”Message delivered.” The Courier looked at his pip-boy’s watch function before adding, ”An’ right on time, too.”

Gaige-Tron diverted her path to make a beeline for the Courier, then gave him a high five, which he reciprocated without missing a beat. “Boss, that was totally gnarly! You showed them what-for! ANARCHY!”

Bugfoot followed up behind, and the Courier smiled and waved, then returned the pokemon to his pokeball. ”Couldn’t a’ done it without my posse.”

Nearby, another duo was quite upset. ”Jak! What was that?! We didn’t get a single one! Really, poor showing on your part. I’m sick and disgusted.”

Jak grumbled, but shrugged and let it go. ”We can let others be heroes sometimes, Dax.” He holstered his morph gun then joined the entourage of people heading to the top of Spiral Mountain, Daxter complaining about it the whole way.

Meanwhile, Cuphead stood at the edge of where Sniper and Imani had made their last stand. Two thunderous booms had signalled the end of the sharpshooters, exploding them into red mist which quickly turned to dust, and Cuphead was left stunned. Shocked into place, the dust settled around him, and on him, which he was struggling to process. What had just happened? He was out for most of the fight thanks to be made into a trophy, but then it all just… Ended? And those guys just died right in front of him! They weren’t even walloped, knocked senseless, or subdued. They were just… Gone. This challenged what the little cup knew about life. Not even the Devil himself straight up murdered people, even if he did take their souls and force them into indebted slavery…

He looked on the two spirits floating in front of him for a moment and contemplated resurrecting them. All it would take was a quick parry, just a hop on then a hop off and POOF! Back to life, their spirits would take on new bodies and their ghosts would probably give a quick “thank you” before manifesting. Only… It was too late. They weren’t pink anymore, were they? He had stood there in shock, failing to register everything, and the opportunity timed out. Now they were well and truly dead dead. Was that worth it? They weren’t even trying to kill everyone, just turn them into trophies, right? Could it be that these guys Cuphead found himself allied with were, themselves, the bad guys?! Just because they clobbered that mean ol’ King Dice didn’t necessarily make them good guys. After all, the Devil had a sour relationship with his own henchman/casino manager, right?

There was no time to really process everything. The group was already on the move, heading to the top of the mountain and reconvening. The spirits were already gathered, and Cuphead was drawn out of his funk by a sudden whistling. He turned to see that it was Courier 6, who called for his chocobo, and the grizzled cowboy mailman rode off with his robot running alongside. Huh. Well Cuphead went ahead and followed everyone else to the top.

---

Once up top, Princess Peach began overseeing the dispersal of the spirits as rewards. The Courier eyeballed them all with intense greed, wanting them all for some new gun or gear, but knew it would be better to bide his time. If he overextended his reach now, Bowser might well rescind his agreement to give the boss spirit to him, and that would be no good. Besides, since he had Michael’s anti-material rifle now, there weren’t many guns that would be dealing much more damage.

Jak looked the spirits over as well, and Daxter dove into them in an effort to nab some, but was stopped by Jak grabbing the ottsel’s tail mid-flight and yanking him back. Daxter crossed his arms upset, but Jak shook his head. ”I don’t think any of these will be a great morph gun upgrade. They’re all snipers, and we’ve got a rifle configuration.”

Cuphead tilted his head, a bit of milk spilling out the top comically. He noticed that one of their opponents, the blue shirted elf boy, was among them. So he just changed sides all of a sudden? Well, that gave more credence to the idea that these were the good guys if the swordsman could just join them like that. More to the point though, the spirits still needed to be claimed, and Cuphead felt a bit guilty for missing his chance to bring them back to life. He dashed forward and snagged the Sniper spirit. ”Gee willikers, I guess it’s time to put this to the test, right?” He looked at the others who he originally met and explained the whole quest, who also spoke about absorbing spirits. In the head and he gets new knowledge and skills, in the heart and he gets their powers, right? But the Sniper guy didn’t seem to have anything in the way of powers per say. Welp, no time to test it like the present, right? Cuphead slammed the Sniper spirit right into his chest!

”Time to live again!”

When Geralt came out from behind the ice barrier, he was met with a mixed bag of a surprise. The last of the snipers were dead. That was good because he avoided being turned into a trophy. That was bad because it demonstrated, yet again, the clear gap in power between himself and his allies. Sure, he made it to the tower. Sure, he was able to help wear Link down. Sure, he could have even take one or two them out had he been given the chance.

But that was the thing; he hadn't been given the chance. Even with Link, that kid had a treasure trove of amazing abilities up his sleeve to keep himself alive and put down his enemies. He wouldn't have stood a chance solo. Maybe in a straight swordfight, but that was still up in the air. Kid really had it in him.

Still, wasn't worth getting worked up over. There'd be plenty of opportunities to get more power. Speaking of which, the Witcher fished inside his bag for the spirit he'd grabbed from that giant fish-monster. Frowning, he looked harder, only to recall something he'd been taught: Spirits vanished after a while. Cursing to himself, Geralt continued fishing through his bag. He found those weird sticker things, and sighed. He didn't have the luxury of messing around anymore. He needed to make sure he could handle whatever was thrown at them next. Grabbing the stickers, he slapped the sword one on his sword, and the regular one on his arm, affixing it carefully to his armor. The effect was barely noticeable, no more than a feeling that he was a little better at what he did. He felt that he could fight a little more effectively. It would have to do.

He also remembered the helmet. It couldn't hurt much, could it? He was fit enough that the weight would barely be noticeable, especially on top of how much he already had on him. Plus, it didn't seem like it would impact his ability to look around much. Still, his combat style revolved around being as maneuverable as possible, and the giant crest on the top of it would definitely mess with his movements here and there. And he wouldn't risk just breaking it off here and now, not with the risk of damaging the helmet. Maybe he'd ask the others if they wanted it.

That left the few remaining Spirits he still had, from the fight last night. The weird...mutated people. Wielding his favorite weapons: farming implements.

Linkle had also helpfully reminded him, and maybe some of the others, about how to use the Spirits, in explaining things to Link. He certainly wasn't going to put these things inside him. Monster decoctions were one thing, carefully distilled essences they were, but an entire mutated person? No. Not happening.

So he crushed them in his hand. It was better than letting them disappear. He could sell their gear if he didn't need it, or give it to one of their allies.

And now, it was nearly time to go. Everybody was preparing for the next stage of this wonderful adventure. A small part of him was almost starting to enjoy this, too. Ugh. Typical.

With the battle safely concluded in full, the Seekers of Light (that’s what they were called, apparently) assembled within the tower for rest and preparation for whatever awaited them within the eldritch veil beyond the hag’s dwelling. Peach, the de facto matriarch of their pack, oversaw Spirit distribution, calling for the attention of anyone interested. This discounted Hat Kid, who had no interest in the spoils herself. Not that it stopped Bowser censoring for her and his son whatever basic age-restricted truth about the world (that they were probably already aware of to some extent) he was afraid of them finding within one of the Spirits. Always such a curious thing… how adults’ minds worked when it came to children, with a level of irony that seemingly eluded them in spite of their good intentions. Sure, bring them along with you, barely supervised, on an unendingly perilous journey wherein they not only witness otherwise innocent conscripts of the Grand Seraph meet bloody, violent, horrifying ends at yours and your allies’ hands, but sometimes aid in them, carry them out themselves, and face the not unlikely possibility of facing such ends themselves. But a few naughty words, skimpy get-ups or suggestive innuendo were somehow too much for them psychologically?

Whatever, she thought in dismissal of the idea in favor of finding something else to occupy her attention with. When consulting her hat and compass for anything of interest or importance, naturally, her hat pinpointed the lair’s entrance at the monument’s mouth across the bridge. Their objective lay that way after all, so of course. But what, if anything, did her Compass Badge have to tell her? If she heard them right, this place was home to the animal pair; Kindred Spirits to her. There was a chance that they had in common exploratory proclivities, thus inviting a theoretically equal possibility that their worlds had in common a need to be explored; things within them to be found. Might she find something worthwhile here, in this part of their world that they were currently in?

Elsewhere in the room, Fox was being tended to by the group’s resident medical mech, a “Blazermate model” she called herself. Her work was spectacularly efficient, erasing every perceivable ounce of injury, pain or exhaustion left over from whatever battle he had just fought within (less than) the time it took to fully anesthetize the average patient for surgery, and she accomplished this with scant effort simply by dosing him with a sustained stream of healing energy. It was almost dumbed down in a sense, but if it got these kinds of results, who was he to argue? As with most things, he didn’t know or need to know precisely how it functioned to understand how useful it was. Sadly, he wasn’t exactly in his right mind to lend it the level of admiration one might say it deserved, for he was still, at present, hopelessly preoccupied with trying to mentally catch himself up on the situation at hand.

“Restored?” he mouthed silently to himself, miming the part of the Princess’s reassuring statement that stood out to him. He went over the few uneducated guesses he could devise in his head as he watched the soft white aura on him die down, largely ignoring the unknown implication of it beyond that of an assumed side effect. “Thank you,” he greeted quietly to the medabot with an appreciative nod before she moved on to her other patients. His attention then turned to the collection and assimilation of Spirits, witness of which raised further questions in his head that he wasn’t yet quite ready to ask. Link, atypically (though occasionally) vocal as he was, beat him to the initial line of questioning, starting with the statuses of the remaining ‘Smashers’.

“I just woke up five minutes ago,” he answered, slightly shaking his head. “Your guess is as good as mine.” Bowser, the first restored among them, was happy to provide a heavily condensed summation of their survival and objective. That confirmed it for him. They really did lose, and he wasn’t lost in some kind of post-mortem dream limbo born of their last thoughts. Though, if this was the new reality, it would be hard to call it ‘preferable’.

While Bowser’s explanation left a lot to be desired in terms of specifics, it covered the subject matter thoroughly enough that he left Peach with very little to add. Still, to be shown up in terms of responsibility by the Koopa of all people was an unappealing prospect, so she clarified what she could. “Galeem is protected by some kind of rainbow barrier. This world has thirteen regions, and all have a powerful opponent we must defeat. In order to get strong enough to do that, we can use the spirits of the fallen. They can be itemized, or bonded with, or absorbed. Absorbing them has the greatest effect, but doing so changes you.” With a wry expression she used her longcoat’s tails to perform a mock curtsy. “See?”

“I think I get the gist,” Fox answered with a nod. Strange as it was to be considered a now universal norm, it wasn’t the first he had seen or heard of this. In his time, he had met other fighters with known assimilative empowerment capabilities. That, however, didn’t inspire in him an immediate enthusiasm to experiment with it himself. ”You can fill me in on the rest later.” He stood up and paced to the tower’s entrance, positioning himself where he could get a view of the Subspace. “If we’ve got another shot at doing this right, we’ll be sure to make it count this time.” He spoke with quiet, assertive confidence. “But however we do it…” He drew the sword he hadn’t been using (unsure of how it came into his possession in the first place) and passed it to Link hilt-first, seeing him as someone who could obviously make better use of it. ”...we need to be ready.”

Meanwhile, after being met with silence on the matter, Banjo shrugged and lowered the Friend Heart, allowing it to deflate and dissipate with his focus drawn elsewhere. A familiar name fell on his and Kazooie’s ears by the monk’s utterance of it.

“L.O.G.?” Banjo pondered aloud, scratching his chin, then his head, in visible ponderance. “Where have I heard that name before?”

“You mean that tube-headed hack from the spin-off, out-of-touch with his own industry and target audience?” Kazooie elaborated in rhetorical inquiry to the monk, just to make sure they were thinking of the same person. Banjo suddenly recalled who they were talking about and shook his head at the Queen’s confirmation of the same, having apparently encountered him herself as well. “Trust us, you won’t want one from him,” Kazooie added at her mention of ‘sequels’ from her. “And for what it’s worth I don’t think he’s canon anyway,” she further assured, implying the possibility that anything he said could potentially be disregarded as inconsequential.

“Eh… it wasn’t all bad,” Banjo interjected apologetically. “I think he at least meant well, for the most part.”

“They always do.”

“Well, you have to give people a chance to learn from their mistakes, Kazooie.”

