With the makeshift elevator ride up the vertical tunnel being uneventful, the adrenaline that fueled Raz's inner fire petered out, leaving him as cold as physically possible without dying. He shuddered at a near constant rate, folding his arms tight to try and conserve his body heat. In spite of all this, he still gave a chipper response to the group's discussions.

"T-t-to be honest, this is probably the muh-most fun I've had since I got here," he said through his clattering teeth. "Al Mamoon is certainly warmer, but s-s-s-super boring."

The mood turned south fast afterwards as the reality of the situation settled in and the group fell silent. Along with the cold, the self-doubt from before started to creep up Raz's spine again. He'd been trying to make himself useful on this mission only to end up feeling like he was just 'there'. Had he been helping? Sorta. It barely felt like it though, and with how tricky the climb had been so far and would probably get still, being sorta helpful might be more of a hinderance.

When they reached the chain's end that doubt only grew. The air was so frigid that Raz already felt like he was a walking popsicle, and the howling on the other side of those huge doors was not making him hopeful. Still, having made it this far it would be pretty dumb to turn back around. All that could be done was try to keep warm, as hard as it was. He tried to stay in the center of the group, hoping to conserve warmth like a group of penguins, but he didn't voice this thought out loud. Some of the people here were made out of metal, so getting too close ran the risk of freezing to them. Probably.

At the end of the bridge, Raz tried to stand his ground as the sudden rush of freezing wind bowled right into the group, only to tumble backwards in a full flip and land on his face in the snow. He picked himself up, brushed the snow off of him as fast as possible, and pulled his goggles down over his eyes.

It was time to get serious.

The graveyard leading up to the summit chilled Raz to the bone, more than the wind ever could. Hiking up a mountain sounded easy! The truth of it was staring right at him now. And the giant, ominous hand - this 'Master Hand' that Tora and Poppi must've been talking about before - was right. There wasn't any option except going forward for them.

"See, we really could've used a cannon right now." Trying to take his mind off of the growing anxiety, Raz trudged into the group members furthest ahead. "We need to come up with... with something," Raz shouted over the shrill whistling of the wind. "There's no way we can just walk up there like this! Can we tear off one of those doors, maybe? Use it as a big shield and push our way up? What about him?" Raz pointed to Mona. "You can turn into a car, right? Maybe you could drive ahead and shield us from the wind!"

They weren't great ideas. They might not even be good ones. The group needed to figure out a plan regardless of how it came about. Raz scanned the surroundings, seeing nothing but snow, rods, and the occasional unlucky climber, which he didn't linger of for long. At least his goggles were keeping his eyes clear. "Wait! These things are, uh, they're gravestones, right? Something like that? Someone had to have put them here... you think there's people in this part of the mountain?"

---

”Rise and shine princess, now is no time for beauty sleep” Kamek told Peach as magikoopa minions and medical medabot all put their healing power to work into getting her back into tip top shape. Some might have thought this a bit excessive, but Kamek was quite sure Peach’s death could quite literally break her king's heart, and so the mage was all to happy to go the extra mile when it came to preserving the apple, or peach, of Bowser’s eye.

While Kamek herself got all the help she needed on her resuscitation mission, the white mage clone she had sent to try and resuscitate Delsin needed all the help it could get to achive it's task. This was a problem, because it was taking all the effort of the team to simply stay alive, never mind pinning down the Orphan for long enough that the healer construct could do her thing. Bowser had quite possibly been the only person who could physically restrict the orphan, and look where that had gotten him.

Rika and Jr joined the party late, and once there it took most of their effort to simply stay clear of the flailing monstrosity, ducking, weaving, belly sliding (Jr) and sailing (Rika) across the goopy terrain the prince was spreading everywhere simply by attacking. Even with the ground burning and slipping away beneath its feet, the Orphan would not be slowed, let alone stopped.

And then it was too late.

The monster threw itself skywards, ripped a globule of meat from its blade and hurled it down into the sand. And then the beach exploded, ripping the clone that had been trying to sweep the ash into a pile to pieces, and blowing its efforts to the four winds in the process.

”Gahhhhhh” Kamek raged wordlessly at this upset and then bit off several curses to instead turn her anger into aggression. The mage joined in with the princess at his side’s fire, blasting shadow empowered fireballs at the monster (and gaining 60 gold in the process).

Down below Rika and Jr picked themselves up from the ground and immediately got back to pouring on the fire, but it really didn’t feel like it was working. The monster would not stop matter how many shells or electro balls smashed into it and so there was no stopping it from completely annihilating the cliff-side and taking some of gravity along with it.

Being much too close to the center of the calamity, Kamek went hurling upwards into the air, robes fluttering in the wind as she desperately regained control over her flight and weaved to avoid being splattered by the shower of boulders. Her duller minions were not so skilled, being reduced to puffs of smoke one and all by the carnage.

Even with her daft broomstick-womanship, the last in the volley of stone looked like it might claim the mage anyway, till she thrust out her wand at the oncoming stone and cast a glimmering bolt. It struck the stone, shrinking it several times over to merely rock sized, after which the mage caught it like a baseball.

”Ah drat that still hurt” the mage cursed. Then she became consciously aware of the strange antigravity affecting everything, and came up with an idea. She tossed the rock up like the start of a tennis serve, resized it, planted a dark mine in the resulting boulder, shrunk it again, and then whipped around on her broom, grasping it like a tennis racket and batting the pebble back down towards the Orphan with all her might.

”Here, you can have this back!” she shouted, resizing the stone (and the dark mine implanted in it) as they flew, and then adding ”with interest!” as she supersized her projectile moments before impact.

Down below, Rika merely had to pick herself off the ground a second time, having been standing well back from the site of the detonation, but the sight of the Orphan seemingly just… walking away, made her absolutely furious.

“Don’t you dare run away you… You.. You JERK! RAAAAGH!” Rika screamed, first in rage and then in pain as she tapped into the Pacific Princess’s power. Raw vitally was ripped from her body, causing her to stumble to the ground as the sand beside her erupted, and a white whale hauled itself onto the beach. Unlike its beached (and rotten) kin however, this one had two things that let it rumble forwards towards the Orphan rather than simply founder and die. The first were the pair of stocky and disturbingly human arms in place of its front flipper. The second was that someone had turned down the gravity, and so the earth’s crushing’s grip on the sea creature was softened enough that it could haul it's bulk across the sand, its massive jaws hanging open in a roar that was felt rather than heard. At the same time the entirely audible roar of its naval guns barked out as they spat fire at the orphan as it approached.

Jr, who had been closer and had more or less joined the hail of rocks as a dangerous projectile by withdrawing into his shell, ran over to support the collapsing Rika as soon as he was able, more or less scooping her limp form up into his arms so he could carry her out of danger.

Not that that meant he wasn't going to let the Orphan just walk away without doing anything either.

”Primids party, Murlock marines, Gooma swarm! Escort that whale!” he commanded, summoning a small army of stickers to support the white whale's lumbering advance towards the Orphan. The assorted minions, armed with massive boomerangs, crude cubs and raw determination respectively, fanned out to either side of the whale. They were there mostly to act as tarpit to bog down the orphan with the weight of their bodies in order to give the actual threat among them, the hulking whale, enough time to turn on and chomp the Orphan with its multiple rows of teeth.

