With the threat of machines and the Molduga behind them (right behind them in the latter case, forcing forward progression), Yellow Team continued onward at ease, slackening to a more manageable pace to allow those who needed it to catch their breath. Thankfully, most of them had the stamina for it--a benefit undercut by the need for certain others to recover their mana as well. They would see their moment’s rest once they reached the end of the tunnel, they hoped, foreshown by the nightlight visibly shining through in the near distance. They followed the beacon of moon rays along the train tracks until its boards were replaced with wafers, its rails with hardened chocolate, and up to the point when they made for open space again to get a good look at why.

Everything, from the flora, to the fauna, ‘man-made’ structures like the station they were in, and even down to the weather phenomena were seemingly all of a confectionery makeup. From what world a fully edible(?) biome and elements thereof was something that occurred naturally, Fox couldn’t so much hazard a guess. He could practically feel a toothache coming on just to behold it. It was a good thing one couldn’t get cavities just from looking, or else he might have been the first among the relatives of canine-kind to find out if they even could. At any rate, desserts may very well have been the preferable theme to any theoretical alternatives, for all he knew--like say, meats and/or vegetables. The thought, however, didn’t cross his mind; perhaps for the better. From the looks of it, the area stood no less a chance of greeting the party with dangers and hostility regardless, the breadth of which were now slightly more difficult to predict.

At Poppi’s mention of picking up an auditory distress signal, Fox made his own attempt to hone in on its source via his headset. In receiving nothing through communications, he at least ruled that out as a possibility, and concluded simply that it was something they would have to attend to personally, as would have ultimately been the case anyway. He concurred with Primrose on the initiative taken by Midna to go investigate, but before he could set off in tow, Joker demanded Fox’s ear. At his beckoning, Fox approached and lent him his attention.

The Phantom leader quietly voiced his concern about the physical and magical exhaustion of his teammates, wanting foremost for a solution to that before prolonging their day’s expedition much more, stifling any compulsion he might have otherwise had to explore. He agreed that prioritizing search and rescue was in order, suspecting it would be beneficial in finding their way--possibly to accommodations. Fox co-opted this, volunteering Yellow Team to take point in the meantime in consideration of the Thieves’ conditions, adding that he would too keep his eyes and earpiece open in lookout for the missing Persona of their group. As Midna had gotten them a head start on the next step of their journey, their marching order was already halfway established, and summarily agreed upon.

Just as they were about to set off, a new face--not the friendliest of which they’d seen--showed itself, belonging to what appeared to be a grim, aberrant humanoid, and approached with questions rather than the hostility that her appearance would suggest. Poppi and Joker stepped in to mediate at the first sign of aggressive response and offered the hooded wanderer a place among the pack for as long as she needed it, provided she remained on peaceful terms. All she asked in turn was that they provide any information they had on an apparent nemesis of hers: “a real bastard of a wolf.” Doubtful were the odds that she and Fox were thinking of the same person, but in the ever unlikely case that they were, he’d not soon indulge her that. That was a fight for him, and rivalries were something to be shared with no one, especially overeager unfamiliars with expressly violent intentions.

With the matter provisionally handled the party pressed on, guided by Midna’s tracks, trusting she would lead them true. They hit their first snag when Ryuji--as all in earshot learned his name to be, thanks to Panther’s involuntary tongue slip--found himself encased in a flash-hardened candy shell. It wasn’t so dense, however, as to require anything large of one’s own fists to break it down, so Fox pitched in with a rapid, standing flurry of kicks to free Skull, rather than turning a firearm on him to the same effect. They continued onward from there, carefully watching for more traps along the way, but it wasn’t long before Tora’s appetite created another problem for them (but mostly him), revealing yet another previously unaccountable danger of the sweet wilds.

“Nobody else eat anything here!” Fox ordered with a sigh while Mona and any other available healers attended Tora, the Medic perhaps being strangely qualified to deal with such a matter on account of a certain… unique experience with the opposite occurrence (animating pastries, rather than pastrifying living matter). He had expected such a caution would go without saying, considering not that enticing the sweet tooths of the unwary might have been the point of this place. In need of some better news, Fox attempted to contact Necronomicon, hoping for a response and update of any kind from her to let him know that she was still with them in some way. “You there? Come in!” He requested simply, not expecting anyone else but the Persona to answer.

---

---

Link aimed, sinking another arrow right into eye of one of the abominations sinking its fangs into the side of their rabidly disintegrating ship. One of its mate took notice as the thing broke off and sank under the water, aiming her battery of cannons at Link. He dove away from the hole in the railing he'd been firing through as thunder resounded, it's shots firing off into the sky, but the noise was lost among the countless other explosions that went off every second. He rolled back into his position and put another two arrows into the one that had shot at him, but it wasn't enough. It was would never be enough.

He left fighting any boarders to the likes of Glenn and Ms. Fortune. Chao had been right, the boarders were an afterthought to the Abyssal's. Something to distract them while the meat of their attack were focused on their vessel. He did his best with arrows, but he could imagine there were attackers that he couldn't even see hiding under the waves. There were certainly a few inside the ship itself, he had seen them swimming in through the gaping holes they'd put in the ships hull.

He considered that they may have to abandon Shippy for the Atomos, but that presented its own problems. It was getting hammered only slightly less, and it was already so low that he didn't think the airship could take the extra weight. These problems only compounded when he heard a screech even over the din of this battle and turned momentarily to spot a dark shape take wing out of the abyssal base and began flapping its way toward the airship. That was...interesting, despite everything. How had they allied themselves with a giant bird?

Fortunately it didn't seem like that was an option they would have to take just yet, as relief appeared in the form of Blazermate. After topping the defenders off she set her beam to the ship itself, Link backing away as the chunk that had been blown out of the railing in front of him reformed as the beam did its work.

He heard the Cadet call out that he was going below deck, presumably to take care of their stowaways, but Link hadn't expected him to do so over the side of the ship. That was a good plan. Blazermate would have an easier time keeping up with the damage if it wasn't coming from both inside and outside. "I'm going with him." He called to the others. He looked over at Blazermate, who already had at least one abyssal bodyguard now. "Blazermate is our lifeline. When it's clear down there we can move her inside where it's safer. Keep her from getting blown up till then."

With that he ran across the deck toward the below decks entrance, along the way scooping up a pair of Abyssal spirits rolling around on the deck and crushing them in each hand. He hoped they turned into something interesting as he threw open the door and jumped down the stairs into the hold, ready to catch the intruders in a pincer attack with the Cadet.

As Blazermate approached and singled him out for conversation, Geralt nodded. "Blazermate. Still waiting to embark, it seems. Got one hell of a day in front of us, it seems." At her responding question, Geralt frowned a little. "Can't say. Got no idea why they're fighting, or if they even know why themselves. Might slow down into border skirmishes, or this might be the first battle of what becomes an all-out war of annihilation. My bet is the former, though." He wasn't shy about his opinions on where he thought this would go, but they were all just baseless conjecture, so he wouldn't commit to really having a proper clue.

Two Shipgirls would be joining them, one he was familiar enough with, and one he didn't recognize. Ranger would be staying with the Atomos, though, so there was little need to spend time making friends with the other Shipgirl, with whom he'd likely not interact much.

They were underway in short order, and Geralt had to admit that the view itself was pretty damn nice. Had the circumstances been different, it could have been a nice day to just enjoy the scenery before them. Alas, the circumstances were as they were, and soon the ocean was filled with the sounds and sights of battle. Sakura and Rika found it difficult to watch. He couldn't blame them, he felt similarly, albeit for different reasons. It reminded him of the fight against the Wild hunt, of the corpse-ridden battlefields left behind by the victors when the Nilfgaardians invaded the North.

Shaking off the memory, Geralt grunted at Sakura's heartfelt admission that she was glad to have met them all. Geralt...had more complicated feelings on the manner. He wished he hadn't had to meet them, and while he was sure some of the others held some sort of wish that things hadn't gotten this bad, he also expected that they were at least somewhat enjoying the adventure, or making new friends, or some other such nonsense.

Geralt, on the other hand, would have much preferred to return to the relatively simple life of a Witcher, as he'd been planning to once the Wild Hunt and the White Frost were dealt with. Instead, he found himself dragged into yet another war for the survival of all mankind.

How tiring.

It wasn't long before the combat reached them, however, and those aboard the ship sprung into action. Bowser and Kamek worked together to turn the Koopa King massive, and he devastated the Abyssals that hadn't closed in on the two Seeker ships yet. However, that left a horde of monsters for the others on board the ship to deal with. The four Shipgirls (Sakura included) were doing their best to both help Shippy, which was taking heavy damage, and protect the Atomos, but still plenty managed to put fire on both vessels. Geralt stood atop the Atomos, firing his plasma pistol, calling his Abyssal Strikers, and slinging Signs at the hostile Abyssals that grew too close for comfort, but it was the screeching of the massive birdlike monster that got his attention.

His eyes narrowed as the creature approached, and Geralt had an idea. A terrible, borderline suicidal idea, but an idea nonetheless. Stowing his pistol, he ran over to bowser and jumped, latching onto his shell and starting to climb. "Sorry, boss. Got a plan to put down that bird, but I might need some help!" As he ascended towards the titan's shoulders, he started explaining. "Get that bird over here, no matter what! Then grab it once it gets close, and hold on till I can get on it! We can't let it fly around and do whatever it wants, so I'll take it out from the air, right where it is!"

He neared Bowser's shoulder, and gave the last part of his plan out. "And make damn sure Kamek's got one of his doubles to pluck me outta the air of this goes ass up!"

This plan was, without a doubt, one of the many plans Geralt had come up with. And frankly? It probably wasn't his dumbest to date.

Bowser unleashed devastation upon the Abyssals, sowing death, destruction and chaos wherever he pointed each of his three weaponized maws. Unfortunately, there was some friendly fire involved, Bowser’s shots went exactly precise in their nature and the wide area they covered was a double edged sword when there were allies in the area. Bowser wasn't exactly unfamiliar with this problem however, so while he had little twinges of guilt he was mostly unaffected by his mistakes emotionally as did his best to avoid more collateral damage. There were bigger problems to face, such as the fact that he was now a massive target for their foes.

Bowser himself laughed off most of what they threw at him, the titan’s great scales warding off much of their weaponry designed to harm primarily other ship girls. Any that did have enough firepower to chip at his defenses were rapidly singled out and burned, blasted or, if they were too close, tentacled til they weren't a problem any more.

The Abyssals weren't brainless however, and many focused on his much poorer armored firing platform instead of the king himself and the improvised armoring of the ship could only do so much to withstand their withering hail of blows. Inside Jr had to duck just to avoid having his head removed by shots punching through the cockpit’s glass, while further back Kamek and Mimi huddled down and tried to block everything out while they focused on maintaining the spell that was putting them in all that danger.

Many of the others were helping vessels but there was only so much they could do. Shippy was in dire straits too, though she had Blazermate doing her part. The healing beam apparently worked on ships too, if they were alive, which was a miracle and madness all in one. The Atomos had its own repairer, but there was only so much Rika smacking the ship with the Necro Smasher could do. The ship girl had been reduced to repair women as a result of it being an awful, awful idea for her to go out and try and fight because, unlike Bella, she’d need to get stuck in close, and there was too much risk of her being mistaken for a foe in the chaotic melee that would inevitably follow.

