@Lugubrious

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Linkle followed Albedo example before they entered the bar, kicking the snow off her boots and giving herself a good, doggish shake for good measure.

The inside was a totally different vibe than Grillby's had been, what little she had seen of it anyway, and not just because the place was empty. She could hardly even believe this was a place of business. It was more like she was stepping into someone's house. Despite that the serious looking man behind the bar gave off the same professional air as Grillby did. She felt like they could have passed for brothers if he was made of fire instead of skin and meat and stuff. Then again, maybe that was just the vibe a classy guy gave off.

Linkle didn't sit just yet, leaning on the bar next to Albedo as he introduced her. "Hey. I'm Linkle, Hero of Hyrule. Nice to meet you."

As the man, Mr. Kashiwagi according to Albedo, went off to attend to bar business Albedo launched into another explanation that Linkle leaned back and listened to with a smile on her face, turning her head in the direction she indicated. She had already seen some examples of this kind of "modern technology," like the washing machine back in Peach's castle but she never really put much thought into how it worked, only how convenient it was. She didn't even have a cold box like Albedo's world had. So it was electricity that was the key, huh? Like what happened when she kicked sometimes? She looked around. These lights, that cold box, maybe even this song she was desperately trying to ignore the Skull Heart menacingly humming along to. "His whole world is like this? That's pretty cool. I thought maybe just royalty would have this sort of stuff."

Her attention was draw particularly to the black box, and it only took Linkle a moment to realize why. She pushed herself off the bar as Albedo offered to get them something. "We need something warm. Get the warmest bento." She said as she approached the box. It looked like it had buttons below the screen. "You know, near the start of our journey, someone died. Then, later, a friend of ours somehow put her in one of these and attached some arms and a wheel to it so she could get around. I don't think he even used her spirit for that, because it was a while afterwards." She reached up and curiously started hitting a few of the buttons to see if she could turn it on. "That's actually one of the things I wanted to ask you about the dust." She said seriously, watching him in the black mirror of the screen. "If you had enough of it, and the right spirit, could you alchemy them together and bring it back to life?"

Somewhere inside her the Skull Heart fell silent.

"I know you said it needs life to keep it together. But you also said I'm dead, and my dust hasn't broken apart. I'm not the only one either, there's this whole area called the Dead Zone where there's a ton of things there that are dead and still walking around. It's really creepy."

Blazermate could only shake her head as things went from bad to worse. Apparently Shippy COULD do something awesome, a giant laser beam coming from the ship's mouth that decimated the islands in front of them and things fighting on the sea, both friendly and foe alike while more and more abyssals kept attacking her and climbing into the hold. "Well, that was cool I guess but..." Blazermate said, as a few of their allies yelled at Captain Brimybeard for causing so much collateral damage with his ship. A ship which was getting battered, bruised, ripped apart, and just overall devastated. Even Kamek's healing from his green clone couldn't do much at all to help out the damage Shippy was taking. Looking to the sky, apparently the abyssals had some kind of air force as well, loaded with bombs. This wasn't good. "Uber next time Blazermate." She said to herself. She then called out to the captain "You should get to safety!" as she went to the lower decks to try to call up her allies below as an airstrike was on its way.

Below decks there were quite the amount of abyssals, many of them having gotten into shippy from the holes they had made. Holes that were causing shippy to start to sink. "Hey guys, we gotta get going! There is an air strike that is going to hit us soon!" Blazermate said. A rattle caused by one of the abyssal attacks rustled Blazermate, causing her to fall down the stairs into the lower hold, landing in the water with a splash. Knowing where she was, she got up quickly to see those below deck being assailed by all sorts of abyssal creatures. There wasn't too much Blazermate could do to help them out besides blocking a few attacks from abyssals with her shield, making any melee attacks REALLY bad for any abyssals as they got infected by the zombie venom her shield injected into them in retaliaiton.

Then a flash engulfed Shippy as she started to shift and shrink. Blazermate, unlike the others down in the hold, didn't need air so the raising water wasn't a concern of hers. The shrinking space was however, but it was also a blessing in disguise as while everything was getting far more cramped in here, that also meant that the abyssals inside the hold would be in range of her shield more often than naught and if they could only hold out, they could have an entire army of zombie abyssals to help them. However she couldn't split her healing beam and had to keep her heals on Shippy really sucked when her friends were drowning. Now if only she could restore the ships, frankly, large hp pool that was nearly bottomed out. It then hit her, she did have a way to do that, as Shippy was low enough for it. Seeing as this was the best time to do so, Blazermate, having sunk to the floor of Shippy, pulled out a friend heart and slammed it into the bottom of the ship.

With this done, Blazermate could start healing her friends, alternating to Shippy in a cycle. Thankfully Frog didn't really need to be healed in such a critical spot, so she could keep her healing concentrated where it needed to be. While she couldn't stop her friends from drowning in its entirety, as they were still taking damage from it, she could at least heal them through it so that they weren't taking any damage from said drowning and hope they could fight in the water to clear out these abyssals as Shippy's hull sealed up thanks to Blazermate's friend heart. Either way, Shippy still took the majority of Blazermate's healing, and Blazermate had to be extra careful as her mobility in the water wasn't so good.

Being in the water like this though, Blazermate said "Hey guys.", having recently blocked an abyssal who was trying to bite her, her dexterity low in the water but her shield's tongue making up for it and allowing her to bite the abyssal back, although damaging itself and her shield arm in the process. "I can't really swim. So uh, yeah..." Blazermate's metallic voice said, her having no issues with talking in the water. If worse came to worse, Blazermate would need to absorb one of these abyssals to hopefully gain some aquatic medabot parts. Hopefully an opportunity like that could present itself, and/or her allies could carry her as they swam. She was a medabot, but she was also fairly light for being made out of metal. Hopefully some of thse abyssals she bit would also turn into zombies.

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Queen Sectonia wasn't the first one into the fray, but she did follow the others in once a few had already jumped in. Much like the others, she joined in on dealing with these robots, flying in with her swords drawn and starting to slash them while the others attacked with their firearms, punches, or swords as well. And like the others, Sectonia found her attacks didn't really do too much to these robots. While her swords could actually scratch the armor that these robots had due to their size and weight, due to how these things were made it seemed that attacks that weren't destructive didn't really do much to these things. "Hmph, if swords don't work." Sectonia said, taking a hit from one of the robots as she put away her swords and blinked above them, summoning one of her staffs. "Lets see how they handle this!" and much like Premise, she hit the robots with her dark magic, in her case, lightning.

After a few blasts of lightning, Sectonia heard Midna say that some people were trapped in the houses, one errand blast freeing a strange boy that joined them in their fight. With a nod, Sectonia blinked away from her robot towards one of the houses. Inside the house she blinked to was quite the dapper looking fellow. And unlike many she had seen, this one didn't have limbs or anything and seemed to be made of shadow. Now this was a person Sectonia could get used to! Swirling her hands, she summoned smaller rings of light in an effort to break this person out of his crystal. However while she was preparing for this, the robot she had just been engaged with wasn't done with her yet and upon seeing the bee queen a fair distance away, decided that the best course of action was to grab a nearby lamp post and toss it like a javalin at the queen before returning to the quarry in front of him.

Sensing something was wrong, Sectonia was barely able to get out of the way of the massive projectile, launching not one but all 6 light rings she had conjured at the same time towards the imprisoned top hat wearing shadow creature, the makeshift javalin also making its way towards this crystal structure. Sectonia having only managed to dodge, got grazed by the air pressure of such a large object whipping by her while the crystal prison, and the person inside it, both shattered at the immense impact of Sectonia's magic and the makeshift weapon.
While this isn't what Sectonia had in mind, she could sense some intense power coming from this spirit, and the creature did have quite the fasion sense to him. Seeing as some of the others had powered up gathering some spirits, Sectonia decided she could attempt the same thing with this one and absorbed the spirit of Count Blech, being able to hover with no issue over the tree roots that covered the floor. She then returned to the battle at hand.

Well isn’t that just annoying. This robot was still standing fairly easily even after Red’s bullets pierced right through it. Not too surprising if she really thought about it but she was still annoyed that this was gonna take longer than those tiny robots she encountered on the railroad. It looked like the strange samurai and the masked kid had ideas though as they both seemed to realize that the joints in the legs were an easy weak spot to exploit. Then the kid… wait what the hell did he just do?! At the sight of seeing the personas for the first time she was genuinely shocked by something. She had never seen a power quite like that and fully realized that she wasn’t special and that just about everyone here was unnatural in some way or another. It seemed all the masked kids had that same power, even their damned cat could do it!

Red listened to the samurai’s plan and scoffed. “Of course I can keep it busy. I’m a professional.” Not that she particularly needed to. That little furball took quite the hite for her a moment ago. It was kind of impressive just how tanky the little thing was. Granted, it seemed to come from the robot girl a good bit too. Definitely have to keep an eye on them. But then again taking some of the attention away from the tank could be a good thing. And this robot didn’t seem fast enough to keep up with her either. She chuckled a little as she planned her attack. “Hope your plan works, Samurai.” She rushed past it and tried to slice through its left leg with her blade as she ran. Even if it only glanced off she would still turn around and lay a few bullets into its legs in an attempt to weaken its joints. “Over here you glorified bucket of bolts! I’ve seen a cleaning robot that was scarier than you.” She taunted and damaged the robot to gain its attention, preparing to dodge if it tried to move after and attack her. And to be fair she wasn’t exaggerating, the ‘cleaning’ robot she spoke of definitely had a few kills under its belt and a few blades coming out of it. Not a fun little guy.

Hopping backwards from the fallen robot, the boy expected his show of strength to be met with awe or at the very least someone would acknowledge his obvious superiority in physical strength. However much to Laharl's chagrin the others were preoccupied in their own matters which irritated the arrogant demon prince to no end, after he landed a short distance away from the rusty giant while the surrounding town of sweets burnt.

Laharl crossed his arms tightly together and pouted deeply, which would look petty to the wayward glance of anyone around the boy yet he couldn't have cared less if he did look upset. 'Stupid freaks,' the boy flicked his antennae and harumphed loudly, this wasn't how he envisioned the reaction to his little stunt to resolve 'How are these fools not afraid of my obvious might! I am an Overlord!' Laharl frowned growing visibly irritated by the second "Hmph insolent peons..." frustrated Laharl kicked a loose piece of rubble at the audacity of such foolishness. It simply was unacceptable and he wouldn't tolerate it, and for the moment he felt less inclined to assist the group if they called for help again.

Midna’s assessment seemed to be correct. The towering armored robots weren't going to go down to a lone quick sword blow, she observed, as the samurai and huntress did some damage between them, but not enough to seriously threaten their target. Joker’s arrival and subsequent headshot further reaffirmed this, as the machines showed themselves to be like hydras with multiple heads that needed taking out, a fact that was helpful relayed by Necronomicon.

While they duked it out with the one over there, Midna still had her own to deal with, her attention getter having worked out as she’d planned. Well, almost. It came at her yes, but not before it plowed through a building and two of the crystals trapping people inside, which had very much not been part of the plan. Fortunately Midna’s worry that getting people out of the sweet crystals would be a tricky business turned out to have been needless worry as they seemed to cleanly divulge their captives completely unharmed if damaged, something that the blue haired shirtless boy would be all too happy to demonstrate when he joined the fight a few moments later, though not before Midna’s second shot sailed forth and hit home.

Her improvised projectile colliding squarely with the great titan, the chocolate chest of drawers smashing into its chest and causing it to stumble backwards and threatening to tip it over completely. Rather than allow this to happen however, it fired up some kind of fiery propulsion system on its back, that Midna didn't have a word for, using it to stabilize itself. Back on its feet, it proceeded to glare angrily at the princess, who squared up to face it.

She didn't have to do so alone. First the thieves arrived to rear charge the titan, pummeling its knees from behind and then wrapping up its legs in Panther’s whip. As they tried to pull it’s legs out from under it it fired its back engine up again, but rather in fire it instead unloaded a bullet hell of purple projectiles at them, causing Mona to appear and call for help.

Midna was already moving when they did, but it was the freed boy who struck first, driving an impressive punch to its chest, though he inadvertently knocked it out of the way of a shadowy shot from Primrose in the process. While the dancer simply readjusted and fired again the boy... Backed off in a huff? Minda had no idea what was going on with that but from what she overheard as he rushed past he sounded like a stuck up noble, which she did not have time for. She dealt with enough of those at home.

”Fight, run or die pipsqueak!” she yelled at him as she moved to engage the robot.

It wouldn't have to have him be smushed while standing there dejectedly, and more importantly, it would also not do for Skull and Panther to have to continue to weather the storm just because people weren’t impressed by the boy’s actions. That left it up to the ladies to handle things.

As much as she wanted to try and one up the boy’s punch with her own, it would be a waste to cause Primrose to miss again, and it would be even worse if it tipped over and rushed the three thieves, so instead she darted in closer, her Vibrava helping her maneuver and compensating for her slipping and sliding as it clung to her back (she’d forgotten to get it to detach in the first moment, but after it helped her off the starting block she’d let it stay there for the time being).

As she got close she got a better look at the multiple heads that had been mentioned by their flying saucer friend. This one still had its head, and it also had one on each arm, which looked to be modified small bots now that she saw them up close, and one... Between its legs. Midna had to laugh when she saw the upside down robot head peeking out down there.

Multiple targets that all needed to be taken out at once? Midna had the perfect tool for that. And with the bot tied up, and having been punched in the chest and being pounded in the back with magic she had a good opportunity to pull it off.

Waving at the crotch bot as she got in close she slid to dodge hammer hand attacks and summoned both super sized wolfos to try and bite/tackle/generally tie up its arms for a few moments. Once at its feet she jumped, her vibrava adding its wingbeats to her leap and floating to carry her up past the legs. Then with two Dragon claws she slashed at the base of its metal shell and used the blows to pull herself upwards, increasing her accent speed. While she rose up she brought out her shadow hand, not to punch, but instead to channel a shadow field. Vertically.

The princess stopped in front of her target's chest as the dark aura spread out around her. if everything went well it would quickly spread out to cover each and every one of the titan’s many heads. Then, with a snap, the power would lash out, stunning them and marking them for death for her vibrava, which would dart to and fro with lightning speed to crunch down on each and every one of the bot’s noggins, dispatching them like Link and Minda had dispatched so many a shadow beast.

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Sephiroth observed the creatures closing in around her with a haughty stare, the point of her blood covered sword held down and to the left. Clearly she didn't think too much of these odds, even in her weakened state, an attitude resulting from the combined aggressiveness and arrogance of the two other personalities crammed within her head. This was not to say she was lax when it came to strategy, of course, for even now she was formulating the best way to eliminate these filthy beasts. Rather, she was fully convinced of the ease with which most of these beings would fall, save for the larger one that had attacked her first. It was much bulkier than the rest were, and as such she doubted it would be slain in a single stroke like the bulbous servant from a few minutes prior was.

Confident and even jovial in manner, the partygoers spread out into a semicircle around Sephiroth. The Esquires, eager to show off in front of the ladies, stepped forward first, while the tittering Courtesans were only too happy to let their companions put their best feet forward. Though less in number than the others, the far more monstrous Chevaliers moved in as well, crawling like tanks over the marshy soil. With sneers and smirks the Equires produced pistols, taking aim at their foe like firing squad, and together unloaded a chorus of smoky gunfire. With their opening volley spent they unsheathed rapiers and moved forward on the many heels of the loathsome Chevaliers. A few of the monsters lashed out with their cruel claws, but others slammed their limbs into the ground to detonate buried blasts under the earth.

At the same time, with their betters having opened the floodgates, the wretches behind Sephiroth made their own move. Two Bloodlickers charged from the pack and ran at the swordswoman from behind, their stringy hair and long tongues flapping behind them.

Sephiroth swung her blade, deflecting the majority of the already inaccurate rounds as they flew towards her, though a few managed to slip by to leave small gashes and tears across her skin and clothes. One even went so far as to lodge itself in her right shoulder, leaving quite the nasty marr and a momentary distraction that saw the former SOLDIER launched into the air as a result of the detonations following the hail of gunfire. Righting herself as best she could, Sephiroth whirled round to send several discs of darkness hurtling back down towards the Bloodlickers and Chevaliers in an attempt to thin out the rapidly thickening swarm that was beginning to crowd the area where she was going to land.