“Are you sure you can call it that?” she asked with her own implication/accusation to make. “Looks like they kept that hideously designed refrigerator character…”

“Looks like they also snuck you in as a cameo,” he observed, wondering if he was given the same referential treatment.

“True,” she conceded with sudden curiosity. “Question is whether or not I’d want it after playing.”

“We’ll figure that out when we get to it later. Let’s keep an open mind about it until then.”

“Fair enough.”

After a moment spent going off-tangent, they snapped back to the present to address the matter itself.

“W-Wait! You said you met him here?” Banjo asked either of the two who encountered him, wondering how the royal bee did so in the midst of combat. “Where, exactly?”

“Probably squatting in our house, making more bad games.” A wild, lucky guess from Kazooie.

“I don’t remember asking him to house-sit…” he wondered. “In that case, you want to go talk to him; see if he knows anything?” he asked Kazooie.

“Not really, but if it gives us an excuse to check in on things at home…”

“I was thinking the same thing,” he said before making for the exit. “I need to make sure I didn’t leave the stove on again.”

With that, they were off, making the short trek back to their house. Their exit shortly followed that of Hat Kid’s hitherto unnoticed outing to look around the valley for whatever treasures her badge picked up on. The duo weren’t expecting to achieve anything of value to the mission by checking in at home, as the intent was more for a sentimental visit than a productive one. Despite the relative urgency of their objective, (hopefully) none of the leaders, including Fox, expressed any objection to their leave. If there was a time for them to visit home, it would be now. For all they knew, they would not get another chance.

---

A short while later, Hat Kid returned from her brief caper with two gold jigsaw pieces, two armfuls of brimming honeycombs, and the gratitude of a rescued pterodactyl-esque creature. ‘Rescue’ entailed little more than making direct contact, at which point the grateful creature flew off, so why it needed help to begin with was a mystery to her. It seemed like something they could have done at any time. As for the spoils, she couldn’t think of what to do with the puzzle pieces, but found them neat and novel enough to warrant keeping anyway. As for the honey, she got chased by too many bees for it to not get used, and she certainly planned to make good use of it. She would have to take care to keep it free of the giant bee’s notice if it was to last her.

Banjo and Kazooie returned a moment or two after the child to a room of ready adventurers, with their instruments reclaimed (but stowed away), an opened letter in hand, and their spirits lifted. They had been waiting for longer than they could remember for this, and they were hardly alone. It wouldn’t surprise them to be met with a round of applause by their teammates in recognition of it, but with or without it, the fact alone was its own celebration. All that mattered was that they were happy now. They were at peace. They could face anything now.

“Congratulations,” Fox, the Seventh of the Original Eight, offered them with a soft smile and a friendly hand on Banjo’s shoulder. ”You’re one of us now.”

The spirits, being few in number and high in quality, went quickly. Most chose to forge spiritbonds and make the snipers into strikers, their hosts choosing to preserve the spirits' abilities wholesale. While Euden was starting to consider fusion to be more useful -the same as Tora and Poppi- and the ability to deal great damage from long range was tempting, he felt it would be a bad idea to try any of these. It was too big a jump. Thinking logically, it wouldn't work, either. From what he knew each spirit only gave one power, or strength, or piece of equipment. Picking up a bow didn't make someone an archer, and even if someone gained an archer's skill, he or she would still need a bow. Plus, they might have special powers that made such feats possible. That meant two fusions minimum, and asking for so much -especially in keeping with what he'd been able to accomplish so far- did not merit further consideration.

Cuphead however, did not reach the same conclusion, or else he knew something Euden didn't. The odd little fellow waltzed right up, grabbed the spirit of the aptly-named, Sniper, and plugged it right into his chest. A brilliant multicolored light sprang into being, and his form grew obscure with radiance. Something inside the shining yellow-white shape shifted, molded like clay, and when the light faded there stood a Cuphead not altogether different, but not altogether the same.



Some of the others came and went. First Donnie came back with interesting news, then Hat Kid with treasure, and finally Banjo and Kazooie themselves, looking to be in rather high spirits. Tora watched the others, waiting patiently, until he suddenly realized that everyone else seemed to be doing the exact same thing. Nobody was doing anything but delaying the inevitable, and Peach could read the room.

“Hey!” She shouted, getting everyone's attention. “On the other side of that bridge is the second of Galeem's champions. I was not present at the first battle, but I know that the tyrant extracted a terrible cost, and that this enemy is stronger still.” Her face grave, she looked between the gathered adventurers. “I know that your presence here means you are willing to face such a foe. Whatever your reasons, I am grateful, not just that this twisted world has heroes, but also that I may stand among you. So be careful in there. May we all return in one piece.” She closed her eyes for a moment, breathed deep, and hoisted her scatterboom “Now, let's kick some ass!”

Tora jumped to his little feet and clapped his wings together. “Good speech, Peach-Peachy! Tora pledge to be friends' shield, in thick and thin!” When Peach turned to lead the way, Tora and Poppi followed. Euden fell in alongside them, equal parts wary and excited. The procession exited the tower atop Spiral Mountain and those who couldn't fly proceeded across the rope bridge in single file. Bowser's weight caused some fluctuation in the bridge as he walked across it sideways, but the remaining hand-rope provided support. Beyond the mouth of the great Gruntilda statue lay a tunnel like the one that provided access to the valley in the first place, though not quite as much of a squeeze. As they advanced the heroes found more and more deliberate masonry in the walls and ceilings, as well as blazing sconces, all signifying some sort of transition. After a few hundred feet they found it: a darkly gleaming barrier of black and purple, rippling as though gelatinous in makeup. All eyes lay on its swirling mass, seeking to divine from its inscrutable mass its function and possible means of navigation.

While Peach paused a moment to think, Tora went ahead and moved to the front of the group, Mech Arms at the ready for protection. Poppi followed behind, utmost seriousness on her face as she prepared to protect her masterpon. Nobody knew quite what to do about this barrier, it seemed, so she stomped her foot into the floor hard to dislodge a shard of rock. With mechanical precision Poppi tossed it at the wall's surface, and like a pebble sinking into a pond the shard went straight through.

Peach nodded. “Alright. Let's go.”

Tora pushed into the barrier. His vision went wacky immediately, wobbling in a circle and obstructed by purple swirls. The Nopon steeled himself and pushed through, on and on, until he felt the chill of cool, dead air.

Startled, he saw nothing but blackness, and blinked to clear his eyes. The blackness remained, so he blinked again, still to no avail. After that he took a closer look, and quickly realized that wherever he was now, it appeared to be night time.

No...that wasn't quite right. That wasn't the vault of a night sky, twinkling with stars. It bore an unmistakable purplish hue, and a fizzy quality. It jittered and sputtered on a grand scale, like static on a television. A heaven of unadulterated noise.

Tora looked down. He stood on a floating island that reminded him of the Leftherian Archipelago, but made of porous, pale yellow stone. Poppi bumped into him from behind, reminded him of his retinue, so with a mumbled apology the Nopon stepped forward. He couldn't see any enemies, just more floating islands of various sizes at various elevations, spanning some distance between this island and one much, much larger one. From here, Tora could see a number of thick, black spires rising from that alien continent, just visible against the static sky. So too could he see other things...slender things of deep black coloration, almost imperceptible. The whole thing felt...weird. It was as though the atmosphere itself tingled him, palpable on his skin.

As his friends came through, emerging onto the island, Tora and Poppi approached and looked out over the edge. “As above, so below,” Poppi said, eyes wide. Nothing, as far as they could see, between the island and the void.

“A long way down,” Tora agreed, getting up to try and take his mind off the fall. Knowing that Poppi could save him made him a little less uneasy, but not totally. Instead he resumed looking over at the main island, peering at a black shape that chances to walk in front of a stone backdrop. He squinted, trying to make it out, and as he watched, it turned his way. A chill ran down Tora's spin. It could see him. It could feel his eyes.

And then it was in front of him, its hideous mouth agape.

The thing swung with spindly limbs, wreathed in distortion. Tora yelled in panic but blocked the strike, then moved his guard to defend against the next, coming in fast. He guarded twice more before getting his footing and counterattacking with a giant swing, only for the creature to warp backward out of the way, and then forward again in an instant while Tora overbalanced. Both its arms were high, already in position for an overhead smash. Poppi reached out in alarm. “Master-!”

A blazing sword carved through the air, cutting into the distorted thing. It released a guttural shriek and warped a few islands away, shaking in range. Euden slid to a stop and readied himself. “What happened?”

Tora's voice was shrill. “Not know! All Tora did was look at it, and-and-and...” The creature warped closer, clearly ready to attack once more.





It looked like the thief struck gold. Not only did Sakura rapidly prove herself to be both friendly and talkative, she also boasted just the information Joker sought. Things wouldn't be that easy, though; when it came time for the young lady to indicate a direction, she could only offer the vaguest gesticulation of a direction. Plus, if some of the Dead Zone heroes were to be believed, that contemptible place lay in the way, and a considerable way off at that. Did this Forbidden Kingdom sit somewhere on the other side? How did Sakura even walk here? Joker could only assume she went around it. Just how long did this girl wander the wilderness? That's some serious fortitude...I could really learn a thing or two about inner strength from her.

First, however, he needed to learn how to get to the Forbidden Kingdom Sakura spoke of, or at least how to get somewhere closer that also featured phone service. Unfortunately additional details did not appear to be forthcoming, since after a moment of melancholy about something or other she quickly changed the subject. She described in some detail a man she knew well, a martial artist judging by the specifics. While Joker hadn't taken the time to get familiar with the population of the quaint town he found himself in, that description fit someone of note he remembered seeing about.

“Yes, I've seen him in town. He often meditates under a tree on a hill across the river.”

While Joker could have pestered her for more information, he got the feeling such efforts wouldn't yield much. Sakura seemed helpful and earnest, so if she could share more, he guessed she would have. Instead he gave her a slight bow before returning to the corner where his friends awaited. Skull leaned forward, excited. “So? What's the scoop?”

“A place called the Forbidden Kingdom,” Joker replied. “Despite the name, it sounded like a normal city, but it's very far to the north. Farther than the Dead Zone”

Skull sank back into the couch, dejected. “No kiddin'?!” he said, a little too emphatic. “Jeez, it'd take weeks to get there, even if we did survive! And no Mona to drive us there. No way this place has a car, either.”

With an impassive face Joker looked toward the door. “We should ask around about transportation.”

Skull scratched his head thoughtfully. “Yeah, someone's gotta know somethin'. All those people who took the big-deal quest were from out of town too, right?”

Panther nodded. “Mhm. They're the talk of the place. Apparently they went and solved a bunch of quests yesterday, then fought some kind of boss last night. And a ton of people who look like they're from historical or fantasy games keep going on about the giant black metal wagon they ride around in without horses. Sounds like a truck or something, right?”

“I heard some guys whispering about one of them,” Skull said excitedly. “Real scary-lookin', with burning eyes or something. He didn't leave with the others, so maybe we can ask him. What do you think?”

Joker nodded. “Let's do it.”

The Phantom Thieves rose to their feet, with Skull in particular pumping his fist. “Alright, we got a plan! Let's get ourselves a car and get the band back together!”



Nero noted the Slayer's assent and started to move, headed in the direction of that Qliphoth spire. “Uh huh. Well, let's get movin'. Time ticking now, after all.” He soon broke into a run, and V called upon Shadow to ferry him along, while Nadia merely sped up to match him. While not powered by demon blood like him, she had her own heritage to rely upon plus her obvious fitness and whatever it was that kept her alive in pieces, so Nero doubted she'd have any trouble keeping up. As for the Slayer, if he boasted enough stamina to slog through entire streets full of vicious fiends, he could surely manage a quick jog.

As one might expect from the Dead Zone, a few zombies inhabited the roads, but no hordes showed themselves. Just shambling individuals, gruesome but no threat to the small, elite squad rolling through. Most of them, Nero noted, appeared to be Flood-infected, and a number of infection forms skittered here and there across the concrete and asphalt. “A parasite that can take control of whatever body it roots in, huh?” he observed. “Bet that rubbed ol' Echidna the wrong way.” He kept the Blue Rose drawn, and blasted any infested flesh that got too close. With such action second nature to him, he could think about other things while making progress. A threat to humanity? Nero considered the Slayer's words as he moved. So, this viscera-spattered force of nature claimed to be fighting to protect people? The devil hunter didn't buy it. Everything about the way he killed demons said he didn't just like it. No, he loved it. Lived for it, even. Nero knew the type, or something similar at least in the form of his uncle Dante. Yet Dante never savored the gore of it, reveling in the slaughter, no; he lived for the fun of it, the thrill of stylish combat, flying and riding high as he made a spectacle of his foes. The fight wasn't just the means to the messy end, that being the payout. The fight itself was the payout.

