Her wolf rammed the titan in armor but, though grand itself, the altercation demonstrated how man had conquered beast, as iron and fire stood firm against the impacting flesh, the wolfos merely staggering him with its body-weight, and then he turned to repay the blow. Midna’s limiting summonings had one big advantage, intentionally wrought within its workings, and that was that the return was as swift as the arrival for just this reason. A lattice of twilight runework appeared beneath the Wolfos and spirited it to safety right before the hammer blow struck home.

Midna had no such opportunity. She only had a moment to watch as her heart struck home and freed the rabbit warrioress before she came under assault, the safety of her shadow left out of reach as the hedgehog came to pay her back for her own attack. Something that she had anticipated, but no less dangerous despite that.

As Midna slid towards freedom the hedgehog came darted in with a homing attack. Curled into a ball and surrounded by orange power, Shadow raced towards her from where he had been floating. Having anticipated retaliation, Midna lashed back with her shadow hand, orange energy clashing as fist met ball, knocking him away from her… and right into her path. Something that was intentional, based on the smug look on his face.

Midna slammed a dragon clawed hand into the ground, twisting her slide to the side and then kicking herself up while blasting Shadow with sand again. He anticipated it this time, shielding his eyes with a hand, and so it only bought her time to get upright before he blitzed past her outer defenses (the shadow hand slamming down into the ground behind him as he raced in on rocketpower shoes much faster than anticipated) and into brawling range.

Two days ago and that would likely have been in the end for the princess, but as the hedgehog drove a punch towards her gut new instincts kicked in, causing her to crouch a touch just in time to bring Impa’s armor down into the path of the blow, bearing it on her iron covered breast rather than her soft exposed stomach.

It still hurt like hell.

Shadow pulled back, and spun a kick at her, which she blocked with the shield, only for him to kick off it and roundhouse kick towards her other side. This she took expertly on the Spaulder of the Bat she had strapped to her other shoulder, turning a blow that would have broken her arm to just a bruise.

She grinned at him through impishly sharp clenched teeth, proud to have blocked all three of his strikes. So with a grunt he drove a punch at her jaw. She jerked her head forwards as it came it, headbutting his fist with the fused shadow, leaving her with a black eye behind the magic helmet that was not actually intended to be use as armor despite being near indestructible

Trying to get a hit in herself, she slashed a dragon clawed finger forwards, which the hedgehog caught with a ring on the wrist of his hand as he retracted it, before ducking, placing a hand on the ground for support and then kicking her legs out from under her.

The princess caught herself with her levitation before she fell on her ass, and then raised her shield as Shadow started charging a spin dash ring in front of her, orange energy and black spines grinding against the metal for a moment before hammering into it. Midna, having used both arms to brace the metal barrier, was flung back gracelessly, only just catching herself with her levitation again before smacking into the barrier, while Shadow bounced back form the impact sight and landed with coolly in front of the battle of the titan of armor and Ciella which neither had been paying attention to in their knife fight.

Now that they were separated, Minda gasped as she saw Ciella collapsed on her knees. The princess, who had been considering repositioning till she saw that, steeled herself and then dropped to the ground, dragon claws gripping it, and then started sprinting towards her despite Shadow being in the way.

As she ran Sectonia’s erratic bombardment began, the mask she’d been given by Midna tripling her magical output in a chaotic manner, flooding the field with firepower that slipped through allies harmlessly while it dashed against foes. Shadow, for his part, dashed and hovered to and fro to avoid his share, while hammering Midna’s shadow hand with chaos spears as she drew close, using her magic to guard her.

Before she could get close enough to even engage Shadow again Reinhardt raised his hammer to end Ciella, only for one of the queen’s shots to shear through his leg at just the right moment, giving the archer the moment she needed to recover. As Midna sent sand rushing and swirling around Shadow, locking him in a sand tomb, Ciella seized the moment and memory of who she really was and struck back.

Water washed across the battlefield. Reinhardt, took the brunt of it but the Twilight princess and the perfect lifeform where close behind, the flood of water striking Shadow in the back while Minda was graced with mere moments more to brace for impact, dragon claws on her toes spiking into the ground while her shadow hand grabbed a pillar to hold her head above water.

”Ciella, don’t kill them. They are under the control of the little blue-skinned woman! Help me free them of their false reality, wipe the twin corruption from their minds!” She shouted as she shielded herself from the rushing waters, and then the subsequent buffeting of wind from the many winged creature the woman had become.

She wasn't confident in the women one bit. So instead she decided to interject herself into her battle. Praying that the water had messed Shadow up more than her, Midna rushed through the wind with dragon empowered speed, claws stabbing into the arena’s floor to resist the air as she charged the armored man and then reached out with her shadow hand to grab and attempt to hold down his hammer arm, before pulling herself towards him before trying to smash his helmet’s temple with the edge of her shield to try and deliver a concussion through it.

”I’ve got this one! Keep the spiky one off of me!” she’d shouted at Ciella, before attempting to claw off the helmet to get at the human she was pretty sure was inside the armor, with the aim of hurting and then freeing him rather than just hacking away at his metal shell.

While at this point Tora really didn’t have much to worry about from such a minor fall, Poppi boosted upward to catch him mid-air anyway. Reunited well above the searing flame of Robin’s Arcfire, the two got a chance to take in a bird’s-eye view of what would soon be an absolute slugfest. In addition to the six Resistance fighters who sprung that ruthless ambush on his team earlier, the spellcasters whose names Tora now knew to be Robin and Tharja further bolstered the enemy line, and that white-robed assassin provided an entirely new threat. Even though Tora and Poppi arrived late to the fight between Azwel, Fox, and Es, they caught a glimpse of the arcanist’s formidable weapon arts, and for a Grimleal lieutenant to be taken out just like that must surely be no mean feat. That made ten enemies by Tora’s math, including Es and (despite his state) Charnok, but not Drippy. Meanwhile, his own team -himself, Poppi, Fox, Big Band, Primrose, Yoshitsune, Skull, and Panther- numbered just eight, since in more ways than one Kan-Ra could not be counted on.

Poppi’s keen optics and even keener processor picked up on the details even faster than her Masterpon did. Among the opposition, two wielded high-output guns and a whopping five could dish out wide-range magic. This dungeon already made for a rather small battlefield, and the column in the middle with foes to either side divided it in half. For all intents and purposes, the Seekers found themselves faced with a firing squad, expertly coordinated to end the battle before it began in a brutal, overwhelming display of firepower. Neither she nor Tora, being the team’s main protectors, could allow the Resistance even a moment’s time to put their plan into action. “Poppi recommend provocation on one side!”

“Tora thoughts exactly, meh!” It was time for the Nopon to knack for attention-grabbing to work. With a decisive strike on one side he could divert three enemies to the far side of the dungeon, giving everyone more room to work with, and allowing his side’s melee fighters to rush down the mages in the middle. Hopefully an ally would follow them to lend a hand, since Dante was already a problem on his own, and he’d have two friends backing him up. There was just one question in his mind: which side to provoke. Unfortunately it appeared as though Robin anticipated such a move, and not just arbitrated the split by sex; both featured one gunner, one mage, and one melee fighter apiece. But there was no time to think critically. Tora pointed to the left, at Dante, Earthquake, and Beast. Physically tougher customers, fewer distractions. “Let’s go!”

Without delay Poppi dove toward the left. As she flew, Poppi popped open the missile silos in his Mech Arms to shower the area with suppressive missiles, hurling down taunts as he did. “Losers, losers! Meh-meh meh meh-meh! Dummy suckypons never beat me! Dirty, smelly, underground losers! Come get slapped by Tora!” His infuriating singsong voice, punctuated by a blown raspberry, instantly got Earthquake to boiling point and pissed Dante off. As the huge man turned to thunder after the Nopon and Dante ran behind, Beast rolled his eyes to follow them. The others could handle the rest.

Still a couple of meters outside of Arcfire’s range, having been used defensively this time, Fox stayed his ground, but readily widened his stance in poise. A snap assessment of the rapidly escalating situation around them told him that they were out of options, not that they were wealthy in them to begin with. He expected things might fall apart like they were, so he had his mind set in advance. With no remaining recourse, it was time to start making sense again, by showing them something they would understand.

“Fine… have it your way!” Fox uttered sharply to himself, almost under his breath, then swiftly drew his sidearm to squeeze off an Impact shot meant for Robin. Whether it connected or not, he would have Robin’s unyielding attention, just the way he wanted. If the matchup between them at all resembled what he remembered, Fox would be the best qualified to deal with him personally, and given his vested stake in the mission, that was just how he wanted it. There was little doubt, however, that he wouldn't just be allowed to have him to himself, so he went in mentally prepared for a more lopsided engagement. Either way, his sights were set…

Seeing his allies go different directions, Yoshitsune dashed to the right, drawing his flaming swords swiftly. Because of his wheels, he was faster than most people could react to and attack. He knew he wouldn't reach them unscathed but he could protect his vitals with his swords. On the way he passed right by Es, charging toward the center group, and the two traded a glancing blow. Once close enough, he slid around behind the fleeing gunner before she could reach cover, and with his swords to her neck he turned her to face the Witch Doctor. "Move and she dies." Using Daisy as a shield, he began moving further from the center, keeping his sight on the others, ready to defend and counter once there other girls made their moves.

While others rushed in to meet their opponents head on, Primrose fell back, making sure her equipment - the mask and watch - was secure. She could sling spells with the best of them, but her main role was as a supporter. Right now she needed to make a quick assessment and see what the best move for her would be. Though she'd expected things to come to blows, the assassin that fell from the ceiling was a surprise. Though not fond of either of the Grimleal captains, Primrose's face hardened when Azwel went down. They're back to their true colors, she thought. After that first ambush they should have guessed the Resistance would have something like this up their sleeve. Before offering any kind of support to those on the offensive the dancer ducked down beside the flamboyant captain. She didn't know if it was possible to survive that kind of injury without some kind of miraculous power... like the ones the Seekers held.

"Do not make me regret this," Primrose said to him, her voice quiet and harsh. She placed a hand on her chest and when she pulled it away, a bright pink friend heart appeared. There was a brief, tense, awkward staring contest between Azwel and herself before Primrose plunged the heart into him.

While he pulled himself together Primrose stood up, dark magic pooled in one hand and fire in the other. She hadn't gotten the chance to see the abilities of most of the Resistance members, even the ones she and Band had chased down, but a quick look was enough to tell the mages from the others. Trading spells with her allies in the middle wasn't something Primrose wanted to attempt. Instead she glanced at those on her team that were yet to move up. "If any of you are going in, I'll cover you."

For the moment, however, she could cover Band where he was. After passing by Yoshitsune, Es came in like a hurricane. Her greatsword flashed out to slash the detective across the front, and though he brought up a music stand to block, the crests that followed her attacks pierced through his guard. The swordswoman executed a rising diagonal slash next, followed by a triple revolving strike that carried her into the air. When she came down with a helm splitter aimed for Band’s hat, however, the savvy gumshoe took advantage of the brief opening. He deployed a cymbal defensively to parry to heavy blow, looking unimpressed. “Uh huh.” Before she could change course he jumped off the ground himself and caught her with a soundblast mid-air. “Head hunter!” Out came a huge, noisy Cymbal Crash whose Sound Stun allowed Band to deliver a giant dropkick. Es went flying; for a moment she’d be out of the picture.

Band landed on his back but picked himself up with surprising speed. He sported a few fresh slices and dents but could still fight without issue. “Ain’t nothin’ but a thing.” A fragment of burning Hot Hail hit him square in the hat, and in a hurry he removed it to fan it out. With the Witch Doctor apparently stalled by Yoshitsune for the moment, who was struggling to hold onto the tenacious Daisy, his attention fell to the center. Robin had rolled out of the way of Fox’s Impact Shot and returned the favor with Elthunder, threatening the pilot with electricity. After conjuring a fresh round of Hot Hail to smack and sear the intruders from above, Charnok unleashed a stream of fire, and Tharja hurled explosive hexes of darkness. The three-pronged magical assault forced the Seekers who remained in front to separate, but once the Arcfire that sheltered the spellcasters died down, the Phantom Thieves could move in.

“Get a load of this!” Panther yelled as she ran for the dragon mage, her whip arcing through the air to lash against his scales. With her fire resistance she could challenge Charnok without much worry, and even if his reptile hide brushed off her whip, her other talents made it a favorable match-up. Skull, meanwhile, joined Fox in trying to corner Robin, taking advantage of his own electricity resistance and a raw rushdown style to keep the tactician on his toes. That left Tharja uncontested in her curse-slinging, but only for a moment; without much regard for Azwel’s wellbeing, Kan-Ra stepped forward to take care of her. It was then that Ezio reappeared from hiding, attacking the other Grimleal lieutenant with his sword. He moved with such skill and fluidity that he forced Kan-Ra to divert his attention completely.

Azwel, meanwhile, sat up with a moan. “Ooh, hoo...what in the…?” He blinked a pair of pale yellow eyes a few times in confusion as he felt the part of his neck that no longer featured a stab wound. When he looked up he found Primrose standing over him. “Ah, and here I thought it was curtains. I suppose I have you to thank?” The researcher rose in a hurry, dusting off his robe. “For now, let’s see this little spat through, hmm?” As a stray bolt of electricity hurled his way he called forth a spear and shield of blue crystal.

"Don't mention it," the dancer told him, "at least not until we all make it out of here alive." Her gaze was concentrated on the battle in front of them, arms up and magic flying through the air to intercept as much as possible the rain of fire that Charnok had been sending down on them. Once the reptilian switched tactics she was free to launch a spell here and there where she could, sending handfuls of dark magic sailing toward their enemies, but while most of the resistance engaged in combat and focusing on others Primrose planned to make the most of the time she had now.

The first step was Sealticge's Seduction, that divine dance that allowed the benefits of one's buffs to be shared among teammates. Primrose was confident in her movements in the midst of battle, and when the dance was completed she bestowed the blessing upon herself. The next step was a seamless transition into the Mole Dance, with some help of a battle point boost. It spurred Primrose into faster movements, and when her low twirl came to an end the whole of the Seekers and their allies found themselves with a lot more defense than before.

Fox quickly shone his shield to turn around the initial shot of Elthunder and followed it on swift feet back to its caster to cover his approach. Dodging his own spell still left Robin having to somehow stop Fox's boots from meeting his chin, cheek, temple or torso. The tactician blocked as best he could the unrelenting series of kicks, and though the blows stung despite his defense, he was quick to snatch Fox in a swirl of magic and throw him backward toward the central pillar. Skull came up in the break between the two veteran Smash Brothers to see that he wouldn’t have a second’s respite, only to have his efforts brushed off and thrown aside the way of Fox. Shortly following recovery, Fox suffered dead weight knockdown from Skull bodily impacting into him. Before he got back to his feet, he dove for the Thief to throw them both out of the path of a stray great ember falling their way, then rolled to standing once more.

While he couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, Fox could tell there was something different about Robin, as he could from when they first encountered him there. An uptick in martial capability, perhaps? Whatever it was, chances were that he got something else from someone else, and that meant there was more to even the subtlest changes, he figured. He was keen to find out himself; get a better feel for it in personal combat.

“Leave him to me,” he calmly told Skull as both of them stood ready to try again. “You take the other two,” referring to the two mages that attended the tactician.

“Someone ought to give Tora and Poppi a hand,” Band suggested. Seeing Robin turn away Skull’s bludgeon with superior technique and deftly kick the boy straight into the thrown Fox, he deployed his big pedal to try and knock the tactician off his feet. “Giant Step!” In a feat of awareness, however, Robin blocked low and suffered only a momentary distraction. Then came Fox from overhead, bounding over Big Band in a full twist layout to drop feet first down at Robin with a drill stomp aimed for his head.

"I've got it," came the voice of Primrose from nearby. There was a sheen of sweat on the dancer, the combo of her performances and fire spells from both sides contributing to that. With a quick intake of air to catch her breath, Primrose slipped back and away from the others to get a better vantage point before going in to help the Nopon and Blade.

While this was happening, Es landed near Yoshitsune’s gambit. The artificial girl looked upon the hostage situation with dispassionate eyes. Since the samurai had turned to face the Witch Doctor, his back was to the Seekers, and thus to Es, as well. She saw only a chance for an easy kill. Es dashed forward and came about with an enormous cleave of her greatsword, aimed for Yoshitsune’s back.

