(Ouch.

...Well, actually, not that ouch.)

Sakura finally returned to consciousness. Her rhythmic, automatic breathing became briefly manual as she inhaled. Her eyes opened and she was staring up at the sky. The space where, just one second before, Karin Kanzuki had been looming over her. At least, from her perspective. She knew she had been knocked the heck out, hard. Normally a friendly street fight didn't go that far. It was Sakura's own fault. She should have given up at that elbow. What was that move, anyway? It seemed crazy. The move was burned into her mind. She wanted to learn it, too. This was the kind of excitement, the reason she loved street fighting. Even the concussion wasn't a huge deal. A day of rest and her ki would take care of it. But, that didn't seem to be necessary. Like she had thought before, not that ouch. It was probably the most restful knock out she'd ever experienced. Had someone healed her? The sky was pretty, so her brown eyes continued to observe it.

Unfortunately, one thing did sting. She got knocked out by Karin. Again, normally, not a big deal. But now Karin was gone. She was still under that nasty Galeem's control. Which meant she was in trouble. And the way Karin looked at her...it felt like she had lost the respect of Karin. Because she kept trying that trick. The Heart trick. In a way, she was trying to end the fight early. It didn't really matter if it was cheating or not, because Karin thought she was. And that felt bad. Really bad. Especially after how far their relationship had come. To an outsider it might seem like they were pretty soundly enemies, but there was a bond between them. A strong one. One that was weaker, now, perhaps even severed. That sucked. Really sucked. She didn't want to lose Karin's friendship. She didn't want to lose Karin at all. But she had. Both of those things. It was a total, utter defeat. There was a difference between losing and being defeated. Losing was fine, it was part of the journey. But this was more than just a loss. She couldn't stop thinking about it.

Well, she could, momentarily. Because she smelled junk food. Her stomach rumbled. Sakura turned her head. Bowser and Peach were there. Brineybeard, too. Ranger was back to normal. Bella and Rika were out in the open, but it didn't seem like there was any danger. The sight, as down as her spirits were, made Sakura smile.

"Something smells good." Sakura said. Her voice was the lowest in energy it had ever been. Her friend slipping through her fingers like that was devastating. But she was trying to stay in a good mood. "Is there, uh, any left for me?" She asked. She rose into a sitting position, rubbing the back of her head. She wasn't sure what to say. Sakura felt like an apology was in order, for some reason. Did they worry about her? Did they risk something for her? If Bella or Rika had been caught out in the open because of her antics, Sakura would never forgive herself. It seemed like it worked out this time, sure, but...

The small smile faded. "...sorry." She cast her eyes downward, now knitting her fingers together nervously. Sakura felt small and embarassed, sitting on the ground. She hoped she didn't drool. She hoped they didn't worry about her, or stress out about it. Man, this sucked.

The Bowser obliged Peach's request after a few moments of confusion and mime from Jr of a tossing style boost rather than simply holding her up in the air boost. The king had been on vacation and then mind controlled for the entirety of the Rabbid fiasco, so it came as something of a surprise to him that the princess could create healing waves when landing after being tossed.To Jr, of course, it was no surprise, but he had almost entirely forgotten she could do that till she suggested it. It had been one of those abilities that got used in one adventure and then he’d never expected to see again, yet here it was.

With a few pulses of power the princess fixed up what the Vulnerary hadn't, but even with that Sakrua didn't wake up. It looked like they were going to have to wait and hope that Briny Beard’s belief that she needed to let her mind rest and recuperate along with her body was correct. While they did they ate, munching their way through Bowser’s take away bounty.

“Ish sho good” was Rika’s response to how the food was, not stopping her munching to answer, before asking “Ish ther mo?“

”Hungry lady aren't you? There is, but save some for the heavy sleeper,” Bowser told her. Indeed the group, along with a little help from Marie who’d been summoned twice to quickly enjoy two halves of a meal. All that was left was a small assortment of gradually cooling foodstuff that had been set aside for Sakura ”Also don’t talk with your mouth full”

The cruiser swallowed and looked down with a combination of embarrassment and disappointment.

”Hey don't look like that. Maybe after we’re done with this disguising introduction thing we can go for-” he was going to suggest ice cream before realizing it was getting pretty late and changing it to ”Hot Chocolate? Yeah. Hot Chocolate.”

Rika didn't know what that was, but the idea of trying more new, hopefully tasty, things perked her right back up again.

”Can we?! Oh oh, I’ll have mine with cream, and marshmallows and sprinkles and-” Jr pounced on the possibility

”If they have those kiddo”

”They better!” Jr replied seriously to which Bowser gave a small good natured chuckle before ruffling his son’s hair

With Sakura still not up when they were done Bella, possibly to fill the air and avoid them all awkwardly sitting the staring at the street-fighter till she woke up, turned the conversation back towards Spirits, wanting to use one as a way to walk on land and as a way to change her appearance, both as a disguise and as away to distance herself from her Abyssal nature.

“I’d also like to be able to walk around and not have to hide from people, I think” the cruiser didn’t actually feel any guilt like Bella did, mainly because she didn’t really understand the negative impact of her actions as part of the fleet in the same way the princess did, but she did understand that if she didn't look like an enemy, then presumably people wouldn't attack her, and she could walk around and go places freely. Like whatever everyone else was going, or to wherever the food had come from. Both excellent places to go, in her opinion. “And if a spirit lets me do that that sounds good. So does being stronger. Which Spirits do too?”

”Yeah. So. Thing is there’s a lot of monsters out there. I mean like actual monsters, big angry beasts. Taking down one of those could give us a spirit, and nobody’s gonna complain if we do. Also even if you free em, they’d still be dangerous animals so killing em wouldn't be a big deal. Kinda tricky to find one that goes on land out here though I guess? Sea monsters might make good disguises and will make you stronger, but they ain't gonna let you walk. Probably.” Jr said, suggesting how they could get a Spirit without killing any people. Didn’t solve the problem that getting spirits always involved killing all together however.

”But I mean, if you really don't want any more deaths then, uh, there's stuff that’s already dead. Seeing as Peach can pull spirits people have out you could, you know, kinda, borrow ones we already got?” Jr suggested, before hurting onwards

”Like, maybe Rika could have my Brachydios spirit? I mean it's cool and all but see I’m going to be doing a lot more flying and it kinda gets in the way when doing that. I almost blew up the ship’s dashboard, like, three times! Also I’m not using it as much as I could” Jr said, feeling like he had to justify his generosity ”Plus, think of how cool she’d be with it. She’d turn those gauntlets into Brachydios themed ones and then get like, giant explosive punches! How awesome is that!” because it was ultimately a slightly selfish suggestion. The ship girls were cool, jr thought, and using this he they could make Rika even cooler.

“That does sound cool. But what's a Brachydios?” Rika asked, sensibly wanting to know what a thing was before it got put in here

”It’s like a stompy purple dinosaur with horns on its head and wrist that make explosive goo. It was really scary, or well it was the thing that was scary but anyway it’d make you big and strong and scary too. Scary in a good way though. You’ll get to see it in the spirit if Peach does take it out.”

“Cool,” Rika replied, “If you think it's a good idea then it's a good idea.” Rika agreed simply

Before they could go through with it however, Sakura came too, rousing slowly and, understandably, asking if there was food left for her.

”Yup,” Bowser replied simply, directing a large clawed finger at a bag sitting within arm’s reach of her from which delicious smells were emanating.

Despite no doubt being hungry (comfort food was an excellent way to try and get over another loss in Bowser’s opinion) instead of going straight for the food Sakura instead became dejected and offered an apology. For losing? For worrying them? Possibly both, the Koopas both concluded. Rika didn't think about why and instead awkwardly scooted over to Skaura’s side and, ever the mimic, wrapped her up in a hug like she’d seen Jr do to Bowser.

Unable to properly articulate the relief to the end of the complicated, painful, feelings she’d been repressing in regards to Sakura’s continued unconsciousness in as meaningful a way as she wanted, Rika just put her heart into crying “Your OK!” as she awkwardly embraced her friend.

”You good?” Bowser asked. He hadn’t seen the fight, but from what he’d been told it had been bad, both physically and likely mentally, although not for the reasons he and Jr thought.

”You want help getting revenge?” Jr asked, punching his palm, perfectly illustrating the pair’s collective misunderstanding of Karin and Sakura’s rivalry.

Provided with a way out by Dulia-Chai, Sephiroth put her wits to work crafting what she hoped to be a convincing story. The lizard-tailed man cleared out before she even finished, for whatever reason, and the blue-suited fellow seemed satisfied, but if the long-haired swordswoman expected the cat-eared lady and the shorter of the two businessmen to eat it up, she was disappointed. Both wore skeptical looks, but the aristocrat objected first.

“We?” she asked, incredulous. “My my, did you and the others get separated?” She shook her head, giving a disarming smile as she waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, I suppose you meant the royal 'we', how silly of me. But really, how odd that the navy would attend to such a matter, and not the city guard. My husband told me he heard that a major offensive was planned for tomorrow, you know. But rather than resting or preparing, you're here with cannons chasing down a fugitive in the Housing District? Goodness, I trust you weren't going to use them!” She crossed her arms, but even with a stern face on did not at all cut an imposing figure. The distance at which she stood from Sephiroth suggested that she didn't plan to get in her way at all, either. Neither did the businessmen. In the end they remained ordinary citizens faced with a heavily-armed shipgirl.

A swinging lantern light could be seen steadily crossing the bridge to the Housing District at about that time. Its speed suggested that whoever carried it moved with urgent purpose.



Doing his best to stifle his amusement for the sake of politeness, Albedo made room for the Skullgirl on his disc of crystalized earth energy. Scooting aboard essentially confirmed her agreement, and on cue the platform's glow weakened to begin the descent. With ease the pair descended the brand-new glacier, steadily approaching the snow of the ice field beneath. All the while the alchemist kept his eyes trained on his new companion, his gaze rather intense. He examined not just the girl herself, but the texture of her skin and hair, the glow and pattern of her eyes, the prominence of her ears, and the way that no mist formed when she breathed. “Pleasure to meet you, and especially to hear that you know something of this world's truth yourself. I'd be ecstatic to hear it. And yes, of course we can take a detour.” After a few moments of peace, quiet and still but for the breeze and its toying caress, they reached the ground.

Scant minutes later, the crunching of the pair's boots on the snow brought them to the threshold of another warmly-lit building, this one of brick. The sign above the door read 'librarby'. Albedo pulled and held open the door for the Skullgirl to enter once she laid her sled to rest outside, then followed her in with the Corgi at his heels. The humble interior sported a wall of shelves, their contents color-coded, and a single table, luckily unoccupied. If the lizard librarian took notice of the new arrivals, he did not look up from his book, even when Albedo reached down to put his dog on the table before sitting down himself.

He placed a small pouch on the table, then his elbows on either side to prop up his head. “I must begin by thanking you for joining me, and for what I assume to be your cooperation. Not everyone is keen on my proposals, nor my conjectures. But research is in my nature. I cannot help but be fascinated by uniqueness, mystery, and the opportunity to make the unknown...well, known. When I saw you, my preliminary findings suggested that you were by far the most unique and mysterious individual I've found.” Leaning back, he bowed his head. “Your strength is unmistakable, and that your mission is to end the life of that brute, more so. You were wary of me at first despite your power, so I will be as straightforward as I can. I will admit to you right now that while I know him better than most, I do not know how he might be vanquished. That said, I hope to convince you that I have much to offer. My observations, my findings, and the power of alchemy.”

His renewed his gaze on the Skullgirl. “To begin with, I have hypothesized that you are dead. You go through the motions of breathing, but your breath does not mist. You also don't feel the cold, but unlike that man you do seem to feel pain. Had you taken my hand I might have checked your pulse, but...never mind.”

Unwilling to be ignored any longer, the dog yapped for attention, and Albedo began to stroke him. “Second, the fact that you're a wanderer is interesting enough. Since I found myself existing here, I've come to understand that nothing changes. People go about the same routine, day after day. Those that linger never leave. Those that travel never stop. Those who fight cannot stop until it's over. It's as if everything is bound by some sort of stasis, and our meeting has convinced me that my hypothesis is correct.” With a final pat on the Corgi, he opened the pouch and upended it on the table. A gray powder piled up on the wood. The dog sniffed at it, then sneezed. Albedo continued. “Like any alchemist, I understand the world through its constituent components. Its elements. Everyone I've met has an excess of light elements except you, and after no small amount of effort on my part, me.”

He gathered the powder into a mound. “What I have discovered is that alchemy can manipulate these elements, too. More easily than I ever remember it being. As if every single thing in this world exists to be made, unmade, and remade.”

After taking a deep breath, he held his hands over the powder, and his voice grew stronger. "The universe is heaven reversed, and the earth is a dream lost to time. This is dust, the most basic form of complex life." As if to provide evidence for this claim, Albedo lifted the burnt ash in his hand. There came a shine of light, and from the ash sprouted forth a Cecilia flower. The alchemist smiled. “And this...is new birth.”

He offered the flower to the Skullgirl. “Would you say that is proof of my second hypothesis: that we can help one another?”

Geralt followed the rest of the war summit loosely, careful not to be too obvious in his contempt for the bluster between the commanders. Oh, sure, they had some good points about the merits and flaws to using each of their own types of ships and for what, but there was an obvious bias each held towards their own units above others. He'd always hated commanders who couldn't see past the 'brilliance' of their own plan until it was shoved in front of them by an enemy.

Merylwyb's comment about how it wouldn't be necessary to figure out exactly how the Abyssals were reviving their army rubbed him the wrong way. In a way she wasn't exactly wrong that the details might not have been a vital part of their plan of attack, but it was also possible that they were charging headfirst towards the Abyssals' most heavily-defended base, and this plan was a massacre waiting to happen. Still, he kept silent, knowing that the goodwill and assistance they'd bought was the most important thing. He didn't necessarily want to throw them to the wolves, but if it came down to it, he had an idea of how he'd justify it to the others.

This was for their sake, after all. Slowing their advance into the heart of Galeem's army would only prolong the combat and potentially lead to more death. No, their best bet in saving their newfound allies would be to push their way through as the tip of the spear. Defeating the Guardian and freeing the area would also, hopefully, end the Abyssals' war with the locals. If it didn't, Geralt wasn't sure what they'd do, but he was pretty sure they'd end up helping the denizens of Limsa out, anyway. As much as he'd hate to get involved in yet another war, it wouldn't sit quite right with him. Letting the 'distraction' team fight the main force while they went after theit objective was one thing, but leaving them to their fate after everything? No, he couldn't imagine going through with something so callous.

Nodding to those gathered as a way of agreeing with Kamek's quick gesture of appreciation, Geralt gestured to the wizard that he was ready to go. "We can kill two birds with one stone if they've gone and brought peach back to the ship. Let's head back and see what progress they've made."

As the two did that, Geralt's eyes narrowed to slits as a flash of white, tremendous in size for how far away it must have been, appeared in his vision. The Witcher stopped, his heart momentarily racing and his breath hitching before normalizing. Memories of watching Ciri step into the White Frost flashed before his eyes, and his hand clenched at his side, shaking slightly. I need to find her...

It was another moment before he was able to shake off the reaction to the bomb. "That was where Red team was, wasn't it? I...can't imagine anything surviving that. It's done, then?" He paused for a moment. "How anti-climactic." Sighing, the mercenary shrugged. "Still, better than you lot getting yourselves killed for a few Spirits." With that, he continued to head back to where they'd left their fellow seafarers.

They arrived shortly before Sakura awoke, Geralt brusquely greeting the gathered Seekers, before gesturing to Sakura with a confused and not unconcerned expression. "What did she do to herself?" He asked. They all seemed calm, certainly not agitated or coming down from a fight, so he figured she'd gone and done something silly again rather than worry that they'd been attacked.

She actually woke up almost right then, and Geralt rolled his eyes at the street fighter. "Good morning, kid, have a nice nap?" He quipped, crossing his arms with the look of a father teasing his menace of a child.

It was around then that he noticed the food and remembered that he had not stopped to eat, concerned with the war summit as he was. "I'm going to need some of that as well." Immediately ignoring his own request, Geralt looked between Kamek and the gathered group before shrugging. "We can tell the others later. The good news is we've got a plan of attack and an escort. Bad news is we have until tomorrow morning to prepare, and then it's off to war. Worse news is if I know anything about military types, we'll be on our own for the most part while they worry about dealing with the Abyssals themselves."

Leaving that bombshell to be processed, Geralt wandered over to the food and started looking for something to eat without so much as a word of thanks to whomever had brought it. A hungry Witcher was not a force to be taken lightly.

---

---

---

---

Sephiroth could feel herself starting to grow more impatient, and concerned, the longer she remained here talking with these idiots. While the person who's spirit she stole might have collapsed into a pile of ashes upon her death, the former SOLDIER was more than willing to bet that someone had come across them by now. That or begun an in-depth search to ascertain the shipgirl's whereabouts once she'd failed to turn up at wherever it was she had been going. And to make matters worse, she could see the shine of a lantern as it moved across the bridge leading into the housing district, something she knew could only be a bad thing given the urgentness behind it as well as the speed. Despite these rather pressing factors, however, Sephiroth did her damnedest not to let her annoyance show, forcing as friendly of a smile as she could manage instead.

"Oh of course not. I'm more than capable of taking down a lowly thug without such force, provided they don't resort to any sort of cheap tricks of course."

With that she said was swiftly on her way, striding past the woman and the businessman the moment she saw they did not intend to block her way. It wasn't exactly the smoothest of exits though, as the violent psychological warfare was still being raged inside her head, which made it even harder for her to get her equally unfamiliar stride and gait under control. Everything from the weight to height, and even shape of her new form felt off, and would no doubt take quite a while to get used to. This said nothing of the very cumbersome rigging she'd gained from the fusion as well, which only made the effort of movement much more difficult than she needed it to be, especially now of all times. Still, Sephiroth was determined not to be caught. Thus she made her way through the rest of the housing district as quickly, and steadily, as she possibly could. Only pausing once she'd reached what she assumed to be its edge to consider her next course of action. She couldn't stay in or even near Limsa Lominscuttle Town, of that much she was sure, but that begged the question of where exactly she should go. The most unpredictable choice was most likely the Dead Zone, as why would anyone in their right mind willingly return there, till she recalled the bomb the team had set up. One that had either gone off already or would yet, two prospects she didn't feel like exploring up close in any case, even if the journey was feasible.