The silence settled upon by Yellow Team as they waited for physics to finish out the remainder of their legwork reaching the summit made for either an expectantly tense or needfully calm and peaceful one, depending on how each member of the party directed their thoughts, and the primitive means by which their ascent was made possible assured them nothing but time to think and focus accordingly; however they so chose to. For Fox, his mind went forward, as always. Rather than review freshly thwarted foes as some had, he spared his thoughts for enemies that still lay ahead of them, for there would surely be more on the way to their main target. He tried to imagine what they might be; what enthralled or incidental minions this region had left to throw at them, that might try to offer them resistance before they pushed through to reach the boss. He imagined what form or shape that boss might take; what it would be capable of; what it could and would do to try and defeat them, all in the name of protecting and serving their omnipresent master that lay dormant in the heavens above them, even at the lofty heights this one awaited them at…

He imagined how it would eventually fall…

The biting chill of the air crept back into the atmosphere the closer they came to the top as the mountain gradually opened up to the outside once more, serving as its own uncomfortable sign of progress, as did the number they had among them still making the trek compared to how many they began the climb with. While their collective number remained at a healthy margin, comparable to that of their last boss raid, and just as many waiting for a beacon’s call to rejoin them at the end, the thought and feeling of more potential drop-offs before then couldn’t be helped. The issue for the entire trip had been something of a question of how many they could risk propping up versus how many they could afford to leave behind for later. A new question arose at this late leg in their journey of if any of them could feasibly turn back at that point, should any more find themselves unable to continue, and every subtraction made their destination seem just a little bit farther, the closer they came to it.

Their luck would have it that no surprise obstacles presented themselves that just happened to require a greater number of attendants. That was the only merciful consolation they would receive, made up for by the frigid, buffeting winds that answered them when the two powerhouses among them forced the doors open. Fox buried his snout in his elbow and clamped the white parka that Band had supplied him earlier shut by the collar with his other hand as he tried to hold firm against the initial hit of the elements until they relieved enough to push on through. In daunting fashion, they received a prelude of what was to come further on, and a bitter reminder that no help or relief would come to those who dared press onward.

Another stone keep, what could only be the remnant of old civilization, lay on the safer side of the wall at the end of the bridge, bordering the hellish plateau just beyond it. Another distraction at worst, a sheltering checkpoint at best, and home to a nebulous solution of questionable likelihood. Whatever purpose this place served—in the ancient past or the present day—it was a definitive last chance for anyone else to stop that wanted or needed to. They were now almost certainly at a point of no return.

Beyond the passageway stretched a seemingly endless tundra wasteland littered with scattered, inscrutable monuments, eroded by indiscernible parts weather and time, which could only have been graves in a time before ceaseless winter fell upon the land. What gravekeeper could otherwise brave it? The blizzard-veil that erased the horizon from view parted just enough at the clouds to grant them a beckoning glimpse of the illuminated finish line at the truer summit, the apparent distance to which resembling that of the one they now stood on from where they first set eyes upon it in the desert landing whence they arrived days before. Truly, it seemed, their journey would go on forever; without end. Yet, it was to be made still, for an end had to be.

As if to taunt them further with the otherwise redundant elucidation of their woefully unpromising odds, the Master Hand, all but camouflaged by the blistering ever-white that had claimed so many an unfortunate traveler before them, waited to meet them, mere steps beyond the gates. Could only glare through this long-acquainted adversary as he half listened—more tolerating him than anything—as he prattled poetically in his practiced, accustomed manner about their efforts and progress made, those yet to be made, and what was left for them to face. Even the off-hand mention of progress by their allies from Blue Team on the opposite end of the World didn’t go unheard, nor was it missed that he said only enough to prevent from framing it as good news. Of course, from him they could expect none; only empty praises and vain portends supposedly intended to deter them.

There came a peculiar exception to his visit this time in that he came with no surprises; no additional threats to face them with; nothing extra, for even he himself deemed, in his own words, for them to be unnecessary. He believed the natural obstacle before them to suffice. After everything the adventurers had accomplished, and how much of it the Hand had borne firsthand witness to, it was almost insulting of him to profess, as if he truly believed in it, the idea that weather and terrain would be enough to defeat them. Even more so was the ever so patronizing manner in which he made his parting declaration of certainty in their stubborn will to advance in supposed futility, even to their certain deaths; to never give up in spite of it all…

He was right.

Fox and his like had risen to answer every challenge this entity had ever presented them with, without fail, and everytime, they came out ahead. This time would be no different, for however boundless his creativity appeared to be, he had nothing left to scare the Veterans with. He could succeed only in spurring them onward anymore, and if he truly wanted that of them, whyever he would, then so be it. It wouldn’t end well for him. He will have chosen the wrong side for the last time.

As if he had been patiently waiting simply for the Master Hand to say his piece (and make his peace, as he saw it), he let one more brief moment of silence pass in the wake of his disappearance, and, in more defiance of than compliance with the Hand’s prediction, began quietly marching forward, the gentle flattening of powder beneath his feet in steady, even steps being the only sound issued from him. The presented motion of a potential suicide march gave him no pause, nor did his pace break for even a second as a better idea failed to meet his ears, try as his comrades understandably might. If they happened to find a better way, they were welcomed to meet him along the way with it, or leave him where he lay if they should pass him by on the road ahead—whichever it came to. In any case, his mind was set, and no amount of fear or doubt would dissuade him from it. Should he fall or fail, his resolve would no sooner falter, and he would regret nothing.

He would go alone if he had to, but he would go all the same…

...for it was the only way he would know.

(See post below for post-hoc collab with Zoey Boey)

As the creature screamed and span, Geralt and Sakura battled the creature with all their might. Finally Sakura felt like she was getting a handle on how she was supposed to fight this thing. It was all offense and no defense. The only thing that was required was proper timing. Which was FAR easier said than done. Sakura rolled, hopped, and dove to the side of several swings, but the creature caught up to her as she hesitated, wondering where it would swing from next. The creature screamed towards her, swinging violently. Sakura crossed her arms in front of her. Instantly they were bloodied as with a bright blue burst, she was sent sliding and tumbling backwards from blocking the blow. “Guh-a!” Still, it was much better than if she had been caught mid dodge or especially mid jump.

As Sakura rose to her feet, the creature leaped to another location. At that time, Geralt’s horrible two-headed monster healed her by whipping itself. “Um... thank you? I think?” Sakura said, grimacing. Nonetheless, the cut across her arms restored themselves, and the stinging in her back and inner thigh also lessened. Other than that, she felt fine. But that was the thing with Ki, it was either defending her, or it wasn’t. It was easy for Sakura to feel totally fine until a single light jab hit her like a truck and sent her down. So easy that Sakura had forgotten about it now.

As Sakura prepared to get back into the fight, the creature leapt up the cliff side to reach Ace and the others. “Watch out!”

And then she realized that she and the others were the ones in immediate danger. “Oh- WATCH OUT!”

The loss of Quen's shield in the exchange with the Orphan was unfortunate but ultimately an inevitability in a battle as heated and protracted as this. The worst part, however, was that Geralt knew he'd be stretching himself too thin to re-cast the Sign at this moment, having both summoned the Judicator moments before and blasted the Guardian with Igni during their fight. Being able to do both so quickly was heartening, and he was hardly at the end of his stamina, but he'd need to gather himself a little before putting the necessary energy into Quen. He couldn't half-ass the amount of energy in it like Igni or fluctuate the power flow like with Axii, Quen was an all-or-nothing, front-loaded spell.

