excuse me a moment- I'm famished."

Finding something familiar, he picked a plate of potatoes, steak, and vegetables. Clearly the Centurion knew the meals required to keep a warrior going, though he pondered if perhaps his dietary requirements would change now that he was...different. Hopefully he wound return to normal after all this was over- he surely didn't mind the power up but it didn't feel right to be all white, and red, bright eyes and sharper teeth. People back home wouldn't know what to think of him, and Agoston couldn't blame them. Spotting an empty seat, he spotted Linkle and Ryu. They were both looking over various objects, like a reward. Ryu seemed much healthier. The difference was obvious- the martial artist was no longer under Galeem's control. Grinning cheerily, he set his plate down and stomped over.

"Ryu, it's good to see you again! Especially now that you seem more yourself." He turned his gaze toward Linkle. "Did you best him in combat and free him from his control? An astonishing feat, for sure!" It was good to see. Even though the scale of Galeem's conquest was unimaginable, slowly but steadily they would chip away at his control. One soul at a time.

@Stekkmen

---

Linkle shoved open the doors of the guild hall and was immediately overcome with the smell of glorious food and the sound of lively conversation. She looked around the crowded room, trying to find the source of that aroma, and spotted the carts that had been wheeled in and realized to her horror they were already nearly half empty.

That shouldn't have been a surprise given that she could only assume the Koopa Troop were big eaters all on their own, but her stomach gave a violent rumble that was more like the growl of a monster defending its kill. It hadn't had anything simce breakfast this morning and it wanted her to know that. "Oh hush, you." She said, patting on it with a closed fist as she walked inside with Ryu. "At least I actually made it to dinner this time."

Linkle had no compunction about getting greedy when it came to the food. All she hoped was that this stuff was as good as Lon Lon Milk when it came mending injuries, and soothed the ache in her limbs as much as it did her stomach. To that end she took a little bit if everything, piling a group of those tofu blocks and some of those juicy looking fruit skewers onto a plate of those blue scaled lizard legs and topping the precarious pile with a scoop of that blue wiggly jelly that reminded her of a chu-chu.

Unconcerned with the fact that this was all probably plated separately for a good reason, and she'd likely destroyed the unique flavors by combining them into this monstrosity, she nonetheless started eating and found it to be actually really good by her standards. Of course her standards were mostly scrambled eggs with extra bits thrown in at the spur of the moment for flavor.

As she was eating her gaze was drawn to the big pile of loot they'd that had been gathers together at the big table, and though she was already satisfied with what she'd gotten today she couldn't help being curious. She wandered over to look it over. There was a weird glowing pair of arms, a few planks of wood, a strange can with that guy they'd freed on the roads face on it and...was that an entire set of armor for a horse? They didn't even own a horse, though maybe you could fit that onto a chochobo if you were creative about it. She'd left hers outside by the guild hall, right in front of the cuckoo enclosure. They'd stared at him with venom in their eyes, but she'd explained very clearly that he was a friend and as she'd left she'd heard alternating "kweeh?" and "cukoo" sounds being exchanged and could only hope that was going to lead to some sort of understanding.

Of course, one particular object drew her attention not from its look, but from its overpowering smell. There a rancid stink coming from the pile that over powered even the scent of the dinner if you came close. She looked around and thought she spotted the problem, setting her plate down as she lifted up a white bottle. She gave it a whiff, gaged, and put the clearly spilled milk back down in disgust. "Nghaaaa." She blenched. "Who brough this in here? Hylia above, someone pawned a defective bottle off on you. This isn't supposed to happen." It was almost enough to make her lose her appetite.

The though of the bottle reminded her of her own though. She reached into her shirts and pulled out the bottle of fish spirits she'd collected and set that gently glowing bottle down on the table as well. Satisfied, she turned to the room. "Anybody want some fish friends? We beat up a ton of fish today.

It was while she was doing this that Agoston came up and greeted them, inquiring whether Linkle had vanquished Ryu to free him. "Nah." She replied to the centurion, shaking her head. "I got my butt kicked. I did manage to catch him in an arrow volley. Turned out that was enough." Now that she was getting a look at him up close she could see that man looked slightly different than he'd had this morning. "Hey, did you get a...?"

She looked back at Ryu, then at Agoston, thought about how they'd know each other, and grinned. "Ohhhhhh! You to, huh? How did your fight go? Did you get hit with that big uppercut? He sent me so high with that I could have seen to rooftops."

---

As Michael inserted the final dollar into the lootbox and stood back, he heard Bowser Jr. ask a question. "That's...actually a really good question..." Why did they only use USD, and not any of the various currencies found throughout the many worlds? Were they from a world where, like his, dollars were the accepted currency? Before he could ponder on these questions for long, the lootboxes began to spring open.

As the boxes opened one by one, Michael could feel his initial excitement rapidly shift to disappointment. As the final box opened, he and Franklin simply stared down at what had emerged, Michael scratching his chin as he frowned at their meager rewards. While there were a few interesting-looking pieces of armor, there were no weapons, and most of the items seemed completely useless. "That's it? Seriously?"

