Yoshitsune had watched as the teen boy and the adolescent girl both got the Friend Hearts, like the one he’d gotten, and their entire demeanor changed. Shortly after, it seemed Laharl was trying to pick a fight with the grey haired teen. Where he’d come from, the samurai didn’t know.
Then they split the team. Yoshitsune didn’t really care but he was getting mentally exhausted after the events of the day. He was hopeful, though doubtful, that he’d get some rest soon.
Following Kan-Ra, Yoshitsune let his mind wander, though his engines allowed him to keep up with the man. His thoughts, as always, ended up on Shizuka. Looking towards the sun, though through his closed eyes, he made a promise that he would defeat Galeem and rescue Shizuka.
Upon arriving at the temple, Yoshitsune took a look at the area. It was interesting. He didn’t really understand any of it other than the fact it was similar to Shukenten’s shrine.
Following the rest down, he wasn’t really paying attention when they were attacked by a fireball. He wasn’t fast enough and took a direct hit. With a yell of anger, he revved his engines and rushed as fast as he could at the mage who cast the fireball. “Fight with honor, maho-oni!”
He wasn’t quite fast enough, however, as both Skull and Panther took swings at him, pushing him back.
The swordsman still pushed on, leaping once he was close and spinning rapidly, his blades making him appear as a flaming tornado, as he headed straight for the mage.
Link was right about the noise. The monster had no sense of stealth at all, rising out of the water and swimming right for the platform where Link had sounded the dinner bell. He didn't stay to marvel at the grotesqueness of the thing plowing toward him, beating feet back toward the steps as soon as it made its presence known. He hadn't had a moment to spare, either, as he felt the wave thrown up by its movement hit him in the back and send him sprawling, soaking wet, through the doorway.
He was face down on the ground when the plan came to fruition, but just because he didn't see it doesn't mean he didn't grin in satisfaction when he heard the wet smack of metal on flesh, accompanied by a noise that was disturbingly similar to what you heard when dropping a boulder of a pack of Chuchus. He was kind of glad he hadn't seen that. The thunderous shrike of agony that echoed through the depths was the last thing he heard before he turned to see the thing retreat back into the safety of the water.
He pulled himself up, proud. After the last monster it felt so good to be able to combat the horrors this place threw at them. A viscous slick of fluids floated on the surface of the water where it had dived, proof as anything that they could be fought. That they could be defeated. All it took was subterfuge and a willingness to use anything to your advantage.
Of course, looking at the sorry state of the platform, it didn't seem like they were going to be able to pull off a trap like that again. Signing, he shook himself off and, with a quick thumbs up to Ms. Fortune and Ace, he turned and disappeared back into adjacent chamber. "It worked." He said to anyone the cared to listen. The gnome, which had busied itself while they were gone constructing a small hovel out of the furniture they had cleared from the doorway, just menaced him again. He thought for a moment about just taking that bomb from it now, but decided against that in a space this enclosed. Instead he turned his attention the the boxes in the room, tearing them open to try and find anything that might be of use. "It's not dead, though. We have to find...something. Anything that could keep it busy. Help me."
Linkle
Merge Rate: 31%
Location: The Cold Monastery
Linkle hadn't been cursed, because she the goddess wasn't angry. It was worse, she was afraid. Linkle watched as her word warped the woman's face from happy obviousness to agonizing denial, and the guilt that twisted up in her for it was just shy of physically painful. It was just like with Minako, it wasn't the sort of emotion a hero should inspire in someone, and the sight of it left her completely unsure of how to proceed.
Lucky for her Albedo was there with a way to proceed she wouldn't have considered. The prospect of wreaking bloody vengeance against the Stanger drew the Goddess back in, and aside from a helpful prod Linkle could only sit back and contemplate what she reveled to them. They were Norse, whatever that meant. A people, she guessed. But when it came to The Stranger, Skadi had been in the dark. She didn't know him, and he hadn't known her in return. Even still, though, he had wanted to kill her daughter for what "she had done to him."
The daughter of a goddess had to be a goddess herself, or at least divine. Linkle thought back to what The Stranger wanted, and the divine origin of his affliction Albedo had proposed. That could be it, couldn't it? The dumb brute could think that the best way to end his "curse" was to stop it at the source, and from the evidence in front of her he certainly had the strength to at least inflict great pain on god. Skadi's daughter could be the key to everything!
Unfortunately, between the pain of reliving he memory and Albedo asking the very question floating around in her head Skadi bottled herself up again. The dreamy look came back into her eyes, but as she turned her attention back to her dog something she said made white hot anger flash through Linkle's. It not for that the Skullgirl might have been content with letting the woman sink back into her daydreams, but as it stood Linkle made her way forward and knelt beside her and her doge.
"Don't lie about that." She said, in the tone of a disappointed older sibling. "Not to yourself. Not after what you went through to protect her. I know you must still be trying to protect her even now, but you're not. He's invincible. He can search forever if he wants. If you just leave things like they are, he'll find her eventually. We have to stop him first, and I think she knows a way how. If I'm there, with her, I know that I can beat him. I've done it once already, and with her help I can make sure he never hurts her, or you, or anyone else ever again!"
With that she bowed her head to the woman, her tone switching to something resembling reverence. "In the world I'm from when a Goddess, for whatever reason, can't handle the task at hand she calls upon a hero to take up his sword and face the challenge. I know I...might not look it much right now, but I am that hero. I'll be yours too, if you'll only have faith in me."
Like the wriggling of a pit of snakes, she could feel the voice of the skull heart sliding across her mind.
Do not swear yourself to others
Do not make promises you cannot keep
You are my chosen hero
You are my sword
You already belong to me
Spill blood in my name if you are so eager to do so for the broken wretch before you
She shut them out. "Please, Skadi. This is what I'm for."
”I mean we don’t though. I mean I kinda know other... Versions of the guy? Or his relatives? You know I'm not sure how the whole Link thing works but lie every time we do this smash thing there's a different one while most other people stay the same and-.” Bowser started rambling in response to Sakura’s telling off. While he was at it there was a ripping sound as Rika tore a bit of fabric off the dress she’d found in the toy dump and had been wearing ever since then.
“Does this help?” she asked as she handed it to Sakura to be used as a tissue, before making some adjustments to her outfit to try and compensate for the missing piece. Apparently she hadn't even considered using the monster’s doll’s own lovely outfit for this purpose.
While they were talking, the other gang’s plan came to fruition. The nimble Link darted back as the fish came careening though he water and more or less slamming into everything and anything in his path and just barely failed to slam the boy into paste. Instead the hero ducked into the other room (followed by a veritable flood of junked metal that Kamek just barely managed to scramble out of the way of) and put himself right in the jaws of the trap. Or right below it rather.
With a snip and a snap the cat and the hunter severed the last chain of the platform hanging above the fish, causing it to plummet and then, like a sword of Damocles it came crashing down upon the lord, dealing him a mighty blow. This metaphorical sword was followed by an improvised literal one, as Geralt lobbed his nail like a spear and impaled the beast in the head with it.
Yet despite their efforts, the big brute wasn't out for the count and instead sloughed off of the ruins of the scaffolding and back down into the water, though not before receiving a parting pair of shells from Rika’s underdeveloped arm cannons. She’d been too transfixed by the carnage to react as quickly as Geralt had, but she still managed to sneak in a parting gift right before he got away.
A few moments after he was gone, a small fireball also plinked into the now fish-less carnage spot, Bowser’s own addition arriving far too late to do anything useful.
”Bah! Jerk ran away rather than sit there and take his medicine!” he complained
“Maybe you’ll just need to be closer next time?” Rika suggested
”Or have him come to me!” Bowser replied, before shouting out at the bridge droppers ”Hey! I've got some stuff that might get his attention. By which I mean his stuff” he jerked a thumb at the guy’s meager collection of belongings ”Why don't we see if he’s interested in trying to get it back!”
With that, he picked up the fishing rod and the jar containing the thing labeled ‘cadou’ and made his way back to what remained of the maze. Once he’d found a nice spot he uncorked the jar, wretched at the smell and then looped the end of the rod’s string around the ugly thing inside and fished it out without touching it.
Not that that helped much.
Even reeling it out of the fluid containing it made the king feel sick to the stomach from the sight and smell of the thing, so the gross thing went over the side as soon as possible, dangling down below his platform and towards the water. The king, possibly fueled by his own hunger, thought that the disgusting fish guy would want to eat something equally as disgusting, and so intended to use the thing like fish bait.
”Hey, look at me, fish jerk, I’ve got your weird gross jar thing. Come and get it!” Bowser yelled down, taunting the lord with the rather awful thing and using it like a rather heavy fly lure on the end of the fishing rod, trying to bait him to come under the platforms again where the bolt cutting duo could try and land a strike on top of him, though the fish likely being being a moving target this time might make that a fair bit trickier.
That left Rika back at the control room with Sakura, who she asked “you think any of this will help?” while vaguely indicating to the TV, doll and assorted bottles of stuff she’d lugged over to their vantage point.
”I’m not sure what you're expecting to find in there, little hero, but let me lend you a hand” Kamek said as Link started tearing into the boxes that had briefly blocked their way before. He carefully climbed over, taking a few cautious glances at the hylian’s new friend as he did so, quite sure that it was the same kind of thing that had been stalking him in the toy dump, and then took a look inside some of the boxes that had already been torn into.
”If you are looking for a weapon you might have more luck with all the scrap your stunt tipped everywhere however” he mentioned, pointing towards the jagged and dangerous scaffolding shrapnel that would make leaving their hiding spot a possible literal pain.
”Ha ha yeah eat it! Bet you didn't expect that, you jerk!” Jr cheered as Mimi’s shadow sneak worked like a charm, catching the spooky faceless lady off guard, turning the friendly dark into a nightmare of needles. Rather than try and charge though the darkness Mimi was projecting, she instead opted to flee, getting a cheer from both Jr and Mimi before the prince realized that she’d gotten out of sight of them, and her running that didn’t mean she wouldn't be coming right on back when the opportunity struck.
”Wait where did you go?” Jr asked the black water, rapidly scanning the lamp light of the sub around to try and find her, and instead only finding a mess of pipes and other junk, all of which provided excellent cover for the light averse water dwelling lady.
”Stop hiding! Come out and fight like a koopa!” he demanded, to no response.
Instead of finding her, Jr instead found Mirage, or rather the stocky robot he was piloting, when it flashed its light at him and then gestured crudely with its limbs in what might be a come here motion. Jr wasn't actually sure, but he did know two lights searching for the lady would be better than one and so moved the sub over to link up with the robot. He unfortunately definitely didn't get the idea that Mirage had straight up found their goal from his stiff gestures, and so instead moved just behind him and engaged in what was effectively a back to back shuffle forwards. As they moved jr kept scanning around with his searchlight looking both for the way to flow control, which he was unknowingly already taking, and also scanning around for the lady in case she tried to loop round in front of them or come in from the sides, which slowed him down even more.
”You know, this’d be much easier if that suit hadn’t wandered off as well” Jr complained to Mimi, who was primed and ready to try and harass the lady again if they spotted her, as he kept erratically swinging the lamp light around in a hope of catching the faceless lady out in the open ”like jeez, did it go take a nap or something? Where is it?”
wordcount: 506 (+1) Midna: level 5 EXP: /////////////////////////////////////////////////// (47/50) Location: Sandswept Sky - Al Mamoon Northeast - Rocket Inc.
Midna did more than just raised an eyebrow when she spotted whatever the heck Joker did with Jink, in fact she practically balked at it, but events prevented her from doing any questioning him about it immediately even though she met up with him and his right before the entrance to the room where Ciella and Amara where fighting. After she was almost splashed to pieces when she tried to peek into the room despite Fox’s warning about water blasts the thieves rushed inside, with Midna hot on their heels, and found the room a sodden and splintered mess thanks to the combating duo’s opposed water and ice magics.
Neither seemed particularly pleased about them intruding on their battle. Amara’s concern was entirely understandable, she was on the back foot while Ciella looked little worse for ware (Midna was somewhat amazed that she seemed to have shrugged of dozens of the lethal projectiles fired by the siren’s guns, possibly even more than Jessy had taken to put her in dire straits. She was one tough lady, that was for sure)
The rabbit woman herself seemed to have some kind of honor or single mindedness that made her refuse to allow interference in her battle, an attitude which Midna simultaneously understood and thought incredibly foolish.
It was Amara however, who diverted some of her energy to trying to ward them off from intervening, creating a fist below them with a burst of her power with which she tried to punch them into the ceiling. The thieves dashed to the side at once, with Minda following/being pulled out of the way in equal measure.
”I had that,” she insisted, a debatable statement that would probably need a slow motion replay to actually verify one way or the other.
Ciella expressed her disdain for their potential involvement with words rather than actions, but her refutation of their wordless offer of help was no less swift and harsh. It was an instruction that Joker seemed more than happy to nonchalantly follow, which kind of ticked Minda off even if it was a sensible course of action.
”Reminder: this doesn't end without one of them dying, which is something we’re here to stop” she whispered to them bluntly. Despite that, she wasn't going to get involved either, at least not immediately. Instead she fell back with the pair inorder to watch for the right moment and use it to free Amara. But as that was an action she was quite sure would not be taken well by the dangerously powerful Ciella, she needed to be prepared. So while she kept speaking with the Thieves, or rather mainly Joker, she started to string Dragon Dances together from their fallback position, pumping up her power and speed higher and higher with each rapid thumping step.
”Also what in the goddess’s name was that thing you did too the blue haired maniac?” she asked while in the middle of dancing, which probably took a bit of an edge off how deadly serious she was.
Level 6: 05/60 Location: The Maw: The Depths Word Count: 448 Points Gained: 1 New EXP Balance--- Level 6 : 06/60
Sakura looked at Bowser with a confused look on her face. "W-well, all that doesn't matter. Just be nice, Mister Bowser." Especially infront of Rika. She got the impression Rika was more, uh, impressionable, then Bella. She wasn't used to being the same size as Bowser. She was used to his big turtle dragon form.
The brunette blinked as Rika tore a piece right off of her dress. "Oh, Rika-chan! Don't-" Sakura held her tongue. It was already done. Would be bad to make Rika feel silly about it, now. "Yes, that does help. Thank you." Sakura took it and blew her nose. Shortly thereafter her face was much cleaner, felt better, and she could see more clearly again. The crying was cathartic and all, but it wasn't practical.
Sakura balled up the torn piece of fabric and...awkwardly let it fall into the water. The roughness of the material did mean her little nose was a little red.
Once this was all done, she could finally focus on the distant, epic battle. A giant piece of metal was dropped right on the fishmonsters head. "Oooh! Take that!"
Geralt soon joined in. "Nailed him!" Sakura pumped her fist, unaware of her pun.
Then a little fireball fell into the water. "...Yeaaah! Chase him off!" Sakura hesitated as she thought what encouraging thing she should say. At least he could still throw a fireball at all. Meanwhile, Mirage was excited that he found the controls using the BULL. Which was great, but nobody else could see what he saw so in Sakura's opinion it was a waste of time to hang out by him. If she wanted to help Junior and Duerage, she would have to be paying attention for ways she could help while up here. Bella could stay over by him for moral support, too.
Rika pointed out a collection of knick knacks as Bowser tried to lure the bad fish monster over with some horrible jar. "E to..." Sakura thought. A TV? A doll? "I dunno. Cute doll, kinda." Sakura went over to the bottles. "Maybe these are bombs or potions or something? Or maybe just empty glass bottles could be useful somehow. Like distractions or something? Do you know what's in them, if anything?"
The girl looked for labels. Written in Japanese or English, hopefully. Failing that, Sakura started opening some bottles to try and get a look at the substance on the inside.
"Or we could just try to get someplace high and drop the TV on the fish guy's head." Or maybe they could find something to eat. They were all starving.