Dropping his swords, Yoshitsune yelled for Kamui again, using his slowed perception to grab Daisy by her collar and spin, throwing her towards Es. With as much speed as he could gather, he grabbed his swords just before they hit the ground and raised them, blocking Es's slash before it hit him or the gunner. This, however, left his back facing the Witch Doctor. With all his strength, he pushed the opposing swordswoman's blade up and back, hoping to knock her off balance, before spinning again and rushing the mage. With his swords sheathed again, he attempted to grab the third woman's shirt to throw her on top of the other two.

With his unique ability Yoshitsune managed to intercept the slash from Es before her greatsword could carve into either ally or enemy, but in attempting to leverage his physical might against the girl’s the samurai found much sterner opposition. As evidenced by the way she slung around a weapon bigger and heavier than herself like it was an umbrella, Es possessed inhuman strength, more than enough to counter Yoshitsune’s attempt to break her poise. His struggle demanded both hands, allowing Daisy to free herself in an instant, and she wasted no time. The freedom fighter lashed out repeatedly at close range with her elbow, targeting her assailant’s chest, jaw, eyes, throat, whatever she could reach. Her retribution only stopped when Yoshitsune turned to address her, but not just in order to keep her shirt out of the man’s clutching hands. An explosive zombie summoned by the Witch Doctor blew up right behind him in a concussive burst of flame and viscera. Even if the bravado with which he charged into them suggested otherwise, it was clear that Yoshitsune could not fight all three at once.

Luckily, he didn’t need to. While leaping forward to for a plunging attack, Es twisted mid-air just in time to block a runaway freight train of brass and steel. The weight of Big Band’s heavy Brass Knuckle sent her skidding as he arrived in dramatic fashion to crash the party. “Back on the beat!” Knowing full well he’d be hard-pressed to contend with Es, he went on the offensive anyway to take the heat off his ally. With the Witch Doctor throwing jars of spiders and Daisy shooting on the run, however, he’d still have plenty to deal with.

As Daisy leveled her gun at the samurai, he was quick to respond with a dive out of the way before rushing her again. As she'd try to keep her aim on him, he'd get close enough to slash at her weapon, knocking it off center if not knocking from her hands. With the chance, he'd aim a kick to her head, using the metal surrounding the top of his wheel to knock her unconscious. As fast as Yoshitsune was, though, he had yet to develop an appreciation for the technology of bullets, and when the going got tough Daisy wasn’t above spraying. A handful of shells had struck the samurai by the time he struck at her weapon, some just glancing blows but a few putting painful dents in his armor. Still, he managed to take her by surprise almost as much, and though his kick didn’t knock her out it did topple him long enough to turn his attention to the conjured spiders and toads now swarming him.

Swinging his swords as fast as he could, Yoshitsune sloshed at every spider and toad that got close enough. He was also spinning his wheels to spin himself in circles, crushing any that were too close. He seemed different after his Kamui ended just about halfway through the tiny beasts.

In the midst of the steel whirlwind a new threat appeared. A zombie bloated with dark magic barreled into the mayhem, and with Yoshitsune’s Kamui down, his defensive options were limited. By the time the noxious undead exploded in a gruesome burst of foul magic and rotten blood, the Witch Doctor was filling the air with firebats. Jars shattered at Yoshitsune’s feet, leaving sharp shards to pierce his wheels even as the corpse spiders scurried forth. She enjoyed total control of the battle, polluting the fight from a safe distance to wear the samurai down in a punishing battle of attrition.

---

On the other side of the battlefield, Primrose arrived to find Tora and Poppi under duress. Fighting three strong at once left the duo struggling to defend themselves, let alone attack. Though Beast looked every inch the bruiser he amplified his brute strength with magic; flares of electricity and blinding light broke out as he hurled himself into combat. Earthquake’s massive size combined with his weapon of choice, a length of chain with a sickle on one end and a weight on the other, presented a constant problem that proved difficult to stop. Of the three Resistance fighters, however, Dante claimed the title of most dangerous. He wielded a wide variety of weapons with casual skill, switching and moving faster than Tora and Poppi could adapt. Only the fact that he seemed to be toying with them gave the dynamic duo an advantage, but even when not serious Dante provided a serious threat.

Tora and Poppi managed to hold out by taking the offensive with the blade’s evasive QT mode, striking out against their foes to keep their enemies from controlling the battle. In this way they avoided being closed in and annihilated, but they lacked the burst damage to put any of their opponents down, and sooner or later the damage would add up on Tora. Upon seeing Primrose, however, Tora tried to keep his elation to a minimum. With the Resistance fighters’ attention squarely on him, Primrose could do whatever she wished.

The dancer's eyes flashed between the three threats. The effects of her dance should last a little longer, so with that thought in mind she lifted a hand and began to conjure her wide range spell. The dark magic began to form under the Resistance member's feet, hard to notice in the dim light even if their focus wasn't on breaking Tora down. Catching her comrade's eyes, Primrose gave a sharp nod and then closed her fist, the Night Ode erupting beneath their enemies' feet.

Her plume of dark magic hit Earthquake and Beast full-force, effectively spit-roasting the heavy-hitting pair from below. Beast growled as he reeled from the sorcerous burst, while the giant ninja went as far as to release his kusarigama with one hand and massage his loins with the other, hopping up and down the whole time. “Ooh, hoo, hoo! What in Sam Hill!?”

Unfortunately, Dante avoided the attack, having been fighting so casually that he picked up on Night Ode’s tell. He shot Primrose the middle finger but turned his attention back to Tora and Poppi, and when Beast rejoined him that left only Earthquake against the dancer. When he saw her, however, the massive Texan seemed to forget his pains in lieu of remembered rage. “You again!” Weapon at the ready, he stomped Primrose’s way. “Where’s yer big fella? Ain’t gonna hide behind ‘im this time? Guess I’ll go lookin’ once I get done moppin’ the floor with ya!” Leering, he held his weapon’s chain in both hands, one below the blade and the other below the weight. “Almost a waste, messin’ up such a purdy thing. Once yer on our side, maybe I’ll show ya a different kind of action, geheheh! Yagh!” With a yell Earthquake sent out his chain sickle, a soaring crescent arc.

---

Back at the dungeon’s front, things only got more hectic. Once redirected by Fox, Skull provided just the teamwork and extra punch Panther needed to really start putting a dent in Charnok. The hooligan’s new kanabo beat out the dragon mage’s staff by a long shot, and though Charnok managed to escape the two-pronged assault with a rocket launch, things quickly took another turn for the worse. Panther and Skull moved both in sync and at high speed, cornering their foe away from his allies.

Amidst a flurry of bludgeoning and whipping he brought all his firepower to bear in a desperate last stand, but to no avail. With his arms crossed in front of him Skull powered through both Hot Hail and flamethrower, building up electricity, until he reached full charge and called upon Captain Kid to release a shower of thunderbolts. In the middle of the lightning storm Skull delivered a revolving bat slam that just about left Charnok senseless, followed up by an upswing string enough to launch him into the air. “Up to you, Panth!”

“Okay, let’s get serious!” At that moment Panther swept in, stylishly using her whip to swing down and deliver a double kick that drove Charnok into the wall. A torrent of fire breath scorched her in a last ditch attempt, but Panther would not be deterred. Snake fangs flashed as she leaned in to bite into and rip free a mouthful of scales on his forehead, then with just one hand on her whip pressed barrel of her submachine gun pressed into the raw flesh. “I won’t hold back!”

A moment later she descended to the ground in a shower of ash and embers. Charnok’s spirit landed beside her, and her friend wasted no time giving her a hi-five. “Dude, that was sick!”

Panther spat out a few red scales and returned the high five. “Thanks! Jeez, my heart’s beating like crazy. I didn’t even think before going to bite him. Must be the snake lady in me.”

“Well, keep it up, ‘cause we’re not done yet,” Skull pointed back at the fighting. “Let’s move!”

While they’d been beating down Charnok, Fox had been gaining ground against Robin. Even with the tactician’s brilliance, this was a bad match-up. His foe possessed both the speed to constantly rush him down and the tools to counter him at long range. At first he’d been able to keep Fox at bay, but starting with that drill stomp things went downhill. Somehow, Fox seemed able to anticipate what he could do. Without any allies to coordinate with, he could only do so much. That left him with just one option, even if it meant inviting further pain. “Tharja! Pair up!”

The dark sorceress acknowledged his summons by unleashing a trump card against Kan-Ra. A well of darkness formed beneath him, and from the purple-black puddle reached clawing arms to sweep away his sand, rip his bandages, and gouge his aged flesh. As he struggled to free himself, his other opponent Ezio reappeared. He plunged a hidden blade between Kan-Ra’s ribs, taking him to the ground and allowing Tharja to jump to Robin’s side. Before Ezio could finish Kan-Ra off, however, Azwel leaped in with a swing of his conjured axe. “Let us do this properly!” Ezio narrowly avoided getting bisected, then dove out of the way as Azwel hurled the axe like a discus. He launched a crossbow bolt as he rolled, then rose with sword in hand to find Azwel ready with twin scimitars. The researcher grinned, primed to relish his revenge in a display of martial prowess, and the assassin sighed. “You should have stayed down.”

Once in a Pair Up in the support position, Tharja could no longer be attacked, instead boosting her partner’s defense and evasion in exchange for only being able to attack as a follow-up to his own. Robin began phase two with a wave of Elwind air blades. Tharja’s Hex welled up beneath Fox a moment later, able to punish him if he stood still to use his reflector. The mages shared a bond even deeper and more hard-fought than the one between Panther and Skull, and as Fox would soon find out, together they were more than the sum of their parts.

Sectonia's attempts at flinging spells were keeping the resistance in a panic as they tried to dodge what they could with only Shadow really being able to function well with all the large rings of light flying about and the blobs of shadow that pierced any defense they ran into. Cellia, having been freed by Midna's friend heart, did limit Sectonia's options of using lightning a bit as while the bolts wouldn't hurt, she wasn't actually sure if she could use said lightning in the water and have her minions be safe from it.

Still that was the only downside the water posed, with the rest of it being upsides as Sectonia could fly over the water and turn it to be an advantage for her side even with how chaotic it all seemed by summoning her ice antillions. These minions got to work right away shooting their icy winds at whatever resistance member was nearby, freezing the water in the process as well. While her antillions were doing that, Sectonia kept up with her barrage of light rings and void globules, focusing more on Shadow as he seemed to be the biggest threat now. Although due to their chaotic nature, some found themselves still going towards the other resistance members.

And once Shadow approached her, the Queen did have a single use of her lightning she could use without issue, having her pipe of insight ready to give everyone a magic shield before zapping the hedgehog if he tried to get close. Said barrier would protect her allies from lightning conducting through the water for a strike, or at least that was her plan. And if he didn't, well, Sectonia was just going to keep up her barrage of attacks. Either the massive light rings or defense piercing void globules would hit and cause quite a bit of damage.

When Ciella’s riptide tore across the battlefield, the furious scrap between Mao and the Dragonborn came to a momentary lull. Now that the fury of Mao’s opponent had subsided it could no longer sustain his offense, and fatigue took its toll on him along with his wounds. Nevertheless the Nord warrior composed himself to jump over the wave and deliver a falling attack. Gravity could make up for his waning strength in bringing his sword down like a sideways guillotine blade to split Mao straight down the middle. In a most unexpected turn, however, he never got the chance to try it. Rather than just evade the wave, the opportunistic Overlord used it to his advantage to propel himself forward at high speed.

All of a sudden the Dragonborn found Mao right in his face, a whole host of weapons and magic much too close for comfort. With no other options he planted his foot to withstand the raging water and resolved to bet his life on his shield. He aimed a single thrust at Mao’s head before committing to defense, but the demon’s scalpel narrowly deflected it. Simultaneously the buzz saw bit into its surface, kicking up smoke and sawdust, but Mao had a better idea for overcoming the shield than pushing his saw to the point of getting stuck.

His magically-charged fist struck the shield in an explosive blast of power. Its cracked almost in half, but even worse for the Dragonborn than that, the force carried through and bodily smashed him into the riptide. Meanwhile, thanks to the law of equal and opposite reactions, Mao popped up safely over the wave. When he landed he could watch the Dragonborn roll to a stop near to the top edge of the arena, the shattered remains of his shield still strapped to his arm. Though battered, bleeding, and close to the brink, the Warrior picked himself up with a Herculean effort. He gripped his sword with both hands and walked forward to meet Mao once again. He possessed no more magic, and no other weapons--save one. A single talent that could turn the tides. “Zuun…Haal Viik!” His shout rolled forward to strike and disarm Mao, pulling his weapons from his grasp. The axe hurled away, and his machine limbs hung limply. Despite his wounds the Dragonborn broke into a jog, headed into the ultimate round. “Your fist of flame against my steel. Let us end this!”

In the top-right quarter of the colosseum, though, Ciella’s riptide barely made an impact. It just made for the cherry on top of the pile of things Jesse had to deal with, while Oriendi hopped over without issue and it finally petered out before it reached Mordecai. Still, Jesse had been on the back foot long enough to get a grasp on what her foes could do, and it was past time she struck back. With the disruption provided by Sectonia’s magic she launched her own offensive. It began by letting loose a Shatter shot that clipped Mordecai’s hawk and forced it to beat a hasty retreat to its master. Jesse found her angle and hurled a jagged length of floor forward. The flying spear elicited a squeal of panic from Orendi, who scrambled to get out of its way, before hurtling on to force a prompt relocation from Mordecai.

While the sniper got to a new safe spot, taking the chance to reload, Orendi found refuge behind a pillar and readied her magic. Cackling to herself she positioned its area of effect perfectly for Jesse to walk right into as she rounded the column. All she needed to do was wait. After a moment, however, Orendi got the impression she was waiting a little longer than she ought to. Just then there came a terrible wrenching noise to her seven o’clock, and Orendi’s head snapped in that direction to see a chunk of the pillar headed her way. A shriek tore from her throat as she threw herself to her right, barely avoiding the projectile and nearly landing on her face.

When she rose she spotted none other than Jesse, having circled around the other direction. “Guh! Whyaren’tyouonFIRErightnow?!” All four hands shot up to unleash a fusillade of black-purple magic bolts, but Jesse had the upper hand. A concussive flashbang blew through her attack, knocked the imp head over heels, and slid her through the sand for a couple dozen feet before she came to a stop. Jesse approached for a closer shot, but as she leveled the barrel of her Service Weapon Orendi looked up with a wild grin on her scarred face. A row of black rings appeared between her and Jesse, the prelude to an incinerating magical beam. “Heeheehee, gotcha! Showmethemguts!”

In the moment she spent talking, however, before her magic came out, Jesse made a simple observation. While staring down the barrel, so to speak, she could so that the very rings that Orendi used for targeting perfectly framed the caster’s face. A shot aimed through them couldn’t possibly miss, and Jesse didn’t. The Shatter blast rang out, and with a groan Orendi’s head plopped down. One down, one to go.

Speaking of which, a sniper bullet smashed into her right shoulder. In his haste to try and stop her Mordecai had fired off a less-than-optimal shot, and his weapon still did a bunch of damage. With Jesse’s barrier newly restored by the crystals collected from Orendi, however, it was far from catastrophic. Mordecia’s bird circled overhead once more, confirming that her fight was far from over.

Meanwhile, the advent of Ciella’s awakened form on the opposite end of the battlefield garnered an immediate response from the Resistance members nearby. Even a few of the Vandals in the center turned their guns on her, taking potshots on the big target from afar. In a bid to keep Ciella from going hog wild Midna attempted to take Reinhardt, who she figured would be the Agito’s main target, for herself. In a stroke of luck Ciella began by endowing herself with a defense-boosting Karmic Shield rather than attacking, although Midna was at that point too busy with Reinhardt to notice. Her strategy worked flawlessly, and while the new-age knight struggled to pull his hammer from the grip of her hair-hand, she landed a solid blow to his head with her shield. Reinhardt saw stars as he reeled from the impact, but he did not go down, and the next Midna found herself faced with another problem.

A heavy glass flask shattered against her Fused Shadow in a burst of liquid flame. Running toward her like a lunatic, Uncle Sven threw a vial of elastic ooze at his feet and with just a small jump sprang into the air, headed her way. He slammed into Midna’s shield belly-first, bounced harmlessly off it, and hurled two flasks of purple acid from above. She could easily float out of the way, but in the midst of Sven’s potent distraction Reinhardt came around in a revolving hammer swing strong enough to break her guard even if she blocked it. Then, to add insult to injury, Shadow teleported in above her and dealt a two-footed stomp to send her straight into Sven’s acid pool.