Nero came upon a demonic rider, patrolling the edge of some sort of brink. He leaped up and delivered an all-out dropkick, sending the apparition flying into empty space. By the time he picked himself up and looked out over the edge, the demon had disappeared into the red foliage below. “Another one of these,” he sighed, remembering the sunken area he encountered the day before that sent his whole squad on a detour through the Charnel Lane. This canyon smack dab in the middle of the city block, maybe ripped open by the same sort of seismic activity that created the Sundered Avenue, featured a floor a couple hundred feet down awash in the subtly off-putting, red-leaf flora that surrounded the Ent's arena. On the left side was a construction area, and toward the right an office building had collapsed into the ravine. It'd be tough to get across, but this time he didn't have a van to watch.

He turned around to face the others. “Well, any ideas?”

Nadia got down on all fours and peered down over the edge. “It's not that far. We could drop down and work our way through the trees, then climb up the other side. With your hook, V's bird, and my sick airdashes, it'll be purr-fect.”

Shaking his head, Nero double-checked the air down there. “Nah, we'd be jumping straight into an ambush. Plus, I can see the damn pink gas that downed me when we fought the tree.”

With a huff, Nadia swished her tail. “Coulda just said that to start with.”

V pointed with the head of his cane toward the crane looming above the construction site. “We can use that. Someone with a little muscle can push it over.” His gaze fell on the creatures lingering in the site. There was a gang of blue-skinned demons with various weapons and armor milling around, working at some sort of task. Above them, sitting on the second store of some scaffolding by the crane, sat a very tired-looking woman with white hair, wearing a businesslike black suit. She watched the demons and occasionally shouted something when one came near, but otherwise said nothing.

“We should help her while we're at it,” Nadia put forward.

“We are on the clock,” Nero reminded her, but he did not disagree. He started toward the construction site, and the others followed in his footsteps. The Slayer, he guessed, wouldn't mind offing a few more demons. Sure seems to be more of 'em around here. “Let's get to it.”

Eventually everyone was ready to set out once more, though the amount of delays and side adventures meant that the troop had time for a quick snack before the final battle, one consisting of a few fire breath roasted sausages for Bowser and his son and a small plastic tub of fruit salad for Kamek and Mimikyue. The delay provided time for rest as well, something much needed after the long hike through the mountains and the subsequent nerve wracking sniper ambush, which left the troop raring to go once everyone got their act together and set off for the end of their journey.

One clunky and slightly hair raising trip across a bridge (which Jr, Kamek and the wizard’s toadies were spared by simply flying over it) later and they were ready to pass through the barrier. There was some hesitation from those to first break the barrier, but the troop had no such reservations. Bowser plowed through the barrier and barely avoided a collision with the piece of congestion Tora had caused, and then also barely avoided falling off the fleeting island they were on down into the void below.

”WOW. OK. A LOT OF PLATFORMING IN THIS ONE” he said, as Jr and Kamek both drifted up and over the crowd forming (on what could end up being a rather cramped feeling island once everyone arrived) in order to survey the area. Around them was a fairly ordinary, to them, infinite sky full of large floating platforms hovering over a bottomless abyss.

”It’s like a galaxy. Kinda plain one tho,” Jr commented, taking in the beige colored islands that reminded him of one of the many areas of space the Koopa troop had battled Mario in while trying to take over the universe, ”and no welcoming party either. Sky’s kinda creepy tho.”

”It might just be my memory sire, but this doesn't look a whole lot like how you described subspace when you regaled with the story about it all those years ago.” Kamek said as he looked around with bespectacled eyes

”Well that’s cause it can look like anywhere it’s stolen,” Bowser insisted with stubborn self assurance.

”Place with the pillers has gotta be the boss is right?” Jr asked from above, pointing towards the central islands

”Probably just the door to the next-” Bowser began, before they were interrupted by yelling from nearby. A lanky pick black distorted thing that blended in far too well with the black static sky had appeared from nowhere and was in the midst of flash stepping around and wailing on a panicked Tora.

The trio watched the battle for a moment before Jr noted in an off hand kind of way that ”I don’t think they’ve got this?”

”Gah. Let’s go.” Bowser growled before stomping his way towards them, followed by Jr.

Kamek meanwhile stayed back and instead brought out one of his new strikers: The End. The old man appeared below where the mage was hoovering on his broom, sniper rifle in hand and a green parrot sat upon his shoulder which squawked and flapped its wings while the End took in the realm he shared his name with.

“Hmmm... what sunless purgatory have you brought me to? I suppose it matters not. So. Who is my target” the man said slowly as he turned his eyes upon the old koopa.

”Shoot that thing if it jumps again,” Kamek instructed, pointing at the warping monster just before it jumped back in for a second strike.

“Oh? Hmmm about... 1.53 times the mass of a human I think,” the End noted, mostly unphased by the monster’s supernatural appearance, and began to load what he thought the appropriate dose would be for the strange monster into his tranque sniper. As he did he kept one bulging eye on the fight, while his bird took to the air and landed on the end of Kamek’s broom and began acting as his spotter, ready to squawk out targets for its ‘Grandpa’.

While this had been ongoing Bowser and Jr had rushed into the fray. Literally in Bowser’s case as he charged in a straight line at where the Enderman had reappeared, aiming a wound up clawed palm strike at its side. JR meanwhile fellow to Bowser’s side, and to the monster’s rear, boxing gloves deployed and ready to pummel the lanky creature if it survived the collision with Bowser and did not retreat as a result.

Sakura blinked once, apparently in shock that she had just discovered a new clue as to the whereabouts of this person. A big smile came across her face and she clapped her now bare hands together in rapid succession. "Arigato! Domo arigato!" Sakura exclaimed. Having thanked Joker she began to do a sort of jog-walk out the door. Only at the last second to turn around and retrieve the fighting gloves she had left at the bar. Her turn around was unusually quick and dextrous. All of her forward momentum was cancelled immediately and she did a 180 turn back to the counter top with the big red gloves.

As she did, she took the opportunity to expound on the directional advice she had given. Though Joker was right in that there wasn't much left for her to say that woud be particularly useful."And, and, if you see a big scary city, go arooound it? I didn't go in. I went on the mountains to the- east? Then you just keep going it's- up there- I'm sure there's signs, someone probably knows more okaythankyouverymuchI'mgonna---" She frantically was reattatching the gloves and hesitating between leaving and staying to offer her not particularly useful advice. Eventually this conflict ended with the young woman cutting herself off as she sped out the door. They already seemed to be formulating a plan to find their friend anyway. "Good luck!" She shouted behind her, vanishing with the outdoors light of the heavy wooden door that closed shut with a light thunk.

Sakura thought to herself: I can't believe it! After all this time I found another clue! He could be in this very town! He could be over there, or over there? Man that was such a long walk. I don't even know what I'm gonna do when I find him. Fight him and...then what? Will I win this time? Maybe! Who knows!? Only one way to find out. It's been too long since I had a good old fashioned Street Fight. The tournaments in the Forbidden Kingdom are great and all, but after a while they get a bit stale. They're very sanitized and organized. Maybe that's why Ryu left? Was he ever there? So many questions. Gotta find him, first!

Meditating under a tree across the river. That's him, alright. Gotta be! Now I just gotta find him. Lumbridge can't be that big, right? The young woman turned a corner.

Sakura was running through the streets at this point, her dull-red sneakers clacking on cobblestone, dirt and wood. Where was the river? River, river, river. She saw a river from outside of town but now that she was inside of town she would need to gain her perspective again. Sakura spotted a nearby wooden wall with an overhanging roof. Turning her momentum toward it, she ran up against the wall and scampered a few feet up it before pushing off with a poof of dust. Jumping backwards she reached up to grab the roof and effortlessly pulled herself upward and bounced onto the rooftop. Once she was there she excitedly looked for a river, or if she couldn't see the river, a taller building to get an even greater perspective on the town of Lumbridge. All in the effort of spotting the tree Joker told him he often sat under. If Ryu was there now, great, if he wasn't, then she planned on going there and waiting for him. If this was a dead end, she would keep asking around town to find out where he went. Finding him was her only goal and only direction right now.

I'll figure out what to do after I find him...after I find him. I guess I don't really have a gameplan right now besides finding Ryu. The only thing I know for sure is that I need to get a bicycle again. Now, where are you?

@Lugubrious

Doom Slayer

Level 1 Doom Slayer
Location: Dead Zone
Word Count: 321

When he heard that V suggested he pushing the crane over, he looked over at the crane thinking if it was possible for him to accomplish such a feat. But thinking back he had shown feats of incredible strength, so he thinks he could try so that the others could cross the chasm. Walking over with the group towards the construction site, firing form his shotguns to clear the way. Thinking back to clearing a room fill of demons back on mars. As they came towards him with weapons that could not dent his armor. The tall demon killer bobbing and weaving out of the way of thrown weaponry.

The tall demon killer bobbing and weaving out of the way of thrown weaponry. Switching between his pistol and his fists. Quickly becoming bored firing his guns, deciding to just use his fists. Finding punching and smashing to be more satisfying then using a gun. More demonic blood staining his armor, making his presence quite striking.

Finally making a clearing for himself as he moved closer toward the crane. It looked similar to the ones he would see on mars. Standing in front of the crane putting away his shotgun, cracking his knuckles loudly walking toward the towering metal tower. Standing at the base of the crane, placing his hands on the base of the crane.

Starting to push forward hearing the creaking of the crane starting to move. Applying more pressure seeing the crane starting to move forward. A slow process and he hoped the others would have some patient, Pushing further he felt some sweat rolling down his forehead. The crane's base starting to bend forward, eventually the crane was pushed forward and making a make shift bridge. "Ta da" He said outstretching both of his arms towards the other side. Slowly walking over the crane and over the chasm, his walking had a certain swagger that oozed with confidence.

Some of the group wandered off after the spirit claiming, but not Cadet. As eager was he was to get going, fight the big bad thing and free the good people of Lumbridge (or so he'd been told would probably happen), the hunter was glad he'd stayed put this time. He felt like he learned a little more about this crazy world they all found themselves in, listening to words that weren't exactly meant for him. By the time the whole group came back together again and Peach gave them her short, but inspiring speech, Cadet was more ready then ever. He let out a whoop with Peach's rallying cry and honestly? He was crushing a little bit. The Princess was cool.

Everyone filtered together to cross the bridge at the mountain's top. As Cadet waited his turn to cross, he shifted his weight back and forth between each of his feet, and the cage at his hip jangled lightly. An idea formed in his head, something that would help if Bowser was right and they faced a maze inside of the dark portal.

"Oh! Real quick," Ace Cadet spoke to the squad at large, holding his scoutfly cage up and shaking it gently open to let the glowing insects inside out. "If it's really a maze inside, it'll be a good idea for these guys to get all of your scents. That way if we get separated, we can find each other. And if it's not a maze, well, can't hurt right?" The scoutflies drifted over to each member of their group, buzzing around them briefly before returning to their holding chamber. The hunter made sure that the members of the crew he most recently met, the likes of Fox, Sectonia, Cuphead and Link, got an extra face full of brightly lit bugs. "Their noses are even better than a poogie's - well, I don't actually know if they have noses but you get what I mean!"

Of course, once crossing over the threshold it was quite clear that the other side wasn't a maze so much as it was... a dark, nasty general area. The sudden change from daylight to swirling darkness took a moment to get used to, but after blinking a few times the Cadet peered out from behind the procession and studied the landscape - and lack thereof. "Kind of gross in here," he murmured to himself, looking over the multitude of tiny islands and the larger central land mass. In the middle of considering how they'd get everyone over to the center island, something appeared close by. Something hostile, apparently. Team really couldn't catch a break. Euden, Bowser and Jr. went to handle it, and Cadet unsheathed his sword and shield. Although he was much looking forward to getting to use the long sword, it wasn't very ideal in the relatively small area, so ol' tried and true it was. He didn't jump into battle, instead scanning the area again. Where there's one, there's probably more. That thing was dark, hard to see against the dismal sky that surrounded them on all sides, but... a shift of black on static purple drew the hunter's attention.