As the Orphan jumped off and threw its explosion-creating projectiles rearwards at the Seekers, Geralt cursed and ran for it, calling out to the Judicator to attempt to move as well. Thanks to his size, he was able to avoid the brunt of the explosion with long strides, even having the time to scoop Sakura up in one of his massive arms as he ran, covering her from the shockwave with his armored back. The Judicator was less lucky, and while its size and resilience allowed it to survive the explosion, Geralt felt the bodily ache that the transferred damage gave him. In its last moments, the Judicator made up for its failure to avoid damage by flagellating once more, providing a burst of much-welcome healing for Geralt's aches before its time ran out and it vanished.

As Sakura prepared to run, suddenly she was scooped up by giant Geralt. “Oh!” She exclaimed, hanging on tight. She passed by Nadia and Bella and gave them a drive-by peace sign. Even with the loss of Delsin, Sakura believed whole-heartedly that Kamek could fix this whole mess. All they had to do was keep fighting.

“Are you okay, Mister Geralt?” She asked as she was set down. “You didn’t have to do that. I’m fine, really.”

Geralt gave a shrug as he turned around. “Easier for me to take 5 steps than for you to take ten.” He replied, not seeming bothered at having carried a near-full grown woman while at a run.

Once he realized what the Orphan was doing, Geralt cursed as it climbed the rocks and made a beeline for Ace. Rushing in with his sword drawn, Geralt neared the rocks just as the Orphan leapt in the air, tossing another barrage of placental grenades towards the ground.

Eyes widening as the blobs of pink flesh flew towards him, he spun his sword and held it to the side, free hand coming up to draw the Sign of Quen in the air. Between the moment of pause he had and the Judicator's healing, he had to have enough in him to pull it off. Anything less would result in quite the unpleasant scenario.

Holding the Sign in its Active form as the sand and flesh exploded around him and battered his shield, Geralt grit his teeth and pushed a little more power into the magic of the Sign. While it rendered him completely and utterly unable to act against their enemy, it also prevented what Geralt could only assume would be quite a bit of damage.

The last of the explosions shattered the shield, and Geralt dropped the flow of power to the shield, sand and putrid flesh falling onto him from the remnants of the bombs. The Witcher, perhaps for the first time that the others had seen, was well and truly winded, hands falling to his knees as he drew in large breaths.

As Sakura looked up on the cliff side where the others were doing battle, it took Sakura a moment to realize what the creature was thinking of doing. To be honest, seeing the Orphan hesitate and strategize was very unexpected. “Guess it’s not such a baby after all.” Sakura said flatly as the thing exploded the entire cliff just to send the boulders their way.

And then, the rocks barely twenty feet ahead of him exploded, launching shrapnel and chunks of stone through the air at an...oddly sedate pace. Not slow enough that they wouldn't do any harm, especially not at the size of rock that was blasted free, but Geralt had time to rise to his full height and bat aside a smaller (in comparison to him, at only about a foot in diameter) rock with his blade, though it took a noticeable effort to do so. As a more voluminous barrage descended upon Geralt, he forced himself to the side, only being clipped by a single rock, which spun him a bit but left no more than an aching bruise through his size and armor.

Once again Geralt moved to intercept, but Sakura wasn’t helpless! Geralt looked winded from all his spell slinging, anyway. Sakura figured it was her time to step up. Defiantly, she slid between his lengthened legs and gathered up blue energy between her hands. ”HADOken!” She shouted. The fireball was slow moving and wide, as tall as Sakura was and angled slightly upward. It burst every time a rock hit it, knocking the other shrapnel aside. As the fireball exploded for a final time, it cleared the air of the first wave of flying debris. Only more (slightly slow moving?) rocks came her way, and Sakura once again brought up her trusty defenses. She swatted and blocked them, the rocks bouncing or breaking against her with dull thuds.

Seeing the giant fireball moving upwards and batting aside some of the rocks that had come close to hitting him as he dodged, Geralt hummed appreciatively. The help was much appreciated, and as the larger rocks from the explosion arrived, the pair managed to knock the worst aside with blade, fist, and claw, Sakura managing to break a few more while Geralt allowed the smaller rocks to impact against his armor to little effect, his focus fully on the ones that would deal serious damage.

As the wave of stone ended, Geralt turned towards the Orphan to see it landing on the ground after its attacks, and he used the opportunity to grab a Grapeshot bomb from his pouch and toss it at the Guardian before drawing his blade and nodding at Sakura. “Let’s keep it busy, then?” Rika’s whale summon wouldn’t manage to do much if it got destroyed before it was even able to reach Galeem’s chosen, so they’d have to do something about that. Junior’s minions had numbers, but quality and quantity wouldn’t hurt at all.

Sakura nodded, looking quite pleased with herself through all the adrenaline. Sadly her burst of power flickered out. Even with her powerful glow coming to an end, she pumped both her fists. “Let’s go!” She sprinted forward, wanting to engage the Orphan as soon as possible. She went to the left of the Orphan. Jumping over one of it’s swipes, she blasted a one handed fireball into the back of its head in mid-air, before landing and moving in for more close ranged offense.

Geralt took the right as Sakura went left, blade flashing and swiping to distract the thing and keep its attention more than harm it, though the two could quite easily go hand in hand if Sakura gave an opportunity with her more rapid fighting style.

It was the coldest either of the Travelers had ever been, no contest. As they stepped out of the lift Primrose and Therion walked forward slowly with their heads ducked and their limbs drawn tight to their center. The chill of the Frostlands had nothing on this mountain top. Even in the black heart of Stillsnow staring down the Obsidian Parlor wasn't quite so daunting as this. The scarves, shawls, and robes and little to keep out the biting cold, and even with flame held in her hand Primrose could barely feel it's warmth.

Then there was the wind. As Braum and Big Band opened the doors at the end of the stone bridge, a deathly cold squall washed over the group. "Fuck," Therion managed to bite out, his teeth chattering as he raised his arm to shield his face from the wind. It was so cold it almost felt like it was cutting the Travelers' skin. And they had to walk through this? The end was in sight, but could they make it?

The scene in front of them was a desolate white. It didn't appear anything could survive for long up here. The Seekers were alone. Or, so they thought. From the snow rose an equally white shape, and as it got closer the form of a hand was revealed. Immediately Primrose and Therion were on guard. For Primrose, she recalled some chatter about the Hand, so though she'd never seen it before she recognized it as the enemy. For Therion, well, it was a giant gloved hand come to taunt them. Nothing more really needed to be said.

It disappeared without doing anything but talking to them, leaving them to decide their own fate. Seeing that some of their group recognized the floating hand, the thief wanted to ask about it. However they had much more important things to discuss, such as how to avoid dying.

"That... might work," Therion said in response to Raz. The gears in his head that weren't frozen solid were slowly turning, considering their options. "Walk in a 'V,' like b-birds, b-block the wind for others and s-swap the leaders out as needed." Damn, he couldn't even stop himself from stuttering with how cold it was. Feels like my bones are freezing. While some considered just trudging ahead, others considered back tracking.

