Midna found herself nervously chewing on her lip as she watched the pair ascend past her up to the top of the chain, and her nerves where in no way helped by the way the ship shuddered beneath them at one point, which almost tipped her and her wolf-dran off of their perch on its near vertical deck.

”Goddesses,” she murmured after steadying herself, before then calling out ”are you both alright?” to the climbers.

Fortunately it looked like they were and soon enough Raz had climbed up into range of the frozen chain, and offered a (big) hand to Therion to get him up as well. One they were up she drifted over to follow them and found Raz chipping away at the ice binding it using psychic blasts. It was an impressive amount of power, coming from a kid, but chipping away was definitely the right description.

”That might take a while” she noted, and then offered ”want me to try and take a swing instead?”

She got her chance when the boy got distracted by falling skeletons. She wasn't sure what was up with that, but she was fine with taking over the ice freeing. After all, her wolf-dran was down there, and if the kid wasn't find on his own, she was sure the dragon dog would be able to keep him safe.

She was too focused on thinking about how best to deal with the chain to put two and two together as to why there were skeletons falling out of the ship until a little while later.

---

Down below the wolf-dran pelted through the ship’s hold, an lovely selection pile of juicy bones held in its jaws while a veritable swarm of very, very, very angry glowing skeletons chasing it, who either ran after it and tried to grab it with their one remaining arm or did their best to crawl or one leggedly hop after it to do the same. This did not end well for them, as the twilight bone thief was agile as could be and lead them on a merry chase, dodging to and fro and, intentionally or not, matadoring several right of the edge of the ship as the limb lacking undead failed to compensate for their new weight distributions and went plummeting down onto the ice below.

---

Back up at the mast, Midna had given the ice a few good punches, and then thought of a better way to deal with this that involved less exertion. The less energy she burned on action, the more she had to keep herself warm after all. Plus her new plan would help with the cold problem in its own way.

”Goddesses, I can smell it through the mask. Who in their right minds would ever drink this stuff?” she complained as she emptied the bottle of dwarven rotgut all over the ice holding the chain, the incredibly alcoholic booze freezing on contact with the frozen water. But not for long. The princess summoned two weapons, in preparation for her cunning plan. The first was the clubba club, which she held in her shadow hand, ready to use it as a ball and chain again in the same manner that had proved so effective against her new chillfos minions. The other weapon she summoned was the smaller of her two knives. This little blade she pressed the flat of the blade of to a gloved palm and charged with lightning for a moment, and then with a thrust hammered a bolt of lightning bolt into the ice. It chipped away at it meekly… and also caused the frozen rotgut to ignite violently.

”Ahahaha yes, burn!” Midna giggled a little maniacally, pausing for a second or two to enjoy the heat of the fire she’d started, while letting it work away at the ice for a few moments, before winding up the clubba club and swinging it around in a 270 degree spin and sending it smashing into the ice, before turning and rotating it all the way round again a full 360 of momentum building in the opposite direction before hammered into the rotgut thawed ice once more, this time shattering it int a million pieces and sending a shower of burning ice all over the area.

Including the wooden boat.

It was both a good thing and a bad thing that Raz came out when he did. On the one hand the force of the chain breaking loose played havoc with everyone who wasn’t floating like Midna, causing both of the humans to both go plummeting towards the ground, with the princess able only to futilely try and chase them down towards the icky floor below while crying out in horror. Fortunately, the boy psychic proved to be full of yet more tricks and though his bubble left things far too close for comfort for Midna’s heart, it did save them from being shattered on the ground like the skeletons.

”Goddesses, that was too close” she called down to them and then landing down beside them to say ”I’m glad your both safe, but maybe don't stand on a mast while it's being hammered on next time?”

She was going to actually apologize for nearly killing them with her reckless plan next, but sadly that was when the other half of the consequences of her reckless plan caught up with her. Or rather, her Wolf-dran did, still hauling its bone based loot, and then promptly bumped its head into her back and tried to shove her away from the ship.

”Hey, what’s gotten into you? And what is with those bones that’s gross!!” she complained at first, turning to swat at its head, and only got it when she followed its snout and gaze when it looked pointed up at the glow of light coming from the ship.

There found the reason why it was a good thing Raz had left the ship when he had, because said ship was currently in the process of catching fire due to the almost napalm-like qualities of the scattered dwarven rotgut causing it to refuse to go out and managing to heat up and ignite even the frost bitten timber of the ancient ship.

”Oh… fuck” she swore, this bad enough that she forgot Sectonia’s comment about her unprincessly language for a moment, before mounting up and telling the others that ”Time to go!”

If it was any consolation, the rest of the yellow team’s battle with the creatures of the dark wouldn't be lacking for light much longer as the ancient vessel began to really burn as the trio of chain freers left it in the dust. Especially when those flames found some of the old black powder stores, because that was when the fireworks really started.

Apparently content to ignore the Koopa King’s prodding, the Orphan of Kos fixed its harrowing gaze on the more proper, direct challenger it found in the Hero of the Wild. A practically tangible air formed between them as the two started to advance on each other at an equal, deliberate, measured pace. The tension was cut like a taut cord with an opening strike from the Orphan, flying headlong toward the Hylian with a disarming shriek, and bringing the grotesque, organic, bladed mass that it wielded for a weapon forcefully down where the warrior once stood. It ceased barely a moment in its continuous onslaught, howling in layered voices of raving madness with every frenzied exertion as it swung at every still-living thing around it with absolute abandon. Fewer than a handful of moves from it was all it took for them to recognize the strength and ferocity commanded by their frighteningly vicious adversary.

The Orphan was absurdly agile and inhumanly mighty for what appearances and first impressions would suggest, and terrifyingly savage to boot. Even Link, boasting the keenest reflexes and thickest nerves out of all of them—and possibly anyone alive—may have found himself at least somewhat surprised by the way it initially dove at him. They all might have, if not for the preemptive assist provided by Ace for a much needed speed boost to be put to best use dodging. It was no wonder the entire village ecosystem of dark-dwelling monsters lined the cave hall in prostration to it. They were afraid of it, and with every right to be. Somehow, even without seeing it for themselves they had an intrinsic insight on what it was they were bowing to, and why. Hat Kid found herself wishing she had the same prior knowledge, but with different feelings and intentions that wouldn’t have changed regardless. In fact, she suddenly felt far less sorry for the Orphan, seeing now what it was capable of, but what she lost in pity (if not entirely) was made up for in cautious respect gained for its abilities and a poignant realization for what it truly was—a fiendish, Eldritch abomination, and their enemy.

Though she started slightly outside of its effective range, Hat Kid dodged away for distance as the Orphan began slinging its weapon in wide rotations to extend its reach. Between the brutal damage it visibly inflicted on far more durable fighters than her (Bowser, of all people), and the sundered defenses of others otherwise, it became rapidly apparent to her that she couldn’t fight this thing. At least, not directly, physically, and certainly not alone. Out of a squad of dedicated melee and ranged fighters alike, with some hybrids, she fell squarely into no particular category, so if she was to make any difference in the fight, she would have to try playing what few feasible roles she could, making use of everything she could with the correct timing and a little creative thinking.

To start, she summoned her newly bound Spirit to her back to unleash Fire upon the Orphan as soon as a scant moment of opportunity where her allies were clear of it presented itself. Then, once it was occupied again with single combat, she engaged Sprint, leaping for the monster's exposed back, Homing in on the glowing weak point at the nape of its neck. Kicking off in a layout by the foot that made contact, she shot back down with a crashing, flaming fist just as the creature dropped forward to plunge a placental landmine into the sand, bouncing from the back of its head with another successful hit, only to be caught midair by the bright blood eruption that followed. Against the likes of this wild Guardian, it seemed even playing for just one extra hit proved to be a fallably greedy tactic, one that very well stood to cost more than it was worth.

She rebounded to her feet as her back made passing contact with the sand, drawing the attention and ire of the Orphan for having recovered directly in front of it. She sidestepped the first slam attack aimed at her, flipped over the second strike as the weapon was dragged in a corrective horizontal sweep, then was forced to a hasty halt by an uncomfortably close blade slam that caused her to stumble and fall as she attempted to right herself, and slipped by the last hit with a desperate side roll, the tremor and proximity of impact just about lifting the lightweight child from the ground. Evasive acrobatic finesse turned to an imbalanced scramble with every successive near miss until she found herself shuffling backwards on all fours for a few steps as the Orphan menacingly continued its advance at a walking pace, heaving the organic great weapon overhead in preparation for a heavy downward smash. As a hurried flight response, she blindly aimed her Hookshot behind her, anchored onto the rocks, and winched herself away for a narrow escape as the club fell, drawing her Ray Gun to take a handful of parting shots at the Guardian’s head as she went.

Hat Kid took her turn at a distance while the Orphan went between the melee fighters, carefully squeezing off three more Ray bolts at it, and missing all of them. The Orphan’s constant, borderline erratic movement and her lack of proficiency with ranged weapons made for an unproductive attempt, never mind the meager sum of damage success would have amounted to. When the fiend went airborne to assail Jr, the child saw a need and chance for her to assist, grapnelling up and onto the Clown Car with him, aiming down over the rim, and quickly firing a blue umbrella beam at the Orphan from point-blank. She followed suit in abandoning ship, leaping upward instead of outward, stepping even higher still by using the Black Mage’s Ice spell as a footstool where it formed high overhead. She wouldn’t be far behind in following the arcane cryobomb down to crash on top of the monster, first exhausing the last of her Ray Gun shots in a falling dive before righting herself and assuming her vastly heavier Ice form to drop the rest of the way.

A second or two behind the Ice spell, Hat Kid’s crystalline form, petrified in pristine blue ice, came slamming down between the Orphan’s shoulders, the cold quake of impact traveling through its feet to spread the concussive effect through the ground in a radial five to ten meter space around it. Yet, for all the weight packed into her lethal terminal drop, the Guardian remained largely unmoved, failing even to break its posture beyond its natural hunch. Throughout the battle, even their heaviest hitters had barely managed to so much as make the monster flinch, and her heaviest attack, specifically intended to crush or launch enemies, stood as no exception.

Trembling furiously with effort, the Orphan threw its head back with an agitated scream, launching the still frozen Hat Kid skyward once more. As it bounded up after her with its weapon reared back, she dared not drop the form just yet, for the dense coating of ice was all that would shield her from the likely fatal blow heading her way. The wizened fiend swatted her away like a tennis ball, shattering her defense instantly. She survived the hit with a hard landing, thankfully sustaining significantly less damage than she otherwise would have, but consequently setting her entire assortment of superpowered headwear on a universal reboot timer. For the next ten seconds—in a fight where every one of them counted—her Hats would be good for little more than fashion statements. While she had a moment to spare, she turned her sights intently back to the action, popped a Honeycomb for a small but helpful hit of vitality, holding it in her cheek like hard candy as its rich contents worked to restore her, and crouched to a runner’s start onto the Mage’s Lay Lines that formed beneath her…

Blazermate was having issues keeping up on the healing for the group. The good news was that at least the group was giving her a ton of ubercharge and Orphan didn't really seem to care about the engineer's sentry, the sentry having upgraded to level 2 and on its way to level 3. The bad news was her shield had gone down now and people were still being thrown about, Jr. having gone down but was still in good shape all things considered.

Blazermate didn't have any nearby cracks to fly to without stopping her heals for a long amount of time, so she refrained from that and just kept the heals up on everyone as best as she could. She was almost ready to deploy an ubercharge, and with how much damage this creature did per hit, invincibility could do quite a number on it with no fear of damage, or at least drastically reduce damage intake for a few seconds. At least her allies were getting in a few hits here and there, and while Blazermate wanted to go in and do some damage, since even Bowser was getting smacked around like he was nothing that kept Blazermate on the defensive.

Level: 2 (Level Up!)
Experience: 0/20
Currently In: The Warrens, Snowdin >> Heading back to Treat's House
Word Count: 356 (+1 Exp)
Albedo @Lugubrious, Papyrus @Dark Cloud

The child frowned. On one hand, they were glad Papyrus landed somewhere relatively safe. On the other, maybe they got their hopes up for nothing. They could tell, even if the skeletal sentry tried to hide it with frustration, he worried for his brother. "Well, look at it like this." They told him, their attempt to reassure their friend. "If you're here, then I'm sure we'll run into Sans eventually. He's probably keeping an eye out for us as we are for him." Frisk looked back with a smile. "Maybe we can ask Grillby if he's seen-"

The child's attention drew over to the sudden appearance of the alchemist. So they were followed, huh? Frisk didn't react much until Albedo said something. Their brows furrowed, yet the smirk on their face didn't bear any irritance. "Didn't think you'd be that worried for me." They playfully jabbed back. But it was a good thing he was here. Soon as he asked about any findings, their expression turned more serious.