The thrown discs fell among the few bloodsuckers that had almost fallen upon her, sawing into bodies and limbs with cruel viciousness, but for all the damage dealt and parts carved off none of the horrors died. When Sephiroth landed, the three nearest Esquires thrust their rapiers her way in an attempt to skewer her. One aimed rather sloppily for the head, the other for her stomach, and the last her bare leg in order to disable her. A courtesan faced with the swordswoman's back, meanwhile, gathered herself up and launched forward, her nose extending to sink through Sephiroth's hair and into her back.

Sephiroth managed to react fast enough to deflect the first strike aimed for her head, its sloppiness only helping that endeavor, before twisting out of the way of the sword thrusting towards her stomach, though she was caught directly in the leg by the last one. Conveniently however, these movements combined with her rigging kept her back from being punctured, reducing the incoming damage to a thin cut across the side of her ribcage instead. Bringing her blade back down, she struck at the three Esquires who’d attacked her, using her free hand to send the all too familiar orangish-red gout orb of flame that was Flare back at the courtesan that had tried to drop in from behind.

The sheer length of the blade managed to bloody the Esquires and keep them at bay for a precious second, but when she turned to face the Courtesan she caught a brief glimpse of a horror awakened by the taste of fresh blood before she disappeared into Sephiroth's blossoming flame. A moment later the insectoid monstrosity lunged from the inferno to slash with raking claws. Sycophant mosquitoes appeared as the Esquires composed themselves, but before any of their thrusts came her way another Courtesan's Careless Whisper planted a seed of stress-inducing horror in her mind. Then a Chevalier's Buried Blast went off beneath her, and joined by a fourth compatriot -whose defense another Courtesan was strengthening-, the Esquires attacked again. The drunk one launched himself at her nose-first, using The Thirst like the mutated noblewoman had a moment ago.

Sephiroth managed to sidestep the courtesan's smoldering claws, though she quickly found herself launched upwards once again even as her mental defenses were continually assaulted. And, as if things weren’t already bad enough, the Esquires had renewed their attacks with a vigor greater than that which had come before. Bringing her blade down once again, she aimed to cleave the oncoming Esquire’s head in twain, charging up an orb of darkness to deal with the other two once she was done.

Well-aimed technique and the power of momentum landed Sephiroth a critical hit on the famished Esquire, and her cold steel dove deep to end the vile gentleman's life. Unfortunately, one enemy meant nothing at the center of this horde. Sycophants dive-bombed her from above, with one's long nose sinking into the skin behind her ear. Its abdomen swelled up as it entered its Bloodlust form the next moment, and the ghoulish whir of its wings intensified. Her dark spell struck two of the Esquires, but the one under the Courtesan's arcane protection shrugged off the damage to land a skewering repartee, while the third who escaped the sorcery stabbed at her already-wounded leg once again to further hinder her mobility. A Chevalier closed its claws around one of her rigging-arms, crumpling the metal into uselessness with its strength, and forcing Sephiroth to wrench free if she wanted to escape. The Bloodlusting Courtesan ripped at her sword arm with her claws, an untouched one let fly a second Careless Whisper, and the tongue of a Bloodlicker encircled her ankle. All the while the Horror throbbed like a wound inside her that joined with the Enraging Slights of the jeering Manservants to compound her stress.



Sephiroth let out an annoyed, slightly pained, grunt as she bore the brunt of all of these blows. Things weren’t looking good, and to make matters worse now she was practically pinned in place. Though perhaps she could escape if she got her rigging free. It wouldn’t be easy though, not with the way the beasts had decided to gather around, making it damn near impossible to use her sword, and far too risky to fall back on magic. Even if Gigaflare was more than enough to eradicate her foes. No, her only choice was to try and escape, much as it disturbed the personalities swirling around inside of her. Although even they were beginning to get wary, realizing that things wouldn’t be as easy as they first thought. So, jerking forwards a bit, Sephiroth used what strength she had in her bloodied arm to stab at the Chevalier that had taken hold of her rigging.

With any luck the blade would strike true, giving her a window of opportunity in which to escape.

Masamune sliced across the Chevalier's face, causing it to jerk away. In doing so it ripped off through the already crumpled joint of one of the rigging arms, causing the cannon batter to fall to the ground. That still left two batteries, plus the shark drone she had yet to use, but she was free except for the Bloodlicker's wretched tongue now coiled around her ankle. As she prepared to reatreat, however, she took another pair of stabs and even a cheap shot from a Supplicant, but it was the Bloodlusted Courtesan that struck truest. She went low and stabbed her nose below Sephiroth's ribs, but this time rather than draining blood the attack left something of its own. Some warm, ephemeral sensation surged in the wound, making its way inside.

The warmth that Sephiroth felt worming its way through the wound in her chest definitely wasn’t good, the cavalcade of cheap shots she’d taken mere seconds before aside. She didn’t have much time to devote to it, however, and quickly moved to slice off the Bloodliker’s tongue. From here she stabbed at the courtesan, pulling it free from her chest and hoisting it aloft on the end of her blade before swiftly casting it aside. Seeing how all of her exits were blocked, Sephiroth mustered all the strength she could, her plan to spend it all in a massive leap that would hopefully see her clear the swarm and land near or on the other side of the iron gates.

Just before the pile of enemies grew thick enough to seal her fate, Sephiroth burst free from the horde. Even with her load lightened, the rigging weighed her down, so she came down between the lesser bloodsuckers and the Courtyard gates. She'd broken free of hell, but it remained at her back until she could quit the place completely.

The former SOLDIER didn’t waste so much as a second, summoning up Flare and sending it streaking towards the lesser bloodsuckers as she rushed forward, hoping that it would be powerful enough so that she could finally be free of this place.

Without looking to see the results of the explosion behind her she sped through the gate, her feet pounding across the slimy earth. Her wounds screamed,, her nerves shook, and her mind swam from stress, but she was out of the Courtyard. Yet untamed swampland still lay before her, and as she reeled on the edge of the mire she felt on the verge of something in her breaking. A part of her fought for control, urging her to speed across the fetid water to safety. And her instincts told her that she could.

Suppressing the chaotic storm of pain, nerves, and stress as best she could, Sephiroth focused solely on instinct. Moving forward, she paid the dilapidated estate behind her little mind as she ran out into the fetid swamp, doing her best to keep a clear head so she could navigate it at least somewhat successfully. Even if she didn’t make it to the edge, if she could make it back to that hut she’d stumbled across early, then she’d know she was on the right track.

When her foot touched the water, it did not sink in. Instead, some sort of repelling force kept her on the surface. It took a moment to adjust after getting both feet on, but after that just a little leaning in the desired direction was enough to slide her across the surface, and not a moment too soon. The horde of bloodsuckers crowded the shoreline, with the nobles stopped at its edge and their underlings willing to wade a little way in. The Chevaliers didn't stop, however, so she couldn't afford to stick around.

Just when she seemed to be in the clear, the muck in front of her exploded. Before her eyes rose a grotesque aberration. It spread wide its hideous, mutated maw with a blood-curdling gurgle, and from the fleshy tunnels in its back crawled a squirming host of mosquitoes. The sight of the horror, on top of the realization that freedom had been snatched from her very grasp, combined to push her over the edge.



Sephiroth stopped dead in her tracks, the hand that held her blade trembling ever so slightly, though whether such was from pain, fear, nerves, or some combination of the three, not even the SOLDIER herself could say. She was at the brink of what felt like a complete mental break. One similar to, though not nearly as intense, as the one she’d felt in Nibelheim all those years ago. Simmering deep within her was a rage, a rage at the disgusting beast that had dared halt her escape, a hate for the swamp and the filth that grew within…

And most of all…

A hate for the being that had brought her here in the first place. Feeling her anger reach a tipping point, she took up her Masamune in both hands and charged the beast, aiming to stab right through its head, even if that was far too merciful for it.

A loathsome roar went up as tainted blood splattered the night, and what followed was naught but butchery.

What was she doing, so far out on the sea in the middle of a warzone? She’d never been to war in her entire short life, or even participated in anything remotely resembling it until now. Even her allies--some of whom have--couldn’t keep themselves afloat fighting their way through the increasingly, hopelessly overwhelming odds; literally, as half of them were still aboard a now sinking ship in peril--one of the only two they had. She most certainly wasn’t cut out for this, but now she was entrusted with manning heavy artillery, with which she had zero experience, to do something about their predicament? Well… she entrusted herself to it, really, not exactly brimming with confidence in her ability to man it effectively. But with nowhere to flee, and a great roc and a dark marine army behind it turning their sights and all their force on them, what else was she going to do?

The answer: Miss entirely, but somehow, that was okay. Just as she went to let fly on the Helmaroc, gradually tensing up with nervous anticipation the closer they came to it, a significantly heavier round blew by it with a thunderous report of artillery from elsewhere aboard the vessel. The Atomos swerved to meet it on its dodge path for Bowser, and the surprise and motion of it all caused Hat Kid’s shot to sail wide of anything at all, as well as throwing her to the floor from her seat. Recuperating from the passing second of dizziness, she adjusted her bandana, pulled herself back up, and readied herself for another try.

A try at what, she wasn’t quite certain, but she was pretty sure it involved the ballista. This required some quick situational reassessment on her part. First, she had to reload, which turned out to be simple enough as to require no learning; it was practically automated--a relatively advanced feature on an obviously primitive design. It was good enough for her, at any rate. Imagine then her disappointment to find that the newly deployed bombers sent for the virtually defenseless Shippy were now out of her effective range, as she found out upon firing once more in their direction. Disheartened as she was to find herself powerless to avert the living ship’s fate, or that of those aboard it, the next best she could do was resolve to keep the one she was on from suffering the same. An expression of serious determination overtook her, and she unchambered another round.

One shot after another, she began throwing steel bolts at any and every dark naval creature that came within her range and sight, which happened to include the odd submarine here and there that she could see thanks to Lens she acquired on the farmstead, pinned like a Badge to her person, and finally found a use for. Of course, her accuracy was less than ideal, making it something of a learning experience for her, but not so little that she produced no results from her trial and error. Early into her counteroffensive, she started to notice faint, peculiar sensory cues cluing her in to the interval between reloads in which she intuited, somehow, that she could bypass part of the process and shortcut her way to faster reload times.

She took full advantage of this new insight provided to her (though her inherited headgear, as it turned out), falling soon into a gradually tightening rhythm. At one point she even discovered, mostly by accident, that ‘Perfect’ timing would result in the empowerment of the next shot, as indicated by the instant demise of the first Abyssal unlucky enough to prove it to her. It was after seeing this that became giddy and got greedy and careless for a moment enough to show her what it got her, causing the turret to jam momentarily as she mistimed a reload. Grumbling in response to her mistake, she slowed to correct her penalty and took the hint going forward not to push it. As she fell back into the motion, she took the first break in her assault to switch to her standard Hat to check their objective destination by distance and exact direction before switching back to resume return fire.

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The party eventually caught up with Midna and Necronomicon, both of whom they found upon arriving at the edge of the forest outside the village. When the Persona returned his call, Fox hadn’t expected that she would have taken on a passenger, nor that he would hear their voice on the other end of the line. He must have failed to notice, in their heated retreat across the desert, but apparently, the Scout took off in tow with Necronomicon when she broke away from the group. All that mattered now was that they were both safe and accounted for, the continuation of the former hinging on Necronomicon heeding Joker’s caution to maintain her altitude.

With or without the Persona’s plea for the bystanding villagers’ safety, it didn’t take much to get the lot of them moving to action once the two giant mechanoids began demolishing homes in search of Midna and their freshly absconded captive. That was all it took, really. The samurai took the initiative, and found out the hard way, as a man out of time expectedly might, that he wouldn’t simply cleave through a solid steel automaton. Others were quick to join in, like their new tagalong, Midna herself coming out of hiding, Tora and Poppi frontlining along with the power couple of Heavy and Braum; or Heavy and Medic; or Medic and whoever he decided to chain himself to, and of course, the Phantom Thieves, just to name the larger share of them. They had power and personnel to spare still; enough to split between the two machines. Fox, however, made time for both of them..

Him and Joker had the same idea, it seemed; ”great minds” and all. He was no engineer, but he and anyone else with an intuitive or learned sense for the physical could surmise at a glance that they weren’t built with utmost stability in mind (unless they could walk on all fours and still function combatively--or in some other way surprise them). Even faster than he could think about it, Fox made for the first-targetted Goliath, dashing within leg’s reach to its closest knee with a torquing reverse kick to its ball joint, empowered by the explosive Burst generated by his maneuver triggering in tandem with contact. He bothered not with trying for both legs, for it would suffice to buckle a single one, should he manage to hit it with enough force to do so. Anticipating retaliation either way, he aimed a handful of Impact Shots for its shoulder joint, squeezing off as many as he had to and could as he backed off out of its way and that of his allies (namely the blindly battle-furious Heavy).

On the other end, Primrose and the Thieves went to work on trying to down the other Goliath. As their success appeared imminent, the machine fought back to remain on its feet, firing off its back thruster to spit out a volley of dark energy at its assailants, discouraging further direct action by them against it. Seeing this, Fox took off, jetting over the short stretch of now caramalized battleground between them in an arc, cutting for himself a gap between shots of orb hail with a rapid spray of blaster fire, then tucking and untucking mid-flight to fit between it. This would place him directly in the line of fire, point-blank in front of the thruster, whereupon he drew forth his Reflector and held it shy of lidding the weapon with it, aiming to return its own fire at the source as the machine inflicted unwitting self-harm. This, he would sustain for as long as either of them could stand it until it relented one way or the other, provided it lacked the firepower to make Fox’s shield give out first.

The remaining heroes refocused around the primary machine after a few of their number took their lumps. Sectonia electrocuted the Goliath with a spray of lightning before ducking away into a house under the assumption that the others would keep its aggression focused on them. Although the designated tank certainly tried, the stubborn machine managed to seize and hurl a lightpost of twisted black licorice her way. “Secty!” Tora cried out, seeing the makeshift projectile vanish into the building. He slammed the cakey ground with the Mech Arms to launch himself into the air, and as he fell swung wildly to deliver an unignorable flurry of punches. Multicolored light shone from inside the house, but Tora needed all his attention on the foe before him.

Poppi projected an ether barrier to fortify his defense as the Goliath brought down its fist, burying him up to his belly button in the soft ground, but Tora held firm. That helped to give Yoshitsune and Red the opportunity they needed. The mercenary charged into action, and though her axe failed to pierce the machine’s leg as she flew past, the bullets she hammered into the joint right after mangled the metal. With a rumble it turned to try and crush her, moving its arm straight into the path of Yoshitsune’s Kamui. Although he targeted a limb with an untouched joint rather than the one Red softened up for him, he nevertheless managed to steer his katana straight between two of the moving parts with perfect accuracy.

At the end of the day, however, he was a man with unremarkable physical strength trying to slice through solid alloy from a time ten thousand years removed from his own with a katana. Yoshitsune’s blade wedged in the mechanism and was yanked from his hands as the Goliath moved on, unphased. The katana managed to jam the joint for all of a moment before the stress shattered it, sending razor-sharp shards over a wide area, and the machine moved to punch Red.

Tora grunted in anger. “Mean robot shouldn’t keep ignoring Tora!” He flipped open the Mech Arms’ silos and fired off a volley of missiles that exploded against the Goliath’s body. Up above, the Scout swung out from under Necronomicon with an exhilarated yell to land on top of the robot. He drove his pickaxe into its head, tore it off, and started unloading his assault rifle down its neck.

The sound of footsteps came from behind Red as Fox and Joker moved in, Arsene floating behind him. “Stop trying to cut metal! Use blunt or piercing!” the Thief shouted. After Fox zoomed in to impart a meaty explosive-enhanced kick to its damaged joint, and let off a few parting shots for good measure, Joker went low to slide under the Goliath’s fist and into its leg. He stuck his grappling hook through one of the bullet holes that Red left there. Arsene then raised his leg and with another strong kick finally bent the brutalized knee joint backwards. Covered by the Heavy as his minigun turned the Goliath’s torso into swiss cheese, Joker jumped back and along with Arsene took the grapple line in both hands. They pulled together, wrenching the machine’s leg out from underneath it.