"It m-might be a good idea to see if we can f-find anything us to help us," Primrose said with a similar chatter of her teeth, following up Minda's thoughts. She didn't say anything else, merely looking over at the frozen corpses ahead of them. One seemed to be just a child, she noted sadly. If there was a similar monastery up here it would behoove them to find it. Although Primrose wasn't so sure that the presence of the graves meant there were people nearby. Like the ship stuck in the ice, it could have just been a side effect of multiple worlds collapsing in on each other.

"Whatever we're d-doing, let's do it quick 'cause we're gonna die just sitting here chatting." Despite his words, Therion made no move to go on without the others. He wasn't suicidal, and in this freezing cold the more they stuck together the better chance they had to survive.

As if the snowy slope dotted with weathered gravestones as far as the eye could see wasn’t bleak enough in and of itself, a certain someone -or perhaps more accurately, something- just had to drift into view. For the few among the gathered Seekers who shared the misfortune of meeting Master Hand prior, its appearance had been less a question of ‘if’ than ‘when’, but that hardly lessened the tension of this encounter. Even as the snow scraped their faces and the wind whipped at their hair, Tora and Poppi Alpha reacted instantaneously, readying their Drill Shield and spectral claymore for a brawl. As much as the Nopon would have liked to crack Master Hand’s knuckles with a Boom Biter, however, Tora did not open fire. He and his companion knew what the Phantom Thieves and the Scout with their firearms quickly found out; a bubble shield flared to life around the entity before them to protect it from incoming fire, and it showed no sign of damage. “Don’t waste ammunition!” the artificial blade warned them. As infuriating as it was, the heroes could do little but try to endure the battery of both otherworldly voice and buffeting snowstorm, dreading what Galeem’s servant had in store for them this time.

Master Hand’s brief speech managed to take Tora and Poppi by surprise as much as it did Big band. Not only did the entity offer them congratulations, but it even dropped a hint at what their teammates were up to all the way across the continent. A handful of faces flashed through Tora’s mind, most of them vivid as the moment when the two teams parted ways. It had been a minute since he thought about Sakura, Link, Geralt, the intrepid Hat Kid, or even Bowser and Blazermate, who’d been right there from the very beginning. He hadn’t been afraid for them, necessarily, but who wouldn’t worry about friends half a world away, who must surely be on a quest as dangerous as this? The knowledge that the others weren’t just okay, but actually at least half a day ahead of Yellow Team on their quest to eliminate the boss of the Deep Blue Seaside, fanned the sputtering flames in his heart.

Of course, the enemy that loomed before them seemed determined to extinguish any such hope. It proclaimed that this final stretch of the mountain would be the Seekers’ undoing, a statement that it made with such conviction that it saw fit to manifest no additional opponents to bar the way. Then, after urging the climbers to soldier on, it disappeared as unceremoniously as it came.

To say that a moment passed in silence would be inaccurate, given the howl of the wind across the peak and into the heroes’ ears, but a few seconds went by while those who stood before the gate took in what Master Hand told them. Midna averted her eyes from the path ahead, and in her search for alternatives discovered an edifice in the distance that looked promisingly like the abbey that poor Gemino in his arrow-studded husk of iron described. It took a few moments for Big Band to follow her gaze, and when he did spot the place she described, he shook his head in disbelief. “That’s a hell of a long way off!” he practically shouted, fighting to be heard over the ambient weather. The detective extended a pneumatic arm to point out a potential route with his finger. “‘Less you can fly straight there, we’d have to go up a ways, then backtrack farther down than we are now! If we turn up empty-handed, we’ll be even worse off for a longer climb than we already got” He wasn’t going to argue that a brute force solution seemed unlikely at best, but the whole team couldn’t possibly go that far out of their way and still hope to proceed, unless the place ‘where the frozen and the burning embrace in communion’ could offer them a king’s ransom of rest and warmth.

Optimistic even in the face of a brutal ordeal, Raz dispensed some ideas for how the struggle upwards might be made less severe. His suggestions, unfortunately, met with enthusiasm from neither Braum nor Mona. As much as the very big man appreciated the very small man’s willingness to help, he was forgetting a crucial factor. “I am sorry, little Raz, but I don’t think that would work!” he told the Psychonaut, kneeling behind his shield for protection from the wind. “The bigger the surface, the more the wind can push against it. That quickly becomes a problem even for one as mighty as me!”

Mona shook his giant head, his eyes sad. “Uh huh. I probably don’t even have the tire grip to push through the wind and snow uphill, let alone the horsepower.”

As for his other observation, Poppi couldn’t shell out much hope. “You may be on to something, but then again, it might just be here. Lots of stuff in World of Light not there for any good reason.” Having heard about if not experienced firsthand the random weekly generation of the Land of Adventure, ostensibly manmade structures and all, she could corroborate Primrose’s suspicions about things just being places.

“Fox!” Joker called all of a sudden. His masked friend turned to him quizzically, but for once the Phantom Thief wasn’t referring to him. Instead Joker was calling out toward the back of the pilot who even now drew farther and farther away from the group, proceeding alone and without a word up the slope. “Fox!” the teen called again, but there came no answer. “Ugh…” he groaned, releasing the hands cupped around his mouth to pull the parka from Deportes Bienes around his shoulders. “This is bad.”

Panther shivered despite her winter coat, its hood pulled so tight around her head that only her red mask could be seen. “W-what about our fire?” she asked. “Carmen and Lamia can keep us warm as-as-as long as we have the energy!”

“There ain’t anythin’ ‘round here we c-could light!” Big Band bemoaned. “And even if we did have torches or s-somethin’, they’d get blown out in an instant!”

As best he could, Skull put his thinking cap on. “Well, what about castin’ fire on each other? I know it ain’t a great idea, but it’s better than freezin’ to d-d-death…right!?”

At that, the Scout spoke up. “Whoa, bad idea, mate! That’s liable to c-cause thermal shock, if ya don’t burn our damn clothes off first, so unless agonizin’ death sounds like a jolly g-good time, I’d say think o’ somethin’ else!” Skull sagged down with a hang of his head, his curses lost to the wind.

In the midst of the team’s deliberation, Tora took his eyes off the radiant cleft in the mountain above to face and address his teammates. “F-f-friends! Why all doomy and gloomy, meh? Don’t you see? It not so far at all!” He pointed a wing finger up to where the radiance of Split Mountain’s summit shone through the snowstorm, a beacon of hope that not even this cruel blizzard could quench.

It definitely looked close–tantalizingly so. Yet Poppi’s optics told her otherwise. A combination of size, distance, weather, and wishful thinking conspired to warp perception, creating a mirage that only empirical hardware could pierce. As always Poppi’s first impulse was to correct her Masterpon, but as she looked out over the faces of the Seekers, she fell silent. Things were not looking good. Nobody wanted to trudge upward through this frozen hell. They didn’t think they could make it.

They needed a guiding light far closer than the mountain peak.

“Jerkypon hand taunt us saying we don’t have what it takes to be heroes,” her Masterpon was saying. “Tora say meh to that! It b-b-being here mean that we close to boss! If friends j-just huddle together and push onward, we can make it!”

A handful of wry laughs and groans steamed out with the team’s breath. For his part, Big Band looked incredulous. “Look kid, I like seein’ a hero beat impossible odds all the time. See it every Saturday on Peacock’s cartoons. But this is life or death, we’ve gotta be realistic!”