"At least the last one had some useful stuff...not sure what we're gonna do with this." Franklin added, looking over the loot. The two looked over towards Tora as he picked up one of the items- what looked like a pair of night vision goggles and a mask- and put them on. The outfit immediately began to unfurl, taking his shape. Once he removed it, it retracted back into its original form.

"Hey, it's fine." Michael said, responding to Tora's worries about touching his 'prize'. He looked up to the group. "Take whatever you want, it's your reward." He then looked back down to the goggles, looking them over before placing them in one of his suit pockets. If the goggles and mask worked, an outfit like that would definitely come in handy in the future.

With that out of the way, the two made their way over to the food trolley, each taking a plate and sitting down. Michael eagerly began digging into his food, while Franklin took a much slower pace to savor the taste of it. Either way, neither of them could deny that it was great food, and free food at that. Michael mostly kept to himself, too busy with eating, but Franklin paused occasionally to listen to what the rest of the group was talking about. They were sitting somewhat close to Tora, and he nodded along as he spoke about the red-eyed people still among them. Looking over his shoulder to make sure that Geralt or anyone else still under the influence was listening, he leaned in and whispered his thoughts. "Yeah...but let's not start a fight near here. Maybe we can wait until they get knocked down out there, and them hit 'em with the heart-thing."

Meanwhile, as Michael continued to dig into his food, he took a moment to look up as Hat Kid sat next to him. Still chewing, he watched as she slid the bag of rupees over to him. Swallowing his food, he took the bag and looked it over, seeing it was filled with gems. "You sure about this?" He closed the bag, looking over to her. He had expected her to run off with the money, yet she chose to give it back to them. "Well...thanks. I'm...not sure what to say, but...thank you." It was something of a novel experience, given he was used to dealing with people who wouldn't hesitate to screw him over if they felt they could get a buck out of it. He gave the kid a smile. "Really, thanks." He moved back to his food, taking a few bites before looking back towards the kid. "You know...you never really explained what that hourglass thing was. I mean...if you don't wanna talk about it, I get it, but we might run into some more of 'em, so it could be helpful to know what they are."

With the help of Donnie and Gene, Banjo and Kazooie were able to punch a sizable hole in the Ent’s ability to function. They may not have cut the living tree down, but at this point it could barely move or stand, much less adequately defend itself from what came next. A man bound by cane entered the scene, approaching the Ent slowly, and the desperate treant made the mistake of swinging at what it took for helpless smashing fodder. An amorphous black golem erupted from the ground beneath him to answer the Ent's attempt with a punishing blow, and the bear and bird made quick to get out from underneath the dueling titans as they were about to enter a deadlock.

The mysterious summoner then called forth a great cat with a physical makeup to match the giant's and commanded it to strike their foe, morphing itself into a long piercing weapon to spear it's head still. This held it in place long enough to provide Jak and the monk an opening to hit it from both sides before the stranger delivered the final blow to put it out of commission. The Ent was done for, but someone forgot to tell it as much. The creature stubbornly hung on to its drastically shortened life, still leaking sickly pink fume in what passed for its last meager effort to retaliate.

Blazermate obliged Nero's command to finish it off all too eagerly, sicking the newly arriving wave of undead on it. The wizard further indulged her, raising his own mob of skeletal thrall to add to the horde, and they collectively swarmed the downed treant and began to pull it apart in an agonizing display of animalistic savagery. Banjo and Kazooie shrank back, bearing a grimace of nervous disgust and wincing gaze of morbid fascination respectively. Neither of them figured they would ever feel sorry for something that tried to kill them, but this was just pitiful. They may have been so inclined to put the creature out of its misery if they could get closer to it.

Blazer, worryingly self-satisfied with her work, simply watched on as she ordered the mutilation from afar, commanding both sets of minions with one arm while healing with the other. She rhetorically praised her new arm and its ability with a pun that, oddly, went unacknowledged by either of the duo, too dumbfounded to give any kind of answer. If this is what was to become of their healer, what could they expect of everyone else, they wondered.

As if the Ent hadn’t suffered enough, the summoner brought his panther out once more to brutally saw its head in half. Though, it soon became apparent that there was a more humane purpose for it. With a curious recitation of poetic verse from memory, he pierced the treant’s exposed core with the tip of his cane, extinguishing the last vestiges of its fading life and easing its passing. He then proceeded to deliver acquainted pleasantries and exposition unto Nero. At this point, Banjo and Kazooie had pieced together that this stranger was none other than V, the man they had been looking for. From appearances, to the way he conducted himself, to his very aura, if they could see it, this man was the epitome of an enigma, but if his demonstrated power was anything to go by, there was one thing about him they could be certain of: they were glad to have him on their side.

While explaining the nature of this ‘Qliphoth’, V happened to drop a line in his exposition; that it subsisted on human blood. This inspired a curious, but unhelpful thought in Kazooie.

“We’re not human…” she remarked quietly to Banjo. “You think that, maybe, exempts us?”