Only the blazing rocket on its back prevented it toppling over, but when he realized what was going on Tora had an idea. “Poppi time to shine!” he called, tossing the Mech Arms to the artificial blade. She grabbed them with a nod and boosted into the air. “Target back rocket, aim for fuel tanks!” He watched his companion soar into position and let loose a handful of missiles. The inventor’s intuition turned out to be correct as a huge explosion went off, the Scout went flying with his behind on fire, and the next moment the Goliath crashed face-down into the dirt among the other heroes, its back totally stripped of armor plating. “Meanie robot down, easy pickings now!” Tora sang, only to get slapped by one of the Goliath’s still very functional arms. As he rolled off and Poppi went after him, it fell to the others to finish it off, and both the Heavy and Braum certainly didn’t wait to start pummeling away.

Meanwhile, the other fight had also taken a turn. First to come to the aid of the Phantom Thieves was not an ally, but the very trapped bystander their adversary inadvertently freed. Despite his size the boy dealt a weighty blow to the ensnared Goliath that cratered a portion of its torso. The machine was knocked to the side, which both diverted the barrage from its gun and yanked Panther’s whip hard enough to throw both her and Skull to the ground. With its owner’s grip broken, the length of leather fell from the Goliath’s knees and into the flan pavement alongside the Thieves. Laharl’s intervention put a wrench in Primrose’s plan as well, causing her to waste a spell. When the machine came about with both hands raised to smash the boy in between them, however, the Dancer did not hesitate to follow up with a second that struck her foe dead-center and prevented Laharl getting pancaked. After arriving with a burst of damage from the other fight, Fox produced his reflector to spare the downed Thieves the robot’s leftover projectiles and instead return them to sender.

Midna wove through the danger zone with her Vibrava carrier’s help and found a perfect opportunity. She raked her target with Dragon Claw before extending a twilight shroud. Arcs of sunset-orange electricity suffused the Goliath’s many heads, and an instant later the Vibrava blitzed through them all in a blur of darkly flashing fangs. In a shower of sparks it lurched, disabled but not quite dead, and free for anyone to get a few hits in.

Seeing his opportunity, Mona struck a courageous pose. “That’s it! It’s time for an All-out Attack!”

Having already emptied his shotgun into the thing, Skull groaned. “Maaan, we’re effin’ gassed. Can’t you do something?”

“Hey, I’m tired too!” the cat protested, but at his command Zorro whipped up a wind to throw him into the air. Mona soared above the battle, silhouetted against the moon, and transformed onto a car that unceremoniously dropped onto the Goliath from above, horn blaring. A tremendous crash resounded across Parnasse as the machine’s legs flew sideways and its crumpled body sank halfway into the ground. The car remained stuck, nose down, in the wreckage for a moment before he turned back in a puff of smoke. “Ow, ow, ow!” He stumbled around dizzily before plopping onto his back. “Owww….I am NEVER pulling that again.”

He looked up to see Skull and Panther standing over him, with the boy giving a thumbs-up. “Hey, it was super cool though!” Panther picked the cat up and held him under her arm, which seemed to work wonders for his spirits. When they looked over they saw the other fight just about over as well. After just a little tidying up, the heroes were left with a quiet if someone roughed-up town and two Goliath spirits.



The team consolidated after a few moments, gathered in the center of town beneath where the fairy’s empty cage hung. The fairy herself floated nearby with an upbeat smile, a half-eaten brick of chocolate under her arm. Having also been freed from their imprisonment, the chocolate tiger and rabbit took a moment to thank the heroes for helping them, and to offer them shelter in any of the vacant houses in their humble town of Parnasse. Pretty much nobody could deny the weight of fatigue pressing down on them, and on behalf of the general welfare Joker accepted the offer. The townsfolk returned to their homes, leaving everyone to their business.

Although things had gone well, Blue Poison looked annoyed. “I accomplished nothing,” she criticized herself, arms crossed. “That thing didn’t even notice my bolts.”

“Don’t beat yerself up, lassie,” the Scout told her. “Robots don’t care about poison, and that ‘un ate ‘eadshots like candy!”

Tora took in the general chatter, but looked like he was about to fall asleep where he stood. “Meh…” He flopped down onto his back, eyes closed, but opened one to see Poppi standing over him in QT Pi mode. “Take body back...to Torigoth…”

“No need be so dramatic, Masterpon,” Poppi smiled. She bent down to scoop him up and found that he’d really drifted off. She laughed softly, and with him cradled in her arms glanced around at the others. “Poppi not need sleep, so Poppi take watch. Everyone have good night.” With a polite bow of her head she headed for one of the destroyed homes and into the mercifully spared bedroom to deposit the sleeping Nopon within.



As soon as Bowser’s grasp closed around it, the Herlmaroc King screeched and commenced its struggle. With wild strength it rained down painful pecks on Bowser, aimed for his mouth and eyes. That combined with its thrashes, powerful enough to rock the entire Atomos, meant he couldn’t hold it for long, but the Koopa King’s grip held firm long enough for his friends to put their plans into action. Sakura moved first, releasing her hold on a flustered Bella to deliver a high-flying series of attacks before she landed to keep the pain train rolling. Geralt climbed on, working his way upward across the beast’s feathered body with his iron grip and steel dagger. He called out for his comrades to help the desperate situation aboard Shippy, then began his assault.

The moment he first plunged his blade into the bird’s body, it recoiled with such force that it wrenched free from Bowser and soared away, the Witcher holding tight. Its shrieks filled the air as it flew, its unwelcome guest burying his silver sword again and again, but for all its power the Helmaroc couldn’t get rid of the pest. As Geralt kept it up, he noticed after a couple less-than-perfect yanks that a twist of the embedded blade would cause the Helmaroc to veer in the same direction. Far above the naval battle and even the seaplane dogfights, the Helmaroc’s lunatic flight continued, with only the Midway Princess’s bomber fleet occupying the seaside heights.

---

As Peach sped off, Nadia retreated back toward the center of the deck to avoid the bullets and shells that whizzed above. Hold out ‘til then, her mind echoed as she looked left and right with frantic speed for any incoming threats. Her objective was no longer to fight, but to survive. Although no stranger to survival, Nadia never would have imagined a nightmare like this. Blazermate and Frog had gone below, so with Peach and Hatty gone, Brineybeard holed up, the Atomos and Navy a ways off, and poor Chao Hu dead, Nadia was completely and utterly alone. Alone, on the splintering deck of a sinking ship in waters infested by far worse things than sharks.

The bruises, burns, and bullet holes across her back and limbs hurt terribly. Her chest ached from the strain of her lungs and heart, obliged to work overtime without so much as a hint of pay. Her wide, searching eyes found a new explosion of flame or wood every other second, chipping away at the doomed ship with terrifying speed. And like an approaching storm, the tide of bombers swept ever closer. Survive? What a joke. It was so comically hopeless that she couldn’t help but laugh. “Nya...haha...hahaa..hahaha! Ohhh, crumbs. At least this can’t get any worse!”

A coating of green magic surrounded the ship. Nadia’s jaw dropped. Had she really just tempted fate!? But rather than annihilate her on the spot the sorcery seemed to take the form of a barrier, as if it were holding Shippy together. Her harrowed gaze turned upward to see one of Kamek’s clones, harried by a few stray Abyssal seaplanes but otherwise unnoticed by the enemy. More magicked magikoopas swooped in behind him, each carrying something bright. Her heart dared to beat again. “Over here! Help!” And help the clones did, by swooping down to implant their collected spirits into the ship itself.

Prismatic light shone across the surface of the Black Bay, blanketing Shippy in her entirety. Abyssals gawked at it in confusion as their shots pinged harmlessly off the radiant aura, and the shipgirls put the heads on their shoulders to use taking advantage of the distraction to get a few hits in. Nadia’s bewilderment, however, quickly turned to panic as the ship began to change beneath her feet. All around the edges of the ship closed in, and a layer of metal spread over the wood. To the feral’s horror the deck descended toward the ocean’s surface, bringing her even closer to the deadly waters, and fear for those below deck filled her. Were they going to be crushed? Drowned? In the span of a few moments, Shippy shrank from the size of a respectable pirate ship to little bigger than a sloop, her deck only a few dozen feet across and her ankle-high railing practically a suggestion. And everything was dilapidated to hell, having sustained the damage inflicted before the change. Nadia clutched her head and hunkered down as a shell exploded against the mast, toppling it over. How was this an improvement!?

Before she could despair too deeply, Blazermate’s Friend Heart took hold. With a bright flash, Shippy’s catastrophic damage popped like a burst soap bubble, and the boat was restored. The mast stood tall as if it had never fallen, its stringy black sails flapping in the wind. Shiny metal armor covered the deck, thin but whole, and to Nadia’s delight she found four cannon emplacements. She remained alone and sorely wounded, but now she had a chance, and she wasn’t about to question this blessing. Brineybeard stumbled out of hiding, his flabbergasted wonderment etched on his features. “...Blow me down! What the hell happened?”

Nadia couldn’t say she knew well enough to explain herself, but someone else beat her to the punch. In reply came a loud voice, female but backed by the bassy creak and moan of timber. “Captain? I am awake.” The brand-new, very realistic figurehead of the ship twisted around to look back at the pair above decks. All around, the Abyssals resumed their assault. When the figurehead winced, Nadia realized that it must be Shippy herself, but the new being did not waver, and focused on Brineybeard with absolute trust in her eyes. “What are your orders?”

Brineybeard clenched his jaw. Thinking could come later; the time for action was now. “We can’t waste this chance!” he roared, climbing up to the helm. “Make for the river on the shore! Full speed ahead!”

“Aye-aye, captain!” The ship, dead in the water until moments ago, began to move. Though the Abyssals trying to bite into the metal armor found tougher resistance, the ones barraging it quickly began racking up damage. Nadia eyed the new ordinance, wondering why they weren’t firing, but Shippy spoke up. “There’s some sort of cloud over my mind preventing me from fighting,” she reported. “I’m afraid you must man my cannons yourselves for now. And there’s...ugh!”

Roiling pain in the hold caused her to shudder. With a violent lurch Shippy ejected its contents into the water through her original mouth, and her figurehead looked down to see a mix of Abyssals, Abyssals turned undead monstrosities, and friendlies. “Guh...men...men overboard!” she warned weakly, one eye closed from the pain of a bombardment to her starboard side.



Already seated at one cannon battery, Nadia looked up from her attempt to grasp the controls as fast as she could. She leaped to her feet when she heard that her friends were in the drink and dashed to the front of the ship, terrified that she would look down to see a feeding frenzy. Instead she saw Cadet, Blazermate, Frog, and Link(?) below the surface alongside a smattering of Abyssals. She exhaled her pent-up breath in relief, but the fact remained that she couldn’t do much to help them. If she jumped down she would only add to the problem, and even if her muscle fibers she had no idea if she’d be strong enough to pull any aboard. Then she noticed the hanging life preservers, and with a flash of her claws cut them loose. The inflatable rings fell into the water, hopefully to be of some use. As they splashed down she spotted Abyssals closing in, eager to devour the hapless prey fall into their clutches.

Clenching her teeth, she jumped back over to the cannon battery. If she trusted that her allies were able to escape their current predicament, she just needed to keep the monsters off their backs so she could. The mechanisms in place made using the thing easy, so it was with a devilish grin that Nadia took aim at the bloodthirsty Abyssals. “Eat this!” She slammed down the trigger and blasted away. Taking turns to fire in a constant sequence, the cannons blew the Abyssals out of the water and into ashen chunks. “Nyahahahah!” Nadia unleashed all her stress as she relentlessly pounded them. Any that turned their sights on her got singled out first, rewarded for their attentiveness with solid metal slugs and a swift end. Still, Nadia was just one woman, and three unmanned batteries meant that plenty of pain continued to come Shippy’s way. Plus, being on the starboard side meant that any monsters coming at her friends from the ship’s left had free reign.

That was, except for a certain shipgirl. The Abyssals that rushed the ejected Seekers from the left found that there were worse monsters than themselves in these waters when Heinrich plowed through their ranks, catching a handful of the monsters in the serrated jaws of her mecha-shark before it snapped shut like a vice. “Graahahaaa!” she crowed as she surfed around for another pass, her eyes blazing even brighter than the cannons on her shark’s back. She faced in the direction of the beleaguered heroes and thrust her fist into the air. “As long as you’re alive, you can still kick some ass! Fight like you’re gettin’ paid for it!”

“The bombers!” Brineybeard yelled, steering Shippy to the left so that Nadia could cover the swimming heroes better. He pointed a finger upward to where the Midway Princess’s fleet would soon be able to start dive-bombing. “They be gettin’ close!”

“Oh?” Heinrich looked up to see the bombers halfway across the bay. Her shark chomped into a snarling To-class, and she leaped into the air as it did a corkscrew death roll to tear the Abyssal apart. When she landed she cast her hand toward the swarm and yelled into her radio. “Calling all hands for saturation fire! Light ‘em up, girls!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Came a chorus of voices in reply. All around the shipgirls of Heinrich’s division sped up and turned their weapons from their current foes to the bombers. A fusillade of missiles, bullets, and explosive shells hurled skyward in a remarkable display, filling the air with such a quantity of fire that a great many bombers were hit. Some of those that exploded sparked chain reactions, clearing out entire swathes of the swarm. The volley ended a moment later as the ships returned to their own problems, but the sight convinced Nadia of one thing. They didn’t abandon us! They just kept their distance! Better yet, a quick look at the bay suggested that the Navy was actually pushing the Abyssal Fleet back towards their bases. Filled with adrenaline, the feral kept up her own bombardment. Abyssal shots and seaplane attacks fell upon her, but she powered through. If she could just see her friends safely back aboard to resume healing or man the cannons, maybe, just maybe, they could make it through.



For a fortune-seeking, glory-hungry go-getter, the adventure never ended, but it paid to take a break now and again. And after trekking a long way, watching the sun set over the immense windmill that stood between him and what every map in Limsa said would be the gorgeous Luma Pools, and spending the night in the village of the hospitable and playful Moki that took uncommon delight in his jokes, Mirage had finally reached vacation central.

And even though the various descriptions he’d heard of the Luma Pools flattered the place, he quickly found that they did not pay this lush forest justice. He’d set out first thing in the morning with an agreeable Moki companion, headed to the Pools herself for some prime fishing. The early sunlight had made the misty scarlet hills beyond the windmill a scene of breathtaking splendor, and as he descended along the river to the Luma Pools the trees and waterfalls just got more and more impressive. A spell of hiking through the pleasantly cool forest of curving trees with broad pink leaves took him past fluffy lemurs and crested gibbons at play near boughs laden with fruit. Finally, between two waterfalls overlooking a lake, in a clearing amid the towering trees he found his own little piece of paradise.



The sight seemed to make the cheery Moki happy, even though she must have seen it a dozen times already. “What do you think? Didn’t I say it would be lovely? So lovely.” She splashed around in the crystal-clear water for a moment before heading toward the cliff. “Have fun, you!” A moment later Mirage was alone, with just the tropical birds and lazy bumblebees for company. In this spot the adventurer could relax in the shade and at his leisure look out across the Luma Pools. The waterfall below him emptied into a sizeable, roughly oval-shaped lake teeming with fishes and corals. On the opposite shore serpentine creatures extended from their holes to wiggle about. On either side of the lake, a river extended to wind through the picturesque pools toward the ocean. Birdsong and the low roar of water filled the air. All in all, it was a wonderful getaway from commissions work, well worth the cost of the planning and supplies to make it out here. The only sour note was a continuous noise, barely audible over the sound of water and difficult to identify, reaching a few miles from the coast where the left-hand river emptied into the sea.



Although feeling a little embarrassed that Linkle continued to attend his well-being, Albedo agreed with her suggestion. A bite of something warm would do wonders to chase out the cold that had settled in his extremities. He looked over to address the bartender, but the astute gentleman had already retreated to prepare a suitable dish, so that left the alchemist with little to do but watch Linkle take interest in the television. Although it represented no more than a novelty to him and in the end a distraction from his research, he could see how someone would be fascinated by the concept.