Level 3: 11/30 Word Count: 403 Location: Al Mamoon- Rocket Inc Points Gained: 1 New EXP Balance--- Level 3: 12/30
"I'll make it up to you." Jesse said to Midna, only half-joking. It seemed the princess could store anything she wanted, as she saw her do it with one of Fuse's guns. That was a good idea. Unfortunately, Jesse could only store things with a connection to the Astral Plane within the Astral Plane. Still, she didn't want to leave a rocket launcher lying around, now that she thought about it. She pulled it towards her and slung it over her shoulder, in that way video game characters can do. Hopefully it didn't bite her ear.
Her shots connected, the Dragonborn falling over and summong some kind of demon to his aid. Said fire demon beset herself upon Mao. Or, was that Laharl? She got them mixed up.
Now, the Skyrim guy was reaching into his pocket to pull out- another emergency escape button. Mao was totally distracted by the Astronach. Cleverly, he put his axe infront of his axe to deflect bullets. Jesse was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, and assume that he wasn't an idiot. His axe was probably magic, and he probably had the strength to actually block a few shots from her high powered gun. Alternatively, maybe he was just some ignorant viking who didn't know any better, or he was just dumb. Still, if there was one thing the Director didn't want to do, it was underestimate her opponents.
So instead, she tried an alternative plan of attack. Disruption. Jesse extended her energies to the ground right on the other side of the prone Dragonborn. With a pull, she wrenched a piece of concrete right to herself- and right through the Dragonborn. This would bounce and skid the warrior right to her, if it didn't kill him outright. The impact might prevent him from using his homeward bone, she wasn't sure. Walking forward, she switch the Service Weapon from Grip, to Shatter. The pistol-like weapon shifted easily into an abstract representation of a one-handed shotgun. The end of the barrel become disconnected, and horizontally wide.
Knocking the wounded Dragonborn toward her with a piece of concrete, she levelled her shotgun down at his form and pulled the trigger at extremely close range. The psychic bullets erupted forth from the gun and plunged into his center of mass. It was called 'Shatter' for a reason. Jesse had learned her lesson: no mercy. Her enemies were too dangerous and unpredictable to be given an inch.
Level 6 Sectonia (holding 1 level up) - (54/60) Location: Al Mamoon Word Count: Less than 750
This hedgehog was quite an annoying foe. Sectonia wasn't used to having to have a teleport fight, and the occasional metal shots he fired were quite annoying, stinging quite bad. Still all they really did was sting, and that was when they hit. But with the buffs provided by Necronomicon and all, she was gaining the upper hand on this 'edgelord'. Seeing this and needing ammo himself, Shadow threw a garbage can at Sectonia, which while she dodged without much issue, exploded leaving a cloud of garbage, smoke, and stink. "Ugh, how dare..." Sectonia mumbled as Shadow used this cover to acquire a new weapon from his 'allies', although Sectonia wouldn't know that this would've doomed one of them in the long run.
Using the garbage as cover, Shadow unleashed his new weapon, a LMG which did far more damage than his pitiful pistols did. This caught the Queen by surprise. So much so that she had to do something to stop the barrage coming at different angles thanks to Shadow's speed. Seeing as Necronomicon was making sure to stay behind Sectonia in fear of getting shot, her remarks of being fragile showing themselves, Sectonia only really had a few methods available to her in this position.
She summoned a few Green Antilions, grabbing one and using it as a shield with one hand to absorb the bulletfire, while the other three dropped down to where Shadow was firing, being the only long ranged attackers of her summonable minions. Her conjured meatshield didn't last too long under the barrage of gunfire, but Necronomicon soon began to ping Shadow's location to Sectonia through the cloud, giving her and her minions a target. "Good Work." Sectonia said, her Green Antillion disappearing in a puff of smoke as it had absorbed all the damage it could as Sectonia conjured and fired a few large Rings of Light at where Necronomicon was pinging, the magical rings being quite large and quite the surprise for the hedgehog when they came out of the smoke. Still, this cretin and his constant gunfire was quite annoying, and painful.
Level 9 Blazermate - (28/90) Bottomless Sea > the Maw room 2.5 Words: less than 750
Well, this monster wasn't the best at tactics, or really much of anything but thrashing around. And that really hurt him when he fell into the trap Link, Geralt, and everyone was setting up using the hanging staircase. Blazermate could help those trapped due to the missing part of the walkways with her limited flight and gliding capabilities, but all she could do now was call out Moreau's movements and how much damage he had taken. Something that would be super helpful, considering Bowser's new plan of trying to fish the monster fish up using his own keepsakes. That thing Bowser had gotten of the jar looking even worse than the mutant fish below them. "Be careful everyone. That blow did really hurt him, but hes still coming." Blazermate called out, keeping track and calling out where Moreau was when he was going to rear up to do something. Thankfully no one besides the monster was damaged from these shenanigans, and some were even making use of the abundant scrap around to do some shenanigans of their own.
Still, Link was the one putting himself in the most danger, and while he was agile so far, Blazermate was ready to help him if she needed to. She could still lift off, but couldn't keep flight going for too long thanks to her injury. She'd need the Engineer to repair that later.
Word Count: 306 (+1 exp) Level: 8 - Total EXP: 3/80 Location: Edge of the Blue - The Maw
The Cadet hadn't had any doubt that this crazy plan would work, but he still let out a cheerful whoop when the metal connected with the monster fish's body. The groan it let out was telling enough that they'd managed to hurt it, but Blazermate's confirmation was nice to have. The redhead gladly met Nadia's little fist with his own. "Radalos, good job everyone!"
Now of course was the question of what to do next. Frankly the Cadet thought they'd been doing just fine, because if Moreau was focusing on them he wasn't harassing the others in the water. "Yeah, more distractions. I think it's definitely mad enough to keep doing after us, especially after that. As long as we can keep it's attention until the water starts draining."
Eventually it would notice that the water was draining and then they'd have to find some other way to keep Jr. and the Mirages safe while they made their way back to the surface. From up on the catwalk the Cadet could see Bowser and Geralt - Oh, that must be where that nail came from! - the former initiating his plan to fish the creature with a hook and rod. That plan was still enticing to the mini hunter as well. He shuffled closer to the side he and Nadia had come from to keep a closer eye on the line.
"If only we could catch it in a net, tangle it up or something," he said, his thoughts drifting to the contents of the rooms they'd gone into. Was there anything they could use as a net or rope without braving the junk room again? Or maybe they should go back there and check. After all, maybe that ceiling monster was down for the count. "Did any of you guys see anything we could use for that?"
Word Count: 304 (+1 exp) Level: 5 - Total EXP: 23/50 Location: Sandswept Sky - Al Mamoon 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● D34C25
The bridge-shaking of Band's jump was concerning, but it didn't seem like the structure would collapse so easily. Even still, Primrose's eyes judged the distance between the ledge and where she and Band were now in case they needed to make a hasty jump. While the detective went on the offensive Primrose kept her spot behind, only getting nearer when she needed a better angle for her spells. Any wayward bones left stunned by Band or just waiting around looking for an opening were met with a blast of dark magic. The force of the spells dislodged whatever curse kept their bones together, and those that resisted having their limbs blown off were just knocked over the side into the pit.
Once there were only a handful left, along with their larger four-armed comrade, Band requested a moment to himself. To prepare for something, Primrose imagined. Then, he produced another instrument from his seemingly endless supply and played it.
"All yours." she told him. She laced her fingers together and stretched her arms with the palms of her hands facing out, then raised them over her head. "An odd music choice for dancing, but I can work with it."
And dance she did. With another battle point expended Primrose's performs was all the more invigorating. If Big Band's plan was to finish up the skeletons quickly and move on, then the best course of action would be of course to help him do that - and make sure the attack power buff she was currently bestowing upon him would last longer than usual, hopefully until they could crash the other battle. The Lion Dance was complete when Band's playing came to a close, and Primrose conjured another spell in hand to make sure any stragglers were finished off before the both of them moved on.
Though an excellent distraction, the flame atronach turned out to be not quite as good a fighter. It did its best to pepper Mao with fireballs, but it was no great shakes in the evasive department. The bespectacled overlord’s simple strategy to cut off its escape worked wonders and he landed a solid hit across its chest that it didn’t even try to block. Realizing this left Mao both wondering if this summoned sprite even possessed a defensive instinct, and left him with nearly free reign to dispatch the construct without breaking a sweat.
Still, the flame atronach did its job in buying its conjurer enough time. The Dragonborn managed to get his Homeward Bone in hand and was just about to squeeze it to dust when a piece of the floor itself erupted out of the ground to attack him. Its weight dealt a crushing blow to his ribs as it tumbled the man across the floor on its way to Jesse. The journey relieved him of his axe, and as he came to a stop at the redhead’s feet he found the modified barrel of his enemy’s Service Weapon leveled at his chest. His eyes went wide and his mouth gaped in fear--even a medieval warrior such as he must have come to know the lethality of firearms with the other Resistance members for company. But still he clutched his last resort in his hand. Panic galvanized his nerves into action, shattering his Homeward Bone as the deafening Shatter blast sounded out. A vortex of magic bone dust swirled around him, but a spray of blood exploded from the armored impact point, and before the man disappeared Jesse saw him jolt in shock. Then he faded away, leaving behind a big stain of blood and that marvelous green-bladed axe.
Once Mao dealt with the flame atronach, he and Jesse could reconvene. Although they couldn’t be absolutely certain that the Dragonborn had died, the wound the FBC director put in him had been a gristly one even with his armor. It fell to whoever might be around wherever the warrior would show up, either to heal him as quickly as possible or clean up the newly-arrived mess.
Even in the chaos of a burning trash storm giant rings of light stood out quite prominently, and normally Shadow would have been able to dodge them all without issue. Thanks to Necronomicon’s scanning, however, Sectonia could not just shoot at where her spiky-headed opponent was, but where he was going to be. His ego, meanwhile, couldn’t conceive of such slow and obvious attacks hitting him, and Shadow quickly wrote off what looked like haphazardly-aimed spells as ignorable. As such it came as an exceptional surprise when he suddenly found himself cornered in the sky of all places, and Shadow soon found that even a glancing blow from the rings was no joke.
“Gah!” he spat, clenching his teeth in rage. This was starting to get annoying. His LMG put out a lot of damage, as Sectonia’s wounds attested, but with just another second spent holding down the trigger his weapon exhausted the last of its ammo. Any moment now the gradual dispersal of the trash cloud would render it useless as cover or distraction, too. “It’s about time I ditched these worthless toys,” he growled. If these peons wanted to bother him with magic, he could return the favor with Chaos. As Shadow held his hand aloft a pillar of energy formed over it, ready to cast. “Chaos Spear!”
He hurled the energy javelin at Sectonia, then teleported to another angle to throw another. As she moved he planned to follow, trying to bring the battle closer to the roof of the building. After a couple tosses he started rolling out Spin Attacks, curling up to throw himself at Sectonia in an effort to smash and shred her as a high-speed ball of spikes. If he bounced off her defense or body at close range, he could uncurl to follow up with a string of close-quarters-combat moves, mostly kicks punctuated with burning exhaust from his Air Shoes. Sectonia had the stats and the tools to keep up with him before, but soon she would realize just how deep his bag of tricks really went.
After another session of traded blows, the battle reached its climax as Shadow pulled out a trump card. Until now he’d only used his most potent power defensively, saving his energy for later. He’d been saving it for this. “Chaos Control!” he yelled, and as time slowed down he summoned a Chaos Spear to hang in the air once thrown. Far enough away from Sectonia, it wouldn’t break the stasis, so in quick succession Shadow planted spear after spear. After that, he dusted his hands with a smirk. “Time to end this.” He closed his fist. “Now.”
As spears converged on Sectonia, Necronomicon’s sensors went wild. Somehow Shadow had launched an absurdly powerful attack, one against which escape and defense were nigh impossible. But the Persona knew a way. “No!”
A barrier sprang to life around Sectonia, protecting her. Necronomicon’s ultimate ability, Final Guard, prevented her destruction. When the miracle faded, the two could see Shadow taken by total surprise and fit to be tied. “What!? How!?”
The look of surprise on Amara’s face told Joker exactly how much she expected the new arrivals to actually accede to her request, but the Siren wasn’t about to object. Forced to assume that Ciella’s allies wouldn’t go back on their word, she turned her full attention back to the statuesque rabbit lady, and just like that the fight was back on.
As bullets, arrows, and astral projections started flying once more, Joker considered Midna’s reminder. Maybe he hadn’t been listening earlier, but when was it decided they needed to spare these people? What distinguished these Shadows from any other enemies? Sure, they were unique, but given those already defeated without that much trouble, they did not possess enough ability to be of particular notice. This World of Light surely contained countless unique Shadows, and however optimistic the Seekers might be they couldn’t save them all. Besides, as the presence of a living and breathing Shadow the Hedgehog so helpfully confirmed, these were not real people. Just cognitive entities, figments of the collective human heart. Their ‘lives’ were nothing to bat an eye over. Joker found himself wondering if all these Shadows came from games, which would definitely explain a lot. Of course, with Midna being a Shadow herself, he couldn’t tell her any of this. “Of course we won’t let our ally die,” he told her instead, before narrowing his eyes at Amara. “As for her..Galeem doesn’t change personality. She and her friends tried to slaughter us back there, and you want to play nice with her?” Joker didn’t put any scorn or derision into his voice, hoping Midna would reconsider.
She started dancing, and Joker left her to it. Fox watched for a moment, intrigued by the artistry at work, but once he recognized repeat performances as well as the power that accumulated around her each time, the act lost its savor for him. He did, however, glance over at Joker when Midna questioned what exactly he did with Jinx. “Negotiation,” he replied simply, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “We had a chat, came to understand one another, and I recruited her. She’ll be helping us from here on out.” His curiosity and amusement shone in his eyes. “That’s the sort of thing you’d prefer, right?”
He fell silent as the duel in the conference chamber came to a head. After exhausting the last of her ammunition, Amara had no choice but to close the distance and engage her foe head-on. She ran out of cover with her arms summoned, hurling boulders of ice across the room. Ciella sneered, turned her back as she drew her bow, and allowed the projectiles of her own element to shatter against her to almost no effect. Counting on such a reaction, Amara unleashed her energy projectiles, two in quick succession. A neon blue facsimile of the brawler burst up from the ground with an uppercut, and Ciella took it on the chin. The force spun her around to receive a projected sucker punch, haymaker, and finally hammer fist in quick succession, followed by Amara herself.
The Siren let loose a ferocious battlecry and lay into Ciella with every arm at her disposal. She unleashed a withering barrage of punches to smash the taller woman into submission, her summoned limbs a blur of magic as she brought the pain.
Joker and Midna both tensed up, ready to jump into action, but Fox held up a cautionary hand. “Wait! Look closer.” Joker followed his friend’s advice and noticed after another second the fog beginning to accumulate around the two. With every strike another swath fell from Ciella’s body, filling the air. “I’m well-acquainted with the utility that some icy mist can provide,” Fox told them. “If she can survive bullets, she can survive this. Her attacker is blinded by the light of her own arms and can only see straight ahead. Even though it looks bad, this ally of ours…” He narrowed his eyes as the mist filled the room. “Is right where she wants to be!”
With a final cry Amara dealt a brutal knockout blow, and as Ciella staggered backward, she smirked and faded away. Joker blinked, confirming what his eyes were telling him: that Ciella had turned invisible. The mist wasn’t thick enough to actually obscure her from sight, but she’s vanished nonetheless. As Amara’s chest heaved from the exertion she looked around in confusion at all the mist. The sound of a bowstring drew her attention, but a projectile in that direction as she dodged turned up nothing. A moment later a blue glow of gathered water started to build up behind her, prompting a bemused shake of the head. “That’s your best strategy? Sneak around and start charging?”