"I only managed to asked a couple of people, but apparently Treat is what they call a "Wolfskin". Basically a werewolf, from what I can tell. She needs something called a Beaststone to shapeshift. Though that might just be to help control it. Which makes me wonder..." Frisk relayed their information to Albedo. They were notably more talktative to people they know.

"How stable is her second form? I'd rather not assume the worst, but maybe the reason why the rabbitfolk are afraid of her, is cause she can't control her powers??" They frowned at their own theory. Then it crossed their mind. If Albedo was here, then that left Linkle and Treat to deal with whatever was haunting that weird mansion! If anything happened to them...

"Albedo, this is my friend Papyrus. Papyrus, meet Albedo." Frisk introduced the other two in their trio of strange names, and began walking back to Treat's house again, a bit quicker than before. "Not sure how time works here, but he says he appeared in Snowdin Forest. Maybe most recently." They explained, silently hoping nothing went awry while they were out.

Sakura grimaced as Rika almost got bisected. Fortunately, her allies, including Bella, intercepted it. "Be careful, Rika-chan!" She called out, shooting another fireball at the Orphan. She just wasn't sure how to push in. They were all too disorganized! They needed a concentrated strike, but big baby had them all on the back foot. It's power was immense.

But she couldn't think about that now. She realised that Bella was about to get blown sky high by this creature's glowing blood attack. "Bella-san!" Sakura shouted, announcing her intention. She sprinted across the battlefield as high speed, kicking up sand and dust behind her. As the creature brought its viscera attack down, Sakura slid right between its legs. She popped up right infront of Bella and bumped her back into Bella's front, sending the Abyssal backwards. Sakura stomped the ground and a red miamsa burst off her. Sakura used Red Focus, a powerful defensive move that turned her into an attack absorbing machine. "SEI!" The viscera attack would burst against her, parting in a narrow formation around her as Sakura defended both herself and Bella from the attack. It used up a huge amount of defensive Ki to do, and if Sakura got hit before she got it all back, it would be a hard hit.

After blocking the massive hit, Sakura jumped forward instead of backwards to make her retreat. With a quick hop as the monster recovered from its attack, she turned and planted her feet on its chest and pushed herself away with a push kick. She rolled along the sand and retreated, guiding Bella away from the Orphan.

"That was kinda cool, huh?" Sakura said breathlessly. "Get that gauntlet fixed, okay, Bella-san? And don't get squished." With that, she turned and rushed back into battle. She grimaced as the frozen Hat Kid got smacked away, but fortunately the kid was a whiz at magic and managed to defend herself with powerful ice. "Watch out!"

Sakura didn't push in on the Orphan. Instead she stayed a little outside it's swinging radius, guard up, plugging fireballs into it when she got the chance. No big offensive pushes, but just offering another target for it to swing at. Ready to dodge, hop, or roll out of the way of any of its attacks. And keep watching it to see how it fights. That viscera attack was already familiar to the Seekers, maybe the melee attacks could be, too. Even wild fighters had patterns. Even random chance could be exploited, for not every option had equal risk and reward.

"We have to find a moment to strike!" Sakura said. If she had to block some glancing impacts as she dodged away, she'd be okay, but it would stop her "Grey Health" from restoring and reset the timer on that. Because of this Sakura was especially wary of defending herself. But she couldn't just sit back and let the thing run rampant. Hopefully her fireballs and presence would put pressure on it and divide its attention.

---

---

Before link could even join the battle again Geralt beat him to it. The Witcher, for a few precious seconds, actually managed to go toe to toe with it. He deflected a blow that Link was positive would have crushed his arms (his old arms at least), but the strain took it's toll of the giant mans stamina. It wasn't long after Link rejoined the melee, laying in a few cuts with his sword while the Orphan busied itself with Geralt, that a glancing blow and a bit of friendly fire sent the giant man spinning into the sand. At that Link scowled and backed off to a safer distance as it's attention invariably turned to him. It was a good thing too, because Ms. Fortune and Sakura looked to take advantage of that. It's attention was short lived as Sakura's magic fireball alerted it to there presence. Link moved back in, trying to keep it focused on him, but the things weapon came hurling his way. He didn't even try to block it, being forced to jump back as it rounded on the girls. Ace arrive just in time, swooping in and taking it's attacks on the shield just as it had been getting ready to lunge. He wished he had a shield that sturdy, as he saw the creature slam into it over and over again.

If there was someone here that could actually stand up to the creatures punishment, though, that meant it was time to lay in damage. He charged in, alongside Ms. Fortune and the tiny fish man Geralt had taken as a striker earlier. The two of them jabbed and stabbed while Ms. Fortune delivered a graceful kick to the back of the creatures neck. That turned it swiftly away from Ace, but with Ms. Fortune flipping away it found only Link and the fish man. Link jumped back again from its counterattack, which cracked the skull of the fish man striker, but wasn't fast enough. He felt the blow scrape across his shoulder, the armor the only thing keeping it from being full on broken from an attack that still spun him around and sent him to join Geralt in the sand. His arm shook, and from the point of impact a great crack grew all the way down to his chest. It came as a surprise. He had never before had armor start to break on him.

As he recovered the creature launched itself at the ones who had been harassing it from the air. It took down both Junior and Rika, carrying the abyssal in particular down to the beach with it. Link forced himself to stand, to move back in, but he was beaten to the save by Bella and Kamek. The string of saving didn't stop there, as Sakura through herself into danger to protect the wounded Bell from the visceral explosion that followed. The Hat Kid landed hard on the creature, and for a split second it looked like it had been stunned, but it through the Kid upwards a moment later and jumped up after her, batting her away.

"Cia!" He called out as he reached the point where the abomination would be coming down. The dark sorceress appeared in a cloud of darkness, no expression on her face this time, and with a wave of her scepter set four dark magic mines under the creatures growing shadow before backing off to support her in keeping it away from the others.

---

---

The skullgirl and the wolf marched out the front door, Treat having wrapped herself in her new shawl to keep out the cold. Both of them carried old fashioned oil lanterns Treat had taken the time to scrounged up, light flickering behind the glass yet hard to see in the afternoon light. Linkle hopped down the stairs into the snowy yard, speaking energetically. "Poe's are pretty easy as far as monsters go. They shoot fire out lamps like this, but they're so slow to recover. Bait that out and you can give them some of this!" She went for her crossbow, only to feel her hand grasp empty air. Right, she had left her crossbows down on the sled. Instead she let lose with a high kick, knocking a flurry of snow into the air. "Some of that! Hehe!"

"Do you fight a lot of ghosts?" Treat asked, having managed to restrain herself from flinching.

"Heroes fight all kinds of monsters." She replied, lower her leg and following Treat led her around to the side of the mansion. "They're mid level, usually mixed in with a bunch of Stalchildren or Bokoblins."

"Children?" Treat asked, taken aback.

"No, no, that's just what they're called. They're more like small skeletons." Linkle amended. Treat still looked like she thought that was kind of dark. "They're not people skeletons. They have giant faces and teeth like bricks. I don't know where they come from, I've never seen anything in Hyrule that looks like they do. And there are sooooo many. Like, thousands. My point is, there’s no reason to worry. This is like one of two things I’m really good at."



They came around the side of the house to find appeared to be a poorly attached wooden shed, it’s design clearly clashing with the manor itself. Treat had explained that, though the elevator inside the house didn’t work, she had found an alternate entrance to the basement where she had poked around the shed in search of anything useful. Inside there wasn’t much to see. It looked like simple storage, tool’s piled on shelves, some shovels and picks hanging from a rack across the room, and a couple of chairs stacked up beside them. The most interesting thing was the green machine that sat beside them that looked sort of like the engine of a kart, but far larger. Maybe this gave power to the house?

She was called away from it by Treat and pointed instead toward a square hole built into the floor in the corner. Linkle came over, their twin lights revealing a ladder built into one side of the hole, leading down into the inky darkness. “I almost fell down here the first time.” Treat said, embarrassed.

“Super dangerous.” Linkle said, shaking her head. Then she took the handle of the lantern in her teeth and slid down onto the ladder to descend.

What began as a straightforward fight with a lone ice golem quickly turned to pandemonium when the lurkers in the dark made their presence very known. The gaunt predators split up and went ahead of their lumbering counterpart, leaping from point to point among the scaffolding, mining equipment, and rubble as they closed in on their next meals. A sense of urgency tantamount to panic filled the air after Poppi got disarmed in a single stroke from one of the monsters’ surprise attack, setting the tone for what the others could expect. With precious few seconds to spare they scrambled to gather and ready themselves against the savage might of the Wendigo.

Sensibly, Laharl made a beeline for Poppi’s beacon. He landed just before Poppi did, scouring the area for any sign of her attacker in the radiant glow of her light-attuned Variable Saber. In its glow he and Tora both spotted an ash-gray blur as it sped through the air and latched onto a rocky crag, where it remained just long enough for them to get their first good look at the thing. It was a wretched thing, so emaciated as to be near-skeletal, and mistakable for a corpse if not a human. It looked so horribly stretched, its limbs and fingers all of uncanny length. Its glassy, soulless eyes held such cruelty that Tora gasped as much from fear as from the pain of his bloody wound, but worst of all were its teeth–grisly, crooked, and enormous, many of them missing, and all of them visible thanks to the tattered, bloody, suppurate remnants of its lips. It bunched its loathsome legs for a fatal lunge at the two youngsters, and possessed of nothing but Beast’s hammer to defend himself with, Tora prepared himself for the worst. Laharl, however, had other plans. He called upon his newest Striker to answer the Wendigo’s would-be assassination with a grand bellow of unrelenting force.

The dragonshout struck the ghoulish thing mid-flight and stopped it in its tracks. It hit the stone just in front of the mechanism platform with a shriek, twisting like a cat to get up on all fours, but a vengeful Poppi rushed to capitalize. Her Variable Saber’s blade retracted as it reconfigured, and without skipping a beat Poppi opened fire. A shotgun blast of dazzling lightrays burst forth, piercing her attacker’s leathery flesh in a half-dozen places. She continued to hammer her weapon’s trigger with mechanical precision, blasting again and again even as the Wendigo scrabbled to its feet. Its sprays of searing light hounded its steps, chasing it until it disappeared into the shelter of the shadows and out of sight, wounded but very much alive. Frustrated but focused, she switched her weapon back to blade mode as she alighted between Tora and Laharl, showering the area in its glow once more. “Good work!” Tora quavered, but as his companion knelt to assess his condition he waved her off. “Don’t worry about me. Once we win, Tora heal back to full in seconds. For now we need go full defense!”

Poppi nodded. “Roger roger.” She began to transform, reverting from Poppi QT Pi to Poppi Alpha. In the light of the sparks that flew from the ensuing maelstrom of ribbon and steel, Tora swept his surroundings for any sign of the Wendigo, but found nothing. Not until a gaunt arm burst up between the planks platform behind him, and with vicious claws raked straight through his overalls and shirt and into his back.

“MEGH!” Tora wailed in pain and surprise, whirling around on the spot with his bludgeon upheld. The Wendigo’s limb retracted beneath the platform just before the head of the Nopon’s hammer smashed through a couple boards. “It under us!” Not even a second later both arms came up beneath Laharl, slashing wildly at his legs in an attempt to cripple him. Tora ran over to help, but again his strike fell short. The overswing put him off balance, and before he could recover both arms grabbed hold of the planks directly beneath him. In a single, mighty wrench they splintered the boards, and with his footing destroyed Tora could do little but yelp as he plunged into darkness. “POPPIIIIIIII!”