Perhaps moving further inland would be the better choice, as Sephiroth figured she could undoubtedly find somewhere suitable to hide out in the surrounding region, at least until she was certain that no one was interested in coming after her. Furthermore, there would doubtless be many monstrous spirits out in the wilds. Spirits she could, distasteful as it was, possibly use to alter her physical appearance even further, and thereby rule out the risk of recognition entirely. It might not have been the methodology she preferred, but it was the most optimal course of action as far as her current situation was concerned. So, doing her best to focus solely on the objective ahead, Sephiroth set off into the shadowy unknown...

@Lugubrious

It didn't take long for the rest of the group to find their way down the sand slide. With the sun going down, the party traveled along a pathway in the sand. However while traveling, a bright explosion of light could be seen on the horizon. This was a strange occurrence, and Sectonia was curious as to what exactly was going on. Midna was too, and got to getting the answers faster than Sectonia, summoning a moogle to discuss matters. Sectonia listened in to their conversation, and learned that the Dead Zone had apparently exploded, with most of the dead zone members making it out, with one of them being abducted by an "organization 13", which Sectonia only heard mentions of from some of the others. When Midna was done, Sectonia said. "From what I heard, good riddance to that area. Although I have a feeling that area isn't finished. Not if this 'mysterious' organization 13 were poking around there."

After traveling for a bit, what Sectonia saw made her do a double take, slapping herself to make sure what she was seeing was real. "Is this some kind of joke? Trying to make a desert out of dessert?" Sectonia said, a very complex emotion on her face made of a combination of confusion, laughter, joy, and disbelief. The bee queen did enjoy her sweets and sweet things, especially stuff made of honey although frosting was also pretty good. With her astonishment gone, she clapped her hands together saying. "Well, shall we get going?"

"Brown Sugar? Hm... Not sure how I feel about that." Sectonia commented at Midna's obersvation, having an affinity with sweet things, but also noting that the sand she slid on could be sugar, which can be difficult or uncomfortable if it melted. Sectonia wasn't going to try, with the combination of sand and now syrup looked like mud, and not clean mud you used to make yourself more beautiful. Thanks to her ability to fly and how it didn't exhaust her at all unlike Midna, Sectonia didn't have to worry about sinking in the sand unlike Midna's summons and the others who had to walk, these people having only a short route to walk on where they wouldn't sink.

And this would cause issues, as soon more enemies made themselves known, attacking their group. Many of these creatures emerged from the gooey sands that many of them couldn't travel in. Some small, and some very very large. First came some slugs that emerged from the sand and attacked the less mobile of their group, with others who weren't attacked joining in. Next came the airborn enemies, which Sectonia engaged with her swords, swatting down a few of them as the phantom theives helped deal with more. Still, even then these flying enemies didn't really pose much of a threat so far compared to the large creature that jumped out of the sand, knocking some on the path off of it.

Sectonia kept to the sky, helping keep them clean with the phantom thieves and their guns so that the people below could handle the rest below without much issue. Sectonia did offer some help below though when Poppi managed to temporarily freeze the large creature that was causing them the most issue, the size of the creature and the relative little fighting space available forcing their ground party members to move along further, picking up the pace in order to run away from it. Sectonia took the chance Poppi gave her to throw a large ring of light at the worm to damage it, taking a few hits from the airborn enemies she had to ignore to form and fire her ring. Still, she'd keep up with the party and provide support from the air, being one of the only ones who could actively deal with flying enemies.



Blazermate only caught the tail end of things as she had returned. Seeing as they were relaxing, people were socalizing and learning where each one got their powers from, Ms. Fortune apparently having told everyone that powers in her world came from stuff like "parasites" and "life gems". Blazermate, having been a late arrival, had been questioned this by both Frog and Link, with Frog going further sa to ask exactly what Blazermate was. "Oh uhm. I'm a Medabot, Blazermate Model." Blazermate said, putting her fist to her chest with pride. "As for my power... Its all about Medals and the Medaforce." She said, replying to Link's question. After answering, Link leaned in, asking Blazermate about what Link had done while under Galeem's control about the insta trophy arrows he had used during the fight. Blazermate replied to the leaning in link. "Beats me. A giant hand gave you those." She wasn't the best to ask about this perhaps, as she had no clue who this giant hand thing was at all. Of course her short answer to Frog only confused him more, and Blazermate had to explain what a robot was in general, then a medabot.

As it got dark, Bowser went off meet up with his kid, while Ms. Fortune decided to take a tour of the town at night. Shrugging, Blazermate decided to follow Ms. Fortune as she was the new person on the team and her method of fighting kinda worried Blazermate. Her scanners said there were no problems with her with all of the body horror going on with Ms. Fortune, but still, she knew organics shouldn't bleed that much. While Ms. Fortune had to do all sorts of acrobatics to move around the town, using the ropes and rooftops to move, Blazermate only needed to grab the occasional thing to propel her upwards with her jets. It took her a bit, but Blazermate caught up with Ms. Fortune as she was wandering near a spikey, sphere like building. "Heya, I'll explore the town with you. I've got nothing better to do, and Medabots don't need to sleep, so..." Blazermate said, tapping Ms. Fortune on the shoulder as she hovered behind her.

As they traveled, Yoshitsune had a bit of fun jumping back and forth between the sides of the tracks, though he still didn’t know exactly what they were. He saw something flying off ahead. With a shrug, he sped up along the tracks, only to stop upon noticing a commotion behind him. He spun and raced back, rejoining the group as the last of the group was pulled out of the sinking sand. “Is everyone alright?” he asked, counting heads.

Then Tora yelled about something coming from underground. Drawing his swords, Yoshitsune slashed at each of the creatures that leapt near him. Not long after the red bugs showed up, something else started appearing around them. Using the bounce of his wheels, Yoshitsune leaped on top of one of the ships to strike the ones closest to it out of the sky, finishing by stabbing the one he stood on straight through the center before jumping back on the tracks.

It was then something bigger and more dangerous arrived. With all the speed he could muster, Yoshitsune ran along the rails towards the monster. “Die!” he yelled, leaping for its face, his swords swinging for its eyes. If he couldn’t kill it, he would at least blind it so his companions had a chance to do some damage. It was still mobile, though, and he wasn’t too happy they had to retreat eventually.

Once the Molduga was encased in ice, he made sure everyone else was already on the retreat before racing along the tracks himself. Being at the back of the pack, he did his best to keep the smaller monsters from attacking anyone from behind.

Once they got to somewhere the monsters weren’t attacking, he spun around to look at where they were. He had no clue what any of what he was looking at was. It was nothing like the sweets he’d grown up with. It was interesting to find something new, though he did wish it wasn’t part of the land.

"Huh?"

The Cadet hadn't expected a large crowd, or fanfare, or anything like that when he arrived at the Alcamoth, but he had expected at least a few people to be in the lobby area. As it stood, there wasn't a soul around. Even Isabelle was gone from her desk, and it was rumored she was a bit of a workaholic. He swiveled his head, looking around the wide and very empty space. Confusion was plain on his face. He glanced down at BB, who blinked back up at him. After a moment the two split up to look around, though the minion never went too far.

"Hello? Anybody here?" The Alcamoth looked pretty much exactly the same as the last time he'd been there, just earlier that day. Nothing seemed out of place, no signs of a battle. Not to the mention the members of the Dead Zone excursion had just passed through and apparently informed the people there of what they'd seen, so what was going on?

"Out here!"

Cadet didn't recognize the voice, but he followed it's echo quickly back outside and around the edge of the massive building, BB on his heels. Eventually the residents of Smash City came into view, all loosely grouped and staring North. The same collection of people, all shapes, sizes, and species with varying amounts of concern written into their features. Some perched on ledges and squinted their eyes, and some craned their necks and opened their eyelids as wide as possible, all trying to get a better look. There was a shifting light barely visible over the ridge of mountains, and soon enough the sky returned to what was normal. The people gathered seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief and looked around at each other, some dispersing and others staying to discuss the "light show."

"What happened?" the hunter asked loudly, drawing a few eyes to him, hopefully some with answers. Although judging from the direction they'd been looking, and what he understood of the world map, he had a feeling he already knew.

"It was a bright white light. Big, too. I'm sure whatever it was, it wasn't good," said a short red creature, arms crossed and spikes protruding from his hands.

"It was the bomb." The man who spoke then, muscular and with a very impressive blonde hairdo, seemed quite sure of his statement. Yeah, figured, the Cadet thought before the man continued. "At that size, it must have taken out the whole place and then some. One less thing to worry about, mission accomplished."

There was a thump on the edge of the roof above them, then a mop of brown hair peeked over the side. The youthful face attached had it's nose scrunched up. "More importantly, that big giant ball of jerk just moved. Didn't you guys see it?!"

The boy's words sent a ripple of surprise through those still gathered outside, including the Cadet. "What? Galeem moved?"

"Yeah! I mean it's not moving anymore, but it was!" The boy jumped down from his perch, flapping his wings lightly as he landed. He was quickly joined by an avian man that the Cadet recognized as Falco, who nodded to corroborate the story. "Shot some kind of energy towards the site of the explosion."

The little red guy shrugged one shoulder. "Like I said, not good."

The small group was quiet for a few moments after that. Even BB didn't snort of snuffle. The Dead Zone... was it really gone? And why exactly had Galeem woken up, what did it do? The Cadet was itching to go there himself and find out, but as confident as he was in his own abilities he still knew there was no way he'd be able to go it alone. The mercenaries were busy and the rest of his group was waiting back in Limsa to have a go at that region's guardian... and one of their own was missing, somewhere out there.

"Where's Vandham?" the Cadet asked, breaking the contemplative silence that had settled over the Alcamoth's perimeter. "I have something to give him, for helping to find Linkle."

The winged kid's eyes lit up in curiosity. "He must've gone back inside by now. C'mon, this way."

He led the monster hunter in. This time when they got to the lobby, it was filled with people. There seemed to be more residents than he remembered, which the Cadet figured was the results of their recruitment missions. Everyone was chatting about the bomb, Galeem, and what to do next. Many went to and fro with vigor, re-energized by the event. Isabelle was back at her desk, shuffling papers around with impressive speed as mercenaries approached her in force to sign up for new missions. Nearby, the massive mercenary leader himself was stationed and helping to coordinate. Cadet's winged guide quickened his pace until he was at Vandham's side, coming to a halt and presenting the man with a wide-armed flourish.

"Here he is! Now whatcha got?"

Vandham turned to look at the kid with his eyebrows pinched in confusion, but when the Cadet approached his features smoothed out into the serious face of a professional.

"Don't tell me something happened in the Blue too?"

"Nah," the Cadet chuckled, "We're making progress - " I think " - but I heard what happened to Linkle... so I brought these."

He un-clipped the scoutfly cage from his belt, setting the lantern-shaped container on the desk. Vandham regarded it with another furrow of his brow, while the boy drew close to peer at what was inside - and promptly away when he realized.

"A bunch of bugs?"

"They're way more gargwawesome than normal bugs. They're scoutflies!" The Cadet reached over and unlatched the cage, and a few the flies flew out and around the three of them. Their colors were a bright and steady green. "They specialize in finding things. Us hunters use them to locate items, track monsters, and even find people."

Understanding dawned in their eyes. "So you think they could help us find her," the mercenary captain said. Cadet nodded.

"They already learned her scent. They've got everyone in our group... well, most everyone." There were some new faces after all that he hadn't gotten a chance to introduce to his trusty insects. "You guys are sending out search teams, right? Take the scoutflies with you. They should change colors if they catch her trail, so you'll know right away. They can alert you to danger too, they'll turn red if there's a monster nearby."

The Cadet grinned, preening as though he'd raised the insects himself. He hadn't, but he appreciated their existence quite a lot. Plus, they were easy enough for even those unfamiliar with them to use. All around helpful little creatures.

"They said she turned into a monster herself," Vandham said, "So what if they turn red and we miss her, thinking it's something else?"

"We'd just have to go check it out and make sure," the boy said with a shrug.

"Exactly! I'll lend all of the scoutflies to you, and hopefully it will help find her." Considering that the Blue Team's target was out on the open ocean, and below it too, the flies would be better put to use here for now. The mercenary captain nodded, and the Cadet smiled, hopeful. He shook the cage gently and the flies all flew back in, after which the Cadet re-latched the cage's door.

"Heading back? You guys gonna need reinforcements?"

Cadet shook his head. "Now that part of the Red Team are in Limsa too, there's no way we could lose!"

The hunter prepared to go, motioning for BB to follow. The minion had been giving the stink eye to another horned creature a few hundred feet away, but it reluctantly backed down to follow the Cadet out. Wishes of luck and reminders to restock trailed after him. That sounded good, it would be better to get everything together before morning so they could head out as soon as possible.

Just when they thought there were no answers to be had for the flash of light, Midna had the bright idea to summon someone who might know. The little moogle creature was a font of knowledge, and Primrose lingered nearby to listen. So one of the other teams had tidily taken care of one of their zones... or so it seemed. That was interesting, good news. The dancer looked towards where the light had been, now gone with not trace left at all. One more monster of Galeem's dealt with, and only one causality. Things were going well for their group of would-be heroes.

Primrose cut her gaze to Sectonia when the queen voiced her thought that things couldn't be as simple as they seemed. It was hard to imagine any surviving an explosion of that magnitude, but even if Sectonia was right there wasn't anything the Yellow Team could do now but move on. They had their own guardian to deal with.

As the group continued, it became harder and harder to keep the pace. In fact, harder than Primrose would usually find it. Her brows furrowed and she looked down at herself. It wasn't her, but the sand itself becoming more difficult to move through. Ahead, one by one the group was switching over to running along the wood and steel tracks. Primrose followed suite, going along while tilting her head at the sand. Something strange must have been going on, which wasn't uncommon. As Primrose grew closer to front where Necronomicon was giving her report, she overheard the apparently change in landscape coming up. Dessert. A landscape made out of foods - sweets and pastries to be specific. Primrose shook her head, incredulous. She wanted to say she'd "believe it when she sees it," but she had no doubt that Necronomicon was telling the truth. It would be quite the sight once they reached it... and reaching it wouldn't be as easy as she would have liked, considering the next thing reported were enemies on the way.

"Of course," Primrose sighed, but she got into a battle ready stance all the same. She raised her arms, her hands cupped in front of her. In one, her natural dark magic swirled ominously. In the other, the pyromancy she'd gained. When the first of the red worms burst from the ground, Primrose stepped back into the relative safety of the group. From within she threw her Moonlight Waltz spell, shriveling a trawler up until it broke down into ashes. It was an effective, but slow method to be rid of them. While others focused on the flying enemies, Primrose continued her steady casting - but once another monster showed it's face, ugly and hulking, it was clear this method wouldn't work anymore.

The monster barreled down the tracks. Primrose dodged to one side while a few unfortunate comrades were thrown from the other side. The sand was thick and threatened to pull them all in, but Primrose wrenched herself free from where she'd stepped into it, hauling herself back onto the tracks with some effort. These battle conditions were no ideal at all, Joker had the right idea - they should flee.

Summoning the pyromancy to her once more, Primrose focused on the fire until a large flame orb appeared. She sent the spell at another group of trawlers emerging from the sand and heading the group's way. The orb exploded, showering the area with fire that sent the worms squirming. The next thing she needed to go to make sure everyone got out okay was make sure they could all outrun that beast. She had just the dance for that.

With a flick of her wrists the pyromancy vanished, and Primrose's arms were angled in front of her, her hands faced downward. Deep in her own spirit, she felt that she was still unable to spread the benefits of her dance to the group at large. She felt a pang of annoyance, frustration, but it didn't show on her face. Her expression was smooth and focused. She would have to be quick.

The Panther Dance. She stepped back once onto the next wooden plank on the tracks, lifted her arms higher, then spun and leapt. She landed gracefully despite the unfamiliar terrain, both feet on the next plank back. Then she did it again. And again. While Poppi froze the beats, and Yoshitsune and Sectonia turned their attacks on it to give the others an opening to escape, Primrose danced. She focused her performance on the largest and slowest among them, increasing their speed enough so that they would be able to keep up with the others, and hopefully they'd all be able to outrun the monster. She'd pushed herself, and after the twirls and jumps that she'd kept in perfect form up to her own standards, she was breathing hard and starting down the beast encased in ice. She didn't stay there for long, only giving herself enough time to catch her breath then suck in one large gulp of air before she turned on her heel and sprinted away, following the rest of the team down the tracks and toward what they all hoped was safety.

Minutes passed--possibly an hour--with Fox keeping lookout while everyone else rested and divvied up Spirits and loot, none of which he was particularly interested in or thought he would need himself. His watch and their downtime concluded without a hitch; uneventfully on his end. Perhaps he had been overthinking in his assessment that someone else was there (besides a gaggle of slain hippos that inhabited the oasis ahead of their arrival), but it was better to have one person who could spare it making sure than none. He was doubly glad to have waited anyway when Joker clarified in his assembly call that Necronomicon had plotted a route for them in that time. Had he been alone, Fox might have sooner wandered off with aimless determination until he found something of import; but that, he learned, was where patience and teamwork availed him in ultimately wasting less time.

She led them through darkness and low-level opposition that spelled little issue for those eager to flex their newly acquired Spirit boons. Their path ended at a sunlit chamber and continued downward through the floor by way of a sloping river of sand that would carry them the rest of the way out. Fox stepped from the sandslide in seamless stride, taking in the landscape as he walked out beyond the temple’s boundary. Appreciably majestic as it was, he was less drinking in the picturesque view than trying to get a lay of the land ahead of setting off for the mountain. They did just that in short order once Necro and Joker refined their heading and took the initiative to lead on, following the railroad to the source.

---

The party pressed on at a steady pace through the evening into the night; long enough for stars to replace daylight and for everyone who didn’t already know that deserts could get just as cold as hot in the sun’s absence. The dark of nightfall made the following phenomenon all the harder to ignore. An entire region away, a grounded, painfully bright white nova spontaneously came into being with a resounding detonation that could be heard--and for some, faintly felt--throughout the World of Light, and for the short time it remained, it had the entire World’s attention… even that of its slumbering ruler.