As she prepared to conjure another fist, Fox tapped Joker’s shoulder and nodded at the floor. A dark purple circle had appeared directly beneath Amara right after the bowstring noise, and within a purple circle was growing toward the outer edges. As Amara unleashed her astral fist, the circle finally reached its outer limits. In an instant a rain of pressurized water arrows dropped on her position, dealing immense damage as the deluge continued to fall. Joker realized that Ciella must have employed a delayed and easily dodgeable but highly lethal attack, then kept Amara from noticing via both her mist and herself as a decoy.
There was no final moment, no witty one-liner or derisive dismissal. The arrowfall lasted only a handful of seconds, but Amara died well before it concluded. Through sheer bad luck, the style of attack meant Midna’s couldn’t throw a friend heart in either, as the arrows would wash it away. Amara’s ashes diffused into the water as Ciella approached, her expression and stride imperious. “Foolish brute. Deceive yourself no longer.” She stooped to snatch up Amara’s spirit from the muck and peered at the confident grin of the woman within through the slits of her mask. “Your power will aid me in dispelling the delusions of your comrades.”
Joker watched, surprised and intrigued, as the Grimleal lieutenant placed the spirit in her chest. After the ensuing lightshow, a shorter but more toned Ciella stood before him. Her odd garment had separated at the midriff to a white top beneath a big-collared purple leather jacket, its shoulderpads spiked. Her purple dress now came up to a tie at her waist, rather like a sarong, over black shorts. Even at half length her hair still reached below her waist, though the inside appeared to be black rather than blue. Blue tattoos could be seen across the left hand side of her body. She sniffed as she rolled her shoulders, coolly getting a feel for her new build and height. “Acceptable. Let’s proceed.” Without protest Joker and Fox turned to leave the conference chamber behind, and head for where the others were grouping up.
Big Band
Level 3 Big Band (21/30) Location: Al Mamoon Northwest - Obelisk Temple Primrose’s @Yankee Word Count: 457
Without much in the way of brains inside those skulls of theirs, the skeletons couldn’t appreciate art if it smacked them in the face. That said, with Band playing his bagpipes and Primrose powering him up with a dance, nothing was actually hitting the bony rabble, or otherwise stopping them from clattering forward to attack. Band’s melodious taunt came to an abrupt end as the three leftover skeletons attacked in sequence, each landing a free sword swipe or club bash. Band winced. “This blows.”
At least the detective did manage to defend himself against the Stalmaster’s far more dangerous quadruple-slash. He deflected the blades using a cymbal shield and stepped back for a little extra space, but the four-armed marauder sensed weakness and pressed forward. It was the wrong move; since Band felt the power of Primrose’s Lion Dance strengthening him, all he needed was the assurance that his enemies wouldn’t be dodging before he put his own best foot forward. And there wouldn’t be a better opportunity than a reckless lunging attack.
“Supersonic!” Band called, deploying sound rockets from his front that arced around above and below him to resemble a french horn. He burst forward and slammed into the whole gaggle of skeletons to throw them back. After driving them a short distance he pulled in the horns, but carried the momentum forward as both Brass Knuckle arms deployed from beneath his coat. A gratiuitous flurry of punches that splinter, shattered, and finally powdered the truculent bones.”Tubatubatubatubatubatubatubatubatuba--TUBA!” With a final punch Band sent the only survivor sailing backward, but what little the Stalmaster had left of its vitality got mopped by an explosive grand finale from Primrose. Her dark magic scattered the remains of the duo’s assailants to the winds, never to reconstitute. Thankfully their spirits drifted down to the bridge, though.
Band had watched the brutalized bones disperse with a look of satisfaction. “Even the sky ain’t the limit,” he smiled. The little joy lasted only a moment, though, as neither he nor Primrose could afford to wait so long as their allies were in jeopardy. They made their way down the rest of the bridge to where it overlooked the lower promontory. Though solid stone, it featured no extra supports to keep it up, and Band eyed it dubiously. “What’re the odds I bust right through? I mean, I can’t fly right now, can’t airdash, nothin’. If it doesn’t hold, it’s goodbye pork pie hat.” Through the doorway he could hear the sounds of melee combat, metal against metal, as well as tones he could only describe as magical. With no time to waste, he stepped aside to let Primrose pass. “I’ll follow your lead. No sense crackin’ it before you get across.”
The taste of victory on their tongues, Skull and Panther pursued their targets at top speed, with a recovered Yoshitsune not far behind. They sprinted down the hieroglyphic-lined corridor after the retreating forms of Charnok and Beast, eager to seal the deal but mutually aware that, given the nature of Galeem’s influence, these two weren’t fleeing so much as relocating to a more advantageous position. Still, neither Skull nor Panther planned to back down. If everyone else was pulling their weight, as the sounds and cries of battle from both behind and below would imply, so would the Phantom Thieves.
A few moments after Yoshitsune caught up to the Thieves thanks to his fleet-footedness, the hallway opened up on the right side into a giant square chamber. Directly beyond the edge of where the corridor’s floor continued lay the edge of an enormous pool of water. It covered the entire room, except for where an incredible display of carved stone arose from the water on the far side. A handful of waterfalls poured down the tiers of the fountain between amazing statues, and behind them even the wall itself had been hewn into pillars, statue-filled recesses, and false windows.
The sight certainly took Skull and Panther off guard, but not their enemies, nor Yoshitsune for that matter. Without a second’s hesitation that samurai dashed off in pursuit of Charnok, who’d used his magic to rocket-propel himself up over the water and onto the fountain to gain the high ground. The water reached his knees and impaired his movement, forcing to dodge and splash around to avoid a flurry of fireballs. Even if they would sputter out with a hiss when they met the water, they would rack up the damage if they hit him. He couldn’t avoid them all, but when he finally reached Charnok he attacked as a cyclone of fiery steel. The dragon sorcerer summoned a storm of Hot Hail above him to deal constant damage in an area, to which he was immune, then after taking a few slices from Yoshitsune’s katanas unleashed a stream of flame from his staff to try cooking the man alive.
That left the dwarf for Skull and Panther. Hammer in hand, Beast stood on top of a floating snakeboard with a stolid glower, waiting for his foes to attack. Skull sighed. “Man, can’t believe we have to fight here. This place is totally sweet! Perfect date spot, huh, Panth?”
His friend raised an eyebrow at him. “What? How about we save goofing off ‘til after we beat this guy?” She jumped down into the water, followed shortly by Skull.
Immediately Beast began to move, releasing his hammer with one hand to bring forth a locus of sorcery. Panther’s eyes widened. She and Skull were sitting ducks. “This guy’s a mage! Persona!” Carmen appeared behind her with an elegant spin, flinging trails of water in a spiral. “Toast ‘em!”
The much faster spellcasting forced Beast on the defensive. As he leaned sideways the snakeboard beneath him shifted alongside him, allowing him to avoid the fireball. Skull produced his shotgun and started firing to keep up the pressure, while Panther waded in front of him. “Here’s a boost!”
“Got it!” Skull planted a foot in his friend’s cupped hands and kicked off as Panther threw him. He soared out of the water and into the air, his new club upheld. “Head’s up!”
Beast blocked the kanabo with his hammer, though not by much. Though lighter than him the teenager got better leverage from his height and started pushing Beast backward. He let go of his weapon again and grabbed Skull’s arm, casting Petrifying Touch. “What the fu-!” With a cut-off shout of surprise the boy got covered in stone and fell backward, off the snakeboard and into the water, face down.
Items scrounged from boxes: Suspicious Text Data x 815 - Pages of sensitive information transmitted unknowingly across insecure communications channels Defunct Mind Control Helmet - A durable device capable of sending the wearer’s brainwaves to whoever might be unfortunate enough to be implanted with a receiver. This one doesn’t work Structure Gel Vial x2 - Highly proteinated, cross-linked lubricant, and a conductor, and a signal medium, with aligned graphene in a petroleum monosubstrate, polysaturated matrix, containing fuel oils. The gel is encodable and can be calibrated with instructions to accomplish a specific function Metal Scrap x8 - Bits and bobs of low quality. Can be melted down and fused together to increase quality, somehow Miscellaneous Cords and Cables - Boy, there’s a lot of them. All shapes and sizes. And they’re really entangled Metal Mold x 3 - Blocks of metal meant for use at a forge. One liquid metal is poured in, it will cool into whatever shape the mold had. There is one for a sawblade, one for a key, and one for a half-pair of scissors
Although Nadia and Ace couldn’t hear it since Link went inside the adjunct room, he spoke the truth: if they wanted to keep the pain train rolling, they needed a new strategy. Unfortunately, the pair up in the airborne labyrinth couldn’t exactly sit on their hands and ponder the matter. Just as Ace said, they needed to keep Moreau off their teammates’ backs. The damage to the starting platform made the idea of anyone getting back up to the catwalks from there look pretty much impossible, so Nadia and Cadet started making their way back toward the Command Center in scorched-earth fashion. Even as their little muscles grew sore the two bent to the task of dropping distraction after distraction to keep the infuriated fish focused on their side of the room.
That task, however, came to a sudden and premature end. As Ace and Nadia worked together to cut through a tougher-than-usual chain, the tool slipped and slipped right out of the kids’ numbed, weary hands. “Shoot!” Its weight and their finger strength meant they couldn’t get a hold on it before the bolt cutters dropped out of reach, and a moment later the final distraction plopped unceremoniously to the water. Scowling, Nadia smacked her fist against her leg. “Come. On! Can’t we catch a break?”
Wildly she looked around for something, anything she could use. Almost instantly the feral spotted Bowser down on the platform in front of the Command Center-adjacent hallway. He was yelling something about a jar, and as Nadia looked closer, incredulous, she realized he was fishing. The pint-sized King Koopa dangled bait of some kind down into the water using the rod he swiped from Moreau’s meager possessions, seeking to attract the mutated monster’s attention with that tasty(?) morsel.
Now, Nadia knew she wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to clever schemes, but even she saw the flaws in this plan. For one, she and Ace would need to get all the way through the dangling maze for a third time in order to get into position, and unless her monster-hunting buddy felt a whole lot less tired and sore than she did, that wasn’t going to be fast. Second, the Command Center was where the divers would be going once they finished their mission (her lack of realization that the lowering of the water would definitely prevent that notwithstanding), and Moreau would be right in their way. Third, and most poignantly, it wasn’t like Moreau was just going to snap up the bait.
Right on cue the monster surfaced again, plowing through the water once more on a collision course with Bowser’s platform. Nadia tightened the grip on her bridge’s railing as she clenched her teeth in worry. He was going to get smashed!
He did not. Just before Moreau rammed the platform Bowser leaped out of the way, putting his impressive jumping ability to excellent use. In fact he went high enough that the could grab the ladder that linked the platform and the catwalks without issue, making Nadia feel stupid for doubting him. The next second the abomination bulled underneath him, annihilating the wall-mounted metal grate Bowser once stood on and smashing into the wall itself a moment later. The second impact sent a shockwave through the whole Depths, enough to rock the suspended bridges above dangerously. Disquietingly close by, a loose section of bridge came loose of its own accord and plummeted down into the water.
Nadia gulped and slightly relaxed her deathgrip on the railing to run her nails through her hair. “Eheh, this whole thing might be a lot less stable than I thought…” It was agonizingly easy to imagine this very catwalk dropping right out from under her feet. Every sway needled her with anxiety. But her mission hadn’t changed. That monster needed to be attended to.
Maybe inspired by Bowser, Ace surprised her with a suggestion that they pursue an even more extreme fishing plan. When he asked about a net, she defaulted to an uncertain expression. “Sorry, I don’t remember seeing anything like that. If it didn’t seem useful at the time, I probably wouldn't commit it to memory.” Her eyes fell on the long section of broken-up bridge over the middle of the room. “But maybe we can use the grates? We can pull them out and drop them without the cutters. But whatever we do, we gotta hurry!” Before she could change her mind she detached herself from the railing and prepared to retrace her steps.
Unknown to those who remained in the Command Center, and all the more tragic for it, the cruel horror of the Depths had claimed its first victim. Paralyzed and rendered catatonic by mind-wrenching dissonance, the Mockingbird of Elliot Witt collapsed to the floor to drown in darkness of its pitiable mind’s own devisement. It lived only briefly, a copied existence, fleeting, fragile, and doomed. It fidgeted there on what might as well be the ocean floor, wires forever crossed, the suit of circuitry, structure gel, and necrotic human remains never to rise once more.
But a way off shone a twinfold light of hope, if not for the broken Mockingbird, then for its mission. Junior and Mirage’s BULL reunited not far from the entrance to their destination, joining forces both to hunt for Flow Control and to keep the long-haired swimmer at bay. The koopa in particular worked his controls erratically, fueled by the adrenaline of panic, and more than once his submarine lights swept over the sign by the doorway ahead without giving him the chance to read it. Still, it wasn’t long before, with a little extra direction from the Universal Helper, Junior came to the realization that his goal lay right before him. Through the open doorway he could direct his light to a large cluster of machines and pipes on the far side, about a hundred feet away. A flashing red light brought his attention to a wheel marked by big if faded letters as ‘Emergency Drain’. All that remained was a little maneuvering through the rather tight entrance and he could putter right up to it. While the submarine lacked the BULL unit’s manipulator claws, Junior had in Mimi a set of arms already proven able to reach through glass and affect the watery world beyond.
Of course, just as victory lay within reach, the faceless girl made her move. At high speed she swam down from above, her angle of attack almost unreachable for either craft’s spotlights. While Junior made his way into Flow Control, Mirage had only a brief moment in which to somehow keep the marine monster from reaching his friend.
Sakura’s search through Moreau’s knickknacks came up essentially empty-handed. Uncorking and otherwise opening the bottles invariably assaulted her with a potent chemical smell, as unrecognizable as it was unpleasant and singing her nose more often than not. The labels were neither English nor Japanese, but Eastern European if she had to guess, and thus useless.
Pressed up against the Command Center’s glass window and peering out at the situation unfolding with Moreau across the proverbial pond with every fiber of her being, Bella jumped a good foot off the ground when a sudden metallic slam rang out from the top of the room. She whirled around fast enough to smack her little leviathan tail into the window and elicit a grunt of annoyance, but her focus did not deviate from the ceiling.
For a moment she had thought that something went wrong with the machine arms anchored there, which would be bad considering the group probably needed those to get the divers out of the water. A thorough examination of the weighty contraptions, however, revealed no apparent fault. She wasn’t an engineer of course, but Bella felt pretty sure that if the machinery made a noise like that, she’d be able to see something wrong. So, at least that wasn’t a problem.
Any relief that she might have felt about that got buried beneath the weight of a follow-up realization. If that frighteningly abrupt noise came from the ceiling but not the machines...where did it come from?
Another smack resounded through the room, less intense than the first. Already looking upward, Bella was able to zero in on the sound. It didn’t come from the submarine-hoisting mechanism at all, but from a boxy structure that extended down out of the ceiling. Now a series of bumps and smacks issued from the vent, and while the rest of her was frozen Bella’s eyes followed the source of the noise as it moved down the length of the structure, turned a corner over the racks of diving suits, and continued over both the racks and the pilot seat until it reached the wall with the door everyone came through. Then the sound grew quiet and disappeared.
Bella released her breath, feeling a lot colder all of a sudden. Goosebumps formed on the pale skin that even the deep waters she once called home never managed to chill. She held onto her arms and shivered as she ran over to where Sakura, Peach, Geralt, and Rika stood together near Mirage’s pilot seat. “What was that? Something crawling around? I thought we were safe here. If something comes out, what are we going to do?”
The discussion didn’t last long. There came a terrible ruckus from the hallway between Maintenance and the Command Center as a vent burst open, and in a nightmarish parody of birth a swollen, malformed something pushed through to slump to the ground in a moist, heaving heap. On shaking legs it picked itself up to a full height of over six feet, a pustule-ridden amalgam of mutant flesh crowned with a ghastly face locked mid-scream, and with a wet, gurgled vocalization the eyeless Proxy began to hobble toward the nearest source of noise.