In the space beneath the mechanism platform, the Wendigo began its onslaught. It ravaged him with bestial fury, filling the shadows with blood. If not for the Drill Shield that manifested in Tora’s wing, constructed from ambient ether, it might have mauled the hapless Nopon to death. Instead its eyes, so used to stygian blackness, filled with the light of Alrest’s energy, and its wicked talons clanged off solid steel. As it floundered, Poppi Alpha smashed through the platform above, pancaking the beast with the weight of her armor just before the blade of her claymore plunged through its back and into solid stone. Coldly expressionless, she channeled the light of her core through the weapon, and as its flesh sizzled the sordid hunter’s shrieking turned from anger to agony. No matter how much it struggled, it couldn’t break free without practically bisecting itself, and instead broke its own bones in an effort to bend its limbs far enough to attack Poppi once more. In that moment, however, those lifeless eyes beheld Tora, badly hurt but not dead yet. “Tora VERY mad now!” he announced, raising his hammer overhead with both hands. “MEH!” he howled, bringing it down on the monster’s head with all he was worth. With the Wendigo pinned, Laharl could join in the beatdown too, and lend his strength to the Nopon’s retribution. “MEH!” Tora bellowed, cracking his would-be murderer’s skull. “MEH!” he screamed, and with a final blow the horror’s cranium blew apart. With a final effort, Poppi pushed her servos into overdrive and carved free of the nightmarish body. Even still it continued to writhe, but without its faculties and in so many pieces, the horror could threaten the team no more.

As bloody as their struggle had been, some of their fellows had it still worse. Sectonia’s flight, size, and ability to blink around kept her out of harm’s way long enough for her to beat back the encroaching darkness with rings of light. While her casts provided some illumination, however, they proved too slow to hit the two rampant Wendigo, and too slow to protect her allies. As Sora raised his keyblade to cast a spell, one of the monsters pounced on him, claws extended. The boy might have died there and then if he hadn’t, in a stroke of either miraculous luck or remarkable foresight, chosen to use Aero. The shield of air deflected the lunge just enough to turn a decapitating slice into a glancing blow to the forehead, and after the Wendigo raked through the boy’s spiky brown hair, it was gone into the shadows once more. Concurrently, the other monster descended on Yoshitsune, only to balk at the samurai’s flaming swords. Sensing a weakness, Yoshitsune charged after the monster in an attempt to chase it down, only for his prey to turn the tables. It flew at him from the side and went low, where its talons sliced cut his left calf to the bone. The samurai went down, with only his fiery katana between himself and a gruesome end.

Primrose had prepared herself for a fight as best she could, but even a seasoned fighter couldn’t have prepared for this. This threat was hard enough to see, let alone fight, and without any protection out in the open it was only a matter of time before trouble found her. Barely a moment after narrowly missing Sora, the naked Wendigo lunged at her, hurling itself down from a scaffolding tower at a high angle. “Look out!” At the last moment, Panther manifested Carmen to slam one of her chained suitors into the monster, and though not a physically gifted Persona, she managed to knock it off-balance. Rather than rip through the dancer’s midsection, the Wendigo bodily slammed into her, sending both to the ground. The monster regained its feet with a snarl, but a spray of fire from Panther’s submachine gun chased it away, its muzzle flash providing snapshots of its escape into the darkness. Fearing for her new friend’s life, Panther looked back toward her. “Primrose! Please be okay!”

“Eyes in front!” Using Lamia, Joker laid down a carpet of fire on the cavern floor, and though some mining equipment caught the rest wouldn’t stay for long. The Wendigo came around again, leaping straight over the flames even as Joker shot it again and and again with his pistol. “Gah!’ he yelled as it landed on top of him, knocking him into the ground hard enough to give him a concussion. It raised its arm to turn his head to pulp, but Arsene manifested to deliver a weighty kick to the ribs.

“Joker!” Panther cried as the Wendigo tumbled. Her fear turned to anger in a heartbeat, and Carmen appeared behind her aglow with her user’s rage. “Dormina!” The spell struck its mark as the monster got up, and like a puppet with its strings cut it slumped back down. Gritting her teeth, Panther let out all her terror and rage in a fiery scream that bathed the sleeping ghoul in flame. It woke up with a blood-curdling shriek, thrashing around in an attempt to put itself out until Carmen followed up with Agilao to turn the wretched thing to cinders.

As it burnt to ash, Necronomicon descended nearby. “Joker’s stunned, but it looks like those things are weak to fire!” she observed. “Lucky us, but the last one’s attacking Yoshi! He needs help!”

The third wendigo, however, wasn’t all that the scattered heroes had to worry about. As they tried to deal with the Wendigo, the golem Kelvin trundled through the cavern toward the first hero he saw, who just so happened to be on overwatch above the rest: Fox. The brute picked up speed and rammed right into the scaffolding the pilot perched upon, sending the whole thing crashing down in a terrific ruckus, Fox included. Wasting no time, Kelvin began to smash through the wreckage, hoping to obliterate Fox beneath his icy fists.

It was into this chaos that Raz, Midna, and Therion descended. As the shipwreck-turned-inferno slammed into the cavern floor, sending burning debris in every direction, it gave them a good look at the current situation. The Phantom Thieves, Tora and Poppi, Laharl, and Primrose were okay for now, but one Wendigo remained at large, and the sturdiest opponent present -Kelvin- had yet to be touched. Fox and Yoshitsune both desperately needed a hand, and though the light down the mineshaft tunnel indicated that the cart-pushers were alert to the danger and on their way, they would arrive too late to save their friends.



As the chunky, cherry-pink geyser of the Orphan blossomed behind her, Nadia caught a fleeting glimpse of a bright blue figure’s final moment, then hit the beach on her front in a spray of sand. As she came to a stop, heart racing and the wind knocked out of her lungs, she felt like a volleyball player who’d dived for a save, except in this case she’d saved her own skin. Her chest heaved from a potent mixture of exertion and panic, and as she picked herself up she wondered if every hit-and-run in this fight was going to end in a harrowing near miss. Twice she’d risked life and limb punching well above her weight class, and twice she’d only barely escaped intact. Sure, this was her specialty and all, and it sure beat getting her lung punctured by a rusty anchor, but all this stress couldn’t be good for her heart. Of course, all the punishment her allies kept taking wasn’t good for them either, so she needed to pull herself together and get back in there.

One thing was bugging her, though. How had she gotten out of that last one? One moment she’d been right in the splash zone, and the next sailing away. Nadia’s eyes fell on the globules of bright blue blood that littered the black sand, which she recognized as her new vital fluid, scattered by the blast. It took only a moment to will it back toward her for recollection, but that was enough time to put two and two together. “I did get that thing’s power after all,” she murmured. The savior that flung her out of harm’s way had been herself, or more accurately, a double made of vital fluid, just like the animals that the Oceanid used against her. And why not? If the flying fish could copy the ‘shapes of the living’ she coveted, it made sense that the feral could copy what she knew best: herself. Despite the severity of the situation, a giddy excitement lanced through Nadia’s body. If her copycats could do everything she could, this fight was about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Before charging back into the fray, Nadia took another second to take stock of the situation. As the battle moved elsewhere, Geralt elected to remain where he’d fallen for a few moments and speed up his recovery with a big vial of Swallow. The fact that the potions he’d already made scaled with him as a result of his fusion with the decidedly plus-size Harbor Demon came as a blessing, although any future concoctions would no doubt demand greater quantities of ingredients. Since Blazermate did not single him out for dedicated treatment, instead continuing to heal everyone as best she could despite the additional injury visited upon him, the Swallow helped mend the gaps, easing in particular the pain and disorientation his head wound left him with. It would be another moment at least before he could return to the fight in earnest, but his place on the frontlines did not go unoccupied.

Once he made sure that his son fared no worse for wear despite the havoc wreaked upon his clown car, Bowser stomped back toward the Orphan to pay it back with a papa bear’s fury. Still, his earlier pummeling had taught him that he couldn’t afford to be reckless–not against an eldritch abomination that could crack and crumble even a Koopa King’s shell. He joined the Ace Cadet, and together monster and monster hunter moved in to take the Orphan head-on. As the pink mist cleared, the heroes found Bella safe and sound, saved once again by the wonderful Sakura, and just in the nick of time, too. Her look of shiny-eyed adoration would have to suffice as thanks for how, however, since there was no time to spare. Just as Ace and Bowser reconvened, Nadia watched Hatty fall from the sky as a weighty ice sculpture. The fact that the sweet move didn’t squash the Orphan flat left her incredibly disappointed, and even more worried about what could happen next.

Sure enough, the outrageous infant retaliated. It hurled Hatty into the air and leaped after her to smack the living popsicle back down. It happened so fast, and for an awful second Nadia thought that the monster might smash her little friend into a million frozen pieces. Instead its withering blow just destroyed her icy armor, and Hatty tumbled down to the ground, more or less fine. Nadia was beyond relieved to see that the kid stood without issue and proceeded to keep a safe distance from the melee. The second the Orphan touched down after attacking Hatty, it set off a quartet of dark magic mines, and for a brief moment staggered in their nebulous explosion That gave Bowser and Ace all the time they needed to get in and start swinging with gusto. Both got a couple strikes in before the Orphan righted itself, and with a scream the aberration struck back. Its hideous weapon struck at Bowser before it came down on Ace’s shield once more, but rather than pound on it the Orphan swerved to the left, dodging a blow from Bowser in the process and putting the Cadet between the two. As it did it unleashed a wheeling horizontal strike that hit the side of the monster hunter’s shield, blowing his guard wide open. From there the best Ace could do was shove his sharq forward with all his strength, hoping to deal as much damage as he could in the exchange.

A tangible shockwave expanded as the Orphan and hunter traded blows. The former took a sharq attack toits left shoulder, just above the heart, and the latter paid for it with a disjointed uppercut slice that launched Ace right into Bowser, if the Koopa King hadn’t already gotten out of the way. Heedless of any lack of target, it followed up with a second just like it, which ended in an eruption of earth behind it as its placenta looped around. At that point, with no friendlies in its way, Blazermate’s level two sentry opened fire. The Orphan turned its way with a snarl and charged, running straight into the torrent of bullets as it rushed the turret down. Once in range it distended its placenta and swung overhead to clobber the sentry across the top from a good distance away. Whether pushed back by the gunfire or just poorly judged, however, the nightmare’s efforts amounted to no more than a glancing blow, and though bent downward by the force to the point where it could no longer aim, the turret was far from destroyed. Unfortunately, the Engineer got clipped in the thigh by the slam, which both dispelled him before he could repair the sentry and opened a sparking gash in Blazermate’s own leg.

Nadia came running in while the Orphan was still isolated. She cast her arm to her side in a flourish, summoning a copycat to run alongside her. Both Ms Fortunes struck with Cat Scratch, raking their nails across its arm with the opener of their signature rekka, and as it turned her way with a wheeling horizontal reprisal, both launched into a different follow-up. The fake flew up and over the counterattack with a pounce to deliver a full-force El Gato axe kick that bopped the Orphan right on its wrinkly forehead and left a couple scratches behind, while the real Nadia went low. As her Cat Slide breezed under the monster’s placenta her legs spun like twin drills, tearing into shaky calves. “Wreck-a yo shins!” Just as she hoped, the Orphan paid attention to the Ms Fortune in his face despite the pun from below, and as its weapon followed her arc overhead Nadia turned over. After a brief charge both legs rocketed upward in a water-propelled Fiber Upper. Although she aimed for its head she hit its back again instead, but eh. Good enough. Of course, the freak used the extra force to help obliterate her copycat, but by that time the genuine article had gotten away scot-free. The maneuver, successful beyond her wildest dreams, made her smile ear to ear. “I’m doin’ purr-etty darn good!”

Just then one of Sakura’s hadoukens then struck it right in the ribs, and as it turned toward her with thoughts of annihilation, a railgun blast from Bella’s wounded tail exploded against its abdomen. It flew from the explosion in a rage, aiming an overhead slam at Sakura -the furthest forward of the two- that seemed liable to turn her into a red smear on counterhit. It had one more surprise, too: a wild follow-up swing, meant to pulverize any cheeky attempts to capitalize on a perceived opening. But if that strike got dodged, or wholly deflected, the momentum of the slash put the Orphan at a disadvantage.

It was then that Nadia caught up, just as Bella made her move. The Seaplane Tender sent out her tail to clamp down on the Orphan’s right shin. With the creature already off-balance, a sharp tug forced it to plant its right arm to avoid falling, and that arm was the one with its weapon. In other words, even if just for a split second, it couldn’t attack. Nadia smirked and repeated her assault from earlier, this time splitting off two copycats to perform the mid and high follow-ups to her rekka, while she went low again. It was that choice that saved her from an otherwise fatal miscalculation as the Orphan attacked anyway, twisting the opposite way with an overhead that blew through both copycats before slamming into Nadia herself. If not for the sacrifice of her doppelgangers, the blow might have split her from sternum to pelvis; instead, it left her half-conscious and half-buried in wet sand for her hubris, too dazed to move. As the stars cleared she saw Bowser and Link arrive to help, and not a moment too soon.