Galeem--the sun that never set--took notice of this sudden disturbance in its realm, and sent a surge of its power forth in the same direction to hitherto indiscernible effect before going dormant once more. Fox (as well as a few others) stopped to see this transpire for himself, blocking the wind, sand and shine from his eyes when he could look no more, and reopening his eyes once the blast died down to nothing. He’d witnessed up close no small number of massive explosions throughout his career, between the Subspace Events and and those he had caused himself (even once escaping planetary destruction), but the otherwise desensitizing experiences didn’t make dealing with the unknown (regarding ‘how’ and ‘why’) any easier; especially if it fell within the notice of a ‘god’. Naturally, the question came up of what exactly had happened, and Fox was eager for an answer, calling in whoever he thought might have them. Though long-distance communication with Alcamoth was out, there was still an option of correspondence available to him that involved him putting a hand to his headpiece and simply imagining that he would reach someone.

A moment after he called out, a furry creature popped into existence before him in a little burst of magic. He waved ‘hello’, causing the pom on its head to bob back and forth. In his other tiny hand he held half a donut. “Hiya, kupo! What can I do for ya?”

“Sitrep,” Fox answered simply before clarifying, “Any idea what that was?” Given the urgency with which the creature was summoned just shortly following the inquired upon event, he hoped his request for information wasn’t premature; that they knew (or swiftly learned) enough to tell.

“Oh, it must have happened!” the Moogle exclaimed, remembering something with a start. “Boss told us that this nasty place called the Dead Zone was gonna blow up, but I went inside to have dinner, kupo. Guess I missed it? What did it look like?”

“Status on Red Team?” At the mention of the Dead Zone (which he remembered to be one of the three prospective mission destinations at the start of the day) and its subsequent destruction, Fox immediately thought of those that volunteered for it (without knowing specifically who they were), and threw out his follow up question in the middle of the Moogle’s lattermost thought. Naturally, the well-being of his fellow Seekers constituted a greater concern than a detailed recap of the explosion, which he glossed over out of a sense of priority rather than an unbefitting, unintended lack of regard for the underling.

The Moogle’s little brows shot up as he realized he’d forgotten an important detail. “Fine, fine! They got out of there way in advance. Went over to join the seaside team.” He nodded his little head furiously, trying to make Fox feel reassured.

“All of them?” Fox added, hoping the entirety of Red Team could be (and was being) accounted for.

“Um…” Even with his eyes pursed, the Moogle looked uneasy. “I don’t think so, kupo. Boss said..um, someone they met there died, a someone named Linkle got turned into a monster and disappeared, and they lost contact with the monk guy.” He fidgeted, his fuzzy face apologetic.

Fox morosely cast his sight down in thought, unable to put faces to the name or descriptor he’d been given. He didn’t remember either of them, for he had only met them while he was still Gleaming, and hadn’t engaged with either one of them since then. To him, however, it made little difference. They still counted as casualties in his mind--any and all of which were unfortunate, if expected.

“The Courier’s missing on our end as well,” he explained to the effect that they too had unaccounted personal. Had he known the Courier at all, he might have realized the ‘lonesome’ attitude was completely in-character for him and expected him to take off on impulse to do as he may. Perhaps they would find him at the end waiting for them--a thought he entertained hopefully before getting back on track with the Dead Zone report. “So, that’s one more Guardian down, then?”

Since Fox shouldered the bad news, the Moogle decided to do the same. “Guess so! Nobody’s gone to check yet, but that Banjo guy seemed interested. Been hanging around Alcamoth.”

“Send whoever else is interested. We need to be sure.” As Fox put in the order to investigate that would likely have been carried out regardless, he suddenly had another assignment in mind. “Assemble a team to send here, while they’re at it. Tell them there’s a lakeside compound with mercenaries waiting to be picked up, and they should go ready for a fight, because whoever’s left will probably be looking for one. Someone there is putting them up to it--goes by ‘The Administrator’. Keeps reviving them and forcing them to fight. Have them look into that. Find out who and where she is and deal with her, if they can! Might be their best bet at freeing them. They just don’t know they need it yet.”

The Moogle polished off his donut, patted his stomach, and said, “Alright, kupo! Two missions, one Scout, one Strike. I’ll hop right on it!” He turned away, whispering to himself. “Hmmmm...bet that crazy lady and her friends would wanna check the Dead Zone, kupo. And then for this lake place…” With that, he vanished.

With his call concluded, having done all he could for his part for the time being, he set back on the path alongside the rest of the party. Necronomicon provided them with a report on the terrain ahead, cautioning them of hindering sands before flying ahead to get a more detailed assessment. Soon enough they found out for themselves exactly what she was talking about, sinking to the ankles--then the shins--with every footfall as those grounded were forced to slow their pace to a crawl. That was until they made their collective way onto the railroad proper, finding on it a stable foothold/pathway to proceed as normal, albeit more carefully along the narrow track..

It wasn’t long until Necronomicon hurried back to meet them to make her report more interesting. It wasn’t simply the terrain gradually changing, but the entire biome. As sands began to bleed over into brown sugar syrup, their surroundings started to make less sense to Fox. Perhaps that was the idea; to confound passers-through, be they Seekers or otherwise. To what end, who could say.

More urgent was the matter of the new area’s hostile denizens that quickly became their problem to deal with. Fox drew and readied himself at the first sign of impending enemy contact, and was adequately prepared to respond to the preemptive attack by the trawlers, which Heavy was notably quick to deal with to aid the Medic. In his fury he failed to notice the small flyers on approach, that Fox began to fire upon; at one point even leaping in front of Heavy’s bullet hail to deflect some of it into the machine flock. The combination of enemy and Yellow Team fire going the same way would surely suffice in suppressing the lighter of their opposition, levelled out by the narrow footing they had to work with. Hence the need to rescue the heaviest of their team from the ‘sands’ following the initial ambush.

Then came an enemy they were ill-suited to deal with in their relatively disadvantaged state, uprooting the train tracks in a wave as it plowed through after them. Fox had to silently agree with Joker in booking it rather than staying to fight, even if that meant possibly fighting it elsewhere. Poppi gave them a suitable head start by flash freezing the Molduga, knowing it wouldn’t last long; certainly not long enough to last the rest of their expedited trip, but if they were lucky, it wouldn’t have to. Luck willing, the tracks would eventually cross over into a bridge to lead the monstrous sand whale over and off of. Should that be the case, Fox would happily dare it to keep chasing them. Until then, they could only continue to fight and push on toward the mountain at their now grueling pace.

Assorted feet pounded across the metal and wood of the railroad as the heroes made a run for it. Harried as they were, their retreat was sloppy, with some members lagging behind as others ran ahead. Unable to withstand the fliers’ shots, Necronomicon veered away from the battle with promises of reuniting up ahead, with Scout still along for the ride. Even after the Heavy was saved by Midna, retreat proved to be the farthest thing from the his mind, and he burned through his ammunition raining gunfire down on his enemies in a wild rage. Though Braum wanted to teach the monsters a thing or two as much as his burly friend, the big-hearted defender knew discretion to be the better part of valor at times, and fought to pull the Heavy along with the others. If not for Primrose’s Panther Dance, the two might not have made it out in time after all, for Poppi’s ice did not hold the Molduga for long.

Still, Sectonia took the chance while the creature was frozen to send out a parting shot in the form of a light right. It landed a clean hit, slicing across the beast’s unpleasant face and hide with a wide slash. Yoshitsune’s attempt to take advantage of the situation proved less successful, however, as his katanas bounced off the Molduga’s ice-crusted hide with a worrying clakk and jarring wobble that dealt more damage to his own hands than to the monster. At the very least he was able to make a clean getaway with his wheels before the Molduga burst from its frozen prison and began its pursuit.

It quickly began to gain ground on the fleeing procession of heroes. Barreling through the sand, it closed in on the vanguard formed by Midna, Primrose, Heavy, and Braum. A moment after the Freljord native turned back to look, another Trawler leaped from the sand toward Primrose. In a flash he stood in front of her and the creature bounced off his shield. With a might punch he sent it soaring, then faced the encroaching beast. “If ice can slow it down, I’ll give it a taste of my own! Rrrrrrah!” He punched the back of his shield, sending out a freezing orb that struck the Molduga in the face as it cruised beside the tracks. It slowed down just enough for him to breath deep, gather his strength, and release his ultimate technique. “Glacial...Fissure!” When he slammed his shield down, a freezing wave rolled across the surface of the sand in a line. Icy spikes burst up beneath the Molduga, sending it rolling. Laughing, Braum ran after the others. “That’ll last us little while longer, at least! How close are we?” he shouted up to the front of the line.

“It’s coming up ahead!” Skull, the fastest runner, shouted back. Sure enough, an island in the sugary sand sea was becoming visible through the night. Unfortunately, the frontrunners weren’t without their own share or problems. Despite Poppi and Sectonia’s air support the fliers kept coming, sending down not just their projectile orbs but beeping grenades as well. Those with red lights exploded into burning patches of fire on the tracks and the desert’s surface, while the blinking white Discombobulators detonated with concussive force. When the first one went off it threw Tora, Mona, and Skull clean from the tracks, screaming at assorted octaves. “The heeeeeeeeeeeeell!” the boy yelled, flailing his arms. “Kidd! Persona! Whatever! GET OUT HERE!”

As he hit the sand the skeletal captain and his ship appeared, but when he tried to pull himself up he found that he could not. Struggling against the sand, he saw Mona get snatched and reeled in by Joker’s grappling hook, while Poppi dove down to save her Masterpon who lodged head-first in the murky earth. Just when he thought he might be out of luck at last Panther extended her whip for him to grab hold of, but even with the added strength of her Lamia side she couldn’t pull him in. “Grrrrrrrrrr…” she growled, tugging with all her strength but only barely able to keep from falling in herself. “You’re...stuck!”

When Poppi placed Tora down beside her, however, the Nopon flapped his wings in inspired excitement. “Poppi, quick!” he cried. “Switch to Alpha, use superstrength!” The artificial blade quickly complied, shrugging off the projectiles that struck her with her new armor, and with her help Panther finally wrenched Skull free from the sucking sand.

With a yell he hurtled her way, prompting her eyes to go wide. “Whoa, hey! Watch it!” she yelled, but Skull couldn’t exactly change directions midair. Only barely did she manage to catch him without tumbling backward into the sand on the other side of the tracks herself.

He grinned. “Ooh, my hero!”

Panther dropped him as a fire grenade landed between their feet, and they took off running. With the disruption at the front Yellow Team was back together again, and not too far away from safety, either. Around the heroes the sand just kept getting goopier, quickly leaving the realm of quicksand and devolving to straight syrup. As the ground’s consistency changed the Trawlers retreated, but the robots swarmed thicker if anything. A column of Small and [url=http://]Medium[/url] desert robots with cloaks and masks ran out along the tracks from the island to meet them in the middle. Skull bashed the first Small right into the sap with one swing from his pipe, then ducked to allow Zorro to blow another handful off with a whirlwind. “My magic’s running low, and I’m out of ammo!” the cat warned as he looked back. The Molduga was gaining on the group again, forging onward through the syrup where the Trawlers turned back. He tapped Tora on the shoulder. “Remember what we talked about on the camel? I think it’s time!”

The Nopon’s eyes lit up. “Meh-meh? Showtime?!”

“You bet! Stand back, everyone!” Mona jumped forward, transforming into a car, and onto the hood leaped Tora with his shield equipped. Still in her Alpha form, Poppi sprawled on top, channeling ether into the weapon. With the press of a button the shield’s drill bit extended. A blazing light glowed within the thrusters of both blade and shield. Together, the thief and the inventor called out. “Super Sidekick Charge!”

In a burst of the flame the rockets ignited and the Morgana-car launched forward, plowing through every robot in the way with the help of the front-mounted drill. Mangled machine parts scattered across and sank into the syrup, leaving the tracks clear for the rest of the heroes. The railroad led into a tunnel in the cakelike edge of the island, and the trio disappeared inside, leaving the rest to catch up. With a final burst of speed the heroes reached the tunnel just in time for the Molduga to get stuck in the entrance, throwing the inside into darkness. It snapped and snarled but couldn’t squeeze any further, nor do much of anything but block the way back unless dealt with.

Moonlight in the distance suggested that the other exit wasn’t far. There was no sign of robots, so the heroes could catch their ragged breath as they proceeded through the tunnel, stepping over the ruined remains of more desert machines. A minute later they emerged into the night air of a bizarre landscape.

The moon and stars illuminated a world of desserts. They stood in an open-air train station of gingerbread and waffle cone, on the floor of which Poppi stood over a panting Tora and Mona, but beyond its perimeter lay a landscape of chocolate dirt, taffy grass, icing snow, sugar-frosted leaves, lollipop trees, protruding donuts, macaron boulders, and licorice saplings. Panther’s eyes practically sparkled as she stared around in wonderment. “Whoaaa...this must be what heaven is like! But…” She sank to her knees, exhausted. “If I tried to eat after all that running, I’ll probably puke.”

Skull patted her on the shoulder. “Aw well, it’s probably got bugs in it, anyways.”

Revulsion took over the girl’s face. “Why would you say that?”

“Well, look at ‘em!” her friend pointed.

Sure enough, there were bugs around, or snacks, or perhaps some eldritch conglomerate of the two. Poppi’s optics picked up popsicle beetles, fiery-tailed fireflies made from smores, cookie spiders, cinammon roll snails, confectionary ants, and walking sundaes. Bugs weren’t all she saw, though. She spotted an odd creature of berry andcream, and even a candy snake she mistook for a candy cane until it jerked alvie to snap up a hapless bug. “This defy all logic. More than usual, anyway,” she deadpanned.

“Tora stuff self silly when can stand, bugs or not!” the Nopon announced with what little breath he could muster.

Poppi, however, kept on her guard. She could see a few of the machines as well, although they had yet to acknowledge the newcomers. Keeping one eye on them, she took a more critical look around. The track continued out of the station heading north, but what appeared to be a flan-colored path led up into nearby hills. Furrowing her brow, Poppi tuned her audio sensors. “Poppi think Poppi hears voice from direction of path.” She pointed her armored gauntlet. “Sound like request for help. Tone indicates distress.”

Joker considered his options. Though their path led onward, most everyone was tired after their long run and heavy sprint. The Thieves needed to recuperate their magic, but more than that they needed sleep. But this island of didn’t offer the heroes a warm welcome, especially considering that the robots they fought seemed to be camped here. Mona and Tora’s stunt had done nothing to the fliers, yet they were nowhere to be found. If someone needed help, whoever it was might be able to offer some kind of refuge in return, or at least local knowledge. The machines might warrant further investigation, or the wildlife, or the island itself, in search of treasure. Remembering his pledge of cooperation, the Phantom Thief beckoned Fox over and spoke with him in low tones, outlining his thoughts.



As Nadia leisurely sauntered along in the general direction of the unusual stadium, denying no chance to take a look at whatever caught her eye along the way, she became aware of a familiar noise from behind her. Her keen ears quickly identified the sound of boosting thrusters, so while Blazermate’s sudden descent from the night sky took a few bystanders by surprise, Nadia welcomed her with a wave and a smile. “Heya yourself, my robotic fur-iend! Can’t guarantee I’ll be wanderin’ around all night, but as long as I’m up I’m happy to have nya.” She jabbed a thumb to indicate her objective, as if anyone could miss the strange building that towered about this entire stretch of wharf town. “Betcha wanna see it too, right? Let’s check it out!”

A few minutes later Nadia and Blazermate passed through a brief gauntlet of snack vendors and entered the unknown stadium. Spurred to excitement by the roar of the crowd and the booming voice of an announcer, whose words she couldn’t quite parse, the feral led the way. She raced through halls and up staircases, pausing only when she emerged into stadium seating and was greeted by the baffling sight of a wall of water. When Nadia dashed up to and set her hands on the railing, however, she couldn’t stifle a gasp of awe.

]

The building formed a high-rising ring around a great basin, but well above its bottom floated an enormous orb of water, suspended by some sort of magic or mystic art. Inside the gigantic orb Nadia spotted a number of players swimming with furious strength and speed, whose uniforms separated them into two teams. The scene was one of such action that it took a minute for her to even spot the ball after which every player chased, and for which they grappled, tackled, and kicked. As she watched she saw a blue-haired mermaid snatch the ball mid-pass, intercepting it from the enemy team, and speed toward a triangular goal at one end of the orb. Two players -a blue octopus and a surly-looking shark, moved to stop her, but she deftly dodged one while an allied diver tackled the other. With a big smile the mermaid slapped the ball with her tail, sending it flying toward the goal. Its tender, a different fish woman, lunged to intercept the ball but missed. A loud horn rang out across the stadium, and the scoreboard floating above the watery arena changed to read 6-1.

“Good golly, what a grrrrrrreat play!” The bearded announcer yelled into his mic from his box. “Thanks to our very own Half-Genie Hero, the Limsa Goers continue to solidify their lead! I tell ya folks, in all me years aboard the Sea Minus I’ve never seen comedians like these Los Santos Tiburones--we’ll be laughin’ ‘til sunup if this goes on!”

Having such a ridiculously biased announcer got Nadia laughing as well. She waved to Blazermate. “C’mon, let’s sit down somewhere, this is clawsome!” Slinking past a worried-looking guy who seemed to be waiting for something -maybe for his team to make a comeback?- she looked for a couple seats. To her surprise she spotted Inigo sitting with a pretty girl in a sporty outfit. He got a date after all, huh? It was a far cry from a relaxing cup of tea, but while Inigo looked out of his element he at least seemed happy that his companion was happy. Nadia chose a spot out of his field of view and plopped down a seat away from a hat-wearing man in green, who appeared to have filled the seat to his right with an amount of fast food takeout that would have surprised even Bowser. Thinking nothing of it Nadia fixed her eyes on the game, absorbing every detail from this cultural phenomenon that she could. She found herself inspired by the way the players managed to break out of even the most dire-looking situations, and happened to remember a way that she could escape rough spots, herself.