That didn’t mean the brawl wouldn't come to her, the lightest and fastest of the Abyssals leaping from the ocean made sure of that. The worst encounter with which was a destroyer smashing through the front window like a torpedo, before crashing to the ground and trying to flop closer to Kamek in-order to bite him.

”oh dear, could someone perhaps handle that?” the mage requested with force calm, unable to move lest he disrupt the spell empowering his master.

“I’ve got it, I’ve got it” Rika yelped, as she hurried over from the latest hole, hammer held in hand, before smashing one giant gauntlet down on the thing. The metal monster crumpled, and then was vaporized when the mouth mounted cannon in the gauntlet went off point blank.

“Oh... I just kill a-” Rika began to say, but there was no time for introspection about killing her own kind, no matter how simplistic a one it might have been, in the heat of battle as Jr cried ”The window! Before more get in!” at her

“Oh shoot. Going!” Rika replied, before getting back to grease-monkeying.

Despite the ship girls’s efforts, keeping the airship in one piece was a losing battle. In a bid to try and ease the pressure the troop resorted to their second play of the day, which was to unleash the minions. A swarm of Primids armed with super scopes swarmed out onto the deck, followed by Quiet and the End and all of them added a sudden burst of firepower to the defense of the ships. More permanently, Kamek’s Toadies flew out and grabbed the harpoon turrets, firing off large metal bolts at the ships. Weapons that, while primitive, did inflict a hell punch if they hit.

While the king himself was blind to the small-fry blasting his footing his strikers were not, and in short order Marie descended, drifting under the ship followed by Mallet, Sledge and Heel all crammed on the back of Carri the Trowlon. The trio of living hoverboard riding mooks hurled hammers and bombs at the ships who thought they had a safe spot to fire from, while the former Skullgirl, still wielding some of the power of death she had had in unlife, really made them regret their cleverness as the unflinching girl bombarded them with skulls or made skeletal sailors rise up from their sunken graves to drag the vessels down into the depths.

With them went Kamek’s clowns, the trio of reds and one green trying to keep them in one piece swooped down to hurl fireballs at the ships before sweeping back up again to try and avoid return fire from the Abyssals.

Other than the mage’s robed octet of minions all of this was temporary, a sudden burst of firepower to clear the worst offenders, but it might the troop collectively hoped, give them a moment of space. Something they desperately needed as the fleet revealed itself to not be as insular in its makeup as they had assumed. A grand avian, lacking any telltale signs of the monstrous fleet marring its features, took off from it’s home on the anchor decorated isle and soared right at the king.

The king was squaring up to blast it with a hail of fire to try and ward it off when he got a Geralt sized passenger whispering plans in his ear.

”GAHAHA, NOW YOUR TALKING! JR, PUNCH IT AND FLY US RIGHT AT THE BIG BIRD!” The King demanded, 100 and 10 percent onboard with the Witcher’s plan and adding his own bravado to the mix.

”Awwwww starbits,” Jr moaned, before becoming resolved and declaring ”Here goes nothing!” and slamming a jury rigged big red button on the console that directed as much power as the ship could handle to forward thrust, sending the ship surging forwards to meet their avien adversary while Bowser, claws and tentacles ready to give a big ol bear hug, braced himself himself to try and carry out his half Geralt’s daring plan.

”COME AND GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT, CHICKEN!”

Having concluded that she wasn’t particularly suited for one ship over the other per se, Hat Kid opted to take her place aboard Shippy for no better reason than because the Atomos was already getting crowded. That, and Peach kind of asked her to, for much the same reason. She still wasn’t entirely clear on what specific roles, if any, each ship would be playing beyond breaking through to the Bottomless Sea somehow, but assumed they would both end up in the same place either way. As usual, she would leave the problem of getting there up to the near future version of her to worry about, putting thoughts of it temporarily out of her mind as she smiled and waved back to the townspeople that saw them off and cheered them on.

Hat Kid scaled the mast to take her seat within the crow’s nest, and spent the entirety of their downtime sailing along the coast beholding the sights it had to offer. It wasn’t long until the first signs of battle could be seen at the front lines, from afar as they were, and zoomed in through Link’s Slate, which the child at one point peeked at from over his shoulder. A briefing call was shortly made, demanding their attendance down on the main deck. The first order, only semi-related to current matters, came from the cat lady (without ship rigging), relaying gossip she had picked up about a murder taking place the night before, for which she already had a suspect; another such mystery for the child to rent out a Detective Outfit to solve later.

Another call later came over the radio to issue the crew their main set of orders, laying out for them a more definitive road map of their siege operation. In preparation, Kid climbed to the top of the mast once more, peering out at their distant destination, verified by her top hat, then switching to her Skull Cap to bring out her inner swashbuckler, as it was the best and only set of attire she had suited for the occasion. She was about as ready as she was going to be for naval warfare at this point, so she may as well act in character and get excited for it however she could. Within the moment, the riotous report of artillery and the destruction that followed signalled the start of what may very well be the final battle between the Azure Navy and the Abyssal Fleet, and Blue Team were set to run right through the middle of it.

While Shippy’s Captain and designated swordsmen took care of the boarding Abyssals on and below deck (and then some), Hat Kid moved along the top of the masts to laser sweep at the smaller encroaching units from on high, fending off what she was able to with each successive blast. The enemy’s numbers made a clean break impossible, as no small amount of them bit away at Shippy’s hull. At which point Hat Kid dismounted the masts, hooked onto the central one with her grapple line to swing circles around the ship, and broke out the Ray Gun she picked up to pepper them with. With what she found out was only worth ten shots--some of which she missed with--it didn’t last her long before having to undo her hookshot to free up her umbrella for lasering them with again; this time keeping airborne by foot-bouncing off of the odd missile and mini-plane.

With the fast deteriorating condition of both Blue Team vessels, matters appeared to be made worse by the appearance of a great black avian on the battlefiel- battle sea? In the midst of the battle. It made way for the already overwhelmed Atomos, aiming to challenge the gigantified, havoc-wreaking Koopa King. It was upon seeing the full of the Atomos’ force and armaments in swing against the fleet that the child could recall seeing one while boarding that wasn’t in use; one that could possibly answer the harrying great-fowl.

Hat Kid maneuvered her way over, onto, and into the Atomos, hurried her way into the bay, hit the switch on the doors to open, mounted the hitherto unmanned ballista, and readied it to fire. If there was a time to use it, it would be now. Though, it could have asked for more accustomed hands than her own. Hopefully, her inexperience with ranged/ballistic weaponry wouldn’t show when it counted, but with the sudden uptake in speed, that may prove harder for her to see to. If nothing else, she could reload it faster thanks to her Skull Cap--for greater damage if her timing was good enough. That sense of timing would be better spent at the right moment in which they closed the distance on one another to let fly, for which she waited to do so.

As alarming as the revelation of mutative food was, Tora refused to let his team down be left behind as a burden. The idea that he would be left in the dust to nurse his wounds, if they could be called that, while the others went ahead to save the day fired him up so much that he bounced to his feet and ran after them, leaving Poppi to follow along.

Thus, the dynamic duo arrived at the tail of the group, joining them at the borderline where the candy trees stopped and Parnasse began. Even in the dark of night they were able to spot the hulking machines in the center of the town, illuminated by lamplight shining through wavy sugar crystal panes. And even from this distance Tora locked on to the captive fairy and commenced looking respectfully.

Rotating lights in the night sky informed the Yellow Team members they weren’t the only ones to find the confectionary village. As soon as he saw her Fox radioed Necronomicon, and the flying saucer slowed down to deliver a prompt response. “Hello! It’s Necronomicon! I thought I’d find you guys here, though I don’t really see you yet. You see them, Scout-kun?”

A crude voice reached Fox over the communicator. “Oi, what did you call me? I ain’t seen anyone ‘cept those giant robots!” Evidently, at some point the dwarf had given up dangling from Necronomicon and climbed inside instead. “Your radar thingie’s goin’ haywire. Red dots all over town, none of ‘em movin’! Oh wait, there’s…”

Joker leaned in again, once more making use of his counterpart’s device. “Don’t go any lower. We’re not in town right now, and those robots are looking straight at you. They might jump and grab you.”

“Ee!” Necronomicon jerked upward, prompting a bump and colorful curse from her occupant.

“Hold still you arsewipe, I’m tryin’ to read this thing! There’s a dot goin’ right toward the center!”

Joker kept his eyes on the scene unfolding. “We see her…”

As the heroes looked on, Midna revealed herself. The fairy had to stop herself squealing in excitement, and resorted to just squirming in anticipation as Midna swiped at the cage’s lock with a dragon claw. The mechanism parted ways, and the door swung open. Everything was going smoothly until the fairy squeezed through, at which point she promptly got stuck. An instinctive jostle caused a slight rattle in the chain, and she froze, staring in panic at the robots, but they had yet to notice. Her wide eyes returned to Midna, silently asking what to do.

This... She had not anticipated. The princess resisted the urge to hold her head in her hands, confounded by the fact that it was the fairy’s shapely figure of all things that was causing an issue. Instead she raised a finger to get the fairy to wait and then carefully brought out her shadow hand. She wrapped the chain up in the orange limb to hold it steady and muffle any more sound. Then she took the fairy’s two hands in hers, planted two feet on the bottom edge of the cage and then pulled, attempting to tug her loose from her metal confides without rattling the chain.

Trying to stay calm, the fairy complied, staying quiet until her rescuer gently seized the chain. After that a little tugging popped her free, which moved Midna just enough to give off a little clink of metal, but nothing that alerted the guardians to the heist occurring under their very noses. Just a little larger than the Twilight Princess had been when she first arrived in the World of Light, and not much slower, the fairy flew after her into cover. Practically the moment they got out of sight the fairy clamped herself around Midna in as big a hug as the little woman could muster. “Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!” she sang, her grip surprisingly tight. “I was in there so long I thought I was gonna starve to death! But hey, I guess this is the place to be hungry!” After releasing Midna she dove headfirst toward a nearby house, and with the help of a hat smashed through the candy pane no problem. Inside, she disappeared into the futon of a fudge couch.

Outside, however, the fairy’s joyous exclamations had reached the guardian machines, and when they noticed that their captive had been freed, they stirred to action. They did not vocalize, but their unsophisticated components heaved and clanked as the large bipeds split up, each heading for a nearby house to search it. Once in range they raised their great creaking fists and began the demolitions.

Necronomicon’s tentacles flailed in distress. “There are people in the houses! We have to help!” Without another word needed, Tora took off into town with Poppi right behind, and the Phantom Thieves on their heels.