To Albedo’s chagrin Skadi looked quite happy to concern herself with her animal and nothing else, but when Linkle approached and knelt down next to her, the strange goddess purposefully kept her gaze trained on the doge. Though that initially prompted a needle of frustration, Albedo quickly realized that meant something else--that Skadi still recognized something she wanted to avoid, and hadn’t retreated all the way back to her new persona. And either Linkle saw it too, or in typical compassionate heroine fashion wasn’t going to give up on Skadi either way, because she reached out once more.
If the alchemist wondered what the Skullgirl could possibly say to fix this situation, his doubts were soon laid to rest. Both clever and empathetic despite the deathly hollowness that surely must be eating away at her insides, she questioned not Skadi’s intentions but what her course of action would actually accomplish. Then, with the goddess’s newfound uncertainty written on her face, Linkle offered the solution once more. It wasn’t so strange, she reasoned, for even a divinity to rely upon a hero in times of need. Smart moves. Albedo perceived an unanchored desperation that clung to Skadi, provoking her to cling to whatever gave her support. By the way she now wavered, he realized her grip wasn’t so strong that she would refuse a better option. She just needed a little extra push.
Albedo raised a hand, drawing elemental power from his Geo vision. An arcane sprout pushed through the floorboards, ice, and drawings to reach the open air, and as Skadi looked on with wide eyes the sudden growth bloomed into a Solar Isotoma. “These are not empty promises. We may look young, but it would not be inaccurate to say that the two of us have power over life and death itself. We can do this.”
He could sense an immediate change in Skadi. The dam had been broken. “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I believe you want to help. I believe you can help. That...that man...he’s insatiable. Unless he’s stopped, none of us...are safe.” She looked Linkle in the eyes, and did not shrink away from the scarlet skull halves within. “My step-daughter’s name...is Freya. She dwells in an autumn glenn in the midst of a misty wood. Please, keep her safe.” For the first time, the eyes of the bizarre goddess turned hard. “And make that man pay.”
She went back to her doge and buried her face in his fur. Satisfied at last, Albedo turned away to reconvene with Father Guerra and Linkle a safe distance away, once his new friend finished her farewells. The priest looked impressed. “That was well handled. Oftentimes the other residents and I visit her to keep her company, but we’ve never managed to get her to open up like that.” He took a sip of his coffee, shrugging. “Then again, we never had a reason to.” Somewhere between curious and amused, he looked between the Monastery’s young guests. “Is true, what you said. That life and death stuff?”
It was Albedo’s turn to shrug. “Does it matter?”
“I suppose not.”
The small group headed back through the basement and up to the third tower’s first floor. So evident was the question of where to go next that Albedo scarcely felt the need to ask. Luck continued to be on their side. “Would the misty wood in question be down at the base of these mountains, do you think?” he prompted Linkle.
Guerra scratched his chin. “While it’s impossible for someone like me, if you two are all you say, there might be a way to the bottom.” He led the way to a window overlooking the Alpine Skyline. “See those little mountain villages? Those ropes hanging between ‘em all are stronger than they look. This tower’s got at least one tied to it. Might be able to zip between ‘em until you reach the bottom.”
Albedo thought about it. Sliding beneath a rope through freezing air over a ridiculous drop sounded neither safe nor fun, but it would be fast, and should the worst come to pass he could pull out his glider. He glanced at Linkle to gauge her reaction, both to the potential destination and the journey.
LOCATION:Al Mamoon Northeast - Rocket Inc. WORD COUNT: 1,061(+2 EXP) MENTIONS: Laharl, Jesse, Midna
Simple strategy was all that was needed against an almost mindless foe like this one. The fireballs weren't an unexpected attack considering the summon's appearance, though he felt his freshly closed wounds get grazed with heat from the retort. While the pain caused Mao to grit his teeth, it at least hadn't been something that'd tear open those injuries: Instead the heat crisping that flesh might've kept him sealed up a bit better! Unfortunately, this would cause a persistent stinging pain, and against his knowing, getting struck in those areas would hurt even worse now. But his own battle was almost won, he just needed to take this a little farther.
And that he did: After connecting with his weapon, Mao went into a full-rounded swing, the damage from the first attack being enough to stagger the Atronach for his spin to connect with another slash in the same section as before: Cutting deeper, and the result of that being the Atronach not having enough of a midsection left to keep itself upright. Instead, it's upper body flopped backwards against the wall, it's legs slumping forward until it was onto it's knees. The forward motion was enough to let the upper half slide from the wall, leaving the wall singed as it practically folded in half from the result of the second attack, beginning to lose it's flame and instead crumble apart, ashes spilling to the floor as it faded.
Sheathing his blade, Mao was about to return to dealing with the downed Dragonborn: But a chunk of the floor brought itself into the air and yoinked the guy away! Mao's gaze shot to Jesse, watching as she attempted to finish him off, her shot connecting but not fast enough before the Dragonborn used some sort of escape plan, disappearing before their eyes. Damn, one of the cursed ones went and probably killed him. Mao thought, not wanting this to come back to bite him. Though, eyes being relevant now, Jesse's seemed fine. Had that Princess done this, too? Mao could only assume so. Which meant gunning that armored bastard down was a full personal decision, too. That was better than he previously thought.
Overall, this meant their fight was currently over. Not having any idea of how to fix one of these gleaming bastards himself, he went over to Laharl: They'd both been pretty injured by this experience, but it seemed this Overlord didn't have the bright mind to bring healing items! Instead he was sitting here with his arms ready to become chew toys for a dog. "Hope your arms work enough to use this," Mao snarked as he tossed a Hard Candy at his fellow demon, that being the extent of kindness he'd get. Hopefully that'd be enough to at least keep him alive until someone with the ability to actually get rid of the gleam came about.
Turning his attention to Jesse, he walked over, scooping up that axe the Dragonborn left behind during the short trip. The shine from the axe's green blade flashed over Mao's glasses, removing his eyes from view for a moment until he flipped it, handle held out towards Jesse, as it'd been her finish unfortunately. He was too proud to admit that the warrior had deceived him and bought time for that escape plan, and like hell he was going to thank her for interfering with his fight, but Jesse's blast probably put an end to him either way. Someone else that wouldn't hesitate in the heat of the moment was much more acceptable than people like that irritating furry-creature that'd gone with the other team. He'd have to get mad at someone else for the casualties on this one. Mao kept to the script.
"Guess he's taken care of." Mao noted the Dragonborn had been durable, stronger than he expected by a long shot. He could only hope the guy couldn't survive getting a shotgun blast to the chest, or he'd probably be extremely angry the next time he ran into the two Yellow members that put a beatdown on him. But he wouldn't be getting up quick, wherever he was. Overall this was genuinely unfortunate, as Mao would've appreciated a first-hand example of what happened to folks that died here, considering the Demon he had recruited to his ranks prior through a Spirit. There'd be other opportunities, he assumed. Plenty of time to study these things.
Snapping back from his thoughts, Mao easily picked up on the sound of Ciella and Amara ending their battle. His head turned, wondering if 'his' team was winning or losing. Though with the numbers in their favor it probably didn't matter. "Sounds like that's where I'm going next," Mao noted aloud, heading towards the commotion with or without the axe, depending on Jesse's own choice on taking it.
It seemed that everything was over by the time the Dragonborn was dealt with, though. They seemed to be making their way back to the front of the building, marking the battle as over. Well, the bee and that hedgehog were still missing, but where they went, Mao himself wasn't sure. What Mao could notice was that there weren't more bodies coming out of the conference chamber than those that went in. In fact, aside from Ciella's appearance change, the number seemed the same aside from their enemies being out of the picture.
"Looks like we're not filling out the ranks today." Mao remarked, not particularly caring about this outcome as it was how he would've handled it with no restrictions in place. His gaze met with Midna, figuring since she wanted to play parole officer he'd report to her in particular. "That old armored guy used something to retreat, but not before she put a hole in his chest." Mao gestured back to Jesse with a thumb, not wanting to be barked at over the assumed casualty. "Though that wasn't before he turned Laharl into a meat slab for his axe to carve. I made sure he isn't dead, but I don't have the supplies left to get him into decent shape." Well, his two leftover Hard Candies might've at least helped, but he'd already given out one. He made sure Laharl was alive, and that was about all he'd do. Someone else could fix him up further, or maybe take advantage to cure that gleaming curse of his.
”I’m a bad-guy, I don’t have to be nice!” Was Bowser’s parting call back to Sakura. Rika didn’t really get what that meant at all, nor was she any help with the bottles of stuff which she couldn't read either, Eastern European languages were not exactly high on the list of information mass produced foot soldiers needed to know after all.
While they were at it Bowser’s plan came to fruition in a way that was nowhere near what he’d planned, but that still got results, so he was going to claim victory if anyone asked nonetheless. He’d misjudged what Moreau would consider bait, the disgusting morals certainly wasn’t it, and just quite how high the monster could jump.
Which meant that his leap away from the fish’s mighty leap was less a suave and cunning per-prepared dodge like Link’s had been and more a panicked flight accompanied by FUNGA! FUNGA! FUNGA! HUP! before the King soared with gravity defying grace through the air and up to the ladder, which he grabbed with one claw. And then hung from it by said one claw as the big jerk crashed through his platform and then smashed into the wall with a might smack
”Gahaha-arg!” Bowser laughed at his foolishness and then was forced to cling on to his ladder as the shock-waved reverberated through everything, and threatened to shake him off and drop him into the water. While it didn't make him lose, it did dunk part of the sky maze into the water and, while fortunately no one was on it to take the plunge with it, all this intentional and unintentional platform dropping was probably going to make navigating up and down a fair bit trickier. And they were going to need to get back down somehow once Jr and the Mirages pulled through.
”Urg, well you were useless” Bowser informed the gross thing on the end of his fishing rod. He proceeded to violently shake it around till it slipped the knot and fell down into the water, where maybe it would act as a little distraction down there where it had failed at the end of the line. Then he gripped the rod in between his teeth and used both hands to clamber his way up the ladder. Once up he headed back to the control room to see if there was anything else that would work as a distraction. That wasn't himself that was. As a result of his shenanigans he was still on his way back, when the ladies, and Mirage, received their guest.
Rika however was right there and was in the middle of picking up and trying to gauge if Sakura’ idea of hucking the tv at their fishy foe was something she could pull off (the doll had been removed and carefully set aside from its seat on top of said tv while she was at this and, it seemed, was safe from any threat of being used as a distraction by anyone present) when something started banging around nearby.
“Huh? What was that noise?” she asked upon hearing it and then, when Bella asked what they were supposed to do when something came she more or less automatically suggested “well we fight it I guess?”
It was just when the fact that, as kids, this probably wasn't a good plan, that the eyeless armless thing burst out of the vent. Though it did first fall over rather pathetically, when it started picking itself it looked like it was going to be absolutely massive, not to mention utterly disgusting and horrifying.
Rika’s response to this was to shriek in surprise and panic and then to chuck the Tv at its head as it was trying to get up.
While those above dealt with their own troubles, Jr continued to slip through the depths towards his destination of flood control. While at it he managed to miss said control’s signpost due to being very, very, very worried about their spooky lady friend. Fortunately, she didn't seem to want to make a move, perhaps because of Jr’s cunning circling of the (two) wagons, or perhaps just because she wasn't ready to come in again for some reason, but whichever was the case, in the end they made it too flood control uncontested.
”Finally!” the prince cheered as he found the room and slipped right in without a moment's thought or hesitation. There were a whole lot of mechanical gubbins in there, but even an idiot couldn't miss the giant wheel under the flashing light that would allow them to drain all the water. No complicated water level puzzles here, just a nice simple singular level transformation. There was a slight problem however, Jr raised, as he floated up in front of the controls.
”Wait. Uh. how do I...” he rather uselessly tapped at the glass in front of him that kept him safe, but also stopped him from reaching the wheel. There were also no manipulators on the sub but, as he swiftly realized, that didn't matter, because while he couldn't reach through the glass, his ghostly minion certainly could!
”Mimi! Use your sneaky shadow to turn that wheel!” he commanded while pointing dramatically at the wheel
“Mimi?” the mon replied, seemingly confused
”That shadow thing. Use it on the wheel!” Jr instructed again, jabbing his finger at the wheel again a little impatiently.
“Kyu?” she looked at it, looked at him, and then shrugged and got to it and, in doing so, demonstrated that while pokemon where hardly animals, there was a reason they were not equal citizens of their world when she proceeded to sneak her shadow out and then used it to ineffectually attack the wheel with spectral claw swipes.
”What no! Don't attack the wheel! Turn it! Turn the wheel.” Jr shouted at her.
“Kyu?” she replied, having little understanding of machinery. That was trainer stuff.
”Look. Grab it like this” jr said, mimicking grasping the wheel with his claws
“Mi” the mon replied, and after a few tries and corrections from her trainer, grasped the wheel with her shadow’s tendrils
”and now turn it. Like this” jr said, again, demonstrating the action
“Kyu!” the mon replied, turning the wheel a half turn as instructed
”Good, now do that again. Good. and again and again! Goood. You got it! Good minion!” jr instructed and then cheered as the mon started to turn the wheel a quarter turn at a time until the task was done.
”Quite the collection of junk you've got there” Kamek said to Link after they’d dug through the boxes, his own attempt at helping having not turned up much of use either, just the same cables and text logs and other scrap.
”Molds we can't fill, weird goo that I do not want to touch… I suppose if you want a suspicious looking hat you have it and… what even is all this text about?” Kamek said, misinformed and dismissive, while picking up a random document from among the hundreds stuffed into the boxes and giving it a read. It wasn't like he was much use anyway he thought morosely as he skim read the sensitive information mainly because it was there and it was something to do.
LOCATION:The Maw - The Depths, Underwater WORD COUNT:456(+1 EXP) MENTIONS:
While Mirage's backwards adventure had proven safe enough, he was pondering where his other self had gone. He'd known kinda where the controls were too, right? So he should've came this way. But instead it had split off to go to the bottom, Mirage's light not picking up on the creepy water lady or their diving suit companion. They didn't have time to worry much, however, as they had a mission to finish. Junior slipped through fine in the submarine, but the BULL was a bit of a tighter fit for the doorway. Instead of going fully through, Mirage used the BULL to block the entrance, doorway meaning their faceless stalker had a lot less angles to strike from.
"Junior should be working on draining the water," He informed the others, so they knew progress was being made. However, this was soon followed up by a moment of panic as the water lady made it clear she had intended to attack from above: The blocked doorway keeping her away from Junior but that frustration was clear as it obviously wanted to get by still. He yelped in response to it entering his view, deciding to attempt to fend it off as best he could. Let's see how y'like these precision pincers! Crossed Mirage's mind as the robot carried his thoughts into actions: The BULL's appendages lashing out in an attempt to snatch up the girl before she could find a way to slip by.
As Mirage took action to defend Junior, it turned out that stuff was happening on the surface too. The shaking was enough to almost make Mirage fall out of the pilot seat, but he kept steady as his grabbing effort continued. Bella's uncertainty at a certain noise that seemed to be crumpling through the vents was worrisome, but all he could manage at the moment was a minor update again. "If something does, we just have to last a little longer! The water should be draining any second now-- Damn it, stand still!" He cut off his update to voice his frustrations at his underwater opponent.
He had to leave the rest topside to the others. The creature emerging from the vent was alarming less because of the thuds and more because of Rika's reaction: Head jerking towards her for the shriek and then towards the noise that came with tossing a television. He was paranoid, but knew there were a lot more of them topside than at the bottom. So he had to work where he could, and trust the others could secure the top. Otherwise he was pretty exposed to an attack, and a mixture of fragile human body and worsening hunger meant a physical blow wouldn't yield good results right now.