Another one of those creatures? Cadet could barely make it out from this distance, but it seemed to be the same kind of thing. This one didn't seem to notice them - until it did, and the red head could feel the thing turning to watch him as he watched it. Suddenly Cadet was watching it from way closer up. The creature appeared in front of him in a flash, and if he hadn't already been on the look out for enemies Cadet would have taken a swipe to his mid section. "Whoa!" When the creature's arm struck the metal of the Master Bang's shield, the hunter jumped backward and readied himself for another fight.

A last few preparations before everyone moved through the portal came from some of the party members. The biggest one being Cadet sending out these little bugs to apparently mark Blazermate, Sectonia and a few others. Funnily enough, Blazermate was the one to react negatively to the bugs sniffing her, freaking out as they buzzed around her and crawled on her. Sectonia however didn't care, as weird as it was, this was pretty close to what happened before this, world of discord. Although she didn't enjoy the 'sniffing' bit, which was kind of akward. All while Peach gave a speech which both ladies weren't that inspired by, more so because Blazermate was already ready and Sectonia didn't care much for someone telling her what to do.

With everyone prepared, they stepped or flew through the portal. Although instead of seeing the maze that Bowser said they'd see, they were on a flying island with lots of other islands surrounding it. The black sky was the most offputting thing though, as if they were in space. "OK, this is weird..." Blazermate said. "Didn't you say this would be a maze?" Sectonia said to Bowser, her annoyance at his disinformation competing with her relief of not having to solve a maze.

Soon however, the black static like beings moving around the island soon came for them. Or at least, the ones that Tora looked at. Seeing them under attack, Blazermate summoned Dell, the Engineer getting busy to make his buildings to give them a defensive point, before putting her healing beam on the paniced Tora to calm him down.

Sectonia meanwhile stood back a bit to observe what was actually happening with Tora and this thing. It was curious that there were other creatures like this in the distance, but they weren't attacking. At least, not until Sectonia locked eyes with one, the creature teleporting at her in anger and attacking with Sectonia pulling out her swords and trading blows with this sudden attack. Dell, having built a level 1 sentry, didn't even look at anything but his buildings, them being his only concern. The sentry shot at whatever of these creatures was closer, plunking away at it with its bullets as it got upgraded.

Everyone gathered together near the entrance to subspace, as Bowser and the others with experience called it. The Courier was making sure that his weapons were fully locked and loaded, and replaced the ammunition for the anti-material rifle thanks to Blazermate’s engineer, having some scrap metal and gunpowder handy. Jak likewise ensured his morph gun was at the ready, placing it in scattergun mode in case whatever they found inside the bubble of strange spacial distortion was already in their faces. Daxter meanwhile was busy flexing and mugging, showing off to everyone, not that anybody cared. Cuphead marveled at the changes that had been brought forth by absorbing the Sniper, including his nose changing shape and the rim of his head changing slightly. He didn’t feel too different, but there was another sensation he couldn’t deny. He had to pee. Like, really bad. But he also didn’t have to pee? He couldn’t describe it.

Courier 6 hopped up on Drumstick and pet her feathers to calm the girl. She was still fussy and frightened, needing to be trained to be more battle hardened. The situation was now or never though, as they were about to face off against another of the guardians. 6 looked down to his robot, who looked back up at him. The tv screen displaying her face changed the static image of Gaige’s face from one of excitement to one of bewilderment, flanked by question marks. “What’s up, boss?”

”We’re about to face off against an hombre equal or better’n the last one, an’ he killed the badass I designed yer brain patterns on, an’ her friend. We might not all make it out of this one.” He glanced around to everyone, mostly keeping his eyes on the two newest of the group. Cuphead and Link. The way the world worked, they would still be weaker and wouldn’t get their abilities back for some time. They were most vulnerable.

“Don’t worry, boss! My securitron design means I can repair myself as long as my body hasn’t been completely scrapped! And I’ll make sure nothing happens to you!” Both the robot’s arms morphed into guns and she began waving them around dangerously. The Courier laughed.

”I ain't afraid fer myself. Plenty tried ta kill me an’ nothing ain’t kept me in the ground yet. But we got good people here. Better’n this ol’ ghost.” He gestured to the likes of Princess Peach, Donnie, and Hat Kid.

“Understood, boss!” Gaige-Tron saluted, then reeled back in surprise of herself. “Saluting? Unacceptable! ANARCHY FOREVER!”

”Heheheh.”

”So if this is a maze we’re going into, who should I stick with?” Cuphead asked, jumping around like a kid on a sugar rush. ”I’m not a maze guy or a puzzle guy, I’m more of a run straight in kind of guy!”

Tora went on in, followed closely by the koopas, so Cuphead shrugged and dashed forward, throwing all caution to the wind as he is want to do.

”You ready, Dax?” Jak asked his buddy, firmly perched atop his shoulder.

”Are we ever ready? Let’s just get this over with.” Daxter sighed. Jak ran off into the void next. After a few more followed, Courier 6 rode in on his chocobo, Gaige-Tron rolling up alongside him.

---

What they found when they emerged on the other side was not remotely what they had been planning on. A vast black abyss with floating islands, it was unlike anything that any of the heroes had ever seen before.

”Look at that, Dax! Floating islands! It reminds me of-”

”Shush shush shush shush!” Daxter interrupted, getting in Jak’s face. ”We never talk about that game. Seriously, it’s in our contract.”

Cuphead ran around, dodging between people’s legs and weaving around bodies to get a better look at everything from all the vantage points. Most of these people were so much taller than him! It was a pretty wild place, to boot! ”Golly! This doesn’t look like what you described, but it sure is swell! I’d even call it the bee’s knees!” He stopped a moment and looked Sectonia right in the eyes, then slooooooowly down her body, noticing her uh, distinct lack of… ”Oops, sorry. I hope wherever your knees are, they come back to you.”

The Courier was busy looking over the place, too busy to partake in any conversation. GT was scanning with her ocular sensors as well. Then suddenly a creature attacked Tora from seemingly nowhere! It’s body blended in so well with the area, but from its size and lack of power there was no way it could be confused for the area’s guardian. The way it flashed around, teleporting, still made it a potential threat though. The Courier activated VATS to take in the details with less stress. Time completely froze around him as he looked the creature up and down. It was another square creature, so it had to hail from the same universe as that square blacksmith with the square gunpowder, and those square skeletons and zombies. God what was up with the square things?

He deactivated VATS and continued observing as others jumped into action. Another locked eyes with the Ace Cadet and attacked! He had a feeling he knew what was happening. Guided by his intuition, adaptability, and thorough analysis during time dilation, he quickdrew his revolver and shot at the head of the enderman that had attacked Cadet.

”I reckon these fellers ain’t too keen on bein’ looked at,” he announced for the group. ”I scanned the area an’ there’s a whole mess of ‘em, but they don’ attack until y’get a good look. Avert yer eyes, hombres, an’ we’ll have an easier time.”

”Great, but that still doesn’t explain how we’re going to get across this giant void!” Daxter complained. Jak just smiled at Daxter, who realized what was about to happen and turned a nauseous green.

Jak suddenly sprouted his membraneous wings of light eco and began to glow in a bright white light. With this he could fly across the islands and even make it easier for those around him to see, but would it also make it easier to trigger the endermen attacks?

Taking quick stock of the goodies his Spirit-crushing had gotten him (and that was only slightly sarcastic, mind you), Geralt gathered round for another of Peach's Speeches. Dammit, Dandelion, now you have me rhyming! Her speaking was succinct, but purposeful. They didn't have to do this. But they did. Because that's what heroes did. Geralt, personally, was no hero, but he'd take the praise. At least she wasn't like the sycophants in Lumbridge, praising his every step and practically worshiping the Witcher. That had been strange, and he was almost starting to prefer the open contempt Continent regulars had for his kind.

The party slowly crossed the bridge, coming along into a tunnel built into the earth. It was...strange. The tunnel was very clearly built with a different design from the structures that they'd just left, and while it was little surprise in this strange world born from the remains of other worlds, it still stood out to him. Whether that was because he'd picked up some appreciation for stonework from Zoltan or the sheer wrongness of it all, he couldn't be sure.

Eventually, they reached their target: the strange, disturbing wall of darkness. Slowly, the group began moving into the wall that stood before them, careful at first, testing it, but more quickly when they were sure it wouldn't instantly kill them all. Satisfied that entering would be safe, Geralt followed after some of the others.

The transition was much like going through a portal, and Geralt took a careful stance, trying not to lose his stomach to the feeling that spatial displacement always gave him. "Urrgh..." He groaned, forcefully closing his eyes before blinking a few times at the lack of light piercing into them through his eyelids.

And when he opened his eyes, he realized why. They were in a world of darkness. Not just night, true darkness. Not a star in sight. Only strange, purple...something. He couldn't describe it. There were splotches of some kind of strange, dark purple substance swirled in the sky before them.

This whole place was wrong. From the strange, porous ground beneath them, floating in the damned sky, to the other, larger floating island covered in strange black creatures made of rectangles, to the endless, almost disturbing backdrop of the eldritch sky. It was like when they fought that crystalline monster, but...not quite the same. There was a difference, and it was important, but the difference was difficult to properly describe.

And then there was his medallion. It was vibrating. Here. In this dark, disturbing world. Oh, sure, it made sense. Portals, floating islands, creepy monster-things. But of course to add onto everything, this place was magical weird. Not normal weird, noooo, had to be magic.

Damn that Galeem, he could have been home hunting Drowners or something like that, not traipsing through magical darkness worlds with a bunch of do-gooders and their weird giant turtle monster boss. At least he was still getting something out of this.

After a short period of everybody getting their bearings and looking around, Tora, the strange metal golem creature, found himself being attacked by the strange black rectangular creature. That had teleported directly in front of him to attack. Yes, that was what they needed. Teleporting monsters. Because things weren't crazy enough.

Jumping into action, Geralt pulled his silver sword from his back and took a combat stance, only to witness two others being attacked. The Cadet and Sectonia, that uppity bee...thing. Deciding that Bowser was more than enough annoying monster-person to deal with, he rushed towards the Cadet, activating Quen to protect himself from any attacks, and taking a swipe at the creature.

Of course, it teleported out of the way again, but when it returned, Geralt gave a ferocious grin and stabbed at it with all his might, silver piercing into the murky black body of the thing before him. It screeched, teleporting away once more and staring at the two of them from afar, anger apparent in its face. How he could tell, Geralt wasn't sure, but it was there. "Damn, these things don't play fair." He grumbled. Of course monsters wouldn't play fair, but was it so much to ask for more of those weird fish-people? They were so straightforward to kill, not unlike Drowners.

Mentally shaking his head, Geralt drew his pistol and fired, missing his target and instead blasting the stone near it, causing the creature to teleport slightly to the side. Narrowing his eyes, Geralt frowned. "And now it's not coming back. Whoreson..." He grumbled again. "When it comes back, go for the legs. I'll go high." Geralt strategized with Ace Cadet. "That way we won't hit each other's swords." The sound of steel on steel (or silver, in this case) was damn annoying, and while any damage to his ear drums was never permanent, he'd still have a bit of ringing for a minute if he ever caught himself in a full-force clash of blades.

---

Link nodded thoughtfully to himself as things started sliding into place for him. The words of Bowser, Peace, Fox, and even that giant terrifying hornet he was trying to pretend wasn't looming menacingly over him, all contributed to his full understanding of the situation. He'd already had an inkling that he had been on the wrong side of whatever fight had taken place at this tower, judging by his lack of memory, unconscious state, and the conspicuous blade wound on the soft looking turnip person that had greeted Linkle and him as they'd entered the tower. The queenly hornet had all but confirmed that suspicion. With Peach talking about how he and Fox had been "restored" and Bowser's mention of how their comrades were still "red eyed and dangerous," he could only come to the conclusion that, in their defeat, the light monster had placed some form of magical control on them. He couldn't help but think back to the Calamity and how the force that had been assembled specifically to prevent it had been subsumed into its will and turned against the very Kingdom they were meant to protect. The idea of himself being used like that turned his stomach.