The game moved quickly, with seldom a dull moment. For all their efforts the Tiburones couldn’t seem to make any headway, as the joking announcer Captain Chuck only too gladly pointed out. In the end, the Tiburones got -as the fellow by Nadia put it- ‘smoked, scoring only three points’. Although she didn’t really understand the rules, the feral enjoyed it so much that she stayed for the next game as well, listening to and chatting with the people around her, Blazermate included. When the Blitzball stadium finally closed for the night, Nadia wearily retraced her steps to the central seastack tower and the Mizzenmast Inn, where she passed out instantly.

---

Having slept like the dead, Nadia awoke to shouting from the Mizzenmast hall. “Alright, come on, Seekers!” Peach’s voice insisted. “You’ve had time to get ready, so get your ah...butts in gear! This is the last call, the Navy is casting off in thirty minutes!” With a stretch and a yawn Nadia turned over in her wonderfully comfortable sheets, settling down in a fresh position. Then her eyes popped open as wide as saucers, and her ears stood on end. “What!?” she blurted out, shocked, and launched from her bed in jets of blood. She hit the wall with a thump and scrambled to her feet, holding her head. “Owwwww…” Her eyes settled on the bloodstained, disheveled bed and she grimaced. “Dammit, that’s...they’re gonna freak.” She blinked twice, thoughtful. “Freak. Furr-eak. Not bad. Wait no, I’ve been usin’ ‘fur’ too often...ugh...” Shaking her head, she tried to concentrate and put her thoughts in order. “So. I slept clean through the first call. Thirty minutes. Half an hour. Okay, I’ll just clean up, grab some eggs or something. Find the boats. No sweat.” She took a groggy step and slipped on her own pillow, falling in a heap. “Guh…” she groaned. “No...sweat.”

Twenty-five minutes later she slid to a stop on the white stones of Limsa’s finest harbor, a half-eaten hash brown clutched between her teeth, still wearing the Mizzenmast’s signature bathrobe. This time there could be no mistaking it: she had arrived. With a muffled sigh of relief the feral jogged down the jetty to where the towering form of Bowser indicated the Seekers’ presence. By them the Admiral’s magnificent ship, Jackdaw, was moored, along with two smaller ships. Along the way she ducked, dived, dipped, and dodged to avoid the rigging of the shipgirls, because the place was packed with them. Without knowing any better Nadia could only assume that the entirety of the Navy had assembled here for this offensive; there were more women here than she’d ever seen in her entire life. To say that they represented all shapes and sizes would be to lie, for despite their varied outfits, hair colors, and accessories there appeared to be a certain uncanny uniformity at work, but Nadia noticed both some very big -almost jaw droppingly so, in some cases- and very small. Are those KIDS!? More than a little weirded out, Nadia hurried on her way.

Still, she couldn’t shut out the ships’ excited chatter, and one thing she heard made her stop in her tracks. She turned her ears to the speaker’s voice without looking at her, shutting everything else out.

“Did you hear about the murder? No I mean, the new news. Well, I heard who it was, even if the brass won’t release the name. It was Miss Scharnhorst. Yeah, with the eyepatch! She was on her way to a party with her little sister. A guy found a bottle of wine in an alley by his house with some ashes. He told Shantae -he’s her friend or something- and she alerted the guard. Meanwhile, Scharnhorst never arrived at her little sister’s party, so she went out looking for her. Right, Gneisenau. Dewey said she heard her crying up a storm. What, don’t look at me like that! I know it’s awful! I’m just spreading the news. Listen, whoever did it, Shantae’s gonna find them, and she’ll make them pay. There was some kind of disturbance over in Housing last night, with some folks describing a woman with an eyepatch and long hair. Shantae went over this morning to talk with the lady who runs the district. Of course my source was good…”

Nadia ran over the rumors in her mind as she continued toward the heroes, munching her hash brown with a deep frown. If all that was true and a girl got killed last night, it had to have something to do with the Seekers’ arrival. And witnessing someone with the slain girl’s likeness afterward smacked of spirit absorption. Nadia joined her allies at the end of the jetty, where she was surprised to find that one of the smaller ships was alive and the other was actually an airship, floating above the surface of the water. Despite the bad news Nadia couldn’t help but marvel a little, though she snapped herself out of it quickly enough. Peach greeted her with a raised eyebrow, prompting her to shrug helplessly. She needed to get her head in the game. Limsa matters should be left to Limsa authorities, while she and the other heroes had bigger fish to fry. Still, as Nadia looked over the gathered heroes, she couldn’t help but feel as if not everyone was accounted for.

Peach turned back to the shipgirl beside her, a splendidly dressed blonde decked out in the finery of a fleet commander. “And one more thing,” she asked. “Are those really children who’re coming to fight with us? How is that admissible?”

George V sighed. “You’ve touched upon quite the controversial topic. While ships don’t experience life cycles like normal people, the Admiral is quite adamant about young ships staying out of the fight, despite their fighting ability. As such they form a sort of reserve force that will defend the city itself should worst come to worst. They won’t be casting off with us.”

Peach didn’t exactly look pleased. “Your home world must be a bizarre one.”

“What?”

It was then that Admiral Merlwyb stepped onto the prow of her ship, a megaphone in her hand. “Warriors of Limsa Lominsa!” she boomed, bringing the entire throng of shipgirls to an attentive standstill. “Long have we been trapped in the cruel grip of an unending war against the Abyssal Fleeting, fighting to keep our people, our very way of life, safe. Long have we fought with no end in sight. But that ends today!” The ships cheered until Merlwyb’s voice cut through their clamour once again. With one hand she indicated the team of heroes. “With the help of these newcomers, the Seekers of Light, we have a way to stop our enemy’s endless regeneration. Our From now on our armor division will trawl the battlefield for the spirits of our foes, seizing them to turn to our advantage! So today we will launch our own invasion. We will sail into Abyssal-controlled waters, sink their patrols, smash through their standing armies, and obliterate their forward bases.” Whispers began to drift through the ranks, but Merlwyb continued. “That’s right, you lily-livered shrimps! Today we’re bringing the hammer down on Midway Island and Kwolok Harbour. By the time our fair city’s clock tolls noon, the Midway and Harbour Princesses we’ve suffered so long will be nothing more than bad memories!”

The doubts of the ships gave way to more cheers, and Merlwyb raised a pistol into the air. “Now then, you scurvy dogs, you scallywags, you bilge rats. It’s time to take back the seas for our people. To WAR!” The report of her firearm sent the harbor into a frenzy of activity. Shipgirls cast off into the ocean blue in waves, and the. Feeling inspired herself, Nadia turned toward the three more conventional ships, ready to board whichever her leadership assigned her to.



Since the two gates to the Limsa Housing District both featured an accompaniment of guards would we be all too interested in an unfamiliar shipgirl in this part of town at night, leaving the place meant getting over the surrounding walls, but even with the extra weight of her rigging Sephiroth found no trouble there. Of course, the moment she landed she could see that, compared to the well-kept streets and comfortable lights of the town, the area outside was an altogether different beast. It got rather dark quite fast, although thanks to the lights of the City, the moon, and even Galeem, visibility was far better than it might have been. With the city and its dangers at Sephiroth’s back she could set off into the unknown.

Of course, the going wasn’t easy, albeit less because she found any problem with the moist, grassy hills before her and more with the conflict raging inside her head. A pronounced part of her hated the idea of running away like this, instead urging the long-haired swordfighter to return and face her troubles head-on. An ingrained sense of duty to the Navy of the seastack city tugged at her alongside a familial bond to her sister, inspiring the guilt of desertion and abandonment. As difficult to suppress were the images that sprang unbidden and danced in her head of a certain blonde swordsman she was leaving behind, thanks to another part of her. All this culminated in gripping feelings of self-loathing and betrayal, making each step further and further into the night a chore, if not an agony. But Sephiroth was strong; Sephiroth was superior. Through sheer force of will she pushed on and on, until at long last the steady weakening of those nagging voices gave way to relief.

As the clouds across her mind finally lessened, she could compose herself and take stock of her surroundings. Like a traveler blindly forging onward through a blizzard, she had been blindly trudging for some time with no sense of direction, and her trek had led her to the edge of a large marshland. It seemed to extend both north and south as far as she could see in the gloom. Mangrove trees littered the marsh in small groves, the dubious shapes of their twisted roots and branches easy to mistake for the limbs and legs of unknown enemies. Will-o-wisps floating between the long grasses and reeds provided an eerie and intermittent light, and in their glow Sephiroth could see she was hardly the only living thing here.

Above the murky swamp waters floated strange creatures the size of shoeboxes, like cuttlefish with big, soft eyes and elephantine trunks, playing in small groups of two and three. Oddly triplicate bees buzzed amid the underbrush, attending sleepily to the flowers that bloomed at night, and as Sephiroth watched a huge frog rose from the mare to strike one of the careless insects with a tongue coated in bluish fluid. The bee twisted free but got only a couple feet before it sank, sedated into the water for easy collection and crunching by the engorged amphibian.

There were also mosquitoes, with which Sephiroth’s newly altered, showier outfit did not help. Most were too small to clearly see, let alone attack, but thanks to a maddening whine she could make out a couple far larger specimens, only too eager to pay the blood-filled woman a visit. A quick examination suggested a greater concentration of mosquitoes to the north, where mists curled among the increasingly tall trees, while more bees bumbled through the willows to the south.

---

Frog was quite thoroughly confused by the explanation that Blazermate had given to the amphibian, and even after the automaton had left with the cat earred woman he still couldn't quite wrap his head around the concept of artificial life that was created from metal and advanced machinery beyond his comprehension.

With a heavy sigh the amphibian shook his head "Tis beyond mine grasp to understand such things." Frog admitted after the lull in conversation that followed their companions taking their leave which actually gave the amphibian an opportunity to repay the pointy earred youth for saving his life. However he wasn't going to offer Link monetary compensation because he would more than likely turn it down, therefore the amphibious swordsman decided that the best thing he could offer his friend was the truth about his unfortunate past.

"Link tis time I repaid your kindness," he said holding up his hand to quiet the youth if he tried to generously decline his offer "Prithee hold thy tongue and listen for I offer naught anything except an unfortunate truth." Frog pushed his empty plate away and placed his hands upon the table looking down them for a moment before continuing to explain himself "I twas normal as thou arte long before the cursed light invaded..."

---

---

---

---

---

Although she'd managed to successfully exit the city, Sephiroth didn't stop again until she reached the swamp, fighting the voices bouncing around inside her skull the entire way until they finally fell silent. Upon arriving however, she had paused to survey the area. Not only because she didn't want to be taken unawares, but also because she honestly had no idea where exactly she was. A good thing this choice turned out to be, for there were several creatures living here that might give her trouble or at the very least cause for concern. The least of these were, of course, the bulbous animals floating aimlessly through the air, with the large amphibian she'd seen taking precedence alongside the mosquitoes, and not the small ones she'd been swatting for the last couple of seconds either. No, the bugs that really worried her were the larger ones gathered in droves to the north, the manic drone of their oversized wings easily heard even here at the edges of the great marsh.

Eyes narrowing into slits as her hand shifted its way to the hilt of her sword, Sephiroth decided she didn't want to spend the rest of the night fighting against overwhelmingly unfavorable odds, and elected to evade both the frog or frogs and the insects as best she could. Seeing how both sets of creatures seemed to be mostly centered around the water, well partially in the mosquitoes' case due to their ability to fly, the former SOLDIER decided she would take the trees instead. Cumbersome as it might be given the rigging attached to her back, it would be far less risky and much quicker than if she simply continued to wade through the brackish at her feet, and give her a chance to get used to the physical intricacies of this new body to boot. Thus she began to forge her way to the northeast, all while making sure she gave the mist and swarm enveloped trees a wide berth, by leaping up out of the water and into the lowest branches of the nearest mangrove.

Bringing her hand down to crush a mosquito that had landed to take a drink from her thigh, Sephiroth began her painstakingly slow climb into the higher branches, grunting and growling in annoyance as her rigging got hooked and snagged. Eventually, however, she was near the top of the tree. Locating the next series of branches she needed to take, she began to make her way across the treetops.

All the while completely unaware of the insects that moved to track her far below...

@Lugubrious

Sakura couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t exactly a new occurrence for her. Sleep was usually the thing her mind and body chose to sacrifice when she was busy or stressed. It must have been a little past midnight, but it was hard to tell. Sakura had left the Atomos as quietly as she could- rigging awkwardly clanking as she did so- and found her way to the pier. Standing on the wood and staring at the ocean. The moon and stars did their best, but the ocean at night was always dark.

Sakura rubbed her eyes. After a moment she took a stance and shot her fist out in a strike. It audibly cut through the air. In order to clear her head she went into a martial arts routine, dancing along the side of the pier with power and skill. A spinning roundhouse kick, advancing straight arms strikes. She turned and jabbed her elbow into the open air. She finished it all off with a gathering of energy between her palms. "Hadoken!" She fired a fiery blue ball over the ocean’s surface. It travelled for a hundred yards, trailing blue light behind it, before sputtering out. Sakura paused, took a breath, and began doing the entire routine again from the start.

A pair of yellow eyes opened to the sound of the Atomos’s rigging jangling about. Geralt climbed out of his bed and stretched his arms, shoulders popping and a soft sigh escaping his mouth. “What is it now…?” He wondered, pulling on a light nightshirt to cover his chest and strapping his boots, the sheath containing his steel sword sitting beside where he laid down for the night. Grabbing the weapon just in case, he quietly made his way to the exterior of the ship, shaking his head at the sight of Sakura going through what looked to him like a practiced form.

Her movements were practiced, clean, and clearly the result of years of training with how automatically they seemed to flow from the girl. The Witcher merely stood there for a short while, watching a few repetitions before speaking up. “I think I underestimated you, ki-Sakura.” He cut himself off, not wanting to use the dismissive word, even if it wasn’t exactly inaccurate, especially when compared to his own age. “I still think your attitude is gonna come back to bite you in the ass, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t come from a place of experience.” Sighing, Geralt shrugged. “I’d also be lying if I said I wasn’t just...tired...of it never working.”

Sakura startled a little bit, turning around to see Geralt had joined her on the peer. She smiled at him, though, never one to turn down company. "Hey, Mr. Geralt. Sorry if I woke you up." She said.

She thought a moment about what he had just said, pausing her routine. "My attitude, huh?" She smirked a little, raising an eyebrow. She placed her fists on her hips. "What do you mean? Attitude how?" She asked.

Letting out a short huff of laughter, Geralt crossed his arms. “You spared Bella. An inhuman, heartless monster hellbent on the slaughter of you, your friends, and the people of this town. And you spared her because you thought there might be something in there worth saving.” He paused for a moment. “Do you know what a werewolf is?”
Sakura rubbed the back of her head. But he seemed to be going somewhere with this.

"Uh-huh." She nodded. She raised a finger though, adding an addendum. "They’re just stories where I live, though. So, it might be different for you? It’s a person who turns into a giant wolf monster when the full moon is out, right?" She gestured to the moon in the sky behind her to illustrate her point.

Nodding, Geralt gave a half-shrug. “That’s half the truth, yes. Those who are turned only change during the full moon, but a person born a werewolf, by virtue of having a werewolf parent, can freely control the transformation. Natural-born werewolves also cannot be cured, unlike turned werewolves.” Ending the explanation there, Geralt moved on to the point.

“I’ve had to hunt a few werewolves in my time, and it’s...never quite easy. But perhaps the hardest one was a man by the name of Niellen. He was a hunter who posted a contract in search of his missing wife.” Pausing, Geralt’s eyes seemed to harden in response to the memory. “I found her alright, though not after her sister tried to bribe me into telling him I’d found her killed by wolves in the woods. Now...why do you think she did that?” The way Geralt was looking at her, it was clear he wasn’t asking a rhetorical question.

Sakura dug the toes of her sneaker into the pier as she listened. She furrowed her brow, trying to think of an explanation. "Umm..." She pursed her lips.

"Maybe the wife was trying to fake her own death?" Sakura said after a little bit. "And the sister was in on it?" There was a bit of hope in her voice, but she could guess from Geralt’s tone that this story didn’t have a happy ending. But she didn’t know how.

Geralt let out a short breath through his nose before shaking his head. “I wish that were the case. I really do.” He paused a moment, perhaps for emphasis, perhaps to find the right words to convey what he found without traumatizing the poor girl. “I didn’t go along with it. I may be a bastard, but even I have some principles. So, I kept looking. And like I said, I found her. But it wasn’t wolves that got to her. No, it was something...much, much larger.

“It was a werewolf. I tracked it to its lair, a cavern under a hunting cabin Niellen used. It was far enough that he could transform and hunt without killing anybody. Until his sister-in-law decided she’d had enough playing second fiddle and took the woman out to see what her husband truly was.” He let it hang in the air for a moment. “You can piece together what happened, I imagine.”

Sakura was frowning, and she blew some air through her lips. "Um...I’m sorry...second fiddle? Is that a metaphor?" She asked. "Just, y’know, before we get to the part where...everybody dies. Or whatever." She said. Sakura was holding one arm behind her back. She knew what a mentor type person telling a parable sounded like. She’d heard a lot of them. It sounded like Geralt was going to get to the part with the lesson, the moral of the story, soon.

Geralt had to keep himself from laughing. Leave it to Sakura to ask such an innocent question in the middle of a story where ‘everybody dies’. “It’s a metaphor, yes. It meant she was tired of feeling less important than her sister. She was...obsessed with him. And we’re almost there, don’t worry.” He didn’t give a smirk, or a patronizing smile, or any of the other things he might have done with Ciri. Sakura wasn’t the same. And for her sake, he hoped it stayed that way.

“He, in his transformed state, killed her. Her sister ran, and tried to pretend she’d just...gone missing, been killed by wolves.” Geralt sighed, voice softening a bit. “I confronted him, as it was oh so conveniently the full moon once more, and weakened him. Then, his obsessed sister-in-law tried to intervene. She confessed what she’d done, explained that she wanted her sister to see what a monster he was so she’d leave and they could be together.”

“I told them that it was between the two of them to figure it out, and I told Niellen to leave, find somewhere to hide where he couldn’t hurt anybody, or I’d kill him the next time I laid eyes on him.” He paused, closing his eyes. “He found me. Chased me down as I was walking away, and told me to kill him.” A fist clenched at his side. “I told him to find some reins and a strong tree. He said he was too much of a coward.” A breath, one in and one out.