As a matter of fact Link did want that suspicious hat, pressing it down over his scalp and giving it a few hearty raps with his knuckle. It let out a satisfying sturdy clanking sound. "Who knows, it could save my life." He already owed his continual existence to one goofy looking helmet today, he didn't see any harm in trusting another.
Unfortunately it seemed to be the only semi-immediately useful thing their search had turned up. As Kamek busied himself checking a random page from the big pile of documents they had uncovered, admittedly something he was interested in himself, Link gave his attention to the molds and the containers of black goo. Curiously, he twisted the top off one of the containers and began to tip it over the key mold. Then, before he began to pour, he suddenly thought better of it. He didn't know what this stuff was going to do, if anything, but if it turned out to be some metal eating jelly he didn't want to destroy the obviously most important mold. Instead he dragged the saw blade mold over and carefully tipped the container until the black goo poured out in a steady stream until it filled out the shape. Then Link closed the container back and took a few steps back to watch what happened.
It wasn't long before he was pulled away from his experiment by a loud, shuttering CRASH from outside. Startled, he ran to the doorway and looked out to see the monster duking back under the surface across the way. Piece of the catwalk slammed down into the water all around, dislodged from the force of the impact, and he frantically scanned the walkways above for any sign of the Cadet and Ms. Fortune. By the grace of the gods they were still up there and Link felt his heart slow down a pace as he registered that.
Linkle
Merge Rate: 31%
Location: The Cold Monastery
The seconds seemed to tic by like centuries as Linkle waited for the goddesses response. Linkle could only wait and hope that what she had said had gotten through the haze. Then, she heard the rustling and looked up to find one of Albeto's flowers poking its way up out between the drawings. Then, unflinching, he gave her the final push she needed.
Freya. The daughters name was Freya. It was a pretty name, and even the feeling of the Skull Heart bristling with anger over the goddesses unflinching eye contact couldn't quell the feeling of victory at having heard it. This was the name the stranger had wanted, the location he had tried to beat out of this woman. So far the score was Linkle: 2, Stranger: 0, and she was eager to keep that winning streak going. Linkle stood, smiling, as the woman turned her head and buried it in her dog. She softly laid her hand on the Goddess's shoulder. "I swear I will." She said, then she gave the Doge a quick scratch behind the ear and walked to join Albedo and the Father. As she approached she clapped the boy on the back. "Thanks Albedo. I was worried she was going to slip back into...well...wherever she goes."
Father Guerra also seemed suitably impressed with the two of them. He asked about whether that Life and Death stuff was true, and while Albedo deflected the question Linkle just nodded. After all, it wasn't a lie. "Albedo can grow things like that. As for me," She uncomfortably scratched under one of her eyes. "I really don't want to use those powers, though. They're super evil, not something a hero should be using."
At the alchemists prompting, Linkle considered where the misty autumn glenn Skadi had mentioned might be. "I passed some pretty autumny place when I was wandering around, but they weren't misty at all. It could be anywhere, I guess." While Father Guerra pointed out the system of ropes that connected the villages Linkle took her compass off from around her neck and held it out in front of her toward the window. The needle, like most times, spun wildly back and forth but as she watched she could swear it stalled for a moment one...two...like four times while pointing straight down. She nodded to herself. That was good enough for her.
In truth it could have been pure bias clouding her interpretation. Even if she had been trying too it was impossible to hide the naked eagerness on her face at the prospect of riding on the ropes. "Let's give it a shot!" she said. "It sounds like a ton of fun." She presented the compass proudly. "Besides, I think there's a good chance we'll find it down there." The needle was now pointing directly up.
Level 7 Sectonia (holding 2 level up) - (10/70) Location: Al Mamoon Word Count: Less than 750
Since the items Shadow used weren't powered by magic, but by technology, they eventually ran out much to the hedgehog's annoyance and Sectonia's joy. Her Antillion absorbed a fair amount of the magazine of the LMG, but Sectonia abosrbed the other part and it didn't tickle. Necronomicon's marking was more useful than Sectonia could even hope for, as she even predicted where Shadow would be, meaning Sectonia's spells which the hedgehog was lazily dodging hit, annoying him greatly. It also let her remaining green antillions to fire off their lightning blasts themselves, adding to the chaos that Shadow had to dodge.
Chaos being a word that Shadow was familiar with, dropping his drained gun and deciding to use his own power for once, his frustration and pain after getting hit by one of Sectonia's light rings. Seeing Shadow starting to cast 'magic', Sectonia used her pipe of insight to absorb some of the chaos spears, casting Haste on herself, and engaging Shadow in a flurry of body slams on his end, sword swipes on her end, teleports on both sides, and the occasional Void Globule when Shadow decided to use his martial arts skills on the Queen which Shadow dodged without too much trouble.
After all the clashing, Sectonia being hurt as well as Shadow looking about the same, the hedgehog had enough and using his power to stop time again, but putting far more effort into it to conjure up a barrage of chaos spears that would hit Sectonia when the stasis of chaos control ended. Necronomicon, being a support champ though, gave Sectonia invincibility at the moment those spears would've hit and leaving Shadow utterly confused as this was clearly one of his bigger attacks. Seeing as Sectonia was in the midst of combat and not appreciating being frozen in time again, threw one of her Void Globules at Shadow before teleporting around and behind him to conjure a Ring of Light around her lower half on top of the hedgehog. A combination of both light and void would hurt quite a bit coming at both sides.
"You are quite strong, you'll make an excellent minion." Sectonia said to the exhausted Shadow as she attacked him.
wordcount: 1,187(+2) (-3) Midna: level 5 EXP: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////// (46/50) Location: Sandswept Sky - Al Mamoon Northeast - Rocket Inc.
Midna bit back her building anger/frustration with the Thieves for now and, as the battle rolled on in front of them, tried to give them an equally calm rebuttal ”Except it does change people. Not directly, yes, but given time, time that they’ve all had, the required legality will influence people’s personalities”
She’d been thinking this over since their previous battle, and now she tried to wrangle the ideas that had been rattling around in her head and deliver them as an argument ”I don't know what kind of world you come from, but from what I know, most people aren't killers by nature. Even those that do kill they have limits on what warrants death and what kind of lives they are willing to take. But here, touched by Galeem’s influence? Any fight you take, it ends in the death of you or your foe, no matter who or what they are. If you don't fight, then sure, you're probably the same. But if you step up and fight for what you believe in, take a stand against tyranny and evil, then you end up with blood on your hands where before you might have just left bruises. That changes a person and, because they are blind to Galeem’s influence, they have to rationalize that killer nature as part of themselves. That changes them from who they were, and who they are when they are free again.” she said, before taking her hypothesis and adding some actual evidence to back it up.
”Case and point, there was a little girl as part of the previous group. When she was free, she was horrified by the very idea of using her magic to attack people instead of monsters, let alone killing them. Because that wasn't part of her nature before, it was something Galeem forced her to do for daring to fight for what she thought was right.” she concluded, hoping that she might be able to foster an understanding as to why these people deserved to be given a second chance.
As she wrapped up, so too was the battle between the two woman coming to a close ”and don’t think I don't see you dancing around telling exactly me what you actually did with that lady” she added, but she didn't have time to go into that, instead tapping her chest to draw out a heart and moving herself closer to get into a better position to dart in at the last moment and free the loser, before, if she was contested, turning her massively amped up dragon power on the winner and then freeing them too.
Unfortunately, like Amara, Midna herself also fell for Ciella’s deception, focusing on the sneaking woman and missing the spell forming at the siren’s feet. Behind her, Fox wasn't fooled. Had he informed her instead of/as well as Joker, or moved to act himself, Amara might have lived, but it was not to be.
There was no life on the line as far as the Thieves were concerned after all.
So the trap was sprung, and in a torrent of arrow fire the mislead hero fell. Minda was blindsided by this conclusion, left holding the friend-heart as Amara’s spirit fell to the ground. After understanding struck Minda hurled the heart away in anger, and then felt like an arrow had pierced her own heart when she recognized that, had she intervened or been more observant, this could have been avoided.
Amara was dead because of her.
She’d had people die because of her failings before of course, and she had no need of Galeem to make her a killer, so the moment wasn't soul shattering by any means. The siren was just one more stranger’s corpse laid atop the pile of lessons learned (which consisted mostly of mountain of dead Hylians resting on a mound of her own subjects). But it still killed her just a little every time it happened. To add insult, or rather horror, to injury, Ciella grasped the fallen hero’s spirit and pressed it to her chest, absorbing her power like the Seekers did.
”Who the fuck taught her to do that” She whispered under her breath. Because that was bad. Really bad. Long-term it had the possibility of some dreadful consequences, but short term it was also bad. She was already incredibly strong after all, and now she had even more power. How many might die if they had to fight her to stop her from killing someone they freed.
Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, as they returned to the conference chamber (Midna noting with quet disdain that the Thieves had shown no reaction other than quiet indifference to Amara’s death as they regrouped), it appeared that wouldn’t be an issue just yet.
Back in the room they immediately linked up with Mao, who gave them a report on how things had turned back in the room.
”So we absolutely failed to take anyone alive. Brilliant. Just brilliant” She replied with a sigh as her dragon energy, mostly unused, slowly dissipated. And they’d done so well the first time round, Minda cursed to herself. A brief mental rundown of who was with her gave her a rationale as to why. Indifferent thieves (who poisoned her current opinion of Jessy by association), evil overlords and the still Galeeming Bruam (who seemed like a good person to her and, she mentally noted, she should definitely actively try to find a way to free him as soon as possible).
Maybe the still absent Sectonia was the only one she could rely on to follow through, which she had mixed feelings about. When it came down to it there were not a lot of people in this crew who’s moral character she could truly trust, here or in the larger extended group. She’d need to mend some bridges and do some internal faction building if she wanted to try and keep them on the right path.
For the moment however, informed by this assessment and by the encounter in the previous room, Minda resolved to take things into her own hands far more heavily when they assailed the basement.
Still, while they couldn't be trusted to take people alive, at least they could be relied upon not to get themselves killed. Though considering the state of Laharl he’d had quite the close call. ”Can your priests help Laharl now that the coast is-” she began to ask Ciella before stopping, sighing and remembering that the runt was still Galeeming.
She clapped her hands twice to get some attention and then announced ”Demonstration time then. Mao, Jessy, this is how you clear the light” before tapping her chest and drawing out another friend-heart. Then she drifted down to kneel beside the wounded Laharl and administered the restorative fragment.
”Welcome into the shade Laharl, if you have any questions, just ask” she said, getting up herself as he went through his flashback and then offering the overlord a hand to help get up once he put things together, uselessly hoping that being free would somehow do something about his attitude problem.
Scrambling up the ladder after his attack against the mutated Moreau, Geralt didn't look back even as he heard the crashing of the scaffolding that crushed the fish-man and dealt some serious damage. He heard Bowser's plan to try and lure the monster back up towards them, and without any weapons or way to attack now that he'd done his part, Geralt both wanted to be out of the way of their plan, and out of the line of fire. Even in his grown body he'd be hard-pressed to take a hit from that monstrosity. Maybe with the Harbor Demon Spirit he could go toe to toe with that thing, but even then it wasn't a sure thing. As a child? No way, he was getting out of there.
Quickly running back to the Command Center, Geralt nodded as he looked over the others. Sakura and Rika were discussing possibly using other items that Moreau had left behind against him, and Geralt thought it might be a viable plan were it not for the risk of him attacking. If they could find a way to remove the risk of being eaten in a single gulp, he'd be more than happy to join in. But right now, he wasn't keen on putting himself in harm's way more than necessary.
Bowser's predicament proved him right to a degree. Moreau came right up under the Koopa King, nearly taking a bite out of the turtle monster man, and the resulting shockwave catching Geralt off guard, causing him to pause as his eyes widened. "I am very glad that I'm not down there." He groaned. That was, frankly, terrifying to witness. That amount of power reminded him of a Fiend or a Leshen. And those would tear a child to pieces in seconds if they got the chance.
Shaking his head, Geralt turned quickly and frowned at the second loud noise that rang out, this one from above them. Whether that was from one of the machines or something else, it didn't sound good, and he found himself entering a ready stance and moving to put himself between the others and that noise. Child body or not, he still had the mind of a man with decades of combat experience. His eyes followed the noise as it moved around, and he frowned when it ceased. He didn't trust that they were safe just yet.
Moments later, his cynicism was proven right as a horrifically deformed humanoid monster appeared, shambling towards them. Rika panicked, shrieked in surprise, and grabbed the cube-shaped object that they'd been talking about and tossed it at the creature as it struggled to stand.
Geralt, for his part, looked around desperately. This thing didn't have any visible eyes, so it was possible that it relied on sound to locate its prey. If he could get something to distract it, he might be able to lure it away from the others. His eyes caught onto the bottles in Moreau's little workshop, and he ran to grab one. Picking the one that looked like it would stink the least, he snagged it and waited for a moment when the thing looked distracted to toss it away from the rest of the group and hopefully draw its attention away.
Level 6: 06/60 Location: The Maw: The Depths Word Count: 371 Points Gained: 1 New EXP Balance--- Level 6 : 07/60
"Oof, yuck."
"...Yucky."
"Ugh."
"Nope."
"Īe."
Sakura rubbed her nose and set down the bottles. "This is just gross bottles of gross stuff. Magic potions don't look like this, right?" The girl coughed. Mirage was still giving updates. Could he even hear them? "Ugh. That was a waste of time. My face hurts. Sorry, Rika-chan, no dice."
How quickly would her focus shift. Bowser was looming right over the edge of the water and almost regretted for her wished for. Fish guy came to eat him right up. Sakura's little arms went up and she ran around in a circle for a moment, a burst of fear giving her energy but having nowhere to expend it. She ended up right back where he started.
"Geez! You distracted him, sure! But that was a little too close, don't you think?" Sakura said.
Another heavy dull thump. Bella called it out. Weren't they supposed to be safe? Sakura grabbed one of the closed bottle and held it by the neck like a makeshift weapon. It felt weird to be using a weapon, they normally weren't her style. But desperate times called for desperate measures.
"I don't know, Bella-san. This place is driving me crazy." Sakura complained bitterly, eyes wide as she tried to find the source of the noise.
Their uninvited guest came to them out of the floor. He, she, they...whatever they were, their form was revolting to look at. Sakura's heart dropped as soon as she saw it. From terror, and also pity. The stretched face looked like it was in horrible, horrible pain. Like many things in the Maw, the visage seared itself into her mind.
Rika panicked and threw a TV (she was strong!) and Mister Geralt threw a bottle. For her part Sakura just stood there. They couldn't run too far away. What if it got Mirage? They had to stay and distract it somehow. Could it really see them? What if they was friendly? Sakura wasn't sure where to go or what to do. So instead she just clutched her bottle, by Rika's side. Analysis paralysis? Frozen in fear? Tactical evaluation? Whatever you call it, Sakura's knuckles were white and she stared up at the proxy.
Level 3: 12/30 Word Count: 441 Location: Al Mamoon- Rocket Inc Points Gained: 1 New EXP Balance--- Level 3: 13/30
Her plan worked pretty damn close to perfect. Except for the part where she failed. The Dragonborn took the hit and poofed away. Maybe she had gone easy on him, after all. She could have blown his damn head off if she wanted too. Instead she aimed for his chest. Because maybe if she just mortally wounded him, Midna could have done that heart thing. And they could have captured him or something. Jesse frowned, still aiming at the spot the Skyrim guy had been.
Mao came over to her, indicating the Dragonborn was most likely dead.
"Well, if he bleeds out wherever he is now, that's not on me." Jesse concluded. The Service Weapon vanished. Her rocket launcher snarled on her shoulder.
Mao handed her the axe. She accepted it reluctantly, but quickly reconsidered. "Err, yeah, you can keep this one, kid. This kind of weapon isn't my style. You'd put it to more use then I could. Plus, I'm running out of places to put weapons." She handed the axe to him.