So, to stop that monster they had to travel around the entire world, defeating its minions to weaken it and gather strength from the spirits of the dead? Bowser had the right of it, this was all very much standard procedure for him. It did his heart good, at least, to know that the Princesses dramatic transformation was the result of bonding with one of these spirits and not years of hard living as he'd initially suspected.

"It's easier the second time." Link said, accepting the sword that Fox proffered to him with an appreciative nod. "They can only blindside you once." He held the sword up to the light, running a finger over the flat side of the blade and tracing the unfamiliar designs on the hilt before stepping back and giving it a few practice swings to judge the weight. As a first bit of preparation it wasn't bad. It wasn't the Master Sword, but it would make for a good fallback weapon. It would be a good idea to keep a lookout for these.

He leaned the sword up against the wall and took a few steps back, pulling the Sheikah Slate off his belt and holding it up to face. He pointed it at the sword and then pressed the screen. He frowned and pressed the screen again. His frown deepened. He started to fiddle with the thing, quickly sliding his thumbs over the screen to try and figure out what was wrong. As he did he felt frustration steadily growing steadily in his chest.

This thing was empty! All his food, all his materials, his maps, his special equipment, the encyclopedia, the Album! All of Princess Zelda's pictures! Even the runes were unavailable. He at least still had access to the scope, which he tested by zooming in on Bowser's face and placing a mark right on his left nostril. After that he decided to focus on the things he still had access too. His log's were also untouched, so he could still take notes. Storage was also still functional, even if it only contained the clothes on his back and the one sword he had been left with, but it looked as though storage space had been reduced to default settings. That was all right, that wouldn't be too big of a problem if he made use of this spirit equipment concept. If worse came to worse he could always fall back on the Master Swr...

He stared at the sword in his inventory, then reached back and unsheathed the sword he had on his back and gave it a look of disbelief.

---

While Link was painfully recognizing that they can, in fact, blindside you twice Linkle was tending to her flock. They'd walked in following Euden, all pushed up with pride over having kept the boy completely safe, and the girl now sad cross-legged on the floor with them all over her looking to get nuzzled. Linkle switched between the two in her lap and the one perched on her head, rubbing her fingers in between the feathers on their necks as they alternated between cooing and begging. With just three she could do this without even thinking about it, which was a good thing because just following the conversation nearby was taking up all of her mental power. She had to admit, a lot of the concepts being thrown around in the conversation about this mysterious Lord of Games went right over her head. All she really took away from it was that this guy had been messing with Donnie's head, and that he apparently didn't have a cannon. Poppi wanted to wait until after the battle with the second guardian to investigate this weird situation, but Banjo and Kazooie ran off immediately since this was somebody they knew.

She pondered going after them, just to give them some backup in case anything else was lurking in this canyon, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She found Link there, crouched next to her, his face awash with worried embarrassment. “Did I have the Master Sword before I woke up?” He asked.

“If you had the Master Sword we’d all be dead.” She answered with the utmost confidence before seeing the ghastly face he made and scrambling to another answer. “I mean...you know...blade beams….no, you didn’t have the Master Sword.”

He groaned and buried his face in his hands. “I lost the sword.” He said, more to himself than anything. Four little words made Linkle nearly choke on air. The Master Sword? The Master Sword. Lost!?! That...that...well, to be honest that left her in pretty much the same position she had been in before. She still had to look for it, right?

“Oh, no, Galeem probably just took it.” Linkle said reassuringly, putting a hand on his shoulder. A cucco scurried off her head, across the makeshift bridge, and plopped itself on his head. He looked up. “Galeem takes things. She took all my rupees, and my bow, and my hookshot, and everything.”

He glanced down at the slate hanging from his belt for a moment as understanding marched across his face. “So that monster has the sword?”

This question threw her a little. “I’m not sure.” She said. “Maybe she just put it somewhere. There might even be more than one. It should be okay, we always have to find it anyway.” Her smile faded slightly as she flashed back to her dream. She hoped there was more than one, she didn’t want to have to argue this.

Link started to ask a question, but his attention was arrested by the Bear and Birds triumphant return. In particular his eyes set on the letter the Bear held in his hand. Not long after that the Princess gave the call to head out. Whatever he had been about to ask, he would have to do it later.

---

Link made his way across the bridge and into the dark tunnel, about as equipped as he could be in this situation. He had grabbed the sword Fox had given him off the wall, the thing flashing blue for a second before seeming to vanish into thin air. Linkle had been very impressed, wondering whether or not he had destroyed it or something, but he just told her that it was in storage. He’d then asked, considering she had her crossbows, whether or not she needed that weird bow on her back. She’d immediately not only handed it and her entire collection of arrows over, but also the shield she kept on her back. The thing was damaged, but he’d made do with worse. He couldn't deny that the weight on his arm was comforting.

Another of their crew surprised him by bringing out a cage of what looked like fireflies, insisting that if there was a maze within their destination they would be able to help the group find one another again. As they buzzed around him in particular he could only think about how much he wanted to photograph them. He liked fireflies in general, and maybe he’d be able to find some of his own with the right photo.

The procession made its way through the tunnel in the mouth of the witch, with the turnip man and his female companion being the first to brave the inky purple that awaited them at the end. They followed after, pushing through the spirals thick as air, and arrived at a dark and dreary place, an island floating in a black sky.

It didn’t take long for the enemy to be upon them, the first unfortunately targeting the turnip man. Another appeared near the firefly guy, swiping down at him as it appeared. Bowser and his son went to back up Turnip as another showed up to harass the hornet. Link drew his sword, set his eyes on the one currency dueling the hornet, and circled around her with a series of side hops to get at the creatures back.

As he did another of their companions called out what he thought was the monster's weakness, causing Linkle to affirm, “Yeah! Yeah! I know these. They were in the junkyard when we were getting the karts. I wasn’t able to kill any because they teleported around.”

Going for their advice Link averted his eyes from the creature, trailing them up to watch the hornets eyes. He jumped as the creatures back, his downward slash guided by the reflection in her giant purple eyes.

---Before the enderman---

As they entered the world, some members of the party showed a bit of surprise, others calm, and one was extremely excited. While Geralt Link, the courier, and Jak came in with determination or outright scorn, Daxter and Cuphead were more animated in their own ways. Sectonia had very little interaction with the cup boy beforehand, only noticing him on the car ride there and during the fight prior with the minions of 'subspace'. She thought he looked a bit odd and moved a bit odd, but then at the same time he looked almost like he could've been one of her minions, almost. But then he had to take in the spirit of that... bushman. Thankfully it didn't make the cup boy too ugly except for that... nose... It just looked so off on him.

Speaking of said cup boy, when they entered The End, he made an offhanded comment, no doubt a phrase of his land, about bees. At first Sectonia didn't give that much attention as she herself was looking beyond the land, but when the cup boy locked eyes with her with his gaze slowly moving down her body, Sectonia took notice. At first, she figured that bushman spirit might've given the odd boy an appreciation for her beauty. However soon he apologized for the 'lack' of Sectonia's knees, which caught her off guard. All he'd see however was her eyes flicker a bit between surprise and annoyance before returning to normal, her saying. "I do not have, nor never have had, 'knees'." If she wasn't a bit annoyed about being wrong, she would've concluded with "no apology needed." but she just left it there.

---During and After Enderman---

As Sectonia was fending off this creature who attacked her by her merely looking at it, a few of the party relayed that looking at these creatures made them attack whoever looked at them. "Lucky me." She said sarcastically as she clashed her swords with the Enderman's claws. Link, the swordsman who had given her trouble and looked at her with a look of vacillation, showed none of that hesitation upon battle, and used his combat knowledge to maneuver around the creature to strike it down from behind, aiding Sectonia. This didn't go unnoticed by the bee queen, and she aided the hyrule knight by being a bit more defensive with her swords until the moment link struck it in the back. This unexpected pain to the enderman left it wide open, and Sectonia rapidly stabbed it with her swords until it poofed into a cloud of nothingness. Admittedly it only took a couple stabs as Link had done far more damage than Sectonia had thought, or these creatures were just very weak.

"Thank you Knight. I knew you'd be useful." Sectonia said, putting one of her swords away. It was around this time Sectonia and Blazermate watched as Jak grew wings and flew with Daxter on his back towards the larger island. A few others had indicated that they needed to go there, and the imposing pillars on that island suggested as much. Blazermate, being busy with Tora, waved the others to head without her, as she could fly very easily. Many of the others however, could not. Sectonia noticed this, and got an idea. She was fairly neutral on most of the people here, but she knew this knight, Link, would be useful, and the cup boy looked fairly light himself. And while she hated the spirit he fused with, she wouldn't hold it against the cup boy.

"You two." She said, snapping her fingers before pointing to Link and Cuphead. "Should you serve your Queen, I will aid you to cross over to that large island." She offered this as one seemed to be very useful, while the other was just super light and had a long range attack that could deal with anything that came at them as they flew.

Bowser bore down on the Enderman like a freight train, but instead of warping out of the way of the incoming mass, it charged straight at him furiously. The two came together with great force, but what might have been an epic collision went anticlimactic as the Enderman teleported the moment it took it a hit. It reappeared a short distance away, looking rather worse for wear. A slashed crater in its odd, not-quite-solid skin marked the place where the Koopa's clawed palm struck.

A moment later it came under attack from the king's son, having rerouted to follow up Bowser's strike. The gangling Enderman lashed out at Junior with its long arms, inflicting large gashes on the side of the clown car. Junior paid him back the next moment, but after the first boxing glove struck the monster vanished again, preventing further damage. When it appeared, however, it immediately took a shot from the End. The tranquilizer dark buried itself in the Enderman's neck, and after a moment of surprised struggling the eerie thing slumped over, incapacitated.

Its defeat did not mark the end of the fight, however; reinforcements had already appeared. The Cadet clashed with one, forced on the defensive by the Enderman's long-range, surprisingly brutal swings. Tora joined him, trying to take the pressure off, and Blazermate lent a hand by summoning her striker and fixing her medibeam on the Nopon. While he took no real wounds so far this fight, her efforts did mend the scar left by Link during that scrap, so he quickly made apparent his gratitude. “Thanky-thanky, Blaze-Blaze!” Sectonia found herself assaulted by another, but its arrival brought it into the sentry's range. Each landed bullet triggered its reaction, causing a series of rapid blinks that made it practically untargetable, but also unable to land a hit. Unfortunately, with the sentry swiveling every which way to track the monster, it carelessly shot bullets without any regard for allies in the line of fire.

At that point the Courier announced his hypothesis. Everyone who'd already triggered an Enderman attack probably knew by now, but those who hadn't could avoid doing so. He plugged the Cadet's adversary with a revolver round, and while it clearly hurt, the bullet didn't kill it. To the keen observer, it was as if the bizarre creature didn't have vital parts. It made another move, only for its attack to bounce of Geralt's Quen shield, take a slice from his silver blade, and then relocate. Where it went wasn't immediately obvious, but when it came back, Geralt was ready. A vicious thrust forced it to retreat with a shriek.

After missing a shot he took a moment to plan with the Cadet, only for the monster to reappear just as he finished. Tora jumped at the chance, having prepared himself after missing the last time. “Tora get it!” Preempting the Cadet, he went low by grabbing at the Enderman's legs with his Mech Arms, holding it in place. From there, it took just one well-aimed strike from the Witcher's silver to reduce the marauding warper to a spirit and ash.

Meanwhile, Link heeded 6's advice to strike at the Enderman faced by Sectonia while the sentry was busy encouraging her allies to get out of its way. He landed a heavy slash across its nebulous body, dealing a chunk of damage. The Queen did not hesitate to make up the rest, rapidly slaying the Enderman and leaving only its spirit behind.