“So I slayed the monster. Didn’t even get paid. Some Witcher I am.” Finally opening his eyes, Geralt shook his head. “The reason I’m telling you this is that is how things tend to go when these kinds of decisions need to be made. I could tell you the story of Sarah the Godling, who has a nice house in Novigrad all to herself that nobody will ever try to buy. I could tell you about Salma, the Succubus who got spooked and accidentally killed a city guard, but it’d just be filling you with more hope. I could even tell you about the first monster I killed and the girl I saved, but that one...well, that one’s almost worse than this story. Is, in some ways.”

Shaking his head again, Geralt continued. “But I didn’t, because the last thing I want is for you to get killed trying something like that again. It worked, and I’m glad it did. I am. But I can’t help but worry that if it doesn’t, and you’re in that same miserable condition when you inevitably try it again, it’ll be you on the losing end of the fight. And you know they won’t just take you back under Galeem’s control.” He let out a breath, annoyed at himself.

“And if I were you? I’d tell me off. Tell me that killing somebody who maybe doesn’t need to die, who has a chance at a new life, is wrong. And you’d be right. But I don’t give a damn,” Geralt unclenched his fist, “I’m tired, Sakura. I am...so...so tired. I try to do the right thing, and it just never seems to work out.” Turning out to the ocean, he sighed again. “But I don’t want you to end up tired like me, either. Bitter, angry, desperately clinging onto the last good things I have left. And if Vesemir is any indicator, I’m going to be tired for a very, very long time.”

Sakura listened, quiet, wincing at the story’s tragic ending. She turned away. It seemed like Mister Geralt had lived a very long, very sad life. Sakura sat down on the pier, and her legs dangled over the ocean. She felt like...she felt like Mister Geralt had misunderstood, something, though. About her.

"You wanna know something, Geralt-san?” Sakura said. "You said it was because I thought there was something in there worth saving. And, I guess that’s a little true. I mean, look at her now. She’s really nice."

She shrugged her shoulders. "But the real reason was that I didn’t want to kill her because I would feel bad about it. I didn’t want to be a killer. I’ve never killed anyone or anything before." She twiddled her thumbers. "Unless you count indirectly killing animals by buying meat. Then I’ve killed lots of cows. And whatever goes into hotdogs." The ridiculous statement was earnest. "But with my own two hands?" She clenched and unclenched her fists, examining them. "No."

"I mean- I’m not gonna tell you off. If I were you I would have just ran away. I can’t make choices like that. I never have." Sakura said, looking over her shoulder at him.

Geralt couldn’t help but chuckle a little at Sakura’s comment about killing a lot of cows indirectly, but he stopped quickly. “Honestly? That’s fine. Not wanting to kill people because you’d feel bad,” he clarified. He kept looking out at the water, talking a little away from Sakura, but still loudly enough to hear. “It’s fucking miserable. If you lot never have to bloody your hands like that, you won’t hear me complain that you have it too easy. It’s not a choice people should have to make. It turns innocent little girls into angry, bitter women. It turns naive boys into hardened, drunken men. It haunts the dreams and nightmares of all but the most stone-hearted.”

Turning his head towards the girl sitting on the dock, he continued. “War is...bad. Tomorrow isn’t going to be like anything you’ve seen before, I think. If we’re lucky, the Navy will do its part and we’ll be able to rush past most of everything. But...well, just be ready. Don’t hesitate. If you can’t bring yourself to kill one of them, just beat them unconscious, though I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that.”

“Gods, I sound like Vesemir fussing over us when we left for the Path at the end of winter. I know I’m old, but has it really been that long?” Chuckling, he slowly sat down like Sakura did, legs hanging from the pier. “What’s it like? Where you’re from, aside from the food, that is? It seems...more peaceful.” It seemed nice, is what he wanted to say.

Sakura was glad that Geralt understood. She didn’t want to kill anything. She perked up a little, as she asked him about her home. She smiled and turned to face the ocean again. Now she kicked her legs, leaning back and setting her palms on the pier.
”It is. At least, where I’m from. There’s no monsters or anything like that. Only people." She tried to think of things that would contrast from the place he was from. A fantasy hero from medieval times, with lots of magic.

"There’s a lot of people, actually. About six billion, I think. And the world is big, there’s a lot more than one continent. There’s seven, but one of them is just pretending to be a continent because they’re the guys who made all the maps and they wanted to feel special." She smiled.

"My home, though, Japan? Most people have houses. I live in a house that’s combined with our sushi restaurant. I go to school for five days a week for free. When I get home I train, or talk to my friends, or play video games or watch shows on TV. My home town is a little cramped because the island is so small. It’s kind of an old, small town, but it has a lot of charm. There’s no crime, really. No war at all for fifty years. There’s lots of cool toys, places, and people. We have a prime minister, not a king or anything like that. If bad things do happen, we usually just call the police. And the police show up for free, because they’re paid by the government. And if someone gets hurt, they get taken care of in a hospital, and usually that’s free, too." Sakura explained, wistfulness creeping into her voice.

Geralt’s face scrunched up. That...was a lot that got done just as a matter of course. Education, low crime, free medicine, no war, it seemed like a utopia. “That...sounds too good to be true.” Geralt admitted. It was just so different from what he knew. “I assume your government pays for this through taxes, as opposed to building more castles or throwing lavish feasts for nobles?”

”Yep." Sakura said simply.

"If it sounds like it’s too good to be true, it wasn’t always like that. Some places in the world are still struggling. And well, the last war that happened fifty years ago? It was a bad one. It was called World War 2. Because just like twenty years before that, everyone had World War 1. A war with the whole world in it. Two of them. Can you imagine? I can’t." Sakura shook her head.

"And way before that, there were mean kings and rich bullies, probably like where you live." Sakura said a little bitterly, crossing her arms.

"But after all that...things got better. So maybe something like that will happen where you live, Geralt. In a really, really long time." Sakura said.

"Yeah, it is nice, where I live, though." She added. She drew her knees into her chest. "I miss it a lot."

”Or.... the people in it. I have a pretty cool family." She said this last part quietly. "I haven’t seen them. Since we got here." The words hurt to say.
"I always left them, you know? I never spent enough time with them. I was always off chasing some…” She trailed off. She turned to face Geralt.

"Why do you think I started learning how to fight, Geralt-san?" She asked. She wanted to see what kind of person he thought she was.

Geralt’s eyes widened at the revelation of not one, but two worldwide conflicts in the past century from Sakura’s world. He couldn’t even begin to imagine a war with six billion people involved, on the sidelines or not. “That’s...horrible.” He said. He couldn’t come up with anything more. It was just...horrible. Unthinkable, really. The Nilfgaardian invasion was bad, but the scale was nothing compared to that. And Sakura said her world had seven continents. What would that even look like? The implications were too much to even consider.

Her question, though, took him by surprise. He couldn’t be sure. Why would somebody from a world like that choose to learn how to fight? It didn’t seem quite as necessary based on her idyllic description of her home. “Normally I’d say to protect yourself and your family, but...something tells me that wasn’t necessary. Your forms seemed very disciplined, practiced, so you obviously had formal training. I’d say military, but...well, does Japan, was it? Does Japan allow female soldiers? It’s certainly not common on the Continent. Only Skelligers really have fighting women, and they’re usually considered backwards barbarians.”

He couldn’t tell, frankly. “If I had to guess, I’d say...somebody you know got hurt. And you learned how to fight to either protect them, or yourself.” Geralt felt like he was missing something. Her demeanor never really gave him that impression, but he just had no idea. All the ‘normal’ reasons somebody would take up the blade, so to speak, didn’t seem to apply to the bubbly, positive-seeming girl.

Sakura giggled. She shifted her entire body to face Geralt, crossing her legs and leaning forward. ”Nope. It was because I had a crush on a boy." She admitted.

"I saw a handsome, cool guy fighting, and I thought I wanted to be like him, and I wanted him to like me." She rested her cheek in her palm. "I was 11. He’s like, 15 years older than me."

Geralt’s face betrayed no emotion as he tried to process the absolutely inane reasoning. In a way, it actually reminded him of Ciri. Sure, the two were wildly different, but Ciri was so enamored with the idea of becoming a Witcher as a little girl that he couldn’t help but compare the two. “I...see. Well, I won’t pretend I haven’t done crazy things for a woman.” Geralt smirked with this confession, a number of dirty stories coming to mind before he banished them. “Becoming a Witcher wasn’t one of them, though.”

Sakura smirked. "Yeah. I mean, I develop a real passion for it. The improvement. The competition. The lows and highs of victory and defeat. The excuses and opportunities it gave me to travel the world. But it all started because I saw Ryu-san do it on TV." She sighed.

"But when I finally got to him, talked to him, fought him, it changed me. How I felt. He taught me that with strength, came a responsibility. That I had to use it correctly. That it could twist people, hurt people. He let me realise that I had the power to seriously hurt others. That it wasn’t just a game. I like fighting people. I don’t like violence." She tilted her head sadly to the side.

"Sometimes I feel like it could have been anything. What if I saw a handsome competitive football player? Or...knitter? Or chef? But no. I had to pick fighting. And it turns out when you’re capable of defeating 99.99% of the human population in single combat, people are gonna ask you to fight for them. And how could I say no? Ryu-san did it, too. So I followed him." Sakura shrugged. ”I don’t want to be a hero, you know? I didn’t get into this to save or protect anyone. I did it because it was fun, and I was bored, and I had a crush." She cast her eyes down, examining the wooden boards of the pier.

Geralt sat there for a moment, taking in what Sakura had just said. That...was a lot to process. She was just a girl who got into something for the fun of it, and wound up way in over her head. He could sympathize with the second part, though he’d almost gotten used to the sheer pressure it caused. Hunting a wraith was one thing. Tracking a Fiend wasn’t a problem. Leading a band of people who hardly interacted with one another save for their bonds to him in a war against the Wild Hunt was another thing altogether. He imagined Sakura was feeling like he did during those times.

He didn’t envy her, especially since she had a lot less experience to fall back on, and was stuck here, with no longtime friends or allies either. “Well...he was right that it comes with a lot of responsibility. I can’t tell you how many times I had to beat some sense into somebody who thought that just because they were tougher than the person next to them, that they could make them obey their every whim. People who flaunted their power, took advantage of people in need.”

He sighed. “I did want to be a hero. Witchers were heroes once, to some. We slayed monsters, protected villages, we kept our noses out of people’s business. Some charged too much. Sometimes people pretended to be Witchers to take advantage of those in need. Sometimes Witchers were the ones taking advantage. We killed so many monsters that they started seeing humans as a threat and just left on their own. There were a lot of reasons, but eventually, people started getting tired of Witchers. They stopped hiring us as often, they hurled abuse at us, a few schools were even attacked, including my own. It was enough to cause a lot of Witchers to abandon our teachings, start doing what they could for gold. Some became assassins, some murderers and brigands.”

“That’s not really important, though. What is, is that life has a tendency of just...going along without caring whether you want it to happen the way it does or not. It doesn’t care that you don’t want to be a hero, or that I just wanted to hunt monsters and have my little family. We ended up here. Away from everything we knew. It doesn’t matter what your plans were. You’re here now, we both are. And tomorrow, we have to go out, fight the next Guardian, and free this place from under Galeem’s thumb.” He let out a long, slow breath. “And that has to be the most important thing until we can relax again, unfortunately. I’d gotten used to the endless fighting, the constant worrying, the need to plan your next move carefully. Guess I’ll be putting that experience to good use.”

Sakura nodded. He was right, of course. He had lots of experience. He wanted to be a hero, and things didn’t turn out the way he expected, but Sakura knew he was still a hero. But she was really worried about something that had been digging at her.

"I’m self taught, by the way. No formal training." She blurted. No. That wasn’t it, she was just trying to dodge her own feelings. Because saying this next part was gonna hurt. It was going to be like ripping off a bandaid- but she had to do it because otherwise it would keep building in her heart until it exploded.

"Do you wanna know why I was knocked out earlier today?" She asked. Her voice broke a little bit. This was a lead up question to something else.

Geralt just shook his head. “Not a clue. Though I have to assume you did something silly and hit your head.” He replied honestly, completely unashamed of his assumption.

Sakura seemed offended. "No, that’s not it. I don’t just hit my head and pass out." She sighed.

"I met a friend of mine, Karin Kanzuki. Back home. She recognized me and everything. But she was all...Galeemified.” She said sadly. "We fight each other usually, whenever we see each other. It’s how we improve. Normally, it’s fun..." She looked down at her hands again. "Not so much, this time. I had to beat her, so I could Friend Heart her. I tried to Friend Heart her, but I lost. I kept pushing the fight, until she had to hit me really, really hard."

Sakura clenched her fists. "I lost her, Geralt-san. I don’t know where she is, now. But...at least...at least she can take care of herself." Her eyes began to well up.

"I- I have a family. Two parents, a little brother, and a dog. My best friend, Kei. They’re not like Karin, or me, or you. They’re just normal people. They can’t p-protect themselves. What if- what if something...I don’t..." The words wouldn’t come out.

"...I’ve been scared to think about it..." She admitted aloud to herself, quietly.

Geralt frowned at the revelation. “Well, I was going to say I was a little right, what with pushing the fight further than you could handle, but…” He sighed. “I know I’ve mentioned having my own family, here and there, but...well, it’s not quite the same. We’re all, in our own way, gifted. Powerful. It’s made us targets in its own right, but we’ve been able to protect ourselves.” The closest thing he had to that was Dandelion, and as much as he genuinely cared for his friend, he was somewhat reluctant to label him the same as Yen and Ciri.

“I honestly have no idea what to tell you. If you want me to make you feel better, at least from what I’ve seen in Lumbridge, the local monsters didn’t seem to make much headway in the hurting people department, what with a few dozen different legendary heroes running around and killing them all. I don’t know what Galeem’s playing at with this place he’s created, but wanton slaughter doesn’t seem to be it.” By the gods he was bad at this.

Screwing up his face, he said as much. “Frankly, I was never much for cheering people up unless it was with news about killing a monster. It’s actually almost funny how you chose the single worst person to open up to about this.” The hollow, empty laugh he gave echoed for a moment. “I can’t cry. Don’t know how. Not even after Vesemir died. I won’t give empty words and say they’re fine. But even compared to where I’m from, this place is...more fair. Less miserable. I barely had to walk twenty feet after we got to Alcamoth to find Yennefer, even. But it’s a big world out there. I’m sure they’re plenty worried for you, wondering where you’ve gone. Might’ve even put up a sign on a town board somewhere. You’ll have to look, but...well, there’s only so many places they could be.” That was...better than he expected it to come out, even if it was hardly reassuring.

Sakura laughed a little, rubbing her eyes. "I just need to talk to someone about these things. Karin probably would have said something like what you said, if she was here. But...you probably wouldn’t like her very much. Most people don’t."

"Let’s be honest. It’s not like I’m...a closed book. " The tears were falling; Sakura was an emotional person. "They probably aren’t that worried about me. They let me go jetting around the world pretty often by myself." She smiled.

"Maybe they were more worried than I thought and just didn’t tell me? I guess I’m feeling guilty. All I ever wanted to do was get away from home and now all I want to do is go back, now that I can’t." She buried her palms into her face, chuckling.

"Ugh. I’m so stupid."

“As a parent, I can tell you that they were probably beside themselves with worry any time you were so much as out of line of sight.” He sighed. “Ciri...well, Ciri’s what we call a Source. A person with a direct connection to immense magical power that puts sorcerors to shame. She was also a child of Elder Blood, a line that was also known for immense magical power. Put the two together, and she’s more than capable of taking care of herself, at least when she can control the magic.”

“And yet, I waged a war to get her back. Sure, she was being hunted by some of the worst monsters elvenkind had to offer, but the point remains. Just because they don’t say it directly, doesn’t mean they don’t worry.” He sighed. “And don’t feel too guilty. You can’t just...stay at home with them forever either. Maybe if there was some family farm or...huh, what do you people even do for work?” He mused, before moving on. “Either way, children are supposed to grow into their own people. They can’t coddle you forever, even if letting a teenager galavant around the world getting into fights with people is a little irresponsible.”

Shrugging, he laid his hands on his legs, looking back out over the ocean. “I’m looking for her again, actually. Once this business with the Abyssals is cleared up, I plan to look around the city. Ask the Moogle creatures if anybody else has an idea, as well. You could do the same.” It wasn’t much, but...he figured any idea could be of use.

Sakura nodded slowly, watching and listening to the waves lap up against the artificial shores of the ocean town. "Well… I hope you find your daughter. She sounds cool." She really hoped her parents weren’t that worried. But now that she thought about it, could they not be? Didn’t exactly assuage her guilt, but it made her feel like she had more insight into the situation. Like she understood the world a little more. There was some relief to be found in that.

"...I think I’m going to stay out here and meditate until morning. It’s beautiful out here." Sakura said, taking in the sight of both the ocean, the night sky, and the town itself.

Geralt nodded. “That it is. I’d offer to join you, but I haven’t slept a full night in quite some time. Even Witchers need to rest.” Standing, he turned back towards the Atomos. “If you do decide to look for them, Lumbridge is a bad place to start. Nobody looking quite like you lived there, assuming you take after your parents.” It was funny, Ciri being unrelated to him by blood but looking exactly like one would expect his daughter to look.

Sakura waved to the Witcher. "Thanks for talking with me. I don’t think they’re in Lumbridge, either. Ryu-san is hanging out around there, so...he would have noticed them." She reasoned.

With that, he returned to the ship, leaving her to meditate. Or brood, if she so decided.

Sakura exhaled and turned back to the ocean, crossing her legs and setting her palms on her knees. Her face was still a little red, but whatever. Closing her eyes she let her worried thoughts drift away. She didn’t want to know what her dreams would be about, anyway.

---

Hours passed, and Sakura hardly moved a muscle. Her breathing was regular and rhythmic, in through the nose, out through the mouth. The martial artist felt the morning sun warm her face and eyelids. That was relaxing and restful. She opened her eyes, the sky just beginning to turn orange and blue.

(These alien vistas and strange places...even in a world as unnatural as this one, there is still beauty to be found. I wonder if my family stares at the same moon, basks in the same sun?)