With Sectonia still enjoying herself above the firefight in the colosseum’s center, pumping her mana into an abundance of random projectiles of varying usefulness, that gave all three Resistance fighters a chance to face the Agito. The fight began with a furious exchange of water and chaos bolts between Ciella and Shadow, while Reinhardt and Sven quickly set up their next gambit. Ciella could conjure five water arrows for the price of one, and since all ricocheted off any surface they hit, they quickly rivalled Sectonia’s own spells in quantity, but Shadow kept moving. He hurled spear after spear, until finally Reinhardt charged over a new puddle of Sven’s elastic ooze and launched into the air. The titan of a man soared skyward, a breathtaking feat of teamwork, and like a rocket-powered train rammed into the harpy midair. With a mighty downward swing of his faithful weapon he cried, “Hammer DOWN!” and struck Ciella head-on. Her barrier shattered, and she plummeted to the ground.

The Agito was, however, a lot lighter than she looked. Her landing hurt nowhere near as bad as it sounded, and though Reinhardt started swinging, she rose back off the ground a moment later. Ciella wasted no time firing off Bolts From Above, an attack that promised to deal incredible damage if its targets did not escape its telltale AoE. Once out of her acid bath, Midna would need to intervene to spare Reinhardt and Uncle Sven the same punishment that spelled the end for Amara.

Meanwhile, Shadow turned his attention to Sectonia. As if the egomaniacal insect didn’t bug him enough already, she just had to go and start being a nuisance with random projectiles--his least favorite kind of projectile. As her Ice Antlions got into a firefight with the Vandals in the arena’s center, Shadow floated up to face her. “It’s about time I shut you up for good!” he yelled, and as she let loose a lightning bolt he hurled a paralytic Chaos Spear. The two traded blows, and the sudden electrocution made Shadow grit his teeth. “Rgh! Think you’re hot shit, do you? Well, here’s a news flash, weakling!”

With the mission on the line, Shadow could not afford to hold back. He unleashed the power of Chaos Control, freezing Sectonia in time. Flying around her, he deposited the Solar grenades he’d stolen from Nastasia’s Vandals while not being bothered by Ciella’s Riptide. He then teleported in front of her, and with a snap of his fingers kicked time back into motion. “You’re toast!” The final moment of the grenades’ fuses passed before they detonated in a chain-reaction of fiery destruction.

Even as a spectacular lightshow went off overhead, the Phantom Thieves could not distract themselves from their own fight. The number of Vandals Nastasia summoned quickly got overwhelming, and though Braum arrived in heroic fashion to lend the Thieves his shield, so too did Shayne and Aurox crash the party. With Fuse still in the mix, things were more chaotic than ever, and nobody could afford to take their eyes off Nastasia herself for long lest she get close enough to bring them under her hypnotic control.

Chased by mass gunfire from the Vandals, Fox slid to a stop behind Braum shield, joining Joker in the only refuge they had. Laser fire pinged off their ally’s mighty tower shield, unable to scratch it, but they couldn’t exactly launch an offense, either. “We appear to be pinned down,” Fox observed. Rather than reply, Joker looked over his friend’s shoulder to see Shayne and Aurox incoming. He pushed Fox aside and rolled sideways in time to avoid the enemy teenager’s boomerang, but a moment later Shayne reached melee range, and Aurox lashed out with scythelike claws. They sliced into Braum’s torso, provoking a grunt of pain even as the mustached guardian held firm. If Braum fell, Joker knew, there would be nothing between them and the Vandal battalion. They’d be done for.

He slid forward beneath the horror’s arm and lunged for Shayne with his knife extended, only for his blade to be caught by the punk’s own. “Nuh-uh! Get ‘em, Aurox!”

“I will ELIMINATE your physical form!” her companion snarled, lashing out with such fury that Joker nearly backpedaled into the open. As Aurox pounced on Fox, and after Fox helped Joker up they faced Shayne and Aurox two on two.

“Guys!” Necronomicon called. “That monster is an energy being cobbling together a body out of rocks! Max him out and he’ll de-manifest!”

They traded a handful of blows, knife and katana against claws and boomerang. Without any room to work with, the thieves were on the back foot until they called forth their Personas to deliver blasts of Curse and Ice, which left Shayne more incredulous than anything. “You’ve got them, too!?” Joker ignored her and let loose with his new hand cannon. Aurox crossed his arms to defend his host, with each bullet chipping away at his stony arms, but while he defended his front Fox summoned Goemon to deliver a powerful overhead Tempest Slash with his pipe. After getting clobbered Aurox roared out, “Grrrrr! I am a RAGING HATE FURNACE of INFINITE POWER!” and hurled both himself and Shayne forward in a dizzying spin slash, but both Phantom Thieves jumped into the air. Joker plugged Aurox’s head with a charged shot, blowing him back, and Fox fell with a slice down the pair’s front. After landing he followed up with a quick spin slash that faced him away from them, and sheathed his blade. A shattering sound rang out as Aurox unsummoned, and Shayne staggered, groaning, for just a moment before Joker dropped her with an elbow to the head.

He and Fox stood there for a moment, victorious, until they realized that the shooting had stopped. They turned forward again to watch Braum slump to his knees, and when they looked up found Nastasia sitting calmly on top of his shield, one leg crossed. “Yeah, that was cool and all, but you’re pretty much done for.”

A half-dozen Vandals fanned out to either side of the shield, their weapons trained on Joker and Fox. Nastasia smiled politely. “Didn’t you get the memo?”



The Mockingbird was toast, its existence nasty, brutish, and short. Yet, despite feeling bad for the thing, Nadia found herself wishing that its end lasted a little longer. With it gone, it put the lives of everyone else on a timer, and those of Junior and herself in particular. When Moreau turned away from the wreckage to roam through the junk-littered Depths, scanning his territory for any signs of life, he quickly picked up on the pang-pang-pang of little feet on metal. Detected just as they turned the second floor’s top-left corner, Nadia and Junior made a mad dash for the elevator, their weary bones spurred on by panic. Moreau gave a guttural grunt, ponderously rolled himself around, and with a terrifying vigor hauled himself their way. Knowing his prey’s intentions he went not for the runners’ current position but for the elevator itself. A terrible racket resounded through the Depths as he shoved its detritus aside to reach his destination.

Although the stray kitten neither meant nor wanted to serve as a distraction again, the uproar gave Link, Geralt, Ace, and Mirage ample time to both put forward plans and deliberate upon them. Given the enormous, repulsive obstacle that seemed dead set on barring their escape, the idea of confronting Moreau directly held some water. They considered striking at his weak points, weaponizing spirits, and spattering the monster with structure gel. But whatever their options might be, it took just one look at the current situation to realize that they need to do something now.

Nadia saw Moreau him coming from a mile away, but did not divert from her destination. If she could just reach the elevator and get it open, she could take refuge inside until the others arrived. The leviathan couldn’t possibly squeeze inside, after all. As Moreau crashed closer and closer, eyeballs lolling and tentacles thrashing, Nadia closed in on the button. Only then did she realize quite how far loomed above her, so tantalizingly out of her stubby little arms’ reach. Not even thinking about how Mimi might be better equipped to accomplish the task, she sprang up to slap the button with every bit of spring she had left. Her fingertips clapped it, bringing a grin of victory to Nadia’s face, but her elation lived only briefly. The next second Moreau’s loathsome bulk annihilated the second-floor catwalk directly in front of the elevator, crashing through the metal so close to Nadia that the vacuum wave of his passage and the loss of footing pulled her down after him.

The kitten landed on something uneven and squishy. After a moment she realized she was not dead, but opened her eyes to find herself nestled between a bunch of Moreau’s grotesque, gooey eyeballs, which wasn’t much better of an alternative. She looked up in hopes of seeing the elevator doors opening, but no such luck. Nadia just barely kept herself from screaming and tearing her own hair out in frustration. Of course the elevator needed to come down, and take its sweet time too. At least Mimi and Junior were okay. Maybe the Pokemon could reach down and pick her up. Or maybe…

Moreau was on the move. When Blazermate flew down to scoop Ace up and mend his booboos, the light of her thrusters was just what the fish freak wanted to see, and the noise of her flight music to his ears. Once Moreau turned to track Blazermate Nadia’s bright eyes could see the others on the move too, using the catwalks to cross the formerly flooded base’s center. Nadia spotted just about everyone down on the second floor now, including Sakura, Bowser, Rika, Kamek and even the pets! This was truly the final stretch--all that remained was to bring it home. Unfortunately, the only straight shot across had already been wrecked by Moreau earlier, which left the Seekers with less direct routes. They could either zigzag around the remaining bridges or chance taking a flight of stairs to the bottom in order to climb back up another set closer to the goal, throwing whatever they liked at Moreau on the way.

From her current vantage point, Nadia felt like she could land a hand. For whatever reason -possibly an existence of constant aches, pressures, and pains, now that Nadia thought about it- Moreau hadn’t noticed her yet. Blazermate still occupied his focus, but for how long she couldn’t say, since he wasn’t so stupid as to chase an unreachable target for much longer. Though still running on fumes, the feral wobbled to her feet and grabbed onto the base of a tendril for support. Then she started jumping up and down on his icky, defunct eyeballs, squashing and squeezing the oozy tumors, even puncturing them with her sharp toenails. Moreau might roll over again or shake her off, but Nadia wasn’t thinking that far ahead. Right now, once the elevator actually arrived and the doors slid open, everyone would be home free. In the heat of the moment she thought only about what she could do to help her friends get there. So she mashed those eyes like her life depended on it, clinging tight even as Moreau bucked in annoyance. “Rrgh! Get offa me!”



When first stepping into the windmill’s bottom floor one could be forgiven for mistaking the place for a barn. Plenty of old grains clumped up in corners and along walls, while various farming tools lay scattered around the place, some of them bent and twisted in odd ways, or embedded into the walls. Albedo imagined the mill’s mischievous feline occupants playing with them, either in mock sword fights or throwing competitions. Either way, the disused place had long fallen into the paws of vagrants. Only the massive grindstone in the center of the floor took away from the impression of a barn, but following the great log upward past the giant gears dispelled the illusion completely.

Albedo craned his neck upward, taking in the awesome spectacle. Rather than being divided into floors that blocked his view, the mill was predominantly open, and its heights alive with motion. The turn of its blades powered a huge array of simple wood and metal machines, including pulley lifts, big gears both vertical and horizontal, transport carts on rails, spinning blocks, and what a more modern observer might have likened to Ferris wheels. Throughout the whole area he could spy more floating pons, too.

Of the cat burglars he could find no immediate trace, not even the slight distortions that gave away their invisibility. A closer look up above, however, revealed the tricky felines. They appeared to be scrambling upward using the platforms and machines, perhaps in order to reach a hideout up at the top. Coming to terms with the task ahead might have provoked a sigh from anyone else, but the mild-mannered alchemist was no stranger to legwork. In fact, this was a good thing; retreating upward was a gamble that one’s pursuers could not follow, since if they could, there was no place the runners could go. “Impetuous creatures,” he remarked. “Let us get to it.”

Albedo began by calling forth a solar isotoma near the grindstone. Its Geo magic carried him high enough that he could make it into the gear with a well-timed hop. From there he hitched a ride on one of the ropes that conveyed the main shafts’ turn to another gear on the left side, hanging from the length of tightly-braided fibers until he reached the higher loft floor. After dropping he took a running jump and stuck to a vertical board of planks, and just a couple seconds of crawling later he reached the top. A balancing act across a rafter took him close to a spinning wheel, and once Albedo internalized the distance and movement speed he jumped again. He landed softly in the straw inside the bucket and sat down for stability, waiting in silence as the turn of the wheel brought him higher.

Even once he reached the loft floor above that, though, he still estimated himself only about a fourth of the way up the windmill, if that. As he looked around for a good spot to summon another flower he also kept an eye out to see how Linkle was faring. If she managed to focus this time, her energy and creativity could propel her upward a lot faster than his steady, pragmatic progress.

---

A grin was on Mao's face as his strike busted through the Dragonborn's shield, managing to pop over the wave and land close to his original position. One looking his way could see the axe plummeting towards him from the air, but as a sign of awareness Ara Mitama appeared with it's smug, rude expression as if looking for trouble, only to find it in the form of Mao's axe crashing on it, it's Physical resistance turning it into a makeshift baseball mitt for axes. Mao gripped the handle, lifting the axe from the demon as it faded out from the impact, before bringing his second hand to his chest to give that move of Midna's a try. Throwing hearts at people wasn't his style, but surely the old warrior was down for the count now, so at least he'd not be aware of it--

Oh COME ON, Mao thought as the Dragonborn pulled himself up. Mao knew demons who couldn't take half the beatings this guy could, it truly made him decide that this old man wasn't actually human. Regardless of his story or normalcy however, Mao noted he needed to finish this. And he had five weapons readied for doing so, until a sudden shout from the man caused Mao to momentarily stagger. His grip on the axe was forcibly ripped away, a slight burning feeling aching from his palm due to the speed of the disarming. To make matters worse, his machinery was malfunctioning due to being yelled at. What the hell kind of bullshit was that? "I've had just about enough of your magic 'yodels'." He commented with disdain, hand shaking one of his inactive limbs for a moment out of slight disbelief, but mostly irritation.

The Dragonborn's charge and last words were noteworthy, Mao charging another magic attack at the provocation to prepare for a final clash. He was actually finding himself at the speed disadvantage now. Lest it be ignored, they were both trudging in wet sand, but not only that, Mao had to drag his mechanical limbs through it since they deactivated. Rather, he had a secondary idea: No weapon meant a direct punch would probably lead to his hand getting split in half, so he'd fire off the shotgun-like forward blast instead once they got closer. Realizing a direct hit like this was dangerous, and blowing another hole in his chest was probably not going to keep the Dragonborn alive long, it meant he'd have to act fast afterwards, too.

The stance looked stupid, he knew it. One hand prepping an attack, another on his chest like he was about to start spouting opera. But he had to ensure this old man lived, so being fast even if it looked a little janky was the best bet. "You're the strongest Human I've ever fought!" He acknowledged, even if doubting the actual nature of the Dragonborn somewhat. The characteristics were on point, at least. "I'll make it quick!"

Trudging forward, Mao waited as they closed the distance between them. Just like he'd done to blow back Big Band defensively before, his fist was clenched and pulled back as if with intent that he'd meet the man head-on again. As they got close to melee range, however, Mao's enchanted fist flew out: Sending his magic a short burst forward, glad he hadn't shown that off to him in their fight upstairs. Along with this blast, Mao's hand raised from his chest to above his head, having managed to form a Friend Heart from Midna's example. As his blast finished, Mao would lunge forward: One may assume to kill the man in front of him after the short-ranged attack, but rather, he was aiming to slam the damned Friend Heart into the Dragonborn as soon as he could during the aftermath, in an attempt to keep him alive, and to breach both Galeem and Number Two's control over his admittedly honorable mind.

---

Mirage used his lack of physical damage to his advantage to climb the hellish jungle gym of damaged metal in front of him, scampering desperately as he reached the top but was quick to pull a 180 to help pull up those behind him so they could get the hell out of here. His feet carried him as fast as they could, but given his size and growing fatigue he wasn't exactly running great. He wasn't exactly the athlete he was as an adult, though the mindset kept him going a little. Memories of engagements, the damaged he'd taken in some firefights. He had to scamper away with a bullet or three in his leg before, he could do this. He would prefer being shot to actually having to deal with this hunger anymore, though. He caused him to snicker to himself, maybe out of a building madness from hunger, the others would think, but he was just really being his doofus self.

Heh, eat lead.

His coping mechanism wasn't going to last long, however. At first he was excited to catch view of Nadia, Junior, and the elevator. But this turned sour as Moreau crashed the party by crashing through the catwalk directly in front of the elevator, and therefor right under their friends. Nadia's plummet was something Mirage took notice of quickly, and after what he'd already witnessed, he didn't want to imagine what could happen to one of their own down there with Moreau. "Nadia!" His shout of concern was barely audible over Moreau's attempt to dislodge her, and there was zero time to waste on getting her the hell out of there.

He'd been sort of wearing the magnet in an uncomfortable way like a neck pillow, to keep as much free as he could for the climb. But realizing he had to act, his eyes turned to Sakura who's shoulder he tapped frantically like a school kid trying to pass a note in class. "Sakura, Sakura-- Here, trade me a sec." He insisted, shoving the Dart Gun into her hands while taking the Blue Magnet. The humming of the moving elevator meant they had time for this to work, he thought. "Can only make three platforms, but you could use it to make a bridge to the elevator. Kay? Kay!"

