---

---

---

---

Sepiroth let out a satisfied 'hmph' as he felt the blade pierce the sorceress skull, causing her to slump forward and to the floor as he landed behind her with a thud. Giving her a swift kick, even as she began to turn to ash, he swiftly yanked his blade free as her rapidly disintegrating corpse tumbled over the edge and into the hole where it quickly vanished from sight and indeed reality. Meanwhile her spirit remained, floating in the place her physical form had just stood. Sliding the sword back into its sheathe, he approached the thing and picked it up, staring at it curiously as it hovered just above the palm of his hand.

"Of course I did," he said simply, not even bothering to look up at Nadia as he spoke. "She would have killed us, well those of us who could die at least. In any case I suggest you get used to it. This is a war, and it is no place for the weak."

With that said, Sephiroth fell silent once again, his gaze still fixated on the spectral orb that hovered before him. Remembering what the machine had said, and deciding the potential increase in power was worth the risk, Sephiroth quickly pushed the spirit into his chest just as what appeared to be a very distraught chef ran out to confront them. Bemoaning the situation to some unknown god before proceeding to go on and on about damages and how'd they'd all be prosecuted by the fullest extent of the law, though the former SOLDIER really couldn't care less, being more interested in seeing what benefits and drawbacks he'd get from the absorption. Granted, that process was looking to be far more bothersome than he wanted, for soon after a dozen or more armed guards barged into the ruined establishment alongside two girls who appeared to be some strange amalgamation of seafaring vessel and human being. Following them was a rather pale looking woman dressed in an old admiral's outfit, two pistols strapped to either hip and a scowl that could rival his own plastered across her face. He paid no mind to her bluster though, too preoccupied with the changes to his body that were already taking place...

@Gentlemanvaultboy, @Dawnrider, @Yankee, @Dracolunaris, @MULTI_MEDIA_MAN, @Archmage MC, @Lugubrious

Sighing in relief as he removed himself from Bowser's grasp and seeing that the battle ended just as he was doing so, Geralt first set about collecting his dropped sword and checking it quickly for damage. Not noting anything that worried him, the Witcher looked about, frowning. They'd certainly made a mess of the place with their little rescue, though some of that damage was undoubtedly not their fault. Not like the locals would care, they certainly never did back on the Continent. Bracing himself for the upcoming bluster, Geralt pieced through his bag and pulled a few of the Spirits of the Abyssals free. From what he remembered, these poor saps didn't even know that the Abyssals left behind Spirits when killed, and they'd been fighting as long as this place existed. Hopefully, it would be enough to turn the conversation the way he wanted it to go.

As expected, not only the presumed owner of the restaurant, but Admiral Merlwyb herself came storming over, the latter with backup, to tell them off. Once Frog was done with his own bit about how she could trust him, Geralt stepped forward and lobbed the Spirits at the Admiral. "That's what I have to say for myself. Those were Abyssals. Your little army here's been fighting for how long, and they didn't know something as basic as what happens when you kill them. They turn into those, then get pulled out deeper into the ocean by the currents and by creatures manipulating the flow of the water. From there, they'd be rounded up and either brought back to life, or turned into equipment or extra power, and sent back out to fight." Removing the Spirit of the Shipgirl, Hermes, he held it with a bit more care as his tone gained a bit of sympathy, but still held its critical edge.

"I also recovered one of your lost. I'm not one to use Spirits lightly, especially not on myself like some people, though our Princess has her ways of undoing the damage they can cause." Geralt let that hang in the air, the implication that hap hazardously using Spirits had consequences. Part of him wondered how much of a spectacle this silver-haired stranger's transformation would be. If this Admiral was worth that title, she'd realize that she needed them and what information they could give. "There's a lot more to this than I care to explain staring down the barrels of your cannons and spears."

Pointedly ignoring the furious figure of the owner, Geralt continued. "I can't speak for how this whole thing started, but I can guarantee you that everybody still alive here was doing their damndest to keep the bystanders out of the line of fire, which is more than I can say for her." He didn't even know the name of the sorceress, not that it mattered to him. Having a name to put to the face usually only made killing them harder. "Now, Admiral, I have a question for you: What are you willing to give, to do, to put an end to this war once and for all? Because those little things, right there, are your key. For every one of them you kill without losing one of your own, which, if you check with the girls you had on that sortie, we were quite capable of doing in a ship not even designed for combat, you can deprive them of power while making your own army stronger. And any good tactician will tell you that finding and exploiting your enemy's weakness while shielding your own is vital to waging war."

Geralt stood there, between his party and Merlwyb's, ready for what their response. He was loathe to repeat Blaviken, especially knowing that Sakura the budding hero was waiting for them, but he wouldn't let some blowhards who couldn't get their heads out of their asses long enough to see what was right in front of their eyes stop him. He hadn't then, and he wouldn't now. He was ready to draw his sword once more, but his hands didn't move quite yet. No need to piss them off any more.

”Wow” Bowser was about as surprised as Geralt was that he caught the falling Witcher, the speedy tentacles once again acting like they had mind of their own, and much faster running ones than Bowser at that, and grappling him before he could plummet down into the water and then pulling him into the King’s arms.

”Uh, hi there” Bowser greeted him as they ascended with Bowser awkwardly holding the gruff man in a princess carry due to lacking the space on his transport to let him stand. Once they did arrive Geralt quickly extracted himself from his grapes and got on deck, after which Bowser followed suit, their carrier minion poofing into nothingness now that their job was done.

The battle, they found, was over by the time they arrived back on the scene. Bowser did a quick headcount as Kamek flew down to rejoin him and was relieved to see everyone was in one piece. The same, unfortunately, could not be said for the building, nor for a small number of bystanders that had been caught in the crossfire at some point. The king grimaced for a moment upon seeing their spirits, but for the most part wasn't overly concerned at the carnage that had been wrought.

”Here, you might want this?” The King said to Kamek, retrieving the spirit of the woman he’d smashed to pieces along with the floor ”magic, matches your robes, that kind of thing,”

”What? Oh yes, thank you sire but perhaps we should consider moving on before-” Kamek replied as he accepted the spirit of the blue Cia, but was prevented from hypothesizing on what kind of trouble this mess would bring when said trouble started to happen all at once.

First the chef came out and he was, unsurprisingly, rather angry about the state of his restaurant. What remained of it anyway. Bowser’s hole managed to only be one among a number of damages caused mostly by the giant explosions the sorceress had been dishing out. After him came the law, who seemed all too happy to come in in force now that the fighting was actually over. Bowser thought very little of the spear welding goons and instead focused his attention on the woman in charge and her escort. who seemed to be a fusion of woman and warship. Bowser, like his son before him, was instantly a fan of the idea though he did not appreciate the way they were pointing a dozen cannons at them. Not that they could avoid doing so, but it was still pissing the king off regardless.

”WHO DO Y- oh” Bowser began to demand before getting urgently tapped on the knee by his advisor who then hurriedly gestured the Blazermate and Ms Fortune (Sepiroth clearly didn't care about anything other than his new power so the mage didn't even bother trying to fill in the last member of Bowser’s reinforcement party) over and then whispered them a quick rundown of who they were dealing with while some of the others tried to answer for their crimes

”She has a large and powerful navy and we need their help to get to the bottom of the deep and storm wrecked part of the ocean where the region's guardian is. We have information she needs to help her win a war against an ’abyssal fleet’” At that point Geralt started helping provide some of that information. Kamek silently agreed with his decision not to make a mention of the abyssal turncoats they had stashed in the ship because that would not, he expected, have gone down well. ”So please, try to be diplomatic”

”Right right got it,” Bowser said, before standing up clearing his throat. It was important that he, as (self declared) leader, take charge and responsibility of the situation. ”I AM BOWSER, KOOPA KING AND LEADER OF THIS HERE ARMY AND I SAY,'' the king swept both his hands both hands down towards the (unrequited) love of his life who looked to be in a state of shock over the whole affair, and who was the only one of them who hadn't gotten involved in the fighting/trashing of the place, ”THAT PEACH CAN COVER THE COST OF THE DAMAGES'

”This is a blissful change of pace from the desert I’ll give you that, but Sectonia’s right, it's nothing compared to propper royal treatment” Midna agreed with the Queen. Being able to bathe and drink and eat was highly relieving after the stress, heat and dust of desert, but a slightly overgrown pool and some, admittedly very nice, birds to look out wasn't exactly the pinnacle of high society. However, unlike the queen she’d had to go without before, and she’d had to earn the position of princess three times over. First by vote, then by duel and then, finally, through war. What was one more violent interlude when added atop those experiences. Also, she had to admit, the company, chatter, pleasantry (and some nice views) while bathing in the cool waters did have a charm of their own even without it being contrasted with the desert beyond.

She was in the middle of mentally reinventing the idea of the public bathhouse and trying to work out if she’d be able to commission the construction the construction of one when she got home when the queen started explaining the state of the world to the pair of freed mercenaries.

”Sounds more like a lot work to me,” Midna commented when Sectonia mentioned liking the idea of ruling over the mishmash of worlds ”Not that Galeem’s seems to be actually managing things down here. No armies or administrators controlling anything, its just their guardians camped out in their own corners of this huge mess right?” it did make her wonder what the point of it all was. Pure vanity and a god complex was the best bet she had at the moment.

”Thank you, your majesty,” the princess then replied when the results of her transformation where compliment, before adding some additional details ”I used to be even shorter and didn’t have this gerudo skin tone before. Or any clothes which was probably the weirdest change to receive. I used the spirit of the former, treacherous, owner of Va Nuboris to gain the knowledge to control it. Haven't had many side effects so far. Maybe a bit bolder? More direct? Hard to explain it but my mental headspace has shifted a bit in ways that are tricky to quantify from my own perspective” She added, not being particularly helpful with her explanation of the mental side effects of absorbing a spirit into the mind, but still giving a glance into what the results of what kind of non visible changes could occur. She hadn’t experienced the actual major consequences of that spirit had in store quite yet after all.

After a fair bit more relaxing in the pool the smell of cooked meat filled the room. Hippo, apparently, which whatever it was had to be better than the bugmeat they would have gotten foraging at the bottom of the cliff. Still, the princess was all too happy for Braum to test out the teen’s (and you could definitely tell they Joker and co where teens mow that they weren't dressed up like stylish masked bandits) cooking. After the chiseled titan of a man had declared it more than satisfactory the princess padded over and, after re-donning her helm, got herself a healthy serving of the meat. Due to the lack of plates and cutlery she held it with the fused shadow’s hand and occasionally brought it down to bite a chunk out of. Technically she could have gone and tried crushing spirits until she got a knife to let her eat more dignifiedly but the princess was now much too hungry to waste time on such things. So while her eating couldn't be described as feral, no matter how much she wanted to go wild and devour the flesh as fast as possible, it wasn't exactly dainty and princess-like either.

As they ate, the topic of what to call those influenced by Galeem, a slightly awkward topic considering there were still three people in the room who were in that state. Fortunately it didn't seem to cause any issues though she did have to wonder what it was like for them. How much of this was actually going in and how much was going over their heads without them even noticing

”Daybroken’s pretty good, though we don't have a sun from where I come from so the whole ‘it’s good actually’ doesn't really have any context for me. Sundown doesn't really work as an adjective for describing someone. If we wanted, then shortening ‘under the influence of Galeem’ to just ‘Influenced’ would be a rather simplistic and straightforward one. However I suggest saying someone is ‘Gleaming’ or calling them ‘the Gleaming’ referencing the light of Galeem, the light in their eyes and, obviously, Galeem’s name, even if it is muddled a little for the wording to work.” was Minda’s take on the topic.

What remained to be dealt with after relaxation, talk and substance was the loot of their various battles. When it came to the items, Tora later turned out to know what the two broken boot devices were for, though she didn't know what a jet was either so his exclamation upon finding them didn't clear this up very much. The rest of what they had were some sticks that contained magic, although what kind she did know, and an (also) magical pipe, which lacked anything to smoke in it. Not that she knew what lighters smoked anyway. Also there were the cubes and money.

”So is this paper stuff actually worth anything? Doesn't look it. Certainly nothing compared to the rupees we use, though I guess it is more practical to carry than a whole load of crystals.” She asked, briefly considering the notes. How on earth would they even work, they had no intrinsic value. Were they basically just IOUs? Madness.

Midna shook her head and then decided to leave looking into that stuff more later.

”I’d suggest people pick out stuff for fusion or strikers fist, and then we crush what’s left and divide that up as well? Sound good?” Midna suggested. She had some ideas as she looked over the pile of dead, but wasn't the first to implement them. Instead the good doctor took one of the dragons and absorbed it within his heart, which was a new type of transformation to her. She was going to suggest a demonstration with her Wolfos as the exhibit, but the man revealed himself to be just as bold as she had been when it came to spirits. Midna approved. The actual result was debatable in terms of aesthetic, particularly compared to her absorption of Urbosa, but the benefits were likely worth it. Though she imagined he wished he had had the ability to levitate before the obstacle course they’d had to bypass to get here rather than after.

”If you need floating lessons just let me know doctor” she told him as she drifted around, inspecting him, only to be briefly blinded by a second flash of light. When her vision was only fuzzily back she saw the vague shape of a sword and shield welding knight with a red glowing eye who had suddenly appeared among the group. The princess flinched away from the transformed Poppi and then, when her mind and vision caught up with her instincts, was perplexed as to why she’d been so alarmed.

”oh, ahaha. Uh, that red eye, kinda looks like she’s still under the influence huh?” she said awkwardly, trying to brush off the whole affair, but it kept nagging her even while she set it aside and got to work. First things first, Midna wanted to see if she could improve her Wolfos. She called over the one she’d ridden in, who'd been allowed to relax with them and chow down on some meat despite the incident with the pool and then set to work, plucking a vibrava spirit from the very large pile of deceased ground pokemon and pressing it into the beast’s heart. There was another burst of light (Midna had gotten used to that by this point and blinked in advance) and then Midna had a chance to see the results of the transformation.

”Huh, that’s not much of a change is it?” Minda said scratching her head when the faded spirit didn’t do much to the Wolfos’s appearance as the other spirits had to her or her allies. In fact it had barely done anything. Confused, she pushed another in. Again, very little changed. She tried a third time and then noted that: ”Ok. So. only small changes. Well if we want you to get stronger we’ll just have to go all out won't we?” Do that she did, as she scooped up a fused-shadow sized handful of the spirits and shoved another eight into the beast. That most certainly had an effect, reaching some kind of threshold and almost entirely changing the wolf into a vibrava.

”Well that worked. Maybe a bit too well? Ah well. Now then” It was Minda’s turn. Like the doctor she sought out the remaining Flygon, coveting the power of dragons. There hadn’t been an easy fight yet, so more power, more strength, where required. There was a certain amount of sunk cost there of course, (she’d hunted it so she should use it) but the beast had lived up to its draconic heritage. It had fought with strength, cunning and conviction, part of her thought it was fitting it be used so she could do the same. Plus, maybe she’d get eye protection like the medic had. That would be nice, she thought as she pressed the beast to her chest and let the transformation take hold.

Diluting yourself in the pursuit of power got a lot easier after the first time.

Sakura raised one cheek as she listened to Junior explain his take on the politics of his world.