Though thoroughly unnerved by the advent of the Helmaroc King, Nadia couldn’t afford to gawp for long. For every Abyssal that climbed aboard Shippy, five more remained in the water, bombarding the hard-to-miss hull with their armaments or tearing into its construction directly with their cruelly powerful teeth and hands. A monster poked its head above the railing and she raced over to deliver a dropkick. It raised an armored arm to block, but her extended legs blew its guard wide open. The next instant Blazermate’s spine-chilling new abomination, mindlessly bloodthirsty, careened into the vulnerable Abyssal and sent both overboard. Its malformed shape clipped Nadia on the way, who barely grabbed hold of the wood in time to keep from tumbling into the drink herself. And of course, a few opportunistic Abyssals shot up the area, too. Peppered with splinters, Nadia growled in frustration as she kept her head down, and crawled on all fours away from the railing.

When she stood, she realized Shippy had begun to list. Even with Blazermate’s restoration totally concentrated on the vessel, the incoming damage outweighed her efforts by a long shot. Her medibeam only stemmed the tide. Link, Sakura, and a few others aboard the Atomos helped the naval accompaniment to take down Shippy’s assailants as best they could, but they continued to lay on the pain, with more than a few getting into the hold. Ace went below decks to deal with the unwelcome guests, and Nadia figured he might need some help, but Link volunteered. She ducked as a missile whipped overhead and smashed against the mast in a concussive burst of flame. “This sucks!” Nadia snarled, brushing embers from her hair. “There’s no end to ‘em, and we can’t stop them messin’ up the ship!”

“We need more healing!” Peach agreed. She waved Frog over. “Hey! I need you to team jump me over and over! Just boost me into the air and I can heal Shippy as I land!”

---

Furnished with some new gear from the fallen Abyssals, Link joined the battle below decks not long after Ace Cadet made his own dynamic entry. He found a troop of imps alongside a To-class Cruiser with a handful of the Cadet’s oversized arrows in it. Without much in the way of cargo or rooms, Shippy’s hold presented a decently open space for fighting, although it was that much easier for the heroes to see the woeful extent of the damage. There were full-on holes gushing seawater in a few places, which was already knee-level. Before their eyes a constant battle was unfolding as the ship’s carpentry attempted to repair itself, thanks to Blazermate. It prevented reinforcements from appearing constantly, but new Na-class Destroyers kept pushing their way inside. Even down here, the odds were stacked against them.

---

Bella took a deep breath as the Helmaroc King soared closer. Too smart, agile, and high up to just run into any of Bowser’s fireballs or liquid jets. It would be on the Atomos in mere moments. While Sakura and Bella occupied themselves with helping Shippy, she climbed out into the open with the help of her cane to where she could get a clear look. Thanks to the Koopas’ minions, the situation facing the Atomos had quickly begun to improve. The extra weaponry manned by the Toadies gave the team precise firepower to apply where needed, Kamek’s clones did some work, and the roving Striker quartet made the most of the limited time afforded them by taking down the highest-priority assailants. When it came to sheer numbers, it seemed, countering fire with fire was effective, and the versatility the minion horde offered certainly helped. That just left the elephant in the room--or sky, such that it was.

She turned backward and looked over her shoulder, allowing her leviathan tail to position itself and start charging. Geralt appeared at about the same time, climbing onto Bowser and delivered his plan above the scream of the wind. In order for the Witcher to climb onto it he would need Bowser to grab hold, but knowing what she did of the cunning Helmaroc King Bella doubted it would soar right into his arms. If anything, Bella worried that it planned to target the Atomos instead and put its talons through the already bullet-riddled cockpit. Sakura might have been the one to save her, but even after such a short time of knowing Junior, Bella would not let anyone hurt him.

Her initial idea got thrown out when Junior drove the Atomos forward, along with her hat sailing off into the sky. She narrowed her eyes. Suddenly the airship and the avian were on a collision course, which presented a problem beyond the Atomos team being unable to cover Shippy and longer. Now the Helmaroc King would probably swerve out of the way long before it got close enough. A railgun shot would slow it down, however impractical that would be. But even if she couldn’t hit it at this speed, she didn’t need to hit it to pull this off.

With that in mind she waited, adjusting her aim a touch at a time, as the monstrous bird drew closer. The tension piled higher and higher as the wind whipped her hair, until finally she slammed shut her fist, her jaw just about splitting under the force of her yell. “FIRE!” With a thunderous PCHOOM her tail discharged, hurling a shot past the Helmaroc with such speed that the bird shrieked, veering up and to the right, and right into Bowser’s clutches.

---

As Peach got busy helping Blazermate heal, the medibot put her own plan in motion. She pumped the power of the Kritzkrieg into the living vessel just as Brineybeard took his fourth bullet. This one struck one of his peg legs and destroyed it, which dropped the wounded pirate onto his back in a shout of pain. A rumble of pure rage sounded out from Shippy as she began to inflate her cheeks, a baleful power building within. The intensifying tremor and ominous glow prompted Nadia to hunker down, but just as Shippy seemed ready to let loose Brineybeard’s strained, desperate voice roared above the clamor. “Hold yer fire, hold yer fire! Ye’ll kill our damn friends!”

Maddened by pain and invigorated by the kritz, Shippy did not listen. The gathering power swelled to a point where just about everyone on the battlefield noticed, and the next second Shippy opened wide. A blindingly bright pink beam surged from her gullet, more deadly still than Nightmare’s Domination, blew across the bay and annihilated all in its path. Luckily most of the shipgirls got out of its way, but a few too embroiled in their own conflicts did not escape in time and disappeared alongside the Abyssals. Evaporating a momentary valley in the water, the beam went on to crash against and blow a chunk out of the fortress atop Midway Island. Entire slabs of stone burst apart and fell away into the sea, and a few of the dangling anchors dropped to smash through stone and Abyssals below.

It was a moment before Nadia remembered to breathe. The amazed lull in the battlefield would not last for long. She glanced at Chao but shrank from her horrified expression. Instead she ran over to where Brineybeard lay by the prow of the ship. The sheer rage on his face as he unleashed a storm of swears nearly stopped her in her tracks, but she pulled him away from immediate danger. “You damn boat! They’ll kill us both! Our adventure’s already over! We’re done for...”

Any help Nadia wanted to offer died in Nadia’s throat. Friendly fire seemed like the worst thing possible in a military environment like this. She glanced around to see their escort thinning out. Did they plan to abandon them? “Oh, hell…” she murmured. If the Abyssal onslaught was bad before, it would be untenable now. The apparent fact that the Navy didn’t turn against the heroes outright was only a small comfort. Everything had suddenly become too much. How could she have ever thought she was ready for this!?

Heinrich’s voice crackled over Chao’s receiver. “Brineybeard! What the hell was that?! Some of our girls were in there!”

“I know, I know!” the old man cried. “It be an accident! I tried to stop it, but...Shippy just...she be in bad shape! Crazed from the pain!”

“You should have known better than to sail into battle on that animal!” The Commander growled. Through the radio the boom of her cannon’s came as a burst of overloaded static.

Peach staggered close, more than a little rattled herself. “Commander, I’m terribly sorry!”

“Peach! Did you vet this pirate at all? If we knew he had somethin’ like that up his sleeve, we coulda planned around it!”

Both Brineybeard’s and Peach’s faces tightened. Another impact shook Shippy, causing her to rock perilously. The captain spoke up before the princess could say anything. “Ma’am, it be my responsibility, and nobody else’s! Don’t blame the Seekers. They jus’ needed whatever they could get!”

Heinrich sighed heavily. “That’s nice an’ all, but we can’t be expected to defend a loose cannon like that and risk losin’ any more girls! I figure you’re lucky Merl hasn’t turned us on you. Unless you abandon ship, you’re on your own!”

The bad news did not stop there. Even as the Helmaroc King went for the Atomos and the Koopa King atop it, an Abyssal Princess showed her face from Midway Island. From this distance her killer glare could not be seen, but she spoke into a microphone that sent her venomous voice rolling across the waters. “So you’ve come again, incautiously...fufufu, this...this is overconfidence. Explode...and sink!” At her command an entire armada of bombers, at least a hundred, took to the air like a flock of doves. The entire contingent spread out across the water, heading for Shippy.

Chao stood frozen by the sight, until a To-class hauled itself onto the deck. It charged her way, jolting both her and Nadia into action. She took a running jump for it and grabbed hold of its side, but found only sheer armor plating. It batted her away and opened fire on Chao, who blocked with her fan until the Abyssal ripped through with its arms. It ruthlessly clamped down on the shipgirl’s arms with both lateral jaws, and with its true head cut off her scream.

Despair reached for Nadia, and it took a lot of strength to fight it back. I couldn’t...I didn’t… But her jaw clenched, and her eyes burned. Why the hell was she blaming herself, when the monster was right there!? Before she knew what she was doing, Nadia slid in beneath the Abyssal’s jaws. She bent backward, detached her hands, allowing them to rip through the bastard’s throat in an x-slash, then went all the way with a sharp-clawed flip kick that sent its central head lolling. Still alive, it flailed in rage, but Nadia ensnared the beast in muscle fiber and leaped upward. At the peak of her jump the elastic snapped back, bringing her down on the central neck hard enough to snap it. Nadia rose to her feet, reeling, in a pile of ashes. As her chest heaved from the effort she bent down for her hands, one of which she found to be holding Chao’s spirit. Poor girl--the feral hadn’t even gotten to know her. But her death had been avenged.

Still, her despair had not gone away, and in fact only deepened as the Atomos zoomed off. The Blue Team couldn’t fight this. If any of the remaining shooters like Hat Kid refocused on the bombers, Shippy would get wrecked that much faster, but if the bombers reached the ship, there would be nothing left to save. And if Shippy somehow survived the battle, there remained the consequences of killing friendlies. Briney was right. Seeing all this, Nadia felt like she finally understood why conventional ships had been retired. Even with gimmicks and heavy armaments, there was no competition. The living vessel couldn’t even retreat with how fast these monsters moved. Shippy was lost, and it was time to switch gears.

With a final look of pity at Brineybeard she ran to the railing again. She could swim pretty well for a cat, but if she took a dive into these infested waters, she was doomed. Her airdash relied on blood pressure, so it only worked in bursts. The Atomos flew nearby, but Nadia didn’t know if she could reach it with an airdash plus fiber swing. A hand clapped on her shoulder and she met Peach’s eyes. The princess looked about as overwhelmed as Nadia felt, but angry, too. “It’s over! We already lost that shipgirl. We have to bail!” the feral cried.

Peach shook her head, yelling, “We can’t just yet! The guys are down below, and there’s nowhere to go!” Another Tsu-class leaped aboard, and in no mood for more monsters Peach flung a Grenaduck at it. The bright yellow bomb bounced off the monster’s metal skull, and the next second Peach let loose a Boomshot blast that blew the grenade and the Abyssal to smithereens. Its ash sailed overboard, but its spirit floated down onto the deck. Remembering the last time her team saw desperate times, she snatched it up.

Nadia recalled Sephiroth’s fusion, and her eyebrows went up. She pulled out Chao’s legacy. “The spirits! We can fuse with them to get away!”

Unfortunately, the problem that faced Rika, Bella, and Ranger lay fresh on Peach’s mind. “Not with Abyssals! We could get shot by our own teammates!”

She was right, but Nadia thrust the spirit at her anyway. “Well, you take this one! We just need to get some more!”