“Mmmmm-PROBABLY best to assume it doesn’t,” he answered with a slight shake of his head. “I doubt a big demon tree will discriminate much. Especially if we’re trying to bring it down.”

“That makes sense.” Kazooie concurred casually.

At Kamek's inquiry to V, the last of his three familiars showed itself to answer in jeering manner. The explanation of his (and their) role shed light on a particular commonality within their party that the duo couldn't help noticing.

"Look! It's another one of you." Banjo prodded playfully at Kazooie, playing on the fact that they were both someone's mouthy feathered friend that all but stuck to them.

"Seems like everybody has one now, she replied, referring, of course, to partners. Ratchet had Clank, Jak had Daxter, Banjo had her, and V had… well… those; personal demons, apparently, but in a more literal sense. Kamek seemed reasonably satisfied with that answer, and decided he’d had enough of the Dead Zone before bidding adieu and disappearing for greener pastures.

“Free dinner?” Banjo picked mention of meal out of the wizard’s words, and suddenly, he started wondering what was going on in the Land of Adventure and how much better a time they must have been having. “I’m starting to think we may have made the wrong choice here,” he added, cupping his chin. Kazooie said nothing, but her eyes darted around shiftily in shame for having remembered it was her idea to come here to begin with. Though, she had forgotten why, and she would make no mention of it as she turtled halfway into her partner’s backpack.

Their attention went back to Nero and V when the former called for it, and the latter set their course. As V started in that direction, he suddenly an inexplicably fell ill, prompting a reflexive jolting step forward from Banjo in an unfulfilled move to assist him. The sickly man shortly regained his composure and expressed the demon hunter's shared desire for haste.

"Speak for yourself," Kazooie retorted in a lower, more or less serious tone at his remark of having "little time to lose," genuinely somewhat concerned that he might not be able to make the trip, or that he might push himself too hard trying to. Regardless, Nero wanted to get going right away, and allowed the rest to set their own pace at which to follow.

"Don't worry. We won't be far behind you," Banjo reassured the demon hunter just as he was taking off, with V following suit soon after. The duo lingered only for long enough to gather any minion spirits (specifically those of Rot Warts) that were left unscavenged to smash together into something useful. Afterwards, Kazooie would hoist Banjo onto her back and begin to Talon Trot down the path behind the others, rhythmically chirping as she did with every step the entire way.

The obstacle wreckage, while aplenty, did little to impede the heroes' progress, for Kazooie could simply bound over most of them with no loss in momentum. Blazermate's new ability saw to the undead problem that would have otherwise made their trek much longer. The bear and bird had to admit, for a maniacal lich queen in the making--already showing onset signs of descending rapidly into madness--she was undeniably useful to have around, and with a track record to show it.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a helicopter could be spotted being accosted by a flock of… gold-winged faces? Whatever they were, they brought the chopper down alarming efficiency, and upon seeing this, everyone got into gear. They soon arrived at the crash site, a police station with an overwhelming wave of zombies between it and the group. Banjo and Kazooie were able to spot the two women on the roof, clearly in need of aid.

"I don't know," Banjo answered to Blazer's question about ally recruitment, but they look like they could use our help," he added further, pointing out the two he spotted.

"C'mon, Banjo! Let's go see if we can give them a hand," Kazooie suggested in turn. Ideally, they could just have Blazer part the lesser undead aside, but that still wouldn't get them to the rooftop where they intended to go. That, and Kazooie needed an excuse to stretch her wings, so they opted to go over the hoard. From the ramp of broken road where they stood, it wouldn't take many Shock Spring Jumps to get make it to the top of a nearby building to use as a vantage/takeoff point. Once they found a suitable spot, a blue platform with red feathers painted on it formed beneath Banjo's feet, and with a beat of Kazooie's wings, the duo shot skyward in a stream of sparkling red gust and began flying toward the station. They would be sure to look out for any more of the creatures from earlier while they were airborne, as well as spending their meager Feather supply sparingly, but as needed, to maintain altitude.

Tora gave the Ace Cadet a sagacious nod. “Mm-hm!” he said officiously. “So far, it seem like red-eyes cannot get heart unless weak first.” Despite the monster hunter's engagement with the idea, with him going so far as to size up Geralt, he did not give any affirmation. Instead, Franklin offered his two cents, suggesting that they wait until a better opportunity. They could find a more suitable place to do it, perhaps in a situation where the Witcher got hurt on his own, so that his allies wouldn't have to lend a hand. Discerning when it came to effort as ever, Tora replied with a nod. “That good plan.” He glanced at Geralt again. Tora thought highly of his chances against a human adversary utilizing physical damage, however skilled he might be with those swords. “But if needed, Tora could take him. Right, Poppi?”

The artificial blade spent more time examining Tora to make sure he was serious than examining Geralt's combat ability. “With Poppi, definitely. Alone...probably.”