Frisk’s tease met with a veritable rock wall (or perhaps more accurately, chalk wall) of indifference. Albedo simply didn’t regard the act of following the child with any significance, since coming to the Warrens would naturally form the first step in any rabbit-based investigations. He merely listened to Frisk’s report, on the off chance that the kid managed to learn anything already, and to his surprise, they had.

He listened at rapt attention, his chin couched thoughtfully in the crook of his hand. If the testimony of ‘a couple people’ was to be believed, the painfully harmless Treat was in actuality a skinchanger, capable of terrifying transformation. Although such creatures did not exist in his world, he cast his mind toward the enigmatic wolflike monsters known as Rifthounds that stalked Teyvat’s forsaken corners, as well as the lupine entity that the wild boy Razor conjured when forced to do battle, and for ordinary folk both must seem pretty fearsome. Add to that the possibility that Treat couldn’t control her bestial reversion, and the result was a rabbit-devouring fiend who could arise to terrorize the hapless villagers of the Warrens at any time–if, of course, what Frisk heard was true.

Albedo had his doubts, even after shelving the possibility that the whole story was an out-and-out lie. To start with, he’d never so much as heard the word ‘Wolfskin’ before today. Neither had he heard about any form changes on Treat’s part. He couldn’t discount the possibility that either event simply occurred out of his wheelhouse behind closed doors, since his own anecdotal evidence wasn’t all there was in life, but with no proof the alchemist found such a thing difficult to believe. There would have to be proof, too, if Treat couldn’t control her supposed shapeshifting. While she did sequester herself pretty often, it was by no means rare to see her hanging around rabbit-devoid parts of the town, reading or sipping hot chocolate in the backdrop. Besides, Treat did not seem to Albedo to be the forthcoming type. If she was a Wolfskin but couldn’t transform without this ‘beast stone’, how would the rabbits know about it?

Based on his own line of thinking, Albedo wondered if Frisk’s contacts were merely describing a phenomenon from their own world, then applying that knowledge to someone who seemed to fit a pattern. The difference between this world and one’s own was lost on a Gleaming individual, which meant that fears and prejudices could bleed through despite a complete change in circumstances. A few questions sprang to mind that the alchemist would not mind asking, if he got a chance to question the pertinent rabbitfolk himself.

That would have to wait, though. Frisk was already leaving, apparently satisfied with their new information as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The kid gave no announcement of their destination, instead introducing Papyrus and Albedo. Looking over the goofy-looking skeleton, Albedo gave a polite nod. “Hello.”

Sectonia at first didn't see the enemies approaching the group as too much of a threat. This changed when it was shown the little wendigos were actually very threatening as they were both fast, and seemed to be far, FAR stronger than their frame suggested, causing tons and tons of damage very rapidly to her minions. All while the ship above was set ablaze by those exploring it from above. Well, things were starting to go a bit more poorly than Sectonia expected seeing how the previous enemies weren't all that threatening, so the queen decided to get a bit more active than she was prior.

While her allies were able to destroy two of the wendigos, although taking some heavy hits to do so, one was left alive and ready to pounce. Meanwhile an ice creature approached that looked a bit more dangerous than stuff they had fought prior, both advancing on the group. Sectonia, seeing an opportunity to cause some real damage, smacked both enemies with a slow spell. This wouldn't affect the ice creature nearly as badly as the wendigo, who relied on its speed to do anything and well, slow removed that advantage. Seeing as she was mostly fresh compared to her minions, Sectonia stepped up to deal with the newcomer ice creature after hitting it with a slow effect form her hovering perch, rapidly slashing and stabbing it with her swords. Hopefully her minions could deal with the much, much slower Wendigo.

Glinting in the light shed by Poppi's beacon, the half-demon's red eyes frantically searched the surrounding darkness for signs of movement; Laharl panted heavily, looking thoroughly nerve-racked in the dim light shedding from the artificial blades beacon. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face, and as Laharl reached an arm to wipe his face with the back of his scrawny wrist the sudden cry of his small rotund companion made his heart skip a beat.

Hands tightening around the grip of his weapon, Laharl took a step towards the nopon yet stopped in his tracks as a set of bloody claws smashed through the platform below him, letting loose a bloodcurdling cry as his legs were raked by the beasts sharp talons. It's limbs retracting as his ally brought his weapon down, falling short however and subsequently losing his footing as Tora fell into the darkness below.

Suddenly outrage overcame the boy as he limped slightly to the edge of the broken platform Tora had fallen through, Laharl's pant legs were thoroughly ruined both torn and bloodied red with the crimson fluid seeping from long deep gashes stretching down his legs, staring down into the dark below then glancing at his wounded leg Laharl gritted his teeth as a low growl echoed from the back of his throat, he was pissed to say the least.

Laharl let loose a howl of rage as he descended beneath the platform, falling upon the weakened wreck of the gaunt beast with his axe poised to fell the wretched thing, with the sickening noise of flesh being torn and bones snapping the half-demon decapitated the Wendigo.

He pulled his weapon from the bloody mess of a corpse, like a woodsman pulls his hatchet from a log. Feeling empowered slightly by the creatures defeat, however the battle was far from over so the time for celebration would have to wait besides now the half-demon had blood on his mind, not to mention the rest of his body.

However soon something else made the half-demon lose all semblance of his composure "PRIMROSE!" Laharl shouted, catching a glimpse of the dancer as a sudden movement slammed her to the cave floor. Something about seeing her get hurt made Laharl feel an emotion much different from anger, it was like a twinge in his gut that made the boy feel concerned for the well-being of his ally.

From the darkness of the cave Laharl bellowed furiously, practically flinging himself between the fallen dancer and her would-be assailant as it tried to flee. Landing just in front of his companion, the look of anger on his expression disappeared realizing the others had dispatched the beast yet it was clear from the look he gave Primrose that he was worried about her and not hiding it well. It was obvious he had rushed over when he saw the beast might have hurt Primrose, not that he would ever admit it.

While Geralt was waiting for the effects of his potion to kick in, he pulled his crossbow from its holster and waited for a moment where the Orphan was free of friendly targets that he could accidentally hit. Loosing a pair of crossbow bolts in quick succession, Geralt stowed the weapon and drew silver once more, drawing the Sign of Quen in the air to protect himself. While he knew from a painful experience that it wouldn't protect him forever, or even from most of the effects of a single blow, any harm it could spare him from could very well be a life saver in this fight, be it his or another of the Seekers'.

Slowly, carefully, moving back in on the Orphan as the pain dulled into an acceptable light throb, Geralt spun his blade with a quick flourish in a very vain hope of distracting the thing. He had no idea what its mental capacity was, whether it had a fondness for shiny things, or could be easily distracted, but any moment of respite was welcome.

Speaking of, as he closed the gap, Bella and Nadia were holding the thing down for a moment to attack. His advance was too slow, however, to take advantage of that gap in its frenetic attacking. While this was for the best given that the Guardian broke free of their grapple, it was unfortunate that Nadia had to suffer for it. He'd seen what her Life Gem was capable of helping her survive, in some cases absolutely lethal blows, but the sheer force this thing was unleashing had to be dealing damage that was also harder to see.

As Geralt, Bowser, and Link all descended upon the Orphan of Kos, the Witcher kept his guard up, focusing on avoiding the thing's wild blows while trying to get in a few cuts where he could. At the moment, he'd take what he could get. If the others opened an opportunity for him to strike, he'd take it, but knowing how hard this thing hit kept him cautious.

The first thing Bowser got when joining back up with the rest of the troop was questions about Jr’s well-being from a concerned Rika and Kamek.

”He’s good, no sweat. Kid’s tough as nails after all, plus I made a pretty good catch. Looks like all that sport finally paid off” Bowser said, getting a “kyu!” in agreement to the first part from his shoulder, reminding him that, ”Oh, also he said you’d know how to use this one” before holding out a hand towards Kamek, whereupon Mimi ran down his arm, onto his palm and then hopped onto the tip of Kamek’s broom, where it sat itself down like a witch’s familiar. Which was quite appropriate given the gender swap.

Rather than worry about whether she should be augmenting her attire with an appropriately pointy hat however, Kamek was instead a bit worried about Jr now that his main minion was here with them and not covering his back, and she said as much to Bowser.

”Yeah he’ll be fine…” Bowser replied, only for a worm of worry to push itself inside his mind and start wiggling around creating mental images of all kinds of grim possibilities, mainly centered up the question of what happened if the brutally effective monster went after jr while he was on his own, working on his machine? True, it hadn't actively attacked anything not been attacking it, no healer murdering attempts had been made for example, but still, Bowser’s mind was none the less presented with some very unpleasant imagery of his son being on the receiving end of blows even he had barely withstood, much to his displeasure.

Judging by the looks on the other two’s faces, he wasn't the only one getting those intrusive thoughts.

”ah… maybe I should” kamek began to suggest she go baby sit him, but Bowser had other ideas.

”Rika go keep watch on Jr, ok? Make sure he stays safe”

“Who me? But I just-” the ship girl who had almost died after failing to dislodge Jr’s attacker tried to reply, but the king was adamant, clapping her reassuringly on the shoulder and guiding her away from the battle.

”Off you go, I’m counting on you!” he told her, practically pushing her away from active danger before turning to his old advisor and telling him ”Now let’s go pay that ugly mug back tenfold!” which got a determined nod from Kamek (and Mimi). Soon enough Bowser was tromping back into the fray at last, joining the Ace while Kamek and Mimi hovered above, laying dark mines (which involved Kamek casting and Mimi copycatting him) as traps to turn the Orphan's erratic movement against it.

This worked remarkably well as after getting ice smashed and fortuitously failing to trounce the child responsible the Orphan dropped down onto the minefield, causing a bevy of blasts to briefly tip it over. Sizing the opportunity the king leapt forwards and delivered a meteoric punch right to the Orphan’s chest, only to back up as Ace got stuck in, which gave him just enough space to avoid the first retaliatory blow from the monster.

He tried to come back in after that, but the Orphan started to put its range avoidance strategy to use in melee as well, using its fast movements to dodge around the slower Koopa, while also keeping the faster monster hunter between the king and itself, causing him to not be able to go forwards, and ace to have less room to back up in.

The brief moment of frustration came to an end when the Ace got himself clipped and sent hurtling towards Bowser, who did his best to catch the hunter, but he still got sent sliding backwards through the sand a short distance as he absorbed much of the cadet’s momentum.

As the Orphan left the pair behind and raced off to smash the engineer’s turret the young prince was having difficulties with his own broken machine, and was at that moment waist deep inside it's hammer space glove box, grumbling away as he looked for an item that was no longer in his possession ”where is it? Where is it?! I know it was in here somewhere!”

“What are you looking for anyway?” Rika, who was agitatedly standing guard, the ship girl unable to actually stand that guard still as she watched the battle from a much too close vantage point.

”The stupid hammer! I can't fix my car quickly without…” Jr was saying before pausing, having an idea and pulling himself out of the car ”oh wait I know! I can get Blazermate’s wrench guy to fix it!”

“I, ah, think he just got sunk” the ship girl let him know. It had been far too quick too, just one shot and the once mortal man had been a goner. That had almost been her.

”Oh come on!” the prince threw up his arms in frustration at this run of bad luck.

“So is it just broken for good now then?”

”What? No, I can fix it myself. What do you think all my technical brains were in that hammer? Ha no. It’ll just take time without it, time we ain’t got” the boy said, and on that he was surly right. Every moment the Orphan got was another moment it had to deal a singularly decisive blow on any one of them, and next time it might not be a striker who bit the dust.

”So forget trying to do that,” he declared, grabbing his gadbrush and giving it a twirl, before fiddling with a little hidden control mechanism which flushed the tip of the brush with burning goop ”Instead, let's go paint the town red!”

“That’s mostly orange” Rika pointed out before asking “Also why are we painting a town? And what town?”

”Less questions more butt kicking” Jr replied, taking off at a run back towards the fight.

There, while Bowser and Ace had been untangling themselves, some of the ladies had taken their palace in the fray, with Sakura hadouken and Bella’s tripping supporting Nadia’s full frontal assault supported by her dopplegangers, which was going well right up until she was overwhelmed and knocked down by a colossal blow that knocked both copies out of commission and almost destroyed Nadia outright.

What stopped it finishing the job was aid from Bowser and Kamek.

Bowser stormed in roaring ”GET YOUR UGLY MUG OFF HER!” before physically grabbing the still half prone Orphan and hauling it above his head while it raged. With a wild swing it smashed the king in the back with its mace, causing the king to cry out in pain as he stumbled, but he soldiered through and with a roar hurled the monster into the carcass of a washed up whale, who’s rotten body gave way with ease, burying the Orphan in a mire of gore and bone.