"This isn't fair! You're like, a prince. Where I'm from there's no more kings and queens. Except for this one really old lady Dudley keeps going on about." She crossed her arms and tried to think of ways of winning the debate. Suddenly, Junior summoned forth a Koopa to make his point. At first Sakura tried to look unconvinced but her face opened up as recognition flashed across her features.

(That's...that's a turtle guy! A Koopa! From Super Mario Brothers 3! What the heck!?)

The revelation had to be put aside temporarily. The Koopa gave a good example of a democracy. Sakura pointed at him and nodded. "Yeah, see! A union! You're like a different species of koopa!" She exclaimed. Things weren't looking good. Sakura really didn't want to lose the debate against this kid but she had no idea what she was talking about.

As Junior explained his plan, Sakura shook her head. "No-, no, I explained this all wrong. Look- the big problem the ship girls are having-" Sakura pointed over to Ranger, "Is that the Abyssals keep coming back to life. It's a war. So, when the ship girls, l-lose people," she stammered slightly. "And the Abyssals lose people, the Abyssals always come out on top." She swallowed dryly, made uncomfortable by talking about the loss of life. "S-so...it's like a really gross math problem."

She clenched her fists and shook them up and down, emphasing her point. "So, we, as in everybody here, plus all the other cool hero guys that you haven't even met yet, are gonna go around, beating up all the other Abyssals. All the other Ri-Class's and Water Princesses. And instead of killing them, we give them friend hearts. That way they won't come back to life on the enemy team! They'll be on our team instead. Because they'll all be nice like you two, Bella and Rika." She pointed at the two Abyssals in the room.

As she spoke, Sakura began gesticulating wildly. She was doing some kind of visual metaphor with her hands, taking various groups of invisible figures and moving them around infront of her. "Because you guys never had a chance to be anything other than mean. You were made to be mean, so if you get a chance to be nice of course you'll be nice because most things are nice if you give them a chance to be...nice! Most people are good, unless something else makes them bad. And if someone is bad but- usually- that's what second chances are for, and then they'll be good. And nice. And some people are really really bad, but that's when you get all the good people together and kick their ass!" She covered her mouth, looking at Junior.

"Uh, I meant butt. Sorry. The point is, it'll be a...what's the word...exponential. It'll be exponential growth. Even discounting everyone else, let's say it just started with me. I help Bella. Then Bella and I help two people. Then the four of us help four people. Now there's eight, who help eight more. Sixteen helps sixteen, which makes thiry-two. Thirty-two, sixty-four, one hundred and twenty eight, two hundred and fifty six...and then boom, there ya go!" She raised her hands in the air victoriously. Indicating the perfect simplicity of her plan.

"And everytime we do that, we gain one person on our team, and take away one person from their team. Normally I freaking hate math, but that sounds like a good equation to me. It combines two of my favorite things- making friends, and punching people." She punched the palm of her hand, holding the pose for a second with a confident look on her face.

Now onto the conversation about excercise. It wasn't going as well as Sakura had hoped. She wanted to be a physical education teacher, but it turned out teaching physical education was hard. The only person in the room that was interested was Rika. Ranger the actual teacher was probably having a good time watching Sakura flounder. And it was literally Rika's first topic of conversation she'd ever had that wasn't about warfare. So that didn't really count any points in Sakura's favor.

Bella was having a serious power up moment as she stood. "Yeah, you can do it! You can-" Oops. The Water Princess slid to the ground, not having made it the full ten seconds.

"H-how long was zat?"

Oh no. Sakura winced at the hope in her eyes, not wanting to crush it. "That was- that was six seconds. But-!"

“Six seconds!? How!? Zat felt like...like hours!”

"It'll get easier over time! Over time, over time. You're probably not gonna break ten seconds today. But tomorrow, you could!"

Sakura continued trying to explain the practical aspects of excercise, but she began to wonder if it was getting through.

Rika went to do a pull-up on the doorframe and the Street Fighter gasped. "Rika! Wow! You're really strong!" She clapped her hands together. But Junior pointed out something both of the enthusiastic girls hadn't thought about. Immediately Sakura deflated a litte, before Rika even had her blunder that was, admittedly, a little funny. But only because people falling over was inherently a little funny.

Junior and Bella began talking about absorbing a spirit to make life easier for Bella. "Okay, wait, that's just a shortcut. And shortcuts- oops." She lowered her raised leg as Junior pointed it out. "Shorcuts tend to backfire. There's no substitute for hard work." She declared.

"If you absorb a spirit- you might get better at walking, but what if you get worse at being a Water Princess? Or maybe you don't even get that much better at walking. If you do the practice, you get to keep all your current strengths, and then add new ones ontop of that!" Sakura said.

"Your body is your most important asset! You use it literally all the time, for everything. Why not make it better? There's no downside to excercise!" She pointed upward, waggling her finger intelligently. However she blushed for a moment, her eyes looking to the side.

She thought about how she was being held back a year in high school. She was absent all the time and then spent the last few weeks of spring trying to help the heroes of the world stop some evil robot guy from taking over the world. Apparently that didn't count for extra credit. It was clear to anyone watching her face that there was some downside she wasn't disclosing.

"Well...no downsides that are, uh...r-relevant to you guys." She mumbled. She hoped they wouldn't think about her last few sentences too much and focus on what she said earlier, about spirits and whatnot. Or maybe she could redirect the fact that, now that she thought about it, she recognized Junior's dad from a video game. But she wasn't sure how to segue into that.

When the bathing pool started to get a bit overcrowded with more of the mercs joining, Sectonia decided to get out. While she was somewhat ok with a slight mixed bath, it was getting ridiculous now. At least she was able to get all of the sand off herself, her fluff taking the longest to clean. After getting out of the water and 'sitting' in the campsite itself, she began wringing her fluff dry as she was out of the water and combing it to perfection with her hands, something she was well versed in, although you could tell she wished she had a comb or something to make the job easier based on the expression on her face.

As she 'sat' there, or well, sitting as best as she could with her lack of legs, Sectonia listened to the phantom trope explain the different types of food they had as her Antilion continued to clean the cloths of those who left them with it. She wondered where their utensils were to eat with dignity, but seeing how Midna and the others started eating their foods, there apparently was none which made Sectonia's eyes twitch in the shear audacity of the situation. But as she had done before, she soon relented, and much like Midna, tried to eat what food she could with regal dignity. "I prefer fruits and vegetables over meats." Sectonia said, sighing at the lack of such things as everyone else enjoyed the meat. It wasn't that she couldn't eat them, just that unlike fruits, meat was messy and wasn't nearly as elegant to eat, especially without silverware. Still, she knew food wasn't easy to get in the desert, and there was little chance of getting her selected diet here, so she ate the meat although not with as much enjoyment as the others. She'd also make sure to get her fill of the drinking water, needing quite a bit more than the others due to her size.

After their dinner was done and everyone got their fill, the Antilions done with their cloths cleaning duty and handing the cleaned cloths back to the Queen and the others, the group started to discuss what to call the Galeem controlled people after one of the people asked how they could even recognize them. Sectonia told the now idle Antilion to clean the area, then patrol to keep the camp safe as ideas were tossed around. Tora's name was... well, considering Sectonia had gotten used to his speech patterns it was at least on par for what he usually said. Did the puff ball just not care about anything name wise? Thoughts for later as other ideas came out from Daybreaker to Daybroken. Both were far too long and took too long to say. Midna came up with the idea of Gleeming, mentioning her dislike of the sun in general as it apparently was barely a thing in her world. "The sun is fine, but I prefer the moon. Its far more beautiful, especially when its ethereal blue glow shines over your palace. It wasn't easy to make it a full moon 24/7 over my palace. Is that how your world is?" Sectonia said, asking Midna. "As for names. Gleeming is alright. There isn't honestly much that rolls off the tongue that isn't sun or day related like Sunstricken or Dawnfallen. And I'd rather not give that... thing... any credit with a good descriptor if I can help it." Sectonia said, unable to come up with a name that wasn't taken already, being a bit petty afterwords.

After the discussion of names, on came the distrobution of loot. The Medic and Midna taking spirits into themselves and Midna experimenting with her Wolfos, putting multiple spirits into it to change it into something else. Sectonia doubted that would work for her antilions though, as she had an endless amount of them and never summoned the same one twice, or at least, as well as she knew. Still, she decided to look through the stuff that was left behind. Much like Midna, she saw no use for the paper money, but her eats perked up at the mention of Midna's currency being gemstones. "Hm. My opinion of you grows as time goes on it seems. Another person of royalty who uses vastly superior and more beautiful gemstones as currency. Although mine are shaped like stars. I'd prefer flowers, but they only form into stars for some reason. I suppose the planet being called Popstar is to blame for that." Sectonia said, giving out another compliment to Midna.

With everyone sorting through the loot Tora found an item he liked called rocket boots, something Sectonia had no interest in, and decided to tinker with it. At a suggestion by Poppi, he then grabbed a spirit of a heavily armored knight and gave it to poppi, who absorbed the spirit and became a heavily armored version of herself with accompanying sword and shield. "I have a minion that looks like you Poppi. it is, frankly, kind of useless in an open field, but great in a narrow corridor." The Medic, having taken in the soul of one of the dragon creatures, gained the ability to levitate like Midna and the queen. Midna offered him hoverling lessons, which meant the queen didn't have to.

Looking through the spirits, there wasn't really anything Sectonia liked. She did mull over the Sorcerers spirit, but she got the feeling that it contained magic she wasn't an expert in, and absorbing its power would lead to her losing her regal look. after all, this sorcerers was drab and boring, apparently coming from a world where color was completely sapped from it. "Hm... I am not going to absorb this spirit, but I feel like it could be some useful equipment." She did accept Midna's proposal first though, and didn't crush this spirit immediately, waiting to see if anyone would be interested in it. She wasn't going to use her 'free spirit claim' on this thing, thats for sure!

She did however, find that she liked an item that was on the ground, the Pipe of Insight. She could feel strong magic coming from the item which interested her greatly. However, while this would be her 'claim' of the loot, being something she could just carry on her person instead of causing some mutation she would dislike in the case of the sorcerer's spirit, she also took an interest in the strange boxes that seemed to have no way of opening them. "Does anyone know what these are? I sense no magic from them, but they are also locked shut." Sectonia said, confused at the loot boxes.



"Aw. I didn't get to kritz someone!" Blazermate said, a bit disappointed at how quickly the battle ended. This Cia wasn't all that strong of a person if she was defeated this easily, stuff in the Dead Zone was way worse! Still, it looked like they weren't going to eat in this restaurant anytime soon with how trashed it was, ESPECIALLY due to the giant hole Bowser left in the ground in which Geralt fell into, the witcher being saved in a princess carry by Bowser which Blazermate couldn't help but giggle at. "Aw, thats so cute!" She said to the pair, smiling as well as she could without a mouth. Her mood quickly soured though as the owner of the restaraunt came out and complained about all the damage that had been done, followed by the guards outside finally deciding to rush in after things were done.

What was weird was these guards sort of looked like a weaker, more marine Poppi. Blazermate didn't know anything about what was going on, and as Geralt said his mind, having been here, Kamek gestured for everyone who wasn't here to listen to him as he explained everything and how, while these guards were being rather stupid, that they still needed them to get the guardian of this area. He asked for diplomatic tact, which Bowser took to mean to shift the blame onto Peach. "C'mon Bowser, if your going to shift all the blame onto your girlfriend, its no wonder why you haven't made it past 1st base~!" Blazermate said to tease the koopa king.

She then turned to the, frankly, taller ship girls and said. "But if you want payment, I can offer some healing services. They don't come cheap, but I can heal up any of your commrades that are injured and make what would take weeks or months of recovery take less than a few minutes." Blazermate offered, showing this by healing up the injured people of her party, snapping bones back into place and stitching skin shut in a few moments. Although she had been doing a good job of that before, so there wasn't that many injuries left. She was a bit sad that the anime boy wasn't doing anything, but they tended to only be interested in fighting anyway and got nervous around girls, so it made sense why he wouldn't want to talk to these ship girls.

”How does that work? What happened to them? Where they weak and got beaten up? Who’s in charge instead?” Jr asked when he was told about Sakura’s (mostly) post monarchy world. The idea was fairly alien to his own world of kings, queens and princesses, ”Are you all ruled by mayors who got their own Marios jumping around doing their butt kicking for them or something?” he asked, trying to understand that using what he knew. A world with dozens and dozens of simplistic, happy go lucky unstoppable plumbers, each one working for a different nation. What a terrifying thought. Truly, his own world was blessed that there was only one man in red.

”That’s basically my plan but you're nibbling on the edges of em rather than going for the head honcho. Friend the big girls first and then hopefully they can just tell their minions to stand down and accept being hearted? Coz it’ll be tricky to heart and like, explain the deal to, every minion while you’re in the middle of a fight.” Jr said when Sakura tried to clarify her plan, before correcting himself

”Well maybe not for you and your ‘get in and punch people and being super likable and stuff’ deal, but it means we can't rely on shooting em from a distance or blowing lots of them up at once unless we try and make... some kind of... Heart cannon launching thing. Huh.” Jr scratched his cheek thoughtfully and then added, mostly to himself ”Like a big friend heart slingshot or something”

Jr added to the ‘ideas to tinker with’ pile, which only kept getting bigger.

As for the exercise, well, first Bella was not doing so great, managing only six seconds of standing up and feeling like it had taken an age which did not bode well for her prospects of being useful on land any time soon. She seemed to be onboard with jr’s suggestion she just use a spirit and get it over with, but Sakura was adamant that taking shortcuts was no good and she did have a point when she suggested it might diminish her water walking ability. Tyrant had gotten notably slower trotting about on land after he’d become part monster boat after all.

Still, there was one big issue ”Sure, she might get there eventually, but when is that gonna be? Weeks? Months? Being stuck not being able to move around without help sounds like a pain in the ass” it was too late, the humans not watching their tongue had once again struck Jr’s impressionable young mind and he seemed very pleased with himself about that fact ”Besides. If it doesn't work we can just have Peach remove the spirit again. But what if we use something anphiber-. Anphabor-. Something that goes on land and water already then that’d increase the odds of it working and not messing up her water walking ability? Ranger can walk, and so can the other navy ships, so maybe if you fuse with one, like the lady Geralt found who had cards for some reason, then maybe you'll get that same land standing leg ability thing?”

It took him saying all that out loud and a few moments more to recognize that maybe that specific fusion wasn't going to go down well with a lot of people and so he instead suggested that ”oooor we could just help her cheat like Rika is doing,” before putting the jar back down.

“9... and 10!” At that moment the ship girl in question finished her toe touching, stood back up and immediately wobbled on her overworked legs “Oh. Oh cool. My legs hurt a lot, but that’s good right? Now what do I do?” she asked, steadying herself and eager and willing to do more despite not being in the best condition to keep going. The girl clearly did not understand the concept of limits, to an alarming degree.

”or maybe not” Jr said, a bit perturbed about Rika’s lack of regard for her own well-being ”but maybe a walking stick. Or crutches. Least let her move about on her own on land even if she cant fight or something?

---

---

@Yankee@Dark Cloud@Dawnrider@Lugubrious@ZAVAZggg@Archmage MC@DracoLunaris@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN

---

---

As Link watched the silver haired swordsman bound after the last of the Cia's, sword straight and true, Link lowered his bow and directed his gaze elsewhere. There was no good reason, he decided, to watch the same woman die twice in the same day no matter what sort of woman it was.