Kamek started talking about his adventure up north, and since neither Tora nor Poppi knew anything about what had been going on up there, they listened at rapt attention. He described a horror show of monsters and mayhem, featuring some sort of threat he described as 'undead'. While the Nopon didn't know what he meant by that exactly, it sounded creepy, so he guessed things got hairy up there. His mention of manipulating corpses, by Blazermate of all people in particular, set off alarm bells in Tora's head. Had the cute robot changed herself into a monster to do that? Kamek's mention of four-armed brutes as big as Bowser did not bring him comfort. The magikoopa went on to describe a battle against a devastating tree giant with a lot of minions and abilities, which to Tora at least sounded like fun. As long as he had a good party with him, the size of the threat didn't matter. Apparently, someone new had worked with Blazermate's minions to deal the final blow to the thing, using some kind of summons. Kamek's description of V intrigued Tora. Was there really some kind of power he could get so that he could get others to do all the fighting for him? That sounded great!

After that, Junior took his turn to run through the events of the afternoon. Since Tora and Poppi experienced them firsthand, they stopped paying attention and looked elsewhere for anything of interest. Linkle had just returned from her bout with Ryu, whose eyes looked to be free of Galeem's touch. She put together a heap of various foods, which did not seem wrong to Tora in the slightest, before digging in. It occupied her focus for a while, but her eyes soon fell on the loot pile and -of all things- the very expired milk. Luckily she passed it up, instead producing a number of spirits that she added to the pile. Tora took another look at the haul, noting in particular those floating arms. Their shimmer reminded him of how people looked when fusing with a spirit, which to him screamed 'stay away'. The spirits Linkle left caught his interes, and at Linkle's invitation he approached. “Fish, meh?” He peered inside a spirit and saw the ugly, vicious-looking grouper inside. No way did he want those things anywhere near him. “Bleh. Not want friend with that. Maybe give good stuff, though.” He reached down, took a few pelagic spirits in each wing, and crushed them.

From the dancing lights, a few items manifested. There was a cutlass, a fishing spear, a shiny stone, a side of tough fish scales, and a spiral charm. Tora very much liked the shiny stone, but decided not to take anything. He wanted to of course, but if he scooped up someone else's loot again, it could look bad, and Poppi would certainly scold him. He resolved to take it if nobody else did. The weapons, meanwhile he disdained, since he doubted any could channel Blade power. “Very nice, meh. Will take shiny if okay with friends.” As he went off again, a dubious look flew the long arms' way. “Meeh...Tora not know what that does, but be careful not to touch if not sure,” he warned.

Once back with Poppi, Tora looked around again. Everyone, from Hat Kid to Bowser to Michael to the Centurion, was having a good time...everyone except two. Still too full to shovel in another mouthful of dinner, Tora thought that he'd pay them a visit. On second thought, he went and asked Poppi for help. “Hey, you see lady dancer?” He pointed a wing toward Din, all alone in a corner. “Seems sad. Maybe ask if okay? Tora going to do same for guy over there.” Poppi nodded and left the table, while Tora waddled over to the spiky-haired guy by himself.

“Hello, friend!” Pulling himself up onto a bench, Tora treated Phoenix Wright to a big smile. “You must be hungry. Well, even if didn't do anything to gather, food belong to heroes team and heroes say it for everyone!” His brows furrowed. “Although...friend Mina already say so, meh. So that can't be problem. Maybe...you are worried about money?” The Nopon spoke as if one problem or the other must be the root of all unhappiness.

Meanwhile, Poppi approached and seated herself by Din. For a moment she remained quiet, looking at the mask laying on the table in front of her ally. Then, mustering her warmest smile, she greeted her. “Hi there. Poppi see Din by self even though everyone enjoying selves. What wrong?”

The dancer sighed. She held up a hand in front of her face. Smooth, rubbery, completely artificial, and now an indelible part of her. Experimentally, she fired the new nerves integrated to her system, and her metal wings shuffled. Closing her eyes, she faced her guest and started to speak. “This change...everything...it's just too strange. I wanted to help people out, so I took in the spirit of that machine. It's made my arms...fake, foreign. With them I could help that boy Euden, saving him from falling in the lake, but...we all got lucky. If not for one thing or another, the boys and Phoenix, or all of us, could have died.” Standing behind her, her Gogoat nuzzled up against her. Din reached down and ran her synthetic mesh hand along its back. It twitched uncomfortably at her touch, and even though it nuzzled her again afterward, Din took it as confirmation. “Ever since Megadragonbowser, I've had this sort of 'raw' feeling,” she told Poppi. “It's all so unreal. Any of us could die at any moment, turn to ash, then have our souls destroyed. I'm not even a fighter, after all. And will our deaths have meant anything?”

Poppi couldn't give her an answer. She didn't know much herself, only that so long as she was with Tora, they could carry on, and everything would be alright. Yesterday, she struggled with the notion of being unreal herself, a soulless object that anyone could contort or change, erasing countless memories of joy and pain. The artificial blade looked at own metal hand, and narrowed her eyes. “Poppi understand Din pain. Going forward in danger and uncertainty hard, but we have to do it, because that what heroes do. Even if Din not fighter, Din can be hero. Because anyone can be hero, even loser Nopon and his artificial blade.”