This costly throw gave Kamek enough time to direct his white mages to heal the fallen catgirl, giving her a burst of healing on top of her natural regeneration that would likely have her right back on her feet, but that left the King’s back wound unattended to.

Not that he was going to let that stop him. Though his shell was cracked and oozing gore it still held the light he had absorbed earlier. More was drawn in now as the king raised his maw to the sickly moon and devoured its light, causing the shadows to twist as the light faded, and then grow long as the power coalesced into in a glowing orb of pure white light held between the King’s bestial fangs. As the orphan was on the verge of clawing its way out of a prison of blood and bone for a second time in its life the king violently snapped his head towards it and unleashed the charged up energy in one singular strike.

Light streamed fourth in a beam wider than the Orphan was tall, bringing a brief dawn to the cove as it hammered into the horror, as well as the corpse holding it briefly captive within its shattered ribs. The whale, which had been dead even before its bloated body was stolen by Galeem, promptly exploded, sending smoldering chucks of blubber and bone fragments showering across the area.

”How do you-” the wounded and winded king had to pause for air for a moment half way through his taunt ”-like that ya shmuck!”

The smoke and cloud of kicked up sand and vaporized blood cleared over a few tense moments, and as the veil slipped away it revealed the form of the Orphan simply standing there. Despite its chest having been burnt by the core of the energy beam, the viscera soaked horror’s perpetually exposed teeth made it look as if it was grinning at the king, as if the blast had simply done it a favor by freeing it from the mire of gore he had tossed it into. Then the half imagined moment ended as the monster screamed and came rampaging out of the blast crater, sprinting forth to finish the job of breaking the presently gobsmacked king’s back.

The climb was miserable, the fabric only giving the barest of protection for Therion's hands. At least his skin wouldn't be freezing to the metal. Therion was silent and stony faced all the way up the length of the chain, save for the moment he noticed Midna following them up to the ship where he sighed before continuing on. A babysitter for the babysitter seemed redundant, but whatever. They made it up to the frozen ship's level with no issue, which was a pleasant surprise. Like Therion had said back on the ground, he didn't think Raz had it in him to climb so high up. The kid looked scrawny and top heavy. But he made it, and the thief had to admit he was impressed. He just didn't admit it out loud. And when Raz slipped and dangled from the icy wood he almost took his thought back, but thankfully the psychic was able to pull himself back up.

Being impressed by his physical ability did not mean that Therion trusted whatever spell the kid was casting after he'd jumped over to the mast though. Therion took one look at it and raised an eyebrow. "I'm good," he said, declining the help and swinging his way over to the mast on his own. He felt the ship lurch slightly as he landed on the mast, and for several seconds he waited for any other signs that the vessel might fall. When it didn't he inspected the chain where it was iced over and stuck.

How simple it would be just to melt the ice. Therion snapped his fingers a couple of times in front of the frozen mass, but nothing happened. Not even a spark, again. Therion rumpled his nose in frustration, the expression clearly showing on his face when he cut a glance to Midna as the Twilight Princess joined them. "Besides freezing half to death, just fine."

They got to work on the chain after that. They being Raz and Midna. The former mentioned exploring the ship's inside while they worked on the ice, but Therion didn't really need an invitation. Plus because Midna had decided to come along too, there was an extra chaperone. With a little halfhearted wave Therion left them to it, dropping down and slipping into the ship's interior.

The cabin had all kinds of junk, ancient and iced over. Nothing too interesting yet. Therion noted that Midna's dog... thing had found it's way in as well and was sniffing at some bones. There did seem to be a lot of bones. Some skulls too, that looked like they were glaring. "Nice," the thief said to himself sarcastically. He'd long ago stopped feeling any remorse from stealing from the dead, so their glares, whether imagined or not, didn't do much to dissuade him from looking around the ship. Although when he noticed that some of the skulls had eyes of gold and gem stones, he took a much closer look at them. He repeated the word without the facetiousness as he pried a few jewels from the bones. "Nice."

A deep chill swept through the cabin, the kind that raised the hairs on the back of Therion's neck and made it hard to attribute to just the inner mountain's temperature. He turned around just in time to side step a moving skeleton as it dove out a hole in the wall and down in the cavern. What the hell? So it didn't like opportunistic visitors, but was it really trying to fling itself off and take Therion with it? The rattling of more bones drew Therion's attention away from the hole and towards a few more complete skeletons forming. They took a few staggering steps towards him, then crouched slightly in preparation to pounce. Come on, give me a break.

He dodged the first assailant, putting him in the path of the second. It reached out with it's cold fingers, but in a flash Therion's sword was out and severing the skeleton's arm at it's elbow joint. That didn't stop the skeleton's advance, it pressed itself close to Therion and wrapped it's hand into his shawl. It was stronger than it looked, dragging the thief a couple steps toward the opening in the wall - but with only one arm it's grasp was easy to break out of, and Therion back stepped away quickly. He vaulted over a desk that would have already rotted away if it weren't frozen solid, putting a barrier between himself and the jump-happy bones. They could throw themselves off the ship as much as they liked, but they weren't taking Therion with them. Especially so after Raz appeared in the cabin, immediately drawing the skeletons' attention and raising a few more.

Therion's eye twitched. Are you kidding me? Raz rushed out, the skeletons rushed out after him, and Therion rushed out after them. His sword cracked at the legs of the straggler bones, sending them tumbling into the cavern. He'd just cleared the exit when he saw Raz jump back onto the mast, and the rest of the skeletons whiff and dive into oblivion. Therion sighed and dropped his head against the wood of the ship - which he immediately regretted because it was so cold it practically burned the skin of his forehead. He sheathed the sword, pushing the scabbard under his shawl again and went to regroup with the other two.

"Finished?" He thought that it must be considering the kid had come into the cabin, but that actually didn't seem to be the case. It was close though, somehow Midna got a fire going with some kind of accelerant given the stench, and as soon as the chain was unstuck it flew away from them while pulling the pincers up. Therion's eyes widened, seeing the collision that was about to happen, but it was coming up too fast to do anything about. The pincer smashed into the mast, destroying it and sending them into a free fall.

There was a rush of air exiting Therion's lungs, because falling from this height was terrifying no matter what, but he forced his brain to work. They had gotten all of those gliders for just such a fall, and he had one. Hopefully it worked. Hopefully it could hold the weight of two people if needed, at least enough to slow them so Therion to throw his grappling hook. He felt someone grab onto his scarf and he looked over his shoulder at Raz. Good, now he just had to maneuver the kid so he was holding onto his front or side so he could deploy to glider. He felt Raz resist the attempts to shift, and then say he got this, which set off all kinds of warning bells in Therion's mind.

"What? No, let go!" Therion twisted, aggressively trying to reverse their positions as he couldn't even try the glider while Raz was clinging to his back. The ground was coming up fast, and panic gripped Therion's heart. He probably wasn't going to walk away from the fall this time. They were both about to die. Self preservation was telling Therion to just shove Raz off of him to try and save himself, then at least there would only be one casualty and not two, but the attempt was aborted about halfway through when their fall was suddenly halted - without them being splattered on the cavern's floor. The whiplash stunned Therion for a few seconds, but once he recovered he detached himself from Raz and landed. Immediately he rounded on the boy.

"What the hell! We both could have died if your little -" he waved a hand at the odd bubble floating next to Raz "- spell didn't work. Not to mention you could have broken my damn neck." Therion readjusted his clothes, and while he was at it he pulled the glider out and waved it around. Kind of a dick move but his nerves were frazzled, he didn't even care that the thick metal manacle and chain link on his wrist was clanging. He tucked everything back away, beginning to calm down. His eyes flicked over Raz to make sure he was alright. He seemed fine, so Therion didn't feel bad about chewing him out. There wouldn't be a "thank you" this time. "Be. Careful."

Midna arrived shortly after, floating down beside them to ask if they were okay and to rub in the fall, apparently.

"Do not even start," he growled, jabbing a finger towards the imp. Thankfully any further conversation was cut off because of the fire from two fronts. One where the ship was beginning to catch, and the other where flares of flame were helping to light a scuffle. Therion scrubbed a hand down his face. "What have I gotten myself into..." he grumbled to himself. Damn dancer, dragging him into this. He beat a hasty retreat from the area along with the other two before remnants of the burning ship fell on top of them.

---

Seeing the Phantom Thieves in action so many times already, Primrose was glad to have them backing her up. Or the reverse really, as the dancer planned to back them up, but regardless the teenagers were a formidable force. She smiled at Panther and nodded. Together they awaited any danger that might present itself. For a little while it was all quiet. Then, there was a great crashing noise - and following it, disturbed by the sound, came the monsters. The large golem with crystal-like spikes of ice and a skeletal face was obvious, but there was something else skulking around the cavern. Something fast, and there were multiples of this something according to Necronomicon.

They dashed around, clinging to surfaces, leaping, and sticking to the shadows. Before anyone could try anything, suddenly the cavern was enveloped in darkness, the light of the flare dying out. The light of the fire in Primrose's hand didn't illuminate farther than a foot or two in front of her, but she could hear scuffling and the general sounds of battle. With Joker's call for fire, Primrose turned the small flame into the much larger Fire Orb, raising it over her head for whatever light it could bring for a few seconds before she hurled it, letting the bal of fire explode and spread whatever wasn't too frozen to burn. She caught sight of the creatures, brief glimpses of them jumping from wall to wall. They were much too fast to get a good read on, but Primrose tried anyway, tracking them to the best of her ability with her eyes until a beam of light shone out from Poppi. She glanced over at the Blade and noted that... she was missing an arm?

Fast, and strong enough to cleave not only through bone but whatever metal Poppi was made of? That was not good. Spurred into action by the threat, Primrose started to dance. First, Sealticge's Seduction. If the creatures were this speedy it wouldn't do to dance for one party member at a time, no matter how fast she did it. With that finished, on to the next. Power, speed? Or maybe in this case defense would be best to bestow upon the others? Primrose made her choice and was in the middle of her first turn when she heard Panther cry out. She looked, eyes wide as she caught sight of a vicious face lunging at her. Knowing it was too late to even get out of the way at this point her face paled. She just hoped she survived.

A second later the monster slammed into her, a blunt force instead of the claws she expected thanks to Panther. She crumpled, hitting the ground hard on her side. She shoved at the wendigo, trying to get out from underneath of it. The monster let her, recovering enough to raise it's claws and attack, but it was warded off by the Phantom Thief's gunfire.

"Panther," Primrose gasped once the creature was away from her. "I'm alright!"

The sound of her name drew her attention again and she braced herself, hoping there wasn't another wendigo on it's way, but instead she found Laharl jumping down to defend her.

Primrose blinked up at the little demon, surprised to see such blatant emotion in his eyes. Though her abdomen - exposed as it was - was hurting badly she offered Laharl a smile. "Thank you, I'm... I'll be okay," she repeated, pushing herself up onto her knees with a pained sigh. Gingerly she placed her hand on the boy's shoulder and nodded towards where the wendigo had run. "Someone needs finish that thing off. You can do it, I can support you with a spell," she said.

Laharl opened his mouth to protest that she in fact was not 'okay' as much as he was convinced otherwise, or that almost anyone else could finish the last of the gaunt beasts off.

However he begrudgingly agreed "Fiiiine!" he groaned gently brushing the dancers hand off his shoulder and turned slightly hesitating for a moment to glare at Primrose one last time before rushing into the darkness, searching for any sign of the creature when suddenly he spotted movement in the corner of his eye. Now he was the one attacking from the cover of darkness, summoning both his draugr and scourge to join him in gleefully murdering the beast.

As Laharl moved, Primrose's hand became engulfed in dark flames. She slammed her palm into the ground, casting the Black Serpent spell. The black fire rushed along the ground ahead of the demon, headed straight for the wendigo. The monster would surely see it coming - or maybe not due to it's dark color - but at least it would give Yoshitsune and his demonic ally a little room if the wendigo backed off.

Laharl swung his axe furiously over his head, while the draugr hacked at the creatures limbs with it's own axe and the scourge slashed the wendigo across the back with it's steel sword.

Not content with just that spell, Primrose stood up in order to continue her dance. The Lion Dance, granting those in the area an increase to attack power thanks to her earlier set up.