Tora gave a solemn nod. “Yes. That why if things go wrong, we can slide down with wind at back and glide all way to T-t-toasty Town. But we cannot turn tail just yet because this look tough, meh! I-I-It job of heroes to try very, very best! And just as Primrose friend say and Fox-Fox show us, there no time to lose, meh-meh!” He looked to his companion for support. “R-right, Poppi!?”

After a brief moment, Poppi nodded her head. “That what Poppi believe.”

Braum gave a booming laugh. “Ahaha, well spoken! I could not have said it better myself!” He stood to his full height and regaled everyone with a heartwarming smile. “I believe it too. I believe we can all make it! And if you should fall…” the Freljordan flexed his muscles. “I will carry you!”

“Ugh. Too much TV is bad for ya,” Band groaned, rolling his eyes before he gave a windy sigh of resignation. “But if you’re doin’ this, I sure ain’t gonna let ya do it alone. H-here, we’ll go with your idea,” he told Therion. “And I got an idea who oughta be pole p-position.”

So saying, Band turned to face the wind. He breathed deep of the frigid air and began to play. A simple but strident tune blazed forth, loud enough to be heard over the wind for a decent distance. He pushed forward into the snow, propelled by sonic energy that trailed behind him in bands like sheet music. The detective made for the memorial obelisks, and after reaching them deployed both giant mechanical arms to wrench two free from the snow-covered earth to use like skis. “Sorry to disturb your rest, but we’ll be carryin’ your memory with us,” he told the frozen ashes before raising his voice for the others. “F-form up on either side of me! Half on one side, half on the other. I’ll be your anchor and your center, so if s-somethin’ goes wrong, make sure you f-follow the sound o’ my sweet, sweet jazz.”

Tora jumped to it, although Poppi beat him there. The artificial blade positioned herself on Big Band’s left, a hand affixed to one of the caps on his coat, and Tora took hold of her shoulder on her left. Braum took the lead on the detective’s right to start the other branch of Therion’s proposed v-formation. Wherever the Phantom Thieves ended up all four of the teens would invariably be in sequence, while Mona rode on Braum’s shoulder. Though the storm had already laid waste to Fox’s footprints, everyone kept an eye out as best they could as they set off, hoping to induct the pilot into their ranks. Heart in heart and hand in hand, the Seekers with the will to push forward began the final climb.

Wind whipped at his antennae and blew his scarf, flapping wildly in the freezing winds that gusted down from the mountain peak making the half-demon scrunch up his face as the cold nipped at his nose.

Laharl listened to the rest of the Seekers with a mixture of annoyance and mild disgust, he squinted towards the horizon up at the peak where sunlight shone like a beacon then shook his head vigorously because unlike the rest of them he doubted anything but death awaited them up there possibly nothing at all and despite the nausea all their blubbering brought on him he choked back the bile and cleared his throat with a slight 'ahem' looking extremely uninspired by their campy speech of heroics "S-seriously?! What if there is n-nothing up there huh?!" the boy sputtered incredulously after the rest of the team "What if th-this whole damn journey w-was for nothing!" yet his attempts at airing his doubts fell upon seemingly deaf ears the group determined to link hands side by side and trudge through thick snow up this god-awful mountain like quote-on-quote "heros", more like fools and morons marching to their possible death.

All of it just made him sick to his stomach "Have y-you lost your m-minds?!" practically shouting his voice cracking periodically, Laharl looked at them with a dumbfounded astonishment "Y-your not being 'heros' y-your being f-fools!" the Overlord practically snarled his upper-lip curling and twisting into a sneer, he couldn't believe their foolishness.

Success never tasted so bitter. The Orphan took the bait and began rushing towards him, but only after throwing down it's explosive viscera and scattered the heroes surrounding it, including whatever remained of Delsin. The Ace Cadet channeled his frustration into the pull of the bowstring and let fly. The arrow hit it's mark, and though it wasn't able to rip through Galeem's Guardian it momentarily stopped it's approach, giving the monster hunter enough time to stash his bow and get gone. Or try anyway, the Orphan was always right on his heels. Ultimately the chase lasted only a few seconds, but every moment was harrowing as the placental blade smashed down inches from the Cadet with every swing. After it's latest miss the monster paused, giving the hunter another chance to prepare. If he was going to go toe to toe with it again he needed a melee weapon. He caught his breath, reached for the hilt of a blade with intent to go for a punishing draw attack, and opened his mouth. "So close, but—"

Another explosion, this time destroying the rock face he'd been standing on. The eruption spread and sent the Cadet flying into the air, banged up and a little charred by the force. He was dazed too, until he felt someone catch him and blinked himself back into awareness. It was Nadia - well, a hydro mimic of her anyway.

"Heheh, my hero-ooooooo?!"

He was flying again, rapidly toward the ground toward the real Nadia and another mimic, plus a safety net of their innards waiting for him. If it was anyone else that would be very disconcerting. Because it was her, the Cadet let himself fall into the net and flashed her a smile. "Yes ma'am!"

Bounding in a long, low stride, Hat Kid skipped forward onto the hydro-fibrous trampoline, formed and manned by two feral copycats that weren’t prepared for one more passenger, and even less for the sudden addition of weight to the payload that they weren’t expecting to take on in the first place. They would be forced to ready themselves on a second’s notice for the child to suddenly take her Ice form as she fell upon it to make use of the Hat’s weight-triggered ‘springboard’ function to bounce her away after Ace, intently inbound to crash into the Orphan mid-flight.

The Orphan was happy to meet Ace halfway, already soaring in to intercept him. With weapon reared back and readied in both hands to collide with the Monster Hunter for a gruesomely uneven exchange, the staggering impact of blue ice that sailed past the Cadet to meet it first disrupted its attempt as Hat Kid’s dense sculpture form rocketed into and over the fiend, providing the Hunter with a momentary opening.

Though he was initially surprised by the kid-shaped chunk of ice hurtling by him, the Cadet wasn't about to let the opening provided slip by. He used the momentum that Nadia granted him, turning himself into a human spear. The Sharq lance once again made an appearance, and as satisfying as it would have been to skewer right through the monstrosity the weapon couldn't get all the way through. It was a fearsome stab, and then the Cadet dropped down onto his feet and prepared to follow up.

At this point the Orphan was well used to the lance's attack pattern however. It screeched and bent its body to avoid the first follow up, and then swung it's massive blade to parry the lance. The Cadet's eyes widened as his weapon's thrust was thrown off course.

Seeing Ace with the lower hand in a duel with the fearsome fiend spurred Hat Kid into gear, Sprinting around behind the Hunter as his lance blow was deflected backwards. In a spur of the moment, she closed in, lept upward at the weapon’s head, inverting to shoot her feet above her as she passed through its jaws, transmuting herself into her icy form once more, and using the suddenly accumulated momentum to correctively bring their collective weight down base-first in an arc onto the Orphan’s head, driving the creature halfway to the dirt with a mournful moan. Knowing their enemy by now, neither Hunter nor child would have longer than a second to be surprised by or proud of innovating an improvised greathammer into being, however surprisingly satisfactory the results may have been. Though having now realized the possibility by way of happy accident, they were now aware that they could more evenly equip themselves on the fly to contend functional power with the Orphan, provided they continued with care in their approach.