New magnet in his hands, Mirage rushed to get a better angle on the situation below. First Moreau was crying about them running, now he's wanting them to get away from him? Fine by Mirage, the stench was bad enough up above, he didn't want to be closer to that guy by any means. "Hey, Nadia!" He called down, preparing to throw the blue magnet with what strength he had. Luckily since Moreau had come to them, he wasn't that far off, just down a ways. "Heard I'm a chick magnet! Why not put it to the test?" He pulled up his goggles, eyes focusing on her with a dumb smile on his face perhaps from his own playful humor, or the thought of how pissed Moreau will be when yet another one of them escapes despite being so close. He chucked the Blue Magnet down towards his feline friend, before grabbing hold of his Red Magnet to hold out towards Nadia down below.

Hopefully it'd be able to pull her back up, he hadn't really seen anyone use these until now and Bowser had complained earlier, but hey, they didn't have a lot of good options and with them being so close, any small opportunity to help ensure their freedom was a welcome one.

Though he’d only just avoided a surprise Night Ode from the newly-arrived Primrose, Dante seemed determined not to give either Tora or Poppi a singular moment to breathe. He left the dancer for Earthquake to deal with and rushed the pair down. A barrage of pistol fire buffeted Tora’s Mech Arms as Dante ran in, and when he got into range closed the distance that remained with a Stinger. The point of the demon killer’s sliding thrust went right between the Nopon’s high-tech cestus, and only a quick ether barrier from his fast-acting partner prevented a stab between his eyes.

“Too close!” he yelled in surprise, but before he could even try to wrench the Rebellion from Dante’s hands the sword shrank back into the hilt and transformed into Osiris, a scythe of angelic silver. It swooped in from the side in a crescent arc, striking the Mech Arms again and again in quick succession. Tora pulled back with his left wing while continuing to defend with his right for a counterpunch, but instead of slugging Dante in the stomach, his enemy interrupted his attack for a backward dodge, and Tora’s blow swept through empty air. In the moment he overextended himself Dante struck back, hooking the blade of his scythe around Tora’s own weapon to yank him off his feet. “Meeeh!” he cried as he got swung overhead and into the ground on Dante’s other side, separated from his blade companion.

With her Masterpon in trouble, Poppi jetted into action. She zoomed forward with a jet-propelled spinning crescent kick, followed by a roundhouse into afterburner side kick. Only the round connected, and even then just into Dante’s shoulder, and as he dipped out of the way of Poppi’s last attack he grabbed her by one of her metal twintails and rammed the barrel of his shotgun, Revenant into her back. The blast of demonic shrapnel blew through Poppi’s chest, stunning her momentarily even as her ether furnace began to repair the damage. Without Mercy Dante unleashed his scythe’s Prop technique, juggling Poppi on its blade.

Tora leaped up from behind him with his Mech Arms raised for a double overhead smash, his face an uncharacteristic mask of rage, but Dante deftly dropped Poppi in favor of a quick elbow to Tora’s chin. As he turned his weapon changed from angelic scythe to demonic fists, and Tora only barely moved his weapons in time to block the dizzying Slam that squished him into a sitting position against the ground. Dante charged Eryx for an uppercut, sure that it would be the finishing blow, but Tora had other ideas. With a cry he forsook his guard and unleashed a sideways blast from the tip of one Mech Arm. The burst of force spun him like a top, allowing the other arm to sweep his foe’s legs. Dante belted out a colorful swear as he went down. Tora sprang up, but rather than press his luck he ran to collect Poppi. The decision spared him a blow from Beast’s hammer from behind, and with her sprinted away from both enemies toward the back of the dungeon.

They turned to see Dante on his feet, dusting off his coat, and Beast next to him. Though panting from exertion already, Tora did his best to stabilize Poppi on her feet. “Poppi! You okay!?”

Bit by bit, the orange glow of converted ether mended the bullet holes in her chassis. The blade gave a slow nod. “Yes, Poppi self-repair routines online. Still, Poppi think mode change good idea. Mech Arms not suited for this fight.”

Dante gave a cocky grin, enjoying the lull in the battle. “Grasp at whatever straws you like, toots. You’ve got nothing on me.”

His casual manner infuriated Tora to no end. “Meh, meh, meh! Buttface jerkypon very sore loser!”

“You didn’t beat me,” Dante told him, shaking his head. “And you never will.” He rested Rebellion on his shoulder as he waited for Tora and Poppi to make their move.

In the brief standoff that followed, Tora and Poppi stood firm with defenses raised, ready to pivot toward either opponent. Even Dante was taking the chance to catch a quick breath. But in that space the duo caught a glimpse of the obnoxious Earthquake menacing their friend Primrose. Made to look tiny and frail against the mountain of angry meat in front of her, the dancer seemed hard-pressed. Tora couldn't forsake her--neither as a defender nor a hero. "Primrose!" he called, afraid enough for his friend that he was willing to risk a charge right through the opposition to protect her.

Primrose thrust a hand in the direction of Tora's voice, a palm held out to signal he not move towards her. "I've got this," she told him, staring down Earthquake with a glare to match his leer. She didn't seem intimidated, instead she was almost emboldened by the large man's taunts.

Her confidence reassured her friends completely. “Good show, Rose-Rose!” Tora called back. “Mess that fattypon up! As for us….” He gave Dante his best death stare. “It time we stop messing around. Poppi QT Pi, let’s go!” His companion shifted to her final form, Variable Saber at the ready.

Dante did not look impressed. “That one again? You two swing that thing around like a kid trying to hit a piñata. If you’re still playin’ games, I might as well finish this now.”

“Things turn out different this time!” Tora grinned. In smaller voice he addressed Poppi. “This guy too fast for fighting normal way, meh. Need fight together!”

A worried look took over Poppi’s face. “But if we do that, Poppi can’t shield Masterpon. And besides, we have only one weapon.”

“Not so,” Tora whispered. “Listen…”

Just a moment passed before Dante got annoyed. He summoned another new weapon, Kablooey, and with a shout of “Alright, enough yapping!” fired a dart of demonic energy between Tora and Poppi. They recognized what it must be in an instant and split up just before Dante detonated it. Smoke and stone shards flew as the explosion went off, shaking the whole dungeon.

The next moment, however, the two burst from the haze, Poppi boosting forward while holding Tora by one swing. She spun around to launch him at the opposition, saber blade extended, in a blue laser whirlwind. Beast rolled to the side while Dante jumped over, and as Tora lost his momentum the demon killer brought out Ophion to snatch his opponent where he stood and reel him in. “Try blocking this, tons of fun!” His weapon transformed to Arbiter, and its cruel axeblade came down to cleave through Tora’s desperate attempt to slash him and split the Nopon like kindling.

Instead Arbiter came down on the Drill Shield, barely leaving a mark. “What? You had…!” Before Dante could say another word the shield’s center opened to shoot out a Boom Biter. The explosion went off point-blank, blasting Dante away. Beast charged in to take over, but Dante wasn’t done just yet. As he flew Poppi Alpha rocketed up behind him, and with the full weight of this form’s armor behind it, drove her elbow into the demon killer’s spine. “Poppi returning favor,” she said flatly, raising her claymore above her head in a reverse grip. “Regret in next life.”

---

Although he planned to corral Es toward the bottom-right corner of the dungeon in an effort to keep her away from the other fights unfolding throughout the place, Big Band’s adversary practically did the job for him. The short swordswoman displayed no emotion one way or the other, but if she preferred the one-on-one fight he was aiming at, that was fine by him. That just left the matter of actually fighting her, which was a task much easier said than done. Es came to the table with a strong hand, the complete package of speed, strength, and even reach given the size of her zweihander. Though she enhanced her swordplay with just one magical trick, it soon became apparent as they traded blows why she needed no other. The magical crests that her sword left in its wake threw off the rhythm of the fight completely, making her that much harder to deal with.

But if she expected the detective to be easy pickings, she would be disappointed. Any big, slow fighter who stood the test of time invariably piled up experience fighting smaller, quicker enemies, and with Band about as big and slow as they came, he was just the man for the job. He wouldn’t stand still and allow himself to be pressured into an endless vortex of defense until she finally slipped through. Instead he took the fight to her. Brass Knuckles allowed him to armor through careless hits and make her think twice about just throwing things out. His five thousand pound dropkick provided a lot of threat, both when Es tried to jump in over his Brass Knuckles or Giant Steps, and because he could spring forward after landing to close the distance. When inevitably put on defense, he tactically opted to take hits that he knew couldn’t lead to full combos just to get back to neutral. Being tough had its advantages.

Of course, he still only got a couple hits in. But when you’re Big Band, a few hits is all it takes.

There! Though slashed, battered, and bleeding, Band saw his chance. After managing to land a combo, Es went for a quick and dirty reset to start it all over again. Her mistake was to approach from the air. He’d been saving a special something from the outset for just such an occasion; she had no idea what she was in for. “Beat!” As he angled himself upward, halves of an enormous tambourine shot from the front of his coat to clap shut on Es’ torso like a vice, and her overhead cleave failed to connect. The clamor of the cymbals rang out across the dungeon, filling the air with jingle jangles as they filled Es with Sound Stun. “...Extend!”

She fell limply in front of him, and Big Band got to work. A magnificent array of instruments, from the triangles and trombones to the clarinet, oboe, and organ pipes, deployed to hammer his foe in harmony. The brassy beatdown culminated in an Air Mail Special, and after the saxophone uppercut popped Es skyward, Band finished things off in style. “You’re gonna get beat!” A ring of six rocket-powered timpanis deployed from his undercarriage, and with each smack of a drum a soundblast both blasted Es and sent him higher into the air. All too soon it came to an end and the two fell back to earth. Band landed on his feet, but Es did not.

"Eh?" The brunette blinked.

Suddenly Sakura had Mirage's iconic Dart Gun in her hand. Even though she had only seen him use it once they got onto the Maw, she had the engineer and the Dart Gun linked inextricably in her mind. Holding it felt like wearing Cammy's beret or driving Akira's motorcycle. Or if she let someone else wear her iconic bandana! Everyone had special moves and-

Sakura blinked, holding the big Dart Gun as Mirage went to go save Nadia. Suddenly, Sakura realised the onus was on her to build her and her fellows a Dart bridge.

Poor Nadia was completely enveloped by the monster in a very terrible way, but Sakura trusted her feline companion would be able to avoid harm long enough to get to safety. But what if the magnet's attraction wasn't strong enough from all the way down there? Maybe Nadia would need help getting up.

But if she didn't need help, and Sakura helped them anyway, that might lead to more problems. These catwalks weren't very stable. If Moreau chased them as they ran up some darts Sakura shot down there, what if that destroyed everything?

...Then they'd just have to deal with that. Sakura wasn't going to leave anyone behind. Or leave it to chance. Sorry, escape bridge, you'll have to wait. Quickly, Sakura briefly wondered if there was anyone else more qualified to use the Dart Gun. But she didn't think anyone like that was available. Geralt and Ace were from a fantasy world, Bowser and Kamek certainly didn't seem like the type. Junior, maybe, but just got up. And Blazermate would be busy ferrying people. Bella and Rika probably only used the guns that were attached to themselves. Mirage was holding the magnet so he was busy, too.

That meant that Sakura was the only available to shoot this darn gun. Her only experience with a gun were super soakers, laser tag, and light gun games at the arcade.

Screwing her courage to the sticking place, Sakura stood next to Mirage. First, she needed to find a spot Nadia could use. Searching with her eyes, she spotted a fallen platform on it's side. That was near enough to Moreau and the second floor of catwalks. If she spaced them out properly, it could be done! Glancing over her shoulder, she made sure the slower members of the group (that weren't her) were all caught up.

"Yosh, ikuzo!" She hyped herself up for this unorthodox task laid before her.

Sakura aimed right at the spot she wanted, her little arms extended all the way out. She leaned back, closed one eye, and stuck her tongue out the corner of her mouth.

When she fired it, she realised the Darts travelled in an arc. It landed on the ground, sticking straight up.

"Sh-shimatta!" Sakura exclaimed. Firing again, higher this time, she was dismayed to see the dart smack right into the last one. "Shimatta!" She repeated again.

On the third dart, she succeeded. Next, she fired the second, but she felt like it was too high. "Shimattaaaa." Hopefully other people didn't think she was swearing.

"That's not a swear." She said to everyone just so they knew.

"Shimattashimattashimattashimattashimatta- ueeeh... YATTA!" An exasperated Sakura celebrated. Finally, after what felt like an eternity but what was only a few (possibly crucial) seconds, she organized the three darts. Roughly evenly spaced, they should be climbable. "Okay, go go go!" She shouted down to those doing battle with Moreau. "Whatever way is fastest!"

Geralt followed after Mirage as they climbed, aided along and invigorated by his companion's own drive. It didn't do anything for the cramps, but it gave him something to focus on instead of them. For now, that would have to do. He didn't pay any mind to the boy's laughter, not deeming it worth worrying about. Knowing him, he'd thought up some joke or something. It would likely be better than anything Dandelion would spout, but Geralt wasn't sure he was in the mood for jokes, so he appreciated Mirage keeping it to himself.

Geralt's own reaction to Moreau's attack was much more muted. He frowned, watching as the cat girl fell into his grotesque array of eyes, only to be distracted by Blazermate's rescue of the Cadet. Good, a distracted enemy was a much easier foe to handle. It was time to do or die, literally in Nadia's case.

Mirage swapped his dart gun for Sakura's magnet, and tossed one of the magnets down to Nadia. Geralt was honestly completely unsure of what that was meant to accomplish aside from some probably-jokey flirting, but he didn't question it. If their current plan failed, he needed to figure out what to do.

Well, that wasn't actually true. He needed to figure out how to jump down there, distract Moreau, and help Nadia escape without dying. Easier said than done. Although, he did have one thing to say that might help out. "Nadia!" He called. "See if you can find that nail from before! Should still be in one of those eyes!" Making his way towards the elevator once more, Geralt would have to content himself with not quite being able to do as much as he'd like.

Felt like a running theme, today, really.

Jr ran after Nadia towards the exit, but the speedy feline proved to be considerably quicker on her feet than he as she sped ahead in a race for the exit and away from Moreau. Still, despite him being a bit behind it looked like they were going to make it to safety, only for three issues to rear their head one after the other in rapid succession.

The first, the fact that the elevator wasn't designed with children in mind, as to be expected really, and as a result the control system was up and out of reach of the tiny heroes and baddies.

Once he noticed this Jr called ”I can give you a boost!” after Nadia, both as an actual offer, and also out of a desire not to be left behind by her. Fortunately/unfortunately, the kitten had no patience for that, as limbs fueled by adrenaline and little else at this point launched/scrambled her up the short distance needed to reach the button, before she gave it a thorough smack.

Then arose the second problem, which was that the elevator doors don't open straight away. Well, that was the group’s second problem anyway, the third, final and far more immediate one was that Moreau smashed into the catwalk in front of the door a mear heartbeat after Nadia landed from her jump, causing Jr and Kamek (who had been approaching from the south) to both stumble backwards and away from the pit that opened up as a result.

Nadia had no such luxury, being dragged over the edge by the wreckage and tumbling down and onto the back of the big fish. Yet despite being covered with eyes, the monster didn't seem to realize one of his targets was but a hair’s breadth away, crawling on his back like a louse. Instead, with Nadia in tow, he stumbled after the much more obvious Blazermate as she jetted down heal the cadet as Kamek had suggested, and then went above and beyond that request by hauling the boy out of the pit and up to the rest of the humans, who were all clustered on the catwalks around the stairwell leading up to the command center.

Rather than sit still or try to get off, Nadia immediately launched into trying to be a distraction, stomping and slashing at her ride’s many eyes. It certainly got his attention, but it also prompted several noble rescue attempts from the people who most needed to get moving towards the exit, using darts and magnet tosses.

The troop meanwhile, who were either already at the exit (Kamek and jr were on either side of the hole that had been smashed right in front of the exit) or had accidentally taken a less blocked route by taking the long way round, where more than happy to take advantage of her haranguing of their foe.

Bowser and Rika finally got down to the second floor when all this was going down, herding BB and Tyrant between them while ladened with items of varying importance. Despite their late arrival to the bottom, caused by their tinkering in the workshop and circuitous route, they only had half the room to cover over the straight shot of catwalk Kamek had just trundled over. Unfortunately for them, and everyone really, Moreau was right there on one side of said catwalk, currently trying to shake off Nadia.