At this point Therion arrived at the scene alongside Midna and Raz. Thanks to the burning ship and the debris the others had already set fire to, he could see a good chunk of the group was missing and the rest were in dire straits. His eyes immediately locked onto Primrose, doing her best to hide the pained expression on her face as she danced. Hurt, but standing - and if she was standing then she was okay. For now, anyway. He shared a brief look with the two he'd gone up to the ship with, and then it was into the fray. After the scare earlier he was really keen on not seeing anybody die today.

The thief set his sights on the golem. Moving swiftly over to it's back he grabbed hold of one of it's spines, pulling himself up just enough to get a decent position in which to dump the Armor Corrosive over the thing. He uncorked one of the vials, letting it splash over Kelvin and weaken it's defense before he hopped right back off. It certainly looked tough, so it wouldn't hurt to soften it up a bit - especially since he'd felt the familiar power up of Primrose's dance right after, granting the attack buff.

"Let's see what you've got," he said, drawing the short sword and twirling it in his hand. If this thing had a weakness hopefully he'd find it soon enough. Though Therion put emphasis on his speed, he was stronger than he looked - even so, it was sword versus ice and stone, or whatever this thing was really made of. The power up combined with the debuff helped, but alone he wouldn't be able to take it down. Even so he continued to cut into it.

Meanwhile, with Primrose's dance ended she made a move to Joker and Panther's side, intending to offer help where she could. While she did, she summoned a little more help.

"Makami." The wolf spirit poofed into existence, circling it's mistress until she pointed at the golem and commanded it. "Go, Tarunda!" Like before, it's abilities came to her mind as she summoned it, and the Makami gave a short bark of understanding. It's paper-like body snaked through the air towards Kelvin to use the attack debuffing skill on it.

---

---

Link skidded to a stop in front of Bowser as the creature rampaged in for the finishing blow, brandistock light in his grip. If nothing else he would take the blow meant for the Koopa King. That didn't mean he has shown up with a plan however, as in his other hand he fingered the sheikah slate display like a gunslinger at a high noon duel. He watched intently as it approached, looking for any tell of what sort of attack it was going to unleash, until at the last second it drew back its weapon as though to bat him aside.

The brandistock shot from his fingers, flying to he side. He hadn't thrown it like you should throw a spear, like a shaft of death with its dangerous end slicing through the air as it traveled. He had thrown it longways, shaft pointed straight up so that the creature organic weapon would slice right through the wood on its way to decapitating him. Then he lashed out with the slate, hitting Stasis as he did and binding the spear in place with golden chain that appeared from nowhere.

The creature was strong, but not even its great strength wouldn't be able to budge an immovable object. Hopefully it would stagger under the force of its own blow, giving Bowser time to pull back and giving one of them a momentary advantage.

For all her efforts with the fireball, Kasugano Sakura earned the flighty ire of the terrible infant. Like the others, her sympathy had to be put aside for fighting instinct and simple fear of the powerful creature. She wasn't going to underestimate it again. She took her fighting stance, breathing heavily.

As the crushing overhead came down, Sakura hopped nimbly to the side. The creature caught nothing but air, the dust and wind only ruffling her clothes. She predicted a follow up swing, and it came. She hopped cleanly over it, pulling her legs underneath her. There were few things as satisfying in this world as causing an opponent to completely whiff. All the power of their strike, and the only place it goes is into their own arm as they try to regain their momentum.

Sakura landed nimbly on her feet and stepped forward into a roundhouse kick across the creature's jaw. "Sei!" and quickly back dashed away as the rest of her comrades engaged the creature in battle.

There were things happening, but Sakura caught them mostly in her peripheral. All of her attention was on the mad beast. Bowser was the one who distracted it from her, firing a mighty series of blasts into the beast that barely seemed to bother it. But Sakura knew better. "Keep it up! We're hurting it!" Sakura said confidently. The Orphan was excellent at ignoring injuries and fighting through them. Sakura knew many people who were the exact same way. But once you pushed through every bit of endurance they had left, a little tap would be all it would take to cause them to come tumbling down.

The Orphan charged at the Koopa King, but link stopped it dead in it's tracks with his quick-witted magic. A mighty counter strike! Sakura sprinted in to take advantage. Ideally some of her allies would help beat the hell out of it, too, but she would do it alone if no one else was in position. Her plan of attack was as follows.

She drove her elbow into the Orphan's spine. Smoothly she interlocked her fingers together hammered her two fists up into the Orphan's back. Then she flashed yellow as she snapped into an EX "Shunpukyaku! Take this!" One two three! She span like a blender and aimed to drive the Orphan back into the spear suspended in the air. She landed and then slammed her foot into the creature's back one more time. A straight kick that she transitioned into a back roll, diving away from the Orphan and taking her fighting stance.

With how wild and unpredictable the Orphan's attack patterns were, it was hard enough to keep his guard up let alone get any attacks in on it. Whenever he could, the Ace Cadet would strike as often possible - and still the Orphan shrugged off the weighty blows. In the thick of the continuous onslaught it was only a matter of time before the Cadet's stamina wore down, but his guard was broken long before that by a clever swipe of the child's weapon. Quick decision making on the hunter's part lead to an exchange of blows, and ended with the Cadet getting sent flying by a vicious uppercut. He expected a crash, not a catch, and though it could have been worse it still really, really hurt.

"Ugh, ow. Thanks," he coughed, extracting himself from Bowser's claws. It wasn't a pleasant experience for either of them, what with the king's hard shell and scales meeting the Cadet's rough armor, but they were both still in one piece at the very least. Now they just had to keep the others that way.

While they'd recovered, more Seekers took their place to challenge the Orphan head on. It screamed and thrashed against them, but between the ladies they managed to bring it halfway down. This was their chance then! The Cadet was already starting an approach again when the Orphan twisted and proved it being down was not being out by any means.

It had sent so many of them flying already, himself included, that when it deviated from it's favored pattern and put Nadia into the dirt instead the Cadet's mouth practically dried up in surprise, and fear. Bowser was well ahead of him, wrenching the Orphan away from the Feral and actually throwing it. At that point the Cadet wasted no more time and moved up to check on her, though when he spotted Kamek's clones he looked between them and Nadia, ultimately changing course so that they could take care of her.

Now, with the abomination emerging from Bowser's blast and about to go on a rampage again only to be stopped by Link's rune, the Cadet closed in again.

He'd go back to playing support soon, as the team desperately needed it, but right now it was time to capitalize on the opening while they could. Okay, round two! he thought, joining Sakura up close while Geralt circled cautiously, ready to dive in. He charged lance first, and as soon as the teeth of his weapon bit into the withered skin the Cadet pulled it up, back, and thrust it forward again in the familiar poke poke poke loop. With the street fighter at the Orphan's back, the monster hunter got up front to stab with the lance while it was momentarily thrown off by the stasis. He knew he wouldn't be able to rely on his shield's defense forever with the Orphan adapting to it, but for the moment it would do.

While Tora and Poppi licked their wounds, left behind by Laharl as he ran off to aid in Primrose’s rescue, the rest of their allies mounted their comeback. Instrumental to turning the tides was Sectonia, who stepped off the proverbial sidelines with a serious opening act. Her Time Dilation slowed down the rampages of both the ice golem Kelvin and the last remaining Wendigo, and though by no means the herald of an instant win, its effect was significant, as the dancer and the half-demon quickly found out.

The two rushed to the aid of Yoshitsune, where the samurai fought for dear life on the ground. His armor, and especially his helmet, proved to be his saving grace against the Wendigo’s feral onslaught until backup arrived. Primrose’s Black Serpent drove the monster back, and as the two ran in to take over for him Yoshitsune passed out, exhausted from fatigue and blood loss. The rest was up to his allies.

Laharl sicced his undead strikers on the beast, but after taking one slash the Wendigo proved as wily as it was fast. Even if its hideously stretched hide could foil any conventional blade, it had no intention of just standing there and getting hit. Instead it dodged backward, backpedaling until it came upon an outcrop of stone, and when the draugr’s overswing carried it off-balance the flesh-eater used the solid surface as a springboard to shoot forward. Its claw separated the dead Nord’s head from its shoulders before its summoner could so much as blink, although its lunge left it close enough that a pounce of Laharl’s own could land a Lion-empowered blow on it. If, of course, he could overcome the nasty cut that opened on his own throat as a result of the damage done to his striker.

Of course, without fire, the Wendigo could not be put down for good. Luckily, Laharl and Primrose were not alone. Panther and Joker appeared to help, each calling upon the scorching flames of the Lamia to help in their own way. Both Phantom Thieves moved in arcs on their respective sides, along which they set ablaze every piece of wood in their paths to create walls of flame in an effort to box the Wendigo in. When the creature, intent on the bloody murder of Laharl and Primrose, finally realized the threat, it broke off to hide the darkness. A burning shipwreck let off a lot of light, however, and Joker moved to intercept. “This is for earlier!” he declared, switching Personas in a flourish of azure flame that gave the monster pause. “Jinx, Riot Gun!”

A torrent of bullets from the gunslinging madwoman, accompanied by her hyena laughter, overcame the strength of the Wendigo’s jump and sent it flying back. It scrabbled to its feet and ran the other way, but Panther had already cracked her whip, infusing it with her element of choice. Faced with the lash of a tongue of flame, a smoking gatling gun, and an inferno of mining equipment, the Wendigo had nowhere to go but toward Laharl and Primrose. “Torch it!” Panther yelled to her friend. If Laharl gave her the shot, she could incinerate the menace with one good Pyromancy.

Meanwhile, Kelvin found himself under a different sort of duress. As he tore through the wreckage of the scaffold tower in search of Fox, scattering shrapnel with one mighty swing after another, Sectonia began her assault. Though potent, her attacks encountered some difficulty thanks to Kelvin’s Ice Form, until the golem felt the curious sensation of a liquid splash on his back. Then the corrosive started to burn, melting through its protective coating of ice and into its body–or, more accurately, bodies. This hulking brute was no artificial construct, with a core buried somewhere inside impregnable armor; it was a colossal mass of microorganisms, billions if not trillions strong, united under a single shared consciousness, and now that consciousness rumbled in pain. It rounded on Therion, the holes in its skull-face ablaze with thermal fury, but with the golem only about eight feet tall and its head in its middle that meant it had to look up at the thief to do so. The two launched into combat, with Kelvin constantly pressing forward in an attempt to punch Therion while he landed slice after slice. Every few attacks he would pound the ground, unleashing a small shockwave. None hurt too much, and Sectonia’s slow made it manageable, but even with lower defense he had enough durability to last a while, and if allowed to pull off a Chomp the damage would be severe.

At least, until third parties got involved. Though far from done with her Wendigo problem, Primrose spared some attention from her friend. Makami slapped Kelvin with yet another debuff, this time to his offense, alleviating some of Therion’s worry. Fox burst from the debris, having used a charge shot to forcibly relocate himself, but as he readied himself to lend the thief a hand he heard a chorus of yells from behind. A quick look over his shoulder revealed Big Band, Braum, and all the rest who’d gone down the tunnel, ready to help however they could. The three Phantom Thieves joined the pair who stayed behind, leaving the surrounded Wendigo one-on-seven, and with Mona’s wind to fan the flames its fate was all but sealed. Meanwhile, the brawn closed in on Kelvin.

Sensing the danger, the golem emptied his bag of tricks. As his enemies closed in, he activated Sublimate, becoming a heavy cloud of frigid air. The cold front blew through Therion, Fox, and the new arrivals in turn, freezing each for a solid two seconds, and as Kelvin’s run ended it conjured its Ice Wall. A slab of impassable ice arose in the group’s midst, freezing them on contact. Its size left Braum, the Scout, and Fox on the far side, with only Therion and Big Band with Kelvin.

“Guh!” Band gasped as he shrugged off the frost. “It’s cold enough as is, freezie-pop!” When Kelvin moved in without a word, Band deployed an enormous drum pedal to do his talking for him. “Giant Step!” The tremor knocked Kelvin off his feet, giving Therion a big opening, but the one-man band wouldn’t be far behind.