It didn't help much. The sound of it still stabbed at his ears and nowhere he looked had anything to offer him in way of comfort. No matter what there was a flipped table, the scorch mark left behind by dark magic, an injured person, a ruined evening. A spirit that couldn't possible had come from the enemy. A reminder of what his lack of vigilance had cost.

"Unbelievable." He said, sounding tired. "I leave the princess alone for a minute and I end up getting kidnapped. Some bodyguard I am." He looked left and right, at the Cadet and the Frog. "Thank you. I'm sorry I got you guys into this."

It appeared, at least, as though someone was pleased with all this. Two orbs appeared in the ruins of the restaurant just as the barrier went down. Link walked around the table after a moment, cautiously approaching them as he pulled up his Sheikah Slate. "They're not attacking us." He said, bringing up the slate and snapping quick picture of each for future reference. "Spirit Orbs?" He said aloud as he lowered it. "Who from? I'm going to very upset if this was all some kind of trial."

He turned away from them, and as he did his boot hit something and sent it tumbling across the floor. He followed it, the little mote of dancing light tumbling until it came to rest against Cia hat where it had fallen on the floor. He reached down and picked up the sorceresses spirit. He contemplated destroying it, like Frog had, but couldn't bring himself to squeeze quite that hard. The image of the green one reaching for him in her dying moments was still fresh in his mind and the sting of pity the image generated stayed his hand. Of course, he wasn't going to fuse with it either. He didn't want to know what sort of awkward chimera would result from taking in someone with a him obsession. He supposed he could let it fade away, but that was completely out of the question. It just wasn't in his nature not to use the resources presented to him.

That left only one option, and it kind of turn his stomach that it would be the one most enjoyable for her, but he would just think of it as getting her to work off her debt to them. He thought back to what he'd seen Linkle do, and brought the spirit up to his lips where they could see eye to eye. "I know you don't have any objections to coming with me. Not after all this."

Despite this the spirit sat still in his palm. "Come on." He said. "You wanted to know my story, right? I'm saying you can be a part of it. Something besides a bit villain."

There was a another moment of hesitation then, almost shamefully, the image of Cia flowed out of the spirit and into Link's body. He shook his hand, wiping away the residue of the quickly dissolving spirit, and sighed. "You probably could have come along body and all if you had just asked."

It wasn't long after that that the real trial started. Soon enough the authorities arrived to take everyone to task for the calamity they had made. The owners complaints may have been made in anger, but he couldn't disagree with any of them. There really wasn't a way to argue out of the fact that picking a fight in the middle of a busy restaurant hadn't been the best plan. That's why, when arguments came, the issue was sidestepped entirely. Frog staked his good reputation in town to try and deescalate the situation, a move that made Link feel miserable considering he had just met the man a few minutes ago, before trying to pay for the damage out of his own pocket. Geralt, on the other hand, banked on their usefulness. It seemed as though his group had had a productive day while Link had been abducted, solving the mystery of the seemingly unconquerable enemy plaguing this ocean on their first sortie. Everyone else either hadn't chosen to speak or were hurriedly hushed.

"Admiral." Link said, stepping forward and bowing his head remorsefully. "I was the cause of this fight. While I was searching for a ship the sorceress, Cia, approached me and used magic to subvert my will. Though Frog did strike out at her, his only target was her scepter and his only intention was to break the spell she had placed on my mind so that they could take me away from here. That is all. It was Cia that escalated this to battle when she tried to murder my saviors with black magic." Which meant, he realized, that both the person that had initiate the fight and the one that had escalated it had both been from Limsa and not their group, though he bit his tongue on that. There was no way he was throwing the man that just fought to save him under the kart and he didn't think 'well actually this is you guy's fault if you really think about it' was an argument that had ever held sway in the history of any world. Still, the knowledge added a little more confidence to his voice. "I'll admit I haven't been a member of this group for very long, but in the short time I've spent with them I've seen them defeat a monster fearsome enough to destroy this town all by itself and free a whole city from its dominion. I have the picture to prove it. If anyone can put an end to this Abyssal threat, it's them. Please, let us make up for this tragedy."

---

---

@Lugubrious@darkred

---

Linkle felt all the air evacuate from her lungs, but she barely had time to get a breath back before the world started spinning. Then she was flying through the air, bouncing off the ground like a stone skipped across a pond, before the whole world went white. The dark. Was this is? What she dead? No, no, that didn't make any sense with the prophecy. Either of them, the catgirl one or the beat Ganon one. She couldn't be dead.

She opened her mouth, tried to breath, and then inhaled something. She popped out of the snow drift she had been bee plowed into, hacking and coughing before choking the unmelting snow out of her throat and taking a few deep, grateful breaths. With a groan she picked herself up and stared down the man. This man was really starting to bug her. That last attack had actually been a great idea, even he had said so, and she had wasted it on him. Not to mention that she was starting to notice something very troubling. The man was bored, listless, he left himself open all the time. He didn't care about getting attacked. Despite that, not once had Linkle pinged onto any sort of Weak Point she could exploit. Not even once. "What's your deal?" She yelled. "You don't feel anything? Ice, fire, getting kicked in the head, you just laugh it off?"

She took a sprinters stance and breathed in, letting the magic she had gotten from that potion spread through all her limbs. There was a thrum of power as Linkle began to glow, sparks of energy flying off of her. "I've got electricity too. Are you afraid of that?" She sprinted at him, the magic coursing through her body driving her twice as fast as before. As she reached him she planted one leg and lashed out with a series of kicks aimed all over the strangers body, lightning arching from from one boot to the other as the magic drove the power behind them to new heights.

After helping with the food, he let the teenagers do the cooking while he worked on cleaning himself, rinsing the sand off his clothes, and doing maintenance on his swords. It didn’t take too long before the meat was ready, though, and Yoshitsune was quick to grab a small slice for himself. “Itadakimasu.”

The Medic set to work crafting small metal devices for each of his teammates, save Sectonia and Midna. This required him racing up and down the stairs to acquire materials from the wrecked room, but with Tora's help, every human, cat, nippon, and robot had their own little box that could be attached to any belt or pack they had.

Yoshistune eyed the box given to him by the Medic. “What does this do, exactly?” He asked, turning to the german man. He listened politely, if a bit confused, at how the device worked, though understood the basics of its intent. “Arigatou gozaimasu,” the swordsman smiled softly with a small bow.

Then they began thinking of possible names for those under Galeem’s influence. “Everyone here has decent ideas, some better than others, but if I may interject my own idea. I propose we use the term Blinded. Short, gets the point across, and it makes complete sense. After all, what happens if you stare into a light for too long?”

Having heard enough of Sectonia’s speech on the spirits, he looked over the ones available. Seeing what was left, he grabbed two of the roaders. Remembering how they moved, he began thinking of an idea. Roader spirits in hand, he walked over to the side, placed the Roader spirits by his feet, and tried to absorb them both, hoping his plan would work. After they failed to absorb into his feet, he rolled his eyes and held them both up to his chest, imagining wheels on his feet.

During the discussion on what to call the red-eyes, Tora continued to find his own contribution more and more outclassed. Of course he didn't mind, but nothing quite struck a chord with him until Midna offered her suggestion, at which point Tora couldn't help but giggle at how perfect it was. “That make total sense, meh! Tora not realize until now that 'Galeem' like 'gleam', so 'Gleaming' is perfect!” After that, no other option would do for him. Already decided in his mind, he tried instead to picture the home Midna mentioned, a world without a sun. It boggled his mind. How could anything grow, after all? How could life exist? Then again, the shadow-attuned imp seemed rather magical, and if his time in the World of Light convinced Tora of anything, it was that anything was possible.

Although he meant to give the transformed Poppi Alpha and her new armored chassis a thorough analysis following his companion's fusion Tora could hardly keep his eyes off what happened next. A few of the others, perhaps also emboldened by the Medic's daring devotion to experimentation, jumped in on the fun. Midna was first, after making a comment Tora dismissed as inane since one of Poppi's optics was clearly its normal dark yellow. She performed some tests of her own using her Wolfos, which seemed to have no effect at first. When she stuffed a whole handful of vibrava spirits in, however, the creature completely metamorphosed. Until now, every fusion Tora witnessed added the aspect of the spirit to the host, but before him stood a dragonfly with the coloration of the Wolfos, as if the aspect had become the new base.

Fascinated, the Nopon reported his findings. “Wowow! So at about ten spirits of same type, host completely converted to other species, meh! Tora wonder what happen if ten all different types...?” It made for a somewhat scary thought, especially for someone tentative to even accept one into his heart. Every spirit changed not just a person's appearance but their personality. After so many fusions, would any trace of the original remain? How would opposing traits be reconciled? For the first time since arriving in the World of Light Tora's mind drifted to the eerie, ruined Land of Morytha beneath the Cloud Sea back home. There he and his friends had found and fought twisted monstrosities called Guldo. He remembered the chill that ran down his spine when he learned that they had once been humans who sought power and immortality by implanting the core crystals of blades into their brains. Things seemed different here, but still, wasn't there always such a thing as tempting fate?

The others no doubt planned to treat fusion carefully. So Tora set his misgivings aside and watched as Midna herself partook of the other Flygon spirit, changing in a manner quite different than the Medic did.



Tora's cheered, highly impressed, but he managed to contain his enthusiasm. “Meh, meh, meh! Midna changing in same manner as Poppi: every form bigger and cuter than last! Tora wonder what friend can do now?” He watched in case she decided to demonstrate, although concentrating on diagnostics seemed like a lost cause now anyway.

Next, the newcomer stepped up to try his luck. “Meh-meh? Yoshi not take much convincing!” Not unlike, say, him. In fact the swordsman selected not one but two spirits, those of the single-wheeled machines fought at the cliff's edge.



The changes to Yoshitsune turned out to be pretty small, mostly modifications to armor he already had, with the exception of his lower legs. Having built-in tires seemed pretty cool, although Tora wondered if it would be limiting in other ways. Either way, it wasn't like he could carry anyone around any better like this. Turning back to the loot, Tora waited to see if anyone else would try something.



As Bella continued to exercise, she did her best to listen to the plans and strategies ping-ponging back and forth between Sakura and Junior. In terms of schemes for bringing the Abyssal Fleet to heel -an idea that still sent her reeling mentally- boiled down to 'outward-in' and 'top-down' strategies. Both had upsides and downsides in military application, from what little she knew. An outward-in strategy would be less taxing and leave the stronger foes with fewer forces and options when it came time to make big moves, but it would take a lot of time and resources and potentially result in a stalemate. A top-down strategy would be faster and leave a victor with more spoilers, but it would be far more difficult all around. Bella couldn't keep this up for long; working out both her legs and her mind left her exhausted, and amenable to the idea of alternatives.

Based on Sakura's gung-ho attitude and the way she championed improvement of the self, Bella had a sneaking suspicion that the girl wouldn't be too enthusiastic about the notion of using spirits. Sure enough, Sakura quickly called that avenue a shortcut, saying that such methods turned out poorly and couldn't hold a candle to doing things the hard way. Such a philosophy no doubt had its merits, but given a little context it seemed just a little shortsighted. “W-well, didn't you take a spirit so you could-” Before Bella could say much the street fighter went on to express worry that fusion could hurt Bella's own natural abilities, watering them down to uselessness, and potentially not even help her walk in the first place. Bella pursed her lips, beginning to doubt her misgivings about Sakura's philosophy. Besides, shouldn't she just accept the word of the girl who saved her? She surely knew a lot more about right and wrong ways to do things than Bella did.

Junior countered Sakura instead. He asked how long it would take for hard work to get her fully mobile on land. Bella certainly didn't know how long it took for muscle to develop, but even one week seemed like way too long to do nothing while others saved the world. She gave him a dubious glance when she started repeating Sakura's slip-up immediately, but the Water Princess agreed wholeheartedly. “Spirits are a way to do things that you could never do before,” she reasoned. Her thoughts from earlier resurfaced. “If one can let you walk on water, one can surely let me walk on land...?”

Just then Rika finished her exercises, looking visibly worse for wear. Bella's brow furrowed. “Don't overwork yourself, Rika. Pain is not good.” Junior went on to offer a few more suggestions. “Well...none of that makes a difference if we can't go out there, I suppose.”

Shortly thereafter, Ranger returned from lookout duty on the deck. After the near-miss with Shropshire, the least Abyssal-looking of the three elected to keep an eye out in case of more arrivals, and the teacher appeared before the others with news to share. “It's the fishing boat, Ganryu-maru,” she told them. “Bringing in the last haul of the day, and they've got quite the catch, let me tell you. Their ship is too big to dock at the Fishers' Guild, so they pull in here. Also a good spot for the going and coming of the unsavory folks who take part in the fight club aboard.” Her tone had quickly become instructive in nature, finding a receptive audience in the form of the two Abyssals, Sakura, and Junior. “Brawling is off-limits in the city, you see. So anyone who wants to scrap makes arrangements to go out on Ganryu-maru while they're out fishing, along with spectators. The boat's big and flat enough to be a serviceable arena. Take a look if you like, although...” She looked between the Abyssals. “You two should just stick to the windows to avoid drawing attention. Me too, I suppose.”

Outside, the great ship came to a stop between the two piers of Pirate's Cove, neatly fitting into the space between them meant for two pirate ships side by side and practically occupying the whole cove in the process. With Shippy and the Atomos on the outside, that left the shady wharf at capacity. A veritable crowd of fisherman got to work, finishing the bagging of their catch and heading up toward the city and leaving the spectators to go about their business. Conspicuously fish-devoid, they departed in small groups, chatting among themselves or clustered around the fighters. Among them Sakura and Junior could see the ornery-looking clown and electric girl in blue they spotted fighting earlier in the day, as well as a sporty fellow with snake arms and a low stance, a bat-wielding kid with a pink pompadour, a weird cat, a blue martial artist, a rather haughty-looking girl in red, and a tough-looking guy with a a big blonde mop of hair.



A miserably incriminating scene surrounded the haphazard, embattled group, hostile faces at every turn. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife, yet there remained a glimmer of hope. Rather than initiate a mass-arrest or an offensive, the Admiral gave the accused a chance to speak. Perhaps she did so out of reason or fear, having seen at least the tail end of the brief but bitter struggle, or out of respect for the local or the status of the Princess, but the motley crew could state their case, and make plan the facts of the matter. But Nadia held her tongue as if a cat got it. In a fight she could hold her own, but getting caught red-handed by the fuzz? She would really be relying on her new friends now. So she kept quiet and waited, a little desperate, for someone to make a move.

Given his own familiarity with Limsa and its authorities, or perhaps just his own principles of fairness and responsibility, Frog leaped at the chance to ease the mounting pressure. He leaned on his own reputation as a known quality in these parts, then demonstrated the resolve behind his words with an immodest offering. The immediate remuneration caught Guildmaster Lyngsath off guard, and he hesitated to seize upon the warrior's weighty coinpurse. “Just a moment, Mr. Frog. I know you as an upstanding individual around here. Almost every time I post a commission its your face I see come to deliver my requested ingredients. I cannot imagine that you'd wreck havoc here without cause...and I especially cannot allow you to liquidate your entire savings for the sake of these people. You didn't cause any explosions after all! They should pay their fare share.” He looked upon Frog's compatriots in a new time, his temper no longer a boil but a simmer. “The idea that you would cover them...either I misjudged you, or I misjudged them...”