However, his guess proved only partially right, since it turned out to evoke the memory of a lost ally. Albedo’s face grew serious as she tapped the buttons. One caused the screen to suddenly activate, and the image of a woman with a knife appeared in black and white. He froze, eyes wide, as the unsettling sight and bizarre music struck him. Luckily, Linkle didn’t seem overtaken by either fear or melancholy, and after dealing with the device, instead mentioned someone else putting her lost friend into a machine like this. Such an idea confused the boy, but he shelved that revelation when his new friend prompted him with a question. It was a heavy one, but hardly unexpected; if anything, he would have thought the matter might come up after his earlier demonstration. Could he bring someone back to life?

Despite his forethought it still wasn’t an easy question to answer, so he thought about it. For many such a feat would be not just a monumental achievement but a lifetime goal, but rather than for an accomplishment like that he aimed to learn about the truth in that world. And yet, in the course of his studies, had he not discerned a method by which the impossible could be made possible? The nature of spirits in this world simplified things, after all. So after some consideration, he looked at the Skullgirl square in her unsettling eyes and in a confidential tone told her, “Theoretically, yes.”

He then produced his sketchbook and rifled through it, adding, “Of course, there are some caveats. It starts with dust, requiring a copious amount from creatures similar enough to the one I would want to revive. Then to craft the body I need more expertise with biology than I currently possess. Then I would be able to create life, as I have before. But so far I have only created simple creatures, not meant to stick around, and without their own wills. If they have any behavior, it’s an effect of the ingredients of creation, like baking a flavor into food. For this to work I would need to make a homunculus. A fully functioning body of the same species as the subject, but completely devoid of character. So that when the spirit is applied to the vessel, its transformative power its totally unhindered, and the vessel is shaped exactly to the specifications of the data within the spirit.” He spoke with a sort of determination, as if defining for the first time a process that he hadn’t dared to before, for his own sake as well as Linkle’s.“

With crossed arms, he continued to add caveats. “Naturally, this is only theory. I’d like to say it’s sound theory, but its neither practiced nor proved. And I doubt I would get it right on the first try. Purity of the ashes, aiming for the quintessential qualities shared by them and the subject, and purity of the vessel, aiming for quintessential emptiness, are paramount. The ashes remember their past spirits, after all. Like paper that’s been drawn on, erased, and then drawn over again. Traces of the broad strokes remain. If either purity is off, there may be side effects. Lingering traits, or...or memories, even. So deeply intrinsic to the result that the contamination would be impossible to undo.”

If he had anything else to say, he fell silent as the bartender arrived with two boxes. Albedo peered inside and saw a mixture of noodles, vegetables, rice, and thin cuts of meat. He felt bad about the possibility of Linkle not being able to eat, but he pushed one bowl her way nonetheless. For a moment after taking his own into his hands, he allowed the warmth to sink in, and gave a relieved sigh as the chill bled away. Then he took hold of the utensils offered to him: a pair of thin, connected sticks. “Oh, like in Liyue and Inazuma,” he remarked. “I’ve been once or twice apiece, but I never quite got the hang of these. I hope I’ll have the appetite for all this...” Nevertheless, he tried his luck, and he relished the spicy flavor of the food.

After a few leisurely mouthfuls, he paused to wrap around to something the Skullgirl said earlier. “By the way...you mentioned being dead, and seeing other dead enemies. Maybe this is too personal, but did you really die to become the way that you are? Did you see any enemies die? I’ve encountered a few ‘living dead’, but it seems as though it’s just their state of being. So maybe ‘dead’ isn’t the right word, but I don’t know what I would call them, since ‘not-dead’ would mean alive, wouldn’t it?” He shrugged. Anyway, I would be surprised to hear if you did, since you spoke of resurrection as if it were an exotic concept.”



Insistent rays of sunlight together with the gentle roll of foamy waves against the shore conspired to awaken Sephiroth from her stupor at last. She blearily blinked awake to find herself laying against a grass-topped knoll of sand, her rigging piled beside her. Around her, the expansive beach was empty except for a large, mostly buried creature. Though big, it didn’t do anything but look around, and appeared to be no cause for concern. Here and there were crabs, seabirds, tufts of grass, and discarded shells. Apart from the buried creature, things were normal. Peaceful, even.

Inside Sephiroth it was another story. The pleasant scene stood in such stark contrast to the horrors that flashed in her mind that she couldn’t help but wonder if the events of last night were just a nightmare after all, but no. Her hair and clothes were filthy and damaged. Scars littered her skin. Her hat was gone, and one of the arms of her rigging ended in a torn-off nub of metal rather than a cannon battery. But there were no bloodsuckers around her, no miasma, no derisive laughter or careless whispers. Just her. She must have staggered here during the night and passed out, and at the very least she did feel a little rested. All that remained, then, was where to go from here. She was disheveled, injured, a little loopy, and...thirsty.

Very, very thirsty.

Bowser clung to the shrieking flapping bird for as long as he could as it struggled, flapped and shrieked, claws biting into its flesh and toxic tendrils wrapped around it. Despite these minor wounds dealt by the wrestling match between them, any ideas that he could have dealt with it himself in this state were firmly put to bed as he had to focus most of his attention on not getting his eyes pecked out.

With a screech filled with anger and panic in equal amounts the bird rammed its beak it beak towards the king’s face, trying to stab the curved point at its end into the king’s massive eyeball. In response Bowser tossed his head to the side, causing the blow to merely graze his cheek. Unfortunately it was quite clear that while Bowser often played at being this size, the bird’s natural attunement to it’s epic scale gave it an edge in speed and agility over the inflated ego of the king, letting it come in for another beak blow quick as could be, and this one the king couldn't dodge in time.

So he blinked.

Boney bird mouth-part met scaly eyelid. The king’s armor prevented the soft tissue below from being punctured, but doing little for the blunt trauma the impact caused.

”Gah!” the king roared in pain, loosening his grip as tendrils came up to try and guard his face rather than hold onto the bird, giving it an edge in the fight but forcing it to contend with stabbing toxic tendrils instead even as it began to slip free. Fortunately for Bowser, by that point he’d held on long enough for Geralt to get in place and so when it did rip free from his grasp it was less that he’d let it slip and more because it was reeling in absolute agony from being stabbed in the back.

Down below Kamek and Jr heard the Witcher’s call to go help the others as he flew/was dragged away. At that moment, they certainly looked like they needed it and so the younger and elder Koopa’s sprung into action. The very first thing that happened was that, all at once, the power enlarging Bowser vanished, causing the king to shrink in an instant back to his usual size.

”HEY WHAT THE!” he barked, before realizing his shrinking had left him standing on air. He pinwheeled his arms, the process somehow keeping him in place for a few moments before he dropped down and hit the deck, the landing jarring his knees but otherwise being uneventful. It was nothing compared to the black eye he’d gotten from his tussle with the bird, which he raised a hand to rub and grumble about. He wasn’t opening it any time soon without medical assistance.

Beneath him, the ship began to turn, the less than agile craft banking in an arch to bring itself back towards Shippy. As it did, Hat Kid would get a nice sweeping view of the battlefield, before finding herself pointed back at the ship, able to snipe at the abyssals still targeting it, but also forcing her to have to contend with the risk of hitting their teammates while shooting.

On deck Bowser stomped towards the entrance to the bedroom and bridge area, only for Kamek to push his way out of the door first.

”What was the big idea with dropping me like that!” he complained, only for the mage to push past him.

”they’re in trouble” the mage pointed back at a much smaller but still incredibly beat up Shippy, before mounting up on his broom ”and I need to get over there. Quickly”

The mage was about to take off and leave the ship behind as it turned when Bowser grabbed hold of his broomstick. ”Sire?” the mage asked in confusion, worried that he’d made a mistake or seriously upset his king at a very poor moment, only for the king to pull the broom, with mage in tow, over his shoulder.

”Fast huh? Here” the king said, before taking a running start and then hurling the broomstick like a spear, with the power and skill of an Olympic level javelin thrower, sending it soaring through the sky while bringing the mage along for the ride. Kamek cried out in alarm at the speed, but adapted quickly enough, bending down to reduce air resistance and adding his own power to the flight, allowing him to arrive far quicker than he would under his own power.

The koopa banked in the air and came to a stop above the ship, his clones forming up with him in an instant when he did, just in time for things to take a turn for the better. Blazermate’s heart had already hit home by the time he arrived, refilling shippy’s (now unfortunately smaller) health reserves. And though those below deck had been unceremoniously dumped in the drink, the Azure Navy’s distancing themselves from the ship was fortuitously not the abandonment like some had feared, for Heinrich returned in full force, her fearsome semi independent sea monster ship plowing through foes near the ship, before taking on those far by ordering a bombardment of the bomber swarm, something her allies didn’t need to to be close to provide.

Not to be out done the mage thrust his wand towards those that remained, his trio of red clones doing the same. Together they used Kamek’s fire materia to launch a barrage of quick homing fireballs at their foes, the quadrant of swift shots sailing true and bursting amidst the remains of the swarm.

”The Atomos is on her way, hold fast and we can push through together!” Kamek called out in encouragement before doing his part to ensure they’d live long enough to regroup. He swept a hand filled with dark power over his three red clones, causing magic circles like the ones used by cia to form before them. The circles swept back over the mimics in sync with Kamek’s hand motion, turning their hues dark as the night by giving them ashen grey scales, dark robes the color of dried blood and causing their spectacles to glow a murderous red.

It wasn't a pretty look, but it came with power and that was what mattered right now. The trio took off the moment their transformation was done: faster, stronger, tougher and, most importantly, deadlier. As one they began to unleash a barrage of purple bolts on their more distant foes that hit harder and, most importantly, flew faster than their old basic magics.

Then the mage did the same for his green clone, turning its robes the dark green of the deepest black forest, causing the barrier surrounding the ship to darken and harden as well, resting the incoming fire just a bit better. It also wasn't done buffing, directing its wand at Shippy’s cannons, it caused green magic to glow around their barrels and purple magic circle to form before them, boosting the shots it fired as they raced up the barrel and then enchanting them with a dark aura of power when they exited, causing them to hit harder and be able to be fired at more distant foes, should the need arise.

”and for my next trick!” A quadrant of portals opened up, like the ones Cia had used to create her shadow links. Unlike her, or the similarity transformed Sepheroth, this evil villain didn't have unrequited targets of obsession as the most important people in his life, because had a family.

”let me introduce you to my young master!” he cackled as a gang of four shadow clones of Bowser Junior emerged from the portals, complete with their own shadowy clown cars. They raced forwards, laughing or yelling with childish glee as they deployed mechanical arms ending in boxing gloves, saws, drills and more from their mechanical flying machines and met the close range abyssal that where threatening the ship’s hull or trying to swarm the dunked heroes head on in a brawl above the waves.

Back on the ship, the real jr completed the wide turn necessary to bring them back towards Shippy, bringing their hat kid’ed main weapon to bare in the process, and then gunned the engines, sending the ship roaring back to the fight. They’d need to make another turn once they got there, but as far as jr’s in the moment planning was concerned, that was a problem they could deal with later. Onboard the toadies kept sniping away with their harpoon guns, while Bowser (with riding on Mimi on his head chucking elector balls) add what firepower he could at his smaller size, the slowness and limited range of his regular ranged fare meaning he was mostly bombing anything they passed over.

Sakura took a step back as Geralt gave his command.

(So I should have jumped down earlier!? Ugh! I'm the worst! I wish someone would just tell me what to do! Well, I guess someone just did.)

She looked a little concerned at Geralt's order. But the choice was made for her nonetheless. The bird flew away! With Geralt on it! "Uh oh!" She looked at Bowser, Kamek, and Bella. Bowser was back down to normal size, and Kamek was already preparing to cast some cool spells. Bowser's eye was almost pecked out, too, but he seemed more angry than he did hurt.

It looked like Kamek was about to be thrown. Sakura was probably a little heavier than Kamek, and moreover, she couldn't fly. She kind of wanted to try it out, though. Maybe later. For now she would do her own, controlled descent. Like last time.

"I'm gonna go help out Shippy, too! Ikuzo!" She shouted above the wind. With that, she sprinted at high speed, the wind at her back carrying her even faster.

"Yoisho!" She took a running leap, propelling herself two stories in the air. Now she saw that Shippy was beginning to look different. And also, how bad of a shape Shippy was in. She was hurt- bad. Abyssals were crawling all over the place and turning to dust, but they just kept coming. Sakura cut quite the dramatic figure, soaring through the air. A lot of her loose fitting clothing shot upward, revealing the not exactly elegant gym wear underneath. Her bandana traced an arc behind her head, and her arms and legs wheeled as she soared downwards.

Another thing Sakura realised was how bad of an idea it was to leap off the top of the Atomos when it was this high. And also from the top, with the wind at her back, as opposed to last time where she left through the back door.

"Uh oh!" She tried to course correct, laying flat to slow down. The ocean surface was approaching fast. A second before impact Sakura brought her legs underneath her again, angled her toes downward and brought her arms in an X across her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath and torpedoed down into the water in a small splash that reflected the profeciency in which she entered the water.

Her eyes opened, and beneath her was the abyss of the ocean. She could have sworn she saw dark shapes move within, shadows among shadows. All of it was blurry, the sound of water and muffled warfare in her ears. Down there, there was only unknown evil she could not hope to face.

(Nope nope nope) Sakura pushed herself back to the surface, easily overcoming the weight of her wet clothing and metallic rigging. Once she emerged, she inhaled briefly to get her lungs back to full capacity. The rigging came to life and she was water walking once again.

Shippy was looking a lot healthier! Someone must have Friend Hearted her! "Un! Yeah!" She shouted happily. Sakura also took part in the annihilation of the oncoming bombers, happily firing her cannons into the swarm, since there was no chance of friendly fire.

Sakura zoomed closer, looking to take part in the protection of Shippy. She was unhurt for now, and Sakura was going to help keep her that way.

A madwoman was laughing maniacally while blasting Abyssals to dust. Sakura grimaced and waved her arms frantically, hoping to spare herself of the same fate. "Hey! It's me, Sakura! I'm finally here! Sorry for the delay!" Ace, Blazermate, Link, and Frog were all in the water. They could use her help! Link looked quite different, but she still recognized him. Fusions had a very distinct look about them, in her opinion. He looked strong enough (and had big enough hands!) to help the others overboard. Shippy also looked...a little creepier. But that was okay- Sakura'd get used to it.

Meanwhile, the coolest looking Shipgirl in the world, riding a gigantic metal shark, was tearing through the Abyssals harassing Link and Cadet. It was a gruesome sight, but it was still a victory for the good guys. It also meant her friends would be okay. Kamek's clones and spells were going off, and she felt safer already. She was friends with a freaking wizard!

Not all of Shippy was safe, however. A lot of the action was focused to one side. The port side of the ship (Naval knowledge! Thanks, Araisho.) was mostly unguarded. Abysalls were there clawing into poor Shippy's flank like animals. A weird looking shadow clone of Junior showed up a little bit before her, to help. Cool!

She front flipped and brought her leg down hard, transitioning into an elbow across the ribs. She brought both fists together and hammered the Abyssal upward in an uppercut, and finished off the combo with a sweeping uppercut, her stance going wide as she leaned her whole body into it. "Shouoken! Tshah!" She and the Abyssal both went airborne from the punch. Though it was only a single punch, the impact felt like eight strikes in one as the fist pushed forward. Sakura wasn't fighting to kill, but her hits would hurt. Being defeated by Sakura in this fight didn't mean death, only getting knocked unconscious. As she floated back down, she caught sight of Briney Beard. He was hurt, bad!

"Hey, Briney Beard!" She called out, briefly taking her attention off the Abyssals around here. She doubled tapped her chest and produced a Friend Heart. "Push this into your heart! It'll fix you up!" Keeping pace with Shippy, she threw it with precision to the brave pirate captain.

Sakura was still under the impression that one needed to do the symbolic gesture to be un-Galeemified. It didn't really make too much of a difference, though.