Din laid an arm on Poppi's shoulder. She smiled, but her eyes were sad. “Thank you, Poppi...but I can't. I'm deciding to stay here in Lumbridge, and help out however I can. It'll be up to the rest of you to be the heroes.”

The words struck Poppi like a tackle. She sat in silence for a few moments, racing to think of something to get Din to reconsider, but nothing fell into her grasp. Instead, she thought to herself that isn't fair. Try as she might, the choice had been made for her, and if it could be helped Poppi wasn't the one to do it. She said the only thing that came to mind. “...Oh.”

“Of course, you can stop by anytime and say hello. I'll be here whenever you need me.” The statement made Poppi smile weakly. The dancer put on a happy face, maybe trying to reassure the artificial blade, but Poppi was anything but reassured. Once their business in the Land of Adventure concluded, she and her Masterpon would not be coming back here. Their duty as heroes would carry them forward, on and on until the world was saved. But Din had given up on making things right.

Poppi stood up from the table. “Thank you. Poppi wish Din good luck.” She left, and a pair of sad eyes, glowing the color of the sunset outside, watched her go.



The first to break the silence was Blazermate, and Nero figured that he had a pretty good idea of what she would be doing. Sure enough, once her howls rang over the necrotic hordes, the zombies ceased their ominous waiting and flocked in their direction. At her bidding, the masses of the dead began to dance, rickety joints and rotting sinews propelling them in a herky-jerky tango as freaky as it was ludicrous. Some of the undead, set alight by her burning zombies, Blazermate sent as scouts into the dark. While most of them revealed only further shambling putrification, her keen sensors could make out a few unusual shapes in the center of the thickest groups: unusual tombstones that gleamed in the makeshift torchlight. That wasn't all, either. Just as she predicted, some of the figures ignored her howls. They looked like zombies, but not exactly, with the differences subtle. Those who refused to answer the medabot's call sported grandiose disfigurements rather than rot, including tentacles and gigantic tumors that looked more like cocoons, and from the bulbous things inside extended antennae with crimson fronds. They moved differently, too. Instead of lurching around, relying on dead flesh, they moved like ravenous animals, as though still alive—or filled with something alive. In fact they moved now, spurred on by the stimulation of the helicopter crash, making a beeline for the police station.

Nero noticed the unusual zombies. Even with the bulk of the invading force currently engaging in an impromptu dance party, the survivors holed up in the police station didn't need anything else to deal with. He jumped from the top of the upheaval in the road where his party stood, landing on the head of a zombie. Instead of crushing it, he pushed off at just the right moment, executing an Enemy Step to keep him in the air. With the wretches indifferent to his presence, he proceeded across the top of the whole crowd, and when he got close enough the devil hunter started ventilating the other creatures one by one with the Blue Rose. Though tougher than the average zombie, they fell just the same, but on death exhibited something both new and disgusting. From their carcasses a number of small, skittering things invariably escaped, too little and numerous to be targeted. From his time in Fortuna, Nero could guess what was going on: some kind of parasite. He cleared Blazermate's undead crowd and hit the ground, looking up just in time to see one of the larva leap onto a normal zombie, rapidly infest it, and turn it away from the rave to target him instead. When the monster got close it lashed out with its tentacles, but Nero deftly swung his blade upward, carving its arm free, before smashing it flat into the ground with a return stroke.

Shaking his head, he turned back to the police station. The others would be with him in a moment, so there was no point in waiting. It was then that Nero noticed the flying golden things from before flocking toward the top of the police station, aided by the alarmed yells of the two women up there. With Banjo and Kazooie already taken to the sky and on the way there, the devil hunter opted to give them a hand and make sure the fliers were dealt with. “Hold on!” Nero broke into a sprint through the station's main gate, planning to use Gerbera to shoot himself up after the bear and bird, but the minute he set foot inside the yard a low, dark shape lunged at him. Its huge, vile maw closed around his right shin, but found itself biting into more than it could handle. Nero wasted no time grabbing the Red Queen and sinking it into the beast, but it doggedly continued to chew on him. Pulling the blade out, Nero revved it and jammed the fire-wreathed greatsword into the Spawn's body again, and this time he yanked it out sideways to cleanly cut the things in two. Still, to Nero's astonishment, it wasn't enough. “Get LOST!” The devil hunter executed a full-bodied football kick that sent the horrible half-monster flying, but the ordeal had cost him precious seconds. He looked up to see a fight in progress.

Up top, the women appeared to be attempting to withstand the angels on their own. One wielded nothing more than an axe and was trying to survive more than anything, but the other moved like lightning. She dodged and flipped around like a cat, detaching parts of her body to evade the angels' tailblades and even firing of blasts of her own blood like rocket jets to slip away when taking a hit seemed inavoidable. After evading, she struck back with claw swipes and kicks, with her own detached tail as a sword, and by rotating her forearm at the break point with an index finger extended to attack with a makeshift drill. Still, whatever damage she inflicted seemed meaningless, and she could only keep the angel's attention for so long. Banjo and Kazooie arrived just in the nick of time, ready to lend their strength to the catgirl in driving the angels off.