The act of brazen generosity served to catch the attention of the Admiral and her guard as well, suggesting that the matter warranted further consideration if not a change of opinions. Nobody's notice, however, could lay anywhere but on Sephiroth as soon as he disappeared into a undulating mass of lustrous color. Naturally the Admiral and her escort bristled, weapons at the ready in the face of an understandably alarming sight, but Peach broke from her paralysis to hold up pleading hands. “Wait, wait! This is a fusion, not an attack! He's disposing of the kidnapper's spirit so she can't regenerate!” Incredulous as her words might have seemed, Merylwyb proved herself a commander of uncommon temperance, and bade her soldiers hold their fire. A moment later, Sephiroth emerged from the luminous maelstrom, not quite the same.



As the light died down, the results left the onlookers a mixture of wary and astounded, giving Geralt a good opening. He threw a few Abyssal spirits at Merlwyb's feet, prompting her to pick one up and examine it as she listened. While his tone certainly won him little favor -does he think we like dying out there?- the import what he said could not be denied, and she absorbed every word. For a brief moment she looked at Pennsylvania for confirmation, holding up the prismatic mote. She gave a tentative nod—these spirits were not unknown to her. The Admiral watched Geralt produce the Hermes spirit with a stiff face, and after seeing what became of Sephiroth, didn't need to ask him what 'using' a spirit entailed. Having already dealt a weighty first impression the Witcher requested that her entourage cease menacing his crew. Merlwyb didn't need much time to consider it. “If this information you bring holds water, it is not something I can ignore. Stand down.” She raised a hand, signaling for her guards and ships to relax, then bid Geralt continue. “Go on.”

In the end, after giving a little context to the battle of the Bismarck that Link both helpfully and humbly completed, the Witcher offered the Admiral a simple question. And it had a simple answer. “To bring to this damned war to an end, I would give a great deal indeed. That is the real tragedy, its cost far greater than what happened here today. Each spirit we recover means an Abyssal gone for good, does it? Well! We'll pluck those spirits from the sea yalm by yalm if we must. If you speak the truth, you will not find us uncooperative.”

Nearby, Lyngsath stood in silence, his expression grave. In the span of a few moments the situation had gone from an unforgivable outrage to a casualty in a struggle far beyond himself. As Bowser stepped forward to relieve the burden on Frog and delegate the cost of the damages to Peach, and the machine girl offered services of her own, he ruminated on the bigger picture. “Like every citizen of Limsa, I've felt the pain of the war. Every day we go about our business, smiling and talking like nothing is wrong, but knowing we have people dying out there, and sometimes in here...it's a heavy burden. If you people can really stop it, then...the Bismarck is a small price to pay.” The Culinarian admitted defeat with a face downcast, aware of the selfishness of his desires, and how little they amounted to in the end.

As his face turned down, however, Peach's turned up. A glint shone in her eyes as she seemed to swell with importance, and she made an announcement. “Chef,” she began, moving to the front of the group. “Peace may not be won with forks and knives. But what is peace for? So that people may live their lives without having to fear for tomorrow. Without having to suffer the pain of loss. So while this place -your livelihood- may seem like an acceptable loss in exchange for Limsa's safety, I'm not gonna suffer it. I promise that the treasury of the Mushroom Kingdom will pay for the repairs!”

Lyngsath looked up, shocked. All around the citizens and staff echoed his surprise in their whispers and expressions, as well as his hope. “Even though you don't have to?”

Try as she might, Peach could not hide her triumphant smile. Her worries about costs and punishments troubled her no more. In this moment, doing real good, she felt like a hero. “Because I don't have to.”

A chorus of cheers arose among the citizens. Between them, the spokesmen of the retinue of heroes had effected a complete reversal, turning their accusers into their debtors. Not only did they make good on the damages done, but reveal a way through which the whole city might see a brighter tomorrow. Merlwyb took a moment to make hushed arrangements with the guards to deal with any lingering spirits, then motioned for Blue Team to follow her to the Drowning Wench. There remained a couple moments in which the heroes could scoop up the spirits of the fallen men and women if so inclined. “I'm impressed,” she told Peach as she started off. “Not often that politicians open their purses to prove the weight of their words.” She tapped Pennsylvania on the shoulder. “Dispatch your squad to bring me the Commanders. Heinrich is on the water.” The woman saluted and ran off.

“You mentioned you can perform expedient treatment, yes?” the shipgirl Tosa could be heard asking Blazermate. “If so, we have a hospital full of ships in need of care. I doubt we possess the funds to properly compensate you, but if your company wishes to further demonstrate its benevolence, there can be no better avenue.”

As the crowd got underway, with the guards dispersing to their posts and the citizens their homes, Nadia followed along without a word, walking between Ace Cadet and Frog. For the life of her she couldn't have expected a better outcome, nor one more unanticipated. She nudged the Cadet with her elbow. “Whew, looks like I stumbled into a purr-etty good crowd, huh? I was with Bowser and Tin Cans over there in the Dead Zone. Name's Nadia, but you can call me Ms. Fortune!” She'd had plenty of time to wrap her head around what Kamek told her, and realize everything undertaken here was in pursuit of another Guardian. That sort of went without saying, but knowing that her teammates already possessed an idea how to do so really took a load off. Or maybe that was just the euphoria of getting away scot-free from such a terrible situation. Regardless she had some kind of energy she didn't have before, and she was feeling super.

Only looking at the changed Sephiroth, and remembering his callousness, threatened to dull her mood. Sure, from what Link said it sounded like the sorceress had been pretty rotten, but the guy was definitely unhinged. When the party reached the Drowning Wench, Merlwyb put out a call to asked Kamek and Geralt to join her to extract every last detail about spirits and formulate a plan. Peach turned to address the group.

“Take a load off. Something to eat, drink, whatever. You all have earned it.” She looked out at the tide of orange tainting the cloudless blue sky. “It's getting to be late. It's been a long day...” A yawn escaped her as she stretched. “Uwaaaaaaaaah! Hard to believe we defeated the dragon just this morning. The Admiral said we'll head out first thing tomorrow with the morning sortie, and they'll cut a way through for us to head for the Bottomless Sea. As for tonight, maybe we can get rooms here at the inn. 'Mizzenmast', its called.”

“Take it easy? Don't gotta tell me twice!” Nadia plopped into a seat, putting her legs on the table as she leaned back. She couldn't see Bacchus anywhere, and while she recalled catching a glimpse of Inigo somewhere in the crowd around the Bismarck, he wasn't around to chat anyone up either. That left her boss-seeking pals, both new and old. She waved at the group, beckoning over whoever might want to join her. “It ain't some posh sit-down place like the Bismarck, and it sure ain't Yu Wan's, but I could go for a couple bites of bar food. Hey miss, help meowt with a menu, huh?”

The barmaid, a pretty redhead who no doubt made her weight in tips daily, approached with a few menus. “Here for dinner? Whatcha wanna drink?”

“Water for me. A beer too, actually. Got anything sour?” Nadia asked, looking over the selection. “Hey, fish and chips sounds alright.”



For all his lackluster emoting so far, the Stranger did give a small snicker when the Skullgirl vented her frustration. “Took you long enough,” he taunted, throwing up his hands with a shrug of his shoulders, as if to say can you believe this to an invisible peanut gallery. He watched her prepare herself once again, this time calling forth lightning where ice and piercing had failed, and he beckoned her his way. For a moment, as the aura of her power reached him, he even looked sort of hopeful. She asked if he liked electricity. “My brother'd tell you otherwise, buuuuut...let's find out.”

A moment later she shot his way, arcs of power spread like wings behind her, surrounded in a vacuum of swirling frost. Her leg struck him with the speed and power of a lashing viper, seeking a weak point all across his body in a thunderstorm of blows. The Stranger took them all, a rueful smile on his face in the brief moments the Skullgirl could see it. If it pissed her off her next kick made it clear: a rock-hard boot to the jaw that wrenched his head sideways, twisting his body partially around. She could hear a minor cracking sound, like cracked knuckles, but nothing jarring. What it did do, however, was provoke a response; the Stranger leaned into the twist and came around with a spinning backhand to smack away his opponent's leg. Snow flew as he zipped behind her, grabbed her around the middle, and performed a suplex that smashed her head through the powder and into the ground once again.

This time her own neck gave a cracking sound, but not nearly so loud as the ground, already weakened by one titanic blow ealier. A deep rumbling sound echoed across the ice fields as a yawning fissure opened in the earth itself. Maybe this area covered a subterranean cave, or formed a valley long frozen over, but regardless of why it happened the feat perhaps gave the Skullgirl an appreciate for her enhanced defense.

When she arose again, she found herself separated from the Stranger by a couple dozen feet of open air, as they stood on either side of the brand new canyon. If the scale of the duel impressed the Stranger, however, he gave no sign. “This is POINTLESS,” he ranted. “I feel NOTHING. And you, you feel everything but you just keep trying. I'm not my brother, and if you'd just given me what I asked for we wouldn't have had to waste our time like this. But nooo...”

---

---

---

---

Sephiroth rolled his shoulders as the lightshow finally died down, feeling the changes made both to his body and his clothes. In regards to the former, his skin had become noticeably darker, his hair significantly shorter, and his body far less muscular and far shorter than it had been before. At least as far as the SOLDIER himself was concerned anyway, since to everyone else these alterations were minor at best save for the decrease in height, change in skin tone, and shortening of his hair. The same could not be said for his clothes however, which had taken on a dark reddish hue, albeit nowhere near as flashy as the hue worn by Genesis. Its yellow highlights didn't help matters either, nor did having a shorts leg in place of a pants leg, or all of these damn bracelets and an extra belt.

All of it was the exact opposite of the utilitarianism he typically preferred, but he supposed such baubles could still be of some use. As a perfect being, it was strangely fitting that he should be clad in such things, if only so he could remind those around him of their place. He might have needed them, and been forced to work alongside them, but that didn't mean he was one of them. More intriguing than the changes to his appearance and clothing, however, were the psychological changes. At the moment of his fusion he'd felt it. A newly awakened, or perhaps greatly strengthened, obsession with a certain buster sword wielding being. One that already spelled trouble for him due to how hard it was to ignore. Granted, he'd been aware of the risks going in, and he'd managed to get some power out of it, so he couldn't really complain.

Still, such inclinations could prove to be he's downfall if he wasn't careful. Although, upon second thought, would that really be such a bad thing? If Cloud were involved, hell maybe even Link...

Sephiroth pushed those thoughts to the periphery of his mind, grunting as he did so. They were products of the sorceress' mind, and not his own. Her obsession had been fixated upon the tunic clad warrior, and to a very stupid degree at that, so it was only natural that such a fusion had some influence on him. Annoying as it might have been, he resolved to ignore it as best he could, focusing instead on his long term plan to take down Galeem. Or, in the short term, events currently unfolding around him. Fortunately, the situation had been mostly defused by the time he'd deigned to give them notice, meaning he didn't have to waste any time sitting through a back and forth of diplomatic exchange. It also meant that he soon found himself and the rest of the teams under way, following along after Merlwyb as she led them down the busy streets and to the Drowning Wench. Sephiroth remained silent the entire way, the only sounds to be heard from him the jangling of his bracelets and belts as they trudged along.

At length they arrived, though once again Sephiroth declined interaction with those around him, only lingering long enough to hear what Peach had to say before ordering something to eat and sequestering himself away in a private room.

---

Limsa had been Frogs home from the moment he stepped forth to swing his holy blade for the good people of the coastal city, as such every citizen in the settlement knew him by virtue and he had become something of a local hero in the eyes of Limsa's general population after many deeds. It never mattered if the job was as simple as helping the elderly or finding a lost pet but what truly mattered was that he found a purpose besides hiding from the world.

These people had needed him from the beginning but it was never enough for the swordsman because he felt like he was never truly getting closer to becoming a true hero until the moment he stood tired and hurt with allies all around him, and he realized that even if the groups came up with something to tell the Admiral she wouldn't give it a second thought.

Frog knew he would sacrifice himself in order to save anyone in his protection as it's what his mentor the hero Cyrus had done during the battle atop Denadoro Mountain when his friend took the brunt of the ripping unholy winds their enemies conjured. But he had been the one to be saved yet again and not once but twice from both the warrior's he was walking alongside out of the Bismarck with.

Although small as it had been the spores that Ace Cadet threw had saved his life but then came along the pointy earred youth Link whose own safety was risked by helping Frog stay on his feet without succumbing to his wounds, and upon nearly tasting the kiss of deaths embrace the very individual he had fought to protect saved him from death.

But it was when the boy stepped forth after Frog staked his entire reputation to save these people whom he had just met, that the amphibious swordsman nearly lost his composure. Frog easily hid his shaking as he fetched the remnants of his dented golden shield but his eyes were filling with tears that he quickly blinked away.

He walked in silence between both Link and Ace before stopping entirely as he stared down at the broken remains of his shield then his two companions apprehension in his posture. In the broken reflection of his shield he could see himself as the man he had once been but didn't let his gaze linger. Looking between his two companions the amphibious swordsman with pain in his eyes and asked "Hath I failed mine duties?"

---

Junior asked questions about Sakura's world. "It-it's like prime ministers and presidents and stuff. In most places, anyway." She answered. But Bowser Junior said Mario, which confirmed for Sakura that he was from a video game. Or rather, there was a video game in her world that took elements from his world. Strangely she found the idea quite irrelevant. It didn't really change anything. Maybe she could bring it up later during a casual conversation.

Sakura put her finger on her chin, thinking intensely at Junior's plan. "Okay, well, while we're fighting all the head honchos, they'll still have all their minions to help them. And what if the next biggest minion just takes their place? If we beat up the less big ones first we...that's, like, uh, good. Because, then they won't have any help. And we don't have to explain in the middle of the fight because-" She stopped for a moment.

"You think I'm super likable? You really mean it? Thanks, Junior-kun!" She held one hand behind her back and pushed the toes of her left foot bashfully into the floor. "Hm hm hm," She laughed, smiling shyly.

The conversation turned back onto the subject of spirits. Sakura deflated, blowing air through her lips. She even turned red as her own hypocrisy was pointed out. Blushing, she brought a hand up to her ears. "Well- that was- that was different!" She exclaimed. "I had to."

Sakura relented though, frowning. "Okay, okay... no. It wasn't really different." She rubbed the back of her head, feeling foolish. "You guys are right. I guess a spirit would be the best way to go." Sakura pouted a little, crossing her arms.
"J-just don't make it a habit. It feels weird. When I don't need to fight on the ocean anymore I'm gonna ask Peach-san to turn me back into the normal me." She declared.

"Also, Rika-san, yeah, call it off. Your muscles will be stronger later. But you're just hurting yourself now. This whole excercise thing was dumb. Junior's right. It'll take too long. I just- I just really like it. Sorry." Her cheeks were stinging red. Sakura plopped down on the bed next to Bella. "We could, uh, do it later. If you wanted." She added, not wanting to dampen Rika's spirits entirely.

Ranger showed up and Sakura quieted down. Nodding, she looked out the curtained window as the big ship arrived. But her ears literally perked up as Ranger said two magic words. "Fight club? Huh? Fight club?" She stood up and then sat back down, restraining herself.

"Well, I love fighting. But I'll probably hold off. I don't want to just leave you guys here while I go running away, y'know?" Sakura reasoned aloud. "Still, I'm just gonna take a look. I'll stay infront of the ship. Maybe find a spot to watch some street fights?" Sakura said hopefully.