”That. Might be a problem” Bowser noted as he ran next to the banister to see this all go down, before growling and shifting to the side to block an attempted piggy retreat. The baby behemoths really did not want to run right by Moreau’ rampage. Kamek, pushed up against the wall and trying not to breathe as the fish bucked and roared a scant few meters away from him, entirely understood their sentiment.

Across from him, Jr was slightly more proactive ”Mimi! Shadow sneak him. But don't give away where we are,” he commanded his poke-minion.

“Kyu kyu” the mon replied with tired determination. Her pp was running low and Eldritch hunger gnawed at the fay-specter just as badly as it was the living but she still had a little more to give.

With a “Mimi!” she did as she was commanded, her arms pressing into her shadow, which crawled its way down Jr’s back, slipped through the catwalk to the pit below, across the waterlogged floor and then up on top of Moreau where a shadowy mirror of Mimikyu rose up from the very end of the elongated shadow, gave a little wave to Nadia, and then went absolutely buck-wild. It raised its little arms up and started stabbing them down in quick succession, clawing and slashing at the eyes, either assisting her distraction or taking over, depending on whether she bailed or not.

Not wanting to just stand idle, jr did what any kid, or inpatient person really (and he was very much both), would do when presented with an elevator that wasn’t here yet. He looped a claw through the winged key’s ring Bowser had given him, and then with little hops started jabbing away at the button with the other end of the key to try and make the elevator arrive faster.

Because that was definitely a thing that worked.

As he jabbed away Bowser and Rika approached Kamek, their jog across the south eastern catwalk uncontested thanks to Nadiea. The difficulty they were having with the pigs prompted Kamek to end his hiding and move to aid them. The magic-less mage grabbed one of the infantile beast’s horns, trying to pull it closer to the exit despite being almost the same size as it.

“Shouldn't we help her?” The ship girl asked as they reached their as of yet unopened goal

”And the others. You stay here and keep the pigs from running off though. I’ve still got Kamek’s weird can to use. Somehow” Bowse replied. He got a worried look from both Kamek and Rika, and then a confident nod from the young woman and a look that indicated he was having second thoughts about his scheme now that they where int he clearfrom the old koopa. Bowser ignored the latter and started to move to put down his hammerhead to lighten his load, which was right around the time Grealt shouted his suggestion to Nadia.

It took only a moment to spot what he was talking about, sticking out of Moreau’s wretched flesh, and it made what needed done just so obvious to Bowser.

”On second thought, hold onto this for me” Bowser said, before tossing the the can of nano-machines over to Jr (interrupting his button mashing) instead and then, with a hop, jumping from the bottom half of the south wall’s catwalk onto the one running straight through the middle of the room. Then on tiring legs he ran up the length of it till he was alongside the fish boss.

”Get clear kitten, and make way for the king!” he commanded Nadia, if the cat-woamn wasn't out of the way already, as climbed up onto the railing and then, without a moment of hesitation, leaped off of it and towards the monster accompanied by a chorus of cries from his family. Grasping the hammerhead he had been carrying all this time by its two horns Bowser soared through the air with gravity defying ease, and then plunged downwards to slam the hammer into the nail still embedded in Moreau’s flesh.

Magic faced might and magic won. For a moment.

The great glowing arm woven from dark power and the princess hair reaching out from Midna’s head grasped the knight’s hammer arm and pinned it down despite the fire, steel and muscles resisting it’s grip. With his weapon pinned the princess was free to deliver her actual blow, which was a far more mundane smash to the man’s helmeted face with the lip of her shield.

The man staggered, unsteady and most likely dazed, but before she could get her dragon claws to work trying to open up the tin-can protecting his mortal body, the knight received aid from a potion seller.

Uncle Sven, a man so ridiculously round he looked like one of his potion bottles, interjected himself into their struggle, introducing himself by tossing a flaming potion at the side of Midna’s head that was, fortuitously, armored by her fused shadow and thus did not burn her face off. The princess had little time to appreciate just how much she owed her life to the fact that people kept underestimating the resilience of the ancient magic she used as a head ornament, because when she turned to face the man she found him already hurtling towards her, belly outstretched after having launched himself via a bouncy potion splat.

She raised her shield reflexively, only for him to bounce off it with barely an impact, the blow merely knocking the floating princess back a bit from Reinhardt. Her brief moment of elation at this was quickly dashed when it turned out this might very well have been intentional oh the potion master's part, as his bounce off of her shield sent him flying up and away above her, from where he tossed a pair of potions down at her

She dodged one and parried the other, resulting in both smashing into the ground and spilling their acidic contents to the floor below her. The hissing caused from the formed corrosive lake made her glance down, which only added to the number of things Sven had done to distract her from the big armored boy right in front of her, one that had been given plenty of time to come to his senses thanks to his portly companion’s aid.

While Midna was still holding his hammer arm with her shadow hand, she was no longer focusing on that task thanks to sven, which gave him the opportunity and leverage to shift his grip on his hammer and then fire up the thrusters on the back of it. Midna caught sight of the fire and motion in her peripheral vision as she was trying to keep track of Sven’s unpredictable movements and so just barely had the time to refocus on resisting the incoming swing and trying to block. Poorly.

”godd-”

The hammer crashed into the side of the shield, bashing it and her guarding arm aside and then crashing into her chest. Her renewed resistance with her shadow arm turned what would have been rib crushing blow into one that merely hurt like hell and knocked the wind out of her, but it gave Shadow the opening he needed to blink in and give her the boot, once again smacking someone into harm's way, in this case booting her down into Sven’s acid pool.

”-esses!” the princess cried out in alarm and pain, bringing up a hand to guard her exposed eye right before she splashed down into the acid, and then screamed in pain as the foul liquid bit and gnawed at the exposed skin on her arms, tail, half of her chest and midriff. Seething in pain the princess used her shield arm to push herself into a roll, tumbling to the side, out of the acid puddle and into a nearby water puddle, one of many scattered across the arena that had been left by Ciella’s tidal-wave.

While the princess tried to drench/wash herself in the puddle like a bird in a bird bath to clear the acid, the pool’s creator was under assault. The triple team of Sven, Shadow and Reinhardt coordinating far better than the entirely at odds princess and harpy where. Which to be fair isn't saying much, considering there had so far been zero cooperation between the two women. A strategy of divide and conquer worked notably well when your two foes were already divided and so they left the beaten down Midna to her bath and focused instead on ganging up on Ciella.

Shadow dueled her at range, trading chaos bolts for water arrows while Sven and Reinhardt closed the distance, before leaving to go blow up Sectonia. Despite his swift egress he’d given the pair all the opening they needed to set up their strike, with Sven laying down another sticky jump pad of slime which Reinhardt proceeded to charge into, launching himself into the air and then bringing his hammer down in a meteoric overhead swing, the blow crashing into Ciella and instantly breaking the defenses she’d been wrapping herself in while Minda had been on the receiving end of the very same style of coordinated ganging up.

Despite being light, it appeared that Ciella’s harpy form was by no means fragile, and so she swiftly recovered from her knockdown despite Reinhardt’s attempt to beat her down. Once up and guarding against the hammer blows she swiftly set up her arrow rain spell, the very same one that had ended Amara’s life.

”Not again you bitch! came a cry in response to this move, as Minda, her flesh patchy with chemical burns and her the colorful striped stockings she’d gotten the previous day tattered and perforated with large melted holes, raced back into the fray, dragon’s fury and power accelerating her run to ludicrous and inhuman speed. She had seen Ciella’s killer finale before. She would not let it happen again. Part of her recognized that she might be onboard with saving lives but had simply been backed into a corner, but she really didn't believe that and, to a point, she was too angry to care.

”Move!” she shouted at the two men, but he didn't leave things down to whether they would listen to her (an enemy) or not. Instead she slammed out an open palm strike with a truly massive shadow hand, one that had all the dragon flowing through her veins energy behind it, towards Reinhardt to try and smash/shove him clear. Simultaneously she called out her twilight vibrava, and sent the giant insect thunderously buzzing towards Sven to try and grab and drag him out of the circle. Or just chase him out, which would probably be safer for both of them.

”Kill anyone and I will put you in the goddess damned dirt!” Minda roared at Ciella, her fury burning from her lips with wisps of literal dragon fire.

If she didn't, Minda would race after the shoved Reinhardt (relying on her Vibrava to distract/chase/drag around Sven for just a few more heartbeats before it went home) and would try and deliver a dragon dance empowered shadow hand punch to his chest (while usign her speed to attempt to dodge retaliation), not caring if he broke his mechanical armor anymore (the destruction of which she suspected would render him worthless as backup) and just aiming to hurt the man inside enough that her tossing of a friend heart at him as a follow up would work out. Finally, if she could do all this without being interrupted, forced back onto the defensive, or worse, she would summon stool from the twilight realm beside her, before entering its shadow and then using it blink into and hide within Reinhardt’s own, where she’d be in prime position to deal with whatever consequences came her (or his) way.

Like trying to explain things if he was free or stopping Ciella from finishing him off with force if necessary.

If she failed to save them however, well, then the princess was going to have to be a woman of her word.

Jesse's arm recoiled back as she fired the mighty one-handed shotgun blast directly into Orendi's face. Shutting that sadistic chatter box up was extremely satisfying. Blue sparks joined the spray of blood and collected on the ground.

Orendi's face wasn't completely obliterated, but she wasn't exactly going to be winning any beauty contests either. Whether or not she was still alive remained another matter entirely. She wasn't immediately dead, but was a wound like that survivable? Even with the crazy advanced healing in this world, she wasn't sure. And Orendi didn't seem like the kind of person who was 'Friend-Heartable'. The Director elected to just lay her lay there for now.

Well, Jesse didn't have much of a choice. Her fight wasn't over yet. A bullet slammed into Jesse's shoulder. Immediately, the blue crystals suctioned into her Health and restored almost all the damage. Meaning Jesse only took a step forward from the impact and turned to glare at the troublesome sniper.

Jesse reverse jogged back behind the pillar Orendi was previously hiding behind.

(So. What's our plan here? Keep rushing him down?)

Keeping Mordecai's position in mind, Jesse switched her Tool Gun to No-Collide. The nearly silent beam sank into the pillar, and nothing would seem amiss. Exhaling, she felt a rush of adrenaline course through her. Then, she defied her instincts and ran head first into a pillar of steel and concrete. For a moment it was nothing but pitch darkness. But she knew how big the pillar was, and how long it would take for her to sprint through it.

Emerging into the arena again, suddenly much closer to Mordecai, she No-Collided the pillar behind her as she dashed forward. Ripping a chunk from the pillar she flung it at Mordecai's head. Hand still out stretched, she pulled on the spear she had javelined at him earlier and sliced it through the air towards his legs. Finishing things off, and exhausting her Energy supply for the next 15 seconds of combat, she brought her hand around and ripped a chunk from the ceiling to slam it down ontop of him. A barrage of powerful telekinetic attacks, with intent to smack the sniper around like a ragdoll.

If that put the sniper down, Jesse would take as many shots as possible to hit his hawk with a beam or two of Inflation with her Tool Gun. Unbalance the bird out of the air, like what had happened with Mona. Big head, big body, big leg. This sniper struck her as professional, and if she had a moment to breathe, she'd spare his pet bird. After all, he might be on their team soon enough.

If it didn't...then she'd have to run for cover and switch handguns. Start up the firefight again and be more careful this time. The Director was a bit caught up in her own fight to notice exactly what was happening in the rest of the arena, but if she had to hazard a guess...they were winning? Midna seemed to be doing something important. Or perhaps she was just fighting everyone in the world. Mao was taking on the Dragonborn, and Sectonia was dueling Shadow. After she finally defeated Mordecai, Jesse wasn't sure who she should prioritize next. The playing field was incredibly volatile.

---

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---

Link couldn't be happier that none of his ideas were necessary as everyone started coming back up to the relative safety of the catwalks. He was no stranger to running away, there was no reason to stick around for a losing fight if you didn't have anything keeping you there. Seeing as everyone was either making their way down or climbing back up every second they lingered was another opportunity for the monster to find a way to entrap them.

This point was proven when, as they made their way to the elevator, the monster pulled his best possible move. He jumped up and ripped the area connecting the catwalk to the elevator away and, worse than that, took Ms. Fortune with it. The cat girl landed messily on the monsters back, Blazermate thankfully providing a distraction so he didn't just roll over and end her right then and there.

Rescue efforts began immediately. Mirage traded his dart gun for Sakura's magnet, instructing her to make the bridge while he rescued Ms. Fortune. Sakura, instead, followed Mirage and set about creating an alternate escape route in case Mirage's idea failed. He and Geralt were right behind them, even if there wasn't really anything they could do. Their minds had all be drawn away from the problem of how to cross to the elevator. The idea of leaving someone behind was that unacceptable.

Among all this high drama no one seemed to have noticed the green haired boy making his way down the belly stair tower, carrying a coil of tangled cables over his shoulder. Glenn arrived behind Kamek, Rika, and their animals just in time to watch Bowser take his leap and slam the heavy hammer head into the nail on the monsters back.

---

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Luckily for Linkle and Albedo, this tower was far more of a straight shot than to the top of goat village. All you had to do was go up the grindshaft. Not even Linkle, as prodigious as she was at it, had ever gotten lost while climbing a tree. Provided, of course, that it was an isolated tree.

Not that it would have mattered if this was some kind of advanced multi-grindstone windmill because this wasn't a race, and to Linkle's mind she already had an A+ mountain guide who was super good at finding the fastest path up something. So when Albedo summoned up his Isotoma to carry him up Linkle grabbed onto the petals of the flower and was pulled up with him. As he hopped of Linkle swung herself and caught the edge of the gear with her hands, pulling herself up just before she could get crushed between the teeth. Hopping to her feet and jogging along in place she could see the boy being conveyed upward by a rope a higher gear to the shaft. Running up she jumped onto that too and followed him.

This was where things got tricky, because the next thing Albedo did was take a running leap and latch onto a board of planks. "Whoaaaa!" Linkle said as she dropped, watching him shimmy up the boards like a Skulltula and disappear over the top. No wonder he had beaten her if he was able to climb like that. It also meant she had to find another way up.

There was a big vertical spinning gear behind her, so she jumped up onto that instead. She supposed it wasn't all bad. Different paths, after all, meant more pons and the chance of catching cat people from two direction. Soon enough she didn't have to hold on to he gear to ride it, but that was undercut by the sight of the teeth of this gears partner steadily approaching. She looked around for a way forward, catching sight of a wooden block that was turning. She jumped out toward it, catching it by the edge and letting it turn until she was able to stand upright then walking backwards in order to keep from getting dumped off as she decided her next move.

Up above she could see Albedo balancing across a rafter, but also a descending wooden platform held by a rope coming near her. As it passed she jumped for it, holding onto the rope above to steady herself as it brought her down, down, down, before reversing course and going up, up, up, up!

As it reached the top Linkle stepped off onto a waiting beam and walked across it she came to another horizontal gear just below it. Connected to that one, though, was a gear that had a few wooden platforms stapled to its side. That should be a pretty good way up, even if it meant gong down slightly, so she lowered herself down and let the gear carry her into a position where she could hop onto one. It carried her under the gear she had just been on, causing her to swiftly duck so that it didn't knock he block off, before continuing on up. She could see, above her, another approaching beam she could use to get her bearing but she could also see Albedo again looking down at her from only a little ways above. She waved up at him.

Stats, skills, abilities, and experience aside, a major aspect of Fox’s advantage against Robin lay in his familiarity with his opponent and what he was capable of--a benefit denied to Robin through forced amnesia by the power that possessed his heart and mind. As the duel looked to decisively favor him, Fox soon saw his lead begin to disappear the moment it ceased to be a duel. Robin called upon his sorcerous partner to attend him, and at that point, Fox hadn’t been able to so easily touch him again.

The rhythm of his opponents' attacks tightened, naturally, with one set of strikes and spells chased with another spell directly behind it. Further temptation to reflect any of their magic was quickly discouraged when suffering the first hit of Hex, forcing Fox to resort purely to evasive acrobatics and swift maneuvering about the field to try to keep them moving at his pace. The problem was they now didn’t have to work as hard for it, needing not to move much at all if they didn’t want to, granting them effective control of the fight, and from a distance they had the fire superiority. Even targeting Tharja proved fruitless as they managed together to keep her firmly tucked defensively behind Robin, who was somehow better for taking the hit with her aid. Luckily, Fox benefited likewise from their own backline, even if he couldn’t feel it, or the effects of the Hex that may or may not have cancelled it out.