That worked out well, since happenings on the ground demanded Nero's attention. As if in response to the nearby conflict, the nearest tombstone stirred to life. The eyes of its carved skull reliefs glowed a haunting purple, and monsters started to appear. From the ground came a mob of new zombie-likes that ignored Blazermate's commands: the Lost. They advanced toward the police station en masse, snarling and swinging, with only Nero standing in their way. He readied the Red Queen, but before the Lost and Spawn closed in, a familiar voice reached him from above. “Hehey, Nero! Save some for us, huh?” A moment later V floated down, carried by Griffon. He landed by Nero's side, and Griffon alighted on his outstretched arm Together, the three faced the incoming monsters. “Alright, superstar, I got your back,” the demon taunted, “It's barbecue time!” The first Lost ran at V, who threw Griffon right into it. The bird bulled through it, purple lightning crackling across him, and into the center of the group. “Fryyyy, little piggies!” He screeched, and unleashed a spherical burst of electricity to cook the monsters alive.

Reinforcements came for the enemies too, however. More Lost arrived to replace the lost. Additional Spawn appeared to crawl across the ground with frightening speed. Pools of blood formed on the sides of the tomestone, and from them emerged a handful of reptilian demons. From the moment they hit the ground, the Riots were on the move, scampering toward the police station and its defenders along with the other monsters.

A shout suddenly echoed from a window on the police station's second floor. “They're coming again!” A young man showed his face, having called to someone else inside. He could only spare one flabbergasted glance at the dancing zombies before turning his attention to the monsters that were still a threat, and to the newcomers fighting them. “And...friendlies! I think?” Falling quiet, he let his handgun do the talking, raining down shots on the Lost from above. After a few moments, more survivors started to appear. On the first floor, a humanoid fox started up a volley of blaster fire, and a woman in tactical gear leaned out a window to take a few shots as well. The front door burst open, and from it stormed a burly man with a giant shotgun, a masked woman with a greatsword and shield, and a slender swordsman. The first blasted a Spawn in its rear head, the second hacked its legs off, and the last teleported to a pair of Lost to strike with a series of arcing slashes. Those Riots, however, forced the defenders back with their vicious attacks, all the while shrugging off the shooters' gunfire. Nero and V engaged the demons together, but the whole thing was a massive, chaotic mess.

”Ahhhh, that hit the spot” Bowser sighed contentedly after polishing off his last hunk of Barbun meat.

”mmm. It was good! We should eat out more.”

“Kyu kyu!”

”Compliments to the chef are definitely in order” Kamek agreed loudly enough to ensure Mina could hear him.

”Could we. could we hire her?” Jr asked after a moment of thought

Bowser took a look in his pocket and began sorting through the various rupees within, still unsure still as to their actual worth ”HMMM”

”I would suspect that Miss Mina can earn a lot more money from operating her restaurant that we can generate trapeing across this muddled up world” Kamek pointed out

”oh. Well then. Maybe we could. You know” jr said before jabbing a fist forward a few times and then touching a hand to his chest and mimicking the toss of a friend heart.

Bowser shook his head saying ”Remember what we talked about earlier.” before jerking his head in the direction of Tora, unaware that the ball of fluff was in the midst of discussing the very same idea that jr had had with some of the other members of the team, only regarding Geralt instead of Mina.

”Aw. Lame” Jr complained, though his heart wasn't really in it.

”Perhaps our luck will hold and we’ll get to keep this string of lovely meals going. For now however I suggest we get ready to go on this hunt. Best to go before twilight leaves us and night settles in for good” Kamek suggested

Bowser grunted before heaving himself to his feet and dusting off his hands ”Alright! Let’s get this place over and done with.”

”Sure, let’s go show that boss who’s boss!” Jr said as he hopped down. Mimikyu followed suit, leaping off of the table and then gently floating down to land on their trainer’s shoulder. After taking a look around Jr noticed the new items produced by the fish hunter’s sprite crushing. ”Oh hey look. New stuff on the pile.”

As the young koopa hurried over to take a look Kamek decided now was as good a time as any to make use of the sprites he had gathered from the dead zone. He moved with jr to the loot pile and then proceeded to tip out and crush the various root minion sprites he had gathered before leaving, producing:

1x Frenzy Dust: Used to find this stuff in the tallest of the old towers and the darkest alleys between. Don't know what it is, but it sure as hell makes killing Root easier. Increases the rate at which electrochemical signals fire muscles, boosting melee attack speed, movement speed, and reload speed temporarily

2x Oilskin Tonic: Healers cooked up this stuff during the Old War. Might be the only thing what kept the race from keeling over. Cures infection and increases resistance against them temporarily."

1x Hollow Cloak: "The garb of a diminutive Root. Scarcely big enough to be worn as a hood or mantle, it is resistant to water and poison but quite flammable"

2x Hatchet: A small axe meant for combat rather than utility, but serviceable for either

2x Fire Axe:Meant for use in an emergency, the axe can fell almost any single zombie in one hit, but breaks afterward

”That is a lot of axes.” Jr noted as the wizard finished, adding the items to the community pool.