She walked out of the bay doors of the Atomos, waving to Rika and Bella, even though she wasn't really going anywhere. "Hey, look, Junior-kun! It's that clown and that blue girl from earlier!" She pointed to them.

"Wow, look at that guy's long arms! That one looks really tough, and she- EHHHHHH!?" Sakura cut herself off with an incredulous shout.

"Th-th-th-th-th-" She slapped the sides of her heads. "That's Karin Kanzuki!" She crouched down, grabbed onto Junior's shoulder and began bouncing up and down. "That's Karin Kanzuki! I know her! That's my rival! That's my rival! I know her!" She smiled brightly, seeing a familiar face.




Sakura clenched her fists. "Okay, okay. Calm down, Junior-kun, calm down! I definitely have to meet up with Karin! Oh, man, I hope she doesn't make fun of my cat ears. Does she know about Galeem? No, she doesn't!" She touched her ears, her tail curling.

"The mighty Karin Kanzuki. Not even she could escape Galeem's power. She's gonna be pissed about that when she finds out." Sakura said to Junior. "Look, that's my friend! Do you see her? She's the one in red. With that beautiful blonde hair and condescending aura?"

She looked anxiously over her shoulder to Bella, Rika, and Ranger in the room. She sprinted at top speed, skidding to a stop infront of the door. Breathless with a wide grin on her face, she peeked her head into the room. "I just recognized one of my friends on that boat! I have to challenge her to a street fight and win! Please? I'll stay in view of the windows! Actually, please watch our fight, it'll be really cool!" Sakura said.

"Oh, man..." She laughed. "Only one small problem. I lost some of my physical strength when Arashio lended me her power. My friend, Karin Kanzuki, is already one of the toughest people I know. It'll basically be the equivalent of me falling behind on my training for months! And knowing her, she hasn't stopped training for a single second. Even in this world she's spent her time fighting, while I was off looking for Ryu-san!" She slapped her forehead.

"B-but," She pointed at the three of them. "If you three plus Junior cheer me on, I can still win anyway!" She clenched her fists excitedly.

After a close call caused by Sephiroth’s brazen self transformation, which consisted of him shrinking and getting a makeover into a more summary look. Humans were lucky in that there were so many of their ilk about that they could gain power from without too drastic a transformation, Kamek thought. He wasn't sure if absorbing his own Cia copy would go down quite as well. It would have to wait either way, unlike Sephiroth the mage wasn’t about to go fusing while things were going down that he might need to deal with. It just seemed a rather rude thing to do in the middle of a negotiation, so he tucked it away to use later.

Said negotiations were going well, Geralt’s delivery of the information they had discovered about how the fleet was regenerating getting the admiral to begrudgingly stand down her forces. The ability to win the seemingly endless war they were fighting was worth the damages they had caused. To the town as a whole at least, it left the poor chef to pick up the pieces of his ruined restaurant without any immediate compensation.

Bowser’s attempt at fobbing off the cost of those damages onto Peach got at least one reaction, namely from Blazermate who teased the king about it.

”What? Hey!” The king replied to the ribbing in a fluster. A small part of him wondered what baseball had to do with this and in what version of the game you ran to the bases with some else, but the rest of his mind rolled over to the tradition of the guy paying for dinner. Or in this case an entire restaurant. He immediately scrambled for an excuse and what he found was, to be fair, a pretty decent if somewhat undignified one. He was flat broke. ”Look. She has her castle, I don't have mine. When we do find mine, or when we get back, I'll cover the costs or something? Kamek, write the princess an IOU”

Behind him Kamek notably cringed at the prospect. Their various Princess-nappings and kingdom/world/galaxy conquering schemes were expensive, and what they didn't spend on the preparation was lost as the man in red merrily stormed through everything they could throw at him, hoovering up coins as he went. Now that he thought about it, he wondered how much of Peach’s treasury consisted of money the plumber had taken directly from them over the years. The mage quietly decided he wouldn’t ever remind the king of this IOU if he could avoid doing so.

Fortunately the princess had gotten over her stupor and enthusiastically offered her own finances to aid in the reconstruction of the restaurant and while the frog warrior’s offer of all his fiances had been pushed back people where all to happy to take Peach’s funds, especially because it was now a compassionately offer of aid rather than compensation. It definitely helped that unlike the honorable warrior the princess wouldn't be bankrupted by this bout of generosity. That said, it would be best, Kamek thought, if they tried to avoid wrecking places they might end up having to pay for to rebuild in future, lest they drain the royal coffers. It was the army’s only source of funding after all.



With the big problems out the way, there was only the minutiae of the arrangement to handle, and once that was all settled the team all wound up back in the Drowning Wench.There Peach suggested everyone take a load off after a long, long day. That was all and good for some, but not everyone’s work was done. No sooner had they arrived in the bar than Kamek and Geralt were summoned to give a briefing to the heads of the city’s navy on everything they knew. Before they headed out, the mage approached Peach to get her up to speed with the one part of their airship ride that they hadn’t told the admiral about.

”I’m afraid there's one more thing that needs doing tonight, your majesty. We have a, hmmm, a new friend that is in need of that spirit removal ability you have. They’re with the young master and Sakura back at the airship, which is parked in the cove with Briny-Beard’s ship. If you could let her know we’re meeting with the Admiral and that it might help us introduce two other new friends if she were to vouch for them in that meeting. That is only if they are all up for it, make sure they know that,” Kamek told her, hoping she could put enough of what he meant together that she wouldn't be surprised and need Sakura and Jr to explain everything on the spot, while also using candid enough language that he wouldn't worry the other people in the public setting they were in.

”If you think that last is a good plan, Geralt?” He asked the Witcher, not wanting to be on a different page from the person who was going to be the key half of their briefing/negotiation team.

”If you're going to where Jr is, I’m going too. Also someone’s gotta make sure no more kidnappings happen today,” Bowser asserted, partially wanting to see his son, partially wanting to avoid Bacchus if he came back to the bar, before sucking air in through his teeth as he remembered he had bad news to deliver. He sighed, and then laid out the situation as best he could ”So uh. Linkle. She was a brave idiot and used this cursed wish granting thing called the Skullheart, which turns people into crazy dangerous monsters called a Skullgirl if their wish isn't ‘pure’. Big problem is the heart’s super blatantly evil and nitpicks every wish to find something, anything, that isn't pure and so. Yeah. Skullgirl. Then before we or she could do anything she got nabbed by one of those hooded jerks, this one could stop time, and dragged off to who knows where through a portal,”

”That. Oh dear,” Kamek was at a loss as to what to say to that ”A monster, really? Can’t anything be done?”

“People with a strong will can resist, especially if they are trying to stay focused on their wish” Marie told them, the former skullgirl summoning herself to give a better explanation than the King could “and her wish was simply to become powerful enough to fulfill your quest, which is straightforward enough. She might have her mind for a while, but in the end the skullheart will win, take control, and rain down destruction upon everyone and everything. And no. there is no undoing it. I’m sorry. I’m speaking from experience here.”

”Where you’re from maybe. We have every world’s power all shoved in here. Maybe your soul thing can fix it? If not, the mercs are looking out for both her and a way to fix it” Bowser retorted. He was absolutely sure that something could be done. If they were home there’d be a way out, be it true love’s kiss or folding 100 paper cranes or something else that would undo the curse and wash away the harm it had inflicted.

The former Skullgirl shrugged apologetically and left them to it.

”Well. I suppose all we can do now is hope and keep our eyes and ears open?” Kamak said. It was dower news. The mage knew that Bowser had actually liked Linkle and he suspected part of the king’s self assurance was a coping mechanism for dealing with what had happened.

---

---

@Lugubrious@darkred

---

Linkle gingerly lifted herself up from where she had been planted like an idiot tree, a stab of pain shooting down through her body from her neck. She held her head stumbled forward, almost stepping directly into the gaping chasm that had been opened in the ice field. She yelped and took a step back, briefly ignoring the strangers provocations as she looked down into the inky darkness. "Urgh, did my head do all that?" Grandma had always said she was hard headed, but that was ridiculous.

Still, stubborn as Linkle was, even she had to admit that The Stranger wasn't an problem that could be solved with cussedness alone. She felt that magic fade out like a dying fire, used up in a single burst from her earlier attack. That had well and truly been not only Linkle's best trick, but her last. She had officially thrown everything she had at The Stranger and none of it had even seemed to slow his pace.

Not every trick.

"Like four wolves are going to slow him down." She said dismissively under her breath.

Not that. Did you hear the crack when you kicked him? He has bones. Give in to me and he will be nothing but a puppet out your strings.

"Yeah, and then you have him. Shut up." Linkle replied.

It matters little. Give in to win, or let him turn your bones to powder. The result will be the same.

"I don't need both of you talking down to me!" She yelled, looking back up at the Stranger. She started pacing her side of the chasm like caged animal, training her crossbow on him as though that meant anything. If he tried to clear the gap she was going to treat him like Junpei and bomb him right back. "Why do you care so much?" she called out across at him, anger and confusion mixing in her voice. "You feel nothing, right? If nothing works on you then why does it matter what my friends can do? What do you have to worry about? If Galeem had someone that was invincible why bother with the other Guardians?"

She didn't believe for a moment he was actually invincible. He couldn't be. He had to have some kind of weakness that she was too stupid to recognize or too weak to exploit that she just hadn't figured out yet. If he didn't than their entire quest was just some kind of sick joke and that was an idea Linkle was psychological incapable of entertaining.

---

---

@Dark Cloud@Lugubrious@Yankee

---

Link breathed a sigh of relief as the Admiral and the owner did a complete 180 from their position only moments ago. He gave an appreciative nod to Frog and Geralt, glad that at the very least the worst outcome had been averted, though to him this turn felt a lot like the twist of a knife. He physically winced when the cheer went up, and looked again at the four civilian spirits. Cia wouldn't be the only one working off the debt that had been accrued here today. The least he could do is make sure that at least their families could live in peace.

As they filed out of the restaurant he wasn't surprised that he was the only one who was dour about how things turned out, but he was surprised at who expressed those feelings. He knew that Frog had been on the verge of death in there but he was taking this rather hard. That pain evident on the knights face as he spoke was frighteningly familiar. It was a pain he wouldn't suffer to fester a second time.

"No." Link said decisively, very nearly cutting Frog off before he could even finish his question. "I've seen where that kind of thinking leads. No one thinks that you failed, not me, not anyone here, probably not anyone in Limsa. Your words wouldn't have held the weight they did otherwise." He looked over at the Cadet and the cat woman they were walking with, beckoning them to agree with him before continuing. "Everyone has regrets. Everyone has things they think they've failed at. But if you focus on them they'll pile on, one on top of the other, until they're all that you can see. So take it from someone that see's you clearly: you are not a failure."

He gave it a few seconds for it to sink in before his face softened considerably. "Ah, sorry for getting so intense. I've still got some regrets of my own to work out." He said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment and looking to change the subject. "Sorry about your shield, too. I've met some great blacksmiths that can beat it back into shape for you if you like. They would probably do it for free if you let them study that weapon you picked up." He tapped the scepter Frog had gotten when he'd broken the Cia spirit.

---

As they went he was surprised to see that the good samaritan with the giant sword was among them, though he gave the man a wide berth considering who he had just gotten done absorbing. The last thing he wanted to do right now was test whether or not there had been any side effects to that fusion. He was relieved when the man simply ordered his food and left.

Instead, he gravitated toward Ms. Fortune who had said something intriguing on the walk down to this bar. Luckily enough, the cat woman offered an open invitation to her table that he could take advantage of. Sliding into a seat, he took a menu when presented by the barmaid. "Warm Milk please. Along with..." He took a moment to burry his nose in the menu. "This grilled fish. Some fried potatoes. What's an onion ring? Nah, doesn't matter. It's a vegetable. A plate of those. Some curry rice. Annnd..." He closed the menu and handed it back to the woman. "Whatever you would recommend for dessert." He said with a smile.

The vital issue of the food settled, Link to the opportunity to reach across and offer his hand to Nadia. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Fortune. I'm Link. Thanks for your help earlier." He leaned back and tried to relax. "But as grateful as I am, I know you didn't come running from another region just to rescue little old me. Since Bowser looks like he's taking off and the guardian is probably going to be busy healing people It looks like it falls to you to share the adventure you had in the Dead Zone with the rest of us."

The group didn't get even a moment of silence after Cia's defeat. The red and purple spirits of the sorceress rested on the ruined patio, and over them two of the helpful strangers spoke about having to even kill Cia in the first place. Silently the Cadet had to agree with the swordsman - she was looking to kill all of them. It would be nice to save as many people as possible that were under Galeem's influence, but when under pressure from someone like that there was only so much you could do. The hunter sighed and stood up straight, rolling his shoulders and neck. The battle had become so intense so quickly, and the enclosed space was hard to fight in, but they'd manage to save their friend in the end. He'd do it again, and he told the Hylian as much when the man apologized.

"It's Ya-cool, Link. Nobody would've guessed there was a super strong obsessed lady waiting for them here. We're friends, and friends help each other, right?" The Cadet offered Link an easy smile, not at all concerned about scramming before the owner or guards showed up like some of the others around them were. He did figure they'd be off soon anyway though, so the Cadet looked around at the battlefield again to see if they'd missed anything. He winced at the sight of the spirits of a few unfortunate souls caught in Cia's area of effect spells, but the only other thing on this side of the restaurant was the little figure that was once a living shadow. The hunter didn't really know what to do with it, but it seemed weird to just leave it there. He picked it up and put it in his pouch.

Next he'd wanted to get in line for Blazermate's healing treatment, but there was no helping his curious nature, so before that the Cadet moved around to peek at the orbs Link pointed out. They sort of did look like spirits, which he assumed was what the Hylian was referring to when he said 'spirit orb.' While Link was content to snap a photo, Cadet reached out. He hadn't seen anything that looked like a heart or trident at the restaurant... but then again, the battle had gotten pretty hectic. The bold and bright pink colored orb was the one that caught his attention most, and he scooped that one up to give it a closer look.


And just like that, the vision disappeared. The Cadet found himself exactly where he left, with nothing outwardly different, and nobody so much as moved. The pink orb was gone without a trace. Some trickery of time, space, or illusion had seemingly confined the whole experience to a single instant. And yet there lay within him a certain warmness, a sort of lingering intensity that felt as though it could be tapped into, like a surge of passion. The hunter looked down and touched at his chest piece as if he could grasp the feeling. His hands felt around the metal and scales, then made their way up to the shaved sides of his head. He hadn't physically changed within the vision, and now confirmed that he hadn't outside of it either. That was a relief. The experience left the Cadet in a bit of a confused daze for a few seconds, but if the warmth in his body wasn't proof enough it was real, then the absence of the pink orb was. He eyed the other orb, the one with the blue-green trident inside. It was the same type of thing, so it would trigger another vision if touched... right? If it bestowed power he'd better not take it without consulting everyone else, the first one being a happy accident. Cadet raised his arm to wave the others down to tell them about the mysterious things, but at that point a very unhappy restaurant owner and Limsa's admiral herself appeared.

As always, this kind of thing was better left to the more diplomatic members of their party. The Cadet crossed his arms, looking between Frog offering to pay damages to the owner, and Geralt explaining the situation at large to the admiral while the others did their own thing, keeping out of the way. The conversation was tense for a long while, but heroes were convincing. The admiral came to understand, and with Peach being generous with her coffers the other civilians did as well. All's well that ends well, that's the saying, right?