Everyone remained on guard for a moment longer, but no further reinforcements appeared. Luckily, the strangeness of the heroes' surroundings kept their eyes from hitting Endermen before the Courier figured out their trigger. Euden approached and finished off the dark being put to sleep by the End, and the group's safety was assured. Of course, that just left the boss. “I agree that that island is likely our boss arena,” Peach said, examining it. “This place presents dangerous terrain to navigate, let alone fight on. This void appears to be bottomless, so it'd be a...a damn shame if anyone fell.” In most embarrassing fashion her original, entirely family-friendly nature hindered her newfound ability to curse, making her sound pretty lame. Peach hurried to move on. “So! We only have a few fliers. Sectonia, Poppi, Blazermate, Kamek, his Toadies, and of course Jak.” She looked at the gunner, already soaring through the cool air. “Even if we stuck them all on catching duty, we wouldn't have the whole place covered. So we should try and take every precaution.”

She lifted up one of the Enderman spirits. “These things can teleport, and it's all we really saw them do. I would advise that three of you fuse with them so that you can teleport too, whether to reposition or to avoid falling. Might not seem appealing, but this place is real perilous, and the boss might be able to knock us off real easily. I can also just take them out of you afterward, if you want.”

Tora shook his head, which without a neck of course meant shaking a whole lot of him. “Poppi have Tora's back. Besides, Tora not be roundypon with super-long noodle limbs. No way, no how!”

Whether or not three of her fellow heroes took her suggestion, Peach then proceeded to the side of the island. She jumped into the air over open space, and with all eyes on her, began to float. She simply stopped moving downward altogether, but appeared to be able to continue moving laterally. “Oh good,” she remarked. “Haven't used this in a while.”

With a sagacious look Poppi tapped her chin. “Ah, Poppi wondered why Peach did not lead by example. She have own way.” With the group now officially crossing, she then took hold of Tora and boosted upward, flying out over the void. Good jumpers might be able to navigate the pretty sparse chain of floating islands spanning the gap, but Poppi could fly the whole way. After watching the first few go, Euden shapeshifted just long enough to beat his dragon wings and sail skyward. Once his flight got underway, he turned back, and his momentum carried him to the main island. It didn't take long for the group to reach the large landmass, though suppressing the impulse to look at Endermen took effort.

The first thing the heroes noticed were the spires. Tall, rounded spires of sleek, gleaming black stone of disparate heights formed a circle on the island, and at the top of each floated some sort of pink power cube encased in dodecahedrons of glass. There were a number of Enderman milling about, enough to make it difficult to really sweep the place. Cautiously, Peach led the team toward the middle of the island, the exact center of the circle formed by the towers. The closer they got, the more the tension seemed to mount. It was as if they walked through a dark forest full of monsters, and every step could be the one to break the twig that brought down hell upon them.

Yet nothing happened. The sky fizzled, the Endermen made startlingly abrupt noises, and the air tingled against the skin. Yet something moved in the confines of the alien sky, another black thing hidden against the backdrop, guised not by slenderness but by distance. When it turned to face the island, however, its glowing purple eyes could be seen—and brimming within, an incredible abyss, the very color of darkness itself. Still it remained almost imperceptible, right up until the very moment it fell upon the island, its great mass coming to a stop perched upon one of the towers. Roiling, effulgent purple acid welled up from within its enormous maw, and its snarl sounded almost like laughter, mocking the very idea of survival.



The dragon launched into the air with a beat of her great wings, and dove. She swooped straight toward the heroes, aiming to scatter them to the four winds. Tora grit his teeth and prepared to block, but Poppi picked him up and jetted out of the way. Not even her masterpon, she reasoned, could defend against that. She deposited him a short distance away, and -simultaneously disappointed and relieved- he took a deep breath before popping open his missile silos. This would be one hell of a brawl.

---

Overdrive!
A boss fight has begun. For those involved in the fight, and for the entirety of the fight, tensions and stakes are high--but so are the rewards. It would be reasonable to expect two GM updates a week, meaning if you get into the thick of it but then aren’t able to keep up, Prompt Failure may result. However, rewards are accelerated.

EXP earned for posting during a boss fight is as follows: <500 words is 2 points, 500-1000 is 4 points, and 1000+ is 6 points.

Objective: Defeat the Leviathan of Black, Ender Dragon, and claim her spirit
Bonus Objectives: Figure out the secret to the Ender Dragon's invincibility



Sakura's energetic search brought her to a rooftop of an abode directly adjacent to the river Lum, and from that height she could make out the promised hill, and atop it the promised tree. Its leaves shone bright in the afternoon sun, and they shook in the wind, making it tough to see what exactly lay beneath them. After a few moments' watching, however, the girl spotted an unmistakable color combination: white gi, black belt and hair, and a pair of red gloves to go along with his headband. At long last, her painstaking search, with all its hardship and wandering, had come to an end.

A few moments later a momentarily breathless Sakura stood atop the hill, the dust settling in her wake. Recognizing his friend, he gave her a rare hint of a smile. “Hm. In my travels I learned of the Forbidden Kingdom, but never went there, instead seeking challengers not accustomed to the arena. But it would seem that it has found me. I had a feeling you might.” He stood and faced her. “While I must tell you that I remain hesitant to take a student, I am eager to see how much you have improved. Do you wish to face me?”



Though not quite in the same league of pushovers as zombies, the blue-skinned, lightly-armed demons posed little in the way of threat. When the Slayer's shotgun clicked empty after emptying it into their hides, he resorted to pummeling them to bits. Given the armored man's enthusiasm, Nero, V, and Nadia collectively opted to conserve their energy while letting him run rampant. Shadow carved through several of the hapless demon workers while Nero worked efficiently, kneecapping his enemies with the Blue Rose before cleanly cutting them down with a couple swings from the Red Queen. While Nadia's claws and blows were no joke, she found herself saddled with the hardest time fighting them. Luckily, the skirmish ended in short order.

All the while, Nero noticed the lady up on the scaffolding watching with an impassive...no, resigned expression. Through half-lidded eyes she observed the short-lived carnage, focusing on nobody in particular until the fight ended and the Slayer went to topple the crane. While he got to work, Nadia sauntered over. She waved at the other white-haired young woman. “Heya! Wow, you don't look happy. You okay?”

Looking down at the feral, the woman stretched her mouth into a forced, twitchy smile that by no means reached those dull eyes of hers. “Good after...afternoon. Um, yes, I suppose. I can hardly complain.”

Nadia grinned. “Great! So, we're on a dangerous mission and we weren't really expected to pick up survivors, but you can stay with us if you like!”

With a sigh, the lady heaved herself off the scaffolding. She landed lightly, then adjusted her glasses. “Uh, no. Or rather, no thanks. You did just dispatch my new staff, after all. I'm already horribly late, and now I must find more if I am to make a circle...my boss is going to slaughter me.”

Now that the stranger stood so close, Nadia could get a good look at her unusual features. Putting aside from the smartness of her dress, the businesswoman clearly sported inhuman eyes, horns, and a tail. In a place like this, that no doubt made her a demon, but she didn't seem to be hostile. Weird! “Oh, sorry! Most demons just attack us the moment they see us, and we couldn't stop that guy killin' 'em anyway. I hope you won't hold it against us...?”

Though clearly disgruntled, the demoness maintained remarkable composure, responding with professional dryness. “Oh, no. I understand quite well. Plus, it would violate my policies as Hell's Customer Service. I really just need to return to my duties, and as soon as possible.”

“Welp, good luck with that then!” The crane came crashing down, providing a way across the Root-infested canyon. V promptly jumped off, with Griffon lending his assistance to fly his master halfway across. The Mysterious One grabbed hold of the crane arm, rested for a moment, then took flight again to get to the other side.

Nero, who'd been hanging back by Nadia and the demoness to make sure all was well, looked back at the stranger. In a world like this, he figured, Anything goes. Even a decent demon. “Hey,” he said, “So you know, this city's gonna explode in about a day. Make sure you get out before then, alright?”

The demoness stared at him for a moment before easing up slightly and adjusting her glasses. “Hmm. Sweet of you to be concerned.” She looked down at her clipboard for a moment, then sighed. “Well, since I'm off the clock anyway, perhaps I can provide a consultation on this job of yours. Better than slogging through the dead. But I need coffee...I'm just not myself without it.”

The devil hunter almost laughed aloud. When did the parade of bizarre people stop? “Sure, whatever. We see some, we'll grab it. You have a name?” Nero asked.

“Pandemonica,” she introduced herself flatly before reciting what was no doubt her company's Customer Service byline. “I hope I can be of service.”

“Don't worry about it,“ Nero told her. After waving for Pandemonica to follow, Nadia sprinted past her ally and flew by jets of blood, airdashing into the winch hanging from the crane to swing off it and airdash again. Nero walked over to the edge and prepared for a Wire Snatch.

“Um,” came the demon's voice. He looked back to find her right on his heels, staring at the crane. “I cannot jump that. Can you...take me?”

For a brief moment, Nero gathered his thoughts. He breathed deeply, in and out. Kyrie's gonna kill me. He knew that he shouldn't consider this demon as trustworthy, but he felt obliged to give her a chance. “Okay, hold on.”

He wrapped his arm around her, eliciting a strange multi-emotion look he didn't have the time to decipher, then launched his wire to grab the crane winch for a single great swing across the chasm. They landed on the other side a moment later, separating instantly. Nero started walking immediately while Pandemonica dusted herself off, the tension palpable.

Nadia laughed awkwardly, trying to defuse the tension. “H-hey, V! How's it feel not being part of the white hair squad?”

“Funny you should say that...”

“Okay, let's move,” Nero interjected. He eyed the Doom Slayer, wondering if he would see Pandemonica as a foe. “Just one block left to the root.” Between them and the mall lay an avenue crowded with crashed cars. While there existed a smattering of zombies, some seemed to be molten, and there were more than a few demons. Nero spotted bedside brutes, a creepy-looking hag, prowlers, and one three-headed, metallic canine monstrosity. Surely the Slayer would think them greater targets.

Bowser’s blow connected, but only for a moment before the enderman vanished, causing him to overbalance, tumble over and hit the dirt.

The enderman reappeared nearby, ready to counterattack but jr was on the case, sweeping in and suffering only a gaze on his machine as he got close enough to deliver a follow up punch to it's ugly face, causing it to vanish again.

”wuss” jr yelled after it as the parrot sat on Kamek’s broom squawked “47°” when the warping monster reappeared far away, causing the End to swing his gun round and, with pinpoint accuracy, pop a dart in the eldritch thing’s neck.

“Somewhat disappointing” the End commented as the enderman dropped to the ground. He slung his gun and raised a hand down too which his parrot flew to land upon,”That cowboy has the right of it I believe, so I’ll take my leave. Maybe bring me back somewhere sunnier next time hmm?” he suggested before the two vanished.

”Well that worked out rather well,” Kamek noted, before parsing the Courier’s theory on what was causing the lanky denizens of the realm to attack them ”and we just need to not stare at them and they’ll be calm? Like the opposite of Boos. Interesting.”

A few moments of regrouping showed this to be the case, during which Bowser dusted off the end dust he'd gotten on his clothes after his tumble and Jr smacked the side of his clown car with the necro smasher to fix up the gash in its side.

After that the princess summarizes their situation, her uncharacteristic swearing receiving a pair of gasps and shocked looks from the elder koopas and a series of subsequently shooed off questions from Jr.

Once that had been dealt with Kamek added a touch to her comments ”and yes, for those who are… altitudinally challenged my toadies and clones”, the koopa waved his wand and summoned a quadrant of green helper copies of himself, ”can provide something of a lift. Jr could also fit one lighter person in his car.”

”Hay can’t just volunteer me like that! I’ve already got Mimikyu in here anyway. Isn't that enough.” Jr complained

The two stared each other down till Jr rolled his head and eyes with an exasperated sigh ”Fine!”

Having provided a rather undignified transport method for those lacking in the jumps or flight department the Troop headed for the central island, with Kamek and Jr casually floating above the bottomless pits, while Bowser performed some mighty leaps from island to island. Compared to platforming between much smaller floating cards he’d done that morning the run up to the end zone was a breeze. The Troop arrived in good time and stopped to wait for the others to catch up at the edge of the island.