”Somewhat ironic considering their tree related source.”

”Really wants us to cut some down huh?” Jr said as he picked one of the hand axes up and examined it.

”Perhaps. It will be handy incase we need to make a campfire later.” Kamek said, before turning his attention to the other items.

After eyeing them for a few moments he collected the Oilskin Tonics and the singular Antidote and store them inside his robes along with the Bloodwort potions and green herbs. Kamek was rather glad they’d he’d acquired them now that they’d watched the Dancer succumb to Galeem’s influence once more. The event concerned the mage more than he’d like to admit both because it removed their team’s main source of healing right before a critical battle and because it showed that the friend heart magic wasn't a permanent defence against their enemy's power. The first issue was forestalled as long as they had healing items, the latter was likely to trouble Kamek’s mind for some time to come even as his masters where indifferent or begrudgingly accepting of the situation respectively.

The mage had re-collected the now rather important healing items after his reunion with the royal family, quietly noting that one of the green herbs was missing at the time. Jr meanwhile, who had sneakily used the missing herb when no one was watching to fix the light wounds he’d received from being gored by the Barburn, picked up the fishing spear, testing its weight. More a Pike than a spear in the hands of the boy he still thought he could make use of it as a hunting tool if he dropped it down or stab out from his flying clown car. ”Fish are good too right?”

”Yeah that’d be good.” Bowser said as he picked up and examining the various weapons on offer in turn ”Bah, toothpicks all of these.” he muttered as he dangled the cutlass, more a large knife than a sword in his hands even at his smallest, between two fingers before setting it back down.

”Perhaps you’ll have more luck with items you crush yourself? That glove you’ve had since we met again has worked out well for you has it not?”

”hmf. Guess so.” Bowser said, before looking out the window at the setting sun ”So we ready to go yet?”

”Just about”

”Yeah I got what I need” jr said

”Then lets go hunt a Saurian!”

”Yeah!”

”Uh sire?” Kamek said before tilting his head back at their team.

”Oh. Right.” Bowser said before asking everyone ”YOU LOT COMING OR WHAT?”

The Courier hummed quietly to himself as he strolled through Lumbridge all on his lonesome. It caused him to miss the beginning of the festivities, but that didn’t bother him none. A lonesome drifter with no name, that’s all he was. All he’d ever be, really. Didn’t matter what he accomplished, how many lives he saved, who he put into power. He wasn’t the hero of his story. He was just a messenger. Sure, he’d done more than his fair share of good deeds, but people rarely remembered the cause in favor of celebrating the effect. And he liked it that way. Too much bother, being famous. Being celebrated.

“‘Ello stranga!” called the voice of a strangely clad man with a gravelly voice. The Courier stopped a moment to look over at the dark alley of this man and raised an eyebrow. “Got somethin’ tha migh’ intrest ya’! Heh heh heh.”

And like that the mysterious cloaked figure pulled back into the darkness. Courier 6 warily followed into the alley, hand on his holster just in case, but once he pierced the cloak of shadow there was… Nothing there.



The Courier shrugged it off, and went back on his merry way. Wasn’t the weirdest thing to happen to him even before all the worlds got smashed together, so why pay it any mind with the crazy mixup of universes? Naw, that didn’t bother him none…

After a quick exchange of his loot ticket at the designated shop, the Courier left with a grand prize. There was plenty to pick from to be certain, monster parts from all manner of critters and creatures he had seen on this journey thus far, and plenty from things he’d still been stranger to. But his gaze settled on one and only item and he knew in his heart of hearts without question that was what he wanted: an Omnic megacore. Instantly his interest in robotics and technology began dreaming up possible designs with this thing at the center. He already had a copy of the Omnic coding on his Pip-Boy, and unlimited access to Bastion. He could combine these schematics with the robots of his own world, securitrons and assaultrons, and even find pieces from other universes! This creation would be a marvel, something truly amazing!

He idly patted the Revolution machine gun at his side, then sighed. Gaige… He was too rash in using her spirit for loot, for making that gun. Her expertise, whether combined into him or as an assistant in striker form, would have been invaluable. Her abilities were utterly wasted in this form. And yet Peach’s new abilities could not reform the spirit from the weapon, unlike when combined into people. Maybe someone else out there could, but for now? A single tear fell from the cowboy’s left eye as he ,ade his way back to the feast…

---

The Courier slid in toward the end of the meal, grabbing up whatever he could and eating straight from the serving platters. His manners left something to be desired, but it was clear that things were wrapping up so he figured, “Eh, why not?” He spotted the final quest giver, the white-clade martial artist Ryu, and noticed the distinct lack of red in the eyes, and noted it as peculiar. He wanted a fight, yes? And those who fought under the influence of Galeem wouldn’t stop fighting unless dead or freed, so… He shrugged. Stood to reason one of their allies had beaten Ryu and released him with a friend heart.