Prognosis: unfavorable. Fox wouldn’t be able to keep up a range game with them while they continued to repeatedly force back his advances and attempts to pressure, but perhaps, he wouldn’t have to. Calling upon his aforementioned familiarity with Robin as he knew him--as a combatant--one particular flaw in his fighting style came to mind: attrition. Was their magic still exhaustible? Could he last long enough to burn them out and force them on cooldown while he made his move, or would he have to make a new move before then? Regardless, he would try either way, starting by Jetting skyward above them, where Tharja’s grounded spell wouldn’t reach him, and he was free to use his Reflector against the first retaliatory spell either one of them threw out at him. Then, he would fire a hard shot at Tharja to force one of them to move in her defense, granting him a second long enough to dive down at them with a charge of Fire and begin another close-up assault on the tactician, looking to wear him down enough to free him and end their unproductive conflict.

While Sectonia was raining down chaos about the battlefiled, at first she wasn't challenged, allowing her to cause quite a bit of chaos among the ranks of the Resistance. Midna wasn't taking her fights super well, and thus Sectonia focused a bit more in Shadow's direction as overall he was the biggest threat. Seeing the bee queen throw spells his way, Shadow retaliated in a fasion that was more befit a rogue than a boss, just throwing out one of his ultimate moves right away instead of seeing if he needed to pace. Sectonia had really struck a nerve with the hedgehog it seemed and he wasn't one to take that lightly. He froze the bee queen in time yet again, a very annoying ability, before placing bombs around her and timing his unfreeze with their detonation.

Now, against any other member of the team bar Tora, this attack would've probably crippled them or have been their end. Thankfully the Bee Queen, in anticipation of another kind of attack, had erected her magical barrier from her pipe of insight. The item additionally gave her quite the amount of magic resistance, which let her take the blast outright. Now, this did hurt, quite a lot to be precise, but not enough to break Sectonia's will and grace, and out from the smoke the Bee Queen emerged looking like nothing had happened outside of a bit of soot on parts of her body. "If that is enough to take out your weaklings your world must be quite lacking in strength." Sectonia said to taunt, with a bit of a laugh. While taunting, she did get an idea though, as much as she disliekd Midna's plan even if they friend hearted these people, they would still be under the mind control of their leader. A leader who didn't want to fight and would've taken Shadow with her.

While laughing Sectonia blinked, leaving an after image of herself as she drew her swords and made her way to Nastahsia, blinking around to confuse her as she looked for an opening, striking with a slash at the blue lady. If the group was to even hope to gather anything more than items, powers, or strikers, this person had to go.



As more and more people made their way to the exit, some had issues, some didn't. Either way, Blazermate was able to help Cadet, and now there were others that needed saving. Seeing as a few were trying to distract Mordeu, Blazermate used this opportunity to help those across and access the elevator who didn't have good movement, offering her ability to fly to help the shrunken members jump with great height and cross vast distances of the room easily like she had done for Geralt before. She wouldn't get involved with the Mordeu distraction until everyone who couldn't fight or wanted to sit by the elevator were there, at which case she'd have to start aiding or extracting those who were engaged with the monster. Thankfully she could heal them and get them out of the area if things got too bad. Modreu was big, but lumbering and without nearly the grace Bowser showed in the way of agility.

Both Mao and the Dragonborn readied themselves for the showdown, but naturally the demon had anything in mind but a fair fight. As he readied his fist his foe couched his sword in a ready position, one ambiguous enough to lead into either a slash or thrust as necessary. Given his worse condition the Dragonborn would need to end this fast, ideally in a single stroke, and if Mao could capitalize on that desperation, he could pull off phase two of his plan. Both warriors drew closer, moving with purpose if not swiftness, until they reached the invisible line in the sand. Then, as if fired from cannons, they sprang forward with their weapons of choice ready for the finishing blow.

Pumping adrenaline threw that moment into slow motion, making the crucial second last. For that moment, however, the Dragonborn’s victory looked assured. His sword, gleaming in the light of the suspended colosseum, extended forward in a deadly simple thrust, its length plus his greater reach all but guaranteeing that a lethal stab to Mao’s center of mass would connect before his fist. Unless, of course, the Overlord stopped short. Rather than carry forward Mao ground to a halt and punched the empty air. When fully extended his clenched knuckles discharged the arcane power built up within, and like a bundle of fireworks the magic hurtled across the few feet that remained between demon and human. Then the explosive detonated against the Dragonborn’s chest, and the rest was history.

But Mao wasn’t done. With time proceeding normally once more, he dove into the ensuing blast with a friend heart in hand, and as the smoke cleared it revealed a Dragonborn in perfect condition once again. Beneath his helmet the Nord was totally stunned, but without any trace of injury, fatigue, or inner turmoil, he felt oddly calm. He blinked at the little Overlord in front of him as Mao’s mechanical arms came back to life. Somehow, the lad had fully restored him. “Well, blow me down!” he exclaimed with gusto, reaching up a hand to adjust his helmet. As he did Mao could see the walrus mustache beneath. “That’s a potent magic, and no mistake! I’m remembering...everything…” His bushy eyebrows furrowed. “You’re not my enemy, after all! That blue wench was controlling me!” Sword in hand, the Dragonborn stood. “By the Divines, I’ll strike her down, or I'm not Gunnar Flagon-pile!”

While they got acquainted, Jesse took her chance to get more up close and personal with Mordecai. A cunning move on her part took him totally by surprise as she ran from the pillar, galvanizing the sniper into action. Judging by her attacks earlier it would take him more time to bring the barrel of his rifle around for a shot than it would take her to throw something at him, and his fears soon proved spot-on. Jesse yanked some material from the re-collided column behind her to fling at him, and though he evaded it easily enough, her next attacks proved a little more devious. His sharp eyes brought Jesse’s recycled projectile to his attention, but he still only moved in time to turn a debilitating leg break into a glancing blow that hurt the moment he put weight on it. In desperation he blasted off a shot in Jesse’s direction, hoping it would give her pause, but it sure didn’t stop her dropping a piece of ceiling, and this time he didn’t get off scot-free. The telekinetically-propelled piece of caging came down on his legs as he tried to roll away, and with a grunt of pain he hit the deck. “Bloodwing!”

With a shriek his bird attacked Jesse. Its talons shot for her eyes, and if not for her Health it might have gouged them right out, but instead those fearsome claws glanced off the barrier. It tried to speed away, but the impact slowed it enough that the FBC director could get off a clean shot with her Tool Gun. Only a slight imbalance in its body structure was enough to send it spiralling to the floor. Of course, any sense of victory would have to wait, as a sniper bullet then slammed into the Health around her head. Without actually damaging the Bloodwing she hadn’t topped up her barrier, putting her in a risky position. Though if he couldn’t reposition, Mordecai could still shoot her after twisting onto his side, and even if Galeem’s influence didn’t compel him to keep fighting, the attack on his beloved Bloodwing would. Another decision lay before her--should she run for cover, or take advantage of Mordecai’s injury to remove the threat for good?

At the other end of the battlefield, a very angry Midna rushed to prevent the sudden death in store for Reinhardt and Sven. Infusing her hair hand with draconic power, she dealt the future knight the biggest slap he’d ever seen. Despite his formidable size and even stronger, heavier armor, Midna managed to bodily smack him out of harm’s way. He didn’t lose his footing, but having just used his Charge he was too far away to do anything but start stomping back over. Sven, meanwhile, was low enough to the ground that he noticed the telltale purple circle expanding below him, but Midna’s Twilight Vibrava definitely sped him on his way. Ciella’s rain of arrows fell upon nothing but metal and sand, melting from lethal bolts into ordinary water a moment after they hit the ground.

Ciella threw Midna a despairing look, assuming the save to be an accidental fit of incompetence on the imp’s part. The princess’s shout, however, said otherwise, and Ciella’s disdainful annoyance turned to an incredulous anger. “Careful, little one,” she warned the imp. “I will not tolerate those who deceive themselves.” With that she flew forward, headed for the center of the arena, leaving Reinhardt and Sven both behind and far apart.

Long before Ciella reached it, the colosseum’s middle was a hotspot of activity. Joker and Fox stood along before a veritable firing squad of Vandals, with Nastasia sitting smugly right in the middle, gloating over her new conquest. As bad as Joker wanted to plug her with another snap headshot from his revolver, he knew her overshield would save her, while he and Fox stood no chance against the retaliatory fire from her goons. Now, Joker thought, would be a great time for a few random projectiles from Sectonia to throw the enemies into disarray, if not for that explosion a few moments ago that told him no help would be forthcoming. As the flare from the incendiary grenades cleared, however, revealed a Sectonia outwardly charred but still very much alive.

Shadow’s eye twitched as she boasted about it. Not in the mood for any more annoying magic or banter, he threw himself at her head in a heavy Spin Attack, only for the attack to fail to connect. “Huh?”

Down below, Sectonia blinked around Nastasia before making her move. Her blade, fast and perfectly aimed, flashed toward her head in a killer slice meant to bring the whole conflict to an end in a single stroke. It bounced harmlessly off Nastasia’s overshield, leaving just a few cracks and prompting a coolly amused look upward as the little lady adjusted her glasses. “Uh-huh, alright. Gentlemen?”

The barrels of a dozen rifles trained on Sectonia all at once, but that wasn’t all. “Forgetting someone?” Shadow teleported behind the bug and grabbed her by the neck. “Nothing personal!” He then propelled himself downward, taking Sectonia with him, and smashed her to the ground in a giant chokeslam. He flew out of the way as the Vandals opened fire. Though brutal, the aliens’ bombardment lasted only a few seconds, as Joker and Fox took advantage of the distraction to race around the fallen insect.

With a deep breath Fox called upon his Persona. "Goemon!"

Ice swept through the ranks of the Fallen, chilling them as Joker got into position in front of Sectonia. He couldn’t waste this opportunity. “It’s showtime!” He span low to the ground, launching a pressure wave that staggered his enemies, before powerfully launching into the air. Joker put a hand to his face as his mask turned to blue flame, and with a flourish his original Persona appeared. “Arsene!” The well-dressed specter unfurled his wings and spread wide his hands, a crimson power building in the center of the enemy force. “Here!”

A dome of accursed power blasted the Vandals apart, scattering them. Just Nastasia remained there, knocked down by the force. Fox sprinted toward her with his katana unsheathed, ready to make mincemeat of what remained of Nastasia’s overshield and finish her off, but his swing clanged off the giant shield of a brainwashed Braum. As the huge man swung at him Fox leaped back, hesitant, and in that moment a booming voice reached him.

“The time has come,” Ciella called from on high, addressing everyone in the arena, from Mao and the Dragonborn to Jesse and Mordecai to Midna, Reinhardt, and Sven to all those in the center. “For the stains of hypocrisy to be washed away! May those who stand by me recognize what came before and save themselves! Cryogenic Meteor!”

From her position above the center of the arena the Agito threw down a giant mass of ice, forcing those beneath her to scatter. Its impact both shook the colosseum and prompted some sort of reaction from the Feral Shroud that encased it. A wall of water frothed in a ring around the fighting area, like an omnidirectional tsunami somehow held in place. The entire floor suddenly glowed purple, with what looked like enormous arrows pointing to the left side of the arena.

“This is a classic!” Necronomicon exclaimed suddenly. “Since Futaba and I are one in the same, I’ve got all her secrets. Everyone on our side needs to get on the left side of that ice mountain, right now! Here: speed up!”

As Necronomicon cast a party-wide Masukukaja to help her allies on their way, Ciella stretched her arms wide, her eyes alight with madness, and sang out, “Floor of Despaaaaaair!”

The water on the right side of the arena surged forth, sweeping leftward in an inexorable tsunami. Barely a moment later the purple glow reappeared, with arrows pointing upward, toward where the Resistance started. Both waves wreaked havoc on everything in their path--save the iceberg planted square in its middle, and anyone hiding behind it.



As Tora sparred with Beast he kept one eye on Poppi, and what he saw helped him realize just how fortunate they’d been to run into that steely spectre in the ruins above the shady oasis. His companion drove the point of the claymore she’d received from her fusion into Dante’s back, eliciting a furious howl of pain, before the weight of her new armor carried both back down to the dungeon floor. They landed with a crash so tremendous that the brief duel between Tora and Beast came to a momentary stop, but while it was awe and apprehension that gave the dwarf pause, no such feelings stayed Tora’s shield. This demon killer was one tough customer. Even after Poppi landed such a brutal attack, her Masterpon knew better than to assume victory.

His suspicions proved well. Before the dust even cleared, the man still face-down on the ground bent his arm back with Revenant in hand, and only thanks to a quick jerk sideways from Poppi did his blind shotgun blast not eviscerate Poppi’s face. As he wrenched himself free from the ground, still impaled by the claymore, Tora could see a white power building around him. That couldn’t be good. As Beast turned back to swing at him, the Nopon hammered every button his Drill Shield had to both extend its giant bit and fire its thrusters. He blasted onto the unprepared dwarf, drilling into Beast’s chest for the split second before he deflected the bit with his hammer’s shaft, then carried forward the momentum as he cruised toward Dante and Poppi. Sensing the same thing Tora did, Poppi readied herself as well, summoning her claymore to hand in a defensive position.

Their efforts came to naught. Dante unleashed a burst of demonic energy across the dungeon, turning the area monochromatic and flooding it with white light. Try as he might, Tora could barely move. Time itself had slowed to a crawl. A look of mild alarm appeared on Poppi’s face as she realized she could not defend herself, and the next moment Dante reached her. In the haze his hair shone white and his coat red, and among the black veins on his face he wore a smug smile. “Game over.”

With that he started his assault. He swapped between weapons and firearms in a blistering, non-stop string of free damage, mitigated only by Poppi’s armor and, if it happened to get in the way, her sword. Tora grit his teeth, and even though it felt like pushing through molasses, forged onward. This guy’s sheer cockiness was staggering. First he hurled insults while not fighting seriously, and now he ignored Tora while stomping all over his precious companion while she couldn’t even fight back. He probably assumed that Tora was nothing without her. With every second that passed Dante cut and pierced deeper and deeper into Poppi’s chassis, and though she wore a brave face Tora knew all too well just how agonizing it must be. More than any enemy faced so far, this guy pissed Tora off. He was going to pay. He was going to pay!

The demon killer brought Poppi back to the floor with a Helm Breaker from Rebellion, then caused a ground bounce with a two-handed smash from Eryx. As the artificial blade popped upward, his Devil Trigger came to an end, and Dante made sure his victim got a good look at his face while he changed the fists out for the demonic axe, Arbiter. “Nighty night. Now get…” He brought the axe behind him for a killer overhead cleave. “Fu-!”

“MEH!” A sudden weight against the axeblade forced the weapon downward. That same impact bent Dante backwards at an awkward angle, like he was doing the Limbo. When he craned his neck backward, confused, he discovered Tora on top of his shield, having used his copious weight to drive it, and by extension the axe below it, into the ground, where it got stuck thanks to all the spikes on its axehead’s back. Dante snorted in derision, shaking his head. It was a valiant and clever but ultimately useless move, one that bought the Nopon only a second of time and disarmed him in the process. The demon killer opened his mouth to make sure Tora knew just how screwed he was, which made it all the bloodier when a wrench smashed into his teeth the next instant.

“Guh!” Dante roared, spraying blood as he transformed Arbiter to strike back. Keeping cool, Tora hopped from his shield to sit on his enemy’s chest. The sudden weight flattened Dante against the ground, and with a cry of righteous anger came around with a backhanded wrench smash into Dante’s jaw.

A wordless groan escaped the fallen devil killer as he went limp, head lolling sideways. As much as a part of Tora wanted to keep bludgeoning, he managed to keep himself in check. It wasn’t something a hero would do. Instead he brought up his other wing, holding a Friend Heart. He looked down at Dante and hesitated, but only just a moment. “This much better than meanypon deserve!”

Before he could bring his wing down, he felt a hand grab it. Taken by surprise, he looked in time to see Beast, but not to stop the petrification that spread across his body, turning the Nopon to stone. The dwarf then unleashed his hammer in a heavy onslaught, batting Tora around like a beach ball until Dante, floored but far from beaten, raised Kablooey to blow Tora away.