With the lance practically transformed, part of the careful approach was using the right method of wielding it. It was heavier now with Hat Kid attached to the end of it, so the Cadet forgoed the shield to take the weapon's handle in both hands. This way he could maneuver it more easily, and keep it's icy head out of danger whenever possible. It might open him up to some in return, but he'd much rather test the Orphan's strength against his armor than the Kid's ice encased body. The thought of wielding her frozen form against the monster seemed to be at complete odds with the thought of keeping her safe, but if there was anywhere that someone would be safe on this beach it was in the hands of an ally. Literally, in this case.

”Nice save,” he said to his little companion, though he was unsure if she could actually hear him in the state that she was in. Rolling out of the Orphan's range, the hunter popped back up with the weapon held as though it were a Greatsword. At the same time a pink glow emanated from his chest. "Get ready Kid!" As soon as he spotted an opening he moved in, the Crush Shot bursting forth. Then he swung the weapon back over his shoulder and then brought it down heavy onto the Orphan, ice side first. The hit-and-run tactic had been working well for the other Seekers so far, so it was about time to give it a try.

As a side effect of maintaining her Ice form for the sake of weaponizing it, so too did its native effects remain active. The Ace Cadet soon found this out when next he brought the hammerhead sculpture down, and the concussive ice quake launched both him and the Orphan up to their own heights off their feet. If he acted quickly, he could take advantage of the effect and carry his force over into a follow-up blow, fall or reel himself away to retreat from the Orphan’s retaliation, or whatever else he decided to do with it. He now knew that the option was available, and he could mix up as needed. It was a neat trick, and one he would be happy to take advantage of when the time came. The hunter grinned. "Cool move."

At the moment he used the little launch to put some distance between them and the monstrosity again, watching as the others came in for their own melee engagement. It was also the first time he noted that he seemed to fall a little more slowly back down to the sand. There wasn't much time to ponder that though. He moved out of range of the Orphan's wild swings as soon as he was able, making space for other Seekers to move in.

During their break in direct combat, afforded with space and occupying activity by others, Hat Kid popped out of her Ice form to perch upon the nose of Ace’s Sharq Lance for a second’s rest. She couldn’t hold the form indefinitely, after all, but with a split-second default cooldown rate, she didn’t feel as if it was imperative to share as much. Satisfied with the results thus far, even though they were just getting started with it, she winked and smiled Ace’s way as an expression of shared approval for their discovered team combo, then darted her eyes back to the scene of battle in a gestured question of readiness for another round. In response the Cadet tightened his grip and returned the girl's optimistic smile, in spite of the dismal battle they were currently embroiled in. "Snow problems here, ready when you are!" Upon receiving his (obvious) answer, she nodded, ‘snapped’ the Black Mage into being beside them - at which the Cadet startled and actually averted his eyes - to drop another Ice spell on the monster, bolstering her Umbral Ice one level before ‘trust’ falling back into the clamping jaws of the Sharq’s likeness (of all things), reassuming her Ice form and slotting back into place. Feeling the lance's weight increase again the hunter turned his eyes forward, taking some time to shake off the wariness of Hat Kid's summon. With the Orphan's attention divided again he waited as long as he could before getting back into its reach. He focused on ducking and dodging whenever it's blade got close, measuring their distance to each other. Now they just had to find an opening and smash into the thing. If he timed it right he could probably even get it into the air for their street fighter to move in with her aerial combos. Timing, and a lot of luck.

@Dark Cloud@Majoras End

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Linkle had attempted a fighting retreat toward where she remembered the the ladder and the trapdoor were. Unfortunately her sense of direction wasn't good in broad daylight, let alone in a pitch black basement. She could only see anything when she attacked, a flash of fire or electricity briefly illuminating her surrounding, but all she ever saw were more hallways as the pair of them circumnavigated the basement.

One advantage of these cramp quarters was that fighting blind wasn't exactly an issue. As soon as they had moved the fight out into the hallways the mans monstrous size turned him into less of an opponent and more of a wall that punched you. He couldn't move well enough to dodge with his knees bent and his shoulders scrunched up to fit into the corridors, but dark it wasn't as though Linkle could dodge him either when she couldn't see. The result was a battle of attrition. No strategy, no real thought, just two bodies trading blows in the darkness. Linkle didn't mind that much. His punches were nothing compared to the Strangers, and for every sweep or slap he landed on her she managed top give at least one hard hit back. If they kept on like this she was confident he would fall first.

That was when she heard something behind her for the first time, something other than the man scraping across the walls. A familiar voice. She looked back just in time for a flash of light to illuminate the basement, the Doll Master letting out an airy shirk and covering his eyes in response. It took Linkle's eyes a moment to adjust, but as they did she was surprised to see Albedo, Frisk, and...

She knew this place was haunted! She pointed past the pair at the third member of their party, hovering over them hauntingly as the light started to fade. A spooky skeleton! "Albedo, there's a stal-"

She didn't get to finish her warning, because the rest of the the air in her lungs was suddenly pushed out as the man lunged forward, wrapping his fingers around the skllgirls chest and lifting her up like a child would a doll. He pitched her straight down the hallway toward the rescue party with a frustrated roar.

Only after Nadia began to put her latest off-the-wall scheme into action did she realize just how much she’d imposed on her allies. After all, the odious Orphan of Kos had just blown apart an entire rocky cliffside, its crimson rupture fracturing literal tons of stone into boulders, chunks, and shards that then sailed across the beach in a scatterblast of epic proportions. The unanticipated fluctuation in gravity reduced the danger somewhat, but a head-on collision with any decent-sized fragment would still hurt like hell, and getting pinned by one could be a death sentence. Worse still, the megalithic bombardment drove the Seekers apart, separating them even more than the nightmare’s blood grenades. It was this in this pandemonium that Nadia Fortune demanded the others’ help to keep the Orphan occupied while she sought to bring her plan to fruition. She needed only a couple all-important seconds, but their brevity made them all the more difficult to supply.

Luckily, Peach wasn’t the only Mushroom Kingdom refugee to lend a hand. Once Kamek, ever the quick thinker, made use of her sorcery to reduce an incoming crag to a far more manageable size, she affixed a dark explosive to it and returned it to sender. Forced by her original form’s advanced age to look on from the sidelines as Bowser and his son enjoyed a variety of sports, the Magikoopa now had enough youth and vigor from Cia and ’B’giotahmo’s spirits to make up for lost time. Like a cannonball the makeshift projectile returned to sender, cruising in just as Peach disengaged and forcing the Orphan to relinquish its pursuit. With a cry it twisted around to smash the slab to smithereens, only for the hunk of rock to abruptly swell to several times its size. The two met in a terrific impact instantly followed by the spectacular detonation of Kamek’s engorged dark magic mine. Together the combined might of eldritch strength and abyssal sorcery annihilated the boulder, and as shrapnel flew in every direction, the Orphan could be seen half-buried on its back in the sand. As insult to injury, the blast of Geralt’s long-shot grapeshot bomb riddled its body with metal, and the monster made its pain heard.

Even that, however, wouldn’t keep it down for long. The Orphan thrashed for only a moment as it sought to right itself, and though the others were more or less recovered from the explosion and on their way to help, Nadia had all the time she needed. Ace landed in her improvised safe and sound, a little disoriented but still down for whatever his fellow Decoy had in mind. Though only for a brief moment amidst the chaos, the feral found her smile returned, which naturally made her beam all the brighter. To have someone else’s implicit trust was no easy feat, but then again, there didn’t seem to be anything a couple of exuberant jokesters couldn’t do. Then Rika screamed, and all too soon the moment was over. Ace zoomed off in a high arc toward the abomination that stirred among the rubble, powering through the collusion of gravity and drag to bring his absurd lance to bear for a thrust the Orphan wouldn’t forget.