Peach looked out over the bay seeing all the smoke on the water. As awful as it had been so far, their own struggle represented only a part of the battle, and on the whole the Navy seemed to be winning. Having the Seekers and their vessels as distractions no doubt helped. Now that she looked, the Jackdaw had stopped way back, so far removed from the fight that the few Abyssals that tried to head its way got shot down before even getting close. Alongside it were the supply rafts, which received continuous donations by the Armor Division dutifully combing the waves for fallen spirits. “There!” Peach realized. “I’ll go over as fast as I can and grab enough spirits for everyone. You just need to hold out until then!”

A series of explosions shook Shippy, prompting a tremendous groan like falling timber. “That’s our best bet!” Nadia shouted. “Please hurry!” Peach jammed the spirit into her chest, leaped from the ship in a flurry of Abyssal fire, and transformed before she hit the water.





To either side of the wrought-iron monstrosity that provided the sole access point beyond the high stone wall, a pair of sniveling Gatekeepers crouched. Rather than attack or bring forth Sycophants, however, they stood firm with as much dignity as they could muster. One held out a clawed hand. “Good evening, fair madam!” he wheedled. “Your invitation, if you please?” Yet the guards, such as they were, proved unnecessary, for the gate itself swung open with a hideous creak when prompted by Sephiroth’s invitation.

From the moment she stepped inside, the atmosphere changed. The all-consuming gloom of a night far from civilization held only a partial sway here, and where its clutches ended, Bloodlight began. From afar it had appeared as if the mists surrounding the Courtyard had been stained red by unseen torches or bonfires, but on closer inspection it seemed as though the very fog itself bore a scarlet luster that provided a steady if unsettling source of light. And in that glow, Sephiroth could see a sobering sight. Before her stretched an immense, infested swampland. Its overgrown hedges and tumbled-down edifices suggested that at some point she might have gazed upon a lavish garden of extravagant size, the sort that might precede a manor of palatial proportions. Now it lay in a sorrowful, even disgusting state of decay. Mold and moss blanketed neglected furniture and ruined masonry alike, twisted tangles of roots and branches scarcely qualifiable as trees rose like primeval titans from the soupy green morass, and mosquitoes swarmed around blood-red lanterns that hung from ghastly, one-armed statues. Everywhere Sephiroth looked she saw rivulets of sticky blood across the ground, some leading back to clusters of bulbous, translucent cocoons, through the translucent walls of which she could make out the squirms of shifting, bulging organisms.

The buzz of conversation and peals of laughter drew her gaze a ways down the path, where Sephiroth could see a throng of partygoers amidst a tottering ruin. In the Bloodlight she could make out snippets of finery and prominent wigs along with unusually pointed noses. There was an intermittent clinking of glasses, and above the guests swarmed what could only be more mosquitoes. Yet that same Bloodlight provided an element of distortion that magnified the horrors it shed light upon, imparting a weak but needling unwellness.



A loathsome supplicant approached Sephiroth, apparently the attendant tasked with greeting new arrivals. Around the head of the diminutive man closed the jaws of an engorged, repugnant tick, which fixed the new arrival with beady eyes. Globules of blood dribbled from its mouth as it opened just wide enough for a tormented voice to issue from within. “My lady’s trip...has made her quite...unpresentable. Hurry to...lavatory…’fore the gentlefolk...see...” He seemed to smell something and took another step forward. “My lady...fresh. So...very fresh.” Wormlike tendrils slithered from his mouth. “They want it...fresh blood...come here...my lady!”

Overcome by thirst, he lunged for her.



With a little direction from Albedo and the furrows her sled had cut earlier, the Skullgirl retraced her tracks to Snowdin. Her westward trip gave her a good view of the setting sun as it cast its last radiant hurrah of the day over glittering snowfields and frost-laden pines. As the trees became silhouettes against the rosy glow it might seem to a fanciful mind as if they had already donned their nightcaps for the coming evening. If the alchemist hadn’t been on the verge of hypothermia he might have produced his sketchbook, but he shivered even when huddled by his own arms. “I really...must g-get warmer gear,” he muttered as he eyed the approaching town. “Over there!” A pointed finger led the way to a solid-looking brick building, with iron bars across the windows, a menu propped by the door, and a solitary bench out front that bore the imprints of use in its snowy coating.

Stiffly Albedo climbed off the sled and pushed inside, with a slight pause to kick excess snow off his boots. Though not quite as cozy as Grillby’s, Survive definitely sported its own style along with greater sophistication. Instead of bare walls it featured paintings, speakers, an entire shelf of records, and musical instruments. Magnets held lists, recipes, and reminders to the refrigerator. A piano dominated part of the room and a dark square device that neither of the entrants could claim familiarity with hung from the ceiling. All in all it felt more lived in, and though there wasn’t another customer in sight -or perhaps because of it- Albedo felt right at home.



“Welcome.” The bartender, a well-kept man with black hair streaked gray, glasses and a curved scar, watched the two come in. His keen eyes swept up every detail they could about his guests, both old and new. “You alright, kid? Need me to make something?”

Albedo shook his head as he seated himself at the bar. In the ambient warmth of the place he could let himself relax. “No, thank you. I managed to escape the worst of it, thanks to...my friend.”

After another look at Linkle, the man gave a slow nod. “Good to hear. If you need anything, let me know. I can make bouquets, medicines, and bentos. That said, even if there’s no real law around here, I won’t sell alcohol to minors. Alright?”

He stepped away to mind his own business, which offered the alchemist a chance to explain. “‘Bentos’ are a little like lunch boxes,” he clarified. “Mr. Kashiwagi was quite the cultured gentleman in his world. Yet Survive is often empty because he runs it more for fun than as a business. We’ve occasionally spoken of our worlds’ customs, and I have yet to quite wrap my head around his..” The manner in which he framed it obfuscated the likelihood that such things just didn’t interest him as much as research. After clearing his throat Albedo continued talking in an effort to stay active. “Ahem. That said, his mentions of ‘modern technology’ has stuck with me. For instance, that device keeps food and drink inside it cool for the sake of preservation.” He inclined his head at the refrigerator. “Where I come from, that would require Cryo slimes or something similar, but this uses electricity to change the matter state of a chemical, and that produces cold. And that thing up there--it uses electricity to activate a great many little lights in certain patterns to make moving pictures. Although my principal interest is the truth of the world, this is still fascinating, no?” He exhaled through his nose, the hint of a smile playing about his lips. “Ah, there I go again. Anyway, if you’d like something, I can cover the cost. It’s the least I can do to thank you for your help.”

All the while, a jazzy song played softly in the backdrop, emanating from the record player situated by the karaoke stand.

---

---

---

---

Sephiroth stared at her surroundings with a twinge of disgust, though from which of the two personalities that were floating around in her head such a feeling had come from she could not say. The light too, was wrong, and seemed to magnify a thousand crimson horrors that were better left unseen. Still she carried on, moving past the gate and deeper into the courtyard of the dilapidated estate, her hand wrapped around the hilt of her sword. Though the Sycophants did not attack her as they had before, she would not let her guard fall, especially not in a place as untrustworthy as this. Striding forward, the SOLDIER stopped only when she found herself confronted by one of the party's many supplicants, its head that of a tick and exceedingly laden with blood. It, unsurprisingly, greeted her with a sick simulacrum of politeness although she was not fooled. The messenger she'd killed upon arriving here had done much the same, after all, and look how he'd ended up.

Lying in slowly cooling pool of his own tainted blood.

Thus she was ready when the supplicant standing before her suddenly paused, its horribly twisted nose seeming to test the air around it, before launching to attack. Quickly stepping to the side, a feat that had become a bit more effective thanks to her growing familiarity with the natural limitations of this new body, she drew her sword to cleave the supplicant's bloated head in two. Blood sprayed while tendrils flew, flaying helplessly as they landed thanks to their lack of neural command. Not wanting to waste any time nor the element of surprise, Sephiroth began her assault with quite the bang...

Rushing forward, she charged up Gigaflare and let it fly forth to tear into the crowd.

@Lugubrious

As the newcomer began pulling out her weapons, Yoshitsune crouched, ready to use Kamui once the battle was to begin. Before they could fight, however, the samurai was interrupted by his allies saying it was not the time or place. He begrudgingly agreed and sheathed his blades.

Staying on guard, he stayed near the front of the group, not wanting to leave everyone behind like Midna had. Her trail was easy enough to follow that he allowed himself to get lost in thought about the abilities he’d seen from the rest of his companions.

He then began wondering what kinds of abilities had they not yet shown.

At one point, Skull had gotten trapped and, in a fit of horror, Panther revealed Skull’s real name to be Ryuji. Yoshitsune smiled softly. A strong name that fit the boy.

After a while, Yoshitsune lost track of how long, they started approaching a town. He saw a strange yet familiar contraption flying above the town, though had a hard time pinpointing where he’d seen it before. Most likely with my allies, he thought to himself.

He stayed on watch, barely listening as the bipedal fox, conveniently named Fox, spoke into some contraption that seemed to respond. Upon hearing there were people in the town, Yoshitsune revved his engines and rushed into the town, his swords drawn again. He leapt into the air, aiming to cut a leg off one of the metal monstrosities before him. With all his strength behind his blades, he slashed, if not cutting the leg off then making a rather noticeable weak point to focus on. He repeated his actions with the other leg of the same robot, leaving it either legless or with gashes on its legs that could be broken further until the legs did come off.

---

It seemed the tide of battle was never-ending as wave after wave of Abyssal were upon them, holding fast however Glenn grasping Masamune from hilt to pommel, and focusing on the swing of his blade. Using both hands made cleaving asunder ones foes an easier task, however to the unskilled swordsman it lacked defensive capabilities but for the amphibian his defenses were of little import.

Peach's call for help briefly took his attention from the enemy, but he was swift to dispatch the orb creatures with a wide swing of his blade which cleaved the monstrosities easily. "Thou needst mine assistance fair princess?" the swordsman was by her side in but a few moments, his free hand held before the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom "Ye said thy needst a boost." he felt her gloved hand slightly grip his all the while the moments passed before the next wave of enemies would board Shippy "A boost ye shalt receive." with that said he launched himself upwards, holding onto the princess's hand tightly.



However no amount of healing it seemed could save everyone, especially Chao Ho except now wasn't the time for mourning. Glenn fought harder to protect his friends and everyone else aboard Shippy but even he couldn't save everyone, it was simply how the world works.

---

While walking along with this new and odd group, the one who seemed to be at least a pseudo leader of the group, Joker seemed very interested in the job that she was hired to do. Unfortunately she almost didn’t want to repeat it because of how dumb it sounded to her but she sighed and divulged her information regardless. “Some weirdo called ‘Her Moojesty,’ the ‘Cowlipha,’ from some city called Al Mamoon. After I got taken from the facility I was locked away in I woke up in this place and that was the first place I stumbled upon. Apparently they were looking to hire a mercenary and, well, let’s just say I have a lot of experience as a hired hand. I’m used to having a specific target but apparently they’d been having troubles with that train track shutting down so I walked my way over to figure out what was wrong and probably kill whatever caused the issue in the first place.” Red had no qualms giving up information about her client. As a mercenary she didn’t have any loyalty to those who hired her, she just helped whatever group coincided with her best interests.