Midna seemed particularly upset at how this encounter went. The Director watched as Midna freed Laharl from the influence of- whatever it was that brought them here.
"Listen, Princess." Jesse began. That sounded a lot more sassy than she intended. She walked herself back with her body language, raising her hands apologetically. "Princess Midna. I know you mean well. But on my world, taking people alive when shooting starts isn't really a priority. Capturing people who want to kill you, usually means the good guys end up dead. My case in point? I was literally almost shot to death by that asshole because you and me went easy on him." Jesse said with a shrug.
"And it looks like it works the same way here, as well." Jesse concluded. "This is a warzone. People are gonna get killed. Taking folks alive is a luxury."
"Which...brings me to my next question." The Director walked over to Princess Midna. "What the hell are we doing here?" The redhead whispered harshly. "What does this little civil war have to do with anything? Shouldn't we be focused on trying to stop this thing? Whatever it is? Do you have a name for it?" Jesse glanced around.
Lots of people in this room were affected. They had red eyes. With the benefit of hindsight, that must have been what she, on some subconscious level, had been aware of. But that was only because of her prior experience, and even then it was only a tickle in the back of her mind. Someone without her background, or something similar, would be totally oblivious.
With the water on the floor, Yoshitsune didn’t have quite the mobility he wanted with his wheels. Choosing to lock them and run as he used to, his onslaught continued, though he did manage to block or dodge most of the fireballs coming at him. A few hits in less-lethal places, mainly his arms and legs, left him able to fight but not unscathed.
With a roar of rage, the samurai ran as fast as he could at the caster, head tilted low, seeming to aim for a ram with his helmet. Instead, at the last second, he froze, turning all the momentum from his dash into thrusts from his blades, aiming for the caster in the center of his chest and center of his abdomen. He didn’t expect his plan to work out completely, as he hadn’t kept his eyes on the sorcerer and didn’t know if he’d moved or not. It was an all-or-nothing attack, one that he knew he’d never have used before coming to this strange world.
Whether the attack hit or not, he’d jump back, giving himself enough time to dodge the mage’s next attack if he wasn’t defeated yet, and take a look at the others who joined him in the room.
Hot hail rained down across Yoshitsune's helmet and back, but the Samurai powered through, undeterred. Charnok attempted to defend himself by interposing his staff between his assailant and himself, which might have blocked a headbutt but didn't help a whole lot against thrusts. He took both stabs, and though the fire that surrounded the katanas showed no sign of hurting him, it was clear Yoshitsune left a mark. Of course, charging headlong into a flamethrower set the samurai on fire too, and he jumped back into the water to put himself out.
Charnok didn't give him a chance to check on the others just yet. The dragon mage cast a spread of fireballs before renewing a shower of Hot Hail, the red-hot stones failing all around the samurai. In addition a fair amount of blunt force, Yoshitsune's metal armor was starting to heat up, and would burn his skin terribly if allowed to get much hotter.
With the stones falling and heating his armor, Yoshitsune was definitely in dire straights. He allowed himself to fall back into the water, keeping only his face above the surface, as his swords blocked and parried most of the stones, though he did focus his defense over his vital areas, taking a few searing burns to his arms and legs again.
With his quick thinking, he lifted his wheels just enough to not touch the floor below the water before spinning them as fast as he could in reverse, causing water to splash over the dragon mage, hopefully causing enough of a distraction, for the samurai to leap back into an attack, slashing his left sword for his opponent's neck. He expected it to be blocked. Immediately, he thrust his right blade straight for the beast-man's heart.(edited)
From the pool below the fountain came a front of water, aimed for Charnok. Seeing it both annoyed and amused him--did this swordsman think that such an attack would hurt him because he manipulated fire? He allowed himself to be doused without complaint, only closing his eyes for a moment to keep the sudden spurt out of his eyes. Once he opened them he saw Yoshitsune jumping up onto the carved stone of the fountain, using each tier as a footstool to reach the topmost section where Charnok waited. As he approached the dragon mage toasted his foe with another flamethrower, then broke sideways so he wasn't facing Yoshitsune head-on. The samurai came at him with both swords in sequence once more, this time a slash into thrust. Knowing he wouldn't be able to block well anyway, Charnok decided he'd try and make his foe back off, so once he blocked the first strike he swung the other way with his staff. Yoshitsune's katana pierced Charnok's chest one more, but got nowhere near the heart before the mage's staff clonked him in the side of the head. Charnok then cast a spell, causing orange circles to appear on the fountain around him. A moment later they burst upwards in geysers of flame.
Yoshitsune barely landed on his wheels after the sudden and disorienting thwonk to his head. "Put away that wretched maho and fight like a true warrior!" he called to the mage above him. Once the flaming pillars began to erupt, the samurai didn't have many options except dodge quickly and stay mobile. It was time to go on the defensive. Let his opponent attack, allowing him the chance to parry and counter. He just had to get him to that point. "Or is the tiny lizard too afraid?" Egging him into attacking couldn't hurt too much. His wheels itched to move, to go on the offense. He held them back.
The samurai's new strategy quickly evidenced a flaw. Though Charnok happily gave in to the taunts and launched his attack, he was happy to stay parked right on top of the high ground and sling down fireballs from afar. No matter how annoyed he got, the sorcerer would not just throw himself into melee combat he was ill-suited for.
Yoshitsune stayed on the defense, dodging or blocking most attacks. It wasn't too long before he had an idea. Using the same trick with the water, he figured he'd blind the mage temporarily before finding a sneaky place to hide. Using the statues as a cover, out of the sorceror's line-of-sight, he figured it was the safest spot. He'd used a similar strategy against Kagekiyo when he tried to make himself a god. Why shouldn't it work here? He just had to wait for the unsuspecting dragon mage to climb down.
Eventually the samurai seemed to have his fill of fireballs and, after another big splash, circled around the fountain to hide behind the statues. Charnok snorted and moved forward to get a better angle. "Can't hide from me, human!" he growled. A devilish idea came to mind, and with a toothy grin he readied his staff."Gotcha cornered now!" With a flick of his staff he brought down another Hot Hail to bombard Yoshitsune's current position. As the fiery stones hit the water they threw up enough steam to quickly make a giant smokescreen, and while Yoshitsune hunkered down Charnok began to summon a meteor to obliterate his foe from above. A moment later if fell, and with a mighty explosion wiped away steam and statue alike. "Grahaha! Hail, yes!"
As soon as the area began filling up with steam, Yoshitsune knew what was about to happen, a large, focused attack. He'd been seen in that spot but hadn't noticed it until the falling rocks. With as much speed and stealth as he could muster, he ran behind the dragon mage, jumped right as the giant meteor impacted, and landed on Charnok's back, both blades pressed against his throat. "Maho-oni," he spat before aiming to decapitate his foe.
The very second Charnok felt the unexpected weight hit his back and the unknown words hit his ear, the mage panicked and enacted his emergency measures. As Yoshitsune's blades descended to the ground beneath, Charnok exploded, launching both himself and his unwelcome rider. The sudden burst of force saved his life, turning certain death into a mortal injury, and well before the dragon reached the peak of his rocket jump a golden magic circle whisked him away. Yoshitsune was left alone in midair, the knee-deep water of the pool not quite enough to break a fall.
Yoshitsune landed with a roll. Looking around, he saw no sign of the dragon mage. It took him only a second to see his allies were still in their battle. “I hate maho users,” he grumbled to himself.
With a light jog, he was soon close enough to the other battle that he could join, though still far enough away to not get hit by any stray attack. “Need a hand?” he asked, twirling one of his swords, seeming both bored and annoyed.
Word Count: 370 (+1 exp) Level: 8 - Total EXP: 4/80 Location: Edge of the Blue - The Maw
Cadet and Nadia continued their work, moving even faster to keep Moreau in their area. The sound of metal on metal as they worked the cutters against the chains was beginning to grate on the Cadet. Because of their predicament, there was never any novelty to being turned into kids to begin with. Maybe in another situation it would have been kind of fun to see everyone like that. But now they were all tired, hungry, and stressed. His own stamina was so low it was a joke, and it couldn't keep up with his strength. Pressing his side of the metal cutters too hard made them fumble from their hands and drop into the drink.
"Agh, sorry," he sighed in frustration, "We'll find another way."
Unfortunately that other way wouldn't involve fishing, which while disappointing for the monster hunter, was overall safer for the kids. When Moreau crashed into the area Bowser had just vacated, the impact shook the entire area. That monster didn't even need to catch any of them, just smashing into them would be deadly. The Cadet held the railing tightly as the hanging platforms rocked back and forth. He looked down at the metal below their feet, and the chains that remained and kept the platforms suspended, judging Nadia's comment. He really hoped they were stable enough not to just fall and take them with it, especially after they'd spent so long up there already. He could see the worry in the Feral's eyes though, so once the platform's swaying slowed he pulled the kite Link had given him from his back and offered it to her.
"Here, it might slow your fall enough to make it back to solid ground. If you fall. Which you won't!"
After those very convincing words the Cadet nodded and agreed with Nadia's plan, seeing as they didn't have many other options. Most of the others that had joined them in the room retreated to the safer areas (or so the Cadet thought, unaware of the new danger in the Command Center). With just himself, Nadia, and the recently returned Link they'd have to keep the monster's attention anyway they could. Ace Cadet followed her lead. "Yeah, let's go!"
Word Count: 247 (+1 exp) Level: 5 - Total EXP: 24/50 Location: Sandswept Sky - Al Mamoon 𝙱𝙿 ●●●●● D34C25
The rest of the skeletons were dispatched expertly. Primrose met Band's smile with a nod. After they made sure the last of their foes were gone for good and with the dust and spirits settling, Primrose and Big Band moved across the bridge. Both of them carried a sense of urgency, scooping up the spirits as they went, and though Primrose wanted to make the most of the buff she'd bestowed on Band she did take the time to summon that healing flame again.
"Here, hold still. This won't take much time," she said. She placed the healing fire of Warmth over what wounds he had. While they still had the option, it would be best to go into the next battle in top form. That said, the dancer didn't have infinite magic reserves. She would have to pick her spells carefully and use the most of her BP if she wanted her magic to continuing lasting through multiple battles. Once Band was healed she stepped up to the bridge's ledge. She looked between the landing and Band, and found that she agreed with his logic.
"I am not sure I would be able to catch you either, even with this scarf. So, just don't break it and fall." She sent Band a small grin before she leapt. She didn't hesitate at all, her new accessory carrying her over with little worry. Once she alighted she went right through the doorway to make way for her companion.
Light and dark clashed in a terrific and destructive display of arcane power. And like metal undergoing temperature shock from back-to-back treatments of opposing hot and cold extremes, Shadow did not escape unscathed. He hurtled from the dazzling magic explosion and hit the roof of the office building, where he skidded and rolled for a couple seconds before coming to a stop. Even then, however, the hedgehog did not relent. His eyes snapped open, and with his face a mask of rage he picked himself up to face Sectonia, just in time to hear her taunt.
“Minion!?” he repeated, his tone dripping venom. After a moment, however, he gave a wry laugh. “At least you recognize my power. You, meanwhile, I wouldn’t bother to scrape off the bottom of my Air Shoes!” He held up one clawed hand in front of his face and took hold of the golden ring around his wrist with the other. “Now that you’ve said your last words, I’ll go ahead and send you straight to hell!”
At that moment a song rang out from somewhere on his person, carrying through the air. Shadow paused, his expression disgusted, as the moment dragged on. “Ugh, FINE!” If Sectonia approached him he planned to stop her with Chaos Control, but either way he would release his ring to reach down into a shoe. He pulled out a small device, flipped it open, and held it to his ear. “What. Do. You want!? I was RIGHT about to teach this overgrown bug a thing or two!”
He listened for a moment, his expression growing more and more irate. “Like hell I will! If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some business to...yeah? What about it?” From his other shoe he produced a bone, which he stared at as he continued to listen. “Oh, it will, huh?” A devious grin took hold of him. “Fine then. I’ll do it your way.” He crushed the bone in his fist, and promptly disappeared.
Necronomicon lacked a face to react with, but her tone spoke volumes. “...Wooow. That was anticlimactic.” She buzzed around Sectonia as she grew excited again. “But still, that was Shadow! Shadow the Hedgehog, in the flesh! How crazy is that?” Unfortunately, Sectonia couldn’t tell her how crazy it was, and pretty soon the flying saucer was back down to earth. “Ugh, okay. Guess we gotta head back. But uh, here’s a tip. Let’s try and keep him from taking those rings off if we see him again. Things are gonna get a whole lot crazier if he does!”
So saying, Necronomicon flew back down towards the office’s front door.
Vehement though Midna was, neither Fox nor Joker took her words to heart, even as they heard her out. The much more pressing matter at the moment took the form of Ciella, about whom the Twilight Princess wasn’t wrong. As her assault on the Resistance and her duel with Amara proved, she already commanded inhuman strength and fortitude, with close-quarters combat her only real flaw. If she now possessed the strength and magical abilities of that rough-and-tumble heroine too, she could be a dire threat at any range. Under normal circumstances that might be good, but given the untrustworthy nature of the Grimleal and how quickly allies could become enemies in this world, Joker figured this was pretty bad. Of course, her power-up in itself didn’t hold a candle to what the act implied.
These people knew about fusion. That meant that either they figured it out on their own, or someone in the know leaked it to them. And either way, it meant that the power of spirits was unique to the Seekers no longer.
The four reached the main area of the office’s first floor to find the rest of the battles concluded. Joker took a quick look around but could not make out any trace of Fuse, the Dragonborn, or Shadow. Except for a pretty badly wounded Laharl and a somewhat beat-up Sectonia, everyone on his side looked only a little worse for wear; there had been no casualties. Still paused to catch their breath, the team gathered around where Midna worked her magic on Laharl to renew both body and mind. With the insect queen gradually healing, everyone would be right as rain in no time.
Physically speaking, at least. Tensions were high, both from near misses and clashing viewpoints, and even without casualties the group was technically down one. “Mona is fine,” Joker reassured everyone while Jesse went over to whisper with Midna. “He grabbed something from Jinx and it teleported to another part of the city. Since the other man wasn’t there, chances are good it returns you to a previous ‘checkpoint’.
Necronomicon hovered beside him, turning steadily. “So at least until he drives back, we’re down our main healer, huh?”
“Even so, that was well fought,” Fox put forward, a courteous congratulation to the team.
Ciella tossed her hair and snorted. “We outnumbered that rabble by a factor of two. I would hope that such odds would favor us.” Leaving the others to draw their own conclusions about what happened to her appearance, she headed for a stairwell door about halfway along the back room between the conference room and the corner where the Overlords squared off with the Dragonborn. “The pretenders lie beneath us. Let us make haste, lest they worm through an escape route.”
With blood spilled there could be little in the way of idle gossip or friendly chatter, so the ten descended the stairs in relative quiet. Ciella had meant to take the lead alongside Braum, but a little trouble adjusting to her new shorter stride on the stairs left the team’s shield out in front, along with whoever might want to make themselves the first to encounter whatever lay ahead. Only a couple potted plants could be seen in the room at the stairway’s bottom, so after parting ways with the last purple step, the group’s frontrunners spread out across the ocher-colored flooring to see what the Resistance’s basement had to offer.
Ciella let her head loll back as she rolled her eyes. “This must be a joke.”
Directly ahead there appeared to be some kind of bizarre room. Thick walls of dark blue glass extended floor to ceiling in various shapes, while the floor between them was littered with odd tiles that flashed yellow and green.
Braum crouched over one of the arrow-patterned tiles. “You know these things?”
Crossing her arms, Ciella sighed. “They hail from a project of Validar’s. Their purpose is the expediency of cargo transport in the freight sector. A shipment went missing.” She stared out across the array of stolen goods. “Anything put on one will be spun forward until it hits a wall or a yellow pad.”
Joker cracked his neck. “Sounds like a maze. Shouldn’t be much of an issue.”