Sakura turned her attention back to the fight, realising she had been distracted. One of them, a hideous monster of teeth and mouths with no beautiful woman attached, lashed out at her. "Ah hah!" Sakura yelped in pain and then gasped, a feminine squeak that sounded like the Abysall had just squeezed a dog toy. Not exactly a heroic expression of pain. She'd tried several times to make herself go Argh or something, but it never worked. She always forgot. Probably because she was getting punched in the ribs.

As it raised it's fist to bring down another bite-punch, Sakura braced herself. The swing was pretty slow and cumbersome compared to someone like Karin. She hadn't really gotten a chance to use this technique, and she'd forgotten about it completely in her fight with Karin.

Pitch black energy swirled around Sakura's silhouette as the swing came in. She took a stance, getting low into a defensive crouch, like she was at the starting block of a track and field race. Timing it just right, the swing came in. Instead of hitting her, it merely grazed off, the swirling energy dissipating the swing completely. At that moment, Sakura shot upward. "Daagh!"

Her knee slammed into the face of the Abyssal with tremendous impact, breaking several teeth and sending it stumbling backwards, crumpling it to it's knees. She brought her elbow down onto it's head with a crash, yellow energy sparking from the impact. Landing on the surface of water, she twisted her upper body, arms wide. "Shunpukyaku!" One, two! Propelling herself back into the air, she brought her spinning leg around, hitting it hard. Landing on her feet she dropped to a knee and gathered yet another Friend Heart into her hand. Time to invent a new move on the spot! That was practically her speciality!

"Yujo-Shouoken!" She shouted. She surged forward like a regular Shouoken, only instead of her powerful fist it was a clawed hand with a glowing pink Friend Heart in the palm. She hit the center of the Abyssal with the Friend Heart. Then she flattened her palm completely and instead of focusing on doing damage, pushed the Abyssal as high and as far away as possible. "Get outta here!" She commanded in an unusual combination of a taunt, a victory cry, and genuine plea.

She span in the air and landed back on the surface and zoomed forward to get back into the fray to further defend Shippy. When an Abyssal was nearly unconscious, she would Friend Heart them where she could. So far she made a friend out of Bella personally, and of Rika when Kamek followed her example. Sakura had no intention of stopping her Friend Heart technique anytime soon.

Sectonia felt odd after absorbing that spirit. She felt... Darker in a way, but not in a bad way. In fact, she felt pretty good overall! The first thing she noticed was that she was a bit smaller. It made sense she guessed, she was much bigger than that dapper spirit. Additionally she noticed she no longer used her wings to fly, her wings folding up behind her with her able to unfurl them at will. An interesting change, this would make sitting far easier thats for sure! Finally she noticed her crown and collar were a bit different, taking on a more dapper appearance instead of her regal one. Without a mirror however she couldn't really tell much more about what happened here.

With her self inspection over, Sectonia made her way back to the fight which had ended as soon as she got back. "Ah, the battle is over then? That brute was certainly after my abdomin. Can't blame him though." Sectonia said, laughing at the end with a slight alteration to her normal laugh with her laugh have a "sha ha ha" to it, although the low "hmm hmm hmm" still existed. Sectonia looked over everyone. Injuries didn't look too bad, and with their doctor here and her magical aura, wounds would be healed in no time. "Good Job everyone." Sectonia said, looking around a bit after saying those words for her little Alcremie pet. Said pokemon was enjoying a strawberry decoration from one of the ruined houses, happily munching on it. Sectonia waited patiently for her to finish before making herself known, spreading her new cape-wings to make a grand show of it. "Glad your not hurt either." Sectonia said, grabbing the Alcremie and petting it before heading to the town square with the others. Alcremie was a bit confused about this person's new look and sudden shift in personality, but enjoyed the attention and relented, enjoying being patted on the head.

Upon reaching the town square, the spoils of the fight were layed out. The two robot spirits to be precise. "I've already found a spirit, so I leave this to you my minions." Sectonia said, giving a regal gesture to everyone else. "By the way. Do any of you have a mirror?" She asked, curious as to what her new form looked like. Tora, being a tired little fluffball, decided to lay down right there as the mercs consoled each other about being or not being effective. Poppi suggested everyone get some sleep as she didn't need to sleep, being a robot and all. "Shut eye sounds good. Although I'd like to know exactly what I look like before then." Sectonia said.

---

---

@Archmage MC@Dark Cloud@Yankee

---

Link felt something wrap around him and begin to pull. He wanted to fight it, but in that moment he began to change. He went momentarily blind as He felt himself stretch, like some Hinox had taken him by the arms and legs and started pulling him like a wishbone. It should have hurt. This sensation should have hurt, his mind kept screaming that, but it didn't. Then the weight, like something else had taken his arms, pulled them straight down. It was only when he finally got his sight back, sight that saw clearly through the waters, that he saw the familiar green skin of the man pulling him toward the shining light of the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs Blazermate rested, standing on the floor like the water didn't even matter to her and occasionally flicking her healing beam off the ship and attaching it to him, Glenn, or...

He followed it and it led him to the Cadet fighting his own struggle against the water. Link knew he still needed to breathe, but even as he tried to be rational he couldn't stop himself from wanting to go back for him. Then to his surprise he felt himself begin to move, his body responding to his will. For a moment he felt Glenn's grip on him tighten as Link moved against it.

Then things began moving very fast. With his new eyesight he saw it clearly, Shippy's mouth at the far edge of the hold swing open. A current formed against Glenn as the water began to spew outward. Link wrapped his arm around Glenn and swung the other to grab the wall of the ship but his fingers couldn't find a grip on the newly metal walls still slick with seawater. His fingers slid uselessly against the inside as everyone in the hold was ejected from the ship and into the open sea.

Link tumbled in the water, still clutching Glenn as he tried to get his bearings. The dark abyss of the ocean stretched out before him, teaming with uncertainty. If that wasn't enough to tell him he was upside down spotting the medabot plunging past him into the depths certainly was. Without even thinking he reached out his free hand and willed himself down towards her, grasping. He immediately discovered two things. The first was that he was fast. He shot down through the water like he was free falling through the air, the only thing he could compare it to was the feeling of ascending a waterfall. Moving through the water felt as natural to him as running through a field. Is this what the Zora felt like all the time?

The second thing he discovered, only after he reached Blazermate, was that his hands were huge. He hadn't had time to notice before, and the difference in the size of the hand he had stretched out in front of him threw off his perspective enough that he accidentally open palm slapped the medabot in the chest because he thought she was farther away than she was. Recovering, though, he just wrapped his fingers around her waist like a child would a doll. She was surprisingly light for something made of metal, something he was glad for as he turned toward the surface and forced himself to zoom upward. He veered only once, extending the arm holding Blazermate in order to catch the Cadet in the crook of it during their ascent.

When he pierced through the veil with his passengers the deep and greedy gulp of air he took in tasted like smoke. He emerged surrounded by floating flings and, to his horror enemies. At first he mistook the giant thing in front of him as one, but when Ms. Fortune cat-womaned one of its gun turrets and opened fire on the Abyssals that still choked the water around them he realized that the massive abyssal looking creature in front of him must have been the ship they had ridden in on. Spirit fusion, like he had suspected. Gunfire ripped up the Abyssals that swarmed around them, and when one like the ones that had boarded the ship earlier closed in on them a shadowy Bowser Jr slammed into it saw first giggling like a madman. He even heard Sakura's voice calling out across the water, spotting the girl on her approach.

That wasn't the only help that appeared. As Heinrich swung around and tore a rift of destruction through any abyssal coming from their left side Link confirmed one more thing: that woman's work was even more impressive up close. More so when she ordered a full concentration of fire on some approaching planes, reminding him of just how many of the shipgirls were around. In his current state that was comforting and terrifying in equal measure, especially given the zeal of their commander. She had the presence of mind not to mistake him for the enemy and blow him out of the water, but in the middle of this battlefield he wouldn't blame anybody if that happened. So long as that didn't happen, though, he was forced to accept this good thinking on Cia's part.

He found himself on a whole feeling much better. Even though they were out here in the thick of it, explosions cracking across the sky and enemies on all sides, it felt less oppressive than it had looked in the hold. Shippy was still under viscous attack, but if they were able to work together like this then they just might be able to do. No more ghosts, at least not today.

Of course, the others wouldn't be much use stranded in the water like this. He extended his arms, Blazermate in one hand and clutching Glenn in the other. Anyone on the ship could defend it. Anyone protecting them was less focused on protecting the ship. This wouldn't be gentle, but at least it would be fast. "Man those guns! Fix the ship!" Was all that he said before flinging his arms forward, one after the other, putting all his strength into tossing the medabot and the knight back up onto the safety of the deck.

He turned to do the same to the Cadet, but in that moment he heard something burst out of the water next to him. He turned to face it just in time to have one of the big mouthed To-class slam into him. If he hadn't had that helmet that massive jaw would have crushed his skull instantly. As such he only watched as the helmet began to crush inward toward him. Thinking quickly, Link wrenched his head backwards as hard as he could while simultaneously unequipping the helmet. The monster's jaws snapped shut just inches from his nose, the extra freedom of movement saving him from certain death. Unperturbed the monster pressed onward, driving Link forward and slamming him against the side of the ship. That massive jaw came down again for the death blow, but this time Link reached forward and grabbed its lower jaw as he willed himself downward. Link felt three of his fingers break as it snapped down on them, the armor and padding the only thing keeping them from being chopped off completely, but it worked. Link shot down, flipping it and pulling it upside down along with him.

It was hard to express something when you didn't have any eyes, but the way the thing thrashed told Link enough. Nothing had ever tried this before. Of course they hadn't. Their enemy, the shipgirls, skated along the top of the water. Why would it ever have to worry about an enemy pulling it under? It adapted quickly, pointing one of its shoulder cannons at him, but that moment of confusion was all Link needed. He pulled the To-class in with one arm even as he reared back with the other, slamming the big fist into the things chest. It gasped, letting go of his fingers as its shots went wild, sinking into the black abyss below as the force propelled the monster upward. In a way as instinctual as propelling himself he willed the cannons on his arms to move. The guns rose in place as he held up his arms, and with one last act of will they fired a wild barrage straight. The To-class vanished in a cloud of smoke and dust, and Link propelled himself upward to catch the spirit left in its wake in his uninjured hand. He crushed it for later use.

Here now, back under the water, and looked up and saw the battle raging overhead. He had to admit, some part of Heinrich's speech must have gotten to him. He still had a surprising amount of breath left, and the thought of how surprised those Abyssals up there would feel if they were suddenly attacked from an unexpected direction momentarily overcame his concern for the Cadet. After all, he could breath now, he was resourceful, and he had those zombies that had been attending to Blazermate in the hold up there to keep him safe until he figured something out.

He raised his arms again and took as careful aim as he could before he started blasting at the abyssal firing line focusing on Shippy from underneath. He wondered how long he could go with these things before they wore out and crumbled to nothing?

---

---

The only reason Linkle seemed so calm was because the woman in the television had triggered some kind of primal freeze response in her, as though she were a rabbit in the sights of some huge predator. She let the song play for around seven seconds before she got control of herself back and pressed the button again, switching the black box off before it attacked.

She reconsidered her feelings on modern technology. Maybe it was for the better that they didn't have it.

Her attention was arrested as Albedo began to speak again. When he said "theoretically possible" she only heard the possible part, and as he pulled out his sketchbook she stepped over to look at it over his shoulder. As he explained, however, her face started to fall. Some of it admittedly went over head but she had picked up the gist, and the gist was...

Well, well, there is your solution. All you have to do to make it a reality is gather enough dust just like you. Oh, but where oh where will we ever get that much dust?

Linkle's fists tightened as the smug voice echoed through her skull.

Let's see what we have in here. There were those men from the badlands, but their dust is long blown away by now. Moving on to other options. That Cid fellow you owe money too, the Junpei boy who made a fool of you, the king of dice if you make sure to cut off his head. I'm sure you could use that man trapped in the frozen hell once you find a method of murder that sticks.

She tried to drown it out with the grinding of her teeth.

Oh, but he'll need to test won't he? Do you have enough enemies for that? Of course, minor sacrifices could be made. The Lumbridge sheriff, even if it would break my heart to leave his poor doggie all alone. The adorable chicken man, he stole from you anyway. Those two men from the lake were Hylian, they would work extra well. Pile on a few heroes too, do we really need more than one running around? I'd suggest Ryu but you would probably just lose again.

Mr. Kashiwagi brought them their bentos, the steam pouring out when Albedo pulled up the lid. It smelled so good. Focus on the smell.

Have you considered that gender matters though? In that case I'm afraid your options are more limited and a lot more familiar. There's that nice girl from the guild. You know? The one the Cadet likes. Annnnd the fortune teller. I guess Dante would count as well. You could use Din, if you could work up the nerve to hit her this time. Or that girl Mina who decided she couldn't hack it after you tried so hard to make friends with her. But wait, you don't want to see her in your state. After all, you promised to be less reckless.

Albedo was talking again. Just listen to him, not this. Just listen to...now he decides to be succinct! No, tell the entire history of Inazuma. A place where people eat with sticks, that's got to be fascinating! Please!

Stop. Shrinking. Away.

Linkle sat at the bar, hand around the cup Albedo had passed her ready to slam the noodles like a shot of whisky in the hopes that taste or pain might work. The last thing it had said wasn't condescension or mockery though. It was scorn, like being scolded by a teacher who had always had it out for you.

You understood the implications when you asked. You understood where the dust would have to come from. How many enemies have you seen collapse? You knew it would take more than just the dust from your own body, why deny it? Not even you're that stupid. Somewhere in your mind you can look at these people and see nothing but resources to be spent. After all, they're not important. Not as important as you.

That was a lie.

Then why consider it at all? It's not as though their sacrifices would be in vain, and you can't deny that your wonderful skills are uniquely suited to creating vast quantities of dust. They would be giving up their lives to save the world as well. It would be a great honor, being mixed into the clay that will become a great hero. That's how you can rationalize taking in spirits so readily, isn't it? They're not really gone, even he said so. You'll just carry them along with you. By your own logic it wouldn't be so wrong.

For just a moment she could imagine it, or maybe it imagined it and showed it to her. Her, normal, standing on the ramparts of a resplendent castle, larger than even the great city of Alchamoth. A noble hero, master sword raised high in the air, surveying the land. Evil vanquished, princesses saved, Hyrule safe. But as the wind blew bits of the castle were carried away with it. It was made of ash, and no matter how far Linkle gazed she couldn't find any people upon the land.


The facts are, child, that now you have a method to save the world from a great evil. All it takes is the courage to carry it out. But, speaking as your heart? I can't feel a drop of the stuff.

Just then Linkle heard something start up. The tinkling of fingers sweeping across a pianos keys. The steady, repeated strum of a string. She looked up from where she had been staring, vacant, down into her noodles and over at the record player but the song it had been playing had long since ended. Nevertheless, she heard it thrumming along in her head.

Ooh
Buckle up tonight
You wanna get away
Forget it, baby
Got you in my sights
They never got
They don't ever learn

Hell, for heaven's sake
In just a moment's time, you'll wonder why you
Ever thought you'd ever look
For more than you've got
'Cause, baby, you
You've got you and me

As the music faded away Linkle was left shivering as though all the cold of the day had finally settled on her. Albedo was asking her something, and she shook her head and took a few deep breaths to try and compose herself and listen. It was about being dead, and she felt herself grimace. "I...uh..." she started, haltingly, looking down. Settling down. Settle down!

She took her hands and rubbed her face with them. Don't show them. Don't be...whatever it was that the Skull Heart wants you to be. Weak, sad, don't be that. Be stronger than that. Be a hero. Be the hero that you are. Linkle suddenly opened her eyes, reached down, brought the noodle bowl up to her face, and began to drink the broth. She felt the liquid course down her throat. It hurt a little, but the warmth settled there in her chest and began to radiate across her room temperature body.