The odd looking creature that she had been sticking close to suddenly spoke up, offering… a picture of herself as payment? Looks like this one was a little bit more pretentious than she had originally assumed. Sounded like she was some kind of royalty. “Thanks but no thanks,” she replied flatly. “You just look similar to some things I know, oddly enough.” That annoying creature, the Queen Bee, was vaguely called to her memory. Her and her worker bees that spread like a plague. At least they were easy enough to fight.

While walking along the skull-masked boy, who was apparently nicknamed Skull ‘how original’ got trapped in some weird sap prison. Red didn’t participate in breaking him out just in case. She’s seen enough ‘natural’ traps from other Abnormalities to figure it’s best to avoid something like that until she saw that everything actually ended up perfectly fine. Perhaps this world actually was less dangerous then her own. At least she thought so until she watched the fur ball, apparently named Tora, eat one of the candy insects only for his arm to be turned into… food? If she had to guess it would probably spread to the rest of the body like some kind of poison and was very close to recommending amputation before they started recommending that they should try and heal the poor creature. ‘Ugh fine,’ she thought to herself before rushing past the situation like a couple of the others did. If they were finally gonna have some fun in a fight she was not about to be left behind so easily.

Soon they found themselves facing a town. Robots guarding a cage, even more candy houses, and some… honestly she didn’t even know how to really describe what Midna looked like but it was definitely some odd creature she’d never seen trying to help some caged fairy. At least she’s seen fairies before to know what those were. After Midna freed the poor fairy from her confines the two vanished somewhere else and it wasn’t long before the distracted jailors realized their prisoner was gone and started rampaging. The samurai rushed in right away and started slicing at one of their legs. Thankfully for Red this gave her plenty of opportunity to pull out that gun of hers and put two bullets into the slowed down and possibly immobilized robot in an attempt to finish it off. “Nice work, Samurai!” She complimented the man as she fired. She had a respect for others who could wield a blade well. No one could see it under her mask but she was smiling at a chance to fight again. She lived for that thrill, however short lived it could be.

”GET DOWN HERE AND FIGHT ME LIKE A KOOPA YOU BIRD BRAINED COWARD!” Bowser roared up at the bird that was doing its best to avoid one vs oneing him while dodging everything he could throw at it, while down below jr muttered ”come on come on come on!” to himself as he wrestled with the controls of the bulky overburdened ship as he tried and failed to aim his dad square at the incoming big bird. While both king and prince had thought their charge would allow them to cease the moment, it turned out that, in most cases, it was the army that stood fast that had the advantage rather than the one that charged in, the Koopa’s collective bravado breaking the not particularly solid defensive line they pair of ships had had.

They were bailed out of their foolishness by Bella and her mighty tail cannon, the shot blasting away and forcing the bird to dodge right into the path of the Atomos charge.

”GOTCA!” father and son cheered in sync, as the prince jerked the controls to bring the king into a collision course with the bird, while the king himself had his shoulder beaks scream in supersonic crescendo at the bird as claws and tentacles lashed out to snatch, strangle and capture the titanic avian in his grasp, ensnaring
it so that Geralt could do his thing.

Meanwhile, on the minion front, the mooks of the troop (with help from a certain hatted kid) had done fine work clearing out the biggest threats to the airship, but unfortunately their watership was still in trouble. While most of the remaining fire support had been dragged onward with the king’s reckless charge, and the Strikers having all been spent on clearing the ship itself, only a quadrant of fliers remained to be sent to its aid.

Kamek, having been told that the ship was being healed as part of a hurried bark of a response from Jr about what was going on, had realized he could put his own supportive magic to work to aid the living vessel in a way he could not affect their own.

As the people onboard scrambled for a way off of the seemingly doomed ship the green mage clone flew in and raised their wand. A pulse of green energy flared from their wand, causing a similarly hued wave of power to cover the ship, hardening her hull. If left alone it would cast another, giving her a boot to her speed and then a final buff which would increase the power of her attacks. The individual buffs were not particularly impressive, 25% increases at best, but they were something that might buy the ship a few more moments.

The three reds, unable to draw on the mage’s mana pool as Kamek focused his power on keeping his King big and strong so he could wrestle the meg bird, were limited to just fireballs and their iconic three shape magic blasts. No Fire Materia, rabbit spells or dark clones in sight. Instead of trying to take down the entire bomber swarm with their limited power, they were instead directed to swoop down along the path annihilated by Shippy’s super lazer, snatching a trio of spirits that had yet to sink beyond the surface as they went. Then they soared on to the beleaguered ship and pressed those spirits into what Kamek judged to be her ‘chest’



Things suddenly got a lot more cramped on and in the ship as she shrank rapidly, causing a brief moment of chaotic crossfire incidents among the Abyssals as shots aimed at parts of the ship no longer there flew through the empty space left behind and into the ranks attacking from the opposite side.

For those onboard, they were fortunately not dunked in the water, the shrinking hull carrying them with it as they did, but the close quarters fighting did suddenly get a lot closer as friend and foe was pulled together by the contraction of their environment. If anyone did take a tumble regardless, the red mages swooped in to aid, but for the most part they turned their attention to the ship’s attackers, swooping to and fro and pelting them with their basic spells, hoping to reduce the heat on the ship enough that she’d survive long enough that she would be able to figure out how to use her new powers to survive/destroy the incoming bomber swarm.

With a final tug, Midna pulled the fairy free from her cage and then together they snuck away, the bots fortunately not noticing the chain rattling or the soft sound of their captive’s insect wings as they carried her to safety. Despite the minor unexpected issue of the butt stuck incident things had gone excellently, Midna congratulated herself as they disappeared from sight behind a building. Sadly, that's the exact moment when things went wrong, because the overjoyed fay grabbed the princess and pulled her into an impressively tight bearhug, the lady apparently packing a fair bit more muscle than her appearances suggested.

The hug was awkward and unwanted physical intimacy for Midna, the princess leaning her head back and making zero effort to return the gesture, but the real problem was that she wasn’t exactly quiet with her thank yous, nor her immediate turn to hunt for food. In this she didn't have to go far as she broke into and started eating the contents of a house. Midna could emphasize, sourcing her own food had not been part of princess training either and the first few days of her banishment had been rough till she was able to just get Link to do it for her. That didn't make her any less furious when the fairy gave the game away

”Goddesses. I could just, gahhhhh,” the princess said in a quiet rage, throwing hands up in frustration as the robots reacted the fairy’s shouts and started to move again. She snuck through a shadow to look back into the courtyard and confirmed that yes, they were on the march, though oddly not towards her, but instead to random buildings. Which they started demolishing. The fact that the bots didn't have directional hearing and thus weren't coming right at them wasn’t much of a comfort when she knew they were going to cause a great deal of collateral damage

”There are people trapped in some of those houses! If anyone dies, it’s your fault” she told the fairy in a harsh whisper, despite the fact that they’d have started doing that as a result of Midna’s oh so clever plan sooner or later regardless, before moving to do something about the situation.

---

A teapot smashed into the head of one of the robots as it smashed one of the buildings, thrown by a short winged woman wearing a long red hat.

”Hey you! Rusted nails for brains! Looking for someone?!” Midna yelled at the two titans from an alley leading out of town that was surrounded by buildings she knew were empty. While it would have been cathartic to use the fairy as bait after she foolishly gave the game away, instead she was doing something equally foolish.

Wearing a red tablecloth in a facsimile of the fairies had and with her Vibrava holding onto her back to make it look like she had wings wings, she was hoping the bots where dumb enough that they might not notice the blatant differences. Or they’d just come after her anyway for attacking them via fine china.

Then again, it wasn't like they had other things to worry about. While she’d been rapidly throwing her new plan together some of the others had arrived and brazenly charged in to take the towering machines head on. Considering two humans had gone after them using mundane blades and a handgun, either she’d overestimated the threat of the robots presented or they were grossly underestimating it, Midna thought (being unaware that Necronomicon had been able to detect the trapped people without even seeing them and that they as a result knew there was no other choice but to rush in to intervene before one got hurt or worse).

Either way, it wouldn't do to let them face the titans alone (either to save face or to stop them from being pulped) so she summoned her shadow hand (her mediocre impromptu hat based disguise being tossed off in the process, revealing the quarter of fused shadow that had been poorly hidden beneath it) and then shot it through the door of the building to her right where she’d gotten the teapot form. Instead of more crockery, it instead emerged hauling an entire chest of drawers, before hurling the piece of furniture at the same one she’d chucked the teapot at as a much larger blunt instrument/distraction/attention getter.

A pit of horror and dread began to build in Sakura's heart as she watched the living ship be devoured from the inside out. No matter how many fireballs she threw, more kept coming. At this point, some dissonance between her own spirit and Araisho's made itself apparent. Sakura, by herself, would certainly have had a full on panic right now. Or have jumped down into the fray and began wildly punching. But made more composed by Araisho's power, she managed to keep herself under control.

(It makes no sense for me to jump down there. I was assigned with the Atomos. I'm one of the four ship girls onboard. If something were to happen to the Atomos, they'd need my help. Once the Atomos pushes up the river, they'll need my help. I can't be everywhere at once. This is a huge battle, and I have friends everywhere. What if I jump down there and then the Atomos crashes? No. The plan was to split forces evenly among both vessels- and that's what we're doing.)

Sakura exhaled. There. Fine! The rationality didn't help with her feelings, though. This war was even worse than she thought it would be. She knew it would be bad, but there was just so much happening. At the very least she had tried to mentally prepare herself for witnessing...death.

She hadn't joined in on the navy's enthusiasm. But being nervous all the time wasn't doing much good for her spirit or resolve. She used to be so much more confident about this being a hero thing. Now, though? That facade of confidence was pretty much shattered. It didn't do anyone much good for her to be lying to them and herself, anyway. She'd never been very good at concealing her real feelings, as much as she wanted to put on a brave face.

These thoughts passed through her mind in the space between fireballs. Even now, fighting helped her think. But even this would be interrupted as the action came more directly to her.

Sakura blinked in surprise as a small child deftly navigated from Shippy onto the Atomos.

(That kid, with the hat! What was her name again?)

The Atomos zoomed forward. She braced her legs, maintaing balance. Sakura whirled around. She knew what this meant- they were going toward the big bird. It was a good move? Certainly an offensive one, and she could respect that! It was also more fortunate than she realised. With her attention drawn fully to her own situation, she was made unaware of the dire situation facing Shippy and her crew. Bizarre transformation included. She was also barely even aware of some things, like where Hat Kid, Rika, and Ranger were. She just assumed they were somewhere on the ship, catching glimpses of them or what they were doing out of the corner of her eye. It was just so much! Even her fight with Bella was relatively contained.

It was Bella, though, who saved the day. She even sacrificed her hat to do it. Without her the bird definitely would have dodged their charge. Sakura found herself shrinking away from the Water Princess though. She was reminded of the woman she and Ranger faced down.

"Woah..." Sakura said, eyes wide. There was both awe and intimidation on her face of Bella's pure destructive power and intensity. Sakura knew first hand that she was not someone to be taken lightly.