Nadia would have been happy to just watch him rip the freak a new one, but to her surprise she found her service as a living springboard wasn’t over just yet. A highly-motivated Hatty suddenly leaped into view, flash-froze herself, and plunged down onto the net Nadia had been just about to slacken. “Bwuh!?” Before the burden of the kid-sicle managed to splat both of them on the sand, the opposing Nadias strained against the trampoline once more, and a split second later hatty hurled off in Ace’s proverbial footsteps.

The real Nadia watched her go with a look of bewilderment as she subsumed both her fibers and her copycats, but her momentary confusion soon turned into astonishment. Rising from the dust and muck faster than she or any of the others dared hope, the Orphan fixed its loathsome gaze on Ace as he began his descent, then took to the skies to meet him in kind. Nadia’s heart sank; what would have otherwise been a totally awesome team-attack was now a heartbeat away from becoming a lost opportunity at best, and if the Cadet didn’t manage to defend himself, a catastrophic disaster at worst. But as she stared, her hands on her head in dismay as her ears and tail stood on end, Hat Kid’s own cunning revealed itself. The expert platformer had launched herself in a lower and faster arc than the Cadet, and before the Orphan could bring him down, Hatty careened into its upper half head-on. Sent into a backspin by the withering bash, the shrieking horror could neither attack nor defend himself before Ace, like a jousting knight, drove the business end of his Sharq Attack straight into its grisly husk.

Then the two hit the beach in a blast of sand, and despite its near-impalement the Orphan rolled to its feet with its wings billowing behind it. As monster and hunter squared off, Nadia joined the stampede of heroes on their way to his aid, but well before anyone could arrive to help turn the tide Hatty lent a hand once again. With her frozen form wedged in his weaponized shark, Ace could strike out with a crude but effective mallet, and for once in its brief and wretched life the Orphan found itself outranged. For a brief but furious moment the two traded blows, but when the other Seekers arrived the pair bowed out to give the others their time in their wringer.

Sakura arrived first, deftly vaulting over the swing that chased Ace off. Geralt joined her, and together the sweet-and-sour duo fought to deal as much damage as they could while they had the chance. With all the heroes in the way Rika’s whale couldn’t just blast from afar, but the unlikely pair did well enough. After a couple beats the Orphan wrenched more meat from its placenta and plunged it into the ground, and with memories of what happened to Delsin fresh in their minds, both aggressors knew that they needed to dodge away from its front. Nadia skidded to a stop in the sand just in time to avoid running headlong into a massive blood plume, where for a brief moment she waited with a veritable army of Murlocs, Primids, and Goombas at her back. Through the red mist she saw the Orphan a long jump backward from the Seekers, throwing four more fleshbursters as it did. While the cat burglar’s first impulse was to dodge like mad, her keen cat-eyes let her see that none of the projectiles flew straight forward, so on the spur of the moment Nadia jumped up to dash through the air above the carnage. “You’re a real sicko, ya know that?” she growled as she came in for a landing on blood-soaked sand, with Peach drifting down on her parasol nearby. How Junior and Rika’s armada would slog across the beach through the onslaught and reach their fast-moving target, she had no idea. At least the slower Seekers could use the boulders scattered around the beach for cover.

Of course, that was just a taste of what the nightmare had in store. Rather than let the Seekers back it against the cliff wall, the Orphan sprang upward in a lofty high jump once more. It ripped and flung even more fleshbursters as it flew, spattering the battlefield with concussive blasts of viscera, then landed right back in the melee. As Geralt, Peach, and Sakura attacked, Nadia made a copycat and joined them, cutting in when an opportune moment presented itself while Ace, Hatty, and Bella lurked on the fringes, the latter providing air support with her seaplanes. As savage as this thing was, it lacked the creativity to back up its speed and strength. As long as she kept a head on her shoulders, Nadia felt confident enough to challenge it with a strategy in mind. “Hey, no petting!” When it tried to pulverize her with an overhead she scooted around behind to deliver a long kick or swipe; when it reached for a meatwad she made sure to avoid whichever way it faced. And when it released its placenta for a huge flailing sweep she airdashed over to claw at its head, then leapfrog out of there. “A cut above! …Oof!” For that one Nadia took a stray hit from behind and hit to the ground in a heap with an ache in her spine. “Argh, gonna feel that one tomorrow.” A moment more, however, and she was back in the fray.

The Orphan jumped around like crazy, in and out and up and down and hurling blood orbs each time, but after realizing just how much its ‘fighting style’ punished passivity the Seekers relentlessly chased it down. Still, nobody was getting complacent. Everyone slipped up now and then, and the Orphan made them pay each time, which kept Blazermate as busy as ever. Meanwhile, near-constant fleshbursters both made mincemeat of Junior’s summons and made it difficult to coordinate more team-ups. The brawl came to a head when the Orphan finally happened to stop in front of Rika’s whale. It opened fire, only for both shells to narrowly miss, and silhouetted by their explosion the monster charged. The whale rolled into its side as the Orphan came down with a leaping overhead smash, opening its jaws wide enough to essentially split its head in half so that the blow could carve into the sand unobstructed. Then its jaws clamped shut on the upper third of its assailant’s body, its vicious teeth driven in by incredible bite force and sinking deeper. Almost immediately a fleshburster went off inside the whale’s head, rupturing its pale flesh in a half-dozen places, and the Orphan tore free. Yet the exchange bought the heroes time to get in close, and nobody was closer than Sakura. Though she wanted to get a hit in herself, Nadia hung back As the monster wheeled around to resume the fight the street fighter hammered it a mighty blow, staggering it just long enough for her to dodge away without reprisal.

Like clockwork an ally moved in to take over, but this time the Orphan had enough. It slammed its placental weapon into the ground hard enough to bury in the sand, then in an incredible feat of strength sent flying a massive quantity of ground. It slammed into the incoming Seeker like a breaking wave, weak in terms of damage but strong enough to both temporarily blind and knock down, before the Orphan went for Sakura. When it came at her she dodged as usual, only to find herself snagged in a giant grab. Her enemy lifted her by the forearm into the air, letting her dangle for an instant beneath its baleful stare. Then it slung her into the ground, lifted its fleshy armament behind its head, and, gleefully ignorant of her friends’ efforts to interrupt it, pounded her into the mud.

It happened so fast that it left Nadia speechless and frozen, her water pressure fizzling out before she could spring. Bella, however, found her voice. “Sakuraaaaaaaa!” the Seaplane Tender wailed, sprinting toward her fallen savior as she let loose her remaining gauntlet cannon with everything she had. Seemingly without any regard for the barrage, or the brutality it had wrought, the Orphan hurled itself into the sky, its wings whipping around as it span. A second later, another handful of bursters rained down. Her face a mask of anguish, Bella deployed an entire fleet of seaplanes, and as one they swarmed skyward. With tiny guns blazing they fearlessly flew into the falling ordnance, detonating the bombs early enough that none got the chance to reach the ground. Amidst the deluge of gunk and scrap Bella knelt over Sakura, her eyes full of tears.