Sighing into the bowl, she set it back down. "That was just what I needed." She said, trying to sound cheerful. At least the shivering had stopped. She turned to Albedo, "I'm going to be as straightforward as I can." She said, just repeating the phrase seeming to give her a little extra resolve. "I told you I hadn't been dead long. What I meant was, I died earlier today. Me and my friends were trying to find...you know the crazy guy who can't die? Every area in the world has a guardian like that and we were after the one in the Dead Zone. We had to fight a girl named Marie to open the way, she was a dead girl with a bunch of skeletons she summoned up. Some of them shot me, that's why I have..."

Linkle stopped and pulled open her cloak, pointing to the bullet holes still in her suit. "I didn't see a lot of the fight since that happened at the very start, but it's not how I died. I got up from that. When the fight was over a lot of the skeletons collapsed. Some didn't. Some became friendly. I never saw her make a "living dead" out of anyone that wasn't a pile of bones beforehand. If you're talking about just the skeletons some died and so did Marie. She left behind a spirit and everything. But she also left behind...an...evil talking skull that was inside her. It was called the Skull Heart, and it offered every girl there a wish so long as the wish was pure. I took it because I thought I could outsmart it. I thought I could make the most unselfish wish possible, but I don't think anyone can outsmart it. I think it will always see the worst in you, no matter what. Now it lives in my chest and it was just now mocking me for thinking I could get rid of it."

"So maybe I'm not dead dead but I was definitely alive before I felt all my blood stop and now I'm something else. I guess back home they would call me a ReDead or a Gibdo or maybe a Stalinkle. You're right, there should be a word for what this is." She reached down and took another shot of broth, slurping up a few noodles this time in the process. "You're a great cook, Mr. Kashiwagi. These are really good."

---

It'd been a heck of a journey, but Mirage had finally arrived at his destination. The highly regarded Luma Pools! Overall, the supplies he had bought allowed him to make the trip pretty smoothly. Sure, they were savings to help fund his adventures further out into the world, but what was a vacation aside from that, right? After months of nonstop work, a man had to step back and reflect a little! On the good, and the bad, as he walked with this small creature he had only met the night prior, called a 'muukey' or something, he thought he was informed the night before? He honestly hadn't kept too much track, being too busy being the life of the party and basking in the beautiful taste of humor they all had. These little guys and gals were folks he'd party with any day! And the fresh fruit was delicious.

His thoughts changed to the bad. All that work, and he still had himself nowhere closer to finding a way home. This world seemed to almost be adapting into it's own, like it wasn't ever going to go back to normal. That worried Elliot a lot, as he couldn't help but think of what his mother's mental state would become without her favorite Apex Legend in the Games! Even if she identified Elliot, her son, and Mirage, the Legend, as different people. In a way, that made Elliot think it'd be worse for her. She'd think she lost two of the things that gave her joy in life, and he couldn't accept that.

God, he needed a distraction. Maybe the vacation was a bad idea? Now he was just thinking a lot, and that wasn't doing him any favors in relieving stress. Looking at the beautiful landscape around him, Elliot couldn't believe all that was said about this place was true. Truly, it was beautiful, and it felt like a gift to be in such a tranquil looking place. He'd worked hard to get here, and he'd try his best to enjoy it, and maybe even discover something nifty along the way. Though Elliot wasn't particularly looking for trouble on his vacation, trouble seemed to find him in this world. If his work so far taught him anything, at least. Though he had a tendency to make decisions that got him into hot water...

His thoughts were peeled away from the mess in his mind as his little companion spoke. He scanned the clean, beautiful view before him, seeing the perfect vacation spot as the small creature splashed around in the clear water. He perked up, a small grin gracing his features as seeing her having fun honestly lifted his spirits. "Oh wow, this place really looks speh- spetacky--? Uh, looks great!" He responded, the more complex word escaping him. Before he knew it, the 'muukey' was running off, telling him to have a good time. Elliot waved at her departure, before finding himself utterly alone, and curious.

The wildlife out here was certainly interesting, as he had noticed some monkey-like creatures on the way in. And as he glanced into the depths of the crystal clear water, he saw all sorts of water life. He was almost tempted to take a dip to get a closer look at the corals, but who was to say there wasn't a huge monster down there? THe muukey didn't seem scared, but it also wasn't going deep either. And Elliot wasn't exactly sure of himself with no gun underwater. No, Elliot decided he'd spend time on land for now, maybe relax in the sun that shined down in certain spots from the trees.

That's when he saw it; A place where the sun was beaming down from between the leaf-covered limbs above, seemingly perfect for his relaxing pleasure. But there was an issue in the fact it was on the other shore, though it didn't seem terribly far? The water wasn't too dangerous to swim, but Elliot didn't want to get damp. There also seemed to be some weird, wiggly creatures coming out of the ground to take in that sun. Elliot would unfortunately have to deal with this after he managed to get over there.

Elliot scanned the area for solutions, finding an option that seemed suitable enough: The plentiful trees weren't only beautiful, but looked like they could serve as a utility for Elliot to get across! But first he had to get down there, to the lake itself. Which was simple enough, considering the jetpack attached to his lower back would allow him to nail the landing. At least he hoped.

Committing to the jump, Elliot took a leap towards the mossy, rocky ground below. The pack on his back lowering his downward momentum enough to allow him to land with slight grace, or at least he would have if he hadn't slipped on the wet rock and stumbled forward, falling and barely catching himself as the tips of his hair dipped into the water. Pulling himself up, he pouted at the water dripping from the tips of his hair, the cool droplets hitting his nose and cheeks. He was close now, all he had to do was head over towards the trees, which he did at a brisk pace.

He felt confident in his idea, pout turning to smug curve of his lips as he reached out and pulled a low-hanging vine. He tugged on it in an attempt to ensure it wouldn't just fall, and it seemed sturdy enough. He'd seen stuff like this in a few movies, and it couldn't be much harder to jump from a vine than the ziplines in the Apex Games, right? Just get vine to vine, think of it as a workout routine. Yeah, he could do this!

Gripping the vine, Elliot ran forward and took another leap, though this time it wasn't off a high place. The low hanging vines allowed Elliot to swing a decent distance towards the other shore, being plentiful enough for the man to yell out his excitement as he released one vine, clinging to the next to continue his swing. The toes of his shoes momentarily skimmed the water but he didn't much care as he released the next vine at the height of his swing, landing with some finesse before mockingly bowing to no one, just impressed by his own actions.

Finally, he could observe this wiggly things and think. They weren't exactly friendly looking, but they also didn't look terribly dangerous. Regardless, Elliot had a method for testing the dangers of such situations. He pointed forward, activating the holo-tech on his suit with confidence. "Go foozle, bamboozle!" He said as he deployed his decoy, sending it walking towards the wiggly creatures to get an idea of how violent they were. He wasn't sure if they'd attack or not, so sending the decoy seemed like a great idea. If anything, maybe it could scare them away from his beam of sunlight and he'd get to lay down in peace.

As the decoy made it's way towards the creatures, Elliot found himself distracted by a sound that ear wormed it's way into his head at this point: It was coming from the direction of the ocean, he thought? And he couldn't exactly identify it, it made him think back about the Games and how you could hear heavy fighting from so far away in the arenas, even if it ended up eventually becoming faint. Annoyed, he looked in that direction with squinted eyes while waiting for his results, asking himself: "The heck's going on out there? Before deciding that it was currently not more important than getting his sun on, so he looked back at the wiggly creatures with high expectations.

Laharl was so caught up in his own self-centeredness that he failed to realize he had been nearly flattened by the giant robot, but he hadn't missed the name calling which pissed him off and interrupted his thoughts both of which furthering
the annoyance of the lowly miscreant whom had the audacity to call him such a name.

However his thoughts were so clouded with blind arrogance that he hadn't paid the slightest bit of attention, so he couldn't figure out who must have called him a 'Pipsqueak'. Looking annoyed and more than a little indignant the boy narrowed his eyes as he regarded those around him, to them he must be just an annoying little brat and to him they were simply insolent fools but somewhere deep within his conscience Laharl just wanted to feel useful and well liked except his upbringing had made him self-important yet also less confident in himself.

Therefore all the boy wanted was to be praised, it was hard to be an Overlord especially now since he had nothing to rule and nobody to turn to for support. Without anything how could he possibly be useful? He couldn't even impress the people he momentarily assisted in combat. It seemed that the dust had finally settled and slowly the settlements inhabitants came to congratulate their saviors for vanquishing both Goliaths.

Laharl would have gladly stayed behind to accept the attention as the village savior, but he wasn't comfortable with the
amount of positivity being expressed "Disgusting." the boy grimaced looking slightly uncomfortable, Laharl quickly backed away from the group "Stupid kindness." with a pained look he retreated within the ruined house he had awoken in.

Content that her second spell struck home, Primrose huffed and cast the shirtless boy a curious look. Well... honestly it was more disconcerted than curious. After jumping into the battle he'd suddenly stepped back and was now... sulking? She rolled her eyes, though her hood hid her gaze either way.

Within a few moments Fox lent them a hand - apparently the other robot must have been handled - and Midna paralyzed it. At that point Primrose made use of her self-boosted magic and hurled a few more handfuls of dark energy at the thing. She wasn't sure if her magic had any great effect on it, but it didn't hurt to put more damage on the construct. Things came to a decisive end with Mona's last flashy attack. Primrose raised her arms to shield herself from the debris that flew out when the robot and car-cat smashed into the ground - the sticky, soft, edible dessert debris. Once Mona transformed back into his regular self (or at least the usual form that Primrose knew him in), she lowered her arms and looked down at herself. Not that bad, she thought, apparently standing far enough away not to be completely covered in chocolate and frosting. She swept off what food particles did make it to her, flicking pieces off of her skin and garb. Despite the noise of battle and the loud sounding of some kind of horn, no other enemies showed themselves. Maybe they were already far enough away from the smaller robots for them to know where they were. The town was still. Primrose exhaled - maybe they could rest now after the long day.

"I haven't carried a mirror in some time," she told Sectonia. "Perhaps you can try seeing your reflection in a sword, or Alibaba could show you a vision of yourself." Naturally she didn't offer her dagger, but there were a couple of others with metal weapons that might be able to catch the queen's visage in the moonlight. The easiest option might be with Necronomicon's help, though. The craft was flying down to them now that the danger had passed.

As for Primrose herself, she was planning to retire for the evening. She nodded a goodnight to Poppi as she and a tuckered out Tora retreated. The rest of the group stood in the town center, glancing around at the various homes both damaged and intact. She figured that the Phantom Thieves would find a spot to hole up together, and the rest of them would split up too. The town wasn't huge, but it was still an entire town - so there were multiple houses to choose from.

Primrose crouched down to the chocolate rabbit creature's height and smiled lightly at it. "Could you show me to a more secluded spot to sleep?"

"Of course!" the rabbit said, though she looked between the dancer and the rest of the group and titled her head, pondering, "but don't you want to stay with your friends?"

'Friends' is a strong word. Primrose turned her head, looking back at the group as well. Eventually her gaze settled on Fox. In one fluid motion she stood up again to address the mercenary. "Even with Poppi keeping watch, if it would be better to stay near each other we can divide ourselves between men and women," she suggested. Primrose glanced back to the rabbit. "You could show me there now, and if any of the girls want to join me later could you show them the way as well?"

The rabbit nodded enthusiastically, encouraged by this plan. Apparently it placed a lot of stock in friendship. "This way!" She said, hopping down a trail a little further into town. Primrose followed the creature, waving over her shoulder at the rest of the Yellow Team as she went. Unsurprisingly the entire village was the same as the center, completely made of sweets. As the pair walked the rabbit explained this and that, like what the town was named (Parnasse) and what kind of species she was (something called a 'Cybunny'). None of it was very enlightening, but Primrose hummed to show she was paying attention. Eventually she and the Cybunny came to a small house with a few holes in the roof. The Cybunny proudly stated that it was her current home and opened the door. The inside was empty except for various edible pieces of furniture and tooth aching decor.

...or so she thought. Once they stepped inside, a shadow ran across the floor. Primrose halted, her hand at her hip flickering with embers as though she were going to quick draw a fireball at any moment. The Cybunny cast a worried expression at her.

"What is it?"

"Something moved."

"Something? Oh! That's probably just Jinjah! He's my petpet. I'm glad he's alright, when I went to visit my friend and got stuck in that sap, I was so worried about him..."

Primrose stood there waiting for any elaboration, but instead the Cybunny walked farther into the room and shouted, "Jinjah, I'm home! We have a few guests in town!"

The something showed itself again, peeking out from behind a pastry in the shape of a large comfy chair. It was barely larger than her own hand, and with that permanent smile plastered onto it's face "Jinjah" was about as far away from threatening as one could be. Primrose relaxed, and half of a laugh even escaped her mouth.

"I see. Well, thank you both for your hospitality."

The Cybunny and her petpet nodded in unison and smiled. "My pleasure! It's the least any of us could do. Make yourself at home. I'll be back later, okay? Good night!"

The Cybunny headed back to the town center with Jinjah sitting snug on her fluffy tail. Once the door closed and she could no longer hear them, Primrose looked around the house some. She found a room that seemed to be for hosting, with a sofa and a hearth beside it, a very fake fire made of hard colored candy gingerly placed on rolled cakes resembling logs. Primrose eyed the couch, weariness coaxing her to just lay down and sleep. While she intended to do just that, she summoned enough energy to pull the hippo robe from her bag and spread it over the top of the couch. She smoothed it down, forming a barrier between herself and the confection she'd be sleeping on.

Gently she laid on top of it. On her back, Primrose removed her face veil and threw an arm over her eyes, the other over her stomach. She curled her legs up close to herself and sighed. As her mind raced towards sleep it started to process everything that'd happened that day: seeing the heroes arrive at the Alcamoth, choosing to join them and leaving to venture through the mountain range into the desert, finding and boarding the Naboris and making their way to Lakeside and the Pyramid, finding Alibaba, making it to the wall and through to the Oasis, running across the metal tracks away from that giant beast and into the bizarre dessert land, and now resting here at Parnasse after fighting two giant metal men.

All that in one day, and still a ways to go, she mused. Orsterra seems so far away now.

Moonlight filtered in from the holes in the roof, providing enough light to see by but not enough to be obstructive to slumber. Primrose turned over onto her side facing the room's doorway. She stared at it until her eyelids drooped and she dozed off.

Midna had the indecency to turn and look down at Laharl smug as a snake while behind her minion tore the robot’s many heads to pieces in a flurry of devastating crunches. A little too smug, considering she hadn’t actually finished the job.

”And that’s how it’s do-” she began to say, before Mona smashed down on the not quite dead robot behind her, causing the princess to flinch away while reflexively covering her head and dramatically bringing the robot to its end.

”Goddesses that was close.” she breathed as she tried to regain her composure, and then agreed the the cat ”Yes, please don’t pull that again”

Despite it ending in close shave with a falling vehicle for the princess, the battle had gone decently. Only one casualty among the trapped townspeople and all of their team members had gotten out without a scratch. She glared at the fairy for the risk her big mouth had put everyone in and the death she’d caused, but as her initial admonishment hadn't had much of an effect the look wasn’t going to have much of an impact either. So she sighed and put it aside for now.

Overall the whole escapade had turned out fruitfully and hadn’t just been a heroic waste of time of energy. The boy, who’s final contribution was to be disgusted at the concept of kindness before retreating into a house, looked like he’d be a childish pain if he stuck around at all, and the fairy didn’t seem to be a bit of a nuisance who didn’t know much about the area, but the actual townspeople were helpful enough, offering to allow them to stay as thanks for freeing them. Not that they could stop them from doing so, but this did make things easier and they seemed to have some local expertise, which would be useful later.

As much as Midna would have preferred to keep going through the night and sleep through the day, she was likely the only one who preferred the dark to the blinding day. Also she was tired too, it had to be said. So the princess did not raise any objections to the idea of getting some rest, or to Primrose’s suggestion they segregate the sleeping places by gender (putting the Medic away from her and the now more dapper Sectonia was probably for the best, even if she did respect him more than she had when they met).

Still, there were a few loose ends to handle first, namely those still trapped in crystal who hadn’t been killed by a flying street lamp.

”Guess I’ll keep being the rescuer princess then… actually. Poppie, mind if you help me get the last few people out of the crystals before you take watch?” she asked, and would direct the robot to a few if she accepted.