A moment later Tora rolled to a stop against the dungeon’s central pillar as the petrification wore off. Beaten up and blurry-eyed, without any clue of what just happened to him, he pushed himself onto his feet with a groan. He held up his wrench as Dante approached, but the demon killer flicked it out of his grasp with the tip of Rebellion’s blade, smirked, and drove it into his head.

“Meeh…” Tora gasped, his eyes squeezed shut, but the swordblade never got the chance to test his hearty constitution. Instead it deflected off an ether barrier, leaving Dante confused until a yell sounded out behind him, drawing both sets of eyes. Beast, who’d gone over to finish off Poppi, crashed to his knees, the laser blade of Poppi QT Pi’s Variable Sabre stabbed clean through his diaphragm.

Poppi stood beside him, her face cold and expressionless, her bright orange eyes on Dante. As he watched she removed the saber by carving out sideways, leaving the dwarf nearly bifurcated to dissolve. The form change had reconstructed her wounds, and she was in practically perfect shape. Her eyes remained on the demon killer the whole time, unblinking, as she brought the humming weapon to her side. “Dead man not lay another finger on Masterpon,” she told him, then rocketed forward in a burst of speed. With a growl Dante activated his Devil Trigger once more and hurtled toward her with a Stinger. This time, however, Poppi had already internalized his move. At just the right moment she turned upside down, then executed a backflip to extend one leg straight into his head for a dizzying kick. Their blades clashed in a storm of plasma and silver, Poppi’s sheer speed and Dante’s wounds nearly equalizing the pace of battle despite Devil Trigger.

The furious duel ended a moment later with a sweep that slid Dante backward, knocking him out of Devil Trigger, and like lightning Dante switched to Aquila and hurled both blades forward to keep Poppi occupied. He then brought out Kablooey, but scarcely did he bring the demonic grenade launcher out before Tora hit him from behind. The Nopon threw him into Dante belly-first, and as if he’d been struck by an exercise ball the demon killer bounced forward to find that Poppi had managed to deal with Aquila much faster than he expected. As her upward swing launched Dante, Tora called out, “Poppi, it time for secret protocol!”

Whatever that was, Dante wouldn’t be having it. Aquila flew back into his hands and melted across his fists, becoming Eryx. He fell like a meteor to cave in Poppi’s skull, but rather than try to capitalize with a combo Poppi evaded the strike. When Dante looked up at her he found himself staring at the Variable Saber in shotgun formation, and Poppi wasted no time pulling the trigger.

He stumbled backward, tripped over the ever-troublesome Tora, and fell hard. “Releasing final lock,” Poppi declared as she jumped upward, but as she went high Tora went low. With all his strength he swung a two-handed punch right into Dante’s nuts, paralyzing him, and a moment later Poppi plunged her weapon into Dante’s chest, even as his hand came up bearing dual pistols.

The dynamic duo knew what needed to happen. Poppi raised her arm, and after she and Tora cried out “Quantum Judgement!” she began to spin at high speed. The artificial blade became a jet-propelled, laser-bladed blender, slicing across Dante’s chest again and again, each deeper than the last. Even as demonic bullets pounded her she kept firing, until finally the saber carved into stone, and Ebony and Ivory went quiet.

Poppi slowed to a stop, her cold fury fading. As the halves of the demon killer started to dissolve she sank to the ground on her knees. When Tora waddled up and seated himself beside her, she leaned on him, and he on her. It was over. In a few seconds they would get up to help their allies, but for just a moment now, they could be still.

---

With Es seemingly incapacitated for now, Band turned his attention from his own little corner back toward the other fights littering the front half of the dungeon. Right away he noticed Skull and Panther also on the loose, their own fight apparently wrapped up, and by the lack of draconic bodies around the detective could intuit how that went. The others, however, were still going strong.

Once the Phantom Thieves got out of his hair, Fox alone faced down the twofold threat of Robin and Tharja. The ace pilot’s experience, both with Robin in particular and healers in general, told him that he should target the dark mage first, but he found his efforts in vain. Tharja managed to move in tandem with her partner, staying behind him and only following up when he attacked first, so by the time Fox could either try to reflect or get around her spells Robin would already be on his tail again. Fighting smarter, rather than harder, seemed to be the name of the game. Their unique approach left Fox with no other option but to take the fight to Robin, but even then Tharja’s annoying tendency to follow up his sword swings with the dark wells of her Hex kept him from being able to go toe-to-toe. Still, Fox knew that he only really needed for them to run out of mana, at which point only Robin’s sword would be left to oppose him. He jumped in once more, but rather than try to hit the speedy airborne Fox with a relatively slow-moving spell, the tactician readied his sword. From above the pilot took a shot at Tharja, and while both mages moved to avoid it Fox dove right into their midst. A flurry of strikes assailed Robin, too quick and close for him to effectively counter, try as he might. “Tharja,” he said through gritted teeth. “Now!”

The Dark Mage gave a weary nod. “Rescue!” she droned, her voice utterly without enthusiasm.

Stepped out from behind him, she flourished her stuff, creating a golden magical circle right where Fox and Robin were fighting. There came a flash of light, and a young man with spiky hair and dark clothes appeared right in the path of Fox’s attack. Once struck, the gleaming Sora had no choice but to fight back, even though he wasn’t brainwashed. He summoned a giant key to hand and went on the offensive.

At the same time Yoshitsune fought against the Witch Doctor, although to Band’s eyes it looked more apt to say he fought her summons. The sorceress just kept pumping out minions, her supply of spider-filled jars seemingly limitless, and when their numbers weren’t enough she supplemented the arachnid threat with toads, firebats, grasping hands, and explosive zombies. Already the samurai had been bitten, blown up, barfed on, and manhandled, and even though the individual hits did little, they were starting to add up. Though he didn’t mean to, he was playing the Witch Doctor’s game, and if he didn’t get help or come up with a new strategy, Band could only see him going down under the summoner’s crawling horde.

Less bizarre was the duel between Ezio and Azwel. One fought with a multitude of summoned weapons, floating them around in quick and unpredictable patterns, but the other wielded a small arsenal of his own, and with a lot more pragmatism. Even with the sorcery on Azwel’s side Ezio could apparently keep up with sheer skill, leveraging each sword, hidden blade, smoke bomb, crossbow, and pistol at his disposal. He, too, could use a hand.

Band sighed. This kind of chaos, full of odd characters and odder powers, reminded him strongly of his time at the Anti-Skullgirl Labs. After being gone for so long, it was nice, in a way, to be fighting alongside a team of allies once again, Grimleal notwithstanding. “This sure takes me back.” Of course, he couldn’t spend much time being sentimental, or those new allies of his might not stick around. The Phantom Thieves were hanging back too, trying to figure out where they ought to insert themselves. Band waved his hat at them to get their attention. “Our furry friend needs backup. Give ‘em a hand!” As Skull and Panther nodded and ran to skew the odds in Fox’s favor, he approached the duel between Ezio and Azwel. Yoshitsune would have to hold out for now.

“AAHHAAY!” Band entered the fight with Brass Knuckles that Ezio rolled to avoid. As he dodged he loosed a bolt from his little crossbow, but when its point pierced his trench coat only to ping off the cyborg’s metal body, the assassin grimaced. Even if he could more than hold his own in conventional combat, two capable combatants was a problem, particularly a giant one with armor. Then again, Ezio could neither retreat nor give up, so unless the medieval-looking man was packing some mag in his bag of tricks, Band felt pretty confident.

“Two against one, hmm?” Azwel smirked, rubbing at one of a few new stab wounds. “I daresay some would look at us and call us dishonorable. Alas, history is written by the winners.”

Band huffed, releasing clouds of steam from his pneumatic organs. “Then let’s boogie.”

While that fight got underway, Yoshitsune continued trying to survive against the Witch Doctor’s wretched retinue. Poisoned, burned, and bleeding, he fought in vain as his strength flagged, and Daisy shooting at him didn’t help, either. In the end, however, his patience was rewarded. Heavy running footsteps behind him signalled help on the way, probably from Big Band, and just in time, too. After chugging a mana potion the Witch Doctor summoned another explosive zombie, and with fatigue setting in the samurai didn’t know if he could dodge it. As it bore down on him, an immense shape descended from Yoshitsune’s right, and in a single titanic slam the undead menace turned to paste.

When Yoshitsune sliced through a few spiders and glanced over, however, it wasn’t Band that he found. Instead another titan of a man stood before him, seven inches shorter than the detective but not much less wide. He wore a brown suit, yellow tie, and a pompadour of pale, sandy hair. Just one eye looked back at the samurai through black glasses. “Howdy there,” Goldlewis Dickinson greeted him, hefting his coffin across his shoulder. Yoshitsune might recall him from the commission he undertook earlier in the day. “When I heard all the fuss, I reckoned I oughta come down and see for myself.” With a mighty sweep of his coffin he cleared away a whole swath of creepy crawlies, and as he set it down again it popped open. A long arm of spectral blue extended to deliver an enormous minigun into the Secretary of Defense’s waiting hands. “So this is the Resistance huh? I’ll be. Well, I’m fixin’ t’do my part.”

As Goldlewis squeezed the trigger a fusillade of minigun bullets ripped through the crowd of spiders, toads, and bats, clearing them out in just a couple seconds. Daisy ducked back into cover to avoid the fearful weapon, but the Witch Doctor, who knew not such tools of war, took a handful of rounds. Luckily they didn’t actually seem to do much damage, but they could really wipe out the fodder. Despite his wounds, Yoshitsune had the chance now to deal some damage.



A guttural bellow of rage shook the Depths as Moreau struggled in vain against his assailants. While he reared up and flopped around in an attempt to swat Blazermate from the sky, the clearly non-functional eyeballs on his back provided a less-than-ideal picture of where she was, but when his torso emerged from his mouth for a peek Bella pelted him with a shot from her tail. If he went for her Blazermate could dive in again to annoy and distract him. He lurched around all the while, forcing Nadia to dig in her nails and clung to his tendril for dear life. For a moment there she lost her footing completely and swung around like a yowling tetherball, with only the last dregs of her already laughable upper body strength in the way of a short and disastrous flight. Through instinct she knew that she could not survive being hurled into the heaping collection of sharp edges and hard surfaces that carpeted the Depths, and that knowledge locked her little fingers in a death grasp. Yet even in such dire straits as these, she started mashing Moreau’s eyeballs again the moment she touched back down. In her peripheral vision she could see her pals on the move. Whether from hunger or excitement, a mad, giddy glee overtook her. She was doing it. It was working!

The sound of her name being called stirred Nadia from her little rampage. She looked over at the central catwalk to see Mirage. In his hand he held the blue magnet half. With a stupid grin he rattled off some line and chucked it at her. If not for her catlike reflexes the tiny thief might not have caught it, but she’d lunged and snatched it out of the air before she knew what she was doing, which also brought her to fresh ‘ground’ on Moreau’s back. As she tried to steady herself on the not-yet-squished eyeballs she stared down at the magnet for a second, then back to Mirage, her expression one of astonishment.

Was that...a pun?

How idiotic -how insanely moronic- did you have to be to see this situation and decide that now was a good time to make a joke?

“Dude! I’m kinda busy right meow!”

The magnet in her hand began to glow, its surface dancing with thin, bright blue arcs. It started pulling on her, strong enough that she needed to devote a whole hand to restraining it. Why or how, Nadia couldn’t imagine, but for the moment she had bigger issues. “Little pest! Get offa me!” Moreau bellowed. Just as she expected the monster had gotten tired of chasing after Blazermate, and now he started up a violent shaking to get rid of the other thorn in his side. It was high time she got a move on. But how? She felt like she could barely walk, let alone jump, and if she somehow survived a fall off the fish freak’s side it would be the easiest thing in the world for Moreau to annihilate her. In panic Nadia glanced back toward Mirage, Geralt, Link, and Sakura. When she spotted the red magnet in Mirage’s hand yet another crazy idea occurred to her. Could that actually work? Experimentally she extended her own magnet toward his, and the pull intensified. This is nuts! she thought. But it might actually work?

Just then two things happened. A shadowy phantom in the shape of Mimi appeared to start rupturing eyeballs like bubble wrap, and Geralt shouted at her about a nail. Nadia blinked, processing the request as fast as she could. “Oh yeah, I saw it just a minute ago!” As Moreau continued to shake she crawled on her hands and knees toward the mutant’s other side, where the little witcher’s metal spike still protruded, but when Moreau became aware of her movement he had an idea of his own. “There you are!” he grumbled, and after leaning one way he started to roll over.

“Crap, crap!” Nadia cried out as she felt herself moving backward faster. No matter how she willed herself to move faster, to get to her feet and run, her feeble body would not respond. She was going to get smushed. She was going to die. As she started slipping her eyes landed on Bowser as he leaped above the monster, bringing her attention in turn to the nail he hammered deeper into Moreau’s back. In the heat of the moment a flash of inspiration hit her, and with the last of her strength she thrust her magnet upward.

The next thing she knew, she was flying. The squealing kitten shot up from the jaws of death, carried by her magnet, and latched onto the nail. For a moment she clung to it, frozen, but even with the agony of the nail Moreau was still rolling. Neither she nor Bowser could stick around. Unable to pull out the nail at this point even if she wanted to, Nadia left it for Bowser to dislodge and turned her magnet on Mirage. Before she knew it she sailed through the air once more, her ears and tail flapping in the wind until she landed right in Mirage’s arms.

Of course, the sudden weight knocked him onto his rear, but both were okay. That ridiculous stunt had saved Nadia’s life. “Purr-fect.” As her chest heaved from exertion she got out a gasping chuckle. “Hahah...I can’t really move…” she rasped, looking between the children as Bella and Peach ran up. “Help a gal out?”

A disgustingly cheerful ding rang out throughout the Depths. The elevator had arrived. Nadia stared as the doors slid open; against all odds, victory was in their grasp. As Moreau rolled back onto his belly, the kids made a break for it. Thanks in part to Sakura’s darts, everyone could see a path to the exit. But the abominable mutant knew it too. “No!” he cried. “Don’t go! Look, look! I’ve been saving this one…”

Rather than chase the fleeing children, he reared up one again, his belly swelling up. A moment later he unleashed his final hurrah. A fountain of noxious acid burst from his twisted maw, soaring as high as the dangling maze of the Depths’ fourth floor before dispersing across the entire area. A caustic deluge fell from on high. Peach popped open her parasol, but it provided only a second or two of relief before the downpour burned straight through it. A single drop left such a painful burn that Nadia knew even a few moments’ exposure would be fatal. If everyone didn’t get either into the elevator or under something, they were toast.



Albedo returned his new friend’s wave, glad that she’d been making progress in her own way. Given her energy he really hadn’t expected to be outpacing her again, but in all fairness he did have a couple tricks that together basically amounted to cheating. Rare was the platforming challenge, after all, that could take into account someone able to climb sheer walls. Confident that she needed no help, the alchemist returned his attention to his own ascent.

The task at hand was a simple one, hardly challenging, but even given the circumstance of having a precious item stolen from him, Albedo couldn’t say he disliked it. Even for someone like him, it seemed, light exertion mixed with problem solving could be enjoyable. Climb, run, jump, jump again, run, wait, jump, ride, jump, climb, jump, climb, Solar Isotoma. He rose steadily higher through the colossal windmill, surrounded by simple machines in perpetual, rhythmic motion. On the icy mountain Dragonspine that loomed over his home of Mondstadt, the winds gave voice to all manner of song as they blew past its peaks and faces. They whistled, howled, and screamed, sounding sometimes eerily like voices, or wide-ranged musical piping. Here, however, the winds meted out a different tune. Within these walls they sustained a hymn to industry, a song of clever machination that would not end so long as the winds still blew. Unless, of course, the components fell apart from neglect. Albedo kept an eye out for any signs of untrustworthy footing as he forged onward and upward, his heart beating to the turn of the pulley and gears.

About halfway up, things started getting more interesting. The machines thinned out somewhat, and less practical instruments took their place. Albedo spotted several panels somehow suspended in the air, mostly in spaced rows across large gaps. Those flipped one way sported a blue color, while those the other way showed red. When he attempted to set a foot on one by way of experiment, it held for a brief instant before swinging to the opposite side. “Hm,” he murmured, figuring that if needed he could probably jump off one in time to avoid falling. In such a manner he could conceivably cross an entire row of them, as long as he didn’t mess up. Less scrutable, and therefore more interesting, were the more rare green blocks. Marked on each vertical side by two slanted holes like angry eyebrows, they floated innocuously in open space. Once again Albedo gave one a try. At first it seemed like nothing happened, but a moment later -after he got both feet on- it started pushing out copies of itself, traveling through the air. He jumped back before it could take him too far, then turned to watch the block procession turn at right angles as it went left, right, left again, and up, like a bizarre, cuboid snake. It climbed to a loft platform higher up, well out of range of his flowers, then turned to come back down to where it started. Once it returned he shrugged and stepped on. Even if things got a little less conventional, he wasn’t about to turn down a free ride.