”THAT WAS EASY. NOW THERE SHOULD BE A DOOR AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE LEADING TO THE NEXT SECTION.” Bowser said once they were all assembled, still on his subspace theory and ignoring any and all suggestions or evidence to the contrary ”LETS GET LOOKING”

The obvious spot was, of course, the center of the island between the imposing pillars which were topped by strange glowing crystals. The walk to the center was a tense one as the team had to constantly keep track of where they were looking to avoid setting off any more endermen, yet when they arrived at the climax of their trek there was nothing there to be found, ”WHAT? WHERE IS IT. COME-ON IT SHOULD BE RIGHT HERE!”, Bowser complained angrily as he stomped the island’s center.

All of a sudden the silent looming dread flooding the atmosphere erupted into a cacophony of enderman screams, causing the Troop to tense, come together and brace for an assault. Yet the lanky fields remained unaggressive even as the air itself began to fizz against their scales like it was suffused with static electricity.

”Over there!” Jr called out suddenly, pointing skywards, up and up into the void to two burning points. Burning eyes. Locked right onto them and racing straight towards them.

The ender dragon’s form suddenly appeared out of the black and landed atop one of the great towers. A mass of malevolent void given form, it snarled down at them, corrosive fluid leaking from its jaw as it did so.

”Ok… some kind of mid...” Bowser began to try to explain before giving up an roaring ”THIS IS IT. NUMBER TWO. COME AND GET SOME! YOU AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON ME!”

The beast obliged, hurling itself down at them, a black mass doom sweeping down to plow them aside. Like Toro, Bowser squared up and braced for impact. Also like Tora Bowser was hauled aside by his saner compatriots as Kamek, his clones and the toadies all grabbed him and practically dragged him out of the way of the dragon.

”What are you doing!” he roared as the dragon missed turning them all to paste, or bowling them off into the void, by only a scale.

”We’re not blocking that!” Kamek called back as he and his minions ”You four, get red or we’re all going to be dead!” he yelled at the greens supporter clones before summoning a quadrio of magical orbs and tossing them all at once towards his illusory minions, shifting them into attack mode as they caught them.

Jr meanwhile had had the common sense to not try to body block the obsidian tyrant and had instead risen up and above its primary strike zone.

”Mimikyu, copycat me!” he ordered his poke-minion out as he spun the car around while the dragon passed down below them and slammed a button on his car’s control console. The now well used Flaming Head cannon deployed and spat its balloon based payload, which inflated into a flaming head reminiscent of the clown car. Joining it this time however was a second balloon which Mimikyu acquired from the void, stuck the opening of under the bottom of her disguise, inflated to a three times her own size with a quick trio of puffs (revealing it to be shaped like their disguise’s head, horrible jaw and all) and then let go, causing it to rocket away as it deflated and ignited.

Together the two homing shots raced after the dragon while Jr yelled ”Eat this!” at its receding tail.

@Archmage MC@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN@ProPro@Yankee

---

Linkle kept her eyes down as her companions finished off the teleporting monsters that had already been triggered to avoid disrupting the fights by drawing any attention to herself from either these monsters or the ones that were probably still lurking on the islands up ahead. The Courier's gunshot, firing off close as it was, made her flinch and sent her ears to ringing. When the ringing ended the sounds of battle had gone with it.

The Princess, as always, laid out their situation. The uncharted void that existed all around them was a problem for anybody that wasn't capable of traversing the air safely, but while Peach's concerns were mostly focused on them being thrown off by the enemy Linkle was equally worried about traversal. They had to go across that series of floating islands to even get to the boss platforms and they had some people along that weren't suited to that sort of island hopping, herself included if she didn't have a partner to help her. She briefly considered making a bunch of ice bridges, but that would be more like a series of slippery ice slopes that would send you sliding into the void if you weren't careful. That's why when Peach offered the monsters spirits Linkle had an idea!

"You got it, Princess." She said as she stepped forward and plucked the Enderspirit out of her hand. She looked confidently back at the group. "This way I can team jump the rest of you across the platforms and then teleport after you. Here..." She bent down and picked up one of the cucco's milling about at her feet, looked around the group for the ones she thought might be least capable of doing the jumps, then tossed the bird underhand like a volleyball to Geralt. It fluttered through the air, keeping itself surprisingly aloft, before settling down either in his arms or on his shoulder. "You could even hold those for a safer descent. Trust me, they're really strong." She bent down and tossed another at the Cadet. "I used to jump off my roof holding these back home, never even got a bruise." She was about to toss the last one to Gaige-Tron, but stopped and looked down to lock eyes with the suddenly very nervous cucco. "Well, maybe not that strong." She said, throwing the last one to the Courier. "Just remember to throw them back if someone was behind you in line."

Of course the Princess didn't need to travel by Linkle power, she just floated along through the air. Tora and Poppi went together, Euden transformed into a dragon and took off, and Jak was already headed out. So with no time left to waste Linkle brought the spirit up, said a quick "thank you" in place of the usual ceremony she reserved for spirits, and plunged the spirit into her chest.

The effects were immediate and extraordinary as Linkle began to grow.



Linkle shook herself off as the Endermans spirit came to rest within her. The first thing she noticed was that she was seeing the world from a new height again, which was immensely satisfying. "All right, everybody that wants to ride the Linkle express line uuuuuuuuaaaaaAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The second thing she noticed was the sheer weight of all the eyes on her. So many. To many! To many people were just looking at her. To many, way to many, to gouge all of them out. She stood there, her mouth the only thing not paralyzed in primordial terror, screaming as loud as she could. As she did her mouth went wider and wider until it seemed like her gums should be tearing themselves apart and then went past that as though she were some kind of snake person.

Then the screaming stopped as Linkle vanished out from under the groups sight, the last echos of it disappearing into the void. There were a few moments of silence, then a soft and relieved "Sorry," came from a figure a little ways away from the group, huddled up on the ground so you could only see the green of her cloak. "They really don't like when somebody looks at them, huh? Wow." She tried to sound casual, but it was clear to anyone listening that Linkle was trying to get her bearings back. Slowly she started to scootch her way across the yellow rock to the edge of the platform. "I think this can still work, just don't everybody show up at once. Try not to look at me, just run up and step on my back and I'll throw you."

Whether or not anyone took her up on the offer she would just teleport by herself. As she scootched she thought about these poor things, and what it meant to have one of them in her head. What a terrible way to live, being that angry and afraid from something as simple as being looked at. It wasn't something she could even conceive of, a completely foreign emotion that nonetheless now belonged to her. It reminded her of how angry she'd gotten back in Lumbridge and the casino. She'd been ignoring that, putting it down to stress, but after the starkness of the endermans pain she had to wonder whether that one was entirely her either.

---

"It would bee my honor." He said quickly in response to the bug queens offer. He didn't have any other choice, really. It was a Royal offer, and some of the few clear memories he had were of just how much of a pain royalty could make your life if they were feeling slighted. Besides, without his paraglider he didn't have too many other options. Even if he did the islands that were higher up would be a difficult trick without Revali's Gale, which he could only assume had been stripped from him as well.

As he tried to decide whether she wanted to carry the two of them or expected them to mount up, Peach came along to offer the Spirits of vanquished foes. That Linkle girl again stepped forward eagerly, and offered up her own idea of how to cross the islands. He didn't know what a Team Jump was, but the way she said it was so full of confidence he couldn't help but think it would work. At least until she did the spirit fusion.

Link had seen it once before, when the Cup had done it, and at first it didn't seem like as dramatic of a change. Different colored hair, noodlier limbs, fairly normal. The glowing eyes were a bit worrying, but otherwise she seemed fine until she opened up her mouth. At first he thought that she was dying or going insane, but she seemed to calm down considerably after she jumped out of the middle of the group. He wanted to go over and comfort her, but thought better of it. If that monster had imparted its neurosis onto her that might just make her feel worse. Besides, with the others already underway toward danger they didn't have that kind of time.

He took the hand she offered and climbed up into her waiting palm, and they took off toward the middle island. While up in the sky he got a good look at the spires surrounding the island and the valuable looking cubes that sat at their zeniths. He kept them in the back of his mind, just in case they turned out to be important. The spires themselves look a little too smooth to climb himself, but he might be able to employ the help of hero royal majesty again if it came to that.

He slid out of her hand as she settled down on the island and joined up with the group as they headed for the center.

---

As they traveled to their destination Linkle focused on how happy that the cucco’s didn’t trigger the monster’s feelings. Neither, it seemed, did the other monsters. More than once she’d been the last one on one of the islands and caught the things looking at her oddly or caught one in the middle of carrying a chunk of that yellow stone. She’d waved at it and to her surprise it hadn’t attacked her despite her stares, just teleported away stone and all.

She’d tried that afterwards with one of the Cucco’s, but she didn’t think the bird had enjoyed the trip at all. For her part, neither did Linkle. It was a kind of sick, lurching feeling that left her dizzy at the end of it. That feeling might go away with practice, but if she was being honest with herself Linkle didn’t think she’d have this spirit for very long.

As they arrived at the big island Linkle held back from the rest of the party for her own comfort. Up ahead she could hear Bowser shouting something about finding a door and started looking around from where she was before she suddenly felt eyes on her. Two purple lights revealed themselves in the distance, something she didn’t have time to process were eyes before the Dragon was upon them.

It was massive, more impressive than any dragon Linkle had ever seen, and yet it was so difficult to actually see. It blended so well that it was hard to tell where the dragon ended and the pillar it had wrapped itself around began. More importantly it was completely outside of her range up there.

Not her new friends, though.

In a puff of spectral smoke Imani appeared, her crossbow already aimed in the direction of the beast. “Hello Grenn.” She said, sizing the creature up through her scope.

“The purple spots are the eyes.” Linkle told her.

“Already on it.” The Striker replied, sighting the area between the two dots of purple. She wasn’t able to get a shot off, though, before the dragon swooped down on the main group. Biting off a curse the sniper readjusted, tracing the creature and launching the shot she’d been charging since she appeared into the creature's neck before vanishing. Linkle and the cuccos had already started running to the side in case the creatures charged carried it through where they were.

---

Link had never fought a dragon. There had been Naydra, but it hadn’t exactly been her trying to kill him and besides that you couldn't really call what he’d done with them fighting. He had “fought” three dragons in the same sense that a mosquito fights a Hylian. No, less than that, because a Hylian would be aware of a mosquito and he wasn’t sure any of them had ever known he was there. All that fire, ice, and electricity thrown his way could have just been something that had given off naturally.

To say he felt a little inadequate to be facing this monster was an understatement. He had two swords, a beat up shield, and the weirdest bow he had ever held. This was a bit much for battle number 2. So he pulled out his sword, raised his shield, and watched for the moves the others made to see if he could support them. Unfortunately the moves he saw were foolhardy attempts to body block the beasts bulk, but fortunately cooler heads were already on the case. The turnip man's companion grabbed him up, and Bowers' minions worked together to scoop up their lord and pull him to safety. Link ran up and lent his strength to that effort as he felt the wind rush of the beast as it passed.

Sheathing his weapons, Link tore the bow from his back, the arrow appearing in his hand even as he turned and trained it on the beast's back and fired. It would seem piddly next to what Boswer’s son was pulling off, but every little bit helped. Who knew, he might break off one of this dragon's scales for his trouble.

The river was beautiful- this place was gorgeous. It really was something out of a Western storybook. The quaint little town where humble heroes are born. But this town was lucky, because it had been visited by one of the greatest heroes of all- Ryu! There he was!

After all this time, there he is! Just chilling like a badass underneath a tree! So cool! Does he know how cool he looks just, all the time? I bet not, it just comes naturally to him, like breathing.\

Sakura immediately went to leap off the roof and meet him again, but at the last moment she turned upside town and caught the apex of the triangle roof, flipping herself head over heels to stop her momentum. She paused there for a moment, a grimace on her face. The roof was warm against her back and easy to stick on with the heels of her sneakers.

"Shimatta!" She lightly cursed aloud, realising she had left her student bag inside the Great Pon Tu Inn. Bouncing off the roof from her lying down position like it was a trampoline she scrambled her way back into the Inn and snatched up the bag full of homework and supplies she had brought with her all this way. Waving once again to the innkeep Sakura slammed the door open and sped down the streets to that little hill. Over the bridge, and to the tree.