Sakura expected an uptick of guilt and fear in her heart when she thought of her lost family. But after thinking on it, she found only resolve. She would find them. But there was good to be done here, and now. People needed her help. And it's not like she could just turn her back on the friends she had made thus far. They were travelling the entire world on their quest to defeat Galeem. They would find them, eventually. Everything here seemed to be themed- Sakura was looking for a landlocked, some-what modern place. With lots of land around. Places here were busy and somewhat small. Limsa was a huge, bustling down, but even it was smaller than her small home town if land area was taken into accont. With it's iconic, sprawling canals and underpass gatherings. Good times. She would see it again. Sakura steeled herself and rose to her feet. From what Geralt had said yesterday, the time for battle was upon them.

This made Sakura a little nervous, she had to admit. She'd never been in a war before. But now she was a ship girl, wearing a sailor's uniform. Sakura took a stance and striked against the sunrise.

"You got this. Just focus on defending people." She reassured herself. She really wasn't comfortable participating in the killing of others. She braced herself for the inevitability that she would see people die. As best as she could, anyway. Both members of the Limsa navy, and people like Rika and Bella. Was this going to change her? She really hoped it didn't. She didn't want to be some sad soldier person; she liked who she was. Mostly. For better or for worse, she was herself. The last thing she wanted to be was traumatized. That sounded horrible. Guile and Cammy were both soldiers. But they were both super serious all the time. Chun-Li was a police officer, but she had probably seen people die, too. But she was still super nice!

This was such a morbid train of thought. Sakura swallowed dryly. She felt like she was going to be stepping over a line that couldn't be taken back. Was she really ready for this? She had to be. It would be even worse if she stayed here and someone died because of that. Or even worse, the battle was lost entirely. So she didn't have a choice; she would just have to hope her spirit was strong. But she felt like she would probably have to sit down and have a cry after all this was over. This was going to suck.

Sakura ran her fingers over her ship girl rigging and her cat ears.

(Arashio...I'll do us proud. You were a brave soldier. Together we can make it through this. I'll bring your spirit home, I promise.) She brought her hand down into a fist.

The navy of Limsa was gathering. Sakura figured she should join them. Arashio would have- it felt right. She didn't know exactly how much of herself was Arashio, but she imagined it wasn't 50/50. Maybe she and Arashio were just in-sync. Both of them wanted to defend this town and the people in it. She felt like she knew Arashio quite well. Sakura wasn't sure exactly how this Spirit system worked. She felt like if it really was just body modifications, she would have been more skeeved out by the cat ears and cat tail. Now, they felt normal, like she had lived her entire life with them. That must be Arashio. When she saw the navy, she felt familiar with them, even though she'd never seen them before. Sometimes these thoughts felt dissonant...but in a good way. Like she had a friend with her who knew the area better than she did. Other times, she thought of Arashio's friend and family; though now sadness had been superceded by resolve. It was just like Geralt had said. They had a mission.

Sakura prepared herself for the day mostly by herself, refreshing herself. So she wasn't hungry and she didn't smell terrible. Now that she was used to interacting with Galeemified people, she could put her solo-navigation skills to good use. Knowing how to handle herself in an urban environment was just as important as learning how to survive and forage in nature. She was good at both, and was proud of that.

Sakura had ended up gathering with the other ship girls, mingling with them easily. She then trailed behind Peach, the recognizable leader of the Seekers of Light. Sakura, too, wondered briefly about the ethicacy of child soldiers. As far as she knew, that was a bad thing. But also, they were ship girls? It certainly felt weird. Making it so the kids didn't fight was just another reason to ensure the bad guys never reached the shores of Limsa Lominsa. When Captain Merlwyb began her speech, Sakura didn't exactly get inspired or excited. She was too nervous and somber for that kind of thing. She couldn't muster up the desire to destroy her enemies, which is what Merlwyb's speech was all about. Being in the army definitely wasn't her style, though with all the training drills and marching and singing, she could see how it could be fun.

(I hope Ranger will be okay...I doubt she'll stay on the Atomos when she already has a squad. Still, I wouldn't complain if she stuck around.)

Sakura went by water and found the Atomos, hoping to meet up with Geralt, Junior, Bowser, Kamek, Bella, and Rika. It seemed like a natural evolution of that first scouting team mission that happened yesterday.

"Okay, everyone." She said to whoever was there, shaking some nervous energy from her hands. "It's happening. Are we...are we ready? What's the plan? I won't jump out of the ship this time without warning, I promise."

---

---

Blazermate, after an explanation of what a robot was, quickly left to follow after Ms. Fortune. All that remained was Link, who gladly started tucking into the food the Cadet had left over, and a more confused Frog then ever. Of course that confusion soon gave way to seriousness. At the amphibians request to just listen Link respectfully set down plate of shrimp he had been sucking up, sat back, and gave Frog his undivided attention.

Frog continued on with his tale without hesitation, and his tone sounded melancholy as he told Link the event that lead to his unfortunate transformation "Our liege Queen Leene sent both I and mine closest friend Cyrus to retrieve this blade," he unfastened the sheath from his side, placing Masamune upon the table "Our hopes rested upon mine friend and mentor to have thine blades spirits Masa and Mune to accept their wielder whilst to mine surprise he proved himself to hath a hero's heart much like thyself." he told Link with a sad chuckle.



He explained the events that transpired following the acquisition of Masamune in brief, describing everything that lead up to the showdown with Magnus. "Magnus slew Cyrus with an unholy wind yet naught before he begged that I protect our liege and escape with mine life," Frog sighed shaking his head slightly "I failed to keep mine promise and failed...Thine form is mine penance paid as a testament to my failure." he couldn't meet his friends gaze as he finally finished telling his story to Link.

Link frowned as he took it all in. "So that's what she meant by a terrible fate." He said. The story had filled him with an odd, nostalgic frustration. A young man, life turned upside down by duty, a magic sword, and the machinations of a dark power. To say he had been there would be the understatement of a lifetime. Through it all, though, there was a detail that jumped to he forefront of his mind.

"Your queen. She yet lives?" Link asked. Frog in answer slumped his shoulders "Prior to thy invasion of light a rumor spread that she twas missing and after years living the life of an exile," he told his friend as an aside. "I decided if I couldst find our beloved queen then I would be forgiven for letting the world believe their hero Cyrus yet still lived...Alas the lights invaded and the queen twas never found." Frog told him with a slight tinge of disappointment in his voice.

"No. Not never." Link stressed. "You mean she hasn't been found yet." He leaned back in his chair, sighing his regret into the air. "Do you want to know how long I made my princess wait for me? One. Hundred. Years. I spent a hundred years asleep while she held down the monster I was meant to slay. When I woke up, I had nothing. No clothes, no weapon, not even any memory of my long dead friends. But I was alive, and so was she. And so long as she was out there, waiting for me, my promise to protect her remained unbroken."

Link leaned forward, putting a hand on the mans shoulder. "I'll say it as many times as you need to hear it. You aren't a failure. I'll bet my life that it was that red in your eyes more than anything that kept you here, in this town, instead of scouring this world for her. Frog nodded solemnly looking to his friend with an indecipherable look "Dost thou really think that?" it was true and deep down the amphibian knew it but kept denying it while blaming himself to no end "Link thou arte a good man," he said appreciatively "And prithee I beseech thou to call me by mine true name, Glenn."

Link smiled. "Gladly, provided you don't go telling everyone that I'm an old man." to which the amphibian Glenn heartily laughed in reply to his friends comment "As I hath learnt when speaking to a lady 'one mustn't ask a woman her age' I believe the latter at least applies to omitting thy own age correct?"

"I'll have to remember that for when we find Princess Zelda." He replied. Glenn nodded sagely in response "Yes tis sound advice however methinks we shouldst stretch our legs," he stood stretching his sore muscles with a sharp exhale "Shall we?" the swordsman asked Link, while picking up his ruined buckler and strapped it to his wrist.

Link did a quick double take, his eyes darting uncomfortable from Glenn to the food and back. "Are you sure you don't want to take anything with you? It's going to be another long day tomorrow. It'd be a shame to face it without a full belly." For a moment he considered those words and then shrugged "Thou bringest up quite a good point," he admitted taking a seat still feeling the weight of his tired arms and legs weighing him down.

"Here." Link said. He picked up his remaining onion rings, piled them onto the side of a piece of expertly fried fish, and pushed the whole over to the knight along with one of the drinks that had been included in the Cadet's order of 'everything.' He grabbed another one at random and held it up to Glenn. "Toooo..." he started, then paused. What did you toast too? As far as he knew he had never done this before. "What do you toast to?" He asked.

Glenn raised the glass he had been given, cocking his head to the side very slightly "To our new friendship and the adventures ahead!" he toasted clinking his glass against Link's.

"Yeah! Friendship and adventure!" Link said, clinking before drinking his entire glass. He took another piece of fried fish, lifted it to his mouth, and downed the entire in a single gulp bones and all looking no worse for the wear because of it. If he wanted to he could have finished off this entire table by himself, but eating with friend wasn't a pleasure he had gotten to indulge in often. The last time had been...Cia, technically speaking. He would gladly take the opportunity to overwrite that memory with a finer one.

Glenn downed his drink, then contentedly set the glass on the table with a light thump of the wood. It had been much too long since he had last shared good food and drink with a friend, as it was the last meal he once took part in with Cyrus. However this new reality gave the troubled swordsman some relief, and while he sat with his companion Glenn took a look around cherishing this fleeting moment of true friendship. It was a memory he would hold tightly as long as he lived till the end of his days.





It was early morning and the sunrise lit the wharf reflecting shining rays up on the hulls of boats tied to the dock, seagulls cried in the air breaking the silence of the fleeting tranquility that would be cut short by the dockyard workers that would be arriving shortly to ready the ships for deployment. Today would be another challenge to face.

Glenn had stayed with Link until the heavy weight of exhaustion set in, with full stomach the amphibian settled into the room the Princess had booked for everyone.

”Ok. Now try this out” Jr said to Rika, as he stepped back from the work he had been doing on her arm gauntlets. He’d taken a break from trying to upgrade the ship to, well, upgrade a different ship in a sense, though this modification was making sure Rika could use her armaments again rather than shoving armor and weapons where they had no right being like was happening to the Atomos. Not that the cruiser girl hadn’t undergone an even more drastic transformation of her own. Indeed the ship looked very different, because she was now wearing actual clothes as opposed to a mat black bikini. A sturdy pair of black buckled boots adored her feet, while her legs and waist were covered in a red knee length skirt (she’d liked Sakura’s so it was more like hers than Peach or Bella’s) and a number of satchels (which contained mostly snacks at the moment), while her upper half was wrapped in a black jacket studded with brass buttons.

This last fine piece of fashion had had to be slightly mutilated to accommodate the metal component on Rika’s back that connected her to her gauntlets, but a bit of sewing by Kamek and an addition of some clasps welded to the steel let the edges of the hole in the jacket hook onto the side of the metal contraption in a relatively elegant manner, keeping the ensemble in palace despite it missing a chunk of the back.

The ship herself was in the middle of trying to decide whether she should wear a hat or not to go long with this when the prince got her attention. He’d finished welding/bolting a pair of clasps and grips to where her hands used to be bound to her gauntlets, and now wanted her to try testing them out.

”Ok, so you put one hand here and then close the case like this” Jr began to explain, only for Rika to triple check that “These will come off again, right?”

”Uh, yeah duh. That’s kinda the point? Look I’ll show you in a moment don't worry. Ok so you snap it shut like that” Jr closed the padded wrist guard sized clasp over her arm while she held a new handle bolted in front of it. ”and then do the same over here and hey presto, you're in fighting shape again!”

It was true. The girl hauled her weapons up, the sensation both familiar and a little strange due to the difference between the old set up and Jr’s new one (mostly the padding on the inside of the wrist guards and the cloth of her jacket keeping the metal off of her, which was very nice. The handles would probably give her more control which was good too) and the fact that she’d been free before, so this wasn't all she knew anymore. It now felt uncomfortable where once it had been completely normal “Ok. Cool. But how do I-?”

”Just turn one to the side like this'' Jr guided the massive floating gun gauntlet into position so her palm was facing up, ”then just reach over the other one and you see that lever? Pull it and-” there was a click and Rika’s arm came free again ”yay, it worked! ... I mean see? Easy.”

“Yes. I do see. Or well. I didn’t. Was a bit hard to with the gun in the way but I got it” Rika said as she freed her other arm again. It was so easy! She’d feel less bad about having them on again in future knowing came off that was for sure.

”yeah you did. So. Now that we’ve gotten that working, you wanna try-?” Jr began to suggest, but Rika nodded before he could finish. They both knew what the plan was once they’d gotten everything mundane sorted.

”Cool.” Junior found Peach inside the Atomos with Bella, who’d just changed into her own brand new outfit. With a blue floral summer dress, fancy sandals, and a pleasantly quaint straw hat bound in blue ribbon, she looked good, and if not for her stark white skin and the toothy leviathan curled behind her, rather normal. Still, that bashful, self-conscious smile did wonders for making her seem approachable. The way she leaned on her new umbrella like cane, knees shaking perilously, also put her somewhere between adorable and pitiable. Peach seemed pleased. “Well, you might not be able to leave just yet, but you’re something, alright! If we ever manage to square you being an Abyssal with the townspeople, I bet you’ll have dudes all over you.”

Bella looked wary. “Um. I think I’d rather not…”

"Forget the dudes, then. You look beautiful, Bella!" Sakura practically squeed. She had already lauded Rika with similar compliments and was over all beside herself with joy the entire time.

It took just a moment for the Water Princess to turn red. “P-penses-tu vraiment cela?”

"What?"

Junior called over to the princess in pink ”Hey Peach, you got a second? We wanna pull the Brachydios outa me and see if it helps Rika”

Peach gave Bella an apologetic glance before turning to face the kid’s way. “Sure. Hold still.” After taking a breath and getting serious, she knelt and plunged her arm into Junior’s chest, just as she did with Ranger before. A few moments of rummaging passed before she seized on something deep within him, and in a burst of light she yanked the Brachydios right out of him. With his only spirit defused, the young prince was back to his normal self. Peach deposited the spirit of the blue dinosaur in his waiting hand, remembering the night she helped fight it with a shiver. If she was lucky that awful, inexplicable color wouldn’t factor into her dreams tonight, sending her sailing across alien vistas and unfathomable voids, but she didn’t bet on it.

”Wow. That. Was really weird. I mean it was one thing to see it but to have it happen? Super weird,” Was Jr’s response to having the princess rummage around inside his chest, the boy left a touch dazed by the bizarre experience. Then he shook his head and got over it and, after saying a quick thanks and goodbye, headed back to find the ship. Sakura followed him, wanting to see this.

He found her where he’d left her, the woman now doing the feathered captain's hat and with a lollipop in her mouth as she tried to balance on her legs while using the gauntlets’ antigrav as support. It wasn't working nearly as well as it had when they had been strapped to her back but it was still better than not having them at all.

When she saw Jr had returned she plopped back down on the ground, and then quickly uncoupled her hands from the gauntlets and removed the lolly from her mouth before she spoke (the ship was a big fan of them already. You could enjoy sweetness for a long time and you could take it out to talk without people being weirded out). “Oh. you look different. Less purple,” she commented before asking “That it?” pointing at the spirit with the pop.

”Yup” Jr replied, holding it out to her.

The cruiser tentatively took it from him and, after a brief reminder of how this worked exactly, pressed it against her own chest.



The first thing that happened was that her ewn spiky hair caused Rika’s hat to fall off, never to be donned again. The second was she looked down to examine her adjusted cloths, (the scaly pattern was certainly unique and stylish. The blades on the skirt looked a bit dangerous but also quite cool in her opinion.) while giving her lollypop a lick. Then she paused at noticing things were different there and then sticking her tongue out fully to try and look at it, wiggling it about sillily as she did.

Sakura took a step back. "Woah. Is this punk?"

The ship paused her wiggling. “You tell me” she said

”Huh, you got a different kinda horn bump from me,” Jr noted ”also your eyes are red again… You still know who Galeem is right?”

“The sun that took lots of places and squished them together” Rika replied, distinctly louder and more confident in her words than she had been before. She reached up and patted the horn on her head before parsing what he’d said and happily saying “Oh! Cool. I ranked up!”

”Huh?”

“Oh, so. Regular cruisers have blue eyes, elites red, flagships gold and then Kai Flagships have one gold and one super blue.”

”Oh ok. So you're like a stronger variant now? That’s good.” Jr was more than used to that being a thing.

“Definitely stronger,” she said as she gave her arm a feel. Her muscles were a lot more prominent where she’d been rather scrawny in places before, at least for someone who hauled massive cannon gauntlets around. There really was only one way to find out if this actually helped “let me try-” she said as she carefully tried to stand without support “ow ow ow” and yet despite the obvious pains he was able to get up on her own two feet, abit shakily. “Its. ok. It works but ow.” she said, holding her arms out for balance.

”Here. With these?” jr suggested, picking up both cannons and holding them out for her. The ship grabbed for them, and then the prince helped secure them. With the gauntlets acting as supports, the shipgirl was still a bit unsteady but “Ok. Ok. I think I can” she took a step, and then another and another. The extra arm muscle was helping just as much as that in her legs as it made supporting herself with the gauntlet easier, letting her take a step, and then another and another. It was, she realised, mostly the motion that was the worst. The ships didn’t actually walk on water after all, they just glided across it. So it was still tricky, but step by step, she felt like she was understanding how to move properly where before she’d been relying on the gauntlets being strapped to her back to hold everything up. They were still supporting her, but she found that it was easier to force her legs to support her than it was to hold her whole body up with her arms.

“It’s working!”

”Haha, yes I knew this was a good idea!” Jr said, and Sakura clapped. ”Shame it didn't do anything about the teeth, their still weird and flat,” the dragons-turtle’s idea of what teeth were supposed to look like was a bit skewed after all ”but do you think people would still recognize her?” he asked Sakura

Sakura had been circling around Rika, examining her like she was some kind of fashionista.

"E to..." She said to herself, thinking. "I dunno. She doesn’t look like any Abyssal I’ve ever seen anymore. But, I’ve only seen two. Her and Bella. I think the horn and the hair makes her look very different. And Abyssals don’t like lollipops, I think." Sakura said, smiling at Rika.