Making use of the unusual blocks, panels, and other structural phenomena, Albedo steadily made his way to about the two-third mark.

---

Mirage's (unadmittedly) scrawny arms shook somewhat as he held the magnet out, his head turning to look at Sakura as she came up beside him. A raised eyebrow marked his confusion with her course of action, but as she took aim, he could understand her course of action. On one hand, that had NOT been what he said, but she didn't exactly take orders from him, and it wasn't like she was doing nothing. She had the same idea he did: Nobody left behind, even if things took extra time.

It brought a moment of remembrance for him, as she struggled to properly place the darts. He was born a masterpiece, but not a master marksman. His brothers had gone to war, but Mirage never did such a thing. For a long time, he was just a tinkerer and a prankster. It took awhile for him to learn, and there'd been plenty of mishaps along the way. Rather than be judging on the current situation, he tried to comment on her frustration with a small tidbit of advice. "Take a breath." He noted towards her constant use of a word he didn't know, but she assured it wasn't a swear. He'd buy it, for the moment. Not like he knew many languages. A few, or at least a few words of a few languages. ... He at least pretended to know what some words meant.

While Sakura found success in her marksmanship, Mirage's attention kept back on the situation with Nadia. The struggle was frustrating, wishing he had more to offer to help her. Moreau was lucky the only gun around was the Dart Gun or else he'd be getting blasted in that disgusting looking torso of his that occasionally spewed out. However, seeing Nadia in possession of the magnet was a good start. He wasn't sure how much pull these things might have, but with a dire situation came desperate plays. Her words in response to the half-joke, half-suggestion he made was an honest one. But that was just how he operated!

"Hey, so am I-- Or, uh, we're making sure nobody gets left behind!" His words were followed by a squint of his eyes, the magnet getting bright. The red arcs coursed along the magnet, making him wonder just what these things were capable of. Did they just turn them on, or something? On accident? He didn't recall seeing the magnets glowing like this before. But, regardless, it was an opportunity. An opportunity that came at a damn good time, too.

Nadia's panic as Moreau shook about brought him concern. He could see the magnet pointing up towards him, perhaps the pull was actually there. Was it not strong enough? The struggle with Moreau came to a head as Bowser leapt onto the scene, that hammerhead in tow. The fact that Geralt's nail was hammered into Moreau like that was squick at it's finest, the Legend wincing from the blow that he could almost feel. Or maybe that was just the sharpness from the hunger pains. That couldn't hide Mirage's enthusiasm at the King's daring strike, though. And Sakura's platforms... She'd gave him an excellent route back up!

He'd of complimented that, if not for the fact that the magnet began to work and became a main focus. The sudden need to catch Nadia sent Mirage off his feet, tumbling backwards with an audible "Oof!" as he landed. Fine, but tired out of his mind and wishing he could just go back to eating his gathered banana horde. Even if they got out, though, Shippy was long gone. He'd probably bite the first food source he saw, regardless.

Cat pun reaching his ears, he let out a sigh of relief. "I know I am," he commented, it being a joke or stroking of his own ego one would have to decide on their own. Bowser would surely be back up soon, which meant everyone would pretty much be gathered. And an audible ding that's cheerfulness was almost poison to the ears caused Mirage to turn his head, looking at the elevator. "Oh yeah! Our ride's here!" He spouted enthusiastically, giving Moreau information even if the ding hadn't.

Moreau, speaking of, was very eager for them to not leave. Mirage's first instinct was to try and pull himself up with Nadia in tow, but the sudden spew of disgusting rain caused enough hesitation to not leave him time for that, even if the strength was there. Instead, he kept ahold of Nadia and rolled to the side: He figured it was just some disgusting puke he could block at first, but that quickly changed as Mirage felt the caustic drops hit his flesh. His eyes shot open at the burning feeling now crawling along his back and legs, a cry of intense pain not being something he tried to hold back. The question of how the hell he'd survive this was one he didn't have an answer to for a moment, eyes scanning Nadia for a moment to make sure she was okay, but also noting that she wasn't able to move on her own. "D-Don't panic," He gasped, trying to keep himself from doing the same. He had tricks, he had bamboozles. But a solution for this? Not on his own, not at all.

But, out of the corner of his eye, he saw his answer. Blazermate, seeing the situation, was rapidly approaching. With the pain building, Mirage used what strength he had left to pull them back up into a sitting position, gripping Nadia tightly. Allowing for both of them to be scooped up in the metallic arms of their big, mostly unchanged robotic friend aside from having a lot less zombies. "At this point I owe you my other arc star," Mirage managed to comment, before being dropped off to the elevator daycare by the group's robo-nanny. Unfortunately, while there were still people to help and it was understandable, Mirage barely managed to stumble a few steps after being put down. He was inside, but fell against one of the walls of the elevator, feeling a strong pain in his back from the impact that caused another sound of pain to emerge. But he slid down still alive, and with Nadia in tow as he sat against the wall, breathing heavily as the burning sensation crawled along the skin on his back and legs, body squirming as it tried to find some sort of peace but it just wasn't happening. Moreau left him with a hell of a parting gift, that was for sure. Stupid gurgling bastard didn't finish him off, though!

Shaking, he still managed to put on a grin, at least. Everyone was on their way, things would be alright for the moment. Mission accomplished, yeah? At least he hoped.

"We can just call this even for me screwing up the whole tire thing, yeah?" A small laugh escaped him, trying to make light of his own situation. Though he had a feeling things were past the point of worry, that didn't mean he couldn't try and negate it a little bit.

---

The first reaction Mao had to using the power of the Friend Heart was causing his cheeks to puff up. His evil stomach soured from such an action, turning from the Dragonborn for a moment in order to vomit to correct this mess: A sparkling, rainbow substance flowing out into the sand, a violent hurling sound emitting from him before being followed by a few coughs as he kicked sand over the disgusting colorful mess. He'd rather never do that again as long as he lived.

But as the Dragonborn-- No, Gunnar, as he claimed himself to be, made it obvious they weren't enemies, it brought a small sense of relief. He could tally one curse removed on his end, and there were surely more to go. Mao's hand graced the handle of his longsword, glaring off in the direction of the 'blue wench'. "Trust me, I'd like nothing more." A tad ominous in tone, but it wasn't like the goody-two shoes were around to hear him, Midna specifically.

However, after a moment of letting that linger, his hand lowered from his blade. "... But we're looking to get people out alive." Thinking a split moment of conversation made for a good break, and the fact he didn't want Gunnar getting gunned down by trying to fistfight Jesse or something, he wanted to take Midna's teachings and pass them on so he could actually help. "Even she's under some sort of control. You see that glow in her eyes?" He gestured towards a few others in the battle, larger examples like Reinhardt being especially helpful. "We can cure them, but they have to be beaten down first. You don't have that glow now, so that's how our idiots will know not to come at you. Gives ya an idea of who to not swing at, too."

The battle ongoing, Mao noted he probably needed to get back into it before one of this other chumps killed someone. He planned to depart without much else, but that was before he witnessed Ciella take action. Oh, great. He was being told to keep folks alive, and here this lady was with not only a kill under her belt from before, but now she was spouting nonsense? He didn't give a damn about what she had to say, the ice meteor and surrounding water being enough to make Mao realize there was a huge lack of friend or foe targeting.

"Alright, scratch that, she wants us all dead." It didn't take much to figure out who he was talking about, but Necronomicon's notes on the matter were helpful. If they fought outside the safe zone, they'd all end up dead. Mao had full intent to fight back if confronted, but a momentary truce for survival felt fine. Maybe if he could manage to actually regroup with Midna, they could figure out what to do about Ciella. If he was in better condition, he'd try and run right up that stupid meteor and strike her at the source. But with water beginning it's trek to smash him and Gunnar into oblivion, he'd disregard that for now and flee.

Mao looked back to Gunnar, unsure if he heard Necronomicon's warnings but decided to repeat it regardless. "I'm gettin' to the other side of that ice, that wave's too much for me to handle!" Mao's mechanical limbs retracted, he didn't have time to wait around so with the speed boost he was given he took off towards the safe side of the meteor. Though, with his injuries, he wasn't moving as fast as he could be. Thankfully with how the fight had played out, he wasn't in a terrible spot to be rushing back. But he kept on guard, just in case some idiot from the opposing side decided to try and smack him back into the wave. Mao was trying to play by Midna's rules, but any attempt to get him killed like that and he was taking lives.

Thankfully he at least had someone with him, Gunnar's strength and resourcefulness being a huge addition to their side of the battle. Not that he particularly cared about the Dragonborn's well-being, but he was a sign of words being kept. He was needed, in Mao's case, more as a witness than a fighter. But he'd definitely be welcomed as both.

As Geralt continued running towards the elevator, he hoped desperately that Nadia would be able to get away from Moreau before he managed to forcibly remove her. As much as he kept up his aloof outward demeanor, this little band of heroes they were all making together had started to grow on him. He didn't want to see any of their number- or any more of their number, if you counted the diving suit Mirage copy- die. And he had no illusions about her surviving being thrown into the massive debris piles around the place. Sure, if she got lucky and avoided them, she might get away with just major injury, but that wasn't worth counting on.

Thankfully, his callout of the nail had been heard by more than just Nadia herself. Bowser, the King Koopa, the Boss Man himself, had overheard Geralt's mention of the nail, and he just so happened to be carrying a giant hammerhead around. Sure, he lacked the sheer overwhelming size and presence he normally had, but even aged down like the others he was still a force to be reckoned with. Whatever species he and Junior were from were not quite as slow to grow as humans were, clearly. Speaking of the younger Koopa Royal, he had his own plan with that little monster companion thing of his.

And those plans came together quite effectively, all things considered. Between Nadia's own efforts to weaken their adversary, Bowser's gravity-assisted hammer blow, and Mimi's flurry of attacks, the already-enraged Moreau found himself in a whole new world of pain. A grim part of him was satisfied at seeing the guy so messed up, but there were more important things to worry about.

Like getting the hell out of this place. Thankfully, a cheerfully out of place ding noise let Geralt know that that particular goal was just about in reach. Mirage was helping Nadia up after their little magnet stunt worked. Blazermate was jetting around, helping everybody out. Sakura had given them some help with her darts.

And Moreau was freaking out, before rearing up while his belly swelled to grotesque proportions, and unleashing a spew of acidic vomit that would make even the most brutish troll wince in disgust. As for how he could tell it was acidic, the multiple burn holes in his clothes and the searing pain gave him that bit of knowledge. Forcing himself to run as fast as his little legs would allow, Geralt made it quickly into the elevator in time to watch Nadia and Mirage pull themselves up and seemingly wait for death to take them.

To anybody watching, Geralt's face betrayed very little emotion. His eyes bored into the two of them, wondering for a moment what their plan was, only to close in relief as he saw Blazermate grab them and ferry the two to the elevator. "Damn, that's not quire good. Hope the boss gets out alright." Trying to peek out the elevator and get a look at what was going on, Geralt frowned when his relatively safe position that would not let him melt to death in the acid didn't quite afford him the best sight lines.

Sighing, he held two fingers up to his mouth and whistled to get the attention of those who hadn't made it into the elevator yet, only to briefly panic as he saw the nail he'd thrown and Bowser hammered flying back at him.

Drawing the Sign of Quen with one hand and nearly activating it purely on instinct, Geralt managed to stop himself in time before potentially harming himself from the strain and reaching out to grab the weapon as it seemed to slow a bit on approach.

As his hand closed around the nail, its momentum seemingly vanished and he blinked a few times in surprise. "That would have been helpful to know before." He deadpanned before sighing.

Hopefully the others that hadn't quite made it yet would be able to remember where he whistled from and navigate to the elevator without being melted.

---

---

As the pair of them climbed Linkle was able to keep up, maintain a distance of just a little behind the scholar through death defying leaps, close shave shorcuts, and riding on anything that looked as though it was moving upward. So it was that when she reached the point where things in the Old Mill were getting weird, Albedo was already sailing onward and upward on a snakelike trail of green blocks.

She watched for a moment before looking around to take in the stuff just hanging around in the air. Linkle wasn't a mill expert, but she had been inside the village mill enough to know that floating blocks and squares couldn't have anything to do with grinding grain. They hung there without any sort of apparent reason for staying afloat, like those islands they had fought the dragon or that path they had followed to Peach's castle after they had first woken up. How many world had blocks that just hung like this?

She approached one of the panels, following the trail of them leading across to another beam with her eyes. Hanging near that beam was another of those green blocks. "Yosh!" She had to keep up the pace. No way was she letting Albedo take on those cats by himself. There was only a short gap to get across before she got started, so she took a step back then rushed forward and jumped for the red panel.

Immediately she learned that this was a dirty trap, because as soon as her feet left the ground the panel swung around under her. Now there was a blue panel covering the gap she had been trying to leap and the place she had been aiming for was now a painful one way trip back to either the first floor or the basement depending on hard her head was.

Wait, there was one thing! Linkle reached out and her descent came to an abrupt stop as she grabbed ahold of the red bar the panel had been set in. Now she was the one hanging in the air, and as she did she got a good look at just how high she had climbed already. She tilted her head up, spotting the next panel across from her, and scowled. That must be why the cats had their hideout all the way up here. Even if they fell due to one of these devious cat traps they would just land on their feet and walk it off. Clever cats.

Too clever by half! If these cats wanted to hurt Linkle they were better off stabbing her in the back just the prophesy foretold!

Linkle started to swing back and forth, kicking her legs out to build up momentum before letting go and flying across the gap to the next red panel. Catching the edge, she pulled herself up onto it. She stood on it for a bit, keeping near the edge, just waiting for it to drop out from under her. Surprisingly, it held. In fact, now that she was looking, all the panels in her path seemed to have flipped. She waited for a little while longer just to make sure there wasn't some sort of timer these things worked on, then reached out her foot and tapped the center to the panel she was on. When it didn't have any give at all she was confident enough to step forward onto the panel proper and start planning for the next one. There had to be some kind of trigger, and she had a inkling about what it might be.

The next panel was red again, and Linkle again took a running jump for it. The panel flipped over again, but Linkle was ready for it this time. She splayed her legs as she soared though the air and managed to land one boot on either of the bars that had previously held the panel. She pinwheeled her arms a moment to keep her balance in this split she had landed in. "Jumping is the trigger." She said, looking halfway between pleased with herself for guessing correctly and disgusted with the people who set this trap. "What a nasty trick."

She started moving her legs, carefully inching herself forward toward the opposite panel, when she had a better idea. "Imani." She called.

The sniper appeared in a cloud of smoke on the opposite panel, crossbow already primed to shoot, but the second she caught sight of Linkle's precarious position she dropped the weapon to her side. "Bleeding Hell!" She said, reaching out and grasping Linkle's outstretched arm before pulling her over onto her panel.

"I don't thank you often enough." Linkle said as the older women leg her go.

"Well, I don't hang around for it." She replied. She seemed to want to disappear on that note, but something caught her eye and she managed to hang on for a bit longer the usual. "Linkle." She started, and something in her tone made Linkle straighten up. It was the tome of someone that expected to be addressed as Captain, Commander, or perhaps just Ma'am. "You've managed to lose your primary weapon."

Linkle glanced down at the empty holsters in her boots. "They were stolen, Ma'am. There were cats, they were invisible, they took us completely by surprise." She said nervously, pointing. The snipers eye followed her finger, observing Albedo as he platformed higher and higher. "We're getting them back right now."

"Double time, then." The woman replied curtly as she began to vanish.

Linkle sighed with relief as the sniper dissolved into smoke. She definitely felt like she had just been saved from a proper dressing down, granted a reprieve only because Imani's time in this world was too short for her to built the momentum required for it. As if she needed another reason to get their stuff back.

Now that she knew the trick, though, these panels were nothing. She practically sprinted across the remainder, making it to the other side before hoping on the waiting green block. This trick, thankfully, wasn't a mystery and she was able to ride, jump, sprint, and leap her way up the tower as she followed after Albeado.