"Some of you have a real way with words," Ace Cadet said, and followed along quickly as the lot of them moved on to another venue. He felt a nudge and looked to his side at the cat girl, who freely gave her name. Up close she looked pretty tough, and there were large scars visible on her tan skin. A fighter like Sakura maybe? Cadet wasn't one to shy away from scars, they could make for some good stories back in his world, but these ones seemed... uniform. Deliberate. Maybe he shouldn't ask. Instead, he returned her gesture and introduced himself.

"The best crowd, Ms. Fortune!" he said, looking particularly tickled at her name. "What was the Dead Zone like? You guys got back so quick... ah, well, I guess the story can wait until we get where we're going. I'm the Ace Cadet, I just go by that, but nicknames are fine." He pointed a few others out to Nadia. "That's Kamek, he's magic. That's Geralt, also kind of magic? Ms. Peach is a princess. No clue who that swordsman is, but his technique was pretty gargwawesome.

"And..." He gestured to Frog beside them, but found the warrior sulking. He was probably taking what happened hard, since Limsa had been his home for a while now. Hopefully his reputation in town wasn't damaged, given that said reputation greatly benefited them when they had to explain everything after the battle. Link was in the middle of giving Frog a pep talk, and when the Hylian met his eyees the Cadet nodded. "He's right, you're no failure Frog! Things could have turned out way worse if you weren't there." And it was true. If Frog hadn't helped him find Hat Kid, then she and Frog couldn't have saved him from the shadow's sneak attack - although Cadet himself was still ignorant to what almost happened. Not to mention his help in the battle itself.

When they all got to the Drowning Wench, the Cadet's stomach rumbled something fierce. He unabashedly ignored it, knowing that they'd be fed in a few minutes. Like Peach suggested, he was fully planning on partaking in a literal feast at this point. That black dragon was no joke! Plus coming out to Limsa, dragging the gold around, Kamek informed the princess (and inadvertently the rest of blue team that hadn't gone on the sortie) a little about what was going on with Sakura and Junior. It would be cool if someone fetched them, they could save a space at the table. "Weren't you guys supposed to just observe?" Cadet chuckled, "After you talk to the admiral you have to fill us in with the details too. Oh, and check on BB?" the last part was directed at those returning to the Atomos.

The next piece of news was not good news by any stretch. While the Red Team had left the Dead Zone (with the reason still a mystery to those outside of it), one of them hadn't come back with them. So Linkle was taken, but not only that - she was turning into some kind of monster? Various images came to mind, none pretty. If Linkle was missing they couldn't rest just yet, they had to go look for her. Before Cadet could voice that, Bowser ended on the note that the Alcamoth mercenaries were doing just that now.

"You're right Bowser, I'm sure there's something out there that can help. Besides, Linkle is super strong willed, so she'll be fine!" The Cadet patted the Koopa King's scaly arm. He hadn't been there with them to experience a skullgirl first hand, but because of that the hunter could be optimistic. Or as much as possible, at least. The end of the day was a real whiplash of emotions, huh? "I'll drop by the Alcamoth and give them some of my scoutflies. They have everyone's scent, so if the mercenaries get close to Linkle's trail they'll react."

After that, the group began to split up again. As for Ace Cadet, he decided to wait there in the bar. If Junior and Sakura came by he wanted to see them. He also wanted to know what the admiral would say after Kamek and Geralt spoke with her. Perhaps he should have asked to tag along, but his stomach grumbled again so he sat himself down at the large table with Nadia and Link. Dropping like a stone onto the stool, the Cadet let out a sigh. He didn't pick up a menu, instead looking to the barmaid earnestly. "One of everything," he told her.

Everything had been going so well at the beginning of the day. Limsa had treated them well too. When danger appeared in the city, and apparently out at sea, they'd all made it through. Then the bad news about Linkle's disappearance... He'd wanted to know what happened in the Dead Zone, and now even more so. Even though she was taken through a portal, maybe there was some kind of clue that one of them could pick out after a summary of the Red Team's adventure?

Cadet nodded following Link's words. "Yeah, I'm pretty Quru- um, curious too. What happened?"

After a brief stint in cooking and eating her fill, Primrose went over to the clothing pile that Panther pointed out earlier. Primrose wouldn't be picky with this, so long as it was temporary. Thankfully the cloak protected most of her dancer's outfit, so it would only need a quick wash. The thief said that the more intricate outfits they wore were projections, which was interesting, and just as confusing as some of the other things she'd mentioned about her home world. They looked more comfortable in their "real" clothes.

With her arms full of robes Primrose wandered away from the oasis, halfway down a corridor where no wandering eyes could spot her before she changed. "Loose" was kind of an understatement since the garments were apparently made for "hippos" as Panther called them. On her, the robes offered plenty of glances at her skin as she moved - but barely more than her own clothes, and she made sure the robes were tied tightly at her waist. She returned and rinsed the sand from her outfit, laying it in a safe place where the sun shined in to dry. Then, she took her place back at the poolside beside Panther as the group chatted about names to call those under Galeem's influence. She giggled at Skull's suggestion, finding it cute how he deflated under everyone's attention. He, Anne, Alibaba... even the stubborn Joker, these kids were endearing.

"Hmm." the brunette brought a hand to her chin, tapping one finger against her jaw in thought. This kind of thing wasn't really her forte. She could only imagine what Cyrus might try and name them. Animo Lumine or something... Instead of suggesting anything, she cast a vote. "Gleaming works. It's not a word one uses in everyday speech very often."

With that settled the dancer took the time to chat with Panther while the rest of their large group spread out. At one point the Medic came back over to them to hand both girls a small device. Primrose turned it over in her hands a few times, and beyond her she heard Yoshitsune ask what it was. She kept an ear out for the answer while she talked with Anne. "Hippo, hm? It looks like a boar and a tortoise mixed together." She was glad that the thieves managed to beat it, as fearsome as hippos apparently were. Hippowdon had been very useful to her so far. Ah. Hippo. Hippo-don. I see.

Soon they were treated to a light show as a couple of them decided to fuse with the spirits they'd gathered. Primrose leaned a little closer to Panther to continue talking. "I've been wondering about her. Carmen. And the other... Personas," she hesitated for a moment, unsure of the wording, "Are they not Strikers as well? Or something similar, from your world. I wonder if a spirit could be fused to them as well." While Anne answered, the lights were beginning to fade and the results of the spirit fusions appeared. The Medic and Yoshitsune became more monstrous, one natural and one metal. Midna and Poppi... well, they weren't humans to begin with, but their changes weren't any less noticeable. In particular, Poppi's ability to change forms meant that only the form that underwent the fusion was transfigured. Convenient, and very useful. Even a wolfos was transformed. Personally Primrose didn't think she'd fuse with a monster or machine spirit herself, not unless pushed to desperation. The ones that did were pretty bold. There was a humanoid spirit in that pile though, wasn't there? "..."

The question of whether she should fuse or not... the answer was obvious, wasn't it? It was a humanoid spirit, and hell - they even had a similar fashion sense. Primrose still wasn't at full power either. Before Galeem claimed every universe, she and her companions had been strong. She could dance with the ferocity of a lion, bestowing enhancements on all of her party at once. Her stamina had been much greater too, and although she didn't utilize it often, her hand to hand skill as well. Her performances could even affect the world around them - and, when together the eight of them pooled their knowledge together, Primrose remembered the feeling of holding fire and ice in her hands for the first time. Olberic daring to place his own warm hand on her shoulder, his smile proud and safe, telling her that once this was over she should return to Atlasdam with Cyrus and pursue the path of a scholar. The professor himself proclaiming that they should seek out the Shrine of the Archmage. The other boys snickering playfully, both elements between them as they welcomed Primrose to the club. How Tressa had been so excited to teach everyone how to use wind magic, and how happy she was when Primrose managed to grasp it. She remembered too sitting with Ophilia and struggling to learn her light magic, and when she abandoned it the other girl didn't make her feel ashamed at all.

Yes, that Primrose was far away now. She was back to basics, and while that was fine she did need more power. For her own sake. The way the dancer was staring at the spirit, deep in thought, probably clued some around them in to what she intended. When she wasn't focusing on keeping an act up, Primrose was surprisingly easy to read at times.

"I think we may be moving out soon," she said to Panther, nodding her head in Fox's direction, where the man looked a little strained still. It was nice that they'd been able to stay as long as they had. With those words Primrose stood, offering a hand to Anne if the girl was inclined to get up. "Let's talk more when next we stop." Fox had volunteered her to help Panther with magic after all. She'd promised the girl some dancing lessons as well, or was it lessons in elegance?

Primrose collected her now clean and dry clothes, left to change again, and returned looking as stunning as she normally did, not yet donning the cloak. She folded the robes but didn't think taking them would be very useful, she'd rather have a spare outfit that actually fit. Now fed, refreshed, and re-energized Primrose was ready to go, as well as ready to take the plunge and absorb a spirit. She approached the pile, coming to stand beside Sectonia.

"Treasure chests, I presume," she told the queen when she asked about the locked boxes. Gingerly she took the sorceress' spirit from Sectonia, glancing up at the her. "I will take this one if you don't mind."

Primrose stepped away a little before she pressed the glowing orb into her chest, her eyes studying the process up close as it entered her body and a light began to envelop her.

”I. Uh. I mean you’ve won over these three really quick so it goes without saying doesn't it?” the prince replied, a touch embarrassed by Sakura’s gleeful reaction to being described as likable. It wasn't his fault she was. He turned his focus away from that and back to the discussion they were having about how you would go about freeing all the fleet’s ships.

”But uh, I mean it would be kinda dumb of some weaker minion to try and take over leadership when their boss just got beaten up and joined us, coz now they have to face both you and their old boss. I mean we can also punch through and free some of the minions while going for the boss? The ones around them. See I’m kinda assuming it’ll be like that fight we found Bella in where her minions where all spread out fighting the navy, and then we go in and free the Bella of that lot, but this time see if we can get that boss to tell her mooks to surrender?” Jr tried something of a fusion of his plan and Sakura’s because she had a point. If you just went in on the boss straight off the bat you’d get dog-piled before you could explain things and that would not end well ”and then once you have her army, then you can get them to help mass free another fleet, and then another and another and soon enough you’ve got the whole fleet alive and free. Hey, maybe we could even free/get the thing that resurrects them? Think about how good that would be!” It really would be.

“Oh. Ok I won't over do it boss!” Rika replied when told to lay off the exercises before she hurt herself before immediately wandering over to the bed and falling face first onto what little space remained on it. Thanks to the antigrav on her back she didn't hit it very hard, “Better” she said into the sheets, the cruiser happy to have her legs off of the ground and not supporting anything at all. She’d enjoyed herself despite the eventual pain, and the way people had been concerned about her well being was both novel and made her feel all warm inside. Unfortunately it also was the straw that broke the camel's back on the whole Spirit back and forth.

Jr was happy to be proven right about spirits being the way to go, but he felt a little bad about how his winning caused the schoolgirl warrior to become rather embarrassed and down on her whole idea now that Jr had torn it apart. ”I mean it wasn't the worst. You could still do exercise when fused and then maybe it’d carry over for if or when you unfuse?” he said, trying to soften the blow a bit.

“If I ‘fuse’ with something does that mean it’ll be less painful to do the exercise and I only get the fun bit at the start?” Rika asked, turning her head to one side so she wasn't speaking into the blanket this time.

”Uh yeah probably? Or at least takes longer to go sore?”

“Cool”

Fortunately, Sakura’s mood quickly improved when she heard that the local fight club had sailed into town, the same one they’d seen duking it out on on the way there. While she initially said she wasn't going to bail on them, everything changed when she spotted her rival among them. There was no stopping her going down there and challenging her to a bout apparently, and this attitude Jr understood far more than anyone else onboard so there was no way he was going to stop her.

“Oh. yeah! I wanna see that! Wait, but can we? Aren't we supposed to be hiding?” Rika was also enthusiastic, partially because she was highly vulnerable to being infected by Sakura’s own enthusiasm but also because seeing someone who beat a princess duke it out with someone she considered a worthy opponent had to be impressive.

The idea of having everyone else watch was slightly problematic. After all, if they could see the fight then anyone else watching could see them. ”Shame we don't have any spirits to let you try that walking thing, it’d work as disguise too um. Do you think if we hide the metal bits you’ll not be recognized as Abyssal?” Jr suggested

“Will you need to take those off my back?” Rika asked, referring to her gauntlets “But if you take these off then I won’t be able to walk. I don't know if i can walk anyway. Legs still sore.”

”I’ll carry you”

The cruiser rolled her had to the side to look him up and down, not particularly confident in this statement.

”What. I can. Done it before easy. If i can pick up Peach I can pick up you” Jr insisted. Whether he would or not depended on whether the others thought they could get away with this.

at dinner

”The Twilight Realm consists of islands of stone floating in a void with a burning amber sky filled with clouds of shadow. There’s no moon, nor stars. Instead we use ‘Sols’ which are orbs of pure concentrated light to power our technology and light everything. Without them the realm is filled with a darkness that warps people into beasts“ she explained when asked about her sunless home and, when she described it like that, she realized it didn't sound very appealing ”I know it doesn't sound like the best place, and it certainly must have seemed like a nightmarish prison to my ancestors when they were banished there for their crimes, but using magic and technology their descendants turned it into the beautiful, prosperous and peaceful kingdom I am honored to rule, and proud to call home.“

She also was rather little proud that her suggestion, that of calling those still under Galeem’s influence, be referred to as Gleaming, smiling wider and wider as people agreed it was the best option. Even as a princess it was always nice to get some positive affirmations that your ideas were good ones. Maybe even especially as a princess.

post transformation

The light faded, and fortunately for her eyesight being inside it wasn't near as bad as being around someone when they transformed for some reason. Midna did not reflect on the fact that it might be because she got dismantled and put back together as part of the transformation process and thus didn't have eyes while inside and instead focused on her new body. Or her new, new, body if you were to be specific. First she looked at her hands and found them a little more claw-like which wasn't exactly surprising given what had happened to the medic’s. Then, looking down, found that her bottom half had gained yet more cloths (she’d gotten dressed after bathing) consisting of some very cozy slippers and a lovely pair of stripy stockings. Said thigh high stocking massively emphasized the gains she’d well, gained down there. She sashayed her hips, causing the now longer waist wrap to sway, and then noticed something was hiking it up at the back. When she looked behind herself to find out what it was that was doing that she found was a long flygon tail.

”Oh. Ok that’s a bit more than what the doc got...“ She wasn't sure how to feel about gaining a new appendage like that. It wasn't ugly or anything, just a little strange for some like her to have a tail. She also worried it might make riding and sitting down a bit trickier. Then she gained a thoughtful look on her face and brought the fan-like tip up to her head and gave it an experimental wiggle, before grinning as it worked perfectly, wafting a cooler breeze towards her face.

”Ok your good tail“ she might need to modify the back of her sash a bit to accommodate it but it was definitely sitting comfortably in the positive column thanks to its temperature control capabilities.

The most obvious additional features found she hovered over to the drinking pool, her new twilight Vibrava following after her to give itself a look too (the beast seemed surprisingly comfortable and well adapted to using its wildly altered body already), and examined her reflection in its clearer waters for any new additions. The first thing she found was that the fused shadow now had two red bauble accessories hanging down on either side of her head next to the also dangling earrings.