The dust settled in her wake as Sakura literally skidded to a stop, leaning backwards and digging her heels into the dirt. After a considerable distance of this she finally came to a stand still. Her approach was incredibly obvious. With an exhale she watched him stand and speak to her, like he was happy to see her. Or even expecting her. Sakura was certainly happy to see him. It felt like a million years since she had last spoken with him. Relaxing her right shoulder she let her student bag glide down her arm and over her fingertips to the ground. She knew that he wasn't going to take her on as a student- she had come to terms with that fact recently. Ryu was simply too humble for that kind of thing. He was probably going to never take on students until he was an old man with a big white beard, like his own master.

"Y-well, yes! Yes, please! I-" Stammering, Sakura was at a loss of words because trying to put her thoughts into a few well-spoken sentences was impossible. Everything she could say was obvious in the context of her arrival. Her speed alluded to her eagerness to finally fight him. The great distances he knew she had travelled indicated her persistence in this effort. The smile on her face described accurately how good it felt to finally meet him again. Most importantly, Sakura took a few steps forward away from her dropped back, slapped the sides of her head to hype herself up, smacked her fist into her palm, and bowed forward.

"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" She requested a fight and thanked Ryu at the same time. He would know she did this before every street fight of hers. It was a formal greeting, polite request, and an expression of humble gratitude. The idea was hard to compress in as many words into English, so Sakura always stuck with Japanese and let her body language and tone do the talking for anyone who didn't speak her native tongue. In her experience, combat was the best way to get to know each other anyway. A true conversation, the universal language. There was nothing she could say in any language that would adequately express herself more then a good old fashioned exchange of blows.

With a hard stomp on the grass, she took a fighting stance, hands up, body parallel to Ryu's. Her stance was bouncy and light on her feet, ready to move in any direction at a moment's notice, or ground herself for a powerful strike or bound. A flowing white headband trailed in the wind to the right side of her head, and her loose clothing swayed with the trees. The smile was still on her face, but it was subdued in deep a state of deep concentration as Sakura's big brown eyes scanned Ryu over to see what position her would take. Her heart rate, previously elevated from excitement, slowed dramatically. Sakura never went easy on anyone, and Ryu would have learned early on that she hated it when people went easy on her.

"Ready?" She asked, the anticipation apparent in her voice.

Whenever Ryu was ready to full engage in a fight, Sakura would waste no time in taking the initiative.

"Hadoken!" She shouted out, moving her hands away from a defensive position and towards her chest, briefly gathering up a burst of Ki energy and launching it towards Ryu in a fast moving, hard hitting projectile. Immediately afterwards she followed behind it, dashing forward. Her plan was to lure Ryu into raising her arms to block the Hadoken. When he did, she would reach out and punish his block with a throw, using his raised arms to pull herself inward. Planting a hand on his shoulder she jump high in the air while keeping the hand locked on his shoulder until she was entirely upside down. Twisting, she brought her legs down and curled up until her shoes were digging into his back. Converting her hard fall into a smooth throw until he was sailing through the air to land face first on the ground. "Ikinasai!" She exclaimed as she did so, commanding her esteemed opponent to go! The spectacular move would transpire in the time of a single second.

A hadoken into a forward throw, aiming to toss him toward the hard ground infront of the tree. That was her plan, anyway, and it was a step up from what Ryu had seen from her in the past. Back in the old days she would just run right up to him and start punching as fast and as hard as she could. She had developed a lot since then, but if there was one thing Ryu could always count on, it was that Sakura always, always, always tried to be the first one to attack. No matter what approach or strategy she took or who she was facing, Sakura never waited to see what they would do first. The young woman exploded into battle with the best of them.

With the Enderman taken care of, A few party members started to make their way over to the larger island with the large columns. Seeing as there weren't that much if a threat right now Blazermate de summoned Dell as his sentry was only partially upgraded to level 3.

Peach gave a plan of attack, Sectonia way ahead of her by grabbing Link around the waist. It was refreshing to see another if this group who listened to her royalty, although she wasn't sure if she should laugh or be annoyed at Link's pun. All link would see is a slightly amused eye twitch as she began carrying him with one hand and holding Cuphead the same in her other hand, flying them to the center island. While flying she got a look at light Jak and gave him a nod of approval, even if she didn't like his passenger. Blazermate meanwhile thought to herself a but before saying."So... I can fly but I can't carry anyone." Blazermate said. "I can help someone jump better though like linkle's chicken thingy. " She offered, looking to the more athletic of their compatriots.

Blazermate saw what happened when someone took in one of the Enderman spirits and didn't like what happened. Mostly because they teleported around, messing up her healing. "ok that is annoying." Blazermate said sighing. Tora had a good plan on not absorbing said spirit, although Sectonia only caught a tiny bit of his complaint on becoming misshaped, being too preoccupied with her task.

While Blazermate gave some assistance to whoever accepted it, Sectonia reached the main island. She dropped off Link and Cuphead before pulling out her swords, ready for the ominous thing flying about. With a roar the Ender Dragon appeared. Bowser and Tora tried to stop the dragon as it dived, but some Allies pushed them out of the way out of fear of them falling into the Void. "I suppose I'll catch some of you if you fall but I can't grab that 'King' there." Sectonia said, aware these people were still useful even if some were ugly.

The Ender Dragon was pretty big, and neither Blazermate nor Sectonia had ever seen a dragon. After being shoved out of the way by Poppi Tora got ready to attack the dragon. Meanwhile Bowser who had also been pushed out of the way had his group preform a few attacks with Jr. Doing the most with his car and Pokemon.

Blazermate took a bit of time to assist her passenger to the main island, impressed that big Bowser could jump so nimbly. When she arrived, she attached her healing beam to the two tanks, juggling it to keep them both relatively overhealed as long as they stood close together. Sectonia meanwhile began conjuring her large rings if light, throwing the massive disks at the Ender dragon.

Geralt smirked as his plan worked, sort of. Between the Courier's ballistic interference and Tora stealing the kid's glory, the Enderman went down as silver cut through its body and it dissolved into ash, leaving its spirit behind. Princess Peach gathered the spirits of the deceased monsters up and offered them to anybody who wasn't able to cross the islands on their own. Geralt saw the opportunity for what it was: the ultimate insult from the Universe. Of course the first real offer of power would involve teleporting. The Witcher was pulled out of his thoughts by a chicken floating at him, tossed by Linkle. Looking at the bird, Geralt frowned before putting it on the ground and shooing it back to its caretaker.

He just sighed and hoped that the feeling of teleporting would be less disorienting than traversing space through a portal. "I'll take one." He gruffly called, watching as Linkle began her own transformation. It was...somewhat disturbing, but the results were also interesting. She was much larger now, at least vertically speaking. Her arms were longer, and if anything, she was actually more slender than she'd been previously. She grew claws on her hands, and her hair's color changed, as well as that of her eyes.

Shaking it off, Geralt took a spirit for himself, and pushed it into his own heart once he'd cleared some space. Much like Linkle, the transformation was near-instant.



Looking around, and down, at his companions after the tranformation, Geralt realized something: his heart was about to explode. He was being looked at, he was sure of it. Somebody was staring at him, mocking him. And it...scared him? No, it pissed him off. His hands clenched, and he forced his eyes shut with a growl. A deep breath later, he opened his eyes, making sure to look above everybody else. He was much, much taller now. About nine feet tall, in fact, which made not looking other people in the eyes much more simple. As long as he couldn't see them looking at him, it wasn't that bad, surely?

No, it was still pretty bad. He had that hair-raising feeling he got whenever he was in a monster's den and didn't know where it was, but was distinctly aware that the creature was very aware of his location. It made his skin crawl a bit. He felt a little unsafe. Sure, he was pretty used to the feeling, but it didn't make his desire to be out of the situation any weaker, just a bit easier to deal with.

Shaking off the worst of the strain, Geralt looked over at one of the other islands between their starting point and the larger floating landmass, still wondering how the hell that worked. Not worrying too much about it, he tried to focus, tried to tap into the creature's power, and then he felt something shift, and he was there. His stomach clenched for a moment before relaxing as the Witcher calmed now that nobody was looking at him.

"Hmm, not quite as bad as using a portal. Still, probably best not to abuse it." Turning to the larger landmass, Geralt willed himself over, taking a deep breath and a firm stance when he arrived again, this time a bit more off-kilter.

The others gathering, Geralt began moving towards them when the dragon took its perch atop one of the many pillars on the island. Geralt cursed and reached for his hand crossbow, before thinking better of it and grabbing his pistol, firing a few shots and hoping that the ammunition it had would last him long enough to kill a dragon.

So much for the Code, he thought snarkily. This wouldn't be the first time he broke the code for his friends.

Huh...friends? For some reason, that felt right. Damn.

Though the dark thing didn't look that powerful, there was surprising strength in it's arms. The creature pushed Ace Cadet back into the throng of heroes, and a handful of said heroes moved out and around the hunter to help out. They cut and shot at the thing, but it didn't go down immediately. What a tenacious creature! Geralt devised a quick strategy, and the Cadet chirped an affirmative "Got it!" - but when the enderman came back into range, Tora beat him to it. The hunter blinked and after a moment deflated a bit, but he thanked the nopon all the same. "Quick thinking, thanks! Those things are weird, I wonder why they hate being looked at so much?" The Cadet's curiosity had him looking over at the central island again, but this time his gaze didn't linger for long on anything over there. Just a quick sweep of the eyes. It was almost impossible to distinguish any other creatures over there from the dark rock formations and sky this way, but fortunately it also meant that said creatures stayed where they were, undisturbed.

The topic of crossing the scattered islands came up, but Cadet was still thinking about how he'd avoid looking at the creatures. It was easier said than done, after all wasn't it normal to keep an eye on a dangerous unknown? Ah well, I guess I'd just deal with it if any of them get aggressive. Didn't really seem like it's head was a weak spot which is kind of weird. Maybe it-- His thoughts were interrupted by a face full of feathers. The cucco landed safely in the hunter's arms after the initial toss. Right, crossing the islands.

"Really? This little guy can hold a human's weight?" Cadet held the bird up to his eye level as if appraising it. He'd seen them in battle already, so he knew they were brave animals at the very least. Well, hey - who was he to refuse a nice offer like this? Cucco express it was. If it turned out that he was too heavy for the bird, he'd figure something else out. Some of the group was already on the move when Linkle cried out and instructed them not to look at her. Immediately Cadet slapped a hand over his eyes. Ugh, trying not to look at something was so hard! Best get this over with, as fast as possible. Cadet peeked between his fingers at the Hylian's crouched form briefly, just to make sure he knew where she was before he held the cucco over his head and got a running start.

"Sorry, I'll be quick! One to toss, Linkle!"

---

Once arriving on the center island, Cadet let Linkle's cucco fly back to her after a quick pat on it's head. It had actually managed to float him, and if the circumstances were different Cadet definitely would have found the flight to be fun. He didn't watch the bird return to it's master, nor did he watch much of anything - as he joined up with the rest of the group, Cadet held a hand up to either side of his head, blocking part of his vision just in case. It has hard enough trying not to look at the endermen straight on, if he had to deal with seeing them in his periphery Cadet just knew he'd instinctively turn to look. He was actively wishing for their quarry to show itself soon just so he had something to focus on, and soon enough his wish was granted.

The dragon was huge, intimidating; but also truly awesome. As soon as it alighted on the island, Cadet dropped his hands from his face. "A - a black dragon!" he shouted, his voice shaking with a tangle of two emotions. He was nervous, certainly. Where he came from, the black dragons were the most fearsome and deadly of all creatures. They were almost always designated "kill on site" they were so dangerous. They could wipe out entire ecosystems with little trouble, and they were the death of many hunters.

He was also excited, because hunting of a black dragon was the most prestigious mission a hunter could hope to be a part of... and the Cadet wasn't just a hunter. He was an Ace Hunter. A Guild Knight. And what did Guild Knights do? Slay dragons!

Cadet dived as soon as the dragon took off and swooped down toward them. On the ground, he snatched up some of the yellow rock which came loose with a quick pound of his fist. Jamming the stone into his slinger was a bit awkward, but he had to be quick. If he could bring it down out of the air and give the others an early opening... Yeah right, like it'll be that easy! But here goes nothing! The hunter rolled to his feet and aimed the clutch claw at the dragon's body as it passed by - and fired it, intent on getting on top of it.