Another staircase existed directly to the right, but a quick examination turned up only a couple offices with neither exits nor lurking Resistance members. One featured two locked computers, a laptop and an ancient PC, but being the Persona rather than the person Necronomicon couldn’t hack them. If the Seekers wanted to move forward, they would need to get through the maze.
Tora, Poppi, and Big Band
Level 9 Tora (31/90) Level 8 Poppi (101/80) Level 3 Big Band (23/30) Location: Al Mamoon Northwest - Obelisk Temple Primrose’s @Yankee, Fox’s @Dawnrider Word Count: 1168
While being healed Band made sure to wear his gratitude on his sleeve. “Aw, you’re too good to me. Don’t need to be wastin’ your magic juice--I can take a lickin’ and still keep tickin’. But thanks all the same.” He waited as she made her move, descending to the lower platform with the effortless grace he expected. Of course, that just left him, with the approximate grace of a drunken elephant. He took a quick but deep breath. “Okay, alrighty, here goes noth-!”
“Hello down there!”
A sudden cry from above both cut him off and brought his attention skyward. When he looked up he saw a couple familiar shapes floating down from the upper reaches of the cavern toward him, descending slowly thanks to a pair of well-tuned jet boosters. Held tight in Poppi QT’s arms like a furry beach ball, Tora waved both wings down at Band. “Hi-hi, meh! Tora and friends be with in second!”
The mention of friends plural prompted Band to look again, and sure enough, he spotted a certain sorcerer above the dynamic duo, rappelling with an extra-long bandage. It took just a moment for Tora, Poppi, and Kan-Ra to reach the bridge, then pass it to land on the promontory where Primrose waited. Excited Tora bounced around the dancer in a circle. “Tora hate bugs!” he announced. “Right after Tora and Poppi get done smushing masky lady’s nasty spideypons and get clean again, Tora locked in hall fully of icky hives!”
Poppi nodded, a traumatized look in her eyes. “Poppi make sure burn every single one with fire core. No survivor.”
Shaking his head, Tora explained further. “Turn out, one hive hide opening into huge cave. See friends Band and Primrose fighting skellypons, meh. Just about to help too, but then...super cool punch explosion!” Wielding his Mech Arms, Tora mimicked Band’s Blockbuster. “Tora need do it too!”
“Maybe after I get down from here!” Band called, bringing back the matter at hand. Everyone looked up to see him still on the bridge, his destination now both dubious and obscured.
Those already down cleared the way. “If you doubt the integrity of this extension, I can pull you over,” Kan-Ra offered, his look a lot more gleeful than it should be.
Though the guy ticked just about every box Band had for ‘untrustworthy traitorous villain’, he couldn’t help but think it a decent idea, all options considered. “If those wraps of yours’ll hold...fly me to the moon.”
Kan-Ra took a position in the doorway and extended his bandages, ready to grab. After another deep breath Band ran and jumped. He flew through the air into the waiting snare, and with a mighty pull the sorcerer yanked the detective the rest of the way. Band landed hard right in front of the door, and just as he feared there came a loud crack as the platform gave way. He pulled himself up through the doorway with time enough to turn and watch the extension crumble away into the abyss. He shook his head. “Good grief. Let me off uptown next time.”
The ride was far from over. A swell in the sounds of combat prompted the five to hurry up a small flight of stairs and around a corner. They emptied through a doorway into the temple’s third floor, a wide hall around the open middle spice like a giant, square-shaped ring. Pillars both standing and fallen littered the place, and the new arrivals got a good look at the fight in progress.
After being thrown by Azwel toward Fox, Es took the initiative. Rather than attempt a swing she committed to an airdash, arriving a lot sooner than the pilot expected with a headlong tackle rather than a telegraphed sword swing. That solid opener led to a quick and dirty combo to deal Fox some damage and dispatch him before Azwel could get on her case. From there the summoner took center stage, dancing with Es back and forth between the pillars in a whirlwind of weaponry. The reinforcements appeared just in time to see Es lock down Azwel with another delayed crest ring, send his shield flying with a well-aimed sweep, and spear him on a row of crest spikes.
Tora raised his Mech Arms, calling, “Tora and friends to rescue!”
Another six pairs of eyes fell on him, but Band was watching Es. “I got another idea.” He stepped forward, deploying a Brass Knuckle, and swatted the nearest pillar. The swing took out a cylindrical section that he gripped like a hardball and hurled the swordfighter’s way. Shocked by the unexpected attack, Es blocked the projectile but got her guard broken by the effort, and Azwel was quick to capitalize.
“Can you stand the test?!” he cried, lunging forward with an upward swing of both scimitars. As Es flew into the air he controlled the blades like a conductor, striking again and again midair. They finally coalesced into a well of power that held her in place as motes of red and blue surrounded her on all sides. “Accept this from me!” The motes became dozens of crystalline swordblades, ruby and sapphire. “My love!”
All together the blades flew toward the center. They pierced Es from a couple dozen angles and exploded into purple magic. In the chaos there came a flash of gold, like the magic circles the others saw earlier, and the girl disappeared.
It took a moment for both the light and Azwel’s vigor to die down. “Ohohoho…” he laughed, trailing off slowly. “Did you see her expression, right on the brink?” He wiped a tear from his eye. “Oho, goodness…I shall never grow tired of the human race.” As if nothing were amiss he cleared his throat, straightened up, and looked around the gathered heroes. “Well! We’re not all here I see, but I’m sure the others will be along shortly. I can sense where that retrieval magic came from. We’re not far, no, not at all…”
He lead the way toward the central area, where just a short drop from behind the obelisk led to the platform it rested on in the middle of the basin that formed the main temple’s lowest reaches. From there even Big Band could make the jump to the section of floor between nearby pillars. As filled by hieroglyphics and candles as the other floors, the first funneled into a short hallway that ended with another more cavernous room, this one shockingly vacant.
Tora and Poppi looked this way and that, examining the pillars, patterns, statues, and symbols. “This place give off classic puzzle vibes,” he announced.
“Traps, too,” Poppi added.
Kan-Ra glanced between them. “Do either you have anything helpful to say about said puzzles and traps?”
The pair shared a look before Tora spoke for both. “Meeeeeh...no. But we not really look around yet! Resistance just ahead, right? Probably healing all friends we beat. So we just need scope out room and open way fast, meh.”
Rage lent extra power to Panther’s voice as she unleashed Ominous Words. “You’re going down!” The air itself seemed to warp before her, bent purple and black, as the spell washed over the battlemage dwarf. His attempt to block did nothing, and for an instant an abyss of despair welled within him, a bleak anguish so inexorable he couldn’t so much as bring himself to move. His hammer slipped from numb fingers to clatter on top of his Snakeboard.
Panther took the opportunity for all it was worth. Her new submachine gun flashed into her hands, and with one arm extended she unleashed havoc. A dozen cognitive rounds drilled into Beast’s beard, robe, and armor, then two dozen, then three, until the damage finally mounted beyond the breaking point. He snapped out his despair with a jolt and a roar of anger, then clapped his hands. He cast Blinding Radiance, smashing everything in thirty feet with a wall of air, and Panther didn’t avert her gaze in time to avoid being blinded. She cried out in pain as she squeezed her eyes shut, but as Beast collected his hammer and charged forward with a Battering Ram, she got herself together. “Carmen! Maragion!”
Her Persona manifested in an azure blaze to conjure scattered plumes of flame. The spell’s inherent wide range covered the entire swath of pool in which Panther battled, and they welled forth with such red-hot intensity that even after they burst from the pool bottom in billows of steam they still blazed skyward. Beast couldn’t avoid them, but neither could he stop his charge, so atop his Snakeboard he bulled straight into the steam cloud. A moment later he emerged from the other side, scorched and furious. He brought the mobile platform around to re-engage with his enemy, but when the steam cleared he found a soaked but otherwise unharmed Panther adding insult to injury with a stuck-out tongue. Worse still, Skull’s petrification had worn off well before he could drown, and now the Phantom Thieves faced him with all the confidence in the world.
Still, one little setback meant nothing to the Beast, especially atop a Snakeboard. One lean forward was all it took to zoom forward into melee range. From up high he swung and the teenagers, back and forth, each strike a skull-shattering blow. Skull could afford to clash with that warhammer thanks to his sturdy kanabo, but Panther could only book it. For a few frantic moments Beast’s pressure and mobility gave him the upper hand, but the Thieves learned quickly. Skull ducked in the same direction as Beast’s swings before launching a counterattack in the Snakeboard, trying to batter and unbalance the dwarf’s ride. Though Panther got rushed down at first and couldn’t get a spell out while on the back foot, she started alternating between calling Carmen for Agilao and using Agilao herself, so that no matter who Beast went for he got a fireball from somewhere.
After an unfortunate trade she took a hammer blow to her arm, breaking it and forcing her to heal immediately. Though bruised black and blue himself, Skull threw caution to the wind for her sake and hurled himself at Beast with an overhead smash. The dwarf readied another Petrifying Touch, but Skull wasn’t aiming for him. Instead he came down on the Snakeboard, striking with enough force to pitch Beast right off it and into the water.
Growling, the stocky battlemage fought to the surface. Knee height to a human teenager was waist height for him, and he could barely move. In a last ditch effort he pulled out his trump card. Sparks arced across his hand before he plunged it into the pool, flooding the area with electricity. As Panther tried to haul herself up onto the Snakeboard, however, Skull powered through. Beast’s expression turned to one of shock as he saw the blonde pushing toward him, treating the volts that coursed through him like a minor inconvenience. “Grah!?”
“Sorry dude, but lightning’s kinda my thing! Get WRECKED!” Skull brought his club down across Beast’s block, forcing the dwarf’s weapon into the water. Captain Kidd manifested behind him as Skull yelled, “Blow ‘em away, Captain!”
”Aye-aye, sir!” The Persona clutched his ship and executed a backflip, launching Beast out of the water and into the air with a weighty THWACK. Kidd hit the water with a splash and launched a cannonball in a low arc before disappearing. With a look of utter glee Skull struck the projectile like a baseball and sent it careening into Beast mid-air. It went off with a magnificent explosion, the mushroom cloud of smoke in the shape of a skull and crossbones.
A moment later it cleared, leaving nothing behind, not even ash. “Did we get ‘im?” Skull squinted, but he couldn’t be sure. Rather than check he splashed over to Panther. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” his friend groaned. “Carmen’s healed my arm, but it’s still sore. Damn that guy.” She allowed herself to be helped up, and though she shook off Skull’s attempt to assist her to the edge of the pool, she still gave him a friendly shoulder bump. He bumped back with a smile, and she found herself wearing one too. “That was actually pretty cool.”
“Actually?” Skull repeated, sounding appalled. “I am cool!”
Panther laughed. “Whatever. Right now I’m cold. We just had to get wet, huh?” Wringing out his ascot, her companion nodded his assent, although his eyes had gone to find the truth of her words for themselves. She gave him a push that nearly sent them both back into the water, but as nice as some goofing around sounded, they knew that they couldn’t afford to waste any more time. With Yoshitsune’s battle done too, they needed to get a move on, and the multi-level staircase down the corridor was just the ticket.
Link’s experiments quickly turned up interesting results. Once emptied, the structure gel wasted little time molding itself, but not to the shape carved into the metal block Link poured it in. Instead it coagulated into an almost organic-shaped mass, complete with metallic barnacles and tentacles. Bright blue receiver nodes formed across its surface, blinking with an almost hypnotic rhythm. Clearly, this substance played by its own rules.
With the goal so close at hand Junior pushed his submarine into overdrive, full speed ahead. He breezed through the entry to Flow Control with only a minor impact on the right side and made for the main valve, even as the long-haired girl closed the distance. It fell to Mirage to protect his accomplice, and in an effort to give Junior the time he desperately needed, he made the executive decision to use his remote-controlled Universal Helper as a physical obstacle in the door. A mere moment after he inserted the machine into the frame, the drowner arrived. She scrabbled at the opening, pushing the BULL aside with surprising strength, but it could only move a few inches before it came to a stop against the aperture’s opposite edge, and for all her furious kicking the girl couldn’t either push or pull herself through the gap.
Once the realization hit her she paused, frozen except for the hair that swirled and snaked through the water. Then her featureless face locked into the head of the BULL. With both hands she grabbed the machine’s neck, but without claws she couldn’t rip through the wires. Instead she planted her feet against the wall and started to pull, threatening to excise the Universal Helper from its lodging. With the pincers in a bad position to grab hold of anything, only putting the Vortex Motor in reverse would prevent the BULL unit’s extraction, but tightly wired as he was Mirage wasn’t ready for the long-haired girl to suddenly let go. All of a sudden the motor carried him backward, right through the doorway, and then the way was clear.
But it was too late. Mimi had already wrenched the valve, again and again, until with a final THOMM it locked in place. The Depths filled with the sound of moving water, and in Flow Control in particular there resounded the frenetic noise of big machines hard at work. The drowner surged forward in a last-ditch attempt to reach Junior and punch through the glass of his submarine, but with his job done there was nothing preventing the young Koopa from turning his light on her. Some inner fury pushed her forward, striving to reach her target against the light, but the closer she got the worse it burned. Finally the drowner broke away, clutching her faceless head in pain, to dive through a hole in the floor.
The water drained fast--about a foot per second. But four stories of flooding meant a lot of feet to get through, and the Depths’ other inhabitants weren’t taking the sudden change lightly.
With a kite, a plan, and maybe enough energy to put them to use, Nadia and Ace made their way toward the bridge to drop some grates. Just a little longer, the kitten told herself through gritted teeth, trying to get her tired body to move faster. Her nonexistent child muscles were screaming in protest. Her head was swimming. Forget hungry--she was so thirsty. Almost there. Any second now…
For once, she was right. A low, unfamiliar sound reached her from beneath the water, and not to announce the presence of a new monster for once. With wide, disbelieving eyes Nadia watched the water begin to fall. First the ruined platform by the entrance emerged from the water, revealing the top of a mangled metal stair tower that must reach all the way to the ground floor. Then bits of underwater platform and machines revealed themselves. Then--”Wagh!” Enchanted by the falling water, Nadia jumped when Moreau threw himself from the water once more, but this time he didn’t even come close. His bellow seemed almost frustrated as he fell back down once more, and Nadia’s cackling echoed through the Depths. “Nyahahahaha! Sucks to suck, fish freak!” She turned to Ace, her weary eyes glittering. “They did it! Man, they were really fast, all things considered! They actually did it!” Alternating between laughs and gasps for air, she sank down to the bridge and lay on her stomach, watching the water recede through the grate.
About a minute later, Flow Control had worked its magic. The Flooded Base had been unflooded; the Depths were now the Shallows. Only a foot or so of water remained of the staggering amount of water that filled the place, and its departure revealed all sorts of stuff. Though rusted beyond both repair and recognition, a lot of machinery littered the place, interspersed with the much fresher grates and catwalk sections Ace and Nadia sent down to meet Davy Jones. The entrance to the airtight shaft of the freight elevator could now be seen on the second floor wall directly opposite the Command Center, made particularly visible (and encouraging) to onlookers like Nadia thanks to the flashing green lights. From up high the bedraggled kitten could make out a few oddities flopping around on the ground floor in the junk-littered water, including what looked disturbingly like the monster fish in the photo she saw earlier.
Much easier and disheartening to see, however, was Moreau. Unlike his less mutated brethren he hadn’t been beached by the falling tide, but hauled himself around the bottom floor with the help of giant fish arms. “My water! Nooooo!” he garbled, thrashing around in anger.
Nadia sighed. “Welp, that’s a boss fight waitin’ to happen. Ugggh.” She hauled herself back onto her feet and clapped her hands together, trying to smile for Ace. “About time we got down from here, huh? Meet up with the others, find a way around fishsticks?” She glanced at the Command Center. “At least some of us got a chance to take it easy.”