“Th-” Rika began to say, then awkwardly removed the pop from her mouth again, the gauntlets still made that a bit tricky “they should! Or. I mean, I bet they would if they could try them.”

Having seated herself again some time ago, Bella concluded her own observation. “Compared to the shipgirls and other Abyssals, I would say you’re closer to ‘normal’, Rika. Colorful clothes and hair help a good deal.” She held up and looked at her own hand, then stroked the head of her leviathan tail. It gave a contented if somewhat scary sigh. “Compared to me, you’re not so obviously Abyssal at all now. Just your pallor and your cestus, the latter of which you could leave behind. Plus, you look rather cool. It is not hard to imagine you walking among people on land. Amazing...” It was hard to hide the undercurrent of envy that ran through her voice. “I suppose the most vital aspect would be confidence? You already sound different. If you act as if you have nothing to hide, maybe they won’t suspect you.”

“I do?” Rika hadn’t noticed, but now that it had been pointed out, maybe she did sound more confident? Now that she thought about it, it had assumed it had been a natural extension in her gradually growing confidence in, well, everything, but maybe she’d gotten a boost from the spirit “Was this bal... Bal... what was it again?”

”Brachydios”

“This Brachydios confident?”

”I mean it was a big stompy dinosaur monster. I guess it has a kind of confidence in a ‘rawr I’m big and strong and scary’ kinda way?” jr said, comically baring his claws and putting on a voice while he gave his impression of the creature.

Riak shrugged “Well. Ok. I don’t know about that, mostly I just feel more like. Me? Like a me who is me who isn't all the other cruisers?” where normally she’d have left that question hanging, now she launched right into answering it herself “Yeah! More like Rika. So I’m gonna say it’s all me even if it’s the big stompy dinosaur confidence, because I can... What's a dinosaur anyway?”

”Like a big lizard.”

“Sure. Don’t matter if the big lizard is helping or not, I feel more like me and I feel great!” the ship girl declared, riding about 3 separate highs (one of which was a massive sugar rush) all at once was doing wonders for her ego.

Bella smiled herself, infected by her underling’s enthusiasm. “That’s wonderful! Are you going out to see the city, then?”

“Yeah!” Rika was on a roll and nothing was going to stop her at this point “I’m gonna see people and buy clothes and no wait you did that already but we can go get that hot chocolate thing and.. Other stuff? What other stuff is there?”

”Well there were lots of shops and restaurants. Maybe there's a concert or band playing? Oh or an arcade! That would be cool. Oh. Oh wow. There must be soooo many video games from... Everywhere!” Jr said, both to her and to himself, getting a little stary eyed at the end. The boy had set himself work to do on the ship, but he deserved a break after this big success, or so he decided.

“I don’t know what those are but I’m gonna find out. Are you two going to come, Sakura and, oh, um” she paused before asking Bella if she wanted to go with her. She wasn't all disguised like she was. Well the outfit was definitely different, but the big monster tail was all the same and she still couldn't walk too well. Rika finally caught on that maybe her success was making Bella feel bad and that didn't feel good to her.

“Sorry. I. um. hmm” the ship girl floundered, not really knowing how to handle the situation.

Smiling patiently, Bella waved her hand. “Oh, do not worry about me. I am still not too mobile after all. You have fun out there. Oh, but if you do end up getting something tasty, would you mind bringing me back something, too? I have only ever had fish, so I am very curious.”

Rika let out a little sigh of relief and then told the princess “I’ll get you the tastiest thing i can find!” before glancing at Sakura to see her response.

Sakura put out another peace sign. "Sure! I could use a distraction." She looked over at Bella. "Try not to have too much fun without us," She smiled. "We’ll be back before you know it."

"You play video games, Junior-kun?" She asked, looking towards the boy. "Maybe we should see if they have an arcade!" She put her hands on her hips proudly.

"I’ll have you know I’m a top one hundred Super Chibi Puzzle Gem Fighter II: Ultra Turbo Arcade Edition player in the world back where I’m from! "

”Wooow really?” Jr said, amazed by the rank alone.

“Less talking, more going! I want to see the things you're talking about not hear about them more” Rika insisted excitedly before confidently, if a touch unsteadily still, striding forth to go take the town by storm.

”Hey wait up!” Jr called, scrambling after her, catching up with the ship girl on the docks.

“Oh. sorry. I'm just. I want to move!” Rika replied after she held up as asked

”Well now, that’s quite the transformation you’ve gone through, ah, Rika was it now?” Came a call from Kamek, who along with a gang of toadies and clones, was continuing to work on the ship’s modifications from the ‘blueprints’ the prince had provided, which consisted of a series of paintings he’d made in his signature energetic and explosive, if a bit childish, style. The mage had undergone a transformation of his own while away:



But was adapting rather well. Very well in-fact. As far as Jr was concerned Kamek had always been old, so seeing him suddenly be younger and more limber was bizarre. Indeed the same impression was shared by his father, who was helping with some of the heavy lifting but stopped to come over and say hello “Ah, back you your old self again son”

”Yup. Totally worth it because I mean, look” the boy gestured to Rika’s new look ”so cool”

The king nodded while Kamek said ”The new look does suit you rather well”

“Yeah it does” Rika (who, depending on who you ask, either did not or absolutely did know how to take a compliment) replied.

”We’re going out into town to show Rika around and have some fun, I’ll see you when I get back”

The prince’s guardians shared a glance. The town wasn't quite as safe Kamek had initially though, his new fusion was a testament to that. “You mind if your dad tags along son? I gotta find a place to get this clean anyway” the king said, referring to his rather messed up suit that probably needed more than just a spot of dry cleaning..

Sakura crossed her arm and scratched her head, not sure if hanging out with a dad and son duo was conducive to having a good time in the town. "I mean-"

”Sure!” Jr replied, the boy blessedly not old enough to be embarrassed by being around his old man. ”That’s ok right g-” he began to ask before realising Rika had gotten impatient and was boldly strolling off towards town already.

”Not again, hey Rika!” he shouted before sprinting after her, followed by Bowser stomping after him too while Kamek chuckled to himself. He stopped laughing when he realized he’d been left well the majority of the grunt work for fixing up the ship. He sighed.

”Well I suppose that's what minions are for. Chop too it!”

---

Rika awoke with a start as the world suddenly moved, flailed about a bit in the dark for a few moments before funnily untangling herself from the nest of blankets she’d been sleeping in (keeping Bella company instead of going to the hotel had been here way of making up for going out without her, along with a lemon meringue pie) and then having to shield her eyes from the light glaring in through the small window in the door to the cockpit of the Atomos.

Morning it seemed, had arrived and so too had the seekers of light, back from their rooms at the inn, judging by the yapping going on behind the door. And the fact that they were moving, the dull roar of the engines confirming that it was just the ship and not the whole world shifting beneath her feet.

More important than both these facts was the smell also coming from the cockpit. Following her nose the ship girl got (a touch unsteadily still despised, or perhaps because of, an evening’s with of practice) to her feet and then made her way through the door to find the Koopa troop all sat or stood around in the cockpit of the ship.

”Ah, good morning Rika. Apologies for the rude awakening” Kamek said to her, turning to look at her as she joined, ”but the young master was quite insistent we got under way as soon as possible”

”Coz we’re gonna be late if we didn’t! You let me sleep in!” Jr complained from the pilot’s chair as he took them up out of the cove and around towards the navy’s harbor

“You needed it after being up so late last night” Bowser told his son. The king was lacking his suit and top hat, having left both to be cleaned and repaired. Considering he was likely going to be going swimming at some point, whether he wanted to or not, this was probably in the suit’s best interest.

”I mean yeah, but… ok sure” the combination of Rika wanting to see and do, well, everything, followed by a last batch of changes to the ship, had left precious little time for a full night's rest. Jr much preferred yesterday’s schedule of them setting off to fight the boss at noon, but the navy’s schedule was a military one and that meant using all the daylight they had available.

“What’s that smell?” the ship asked, not entirely bothered by how she’d awoken, or pleasantries, and more interested in the scent she’d caught from through in the bedroom, which was coming from a small hamper Bowser was carrying.

“Breakfast of course,” the king told her while holding the basket out for her to take, “Pancakes specifically”

Rika didn’t feel the need to ask what those where as she eagerly got to work, tough she did receive a few pointers on how to use the jam and cream properly, and to not scoff everything before Bella joined them and got her fair share.

---

The newly refurbished ship docked with the Navy’s harbor next to the two other ships just in time for the troop to disembark and join the briefing. Well. refurbished was perhaps being generous. Hackily retrofitted was more accurate. Sheets of metal and sturdy wooden planks had been welded onto the important parts of the ship like the cockpit, engine and wide sides as impromptu armor. Weaponry, in the from of four scorpion sized harpoon guns was bolted just over the the railings on the back of the ship where people could use them to fire on enemies or, if rope was used, create ziplines to board other vessels or drag them closer to the ship.

A large pair of large straps had been attached to either side of the bridge to help secure an enlarged seeker to the ship. Finally, the hull had been emblazoned with the troop’s logo, a stylized depiction Bowser’s face, on either side of the cargo bay doors.

Inside the holds had been gutted of all non essential items and now held a series of ropes that could be used for repelling down two, or climbing back up from, the ocean and a ballista size harpoon turret capable of firing not only dangerously large bolts but also weighted nets, ropes or (if you were especially daring/stupid), a person a long distance. If they risked opening up the bay doors and exposing the insides to enemy fire that was.

This ungodly contraption looked rather out of place among the stylishly designed ship girls and their captain’s well maintained sailing ship, but it was the best the troop could do with the mostly civilian grade wares on offer. Having a military consisting of ladies with inbuilt guns did rather reduce the demand for weapons larger than personal small arms, and so the troop had resorted to going to the local fishermen of all people for their needs, hence the arms and armament consisting entirely of sea monster hunting equipment.

It remained to be seen if anyone other than the troop would opt to board the hack job of a ship when two more conventional vessels were available.

The troop joined the others just in time to hear Peach questioning the fact that the navy had child ship girls among their ranks.

”What’s so weird about that, huh?” Jr asked, helpful reminding everyone they weren't above it all and that, indeed, unlike the Navy’s child soldiers he’d not only be coming with them but would be transporting some of them into battle. ”Also has anyone seen that hat kid recently?” he added, further twisting the knife.

There wasn't that much time for discussing that however, as the admiral stepped up to give a speech, announcing their new method of dealing with the Abyssal fleet’s respawning ability once and for all. The ship girls were roused by this news, as well they should. It was a new war, one they actually could win instead of simply endure. There was, of course, a few exceptions, one of whom had just finished her pancakes and wandered over to the window just in time to overhear/see the speech.

There were a lot of ways Rika could have responded to this, or ways she could have felt about the implications of all this if she’d stopped to think about this, but instead she was reminded that “Oh is that the admiral lady? Weren't we supposed to talk to her at some point?” She said, talking to both herself and to Bella (if she was still on the ship).

Down below the team where talking strategy.

”I would recommend that those without water or aerial mobility divide themselves up evenly between or two vessels so that, if/when we need to peel off from the navy to go find the guardian we don't need to rendezvous with the admiral’s ship first” Kamek suggested ”I believe we three will be sticking together, right sire?”

“That’s right!” Bowser agreed, before getting everyone attention and launching into the start of his own speech “ALRIGHT LISTEN UP TROOPS-”

“Hi. Hello!” came a call from Rika, not directed at them but at “Miss Admiral Merlwyb! I think I need to talk to you!”

”Ah, oh dear. Well I suppose this is when we’re doing this then. I’ll be right back” Kamek said, hurrying over to where Rika was approaching the admiral while saying cheerfully “Hi, I’m Rika, I used to be part of the Abyssal fleet and I want to talk to you about that”

After she’d pulled the two big guys from the sand Midna wasn't done babysitting them, as she then had to also help pull the Heavy out of battle as well. The big guy definitely got into a single minded mindset when fighting started, one that wound up being rather unhelpful to them as he refused to pull back until Braum started to physically drag him out of the battle. Midna joined in, grasping his other shoulder with a shadow hand so that they could haul him off his feet and pull him backwards between them until he got the message and started moving on his own.

They were aided in this by Primrose’s enchanting footwork bolstering their speed, which gave them just enough of a lead on the frozen fish that when it broke out Braum had the time and space to give it a second and then a third dosing of icy cold stopping power with a icy blast and then an avalanche of frozen power.

”Brrr, I could feel that from over here” Midna said, her new draconian aspect making her more sensitive to the cold as part of her new weakness to ice attacks. That she was weak to ice was something she only just now realized as a result of an instinct of the flygon’s barking in her mind to stay as far away from the icy attacks as possible. That was rather concerning, but it wasn't like there was going to be any ice or snow in the desert, even if the nights where a bit nippy, so Minda wasn't overly concerned.

Though the big boy had been left behind to cool off, that still left the fliers and Trawlers harrying their retreat.

Midna’s wolfos put on a burst of speed to Dodged out of the way of a trawler that had been trying to dash over the tracks and grab it, leaving Midna to independently swipe at it, purple clawed shadowhand shredding its side in one swift motion as it passed behind them. The princess had opted to sit backwards on her mount which, while incredibly uncomfortable, did make covering the rear incredibly easy as unlike others who would have to backpedal and lose speed, her wolfos could focus on moving forwards while she dealt with the rearmost threats.

The only flaw was that it meant she couldn't do threat detection for it sitting like ths, and while the wolfos was more than able to hop over the flaming patches left by the red grenades it didn't put two and two together to realize the beeping things where a threat quickly enough, running straight over a white one as it detonated, launching both of them skywards.

Woflos leg flailed and the princes cried out in alarm, yet their flight was not nearly as bad that inflicted on those those dunked into the sand at much the same time as the sticker applied to Midna’s new shoulder-guard somehow increasing air resistance for her, causing the ark of her and her mounts flight to be shorter than it should have been. Not that smashing down on the embankment was going to be a harmless impact Instead of smashing uncontrollably into the dirt Midna slammed out her shadow hand, pounding the embankment with a mighty palm and stabilizing the tumbling fall they were taking enough for her mount to land with sure footing mere inches form where the quicksand effect started.

It didn’t need Midna’s admonishing remark to know not to make the same mistake again. She made them anyway.

The princess retaliated against the fliers by bringing out the super sized twilight Vibrava again, the titanic buggy dragon hurtling out of a twilight portal and buzzing up above her. The bots had gotten wise though, and rapidly exited the area round it to avoid being bug buzzed like their fallen comrades had been. Instead of buzz angrily at thin air the Vibrava unleashed a gout of dragon breath, the tight streak of purple power lashing out and roasted a bot or two. Deadly, but distinctly less of a swarm killer than the sound based aoe had been. Still, at least it didn't give Midan a headache.

The team’s meager AA capabilites was making dealing with the swarm a real pest but fortunately the end was in sight and, after an excellent combo move from Mona, Poppi and Tora where they careened through an army of bots who had dared to try and stand in their way, the gang pile into a tunnel moments before their sand shark pursuer caught up with them, the voracious beast getting stuck in the entrance of the tunnel.

”Ha! Stupid fish” the princess mocked it, giving it a punch on the snout (from as far away as she could) usng her shadow hand to asset dominance (as a cathartic insult rather than an attempt to actually finish it off) before hurrying onward to catch up with the ramming crew, just incase they had run into more trouble at the end of the line.

Fortunately, they were not in the process of being swarmed or hemmed into the other end of the tunnel and had instead found the land of a candy fiend’s dreams.

”Probably make you sick even if you hadn’t been running. There's just. So much everything” Midna said as she approached, catching Panther’s comment about it not being a good idea to try eating the sugary land’s multitude of temptations after having run so much.

Indeed, the princess marveled at the unending decadent delight of a land, the comparative rarity of sweets, even for royalty, in her more primitive time period when compared to the Thieves’ making it even more amazing.

”Hey, no. You'll get sick too stop” she told her mount as it started licking the station’s delicious construction.

One telling off and dismissal later and the princess floated down to the ground. Unlike the others, she hadn't run a marathon and thus wasn't quite as exhausted as they were, but she was incredibly saddle sore from riding backwards and so where the others probably wanted to sit down she wanted to very much be on her feet.

She touched down and then stretched her stiff muscles a bit while taking in the strange landscape, and stranger still wildlife. Here were bugs that looked far more appetizing than the ones they’d considered eating back at the mega cliff. There was also more dangerous fare in this seeming paradise. Vicious mimics in the form of a striped sweet snake hat devoured an unsuspecting bug gave away the fact that not everything here could be trusted to be as it seemed. The bots were nearby too, though these seemed to not be as aggressive as their kin, or hadn't noticed their presence yet. Finally there was the small cream creature that a new instinct drawn from the flygon labeled as incredibly dangerous despite its innocuous appearance.

The smart part of her wanted to avoid it, the curious and daring part of her wanted to find out what the big deal was. Maybe later, she told herself. Right now there were bigger concerns, such as the report Poppi gave that there was someone in trouble nearby, putting a damper on their recovery time.

Midna sighed and then volunteered ”I haven't done as much running as you all, so I’ll go investigate what’s going on over there” Midna wasn't the pure heroic type who’d run to someone's aid without a thought like the dear Links of the world, but having given it one she’d decided that it was probably not a good idea to ignore someone in distress in an unknown landscape, less the source of the their distress became one for you as well.

Also she wasn't without a conscience. It was rather difficult to rest and relax when there was someone in trouble nearby who you should be bailing out of trouble.

If no one stopped her the princess took off a moment later, her slightly slowed acceleration out of the stops looking a lot like a certain green plumber’s slidy controls. She tossed a pair of dragon dances into her run, doubling her speed as she jogged forth to see what the matter was. Well, she actually put about five in, but she was still getting the hang of doing them on the fly and so three of the five had failed to follow the right steps to produce dance’s the explosive empowerment. Two would have to do.