”Ok that kind of stings. I ask for eye shields and you put the dragon’s goggles over there as accessories instead. Rude!“

Her hair was now a dark green and tied up in twin tails. ”Wait can I still?“ she asked herself before forming a shadow hand just fine despite the cosmetic change resulting in two shackles on its wrist rather than one. ”ok good“

As an added bonus, she was also taller again, which was in some ways the best news. She only needed another foot to be human height, and an added foot on top of that to be her true height once more. Progress was being made.

It was only after examining and admiring her new appearance that she remembered this hadn't been the point of this whole thing. ”Wait. I did get some kind of power out of this right? Draggony Powers?“ Considering the way Tora was looking at her she might not have been alone in this.

A quick bout of meditation and magical self analysis found something new burning vigor suffusing her new draconian form that she, like the academics of the pokemon world, decided to call dragon energy. With a quick pair of swipes of her new more claw-like fingers she slashed at the air, digits blazing with purple energy, and then she brought out her third hand, rending the fused shadow’s hand through the air with its fingertips bearing purple talons before slamming it into the ground and leaving puncture wound in the stone.

”Ah, hah, yes! This is perfect“ not only as her fused shadow enhanced, but if something got close her own body wasn’t defenseless anymore. Although technically speaking she wasn't quite so frail after two fusions, and frankly her thighs could probably be considered a deadly weapon on their own now, but it was still a good bonus.

Attempts at breathing fire or infusing power into her new tail failed. There was just something missing that would allow her to be able to use those powers she’d seen the Flygons and their offspring use. The claw thing had been a guess, but a re-examination of the power she found she in fact intrinsically knew how to use it as a claw attack. There was a technique to it that she didn’t have for the tail or breath attacks.

There was also something else there with it, another technique that was a way to make the power burn hotter to empower her body. And the way to do that was to dance. The princes thought this was somewhat silly but considering they already had Primrose in the party it wasn't going to look entirely out of place.

The princess landed and, after tapping her foot a few times to try and get a rhythm going, started to move. She’d had lessons, what kind of princess didn’t know how to dance after all, but the kind of moves used in the royal court went exactly fit for the primal power of dragons.

She danced futility till she finally got over her own conceptions of what dance should be and got in sync with the technique was actually telling her to do. Slow graceful moves became faster, more powerful and vigorous as the princess danced to a song she’d never heard. Her waist wrap twirled, her feet pounded the stone in rapid succession and then the power flared, each step sending bolts of red and purple energy bursting out of the ground at her feet before they all surge into her and, finally with the last step of the short dance, exploded outwards. The explosion looked dangerous, but the princess was completely unharmed, as was her Vibrava that had been buzzing around her while she danced.

Minda felt so incredibly alive with the power coursing through her, but she knew she could do more. She wanted to do more! She kept going, exploding with dragon power once, twice, thrice, four and then five more times in total (each iteration of the dance only talking about three seconds each) and at that point she was at her limit. Power coursed around her, a static energy of purple and red lighting buzzing across her skin. She felt faster. Stronger. Exactly four times faster and stronger to be specific. She was also left breathing heavily with exhilaration in an almost inhuman way.

It was slightly problematic that she didn't have an outlet for all this power right now.

She darted back and forth across the small room, her pace absolutely blistering, but it wasn't enough, ”You, I don't know you are but you have wheels for feet now so race me. Race me! I wanna see how fast I can really go!“ She jabbed a finger at Yoshitsune who she hadn’t been introduced to but who she was quite sure would give her an outlet for the power coursing through her veins if they raced around the area the hippos had lived in before they had been butchered.

Where Ranger’s report made the Abyssals wary, it left Sakura fired up. Just a few choice words seemed to get her blood flowing and send her toward the Atomos’ stern. It was there that she witness something that floored her, eliciting a sudden yell. Bella jumped in surprise at Sakura’s shout, causing her tail to jerk out of position and rob her of her seat. She hit the deck with a resounded smack but sat up again in an instant, thinking she was under attack and filled with adrenaline. Without meaning to she deployed a trio of defensive bombers, only for her to realize what was actually happening. Looking more than a little sheepish Bella recalled her bombers, then furiously worked to compose herself before Sakura could turn and see her embarrassment.

As it turned out, one of the people Sakura spotted -who Bella had yet to see- constituted not just an acquaintance but a rival. While the Water Princess knew only what the word meant in terms of definition, she could see how much this girl meant to Sakura just by how the street fighter talked and acted. She clearly wanted nothing more than to leap from the cargo bay and meet with her friend, but conscientious as ever she wanted the Abyssal’s permission. As if she needs the approval of the likes of us. Bella waved her off. “Of course, it sounds like she’s your friend. Have fun!” She found herself looking forward to watching the fight, eager to see what Sakura was made of as an onlooker, rather than a participant.

Sakura pumped her fist, oblivious of any prior embarrassment. "Yatta!" She said under her breath. Then she made an unsure hand gesture. "Friend? Eh..." She shrugged, smiling. "Maybe that’s not the right word. But we’re close. The closest two street fighters could be, really!" She exhaled. She turned to look at Rika and Junior, both of whom also wanted to watch the fight.

”It’s really bright out there. If you close the cargo bay doors after me, you can watch from the windows and I don’t think anyone will notice you. Especially if you keep abyssal weapon parts from view.” She said, really wanting everyone to see the fight. She had a good feeling about this.

"Okay, here I go! Wish me luck!”

“Good luck, Sakura!”

With that she turned and ran out the door. Out the ramp and onto the street. She raised her hands and her voice.

"Karin!" She shouted. "Karin Kanzuki!" Waving her arms in the air she tried to get the aristocratic fighter’s attention.

In a flurry of golden ringlets the sophisticate turned from her attendants to see a familiar face headed her way. She huffed, permitting herself a slight smile. “Oho...I thought I heard one of your excited wails just now. Overjoyed to see me, I’m sure. I suppose I’m not too displeased to see you again, either. If I was going to run into anyone, it would be you,” she gave a helpless shrug, as if resigned to a fate that drove her and Sakura together.

Sakura laughed, slowing to a stop a few feet away from Karin. "Pleased to see you again, too, Karin-san." Sakura kept her tail tucked behind her back and her ears flattened against her hair. It’s not that she was embarrassed, but...well, maybe it was that.

"I’m surprised you’re using a boat with the rest of the commoners. What? No helicopter or red carpet?" Sakura ribbed.

Her rival held one arm against her body, the elbow of the other propped on its wrist. “Please, a helicopter? Airships are in nowadays, and I do have one of those, although it is not suitable for honing my skills. Hmm…” She looked Sakura up and down. “Looks like I am not the only one adjusting to this world. But I have certainly not been slacking off. Have you lost weight…?” Her browns furrowed, her expression curious. “Or perhaps...redistributed it? Ohoho...”

Sakura’s cat ears stuck out straight at that last question, and Karin’s eyebrows went up accordingly. "Hey!"

She looked at her own bicep, flexing it. "...Well, yeah, it’s true. I have." She admitted. "But! I’m still strong enough to beat you in a fight." She stuck out her fist.

"What do you say, Karin-san?" Sakura challenged. "Wanna fight? Winner by knockout! And if yes, could you move like, fifteen feet back and to the right?" She looked from where Karin was standing to the angle of the windows on the ship to the Atomos. She wanted to make sure her friends could see. She had forgotten Ranger mentioned brawling was illegal in the town proper.

“Well now, if you’re so certain I would not testing the veracity of that rather audacious claim…” For the moment, however, Karin looked more interested in the top of her rival’s head. “Those are remarkably realistic. How did that happen…?” After a moment she reconsidered her priorities. “I suppose that can wait. Most of the rabble out there seldom even provides good practice, so the thought of a half-decent fight has me filled with vigor. That said, the city-state of Limsa Lominscuttle town forbids exchanging blows on its soil.” She turned and stepped onto the Ganryu-maru. “Boats, however, are another story. If a guard came along he wouldn’t have it, so we typically fight out at sea, but one match won’t hurt.” She beckoned to Sakura. “I’ll make it quick, don’t you worry~”

She was glad Karin didn’t pursue the topic of spirits too strongly. Sakura chuckled a little as Karin stepped onto the ship. It was, now that she had seen it, a cheeky ducking of a rule. "Right. I wouldn’t be surprised if you came up with that loophole yourself." Sakura commented. She jogged onto the boat, joining Karin. Once again she looked back to the nearby Atomos. She couldn’t quite see through the windows, but she waved at them anyway.

"As for the ears? I’ll tell you all about them after you wake up. And also, a whole bunch of other stuff." Sakura returned the taunting, having fun with the trash talk. Karin was one of the few people she knew that could dish it out as well as she could take it. As she did, she removed her fighting gloves, previously tied to her waist, and placed them around her fists. She clenched and unclenched her fingers, making sure they were secure.

The high schooler took her fighting stance, knees bouncing, full of excitement. She slapped the sides of her temples, hyping herself up. "Ready?" She asked.

“Hmph!” Karin flipped her hair, then assumed her own fighting stance. Her attendants remained on the docks to watch, silent and stately as ever, and the hidden Atomos denizens were hardly the only spectators. With the exception of the cat and the little girl, the other fighters remained behind to watch as well, along with some of their own onlookers. Ready to face her rival, Karin issued her ultimatum. “I’ll show you the divide in our class!”

"Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!" She responded in turn.

From the cabin of the Ganryu-maru, a horn sounded out. “Go!”

"Hadoken!" Sakura reacted to the start of the match as quick as she usually did. She summoned forth the blue energy in her palms, gathered it at her sides, and then flung it forward at high speed toward Karin. Her goal was to keep her opponent out as long as possible. Especially with her decreased physical strength. Karin would find herself having to navigate a zone of fire if she wanted to approach Sakura.

With her eyes on her opponent’s new weaponry, and her knowledge that Sakura always likes to start off with a bang, Karin began walking backward the moment the horn sounded out. A Hadoken flew her way, and after a couple precisely-measured backsteps the heiress jumped up and over the blue fireball. Options arrayed themselves before her like playing cards, each made and refined over the course of countless sparring matches. Sakura had good instincts--but they could be learned and exploited. And that, Karin knew, was why she would win. Her spacing ensured that she would fall just out of range of her opponent’s uppercut, and she did not throw out a kick that could extend her into the danger zone. Instead she prepared to land and deal with Sakura’s response.

Karin’s opponent was concentrating intensely, trying to feel out Karin’s gameplan. She caught Karin’s glance towards her guns. Sakura paused for a moment, considering her harness. She glanced over Karin’s shoulder at the bystanders.

”Uh, don’t worry about the guns.” She said. ”And also "take this!" She took a step forward and threw a heavy roundhouse at Karin’s face. She followed through with a spin.

It seemed as though Sakura knew the spacing well enough to not try an uppercut, but landing her empty jump left Karin the advantage she needed to act on the option she did choose. When her adversary went high with a heavy attack, Karin crouched down and sent up a heavy punch of her own. Sakura’s foot sailed overhead as the heiress’s fist landed a crush counter, popping the other girl into the air. A well-executed Ressenha sent her flying after Sakura to smack her back down with two sweeping overhead strikes. While the combo ended there, Karin moved after her as soon as she could, seeking to apply pressure on wakeup.

(Yep,) Sakura thought to herself, spiralling through the air. (That seems about right.)

"OOF!" Sakura landed hard on her back, her attempt to keep Karin out slapped down with ease. Her eyes widened as Karin approached quickly, and she had no power charged to do anything special or cool.

Sakura kipped up into a crouch and attempted to shoot a quick jab forward at Karin’s belly, looking to interrupt and get herself some room to breathe. But even as she did so she felt her punch be a little slower, a little weaker. And in a street fight, a little meant a lot.

Her jab and Karin’s traded, their gloves giving a noisy smack as they clashed, and the two were reset to neutral. Figuring that she should have expected her opponent to jab furiously on wakeup, Karin hopped backward twice as if retreating to safety, giving Sakura just the space she needed to start throwing more Hadokens. After all, Karin could boast of no projectiles, so keeping her at range stood out as a good option. As Kain landed, however, she willed her bunched muscles to spring herself forward again. She darted back at her foe with her specialty, the Kanzuki-Ryu Hokojutsu Seppo, hoping to catch Sakura mid-fireball but prepared with a number of follow-ups.

As much as Sakura wanted to use her fireballs given they were stronger than ever, she managed to resist the urge. Sakura had fallen for this trick one too many times. As Karin dashed forward her legs would be met with the bottom of Sakura’s foot. "Senpu!" Sakura followed it up with a spin and a rise into the air, that same foot rushed around and slammed into her chest. Afterward Sakura kept up the pressure, going forward with a series of jabs, elbows, and kicks.

Caught in her gambit, Karin mixed her grunt of pain with a smile of self-reproach. Sakura could only be expected to fall for such silly tricks for so long. She took her opponent’s hurricane kick full-force, only to find the power a little below what she’d come to expect. Her estimation from earlier may not have been off. Still, Sakura did not relent, slapping her a series of blows that forced Karin into a blockstring. Dutifully the heiress switched between high and low blocks as required, a few stray hits landing here and there but not leading to much, as she searched for the right opening.

“There!” Karin ducked to the side, allowing the force of her adversary’s kick to move past her, and grabbed hold. In one fluid motion she flipped Sakura over her shoulder and onto the ground with a crash. The weight of the girl’s rigging fell upon her as she hit the deck, prolonging her stay. After turning to face her Karin immediately noticed her rival’s cat tail, prominently visible among the ship parts. “What’s this?” She considered grabbing hold of it to perform a follow-up throw, but decided it would be in poor taste. Instead she backed off, giving Sakura a chance to get up. “This baggage of yours is a hindrance. Perhaps you thought you could defeat me with weighted clothing? No doubt the product of too much cartoon-watching.” She snickered, happy to talk some trash of her own.

Sakura silently agreed with Karin as she somewhat clumsily got to her feet, the rigging leaving some red imprints on her body. Normally she was loath to have an opponent go easy on her, but this case was an exception. Things weren’t looking good in the fight., As Sakura got back into a defensive position, she saw the dull red glow in Karin’s eyes. (There’s more on the line here...I have to pull through!)

Each hit Karin gave her hurt more than it usually did, and her own strikes were less powerful to boot. Not to mention Karin had been practicing more. This would already be a 50/50 chance of a win at best. Sakura exhaled, her disposition becoming more serious. She gave Karin a concerned look with a gravity that Karin was not in a position to understand. Explaining her cat tail wasn’t exactly a priority. She would do it after, Sakura decided.

"Haaadoken!" She reached to her side, gathering up a large blast of energy, and fired it at Karin’s feet. There, it detonated with enough force to send her into the air. A move Sakura had never pulled off before, breaking the usual routine of their fights.

Once again Karin darted forward, ready to use her projectile-invincible follow-up from her Seppo to crumple Sakura to the ground. She did not expect her opponent to aim at the ground, nor for the resulting blast to blow through her back strike. “Guh-gracious!” she exclaimed, thrown upward. Thought caught by surprise in that moment, she realized immediately that she should have anticipated such a twist. It was ultimately just another on top of Sakura’s vast pile of variant Hadokens. No matter--she couldn’t invent them faster than Karin could adapt. She steeled herself for her opponent’s combo, considering her next move.