That was all she could say, though, as now they were on a collision course with a giant bird. Hopefully it didn't rock the ship too much. Just in case, Sakura hopped up onto the roof and grabbed Bella by the shoulder and arm, keeping her steady.

(Wow that bird is really big.)

Sakura briefly glanced around as she heard- no, felt- a massive laser be fired. She didn't get much of a good look, but she saw the light come from Shippy and saw it rip into the distant islands.

"Was that good!?" She shouted to no one in particular.

And now a giant Bowser, screaming in mad glee, was preparing to battle a boss monster. Geralt was also preparing to board it. It was awesome, in the true definition of the word. This was one hundred times the spectacle of her fight against the Water Princess. This even surpassed what little she saw of Ryu fighting Seth. This was a battle- not a duel, or 1v2. A battle of multi-versal proportions. It was...it was..!

"This is crazy!" She shouted, the edges of her voice shrill. She held on tighter to Bella, now for her own support rather than helping her friend.

Just like before, she managed to set her feelings aside. Geralt and Bowser could use her help. If they failed, the Atomos and everyone on it were in serious trouble. Lives were on the line. Keep being brave!

Sakura charged forward. "Here I come!" She announced to her teammates. She leapt into the air and brought her fists down in a hammer blow onto the bird's body. She dropped down with gravity until she was at the bird's side. Combos and technique weren't necessary. Instead Sakura took a stance and just alternated strikes. Left elbow, right punch. She leaned into the strikes, her entire body sliding back from the impact of her own blows. She had to walk forward to stop from pushing herself out of range. She worked a relatively small area of its massive body, but her strikes still held a lot of impact.

If Geralt and Bowser did lots of damage, Sakura would take out a Friend Heart and push it into the bird. Maybe then it would fly away and leave them alone. She did learn from her fight with Karin that there were no negative consequences to attempting to Friend Heart someone or something. If she failed, she wouldn't lose any of her familiarity with the world around her.

When it came to closing the distance between the heroes and the guardian machines, Yoshitsune with his wheels proved far speedier than Tora. Leaving the party’s tank in his sugar dust, the swordsman sped toward one of the enemies, jumped, and struck it with his sword. In doing so he overestimated both his physical strength and the ability of a historical katana to cut through solid, factory-processed metal armor. The blade slightly dented and bounced off the outer surface of the Goliath’s leg with enough force to seriously jar Yoshitsune’s hand, and despite his plans to continue his onslaught, the machine behaved as if it didn’t feel a thing. Instead it joints creaked angrily, and it turned away from the caved-in roof of one of the Parnasse houses to backhand him with the ruthless power of its slide-rail arm.

On Yoshitsune’s heels came Red, eager for a scrap despite having just joined the heroes and also faster on her feet than Tora. “Hold on, let Tora get in front to protect!” he protested, but the mercenary did not hesitate to attack. She went for the same machine that Yoshitsune targeted, and though her pistol was old-fashioned, it fared a lot better than the samurai’s weapon had. Her bullets punched through its shell without too much difficulty and fragmented among the mechanisms inside, dealing real but localized damage given the goliath’s size. It raised its arm with a chorus of clanking to let Red know how it felt about that.

Panting, Tora arrived. “Poppi, switch QT!” he called, and his companion dutifully changed to her second form. The Mech Arms materialized on Tora’s wings, and he slid in to take the hit. A tremendous CLANG rang out as the goliath’s fist struck his defense. Its strength pushed him back a few feet and bumped him into Poppi, but it did not break his guard. “Hah! Tora foresee no problem!” So saying, he jogged forward again. Poppi channeled power into the Mech Arms as he punched the machine’s legs, his weapons’ wide, blunt edges leaving craters in the metal shell. Almost as if it were surprised, the machine took a half-step back and readied its limbs to pound Tora once again.

With the Nopon occupying its full attention, the others could take their time attacking. Knowing his knife would be useless against the machine’s armor unless he could cut a critical wire or something, Joker happily kept his distance. Red’s gunshots told him that his own pistol would be effective, but unlike her the Phantom Thief aimed for the head. His modern firearm sounded out a quick, polished beat as eight shots plugged the Goliath’s little head, but even then the machine didn’t go down. “No weak spot…?”

Necronomicon, hovering above the fight, called out to those below. “It has those heads all over its body! Almost like a lot of smaller machines put together. No main processing center!”

But Joker’s eyes lay on its knees, rather than its heads. Maybe Yoshitsune saw the same thing, he reflected, and put his all into a reckless attack to take advantage--for all of the machine’s weight lay on those two hinged joints. “Target its knees with blunt force!” Joker called. He motioned his friends toward the remaining enemy. “You guys take that one. Cover Skull while he gets close!” Arsene appeared behind him, and he moved in.

Meanwhile, the other machine had been making a mess. After getting beaned by a teapot it went after Midna with a vengeance, and rather than bothering to go through the alley it went through the neighboring building instead. Its enormous fists bulldozed through the walls of the candy house, shattering the edible furniture within as it waded through the destruction. Exercising no discretion, it even smashed through the amber crystals inside, and inadvertently freed both a boy and a chocolate tiger trapped within.

Its rampage came to an abrupt end when an entire slab of chocolate, molded into a fine piece of furniture, hammered it in the chest. The weight of the drawers just about knocked it down, but before it could falter the rocket on its back burst with flame, giving the goliath enough height to regain its composure. It faced Midna, killing intent glaring from its eyes, but moment later the Phantom Thieves arrived, sprinting in over the creme brulee their enemy inadvertently made to strike it in the back.

Panther pelted it with flame while Skull summoned Captain Kidd to ram his ship into its knees. As staggered for the second time, fighting to stay upright, the blonde had an idea. Her whip flashed forward to wrap around the machine’s legs, and with both her enhanced strength and a little help from Skull she gave a mighty tug. The legs crumpled together, and the goliath rocked perilously, but again the engine on its back flared to life. This time it belched forth a fusillade of purple orbs, just like those fired by the fliers earlier. Skull and Panther suddenly found their tug-of-war interrupted by a rainstorm of pain. As they cried out Mona sprinted up, scimitar at the ready. “Zorro, Diorama!” At his command the masked swordsman manifested and began to heal his friends, but Mona knew they didn’t need to be suffering this. “Hey, we’ve bound this one! Someone help us out!”



Even as she administered a skillful slash, Sephiroth’s abundant ego couldn’t fathom the idea that the reprehensible bloodsucker before her possessed any measure of strength. Yet even as the Masamune bit deeply into the swollen insect body in a spray of ruby-red blood, the Supplicant did not perish. It gurgled in a loathsome manner and fell away to gush into the thirsty marsh soil, and believing it to be dead Sephiroth did not spare it another moment.

Ahead, the ladies and gentleman gathered among the ruins tittered with laughter. Sephiroth’s assailant evidently had no friends among them, being a creature so far removed from the noble class that the elite looked upon its visceral injury as no more than a entertaining diversion. Certainly none intended to do anything about it, but as Sephiroth took off down the hundreds and hundreds of feet that central garden lane spanned, a great many eyes turned her way. Had she remained inconspicuous the guests of the Courtyard might not have noticed how she stuck out, but as magic gathered in her hand none could fail to observe the stranger who was certainly not one of them.

Even so, Sephiroth might have reached the esteemed nobles if the crowd didn’t part to make way for a distinguished gentleman of hideous mutation. With the hindquarters of a bloated louse and a suitably large hairpiece, he carried the air of a monster in charge, and his dark eyes glittered with rage at the site of the unwelcome intruder. In the nick of time he recognized the spell building up in her palm to be one of great power, clacked his teeth in annoyance, and extended his fleshy scythes. His arms metamorphosed in nightmarish fashion as they lunged across the remaining distance, clashing with the Gigaflare a moment after it left Sephiroth’s clutches and detonating it early. The Courtyard shook from the thunder of the explosion, and its colors eclipsed the Bloodlight of the fog. As the noise trailed away and the blacked ends of his arms retracted the Baron’s bellow of pain trailed off into a grumble, but by the time his arms reached a more or less normal size he held them up like a showman. “Ladies and gentlemen!” he announced. “I present to you...tonight’s entertainment! There’s only one rule to this game: drain this feisty lass dry!”

Like a swarm on the move, the partygoers fanned out and began to approach. There were a lot of them, at least fifty. Sephiroth observed three varieties: esquires, courtesans, and the monstrous chevaliers. From behind and to the sides, emerging from the murky branching pathways, came sycophants, supplicants, and manservants. And here and there, shunned by the partygoers, were bloodsuckers still more vile.

"Wha-" the boy said before falling unceremoniously on his rear with a pout on his face "Etna? Flonne? Where in the hell am I?" complaining quite loudly the boy groaned "Ugh this is unacceptable, is this a prank? Etna?" yet his calls were met with confusion if anyone had overheard his whining and complaining, probably some rolling of eyes as was customarily the normal reaction people had when Laharl Krichevskoy was acting like a spoiled brat.

Eventually reality kicked him in the groin and he realized he wasn't where he remembered he had been, and quite possibly he wasn't even in his own dimension. It was a horrifying thought as usually his kind couldn't survive being outside of the Netherworld, except for some strange reason the air wasn't suffocating to him nor did he feel any pain, other than his pride as well as his posterior from falling on his butt.

His self-absorption was interrupted by the shout of someone asking for help, which definitely meant either the demons of this Netherworld were weaklings or he'd found himself some new servants to answer his commands. Laharl stood from the wreckage briefly glancing around at the chaos happening around him with a mad grin on his face lit by the roaring fires around him "Uhahahahaha!" Laharl laughed evilly at the top of his lungs, he hoped these people had been too busy to hear his bellyaching earlier enough to be enamoured with how evil he was, he struck his badass armroll pose then jumped out of the wreckage of the building he was freed in.

He was going to make a spectacle of this robots defeat, and show these strange individuals he was obviously stronger than they were because the giant robot would have already been defeated if they were. It was interesting because he only knew that the human's of earth specifically had a robot to fight the demons of the Netherworld, he thought that at least. But that wasn't important, what was important is how spectacularly screwed this robot was.

"Hahaha," he cackled, Laharl was sprinting towards the other fighters and leapt into the air with his scarf flapping behind him and as he began to fall through the air towards the robot he poised himself with a raised fist and a cocky grin on his face "Here I come." he descended upon the robot and landed his punch directly on it's chest, the impact severely damaging it's chest cavity.

---

---

The damage was about as bad as Link had expected, but The Cadet was fortunately already making headway. The most apparent threat in the room already had three of those great arrows poking out of it, and so Cadet had its undivided attention. Other Monsters, the blackfish he had spotted earlier, struggled to chomp and wriggle their way through as the wood of the ship in a constant battle against Blazermate's healing. Link watched as one got overzealous, tried to force its way in through a hole not quite big enough for it, and got stuck halfway as the wood reformed around it. It screamed, fired of it's guns randomly, then was reduced to ash and a spirit as its white body was crushed.