Just as much he noticed the hunter fellow, that Geralt he had traveled with before separating to gather wigglers, was still around and most definitely did still have the eyes. Hmm. Well as long as there was no trouble yet, that wasn’t a problem. They likely didn’t run into enough danger to release Geralt without having to get their hands dirty themselves.

Then the Courier noticed a new collection of loot that had been freed up, most of which had already been claimed. He eyed it all in observation, but nothing in particular caught his interest, save for… ”Pardon your majesty, but that fine powder there does appear to be a new chem I’ve never seen before. Chems’re somethin’ of mah speciality y’know. Same what with what happens t’be in these here bottles. I’can do a little… Research’n let y’know what they do. Maybe even make’em better, if’n you don’ object.”

---

---

”GAAAAAH! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!?!” Daxter darted back and forth, to and fro, wildly flailing his limbs about. Jak chuckled.

”What’s wrong, Dax? Didn’t you once say to me, and I quote, ‘I’m short, I’m orange, and I itch in strange places. I couldn’t do any worse?’” He shrugged playfully, clearly enjoying the situation.

”Don’t play with me, you KNOW that was before we found out that I’m a Precursor!” Daxter pointed accusingly. While Jak was enjoying himself, Daxter’s anger was genuine. ”Besides! I think fur beats bark! And now I’ve got this big glowing thingy on my chest, what’s this all about?” Daxter tapped on the glowing weak spot like he was trying to get the attention of someone on the other side of a glass window, and instantly winced from the pain.

”IT’S A BIG WEAK SPOT, JAK! I LITERALLY have a big! Glowing! Target! On my beautiful chest!” The ottsel-turned-tree fell into a fetal position and began shaking comically, only for the motion to release more of the spores from his body. Jak backed away, waving them aside with his hand.

”Watch it buddy! You’re putting out that paralyzing toxic stuff in the air.”

”Oh I’m sorry, AM I?” Daxter jumped back up to his feet and started approaching Jak angrily, who nervously backed up until he hit a wall and couldn’t move any further. ”Sorry, I can’t help it, because IT’S NOT A DECISION I CHOSE TO MAKE!” Daxter thrust his fingertip into Jak’s gut, then turned round to stomp off… Releasing tiny shockwaves as he went.

”Ok, ok, fine, I get you. We can pop back through the teleporter and get Peach to remove it any time.” Jak said, gesturing to the portal.

”You know what’s worst about this?” Dax asked, turning his head to see Jak behind him. ”Now I’m too big to ride your bony, uncomfortable shoulder, Jak. Oh yeah and I’ll poison you too. Buuuut I think I can try this out, at least for a little bit. See how it works out.”

”Huh I didn’t expect him to come around to it so quickly,” Ratchet commented out loud.

“Pardon me gentlemen, but I do believe the rest of the group is ready to move on,” interjected Clank, pointing out that V, Nero, and the others were already in the process of leaving them all behind.

”Right, time to get moving and kick some ass.”

---

The pairs of duos trekked along with the others, Daxter keeping his distance to prevent from accidentally poisoning anybody and complaining about his feet hurting the whole way. Thanks to Blazermate’s new upgrade, no zombies bothered them and all of them found her “unique” flair to the creatures to be funny and charming, in its own grotesque way. Alas things couldn’t remain so easy for too long. Angels attacked a helicopter in the air which crashed into a police station. Two women were atop the building clearly in need of help.

”Are those… Flying faces?” Ratchet asked incredulously, pulling out his handcannon, still loaded with the pistol bullets.

”And I thought our world was weird,” Daxter added.

There was no time, more monsters were emerging that noticeably did not fall under whatever rules governed Blazermate’s arm, and the women up top needed help. Jak transformed into Light Jak, sprouting his ethereal wings and pulling out his morph gun in scattergun mode. He took off to the rooftop, flying after Banjo and Kazooie, leaving Daxter alone at the bottom of the street.

”Ok, sure, I’ll just stay here and, uh, protect Nero! The dude without an arm, y’know? Gotta be mindful of the handicapped, right?” Nero then hopped from zombie to zombie and showed his combat prowess with his incredible sword cleaving skills. ”I mean uh… I’ll protect V! The guy’s basically on death’s door the way he coughs!” Only V was gone, already by Nero’s side and skewering enemies with his pet demons. ”Ok, no, I can, uh, I’ll protect-”

”Everyone here is capable, Daxter!” Ratchet shouted, running into battle and firing headshots at a number of the approaching enemies. Clank appeared on Ratchet’s back and looked down at Daxter, speaking in a more soothing voice. “Even you, my friend.”

Daxter looked back to see the tombstones were now apparently generating new demons from pools of blood! Daxter steeled his gaze and took a running leap toward them! ”YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!” he screamed in a half-battle cry, half-panic, landing amidst the tombstones and generating a huge shockwave along the ground!

Meanwhile Jak landed atop the roof of the police station, dispelling his wings and Light Jak form, for it was too slow and clunky for natural fliers such as these angels. ”Get away from her!” he shouted, firing off a cone of red eco directly into one of the angels attacking the non-catgirl.