Sakura couldn’t help but celebrate a little- it actually worked! She had always traded consistency for versatility, and this one was no different. This Hadoken had a long recovery, she drew her arms in and took a deep breath. Karin was still in the air. Sakura planted her foot in the ground and propelled herself backward, putting distance between the two of them. Once she was a safe distance away she began harrying Karin with fireballs once again. "Hadoken! Hadoken! Hadoken!" She said, sweat dripping down her forehead. Sakura held a figurative card in her back pocket, predicting Karin would jump in. She would throw the exact opposite of what she had just done- an upward travelling fireball to catch jump attacks.

Having expected a follow-up combo, Karin managed to right herself mid-air and land on her feet. When she looked back toward her opponent she found Sakura at a distance, unleashing a torrent of spirit fire. A look of irritation shadowed the heiress’ face, as if to say who do you take me for. She dropped her stance and began to sprint.

She ran in a wide arc around the edge of the ship, avoiding the entire volley of Hadokens with ease as she closed the distance. At the last leg she drew close enough to execute a Seppo, but rather than dash straight at Sakura she zigged to one side to avoid a counter, then zagged back. Her technique ended in Tenko to launch Sakura upward, and this time Karin did not plan to relent. Energy welled around her as she thrust her arms downward. “Kanzuki-Ryu Guren no Kata!” As Sakura came down she dashed forward with two punches to Sakura’s midsection, restanding her. A palm strike made her reel back, at which point Karin slid past her to strike her in the back with an elbow before spinning away to resume her stance.

Sakura had flinched, sending her fireball into the air with nothing to show for it. For her trouble she received a powerful combination of strikes that sent her up and down. Suddenly she was on her feet, and she raised her fists to defend herself but only received an elbow between her shoulder blades. Ouch. "Kuh!" She stumbled forward, whirling around to face Karin. Sakura grit her teeth, eyebrows arched. Was playing defensive a mistake? Sakura dashed forward and went for a grab. Her hands reached out for Karin’s wrist and shoulders and her leg began to wrap around the back of Karin’s knee.

Deftly Karin teched the throw, slipping from Sakura’s grasp. Her instincts were beginning to fail her, just as Karin planned. Whether it was something in her mind or her body weighing her down, the cat-eared street fighter seemed increasingly easy to read. Karin dashed backwards, then surged in again with another pair of punches. With her V-trigger activated she moved fast enough that only a fast jab could catch her, but even that couldn’t stop her now. Her fists hammer Sakura’s block before she hopped upward in a spinning ball. Using Guren Resshu she grabbed hold of her rival’s block and brought her knee down into her head, flooring her again. Karin cartwheeled off of her, back to a ready stance.

The hits were hard, but the knee was viscous. "Gaah!" Sakura’s eyes squeezed shut as her head was slammed onto the deck of the ship and Karin’s even harder knee. Sakura braced herself on the ground, and then exploded upward. Using an EX Shouoken she surged off the ground once, and then continued onward with a second uppercut. Both uppercuts however met nothing but Karin’s block. Her fist glided off Karin’s forearms and the force carried her up into the air. She was helpless. Only an amateur would let her defend herself after that move. "Shimatta!"

As she reached the height of her arc and began to fall downward, she made brief eye contact with Karin. She was frustrated and now, scared: it was written all over her face and in her movements. Sakura was never afraid to take a friendly loss, though. No, she was worried that she wasn’t good enough, and she couldn’t save her friend. She briefly imagined Karin as a little image in a glass ball.

Karin didn’t need to imagine what came next. She surged forward with an elbow strike into Sakura as she descended from her ill-fated uppercut, following by a palm strike and knee. “Hadorokushiki Hasha No Kata!” She seized Sakura’s wrist and span her with immense power, turning her into a blurred propeller mid-air. “Behold! The FINAL ATTACK!” So saying the heiress plowed her palm into her rival’s midsection, and the girl hurtled straight from the Ganryu-maru into the Atomos, bouncing off its side and onto the pier below.

The world was spinning, spinning, spinning, and then suddenly all the air was gone from her lungs. "UWAaah- ugh! She saw Karin grow smaller before she slammed into the Atomos. Sakura went a little limper and hit the dock. Coughing up saliva she briefly curled around her belly. Normally? That was pretty awesome. Not today, though.

In any other fight that would have signified the end, but Karin was far from finished. “Up!” she called as she stepped from one vessel onto the dock. “I know you have more fight in you than that! Prepare yourself!” One of her attendants reached out a cautioning arm, only to find it batted away.

Sakura got onto her hands and knees, her fingers curling into fists. Karin was right. She did have more fight in her than that. "Iku zo!" She shouted, rising to her feet. She pumped her fist and they began to glow with blue energy. Sakura Senpu increased the strength and speed of her melee attacks. That would help her compensate for her newfound lack of power, she thought. Sakura sprinted ahead to meet Karin.

She jumped, front-rolling forward and then bringing her heel down towards Karin. The heiress sidestepped out of the way of her opponent’s heavy attack, even while sped up, and delivered a passing backhand. With relative narrowness of the dock that left Sakura on the precipice of the edge between it and the Ganryu-maru, forced to keep herself from falling. Sakura’s arms waved frantically up and down, off balance. Karin helped out by lashing out with her own spinning heavy kick to her rival’s rigging, which sent her sprawling back onto the fishing boat’s deck. Her v-trigger remained active, but not for much longer. “That Senpu won’t do you any good if you don’t hit me, neko-kun!” she taunted before she zipped onto the boat again in another Guren Hosho.

Sakura rose to her feet just in time to block the oncoming series of palm strikes. She found an opportunity to slip in a jab of her own, catching Karin in the shoulder. "Shunpukyaku!" Her foot was brought around with blinding speed. She span around several times, her whirlwind kick glowing blue. On the final kick she launched Karin into the air and then leapt upwards to meet her there. She raised her fists over her head, her back arching, and then slammed Karin down onto the deck of the ship. Afterward she sailed over Karin’s prone form and then rolled to a stop, breathing heavily and turning to get her guard up.

She defended against Karin’s final Guren technique just in time, a Guren Sessho that pounded her high block with sweeping strikes. The heiress, bruised and annoyed by the other girl’s combo, immediately went low with light punch, light kick, and medium kick all into Sakura’s guard, before she switched gears with a spinning kick that struck overhead. Her foot into her opponent’s temple made her see stars, but a Seppo immediately canceled into a back strike caused her to crumple to her knees. Karin inhaled sharply, then unleashed a heavy spinning crescent kick.

Sakura had gone low to defend from the attacks, but gasped as her foot came slicing towards her head. It connected, and Sakura didn’t even see the follow up back attack that knocked the wind out of Sakura. "Uahh!" Sakura took a step back and then fell onto her knees, her hands hanging limply at her sides. The crescent kick floored her, sending her spinning onto the ground. "Ungh!" Sakura grunted in pain. She couldn’t take any more hits. This was her limit. She rose to her feet quickly, but blood leaked from her split lip. Ears and tail straight, Sakura approached Karin carefully. When she got in range, she tapped her own chest, withdrew a heart, and then thrust it toward Karin as fast as she could. A desperate move to get what she wanted.

The unexpected change in tactics made Karin pause, though she did not let her stance grow lax. She held firm as Sakura approached step by step, her guarded face drifting toward incredulity. At the critical moment her opponent moved like lightning, but Karin was ready. Time seemed to slow. Blue energy surrounded her as a brilliant white gleam shone from one eye, and she calmly stepped backward. When she lunged forward the friend heart popped like a bubble, and she planted her elbow square in Sakura’s guts.

"Oof- uh...oughhh..." Sakura doubled over, curling around the elbow. Shoulders slumping, she fell onto her knees, and then tipped over onto her back. Her eyes fluttered, barely conscious, chest rising and falling.

She stood over her opponent with a sneer as the other girl sagged down. “I would not have thought you’d attempt to deceive me, but it appears we have both learned some new tricks. Such an underhanded maneuver to pull out victory in a sparring match...was I wrong to think we were close?”

Sakura stirred, making eye contact with Karin. The idea of being thought of as dishonorable, a cheater, cut her to her core, and tears welled.

From the onlookers there came an increase in murmurs, but Karin ignored them. She let out a sigh, watching Sakura’s chest heave as the cat-eared fighter hyperventilated. “Ah, but you’re not quite done. I can see there’s some fight in you yet.” She took a step forward and leaned down to grab hold of her rival’s shirt and pull her up. “On your feet! Or is this another trick?” Sakura made eye contact, gritting her teeth, dazed. She was so close! Weakly Sakura reached to tap her chest again, and with a disdainful click of her tongue Karin thrust her palm into her opponent’s head and into the deck. Sakura was put down, laying flat on the deck. Her eyes rolled up into her head and fluttered shut with a soft sigh. Karin stood as her foe lay there, senseless, and her expression melted into one of pity. “A shame. You are not the Sakura I knew.”

A mixed bag of claps and cheers heralded her victory, although Karin found herself more distracted by a sudden commotion and rocking on board the airship her rival appeared from. “Well! I suppose we had better be off.” She turned and headed down the wharf, her attendants close behind. In short order the remaining spectators and fighters dispersed as well.

None noticed the albino woman crawling from the Atomos’ bay doors a few moments later, who plopped into the water and burst forth a moment later onto the Ganryu-maru’s deck. Tears were streaming down her face as she pulled herself to the fallen street fighter’s side, the snaking movement of her tail doing most of the work. “Sakura? Sakura!” Gingerly she shook her savior’s shoulder. “Mon cherie, please tell me you’re okay!”

Sakura didn’t respond, eyes still closed. Her shallow breathing confirmed her life, but little else.

Geralt let a small frown cross his features when Bowser declared that Peach would cover the cost of the damages, but he figured the two royals could hash that out amongst themselves when it came down to it. Blazermate's offer was much more reasonable, frankly, though that was largely because she'd be the one paying it out, unlike Bowser's "offer". The robot girl also took a moment to tease the Koopa King, which Geralt inwardly smirked at, but didn't respond to for fear of worsening the situation at hand.

Thankfully, Link also stepped forward and explained what had actually happened, which was information Geralt was sorely lacking. He'd done his best to skirt around whether they were actually in the right by vouching for their character and leveraging what they knew, but if they believed Link (he did) as to the cause of the fight, they'd hopefully have better chances of convincing the Admiral of their intentions. And the boy legend was right in calling it a tragedy, because if the unfamiliar spirits in the Bismarck meant anything, their were more casualties to this fight than the original aggressor.

Altogether, their pleas and explanations, Bowser's and Frog's offer to pay as well as the latter calling on his reputation, and Peach's own additions, bought them the reprieve they needed. Merylwyb ordered her men to stand down, and even the previously-irate proprietor of the Bismarck was willing to accept the loss of his beloved restaurant if it meant that the war could be won. Then, Peach said something that struck him. "Because I don't have to." It was that selfless, heroic attitude again. Now, Geralt had turned down plenty of coin from starving peasants in his time, but it...felt different. This wasn't letting somebody keep a few crowns that would still probably barely allow them to eat well for the next few weeks, this was willingly sacrificing a massive sum of money to fix up what was almost certainly a luxury to these people. Of course it was how some people made a living, but a fancy restaurant was different than the town's only skilled butcher or blacksmith. There were other places to eat, and it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that the owner and employees could find work elsewhere.

And despite all that, Peach was still giving them what they needed to rebuild. Whether it was out of a sense of guilt, or selflessness, or some calculated move to make them look good to these people, she was doing it. The witcher wasn't sure he'd have done the same in her position.

Pushing the thought away and focusing on what they had to do next, Geralt nodded as Merylwyb made their move for them: reconvene at a not-destroyed restaurant, eat, drink, plan their attack. He stuck with Kamek and Bowser, the former asking Peach about heading to the Atomos and helping their new allies. Geralt thought over the plan for a moment before nodding. "If anybody can get those two through the city, it'd be Princess Peach and Sakura." He agreed. "It might not be simple to explain exactly how we got them to stop killing each other long enough to make nice, though, given the red-eye business." Geralt wasn't looking forward to that conversation, no sir.

The news about Linkle, on the other hand, made him scowl. "She what?!" He seethed, fists clenching for a moment. He barked out a hoarse, sardonic 'laugh', shaking his head. "Figures if it ain't one it's the other..."

Still, what Bowser said gave him pause. "Wishes, curses, idiot heroics...thankfully, I'm an expert at all three." He sighed a little, plenty of memories rushing through his mind. "I've broken enough curses in my time to know there's no such thing as an 'unbreakable' curse. Maybe nobody's figured it out, maybe nobody's been dumb enough to try it, but every curse has its counter. I'd need to think on it, talk more to this Striker of yours. All else fails, we find something that grants wishes and that isn't cursed, and just use that." He paused for a moment. "That's how I, uh...met my wife, kind of. Djinni bound our souls. She caught another one. Broke the bond, and we were still in love, so..."

Coughing into his hand and going back to the topic, he sighed. "Not too keen on trying to find a third Djinni, though, so we might have to get creative." It was good that they were at least somewhat optimistic about their chances. It never paid to give up before you got started, after all.

With the most important topics seemingly covered, Geralt decided it was time to go talk to Merylwyb. "Alright, Kamek, I think it's about time we started this war summit." Gesturing to the table the Admiral was sat at, he made his way over.

"Admiral," He started, "I'll try to cover as much as I can, as quickly as I can. Spirits, are, to put it simply, the corpses of the dead, concentrated into a form that the living can use to their benefit. And there are a few ways you can make use of them. The simplest is to just crush the Spirit, and it'll turn into some object you can use. I've mostly turned the Spirits I've come across into items this way. This," He said, pointing to the weapon currently strapped to his shoulder, "Is one of them. Speaking of which..." Geralt frowned, trying to point it away from those at the table.

"Anyway, the next way to make use of them is to turn them into a Striker. It's not quite as simple as crushing them is. You have to, one way or another, convince them to work with you, to give you their power. Many of us have at least one at our disposal." Looking back at the rest of his group, he thought over the different Strikers he'd seen them use. He knew Kamek used one of the long-ranged fighters they fought when they recruited Link, and Bowser had that girl who was apparently intimately familiar with Linkle's situation. If his eyes didn't deceive him, Link had actually made one of the copies of that sorceress into a Striker, as ill-advised as Geralt thought that was.

"Now, if you look at Bowser, the big guy, over there," He pointed in the Koopa's general direction, "You'll see the result of fusing with a Spirit. There's two main ways to do it, and I'm fairly certain the big guy mainly uses his heart. By absorbing a Spirit into your heart, you'll gain some of its power, at the cost of some of its weaknesses. What those are obviously depends on the Spirit. And taking it into your head, you'll gain some of its strengths, at the same cost. The difference is that absorbing through the heart will typically change your body and its physical capabilities, while absorbing it through the mind will grant you its knowledge. Sometimes the results are rather interesting. My own experience was...off-putting, to say the least. I've been reluctant to do it again."

Geralt sighed, rubbing his head. "And that's what you ought to know about Spirits and how they work. As for the Abyssal Fleet...I'm still not sure how they use the Spirits they bring back, but I have a few theories, ranging from mechanical to magical in nature. Unfortunately, resurrection is exceedingly rare where I'm from, practically unheard of. To do it on such a scale as to keep an army running perpetually was unthinkable."

Well, that was a lot of info to dump on somebody. Hopefully Kamek would be more willing to answer any questions the Admiral had.