In the span of a few moments the Command Center turned from a place of relative peace to one of utter panic. With a lot more strength than a four-year-old ought to have Rika reflexively chucked her television set at the Proxy. It reacted the instant she shrieked, turning its malformed mockery of a front to face her with near-pinpoint accuracy as it started power-walking her way, only to be stopped by the sudden impact of her makeshift projectile. It stumbled back, struggling for a moment to keep its balance on legs without defined feet, but its mutated carcass swung back like a pendulum the next moment. Despite its reprehensible condition it moved like the wind, booking it down the hall and into the Command Center after Rika.
As it cruised inside it paused for a brief instant, momentarily overwhelmed by the abundance of sound, like a hungry man set before an immense buffet. Then a noise sounded out from the direction of the Command Center window where Geralt, mindful of accidentally drawing the Proxy close to Mirage, hurled his bottle. With stomach-churning gargle-cry the Proxy sprinted toward the noise, but instead of prey crunched down on chemical-coated glass. If it hurt the monstrosity gave no sign, but turned around to track the pattering footsteps of child feet on the run.
It detected Peach first, and went after her with a vengeance. The little princess squealed as panic lent wings to her feet. She threw herself at the chain link fence that she saw Nadia climb earlier and started to haul herself up in a frenzy, making a racket, but she wasn’t nearly the climber her feral friend had been. With a spine-chilling screech the Proxy hurtled right past where Sakura was frozen in fear, totally oblivious to the little girl’s presence, and smashed its bulk against Peach.
If not for the give of the chain link fence she might have died instantly. Instead the fence bent inward, cushioning the blow, and when the Proxy reeled back for another brutal pound Peach got flung clear by the recoil. She flew limply for a couple feet before she hit and rolled to a stop on the floor, not far from where Mirage continued to work the pilot seat. Of course, the Proxy heard her land and span around, eager to finish the job. The only thing that stopped it was the crash from the direction of Moreau’s nook, where Bella had smashed another chemical bottle. With another gut-wrenching wail the Proxy ran over, only to find nothing. Bella had hunkered down against the wall with tears in her eyes, clutching her tail like a pillow, not daring to breathe. Silence reigned in the Command Center for a moment, before the Proxy began its patrol.
The Skullgirl’s confirmation of her power and Albedo’s ability, even going as far as to mention super-evil powers, elicited a double take from Guerra, but neither she nor her friend planned to stick around to shed any more light on the subject. Thanks to her compass, the pair knew where they needed to go next, and Linkle was happy to more than make up for any enthusiasm that Albedo lacked. With his new friend rearing to go, the alchemist took just a moment to address the old priest one last time. “We’ll be on our way. Thank you for your help, Father Guerra.”
He gave a smile. “Don’t mention it. Just make sure you give that Stranger pendejo a good beatin’ for me, huh?” With his guests’ reassurance, Guerra waved them off and watched as they made for the third tower’s front door. A moment later the wind slammed the front door behind them, and Guerra heaved a big sigh. “Crazy kids. Good luck out there.”
Once back out in the elements Albedo quickly realized how nice it had been indoors, despite the warmth his new coat afforded him. These winter-locked peaks had a way of chilling people right to the bone, as if they were wearing nothing at all. The winds bit and howled like wolves, assailing the senses as they buffeted loose clothing and hair. Yet, for all the tumult he didn’t feel the need to shoot Linkle an incredulous look, inquiring whether or not she really intended to brave these conditions. The stars in her eyes told him everything he needed to know.
It took only a few moments to circumnavigate the perimeter of the third tower, which required a little more precision footwork and a few more firmly-grasped handholds than Albedo might have liked, to reach a point where a banner was anchored. Whipped constantly by the winds, the colorful flags gave off a cacophony of snapping noises that contributed to the overall chaos, but at least the rope looked sturdy. Near the anchor point Albedo found barrels full of coiled lengths of chain, which he took to be the means by which any prospective daredevils would zip down the line. That solved the burning question of how to ride a rope with flags on it, at least. He stepped past to give Linkle access, extended a hand to the barrels with a bowed head. “After you.”
The ride down was every bit as exhilarating as Linkle imagined. With nothing but a rope, a chain, and the strength of her arms between life and death, she could enjoy a descent as blisteringly frigid as it was quick with her heart in her throat the whole time, if only she had one. Even though he knew his friend wouldn’t be able to hear him with the roar of the wind in her ears, Albedo kept himself from screaming. He managed to keep his composure partly because he knew he had no choice, but also in order to appreciate the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity before him. ‘Bird’s-eye view’ truly could not do it justice. Looking out across an immense distance from a sky-high precipice was majestic in its own right, but suspended in the sky like this? Unanchored, with nothing but empty air in every direction? Quite indescribable.
He was glad when it was over.
One after another, the daredevils touched down in the Goat Village to the tune of unseen bells. Neither could say exactly how far out or down they went, but the atmosphere had definitely changed. For the first time in forever, Albedo felt as though he’d escaped in the grip of winter. Though crisp and cool, the air was clear and fresh rather than snowy or scathing. Earthly brown stone lay beneath his feet, rather than the imperious gray rock of the peaks, and from the cracks where soil collected, alpine grasses bloomed. The same grasses and even flowers roofed the houses that dotted the colorful mountain village which lay before them, its quaint domiciles part stacked logs and part wood painted in vivid reds and yellows. Hay bales and rainwater barrels lent the whole place a rustic feel, and the villagers who tottered around the place brought it to life. Though only yellow eyes peered out from the darkness of their hoods, the locals decked themselves out in lovingly patterned, stitched-together garments, and they greeted their visitors with all the warmth the Frozen Highlands lacked. “Hello!” the nearest one pronounced in a moderate accent, her eyes upturned crescents. “Welcome to our village! Even if it is short, we hope you enjoy your stay!”
Another one left the flowerbox she attended to and joined her. “Hello, hello! Mind our goats while you’re here. They’re nice, but if you get in way, a little pushy!” When Albedo glanced where the villager pointed he found a very different goat than the sort he pictures. These heavily-dressed, bright-eyed giants lumbered around with inscrutable intentions, the belts at their waists letting fly the clarion clangs he heard earlier. As he looked around the alchemist spotted several color-coded flaglines leading off in various directions, along with a few flagposts with nothing attached to them. To his surprise he also spotted a bizarre individual who seemed to thrum with dark particles, his body and especially his detached face turning and vibrating unnaturally.
He addressed the first villager, who perked up when approached. “Good morning. We hope to reach the base of the valley.”
“Down below?” she cleared up, sounding surprised. “Long way to bottom, friend! No direct way down in Goat Village, but there is lift at old windmill.” She pointed in the direction of a lone flagpole with a blue banner but no rope, then to the apex of the village. “Blow the horn to call flags!”
Albedo looked up across the array of houses, bales, carts, little windmills, wooden springboards, poles, clotheslines, ladders and ramps. “If I were to guess…” His eyes landed on Linkle. “You would want to race to the top, correct?”
LOCATION:The Maw - The Depths WORD COUNT:761(+2 EXP) MENTIONS: Sakura, The Proxy
There was a lot to be stressing about. The Command Center was getting more hectic as Mirage attempted to fend off Junior's underwater stalker. Camera view shaking as she grabbed and pushed attempting to make the BULL move, which Mirage met with setting himself to continue in reverse to negate her pulling. Unfortunately, this seemingly craftier than expected faceless individual let him go, which sent the machine floating through the doorway and crashing into a few pieces of debris. Pincers attempting to scramble for her, he utterly missed his mark and the girl got through: However, it seemed to be enough time as even from where Mirage was up above, he could hear the water draining.
Another unfortunate thing was that, with the lack of water and the sudden crash, the BULL was beached. Since Mirage would have to travel down with the others anyways, this wasn't a huge deal, but he wasn't happy with leaving Junior alone. With the increasing chaos in the Command Center and a thud surprisingly close to him, he had to try and slide out of the helmet so he could observe and continue the mission in his actual body.
Pulling his helmet off wasn't the greatest idea, however. He knew something was in the room, but seeing it was worse. The Proxy's empty sockets gave him a moment of nausea, but he held tight as a sound from Bella caused it to travel away from the source of that previous thud... Which, judging from Peach being there, made it obvious what the sound was. Alright, Elliot. You've always been the sneaky one. Time to tread carefully.
Palms resting gently against the chair he was in, the tips of Mirage's shoes graced the floor as he lowered himself down. His gaze shot around, noting everyone in the room. With how they were now, they were surprisingly spaced out: If this thing couldn't see, then they could probably keep using misdirection to lose it. But with the water draining, the others might come back, unaware of their current plight. That meant getting rid of this huge blob, and Mirage had a slight idea on how to do that after a moment of observation.
He began to slowly pace himself towards where the Submarine and BULL had took their dive. Without the water, it left a drop that'd serve well for getting rid of this thing. But he'd have relocate to space himself from the others, first. This also kept any source of noise away from the injured Peach, who he'd try to help once the threat was removed. All he could offer to Sakura was a finger over his lips as he passed by, the finger then gesturing to the drop that was now accessible in the room past that damaged fence. He tried to match his gentle steps with the monster's, eyeing it's path and figuring it'd be quite random without sight, so the best he could do is try and travel at angles that'd give him more distance.
His lungs burned from the lack of breaths he was taking, trying to stay silent as he positioned himself between the patrolling Proxy and the damaged section of the fence that had saved Peach's life. His steps still followed after it's own, feeling his ability to stay quiet running short. So he'd take his chance; He figured at worst the noise he'd make would bring the Proxy to his side of the room and let the others start slipping out. And at best, it'd take a four-floor drop into barely any water, and considering all the debris down there, it'd be lucky if the fall was just blunt damage from gravity.
He pulled out his trusty Dart Gun and took aim, thinking a small prayer for himself as he hoped his optimism wasn't misplaced. He had to get out of here and get help down to Junior: This damned thing was in the way, and with one injured, two petrified, and Geralt not being close enough to be filled in on the idea he had... It didn't leave him with much choice at this point.
The dart fired, the sound potentially alerting the Proxy but it was quickly replaced by the platform connecting to a higher spot on the fence, above where the Proxy had damaged it, the sound from both the platform's connection and the movement of the fence hopefully putting it into a further alert that something was trying to climb again, redirecting it from Mirage.
All the little trickster could hope is that his plan didn't backfire on him.
LOCATION:Al Mamoon Northeast - Rocket Inc. WORD COUNT: 1,174(+2 EXP +10 EXP) Level up! MENTIONS: Midna, Jesse
Evil Modification - Mao gains access to four mechanical limbs that emerge from beneath his coat on command. Each comes with their own dangerous attachment to dish out pain or to be used as utility where applicable outside of combat: a pair of large dissecting scissors, a drill, a buzz saw, and a comically large surgical scalpel.
Midna's frustration only confirmed Mao's assumption their side had the same failings in capturing anyone. Though, considering she seemed to be the only one here actually bothered by this result, he was somewhat confused to how his brainwashed group had been gathered up before. He supposed some of the others, like that giant detective and fat hamster were the more reasonable ones. This group seemed mainly consisted of wildcards that sold him on the group's goals, or at least their methods for reaching those goals, weren't the same. Maybe Midna was too idealistic with her wish to save everyone, but Mao could see the benefits despite her just trying to be a 'good guy'.
Observing his new prize in his Glass War Axe as he followed Midna over to Laharl, his face twisted a little at the example she provided on how to uncurse others. You literally send a heart to them? That was so... Cutesy and disgusting! However, Laharl seemed better than before, proving it worked along with his eyes changing from that red glow. Reluctantly he'd keep it in mind, as it was better than not knowing. Things were better this way though: The last thing he needed was someone ratting that he saved a fellow demon. That blue runt wouldn't of ever let that go, Mao was sure of it.
"I'll keep this noted." He spoke in acknowledgement of Midna's lesson, avoiding the snark this time. As cliché as it was, there were good uses for this ability. Being able to harness it himself could be useful, even if the concept was a bit of stomach souring one. He'd have time to linger on that pain later, as he had both physical and mental pains to deal with aside from Friend Hearts. With no damn healer, Mao noted he was stuck with his crisped wounds, which were causing pain just by existing, let alone whatever fight came next.
Then there was Jesse, confirming to Mao again these people weren't on the same wavelength. Her words left him conflicted, feeling an odd sense of annoyance with her despite mostly agreeing with what she had to say. Resting his axe on his shoulder, he decided to pipe in. "There's more than just that God's Curse at play here." Mao added, unsure if Jesse was filled in at all considering how hurried everyone was. "Number Two... The Resistance Leader's brainwashing is at play. It either changes your view to make the acts of violence seem right, or makes you completely oblivious to the harm you cause. It's brought this group together by force. I doubt most of them would be in this situation if she wasn't involved."
A momentary thought about Klee and Baz caused Mao's expression to be etched with determination, not caring about why Midna's group had come here in the first place, or intervened with the issues of the city. He and Jesse were both gleaming until today, making Mao assume they picked Jesse up around here as well. Bolstering the ranks was the obvious answer, but who knew how long this had been going on? Mao's memories went back a way, but if they've been traveling this world the whole time that Mao himself could remember in this world... It wasn't a lot of time, in retrospect. There was probably a long road ahead to hoping they could surpass the being that brought them here.
Ciella's insistence that they push on was something Mao could agree with. Eyeing Midna for a moment, he decided to not give her a hard time amongst the trouble she was having, instead choosing to push his wannabe parole officer towards their next task. "Let's try and put that demonstration to use down there." He commented, not backing her from a morale stance, but more as a long-term strategy to defeating Galeem. It's not like he didn't have people he wanted to save, but he wasn't about to put that information out there for an entire group like this. She'd just have to take his words as best she could, and perhaps stick close if she wanted to work together on saving a life or two during their descent.
Mao had no fear in taking front: Though he didn't know Braum in the slightest and his lack of speaking made it clear he didn't care to do so, his defensive capabilities were notable. Whatever appeared, Mao was willing to be the first in the fray. But the last thing he expected to appear was a maze. A maze with moving panels that did nothing but make the path more annoying to find.
"Tch, sounds simple." Mao spoke in agreement with Joker, pushing his glasses up with confidence. "Simpleton puzzles like these are nothing my 1.8 Million E.Q can't solve!" With a confident boast, he took the lead with an extreme lack of hesitation, a step on one of the panels sending him spinning out of sight with a yelp of surprise. He was spun across six panels, before finally arriving on a yellow one. Taking a second to recover from the dizziness, he pressed onward to see where he'd end up. There were multiple options, the demon scoffing at the first one because it lead barely anywhere except a few spaces to a yellow spot.
Going down, he decided to try the third panel he saw. It took him back towards the right, then a couple of panels shuffled him upwards to a yellow panel. Too fixated on going forward, he simply didn't notice that it was the same spot he had disregarded moments ago. Walking farther to the right, he had another split in his path. Go upwards, to which seemed too far up to be progressive, or down. He chose down.
Presented with three more arrows, one stood out in particular because it pointed back up towards where he came. "Crafty bastards." He grumbled, deciding to take the panel to his left. It brought him spinning through four more panels, before yet another yellow panel blessed his travels. The bright colors were starting to hurt his eyes, and the spinning was getting to his stomach. Deciding to take a momentary break, he observed his current location, one path having an arrow that pointed up again, but on the other side, he saw a wide doorway. shouting back at the group with surprising closeness, as if he still wasn't too far away. "The damn exit is blocked by this one panel! That's so damn rotten..." If he had to keep spinning like this, the maze would be turning into a water slide as Mao's innards became his outtards. "I'm going to get the name of whoever design this crap, and then put 'em on two panels that will spin back and forth. Forever!"
Relieved thanks to his moment of ranting, he began to try and deduce where to go next. Where were the guinea pigs when he needed them? He might have to go back on helping Midna with the friend-hearting if one of these rebels sent him back to the beginning...