The chocolate kangaroo's rescue was rather uneventful, but when she came to the first of what she’d label the travelers she had an idea that was all too clever for her boots. Seeing as they were already helpless and at her mercy, what better time to lay a quick smack down and introduce them to a friend heart, she thought.

Her test subject for this idea was a human clad in purple armor with one oversized hand. Frozen in crystal, the man’s nefarious nature wasn't on display, and Midna only realized that the combination of the large lenses on his helmet and the grill on his chest combined to give the appearance of a skull in retrospect. As a result she presumed him to be some kind of knight. In the end it didn't really matter either way. As far as the princess was concerned, she had the element of surprise and nothing she’d met so far could stand up to a good shadow handing, so friend or foe, they were being dealt with smoothly.

She landed in front of the crystal, wound an elbow in a stretch while she brought out her shadow hand and then tapped on the crystal with a shadow claw, shattering it and freeing its captive.

“-this then,” the trapped man finished saying the sentence he’d been saying before being trapped, and before he could adjust to his current situation he was grabbed by Midna’s shadow hand “wow!”

”Hold still, this’ll only hurt for a second,” the princess told him, holding him slightly aloft with a shadow hand large as he was and starting to crush him in her grasp while summoning a friend her with her free hands.

“Getting kinda mixed messages here” the villain commented upon seeing the heart, his voice strained yet simultaneously sounding entirely nonplussed about being in the process of being squeezed half to death.

Then he exploded.

The blast forced Minda’s grip apart, but left the man standing entirely unharmed in its wake.

”What?! How?” Midna demanded to know as she stepped back defensively

“Explosion proof suit!” he announced triumphantly, before demonstrating where the explosion had come from by yelling “eat grenade!” and directing the palm of his oversized hand at her and firing a pill shaped explosive out of a hole at its center.

Minda brought her shadow hand in front of her to guard, the shot detonating on the orange energy, but while she was protecting herself the armored villain rushed in, winding up a big punch with that same oversized fist.

Midna hit the ground with her shadow hand and then used it to push her to the side, letting her slide out the way of the blow. She slid to a halt and then swung the hand around behind her as her opponent’s hit the candy wall of the house with a crunch. He pushed back off the wall as he turned, and moved then to charge again, only for Minda to spray twilight sand in his face.

“Gah pocket sand! That is so cheap!” he complained, wiping at his eyes with one hand while blindly firing a grenade with the other, forcing Midna to guard again rather than attack again.

Or that was his plan. Instead, while the grenade did force Midna to block she was still able to move in other ways, and so the two of them briefly ended up sharing the enclosed space with giant wolfos.

“What! Oh... good dog?” her foe said when he saw it though the sand grains before screaming “Ahhh!” as it bit him on the arm and tossed him across the room into a bookshelf before vanishing back to the twilight realm.

He started to pull himself up, only to be grabbed by a shadow hand and smashed head first into the opposite wall, before Midna pulled him back into much the same position they’d started in, him held in her grip before him and a friend heart in her hand.

“Really, squeeze again? really? We both know how this ends-” he mocked despite his bruised face and bleeding nose before the princess hefted the heart and prepped to throw, “Hey wait no what are you doing with that!”

He exploded again but rather than flinch away the princess hurled the heart at the wounded man., then she stepped back as the smoke cleared, leaving him standing there with a look of revelation on his face.

”You remember now? That this world is wrong? We don't need to fight any more” Midna asked/told him, stepping back but holding a defensive posture still just in case.

“Urgh. yeah.” he agreed, dropping the rest of his own combat ready stance that hadn't been wipe by the flash of memory.

”Good,” she nodded before calling out ”WE’RE OK IN HERE, JUST DEALING WITH A GALEEMING!” to levy any concerns of any people rushing to her aid. Over all the close range fight had taken moments, leaving little time for it to disrupt anyone else's evening, baring waking up any quick sleepers.

“Galeeming huh...” the man said, one arm crossed over his chest, supporting his elbow as he contemplatively rubbed his chin.

”Yes, its-.”

“No no, let me guess,” he told her, raising a hand to stop her. He thought for a moment, then took a look outside at those of their diverse team that were still visible. Then he stepped back into the room and after giving it a few more moments seemed to put everything together “So... Your a princess-”

”Yes but how-”

“No one else would wear something that garish crown on their head”

”It’s more of a helmet. Or a mask. And it wasn't always gold” Midna explained, but it didn't real matter, he'd guessed correctly

“But I’m still right right? Right. So you're a princess, and you and your little band of heroes are traipsing around the land hunting down some mcguffins or lieutenants or something to collect or deal with and then your going to take the fight to some big bad evil guy in-order to put everything back to normal right? and while your at it you’re freeing people who have been put under the influence or hypnosis or spell or mind control or whatever of this guy and recruiting everyone that seems useful, like me, to your cause?”

”I... Yes? Do you want to help” Midna asked, a bit take a back by this somewhat accurate deduction.

The man snorted and then burst out laughing with a nefarious canter “gahahahahahahahahahahahah- Me? No. No way. No” he shook his head “Look thanks for freeing me. Twice I guess. But I don’t owe you or the world putting my life on the line to fight… whatever did this just because you did me a favor, alright? I’ve got my own stuff to deal with now, people I need to find. You know how it is.”

”I get worrying about your own but-” Midna began, thinking she could relate to his attitude but he rudely cut her off again.

“Nah don’t give me some bigger picture crap. Look. I’m not a hero. I’m a bad guy. A damn good one too. Now I’m not going to stop you, and hey, maybe I’ll repay the favor some point down the line when I've got my shit together. But right now, I’ve got stuff to deal with and I’m not joining up on your little quest. I’m sure you can handle it, Hero’s always do,” He told her, before raising a hand to his ear and activating some kind of transmitter on his helmet.

“Hey. Becky. This is Crow. Come in Becky. Or anyone really. Random minions? Someone pick up the damn phone already!” he said into it, getting more and more frustrated as the silence or static coming from it carried on carrying on.

”That’s probably not going to work” Midna told him

“Like hell it is. I don't care what the worlds like now-”

”big messed up amalgamation of basically every world ever, and maybe every time too, all mushed together into a dangerous and violent patchwork quilt by a giant glowball with rainbow wings that's also the sun”

“Wow really? Ok that's pretty wack. Still not helping. Look, the Sovereign’s the greatest airship. An epic flying fortress of my own design. Doesn't matter if the world is a big patchwork or on fire or something, it'll be out there and Becky, my secretary, will have kept it and my minions together… I just need a better signal is all, hang on,” the man, who hadn’t introduced himself as such but was presumably called Crow, said before stepping outside and trying to climb onto the roof.

“Give me a leg up will you” he asked, before being roughly shoved up onto it by Minda’s shadow hand “you really like to manhandle people with that thing huh. Or woman handle, I guess. Anyway. Hey. Becky. Please do your damn job and pick up already!”

”You’re fooling yourself. Trust me. But you can yell at the sky all night if you want for all I care. Or don't actually, the rest of us are going to get some sleep” Midna called up at him, before throwing up her hands in frustration as he flipped her off and kept trying to contact his ship. Sighing exasperatedly she turned, washed her hands of the whole situation, and left him to it.

Having had wretched luck with the non animal people in town Minda decided to call it a day. It sounded like people were already dealing with the others anyway.

The princess was directed to the house where Primrose had set herself down to sleep by its owner, and then found herself a room/corner to herself. After piling up her slippers, knee-socks, earrings, singular Spaulder (it did not like being on it's own, threatening to destabilize if it was, but seemed happy enough to be off her if it was nestled among her things) and the fused shadow to one side she settled down to rest. Lacking an improvised bed sheet like Primrose had, she instead summoned one of her wolfos and used its curled up form and her own long waist wrap to make a somewhat cramped but very soft and warm stickiness free sleeping area.

It was a nostalgic night’s rest.

Silence fell upon the village of Parnasse into the late hours of the night, broken only by the sporadic and distant chatter of those still awake from the center of the small settlement. Had it been easier to sleep the young boy might have rested, except Laharl was afraid of waking up in a different place again and less so because he felt nervous around such strange people in a place alien to him, but he was also cold from hours of lying in the debris of the house he had been trapped within.

Shivering the boy finally sat up and looked around, and saw nobody. Everyone had moved on and forgotten about him, it was probably the best decision they could make. A few lights were on in the streets, but the remains of the house he sat in as well as those around it were bathed in the cool pale light of the moon hanging high in the night sky.

Shuddering he rose up on his hands and knees, while he was reminded by the memory of a much brighter light that suddenly consumed everything in it's path. It was a painful thing to see the expression of his vassal Etna looking truly afraid as she was blown into nothing by the light.

Sniffling as he rose out of the house, Laharl blinked back tears as he couldn't show his weakness to those around him even if it seemed nobody was watching. Overlords were supposed to be strong, and weakness like emotions had no place in the Netherworlds.

Slowly he climbed up the gingerbread houses remaining wall, standing intact with a portion of it's glazed rooftop. Laharl sat with a sigh as he watched some people interact with each other, it was a little amusing and helped the boy smirk a little.

Geralt's entire body was tense, muscles working overtime to keep him from falling off the flailing, screeching megabird as he ascended its body. As he stabbed his sword into the monster, he noticed once or twice that it seemed to careen in the direction the blade was turned. After all, it was hardly an easy feat to keep a sword in perfect alignment with previous stabs while desperately hanging on for dear life.

It was at this point that Geralt was finally able to start taking in the bigger picture of what was going on around him. And damn, had he missed a lot. Shippy was now much smaller, looked more heavily armored, and the Abyssals surrounding her were being blown to bits by their allies. Bowser and the others had listened to him and left to help the others, leaving him to deal with this bird thing on his own. Good.

He wasn't entirely certain that this harebrained scheme of his wouldn't end up in his timely death, but frankly, he didn't give a damn. Leaving this thing to do what it wanted was an idiotic idea, and Shippy needed the Atomos focused on protecting her. Speaking of which, he'd noticed that Shippy was very strangely devoid of any real damage, and he thought he knew why. Sakura all but confirmed it for him when he saw her, out of the corner of his eye, Friend Heart and knock another Abyssal out rather than kill it. It was certainly not terribly surprising, but he still rolled his eyes.

Focusing back on the matter at hand, Geralt took a closer look at the monster bird that he was riding on. Its back was...not in good condition, blood trickling down in some places, and flowing freely in others. Between the numerous stab wounds, Geralt's bleed amulet, and the sheer blunt force trauma Sakura unleashed upon it, this thing wouldn't last much longer.

Unless he himself pulled a trick from the Street Fighter's playbook.

Taking careful hold of the Helmaroc King, Geralt stowed his sword in its scabbard, the braced himself against its body as he reached inwards with his now free hand. The feeling was rather unpleasant, simply put. It was hard to describe exactly what the sensation was, but it was not something Geralt was eager to repeat any time soon.

Friend Heart in hand, Geralt shoved his hand against the creature, pushing it into the monster and, hopefully, freeing it from Galeem's control. He could only pray that it would be susceptible to the next part of his insane plan. Still carefully holding to his host, Geralt drew the Sign of Axii with his hand, pushing more power than he normally would use for this kind of thing into it.

"Calm, now. Just calm." Yep, perfect plan, nothing insane about using a Stamina-draining magical Sign while flying hundreds of feet in the air above a battlefield, no sir.

As Red ran off, trying to get the metal monster’s attention, Yoshitsune gathered all his energy in the Amahagane and activated it to its second level, allowing him the chance to stab his blade into the joint more precisely. However, it didn’t do too much against the metal monster and he lost his grip on his sword, unable to stop it from flying from his grip. With a grunt, he landed and immediately spun to jump for his sword again, only to see it shatter in the joint. With a roar of rage and sadness, he grabbed what remained of his blade and landed with tears. Knowing it wouldn’t do much but needing to let out some anger, he revved his engines and ran alongside the robot, punching its feet every chance he got until his hands were covered in blood. In pain, both physical and emotional, he fell to his knees and looked at the shattered remains of his blade that had once been his father’s.

While lost in his own little world, he didn’t notice the battle ended and everyone was going to begin splitting their prizes.

Yoshitsune slowly moved, gathering every shard he could find of the sword. If he could find every piece, there’s a chance he could have the blade repaired. He just didn’t know anyone who could…

With the pieces pocketed, he began wandering the town, looking for a place he could rest. Glancing through a window, he saw more trapped beings. With a renewed vigor, he drew his remaining sword and began chopping away at the sap to free everyone he could find. His engines could be heard running wildly around the town, into and out of buildings, and with a lot of chipping and shattering of the sap traps that he’d been getting more and more familiar with.

At one point, he came to the raccoon in blue. Seeing as he wasn’t natural to this town, he freed only his top half. “Are you friendly?” he asked, slowly chipping at the edge of the sap as he waited for the thief’s response.

For a moment Sly looked both bewildered and bleary, as if awoken suddenly from a deep slumber. He shrunk away from the well-armed man before him as best as his imprisonment could allow, trying to find his voice. "Ugh...fuh...friendly? Trapped is what I am...uh, but sure. Friendly as it gets! Sure don't want any trouble..." Fully conscious again, he discreetly tested the sugar crystals around his lower half and found them reasonably brittle.

“I’ll give you all the details you need to know from me and you can decide to join us, go your own way, or try to attack us and die.” With a sigh, he proceeded to tell Sly nearly everything he’d found out that day about the group’s main goal as well as the fact there was at least one other group, most likely two, focusing on the same task in a different part of the world.

“And, lastly, while this is more personal, I need a bladesmith.” He showed the raccoon man his shattered sword, trying not to cry again.

The raccoon gave an uneasy laugh as he worked himself free. "Sorry, buddy. I mean, thanks for gettin' me outta there. That stuff you mentioned though, you know, and that sword..." Yoshitsune's dimly disguised emotion left him feeling uncomfortable, perhaps even more so than his threat. "Well, good luck with all that, but I think I'll try figuring things out for myself." In one fluid motion he scrambled free and took off into the night, slipping away like smoke in the wind.

With a sigh, Yoshitsune walked from the house and began looking for the next person trapped. Seeing Midna was already dealing with one of the trapped beings, Yoshitsune went to the final one, a girl with strange arms.

With a few slices, he freed her head and chest, though kept the rest of her trapped for his safety and hers. “Are you friend or foe?” he asked, crouching and poking at the sap, trying to see exactly how much damage it could take before she’d bust free like the raccoon did.

The moment that Yoshitsune broke the amber encasing her head, Peacock gave a loud yawn. When she shook her head -so fast that it became a blur- a comical rattling sound rang out, but when it came to a stop her empty sockets fixated on the man before her. "Well lookie here! Seems like I's got myself in quite the pre-dicament!" Her grin revealed sharp metal teeth. "You wouldn't happen t'be with the Medicis there, wouldja bud?"

“And what, prey tell, is the medicis?” he asked, resting his forehead in his palm. “All I asked is if you’re friend or foe. I doubt I’d be with whatever this medicis is without knowing so, as far as I know, no. So, I’ll ask once more.” He raised his sword and brought it down quickly, cutting off a chunk of the sap. “Are you friend or foe?”

Peacock gave a single, dry laugh, her smile one of derision. "Look pal, seems like you're stuck in a rut. I could teachya a thing or two about intimidation, sure, but for a newbie you're doin' pretty good. Hats off to ya. Right, Avery?"

With a flip of her head she lifted the brim of her hat. For a split second Yoshitsune could see a toy bird atop her head, holding some sort of device that resembled two metal rots joined together. Then there came a blinding flash and deafening bang as the shotgun went off as the amber encasing Peacock was obliterated. When the Yoshitsune's ears stopped ringing and he could see again, he found Peacock standing a few feet away, a pistol in one hand, a cigar in the other, and a wide smile on her face. She took a long drag and exhaled, but not from her mouth--instead an eye socket momentarily changed into lips and spat the smoke out. "Nah-haha! Shoulda seen the look on your face!"

With shock, he had jumped back upon the bang but immediately pointed his blade at the girl as soon as he could see her again. "So, you're an enemy." he said, revving his engines and rushing at her, activating his Kamui again to pinpoint a good slash towards her chest.