Geralt awoke early the next morning, slipping out of bed and quickly donning his armor. Looking over his equipment, the Witcher nodded. He was well armed, or at least, well armed considering his own financial situation. Sure, he could have borrowed some cash from Peach and gathered enough materials to make more and more bombs, but he only had so much room on his person, and even raw materials took up space. Dimeritium for magic disruption and grapeshot for general damage would do. He had three kinds of blade oils ready, though Hanged Man's Venom was the most likely to be useful here. He had a full quiver of crossbow bolts, and that strange device on his shoulder was also in good condition. He'd given up the Spirits he grabbed in the ocean, particularly the one of the Shipgirl, but they were spent both making his point and showing the dead due respect, so that wasn't a loss in his eyes.

He took the time to carefully inspect his swords as well, once more finding that they were in good condition. It wouldn't do to enter a large-scale battle with even the tiniest chip in his blade, as that could have catastrophic results. Satisfied with their condition, he returned them to their scabbards, which in turn were replaced on his back as he liked them.

This was it. They would be going to war soon. He'd have to make sure to look out for the others. While they'd fought well against the army in the Land of Adventure, their enemy this time seemed more brutal, more cunning, more deadly. And he was somewhat worried that Sakura wasn't the only one among them with reluctance to fight and more particularly to kill, but he'd be keeping an eye out for that, as well. It wouldn't do for any of them to hesitate at a critical moment.

Stepping out and finding the gathering army, Geralt looked out over them and nodded to himself. This was quite the fleet, and he'd seen one hell of a fleet amass to face the Wild Hunt. He stayed there for a short while, just...watching as the ships amassed, ready, many even seeming eager, to set off for war. He wondered how many of them wouldn't return, all for a chance at ending the seemingly ceaseless war they'd found themselves enduring.

Seeking out his companions, Geralt found the Koopa 'Family', Peach, and Nadia discussing something with one of the Admirals he'd seen at the summit the night before, and greeted them just as Merlwyb began her speech. It was...well, if he had more skin in the game, it might have been impressive. It might have ignited in his heart an excitement for the upcoming battle, but it didn't. The words sounded hollow. They came in, and by the end of day they'd discovered a way to end this war that had been plaguing these people for some undetermined amount of time.

It reeked of heroism. Of a fairy tale knight riding in on his horse, solving some asinine riddle, and slaying the monster keeping the princess caged.

In other words, it was too good to be true. Just what they would find behind the enemy's forward bases, he couldn't say for sure, but something in Geralt's gut told him it wouldn't be a pleasant sight. Maybe it really was just some kind of magic the people of the Continent were unable to perform. If anything...that would almost be worse. Part of him hoped that if that were the case, the cost would be too great to consider using it in good conscience. That kind of power...felt wrong for a mortal to possess. Even his and Yen's resurrection had come at an immense price, and that was with the assistance of a Unicorn.

The Atomos stood out among the amassed fleet, looking extremely out of place among the Shipgirls. He hadn't quite gotten a good look at the ship as he left this morning, and he was...less than impressed...at the aesthetics of the ship. It was certainly a rushed job. As long as it worked, he didn't really give a damn. He just hoped it worked. Kamek's plan also made sense. "I'm inclined to agree," he added when the younger-looking mage spoke. "It would be a waste of time to have to divert resources and possibly slow the attack just to make sure we're all in the same place. As for the actual division of who goes where, I'm content to remain with the Atomos." Left unspoken was that it would keep him with those he'd found himself most comfortable with. Kamek, his fellow wizened magic-user, and Sakura, the naive, hopeful, heroic fighting girl who was perhaps the most out of place of them all on a battlefield.

And then Rika started running off towards the Admiral, calling out to her.

He wondered if it was too late to go back to Smash City and give up all this adventuring.

"Well, that's not horrible at all or anything," he quipped before following after her, not willing to risk being far from the inevitable argument or outright firefight that was about to occur.

Taking the advice to stock up to heart, once the Cadet arrived back in Limsa he set to work preparing everything for tomorrow's excursion. He returned to the tavern, finding it cleared out by the time he returned. Only a few unfamiliar faces lingered there, locals most likely. Ace Cadet approached the tavern's keeper to inquire about a room, and to his delight there seemed to be a running tab for their group. He didn't hesitate to add one more room for the night to it.

The room was simple, single bed and plain walls. Not dissimilar to the one he used to rent in Lumbridge. Like that one, thankfully this one also had a small table and chair. It was pushed up against the wall, sitting under a sconce. The Cadet shrugged off his weaponry and rested the blades and hammer against the table's side, while the bow and arrows were laid across the flat surface. He hadn't needed to think very long about what would be best for fighting at sea. He'd sailed on ships before (even if they were over desert sands and not water) and he could man a cannon just fine - but when it came to his own equipment, then the great bow was just the thing.

After pulling his armor off to get more comfortable, the Cadet sat at the desk in his small clothes to prepare something essential he'd need if he was going to focus on long range support: arrow coatings. In town earlier he'd purchased quite a bit of potions and vials to experiment with. Now he just needed to figure out a way to turn the liquid substances into something thicker, something that would stick to the arrow heads. Confident that he could accomplish this, the hunter got to work.

When morning came, the Ace Cadet stepped out of his room ready and raring to go. Today he was dressed in his complete Rathian armor, having changed out the Vassal's Kote for the metallic and green vambraces. On his back he still carried all of his deadly gear, but the order had changed, with the bow on top and his quiver hanging at his hip. He'd considered leaving some of the weapons behind, but it felt wrong somehow. The adventure so far didn't lend itself well to short assignments where he could pick and choose the best tool for the job. Having the options right with him had helped more than once as well.

Suited up, the hunter ordered a couple handfuls of breakfast and exited, heading towards the assembly. As always, Limsa's geography was a bit hard to navigate. Though it was technically the second day here, it took the hunter a little bit to arrive. He tossed bits of food over his shoulder as he went, BB snapping them up in it's mouth. They finished their mobile meal by the time they reached the harbor, and the great gathering of ship girls. Overhead he could see a massive ship that must have belong to the Admiral, as well as a couple of others. He assumed that the rest of his group was there, waiting aboard either Shippy or the Atomos. He was nearly to them, pushing his way through the women and rigging with a lot of "sorry" and "excuse me," when the Admiral's voice rained over everyone gathered. Her speech was aggressive, and man, what a pep talk. The Cadet was grinning to himself and ready to cheer along with the girls when they moved all at once. Cadet quickly stepped out of the way, leaving the rush of ship girls to depart.

The first team member the Cadet spotted when he continued on was Ms. Fortune, standing in front of the line of ships. He jogged right up to her, bumping her shoulder lightly with his own as he passed, though he turned to walk backward to chat with the cat girl.

"Good Meowning!" he greeted her cheerily. He glanced at her robe and chuckled. "All set? Ready to go?"

He had been heading towards Shippy, being more familiar with a traditional type of ship, but when the Cadet's eyes fell on the Atomos he stopped. The airship's dragon-like logo had been covered over with what looked like Bowser's face, and there were some very interesting looking weapons on the back of it. He changed course, making a beeline for the Atomos and climbing up the side of it. Nearby he could hear the members of the Koopa Troop discussing the plan for the day while he inspected the guns, and soon enough Sakura's voice reached him as well. The Cadet was pulled from his inspections with the street fighter's words. Jump out of the ship?!

He poked his head over the side of the ship. "You jumped off the ship?" he asked, his voice both curious and concerned - although his face didn't match, his expression surprised when he actually spotted the girl and the others around her. A couple of them looked different, including Jr. who was back to normal. He'd seen Bowser's changes last night, and Geralt was still normal, but now Kamek and Sakura were different too.

He looked between the girl and Nadia, now that they had matching feline ears. Of course there was no missing the rigging attached to Sakura either. "Oh, you...?"

They must have gotten up to some spirit shenanigans yesterday. At least they all seemed alright. Even without the full story it was easy to piece together what happened with the Atomos. He wondered if it was awkward, absorbing a friendly's spirit. Even if it was, it must be better than letting the spirit dissolve and be gone forever. Plus Sakura could probably skate across the water now. It was a good move.

The Cadet felt the Atomos shake slightly as someone exited it. He blinked and looked down, wondering who it was. Most of the blue team... red team... purple team? Well, most of them were already outside. He could see that were only a few missing, but to his surprise the person that left the Atomos was not anyone he recognized.

Oh, that's where the Brachydios spirit went, the monster hunter thought as he watched the girl approach the Admiral, completely clueless as to the situation. He really needed a run down of the sortie.

Her lungs were starting to hurt.

Primrose didn't dare look back at the monster, she just focused on running. Like Hell she'd die here, gobbled up by some animal. If it caught her she'd find a way to kill it from the inside and escape... but she would prefer to outrun it instead. In her peripheral vision she noted that Braum and the Heavy had caught up to her, and she was quietly satisfied that her plan had paid off. Especially so when refusing to look back opened her up to attack from a trawler, and Braum defended her. She blinked as he moved passed her, and she spared only him a glance and a nod of thanks before she turned forward again.

Behind her she could hear the great crackle of ice, and in front she could see some commotion with the lead group. Further still, a structure that the tracks were leading them towards. Almost there.

As soon as she, Heavy, Braum and Midna caught up to the rest of the group, the Mona-car and a couple of riders sped forward and cleared the path ahead. Not squandering the opportunity to cover more ground with no enemies to block the path for now, Primrose didn't break her stride and continued sprinting forward. She didn't stop even when she cleared the tunnel's opening, only slowing down when the molduga slammed against the tunnel and darkened it, unable to get in.

She panted, slowly coming down from her sprint into a walk, her head held up and her eyes closed. She nearly tore the hood and veil from her head as she reached to remove them, letting as much air in as possible. Now safe in the darkness, she finally turned around fully. The monster was stuck and struggling, and Midna gave it a punch in the snout for good measure. Primrose understood the feeling, and she took some vicarious pleasure in Midna's attack.

The rest of the group were catching their breaths as well, moving sluggishly, but they didn't have very far to go. Primrose didn't even bother summoning a flame to light the way, not wanting to spend the energy. With a few deep inhales through her nose, Primrose regained her composure. She was thinking about how she could go about attaching wheels to Hippowdown like the kind that Yoshitsune currently sported in case she needed to run like that again, but when they left the tunnel and entered the intensely sweet smelling canyon her focus was brought to the present. There didn't seem to be any huge monsters here, just tiny ones resembling sweets. The entire landscape too seemed edible. Some desserts were familiar looking in design, others completely alien - another world's foods she was sure.

The smell was actually pretty strong, so Primrose donned her veil again, grateful for what little it did to help stop the sickly sweet smell. She couldn't even imagine how everything would taste... idly, she nodded along with Midna's comment that eating anything would lead to sickness.

She leaned down, gingerly picking up one of the bug... snacks. She let the colorful ant crawl over her palm, turning her hand so that it wouldn't fall. It didn't seem dangerous, and though looks could be deceiving it made no move to attack her. She placed it down again and stared at the robots in the near distance. Then she turned and watched Midna leave, heading towards where Poppi had indicated that someone was calling for help.

"We should go with her," the dancer said. Her voice wasn't forceful, but it was loud enough that the whole group would be able to hear it. She was tired, and she was sure they were all tired, but there wasn't really any place for them to stop and rest. Well, maybe inside the tunnel would have been good, but there was the snapping molduga in there.

Several of the more heroic around them seemed to share Primrose's thoughts. It really didn't feel right to leave someone desperate and in danger. She doubted that it could be a trap - who would set that kind of trap here in this sticky wonderland, and for whom? Plus, perhaps the person in need of help was a "local" and could give them some direction... Primrose's thoughts echoed Joker's unknowingly, and she watched the leader of the Thieves discuss their course of action with Fox. She turned to the rest of the group, raising a brow. They wouldn't split up again, right? It was dark, and this landscape... there was no one anyway was familiar with it, it would be dangerous to split the group now. Primrose crossed her arms, and while she awaited what she thought was the inevitable answer to which way the group should go, she slowly followed after the Twilight Princess, watching her step carefully.

@DracoLunaris@Yankee@Zoey Boey

---

---

Link's eye popped open with a start. He awoke in his usual manner, on the hour and straight up at the crack of dawn. His evening had continued well after Glenn had let the fatigue get the better of him and wandered off to bed. It was just as well that he had done so, otherwise he might well have even still given up his savings. Link, being the last man standing and the one that had actually eaten most of the food, had the unenviable position of being stuck with the bill.

It had been big. Very big. As a matter of fact, "one of everything" big. Certainly richer than Link's purse. Luckily he had been able talk with the manager and work out an arrangement. Link had convinced the irate owner that he could make more food with far less ingredients and had asked to be let into the bars kitchen to prove his point. After seeing what sort of treats Link could whip up with seemingly any two random ingredients he was given, not to mention the fact that each dish only took seconds to cook, Link was stuck in front of the wok for the remainder of the business night and a while after on dish duty. He stopped working only once, when the whole pup had gone silent in the wake of a giant flash of light, but after that it had been right back to business.

All in all he had been very thankful to have a bed last night. Not that he couldn't sleep with a bed a grass, with only the crackling of a campfire and the chirping of crickets to serenade him, but nothing beat an actual, honest to goddess bed. He rolled quietly out of the covers, pulling the Slate of the cozy bedside table, and with a few quick clicks of his fingers across the screen he was back in the clothes he had been wearing yesterday. With that, a quick check of his inventory, and setting the sensor to detect Cia's scepter just in case any more of that woman was lurking about, he crept to the doorway and set out on an early morning stroll around the city. There was something he wanted to find, something that he had been reminded of by the fluttering sails of Shippy and the Admirals boat.

---

It had taken him most of the morning. He had wandered Hawker's alley for a good while before he had found what he wanted, mostly because it wasn't good for anything anymore with no ships to put it on. He'd finally run into one shrewd little merchant that still kept a back stock of the stuff just in case the day came where the war turned around and it was usable again. As things stood Link was able to buy some off of him for dirt cheap, along with some wood for the frame.

Most of the time, however, had been spent searching for somebody who could assemble it for him. After hours of looking and asking around, he was eventually pointed in the direction of a tinkerer and adventure named Mimic, a man who was rumored to be able to perfectly recreate any device he had ever seen. Link had found the man amicable, and had been a little wouldn't be able to build what he had in mind from description alone until the man had scoffed at something so simple. After that it had just been a matter to getting the dimensions correct and probing Link's memory to ensure that all the pieces were in the correct places. Appreciations were given, rupees exchanged hands, and Link left to find himself a suitably high place.

He stood at the top of a high slope, the street trending steadily downward. AS good a place as any, and in the direction he needed to be going anyway. He took a few steps back before into a run and jumping into the air, throwing his arms up as he felt himself begin to fall. He grasped out with his fingers, and as her did he suddenly felt them wrap around two handles as the devise jumped from the slate into his hands. The white sailcloth he had bought bulged out as it caught the air, arresting his fall and sending him gliding swiftly out over the declining street.

It took everything he could not to squeal with delight as he leaned, his weight puling the new paraglider to the side and sending his sailing down a side alley. He felt the wind flying past his hair, saw the worlds zooming by below him, heard the shouts of surprise as he passed over people. As he flew he felt like the worlds biggest fool for leaving his original glider back in Hyrule when he'd left for Smash. Why on earth had he done that? Well, because what good would a paraglider do you in a fighting tournament? When the letter had arrived he had assumed it would be like one of the Knightly Tournaments Zelda had described to him. It hadn't mentioned the tournament would involve being knocked out of the arena, if that little detail had been in the letter he definitely would have brought it with him and used it shamelessly.

He was beginning to get a bit tired, so he searched out an empty spot in the street and aimed toward it. He let go and felt more than saw the glider vanish back into the slate, dropping to the ground with a roll and a grin. He took a few deep breath to get his strength back, took another running start, and was gliding again in a few seconds.

---

Link literally dropped into the harbor, having jumped over a railing as soon as he had seen it and started falling before pulling out the paraglider again and flying steadily down the rest of the way. As he passed over the assembled navy all he could do was gawk. He had seen the shipgirls when they had first come into Limsa, but actually seeing them all assembled was a sight to behold. Every one of them was dressed to the nines, and most sported what looked like cannons on their shining metal gear. These girls looked like they could win any war. They were losing? What sort of monsters were they up against? Link suddenly realized he didn't have a clue.

He aimed for the obvious target, the ship with Bowser's face plastered all over it. He spotted the other members of the team on his approach and as soon as she was slow enough he dropped into an empty patch of ground and ran up to them as Kamek, in his new extremely uncomfortable configuration, explained the plan. They even had a shipgirl with the- no, wait, as he got closer he could see that was a girl from yesterday. What had they gotten up to on their scouting run? He held his tongue for now, after all they were splitting the party. They had two ships, they were going to split the group between them and meet up when they had to break off to go after the guardian. "Seeing as most of you seem to want to go on this one," he started, pointing at the floating ship. He couldn't blame them, given a choice between a flying ship and a normal one he would normally pick the flying one every time. "I guess I'll go with Shippy and back up the Captain. Besides, I'd be more useful since these Abyssal's are more likely to climb aboard that one. At least I think they are. Can someone tell me what an Abyssal actually is before we go?"

Unluckily, that question was answered as a pale girl with Gerudo muscles and a face like a demon marched out of the back of the floating ship toward the admiral, cheerily announcing what she was and that she needed to talk with her. It happened so quickly that Link didn't even really register it for a moment, just watching her go with a dazed "Oh, so that's an Abyssal" as Geralt and Kamek took off after her.

His head snapped toward Sakura and Junior, not bothering to conceal his worry. "What did you guys do yesterday?"

---

It was still dark outside and the streets of Limsa were lit by the soft light of street lamps dotting the various byways and intersections of the small seaside town that had been home to the amphibian swordsman Glenn for a long time since he had wandered in from the northeast, he had been confused and angry but the people of Limsa gave the troubled swordsman a place to stay and some purpose in a world he was unfamiliar with.



It was still dark outside when the swordsman decided to take a walk, while he hadn't gotten as much sleep as he may have wanted Glenn needed to get some air as he would need to make the decision of wether he would take his leave of Limsa in favor of joining the cause of the Princess or stay to continue his work despite everything he had seen, and heard while he fought alongside them in the Bismarck.

His decision came swiftly however as in his mind after he heard the words of gratitude from those within the ruins of the Bismarck's balcony yesterday. It was clear that he had done enough for the people of Limsa and that he was needed elsewhere, he would go with the others on their journey.

---