For every one like that, though, there was another one that got through and plopped like a dead fish into the knee deep waters of the hold. He could make out the shape of them in the brackish, constantly shifting water, and their heads would rise up out of it to take potshots in any direction. No matter where they shot they'd hit their enemy, after all.

Link gripped his new weapon as he crouched at the top of the stairs, getting a good feel for the heft. The other thing, the metal plate, had an odd adherent property he had noticed almost as soon as it had manifested. He'd found it had stuck to his glove, almost like a shield would, and with a little effort he had pried it off and stuck it onto his back as a little extra body armor. With those he had the makings of a plan of attack, and it only highlighted how woefully underequipped he was. If he'd had his way he would have just helped Cadet get back up on deck then chucked three or four lightning weapons down here and called it a victory. As it stood he was going to have to face the swarm head on.

If you were going to fight something head on, you had to make the first strike count. He spotted what looked like a good cluster of the black shadows under the water, bubbles rising to the surface every time he saw the flash of one of their guns going off. Taking a deep breath Link jumped off the steps into the middle of them, spinning forward in the air and bringing the full weight of the axe slamming down into their midst.

He felt one get crunched under it, the familiar feeling of his weapon biting into armor and flesh instead of wood radiating up his arms, but more important than that was the impact. Water exploded upward like a geyser from the force of the blow, sending three of the blackfish and what looked like a group of smell childlike monsters flopping into the air with it. As they did the axe disappeared from his hands, replaced by the good old sword and shield. He drew back, a sheen of light running all the way up the Soldier's Broad Sword until it reached the tip. With a mighty "HYAAAAAAAA!" Link spun. The sword just chopped through the imps and left nasty gashes on the blackfish as they were sent flying back into the water.

Without missing a beat Link brought his shield up at the end of his spin, crouched, and braced himself. He didn't have to wait long before he felt the shuttering power of the blackfishes counterattack, their guns lightning up as they each in turn turned their attention to him and fired. He had anticipated that he'd get their attention with a move like that, and more importantly draw off that attention so Cadet could handle his prey relatively unmolested.

He waited for the shots to stop like he knew they would. After all, he had been watching them all day. They didn't shoot forever. The last impact sounded and he moved forward deeper into the hold, scooping up the imp spirit floating on the water with his shield arm and crushing it before storing the result without even looking at it. Some of them came to meet him, a pod of four that didn't bother reloading and came for him with their jaws gnashing. They broke off, spreading around him like a pack of wolves before charging in, but it didn't matter. He stopped, reared back, and spun again. The sword cut through the water as it scooped the attackers up and scattered them. He set his shield again and the firing line opened up once more, battering it further but he held his ground. He worried about its integrity, but he just had to hope that he and Cadet could sweep the creatures and crush the majority between them before it broke.

Suddenly he felt an impact on his back, an explosion that almost threw off his arm if not for the metal plate he had affixed there. Had the one coming at him from behind survived his spin attack? No, that wasn't it. As the thunder of the abyssal assault died down again he could hear...buzzing? Like wasps. He felt something else dive into his shoulder, the impact absorbed, but as he looked up he saw what was attacking him. More little flying machines buzzed around the inside of the ship. Had they come in from above. No, that splashing. He cast his eyes downward just in time to see another little green plane burst out of the water. The blackfish had that ability as well?

He dove forward toward another group of lurking shadow as more of the little planes dived at him, the propellers of one trimming a little hair from the top of his head as it did so. They were like wasps, running after him and peppering his fleeing form with their own small machinegun fire. As he charged up his next spin he saw the shadows pin around and begin to retreat out of his range. The planes also broke off pursuit, content to circle above him like vultures. They'd learned, but the ship was enclosed. If they were going to run he would just herd them into an area where they couldn't. Besides, a few weren't fast enough. He spun again, striking the two that hadn't been able to get away, but then did something they abyssals hadn't expected. He jumped, letting the spin carry him up into the air and slicing into the swarm of planes. Green parts were scattered as the biplanes were caught in the tornado of steel and landed about him in the water as he came down and set to readying his shield again.

His pattern was interrupted as suddenly the entire hull was engulfed in a blue light, what looked like electricity sparking off the walls but surprisingly not frying everything in the hold. Even the abyssals were forced into a state of caution by the odd phenomenon. Then all attention was drawn to the front of the ship as a pink light began to build up. Link could see the outline of teeth, then the battlefield itself as the ships mouth opened and Shippy put everything it had into one attack. The entire hold shook, nearly throwing him off balance, but as the light faded there was a moment a peace as each side found their bearing again.

That was when the situation went from bad to untenable. The abyssal attack intensified, perhaps by a desperate fear of what the ship had just done, but from Link's perspective what was once a losing battle against an ever intensifying leak turned into a hopeless flood. Explosions' rocked Shippy, tearing more holes and letting more of the wriggling blackfish in. He felt several more shots hit him in the back and was immensely grateful for that plate. Another took the opportunity to swim up and latch onto his knee with its jaws, but for some reason the pants seemed to hold off its jaws before it broke through. More shots came from the front, which he took on his shield and skidded back through the water as a result. He took his sword and ran the one of his knee through, dusting it just in time to hear the bussing of planes fill the hold again.

"This isn't going to work." He called over to the Cadet, stepping back and cutting through another plane before dodging to the side as another pod of imps that gotten inside jumped at him. "Do you have anything else in your bag of tricks?"

Regardless of any idea the Cadet might have they were faced with a new problem soon. Without warning a new light overtook the hold, a familiar light. Link had seen it just last night, when that Sephiroth character had fused with one of the Cia's. That's when things suddenly got a lot more cramped and a whole lot more wet as the walls closed in around them. The water rose sharply, what was thigh deep in a ship the size of Shippy filling the hold at Shippy's new size. He took a deep breath as the water went over his head, feeling the salty sting of the water in his eyes but he had to keep them open because he had to find what was shoving that gun barrel into his chest. Link felt himself bordered on all sides with abyssals, now fully in their element luckily just as bewildered by what had just happened as he was. Unfortunately not for long as one turned and sank its teeth into his chest. Another followed its lead, grabbing him by the upper arm, and another plunged its teeth into his neck as he tried to pry that one off. Another just shot him in the gut, and he desperately pulled his hand to his mouth in a futile attempt to keep the wind from being knocked out of him. Bubbles sputted through the gaps in his fingers as a plane spun into his face, it's tiny propeller working at his cheek and fingers. Blood began to fill the water as the armored plate on Links back crumbled, seeping out from in between the sea monsters teeth as they began to enter the throes of a feeding frenzy.

Then, suddenly as it started, the Abyssals of the hold were pulled off him. They slammed into the sides of the ship as darkness swept over them, the waves traveling one after another through the now cramped hold leaving no room for escape. Link's eyes focused through blood blooming out into the water to see the blurry form of Cia floating there in front of him, treading water as best she could in that outfit.

Had he...? No, it didn't matter right now. He had to find Cadet and get out of here before he drowned. Link wasn't the best underwater but he wouldn't leave him to the mercy of the abyssals that had lived. They had to get out of here, they all had to get out of here. He wouldn't accept anything else. His chest felt like it was on fire as he looked around. At this rate he wouldn't even find the stairs back to the deck.

A hand on his shoulder stopped his frantic searching. He looked up to see Cia again, close enough now to see what he considered uncharacteristic concern on her face. It was so arresting that he didn't spot the shining thing she held in her hand before she had forced it into his chest. One of the spirits floating around with them in here?

The sorceress faded away into the darkness as the changes began to take hold.

Glenn couldn't hold the line any longer as the last explosion shook the sinking ship, it was bad enough that Shippy decreased in size and forced the swordsman to adopt a defensive stance but now the deck was swarming with the tiny Abyssal's. His only options were slim and he worried about both Link and Ace Cadet as they had been below decks when the explosion occurred. 'Nay will I abandon mine allies, tis I whom must aid them.' he decided, forcing his way down the stairs, striking a few abyssals down as he disappeared into the ships bowels.

"Link! Ace! Where arte thou?" he called standing atop the lower part of the stairs yet no answer came. Quickly he unstrapped the broken shield and threw it aside while sheathing Masamune to his side, and finally taking a deep breath the amphibian dove into the murky water below. His vision adjusted momentarily as he swam downwards fast with the help of his powerful legs, he would only be able to hold his breath for so long though. It took him several seconds, nearly a minute before he spotted the shape of something in the water.

'Tis not thy time yet.' he thought swimming desperately towards the shape of a humanoid, getting closer and closer he recognized the blue cloth of the young hero who'd saved his life and he grabbed him as he reached the him without realizing what was happening to the poor boy. Glenn was running low on oxygen as he swam upwards desperately trying to reach the stairs, slowly he rose higher and higher towards it yet his vision began to grow dark.

Geralt clenched his jaw as Junior took the ship closer to the giant bird, inadvertently breaking the two-ship defensive line they'd created and turning Shippy into the only real viable target for the Abyssals. It wasn't exactly what he'd planned for them to do, but they were going off his plan, and there was no going back now.

As their prey came closer and closer, it became more apparent that the plan wouldn't work. They'd thrown the entire attack into disarray, abandoned Shippy, and possibly even gotten everybody aboard the living vessel killed, for a plan that wasn't going to work thanks to the massive bird's maneuverability and speed. Geralt's eyes narrowed in frustration, then widened in fear as a massive explosion sounded. Whatever it was, Geralt couldn't quite see, but it spooked their target enough that it changed course, directly into Bowser's claws. Smirking, he stood up on the Koopa King's shoulder and charged onto the nearest part of the Helmaroc King that he could see, gripping on tightly.

Drawing his hunting knife from its sheath, he plunged it into the monster, pulling himself up towards the back side of his neck with his free hand before removing the blade. All of his focus went into climbing, save for the effort required to give one request to whoever could hear. The cynical part of him worried it'd be his last. The Witcher in him said he could prevent that, and the poet told him it was the height of irony.

"GO HELP THE OTHERS!" he yelled, confident that even if he couldn't fell the giant bird, it wouldn't stand for having a pissed-off Witcher tearing its back to pieces with a silver sword (that is, if he even made it that far) and abandon its attack.

His 'command' given, Geralt resumed his climb, carefully and slowly pulling himself up its body towards his target- the nape of its neck. Blade in, lift, grab with free hand, lift, rinse and repeat. He barely even registered the brilliant flash of life that was Shippy's attack, nor the resulting Princess's announcement and Chao Ho's death. His focus was singular, his goal the only thing his mind registered: don't fall, get to the nape.

Only time would tell if it would be enough.

Shippy's hold was a mess of water, wreckage, and ugly abyssals. To say the area was turbulent was an understatement, as the body of the ship herself fluctuated between steadily repairing itself and being ripped away by dark metal mouths. The Cadet could feel the vessel lurch with each painful blow. The situation was dire, and the hunter did not waste time. As soon as his initial attack connected and the arrows found their mark in the largest of the abyssals, he was nocking a couple more. Some of the enemies turned on him, eager to take a bite, and it was only the fact that most inside were still occupied with tearing Shippy apart that the hunter wasn't immediately overrun. Imps turned their guns on him, and the Destroyers sped through the shallow water with their teeth bared. For now the Cruiser moaned and reached towards it’s back to try and grasp the arrows sticking out of it, awkwardly shifting and failing. The Destroyers’ bodies were easy to dodge, their movement simple and single-minded in the interior space, but their shots were another matter. They were reckless and wild. This was the first time the Cadet had been shot - with modern bullets, at least - and while some rounds grazed him, others dented his armor and others managed to penetrate. It hurt, a ragged burning pain radiating from each little wound.