"Wise guy, ey? Here comes trouble!" Peacock aimed her revolver and fired three times, sending a baseball, tennis ball, and soda can flying at Yoshitsune's tires to trip him up. Before he could reach her she skipped into the air, and a perfectly circular black hole appeared below her. "Nana-boo!" Just before he could slice her she disappeared inside, and it closed after her. She popped up over a hundred feet away and gave him the double finger guns. "Stee-rike one!"

"If you're gonna run then just run!" he yelled before turning back towards the center of town where the rest of the group was. He was already exhausted, physically and mentally, and had tried being a good guy by rescuing everyone he could find. What a great idea that turned out to be, he thought to himself.

The strange girl shrugged as her new acquaintance left. "Good on ya!" she called, waving. "I got no time to play with shmucks." She took a final puff of her cigar and flicked it into the icing without so much as a pause to stomp it out.

As he passed by where Midna was, he glanced up at the guy she had lifted on the roof. With a shrug, he figured she didn’t need his help. He continued his trek towards the center of town to see if anyone could actually give him a good space to sleep so he didn’t have to crash wherever.

Upon asking where the men were being led, he was quickly led away by one of the animals to a place he could sleep peacefully. With one katana across his lap, he sat with his back against a corner and his legs against a wall, leaving much more room for everyone else.

“Masterpon...Masterpon?”

Eventually, Poppi realized that no matter how many times she stroked or gently rocked, such mundane actions wouldn’t cut it. Unfortunately, her other options fell just as short. Tora shrugged off pokes, jabs, and even tentative slaps, snoozing blissfully on. The only other method she could conceive of would be to awaken him with a favorite smell, like frying bacon or fresh-baked pancakes, but if the ambient aroma of this dessert archipelago didn’t do the trick she didn’t know what would. Finally, finding no solution save one, she gave a pronounced sigh and grasped the Nopon firmly by his shirt. “Enough snoozing, masterpon! Get UP!” So saying, she bodily hurled Tora across out of the bedroom and into the living room sofa in a spray of cookie crumbs and chocolatey chunks. Eyes wide with disbelief, she watched him flop to the ground amid the wreckage, still snoring. “Unbelievable…”

She knelt by him to get a better grasp in his condition. Naturally, the throw didn’t so much as bruise him, thanks in part to the relative softness of the strange town’s construction. But he was just filthy with the collective candy grime of a night spent in Parnasse. “How in the world is Poppi going to get Masterpon clean…?” she murmured, only for a lightbulb to go off in her head a moment later. She stood and switched, both to Poppi Alpha and to her water elemental core, then spun up her drill shield. With determination borne of the knowledge that she was doing the right thing she pushed aside her doubts and reached for the trigger. “Wakey wakey Masterpon! It time to face the day!”

A spiral blast of water gushed outward from the Drill Shield, waking him up instantly. He gave a burbling wail of protest as the torrent washed him right down the hall. After a few moments of bumping and banging the front door of the candy house burst open in a flood of water. Carried by the tide, a perfectly clean and very wet Tora rolled to a stop on the front porch. “Meeeeh…” he groaned, wiping at his face with his wings. Poppi circled around him, her best attempt to not laugh only mostly suppressed, and received an incoherent look. “Poppi…” His tone was one of very slight admonition. “Tora not order wake-up call!”

“Masterpon might have slept whole day if Poppi not intervene!” The Artificial Blade teased. Despite his rather rude awakening Tora seemed to be in good spirits, so she was too. “Was Masterpon having nice dream?”

Something dawned on Tora, and he closed his eyes and gave a contented sigh. “Oh, yes! Tora dreamed he was eating marshmallow as big as Poppi!”

“That not dream!” Poppi smiled. She disappeared into the house for a moment before she returned to join him on the porch, a clump of white sponge in her hand. “Tora had marshmallow for pillow.”

Quite unable to argue with her logic, Tora winced. “Mehhhhh...no wonder Tora feel so full.” His dark eyes bugged out. “Oh no! Is Tora marshmallow now!?”

Poppi shook her head. “Nope! Check arm!”

The Nopon looked at both arms in turn, but found nothing out of the ordinary. A moment passed before he realized that ‘nothing out of the ordinary’ was exactly what he should be looking for. “My arm! It back to normal! Weird donut arm wear off overnight!” He slumped over in relief, making a tong as his head hit Poppi’s chestplate. “Thank Architect. Now Tora can relax.”

His companion put her arm around him and squeezed. “Well, don’t fall asleep again. It about twenty minutes until we get going.”

“Aw, we leaving sweetyland already?” Tora stood up, shook himself dry, and glanced around. In the day Parnasse looked completely different, with all the little candy details here and there far easier to appreciate. In the night he couldn’t see all the color and cleverness of the place, like waffle-sided planters with gumdrop flowers beneath sugar-frosted window panes, and wound ropes of licorice as the posts for fudge fences topped by sprinkles. It made his mouth water all over again, but with a whole night’s worth of marshmallow in him he thought twice about eating anything else. With no particular desire to go stand in another circle with everyone and wait for a turn to talk, he turned his mind to his equipment, and the machines from the previous night. He pulled out his toolbox and shook it a few times to get the water off. “Good time to tinker with Mech Arms. Want see if possible to add slide rail without messing up missile pods.”

With a nod, Poppi changed to QT mode and manifested a pair of Mech Arms for him. “Poppi go see if friends need help. See soon!” She left without waiting for a farewell, as her Masterpon was already engrossed in his project.



In an unexpected turn of events, letting out all of her frustration through a couple hundred pounds of military-grade ballistics equipment turned out to be rather therapeutic. Short of getting sliced into pieces Nadia couldn’t remember a more intense feeling in her life than the bone-rattling thump-thump-thump of this cannon battery as she wasted monster after monster, emboldened by Heinrich’s passion and her weapon’s visceral kick into a berserk defiance of death. The battle high did not last however, and her adrenaline-fueled rampage tailed off when more reinforcements arrived.

First came Kamek and his cloned company, offering encouragement and a little extra firepower. Nadia certainly welcomed the news that the crew of the Atomos didn’t plan to leave her group to die, but couldn’t afford to focus on what he was doing with his minions at the expense of protecting her allies down below. Some Abyssals were already starting to get the idea that coming at the fallen heroes from the sides meant a free ride to the top of their protectors’ hit lists, and were coming from more creative angles. The five-Kamek band lent their varied magicks to the cause, giving the swimmers more room to breath from all directions. To Nadia’s delight one even seemed to be able to enchant her cannon, and the extra punch helped her nail the pesky Abyssal divers. When the Junior clones appeared she nearly turned her fire on them out of reflex, but put two and two together faster enough to prevent any trouble. Even if the extra help didn’t plan on manning the other cannons, they could keep the immediate premises Abyssal-free. Seeing actual, literal magic still dazzled Nadia to a degree, but now wasn’t the time to get distracted.

She spotted another familiar face riding the waves nearby as well, mostly when her uppercut carried her above deck level. Sakura stuck around to toss Brineybeard a little something special as well, which the badly injured captain accepted wholeheartedly. Really feeling her wounds now that her adrenaline was fading, Nadia could have gone for some healing herself, but since she couldn’t die the medics’ effort was probably better spent elsewhere. It was probably why the others left her alone on deck. It’s just pain, she told herself, trying to steady her breathing and distract herself with cannon fire. Just...pain!”

For all her pain, Nadia perked right up as she heard Link shout, signalling that he wasn’t just alive but offering sound advice. A moment later a couple shapes flew up from the water, big and fast enough to scare Nadia off her cannon with a yowl. Her flashing claws found nothing to sink into however, as she realized that somehow Blazermate and Frog had leaped from the water. Her tension eased as she flashed them a smile. “Oh hey, welcome aboard. You heard the man, c’mon!” A sudden noise behind her made her to one side, and an Abyssal bomber darted by. “Me-ow!” She scooped it up and sprang into the air, the explosive held like a football. One of the Dark Juniors had grabbed an Abyssal in some sort of pincer and was bopping it with something that looked suspiciously akin to a squeaky hammer. She hurled the bomb their way and darted over to her cannon once she landed. “Just aim at the monsters using the holdholds and hold down the red buttons!” she shouted at Frog, who struck her as someone from a time too ancient for weapons like these. Naturally, she was glad to provide an example.



The fighting around Shippy continued, only a little less brutal for the heroes despite the addition of a few more compatriots. Abyssals continued to assault Shippy from every angle, but with Blazermate back to offset the damage with her healing and the various Blue Team members helping out, the situation was feeling a lot less hopeless. Even as Link, Sakura, and the others slugged it out down below, trading blows with their vicious enemy, Nadia found herself with a few much-needed moments to breath and assess before being forced to turn her cannon on the incoming bomber swarm. All in all, the Navy girls had been doing their thing, meeting the waves and waves of black-and-white monstrosities with undaunted courage, and as the battle moved closer and closer to the Abyssal strongholds Shippy remained at the thick of it. With Brineybeard at the help it looked like the vessel would be able to break free from the fight and head for the inlet soon. “I can’t believe we might actually make it…” Nadia breathed, worried that this statement too might evoke karmic retribution, before that cannon’s thump-thump-thump chased all conscious thought from her head.

Diminished by the saturation fire and dissuaded by both Blue Team’s artillery and the change in their ship, the bomber swarm dispersed to fall upon the battlefield in small groups. Getting dive-bombed still presented a constant threat, but not a disastrous one. And thanks to Geralt’s clever application of his resources, everyone could breathe a little easier knowing that the Helmaroc King would trouble them no more. He found the great bird’s mind simpler and easier to coerce with Axii than his pessimism led him to expect, and without too great a strain on his abilities could bend at least the creature’s flight path to his will.

Even if Shippy was gradually making her way toward the edge of the warzone, the Abyssals did not let up. The minutes felt like hours. Even with the added support Nadia needed to get up to fight off a boarder rather often, and when her cannon ran out of ammunition she limped to the next one. She found it harder and harder to hold down the triggers, let alone aim straight, as the jarring force of the cannons mounted up to numb her hands to all but a pervasive ache. She even felt her mind growing numb up until the point where a high-yield explosive shell struck her emplacement. Everything went dark for a moment, and she regained her senses in pieces scattered across the deck in time to see the cannon battery fall into the water with a splash. “Man..hohh, it’s getting hard...to pull myself together.” With no small amount of effort she reunited her various pieces, but came up one short. “Um, has anyone seen my left calf?” For a few frantic moments she crawled around on her hands and knees. She tried making the lost leg move, but couldn’t feel any solid objects. Just a cold wetness. “Oh, come on,” she groaned, leaning against the cabin.

Her eyes went to a chain explosion in the distance. Some of the shipgirls had reached the imposing seagates of Kwolok Harbor and were leaving their first impressions. Barely had the first few volleys gone off, however, before a calamitous wrenching sound resounded across the waters and the gates were thrown wide. The ensuing wave of water knocked the attacking shipgirls away. Through the opening came a gigantic hand, pale white, with curled black claws bigger than some of the Navy members, and then came an Abyssal that sent chills down Nadia’s spine.

Even kneeling on the ocean’s surface, the Harbor Demon towered at least twelve feet tall. A single horn protruded from her forehead, a truly ludicrous amount of voluminous white hair billowed from head all the way down to the water, like a ship’s sail. Her form-hugging outfit culminated in a pair of monstrous, bafflingly huge hands, which seemed to Nadia to be the perfect size for crushing moderately-sized ships with ease, but still more outlandish was the even more oversized weapons platform behind her. Its armored surface features gnashing maws, runways, and even cranes. Over them all loomed a single long cannon, by far the biggest out of all the weapons featured on the Black Bay so far.

“Who is that knocking on my door…?” Her voice was not a shout, but it echoed over the distance regardless. Her roving cannons let loose a withering barrage at the nearby sea, killing at least one shipgirl instantly. When she reached into the water with her enormous claw, it came up filled with squirming Abyssals. “Sink them. Sink them all!” She bared her teeth and hurled her minions forward. Over the chaos her eyes fell on the far-away Jackdaw, and when a look of recognition passed over her face, her main cannon started dialing in its aim.



The moment Mirage’s hologram even got close to the Wigglers, they shrank back into their burrows like stretched springs. Only after the decoy had been gone for a solid few moments did the bravest among them tentatively jut his nose from his hole, then start to rise back into the air. With varying degrees of caution the rest followed suit, until the whole colony was back where they started.

After a display like that, Mirage couldn’t justify any notions about the creatures being dangerous any longer. If he chose to get closer, he could get a better view at the little guys before they zipped back underground, too. While they looked like snakes from a distance, both in shape and size, a better inspection revealed that they had more in common with eels. Neither squamous nor rugose, they had smooth, rubbery skin, as well as rounded heads and eyes that protruded therein like a frog’s. When out and about they did nothing more than watch and wiggle, not moving even when the occasional bug bumbled by, which clarified preciously little about their behavior. Still, it could be concluded that they presented no obstacle of any sort on Mirage’s quest for relaxation.

No matter where he looked, it seemed like the intrepid adventurer was bound to find new wildlife. After descending to his current location from the higher waterfall cliff, he could get a better look at the lake and its contents. In addition to the tropical fish, some of which seemed to possess downright alien anatomies, he happened to catch a glimpse of a bizarre creature floating on the water. Though it looked like an inflatable toy, the way it moved and followed the flitting fish could mean nothing but that it was fully alive.

Still, the creatures of the Luma Pools hardly constituted all it had to offer. The lake offered sandy banks strewn with shells and conspicuous mounds, which -to an opportunist- might very well smack of hidden loot. There also seemed to be an odd plant nearby with balloon-like bulbs on its stems, stirred by breezes in such a way that suggested the bulbs really would float away if their anchor were so much as touched. Still, all the diversions in the world meant little to a man if he chose to recline in the shade instead.



A few moments of silence passed as the two ate, with Albedo quite unable to conjure up the gusto with which the Skullgirl downed her food. Instead his eyes lay on her, clouded with concern. Though behavioral studies and psychology lay well beyond the scope of his research, he didn’t fail to recognize turmoil when he saw it, and the conflict he sensed broiling inside his new friend just about alarmed him with its potency. The curious part of him yearned to learn just what troubled her, but at the same time he wondered if it was something that a social amateur could afford to trifle with. If nothing else, at least, he could listen to whatever she deigned to tell him, and when Linkle finished her bento, she had a lot to say.

With practiced hands he etched quick, concise notes into his book while giving Linkle his wholehearted attention. If he expected the poignant elements of her backstory to be in some far-off formative years, he quickly stood corrected. Today, it seemed, was quite the day for the poor girl sitting in front of him. She hit him with a number of revelations back to back, and when it was all over gave Albedo a chance to mull over the new information and cool it off to a workable state, like a bowl of piping-hot soup. His categorical mind raced to make sense of it all, but what he said first -after the bartender thanked Linkle for her compliment, that is- came from the heart.

“You have my deepest sympathies,” he told her. “To be deceived in such a manner, punished so harshly for your kindness...such soulless machination is nothing short of despicable.” He shook his head. “In Mondstadt, a somewhat obsessed fellow would occasionally describe his idol as ‘too good and too pure for this world.’ If there was ever a time in which such a description was warranted, it would be for you.” He looked back at Linkle, as solemn as ever, and a little sad too. “This world is an unfair one, and an unjust one. It hangs from unfair strings, and it dances to an unjust tune. But I am sure that the rules that define it can be exploited. Certain things are simpler than they should be, too connected, or connected in imperfect ways. Sewn together in a way that exposes the seams.” He poked her hand as if to make doubly sure she was still here. “If you truly died, you would be ash, but you’re not. This corruptive artifact seeks to control you, but if it was so easy, it would have done so already. And if that fate was inescapable, why would it take pains to convince you of such?” His piercing look swept across her, as if his gaze could flush out the Skull Heart from within her. “And in a rather petty manner too, from how you described it.”

After a moment he turned away, having realized he was starting to stare, and took a drink of water. “Anyway, I’m sure you don’t need me telling you to not give up. Heroes like you must learn that in preschool.”