For a good moment Nadia just laid there, plastered against the muck like any of the other sorry carcasses littering this accursed beach, her limbs and fibers strewn about in weird ways, beneath a stormy sky that spun as though she were three sheets to the wind. A normal person might have been lucky enough to pass out, but not Nadia Fortune; the Orphan’s punishment missed her head completely, and though nothing to shake a stick at the pain wasn’t enough to overload her. Not after everything she’d been through. Still, it wasn’t every day that she took an impact akin to a runaway vehicle, and though her healing factor was already at work buffing out the dents, her sluggish muscles weren’t cooperating. Adrenaline pumped through her, perpetuating this fateful instant, and yet she could make no use of it. Drat. She could only stare in fear at the leering Orphan as it hunched over her, silhouetted against those turbulent heavens by the unwholesome light of that melty-eye moon. In both hands it held its placenta, one on the hilt and the other buried in the throbbing watermelon flesh on its head, raised like a guillotine over her midsection to deal the death blow that Rika had been so fortunate to escape. Maybe it was just her dazed delirium talking, but didn’t that weapon look sort of like a big shrimp? Karmic justice, perhaps, for all the shrimp that met their end in her belly over the years. In the middle of her attempts to play her imminent suffering off, however, memories flooded back to her–memories of being carved into pieces, of that unfathomable agony, second only to the horror of watching her family suffer it first. Nadia grit her teeth and, silently crying out to her allies for salvation, squeezed her eyes shut.

At the eleventh hour, her hero appeared. Bowser stepped over her to wrap the Orphan of Kos in his massive mitts. Though the monster put up a brutal struggle, cracking its captor’s armor enough to draw blood, the Koopa King did not relent. In what was, to be frank, an awesome display of strength and sturdiness, the rock-solid ruler powered through the Orphan’s punishment and hucked the flailing infant through the air. It hurtled a couple hundred feet and burst into the gooey, gristly, gas-swollen guts of a beached whale corpse, where it disappeared with a sickening BLORK into the depths of the body’s putrefied embrace. Knowing that the carrion would hold his foe for long, however, Bowser built up and released a ray of radiant light, brilliant enough to inundate the whole beach with its splendor. Its sheer intensity caused the volatile whale carcass to erupt, and the ensuing vile deluge splattered the cove with slabs of steamy, sludgy meat. For a suspenseful handful of seconds, no trace of the Orphan could be seen amidst the haze.

Behind Bowser, Nadia sprang to her feet. Fine, dandy, and fighting-fit thanks to Kamek’s ministration, she couldn’t help but let out a long, low whistle of admiration at Bowser’s feat. “Man, you go, big guy!” Her eyes flitted between him and Kamek. “...Thank you both, for real.” The soreness would linger for a while, and the wave of nausea that followed the whale’s detonation made her glad she hadn’t eaten anything since lunch, but for the most part she was fine. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for her appearance. I must look like a complete mess, she bemoaned. Hopefully Ace didn’t end up worrying about her unduly. She’d been hoping to get some revenge for him, in fact, before the Orphan floored her. The whole thing pissed her off, not least that the nightmare seemed content to put itself at a disadvantageous position just to spite her. Did it just hate her that much? Nadia bared her teeth. Although nothing would make her happier than seeing the nightmare dead to rights after Bowser’s giga-beam, she wasn’t about to get her hopes up.

Sure enough, and all too soon, the Orphan showed its ghastly face again. Its torso sported visible damage, but a lot less than the feral would have liked, and with barely any delay the freak started charging toward the heroes once more. This time, however, it bare down on not just one or two challengers, but a whole bevy of Seekers rallied and ready for action. Nadia, Bowser, Kamek, Geralt, Ace, Sakura, and Link all fanned, steeling themselves for its offensive, but the latter had a clever idea too. He threw his brandistock, but not in an effort to pierce the Orphan’s sallow flesh. Instead, Nadia watched as he used a little tablet to freeze his upright weapon mid-air, and when the nightmare swung, the impossible happened. The ordinary-looking polearm somehow took the full force of the abomination’s armor-busting bludgeon, not deflecting it, but absorbing it. Placental blade and Orphan alike stopped in their tracks.

Naturally, just about everyone wanted a piece of that, and the more of them that stepped up to bat, the better a chance they had at locking it down. Geralt’s big stride brought him in the quickest, where he carved across the Orphan’s limbs with the safe, professional slices that would win his team this fight over the big, risky plays that ended in downtime. Sakura, meanwhile, went to town. A bone-crunching elbow led into a twin-fist wallop, then an extra-spicy special cancel to pummel the Orphan’s blindspot with a hurricane kick. Not about to let her fellow fighter have all the fun, Nadia joined in, delaying only long enough to summon another copycat with a flourish. As the gruesome twosome delivered a Flip-flop they removed their heads, which then thrust forward in corkscrew-powered Facepalm. The sight of Ace fighting alongside her, stabbing the Orphan with all he had, filled both Nadias with determination. Amidst the thing’s feculent bloodshed they hopped up to hurl their heads down with Cat Spike. Rather than go for an aerial, however, Nadia made the split-second choice to airdash backward. In a spray of vital fluid she and her copycat flew out of harm’s way. A second later, Orphan lashed out with a distended sweep, carving a spiral furrow in the sand. Sakura’s roll got her clear of the initial pass, and though the second clipped her painfully on wakeup, she could still celebrate landing a solid combo thanks to her strategic use of Link’s stasis-bound brandistock.

The fresh cuts, bruises, and bite marks -courtesy of Bella- made the monster howl in outrage, and it got back into the swing of things with a vengeance, swinging high and wide one direction after another in an effort to eviscerate the whole group without singling anyone out. After a little more give and take, during which the polearm flashed faster and faster before hurling away into the surf, the Orphan switched it up. With a scream it pounded the ground, hard enough to send out a ripple of force, then performed a sudden long jump. It zoomed between Bowser and Geralt, not to mention over Hat Kid, and landed a good way off. The nightmare skidded to a stop not too far from the entrance, which meant it was near Junior, Rika, and Delsin as well. With a yell of alarm, the Abyssal opened fire, but a few bullets wouldn’t stop the Orphan finishing what it started. Before it could get too close, however, Delsin jumped in front. Having broken out of his stupor with an intent to make up for lost time, he unleashed his chains and flames with a bellow, but the Orphan blew through them all. Before the Conduit could change tactics, he took a heavy blow across the chest that cracked his ribs, then an uppercut slice to the armpit that nearly took off his right arm. He fell to the wayside with a chilling yell, broken and bloodied, but his efforts bought the Seekers enough time to catch up to the Orphan once more.

”You're quite welcome” Kamek replied to Nadia’s thanks while Bowser mainly shrugged in ‘well what else was I supposed to do, just let you die?’ kinda way, and then instantly regretted doing so due to his wounds.

Then the smoke cleared, the moment of respite was over and the monster fight resumed.

Bowser grunted in pain as he tried to square up against the incoming Orphan’s vengeful charge, more gore oozing from his cracked shell that had been over-strained even further by holding and unleashing the light as he did so. Fortunately for him Link was there to save his bacon, tossing a simple spear in-front of him and then in a flash freezing it in the air.

The immovable object met the not quite unstoppable force of the Orphan’s blow and brought it to a dead stop, which had to hurt, or at least be a surprise to the monster. It certainly was for Bowser, but others were more proactive than him in taking advantage of the situation, with Sakura, Ace and the freshly fighting fit feline racing ahead of the king to get stuck right in.

Bowser moved to follow them, but his faithful advisor and long suffering caretaker drifted down and put himself in the way.

”If you’d wait just another moment, sire, and I’ll have you right as rain in just a moment” Kamek insisted, indicating with a free hand up to her hovering heal squad.

”Ain’t got no more time to be sitting about twiddling my thumbs, get outta my way” Bowser replied, a retort that lost most of its impact when he tried to push the mage out of the way only to stumble and cringe in pain.

”Urgh, fine” he relented, and allowed the old koopa to administer his injuries.

As it turned out the amount of time Kamek needed to recharge meant that she ended up using her healing on Bowser right before someone else really really needed it. That person being Delsin.

As the restored Bowser moved to re-engage, the Orphan suddenly dis-engaged, blowing right past everyone and hurtling off towards the back of the cove. Right towards where Jr was, just as his family had feared might happen.

The bark of rifle fire that greeted the Orphan’s assault on those outside the battle proved that their precaution had in fact been well worth it for all it had deprived them of Rika’s firepower during the melee. Not that the ship girl’s fire halted the Oprhan’s advance mind. Even Delsin, who stepped up to the plate for the first time with his flames and chains, only managed to prevent the Orphan from getting to the boy because it stopped to give him a beating and nearly ripped his arm clean off in the process.

”Hey! Get off of him!” came a shout from Jr, accompanied by the water balloon like body of a Swoopin' Stu to splash into the Orphan’s face.

The horror whipped its head towards the boy prince, losing the stinging goop in the process, and proceeded to get a cannon round to the chest from a very nervous looking Rika standing between a retreating prince and the monster. With a howl it leapt at the ship girl, who fired her rigging mounted sixpack of guns as she rapidly sailed backwards, moving as if she was floating on water rather than standing on the ground. And that was because she was floating on a liquid, it just wasn't water for once.

The Orphan slammed down onto the oil stick of goop the prince had spread while it was taking apart Delsin, the same goop that was letting Rika wave surf instead of run, causing the blue and yellow mess to promptly unload its considerable electrical load right into the ocean borne horror.

While the massive charge would have left a certain plummer screaming, convulsing and utterly paralyzed for several seconds, against the nightmarish abomination it merely caused a very brief moment of muscular spasming that cause it to stumble. While not show stopping by any means it did at least unsteady it enough that it was unable to immediately chase the ship girl as she skated away on a trail of goop the retreating prince was leaving behind with his brush, and was left open to attack from the heroes racing in to aid the trio (and Delsin certainly needed some aid that was for sure).

Despite his concern for his son, the less than agile king brought up the rear of that pack, and slowed even more as his quite safe son broke past them, followed by the slime skating Rika.

”Are you both ok?”

”Yeah, obviously!” jr replied for them both before Rika asked “Are you? You keep getting hit really badly”

”Eh I’m tough” Bowser replied simply, which got a nod and agreeing ”mmm, he is!” from his son, but the hovering Kamek, who had had to fix the king up three times at this point, wasn’t looking to have that situation repeated.

”If I may sire, I think you should take some backup in with you this time rather than just suffering through everything yourself” she suggested.

The king glanced sideways at the two younger members of the Troop who he did not want to be taking those hits and then replied ”Yeah no, you three stay safe, I've got this. Ain't no one who can to take those hits the way I can after all!" with pride.

”How about more of yourself?” Kamek replied (talking over an objection form Jr about how he was tough too dad!) with a grin, having a plan that had been inspired by Nadia’s tactics.

”More of myself?" Bowser asked, briefly confused, but then snapped his fingers as he got it ”Oh! Yeah! Let's do it!'

”Marvelous, now then” the mage replied, before floating up above the other three and facing the (currently embattled with the others) Orphan and half taunting half chanting ”You might have easily cracked my king’s shell like an egg”

”Hey!”

”But let's see how you deal with a full carton of carnage!” Kamek cackled as she finished his spell and a quartet of massive dark portals opened up and then, with a “Mi mi!” from the little copycating pokemon on his broom, the four were joined by a fifth, slightly smaller, portal. Out of these dark voids five copies of the Koopa King dropped, their steel capped boots hitting the sand heavily, before the five dark mirrors of the king's already dark heart raised their maws to the sky and roared dramatically.

Said roar was the first warning the heroes fighting the Orphan got of what was going down behind them, and of what was about to come bearing down on them all.

Bowser stepped into the line of shadow hims and said to them ”Follow my lead copycats. Let's see how this smuck can handle six of me dogpiling it!" before giving a battlecry of ”CARGE!" and then doing just that.

The King went storming towards the Orphan with his five doppelgangers flanking him, sending an entire scrimmage line of heavyweights bearing down on the lone Orphan (which could prove to be a problem for anyone who didn’t get break off their duel and get out of the incoming royal rampage in time) with the express intent of collectively pinning it down and then kicking the ever living snot out of it.

Papyrus@Dark Cloud Frisk@Majoras End

---

---

The pair made their way out of the village, The Fallen Child and their Skeleton Friend taking a sort trek through the snow before again finding their was to the disquieting forest of hanging dolls. As they made their way through the woods a slight breeze coming from the direction of Treat's manor home rattled the branches, causing the dolls to sway back and forth. They knocked into the branches and one another, creating a sound like wooden windchimes. Occasionally they would hear a fragile crack and a piece of ancient porcelain would clatter to the ground,. A bit of once rosy cheek, a small curled finger, and ear. Though it hadn't been the most wonderful of scenery the first the first time they had been through the wood, the sight had been joined by an oppressive air that seemed to cling to Frisk as they walked.