Both Cadet and the abyssals were momentarily surprised by Link's appearance, but none were idle for long. As soon as the Hylian finished his flashy spin, the Ace Cadet met his eyes and gave him a quick, sharp nod before moving. The Hero of the Wilds would handle the smaller abyssals, and the hunter would finish off the Cruiser. Cadet raised his bow and shot at the monster. Having given up on extracting the arrows from it’s body, the Cruiser turned hard and destroyed the projectiles mid-air with the broad side of one of it’s faces. Then it surged forward, hands stretched out towards the Cadet and the guns on it’s head beginning to charge. Crap. Rather than try to trade arrows for bullets, the Cadet moved forward to meet the Cruiser. He got in close and ducked, the shots going over his head. This kind of close quarters combat wasn’t ideal for his current weapon choice - he tried to step back, bring an arrow to the drawstring again, but the Cruiser caught one of his arms in it’s own. It yanked the hunter back towards it, the jaws of it’s multiple mouths opening wide.

”Oh no you don’t! The Cadet growled at it. With his free hand he brought up the arrow he’d been trying to nock and shoved it inside the closest mouth. It reared back in pain, dark tongue trying to push the arrow out, but it was firmly stuck. The Cadet wrenched himself free of it’s grasp and pulled a few more arrows from his quiver. The Cruiser’s guns were lighting up again, trained on the hunter. A wild idea came to the Cadet and he followed through on it without so much as a second thought, firing the giant arrows straight into the Cruiser’s gun barrels. Blocked, the guns exploded, blowing the Cruiser up in a shower of fire and ash. The Cadet himself was thrown back from the explosion. Hitting the wall of the hold hard, he let out a puff of pained breath.

Shippy continued to shake and rock, and a particularly loud sound permeated inside the hold just before the hull opened up and fired some kind of energy out before closing again. It was followed by shouting and screaming from outside. Whatever just happened, it stirred the enemies into a frenzy. With renewed vigor the abyssals outside began chewing their way in.

The Cadet heard Link say their current plan of just fighting for their lives wasn’t cutting it. He didn’t try to look over at Link, instead he shouted back over the chaos, ”A couple things!”

He swayed to his feet, kicking at an imp that got too close, and turned his bow towards the hull where the Destroyers were pushing through teeth first. Moving quickly, the Cadet set up his blade wires and fired them at a couple of more recent holes. The arrows stuck through the hull on either side of the holes, the wire spread between them acting as rough stitches to pull the wood together while Blazermate healed the boat. The wire also helped block some of the Destroyers as they cut themselves up trying to squeak through. It didn't stop all of them, not even most of them, but if they could just try and stem the tide a little, if they fought hard enough, surely they could save Shippy… right?

Then the battlefield changed dramatically.

"What - ?!" the walls of the hold suddenly pushed in on them, the entire area shrinking while Cadet, Link, and their enemies stayed the same size. The change certainly threw the hunter off balance. He fumbled as the water rose higher and higher, and the abyssals were pressed closer - and closer, and closer.

Suddenly there was all kinds of pain around the Cadet’s body. Hot, piercing shots from the abyssal’s gun. Sharp, grinding tears from their teeth. Before when the water had only been knee-deep, it was possible to avoid them. Now the abyssals had a huge advantage, especially when their opponents couldn’t breathe under water.

This time Ace Cadet did search for Link. The hunter wasn’t one for running, but he had no clue what just happened and if they stayed in the hold underwater with the abyssals swarming, they would die. He stowed his bow and pushed off against the wall, swimming towards the last place he’d heard the Hylian’s voice come from. He tried to keep his head above water, but with the level increasing it wouldn’t be long before he was under.

”Lin - ” A Destroyer leapt and sank it's teeth into The Cadet’s shoulder, it's jaw squeezing and working to make it's way past the scale armor plating. The Cadet gasped in pain just before he was dragged under water.

The Destroyer shook it’s body viciously with it’s teeth still clamped tightly down. The Cadet could feel his skin tearing even under his protective gear. He reached up with both hands, gripping each side of the Destroyer's mouth to physically pry it off of him. A couple of imps swam up to him and covered his fingers with their tiny palms, interfering with his grip so that he couldn’t dislodge his attacker - all the while he was being peppered with bullets and nibbles. The Cadet thrashed and screamed in frustration, but nothing escaped his mouth but a large cloud of air bubbles. If this was how he was faring with his armor, then Link…

There was a strange heat in the Cadet’s chest. It wasn't exactly painful, not like the wounds piling up on his person, but it was intense. It was passionate. Filled with the desire to protect the ship and everyone on it. Right, there was no way Link was dead - and surely everyone on deck was fine too. They had to be. As the Cadet fought the abyssals mobbing him, the heat in his chest grew and he saw a flash of pink. That thing, from that woman, Aphrodite? Well, if there was ever a time to test out a new and unfamiliar power it was now. The Cadet gave up trying to rip the Destroyer off of him and thrust his hand out feeling the heat travel from his core outward. It manifested as the Crush Shot, a wide pink wave of energy that covered the immediate area and the enemies in it. Some weaker, injured abyssals burst into ashes right there, and the ones that remained found their attack power lessened.

They reeled back from the attack, and the Cadet was freed from the jaws on his shoulder. However, he was still floating in the middle of the flooded hold, with no air and no escape in sight. The stairs, he had to find a way there, but … he choked, bringing a hand up to his throat as though he could force air into it that way. No way am I dying here, he thought, but the situation looked grim. He grabbed a few shimmering abyssals spirits in either hand and crushed them, getting desperate for anything that could help him survive.

Another stranger, hm? Primrose looked the newcomer up and down warily as the whole group moved off, chasing the dust Midna left them in. The latest member was a mercenary apparently, so Primrose thought they'd fit right in. As with the rest of the Gleaming, though Primrose's expression smoothed into a neutral one under her veil, her wariness never quite left, even when 'Red' didn't seem to take offense to Yoshitsune's abrasive greeting and walked along normally with them into the trees. Honestly, thinking back to the lessons on how the world worked back at the Alcamoth, Primrose had expected those under the light's influence to prove much more a problem. So far, they'd been nothing but helpful. Some had even saved her a time or two. If they were careful not to set anyone off, and they kept collecting random passerby, would they have a small army by the time they got to their destination?

The troupe moved through the woods with purpose. The atmosphere wasn't bright and relieved like it had been earlier at the oasis, although low chatter did pass between people. Primrose didn't miss the mention of Red's benefactor, but she didn't comment. Everyone was still tired. Primrose held out the small ball of flame in front of her, choosing again to travel towards the rear of the group. The light helped illuminate the back of their people-train, and the dancer stepped carefully around any particularly gross looking spots on the ground. She didn't want to get sucked into syrup or milk or sugar... or whatever the squishy ground was made of. So focused on walking, Primrose was surprised by the sudden shout ahead and looked up sharply.

"What happened?" she asked, her brows pulled tight together. That sounded like one of the teenagers, and the follow up concern from Panther confirmed it. Just ahead of her the Heavy laughed and went to pat her shoulder, but the dancer shifted away. The large man didn't seem offended, instead he answered her with a chuckle. "Blonde boy step on root and get trapped. He fine now, get scared for nothing!"

Ah, so the landscape wasn't as cheery and innocent as it appeared. Primrose glanced at the trees around them and endeavored to be even more careful - especially when not long after she heard Fox's voice call back to warn everyone not to eat anything.

I can't imagine anyone would... but he said 'nobody else.' The culprit was lagging behind and showed up at the back of the pack with his trusty companion a bit later. Primrose looked at Tora, from his face to his new tasty looking limb. ...it suits him somehow. She held in her mirth and continued on, stopping at the village's edge with the others.

The town might have been charming if she weren't already sick of seeing sweets everywhere. In the center of town there were a couple of large machines, sticking out like sore thumbs among the dessert decorated houses. Their focus was in the air, where Necronomicon's lights were glowing. There was also a cage nearby, with someone inside it - and Midna there, freeing them. The first thought Primrose had was a strong hope that those machines didn't turn around and smash the Twilight Princess. The second was, why? Who was the person in the cage, and why free them? What if they were there for a reason? Of course, Primrose couldn't voice those thoughts aloud. First they wouldn't do anyone any good, and second - the robots did indeed turn, and they split up and started trampling the village, one going for the now poorly disguised imp.

The group moved in, jumping into the action quickly. Primrose looked between those that had headed directly into battle, getting up close and personal with the machines, and considered which steps she'd take to help. A dance of strength, or a display of defense? ...no, there were much too many people to dance for. In this situation, she might as well buff herself and pile on damage.

With a twirl, a shake of her hips, and an arm thrown up into the arm Primrose felt her own magical power increasing. Unfortunately the robots were too far apart from each other for her to use her wide range attack, so she'd have to choose one. The choice was easy - while Tora had one preoccupied, the other was doing a number on her companions. She followed in Panther, Skull, and Mona's footprints and arrived not long after, standing a little ways back.

"Here," she said, her dark magic gathering in her hand, "Moonlight Waltz!" She took a step and thrust the spell out towards the robot. It shot forward, and with the robot stuck in place thanks to Panther's whip there was no way she would miss - unless, of course, an unforeseen combatant appeared and punched it out of the spell's path. The dancer was bewildered, but she began preparing another spell to strike the machine with. With her aim adjusted she let loose, sending the dark energy out again.

Yoshitsune was surprised his swords didn’t cut through the metal monsters. Staring at the thinnest part of the legs of the robot in front of him, he wasn’t paying attention and was smacked aside. He crashed through a building, landing unceremoniously on his back, one of his swords sticking into the wall half-way across the room.

As he sat up, he noticed one of the sap traps that held what appeared to be a rabbit of some sort. Once upright and mobile, he grabbed his sword and began slicing at the sap, either chipping at it or slicing off huge chunks with each swing. One he felt the sap was thin enough, or he got tired of chipping at it, he punched with all his might while rushing across the room at it, figuring the speed given by his wheels would add to the strength behind his punch, hoping to set the rabbit free.

During the entire time he was freeing the rabbit, he was thinking about previous enemies he’d encountered. Nothing came close to the monsters outside. It was then he got an idea. Rushing back out, he went to the one he’d already attacked and slid to a stop in front of the girl in the red hood. “Think you can keep its attention?” he asked, readying his Amahagane, taking note the others were also already doing that.

His plan was to allow her to get its attention, wait for it to swing at them, then use Kamui to slice the arm off. He’d seen a couple of moving parts that reminded him of the skeletons he’d seen with their joints… The joints! “Of course!” With as much speed as he could speak with and still be understood, he explained his plan to Red, his eyes keeping a constant watch on his allies that were nearby.