Finally they reached the bottom of the steps that led to the mansion, Linkle's weapon laden sled sitting at the base of a tree nearby. They were about to start up when suddenly they heard the sound of a gate flying open and crashing wildly against the the stones. Treat appeared at the top of the stairs a moment later, panic driving her leg as she took the steps one, two, three at a time, before spotting the two of them at the bottom. She stumbled in surprise, slipping of a step and pitching forward and tumbling down the steps toward the two.

Whether the result was a crash or a catch didn't seem to matter to the wolf girl. "Linkle...." She puffed out, scrambling up and flinching away from the skeleton she registered all too suddenly, before pointing up. "Help! There's a...it's a...."

---

"It's just a weird doll." Linkle said, stepping closer to the odd thing lying on the table as Treat poked her head in from the doorway. It was an odd thing, to be sure. A limp and lifeless thing laid out like a corpse on a slab, the head and face so detailed that if it weren't for the clearly puppet like joins and finely polished yet clearly wooden body you could almost mistake it for a real woman in the dim light. At least she was half decent, but the cloth wrap actually served to make her more creepy. Like she had something to hide, carved under there. Treat approached as Linkle lifted up one of the arms to wave at her.

"Please Stop. I don't like that thing." Treat said as though she were imposing something on the other girl, and Linkle obediently let the hand flop back down on the table. They had been everywhere in this basement save this one room, a room that Treat had introduced as "the body room." She had never taken more than a cursory glance in here, spotting the doll lying on the table and booking it for greener pastures the moment she did. When she had told Linkle about it the Skullgirl had been so sure it was the cause of the haunting, but it was just another doll.

While they had been down here Linkle had tried everything she could think of to lure out the ghost or the evil haunting this place. She had shouted challenges, pretended to be lost, shut off her lantern and pretended they were just some poor damsels in distress. She had pushed a few boxes around even, hoping that if she looked like she was on the verge of solving a puzzle the thing would get spooked and try to stop her. Nothing. They had heard the occasional groan from inside the wall, but it was no human groan. Treat had been right, it was just the sound of wood moving around.

Linkle sat up on the table, scooching the doll back. "It looks like your house is one hundred percent ghost free." She said, hands cupped on her cheeks.

"How terrible." Treat said, trying to hide that she didn't share her new friends disappointment.

"It is. That means it's just creepy. I can't fix that by kicking it. And if the others don't manage to sway those dumb rabbits, you're gonna have to stay here, in a place you don't like." Suddenly, an idea flashed in her brain. "I've got it. Why don't you come stay with me? There's two beds in my room, its nice and warm, and I've got my own shower!"

"It's all right." Treat said, backing up a step with a blush coating her cheeks. "You guys have done more than enough already. I couldn't, you'd be targeted because of me. They don't treat...'traitors' well."

"Oh, who gives a hoot!" Linkle said. "Ask Mr. Grillby what happened to me just yesterday and then try to tell me I should be worried about some rabbits." Linkle hopped off the table, brimming with confidence. "Besides Albedo and his dog are right next door." She said enticingly, sweetening the pot.

Treat considered momentarily. She did love that dog, and she hadn't had a bath in a good long while. "I...I..." She stuttered as Linkle leaned forward in anticipation.

Whatever her answer, it was suddenly cut off by a sound that made both girls turn to look. A long, slow, creeeeeek of hinges as the door to the left of them swung open. Linkle stepped in front of Treat, holding her lantern above her as she started into the black abyss beyond the door, the frosted glass that made up the wall it was set into reflecting the light and rendering them impenetrable as walls. Linkle stepped forward. Treat reached out and grabbed her cloak weakly between her fingers, her eyes flicking between the door in the wall and the one they had entered the room through. Linkle reached back, squeezed her hand once, and then slit the wolf girls grip off of her. "Remember." She said, confidently. "I'm really good at this." Unmoored, the skullgirl stepped forward just as Treat's nose started to twitch.

"Hello?" Linkle called, seping up the the empty doorframe ready to lash out at whatever grim visage emerged from the darkness. Suddenly movment, something small poping out around the frame of the door. Like a glove, or an over mitt, something grabbing the doorway to help it emerge. She jumped back.

"Bojure!" said the dirty little puppet peeking out from behind the doorframe. It was made of dirty sackcloth, it's featured rendered crudely in one looked like charcoal. It's voice was high and oddly cute as it spike, turning its little head to look at them, it's body set low enough to hide whatever arm was puppeting it. Linkle was once again flummoxed by something that hadn't attacked her first, and wasn't sure whether to start kicking or not at the diminutive looking thing.

Treat spoke up for her. "Are you the gh..gh..ghost?" She asked, lips trembling.

The little thing spread its arms, somehow looking offended with its charcoal face. "Oh, Non, non, non! I am no ghost. I am Pol. It is a pleasure to meet you at last."



"This isn't a ghost." A more trustworthy voice whispered in Linkle's ear. Treat stood there, voice low, softly sniffing. "I smell sweat."

Linkle tried to peer again through the cloudy glass separating them from whoever or whatever was controlling Pol, but got little other than the vague impression of a shadow. A place where the darkness was thicker and more defined. Whatever it was, it was better than any of the puppet shows that came though the village. The voice of Pol was coming directly from Pol. It was good enough to make you forget. "IS this your house, Pol?" She asked.

"Non." The puppet said sadly, shaking from side to side. "My house is beautiful. This place is decaying, and the dolls. The dolls! They are so listless and still. I hated it, but I could not leave. I can not bare to face the outside world." Linkle was almost moved by the palpable despair, the shattered loneliness in that voice, but the tide of of sympathy was dammed when Treat brought up something she hadn't considered.

"How do you know what the rest of the house looks like?" Treat asked, clearly dreading the answer.

Pol paused, tilting its little head to look at her curiously. "I've been watching. You've heard me, haven't you? The walls of the house are so spacious and wide. Burning toys from your little catalogue, playing with your cute dog, even the little party the four of you had. It warms my heart to see you so happy." Treat took a step back as the puppet continued. "Lonely little doll, do not be frightened. I would never harm you. You would never have known I was there. Come, stay and continue dancing for me."

The puppets pleading, though, had the opposite of the intended effect. Treat shook her head vigorously, and the puppet lowered its chin in disappointment. It let out a sigh, and as its spoke its next words its pitch suddenly lowered into a breathy, deep, demonic tone like wind being manually squeezed from its lungs to make the words. "Oh, my little doll. Why? Why would you run away from home? I will teach you good manners." As it spoke the arm began to slide around the doorframe, thin yet sinewy and bulging with lean muscles. Far too long to be a mans. "By disassembling."

That was enough for Linkle. She charged forward, leaping at the arm and delivering a flying kick at the puppet. The arm slithered back like a snake, catching Pol on the doorframe and dropping him to the floor. There was a sound of something big moving on the other side of the glass, something trying to get away. Linkle charged in, lantern high to catch him, but Treat shouted to her. "Linkle, stop. He didn't move!" She said, nose still twitching.

Linkle was barely into the doorway, turning to check the other side, when that arm reached down from the ceiling and grabbed her by the ears as though he were pulling a rabbit of of a hat. Treat watched as the arm lifted the skullgirl into the air and threw her deeper into the darkness of the room, the lantern falling from her hands and shattering against the floor. In the still dim light she watched some giant, orangutan like thing drop from the ceiling and bound after her, arms raised over its head. There was a smash as it disappeared into the darkness, almost simultaneous with a pained grunt from the unseen skullgirl. There was more smashing, the mad scramble of blows against flesh, and then a crackle as lightning emitted from Linkle's boots and lit up the whole room. They were caught in gruesome tableau for a moment, Linkle planting a boot right into the solar plexus of a...a man. A gangly disturbing man, flesh pale and balding save for a few sorry clumps of hair. He was easily three times Linkle's size, his limbs distended unnaturally. He wore a tattered pair of brown trousers, the cloth of which was eerily familiar to the cloth Pol had been constructed from. He reared back, a scream of agony that sounded like a whirlwind escaping his elongated, squashed face before the lightning cut out.

There was a meaty smack and Linkle came flying back into the light of Treat's lantern. She kipped up, breathing heavily, eyes confident. "I've got him right where I want him." She said, then turned to treat. "You've gotta get out of here, though."

"What abut the light!?" Treat asked, nearly panicking.

The man emerged into the room, arm swiping at Treat. She screamed, but Linkle moved up an managed to block the blow with her leg before it could reach her. Going into a spin she lashed out with her leg, the toe erupting into flames as it made contact with his face. The man staggered back, letting out another airy scream. "I've got my own." Linkle said, but Treat still hesitated. "I'll be right behind you." She assured. "My weapons are at the bottom of the stairs. If you want to help, meet me at the ladder with them. Go!" She gave Treat a rough shove in the direction of the way out and the wolfgirl ran, relying on her memory and the smell of the storage shed to guide her. The sounds of combat, somewhere out there in the dark, pushed her along.

---

This story, in short, is what the wolf girl frantically relayed to the duo. "I have to get ARGGHHH!" She said, collapsing just as she took a step toward the sled and its armaments'. She looked back at her legs only to find a twisted ankle from her fall. She punched the ground in frustration before looking up at the two. "Please. Please help."

While Laharl moved in with his strikers, Primrose took a moment to recover a little bit after expending so much stamina at once. It did end up being just a moment - because in the next the wendigo had decapitated Laharl's thralls and looked ready to finish the two Seekers off as well. Laharl had a nasty wound from the elimination of his strikers, but Primrose couldn't tend to it with the monster untethered and lusting for blood. The dancer narrowed her eyes. Thankfully she would not have to face the creature down alone, as the pair of Phantom Thieves arrived just in time to box the wendigo in. Corralled, it spun between the thieves and the fire before deciding that Primrose and Laharl were it's best bet for getting out of the trap. Though Primrose was not keen to let it escape. She nodded to Panther, conjuring the Fire Orb once more in her hand. "Gladly."

The spell swelled in size, blazing hotly in her palm until it grew too big to hold anymore. For good measure she boosted the magic, her figure flashing with power for a brief moment. "Fire, burn strong!" she called, hurling the Fire Orb at the wendigo. Trapped as it was, the monster screamed and snarled, launching itself in a last ditch effort to escape from the flames, though it was too late. The ball of fire exploded on impact, and the monster let out a shrill screech as it was cremated.

If Primrose was less dignified she would have sank to the floor then, but instead she pressed a hand to her chest and let out a deep sigh. There was still work to be done. While the Kelvin's attention was taken up by others, the group that had engaged the wendigos could regroup and get the healing that some of them desperately needed. Primrose conjured the flame of Warmth, beckoning her companions closer together now that the immediate threat has passed.

"Would you help me get them stabilized, Panther?" she asked of the girl. Between the two of them they could fix up Laharl and Yoshitsune enough to get them out of the danger zone while the battle was still technically on. She made to glance over at the golem, but it was then that she noticed the remaining three Phantom Thieves had joined them. With all of them there was never any worry about the wendigo getting out alive, and they had the extra healing at hand as well. "You too, Mona?"

Across the cavern floor, Therion had been on the backfoot. He was able to outpace the living colony but had to stick close enough to it in order to actually attack it. With his fire magic still on the fritz and his divine skill not even an afterthought, his long range options were limited to exactly none. Still, whenever he went in with his blade and ended up trading blows with the thing, it only managed to land glancing hits on the thief. Or perhaps whatever that flat dog thing did had weakened it further, he wasn't sure but he wasn't about to question it now.

It wasn't an ideal situation but it was far from the worst Therion could think of. Of course, once the cavalry appeared the golem just had to switch things up. When it transformed itself into mist and flew right at them, Therion raised his arms with the intention of blocking whatever was about to happen, only to be frozen in place. That experience was awful, being aware but unable to move coupled with the near burning sensation of the deep freeze. He struggled until he finally felt his limbs again, breaking out of the thin layer of ice. After they got out off this godsforsaken mountain he was going to park himself in front of a fireplace and never leave.

Before that, killing this thing. He and one of the group's larger members were stuck with it on one side of a huge ice wall it made. Alright, again not ideal but he could work with this. At least he wasn't stuck alone with it. Band went right into the action, knocking the Kelvin off of it's feet. Therion joined in, using the music man as a stepping stone to launch himself at the monster.

While airborne he couldn't see any kind of weak spot, so he settled for it's skull. He drew the sword back, feeling a familiar kind of power swimming through his body. Without stopping to think about it Therion's body flashed brightly for a split second, and with more force than he normally would have he stabbed the golem in it's face once he landed on it. Not caring to test his luck at the moment, Therion jumped backward off of the thing, making way for a heavier hitter to get up close and personal.

"All yours big guy."