The Orphan alighted on the earth just a hundred feet away. Scars covered its body from dozens and dozens of messily-healed wounds, a tapestry of cuts, punctures, bruises, breakages, burns, and bite marks. Some of its guts hung loosely around its waist, shards of bone protruded from its skin, and its sallow, stretched-thin skin was caked in mucus, grime, and blood–though not all of it its own. “Healers, help Sakura! Everyone else get it away!” Peach yelled, throwing a grenaduck as she ran toward the ocean. The Orphan gave chase with a bellow, using its cleaver as a third leg as it went for her, but once on the water the princess got a boost of speed that conveyed her beyond her pursuer’s reach. Nadia pulled her woeful gaze away from where her comrade had fallen, taking a deep breath. “She’ll be okay,” she told herself, and before she could think about it any more she sprinted after the Orphan of Kos. No clever ideas came to mind this time; all the feral could think about was putting this menace down once and for all.

To say the skeletal sentry was scared out of his skin would be redundant, besides he was a literal skeleton he couldn't be scared out of his skin because he had none to begin with. Suffice to say he was shaking in his boots just looking at the gigantic figure of the man shrieking and covering his eyes at the sudden light that filled the hallway.

In any other circumstance Papyrus might have ran away at the first chance or even futilely attempt to get the giant to see even he could be a better person yet something initially gave the skeleton the impression that might not be as simple as he would like it to be. Therefore all he, the Great Papyrus could do was quiver in fear at the moment it roared at them.

In the light another figure appeared to be engaged in combat or trying to fight it at least in the narrow hall, a shadowy girl was entangled with the man her eyes red and skin a dusky grey whom seemed to become startled of all things by him of all skeletons! She looked as though she had seen a ghost, raising a hand to shout and point a finger at Papyrus trying to say something before getting subsequently cutoff as the man lunged at her, picking her up and throwing her straight down the hall at the three of them out of frustration.

"GREAT GOOGLEY MOOGLEY!" the skeleton goofily exclaimed, helpless to do anything to soften the Skullgirls landing he frantically looked between his two new friends and the man with a worried look, unsure of what to do as he was sure this person was good deep down surely even a scary guy could have a heart but he couldn't let him hurt anyone...

In a split-second Papyrus' soul glowed dimly between his chest casting a low light over his battle body as he lifted but a finger, suddenly several large bones grew from beneath the floor around the giant of a man trapping him in a tight corner within the relatively dark hall.

"I-I AM SORRY SIR BUT I CANNOT LET YOU HURT MY FRIENDS, C-CAN'T WE JUST TALK?!" still determined as ever to see the good in anyone Papyrus desperately attempted to reason with the man, meaning well by his words no matter how misplaced his intentions may have been.

The fight was hectic and fast paced, but Sakura was feeling like the tide was turning in their favor. Ace was a terrific monster hunter, and Hat Kid was the best support a group could ask for. Geralt's strength and precision complimented her speed and power. Whenever they engaged the Orphan at the same time, she felt like it didn't know what to do. Constantly it had to leap away, fleeing from it's attackers at any opportunity. Now it was just a matter of keeping the pressure on. "We got it on the run!" She shouted. It was almost time to put this horrible scenario to an end.

While everyone got scraped or clipped, the monster was getting the worst of every exchange. Rika's whale was destroyed, but Sakura was there to take advantage. "EAT THIS!" She leapt up and brought her fists down on it's forehead. For once, the creature was forced to respect her strength, and staggered away. Sakura flew up from the impact and landed. "You felt that one, didn't you?" She said.

As she turned, expected to be covered by her teammate, she instead saw the mighty creature become a one armed artillery shell, disrupting the entire battlefield. From the flying debris erupted the monster, reaching out for her. "Tch!" Sakura said, narrowing her eyes and lowering herself into a crouch. Cat tail on end, she dodged nimbly to the side, and- "Wha-uk!"

Her right arm was snatched. The sudden movement felt like it would pull her arm out of her socket. For an eternal moment she was face to face with the creature. Sakura's eyes were wide with fear and confusion. "N-no!" She kicked her legs, and grabbed onto the creature's wrist. But the moment passed, and her world became a blur as she was slammed onto the ground. "Ungh!" She grunted, her eyes squeezing shut. Barely had her body stopped bouncing was she pulverized into the mud by the creature's massive weapon. A direct hit.

"UAAAH!" Sakura screamed. She curled inward, spasming, before relaxing and slumping back into her Sakura shaped hole in the ground. Unconscious, her face was contorted in a grimace, her chest rising and falling with audible gasps and exhales. Needless to say, she was senseless to Bella's horror, the explosions that buffeted her clothes with wind, or the scrap and gunk that pooled around her impact point and got into her hair.

If any healer's could monitor her vitals they would probably notice that even now she was subconsciously doing something. Her vitals were hovering, moving up and down at their low point, in sync with her breathing.

The way to the summit of the mountain just got worse and worse. From a chilly elevator ride to a bone chilling blizzard that not even Sectonia could keep her composure in, her mandibles chittering as not even her fire antillions summoned in triplicate could keep her or the rest of the party all that warm. And while one of the thieves did suggest having fire cast on them to warm them up, that wouldn't end well for anyone as the Scout clarified. And while not having cold weather cloths hadn't bothered her much now thanks to her antillions, now whatever anyone used to keep themselves warm, even by magic, wasn't doing much at all. "I.... Hate.... This.... Mountain." She said with venom, needing to teleport to even keep up thanks to the severe winds. And while Raz did have an idea, Sectonia was living proof that it wouldn't work, having the most surface area of everyone and being constantly blown about. Hopefully this little 'trial' would be over soon, hopefully...

Kamek’s down payment was an explosive hit with the ancient infant, the super sized stone throw crushing it into the sand and then blowing it up for good measure. Of course, that wasn't going to take it down, not by a long shot.

Fortunately the others were there, storming into bringing the hurt to the orphan in two closely collaborating pairs. Unfortunately, the troop were not in a state to help them, a crisis that began with Rika’s scream.

From the sand her sea beast rose, and for a moment Kamek was sure it was a source of yet more pain for their team, just as it was for Rika. Then Jr scooped the collapsing shipgirl into his arms and fled, while leaving his minions to escort the hulking beast. They marked it as friendly in doing so, but that was about it. The devastation that rained down on them demonstrated aptly why jr had not brought any out till it was the only way he had on hand that he could use to try and have an impact.

As the minions fell and the warriors fought Kamek rushed to the side of the two young people in her care telling them ”Hold it together, I’ll do what I can” as she re-summoned his clones and started the process of powering them up to heal. It wasn't exactly a quick process, and it was hampered a bit by the fact that she and Jr (who was carrying Rika) were having to keep on the move to avoid being caught as collateral damage of one of the Orphan’s erratic and sweeping attacks.

The ship girl coughed and then said “thanks Kamek” as vitality returned to her, before her rescuing prince asked ”What even happened back there?”

“Urg, Pacific whale took something out of me to get out. I hope it’s at least being useful” she explained, just in time for them to look over and see the sea beast's brains being splattered all over the beach.

While Rika groaned with exasperation at this seeming failure, it had gotten an all mighty chomp in on the Orphan, one that the other’s capitalized on, especially Sakura. With an enviable ease the heroic seeker’s started their dance with death once more, darting in and out of combat, but unfortunately the newborn horror had finally found a solution, and that was to underhandedly throw sand in their eyes. Or rather an entire section of beach.

Before anyone could react, least of all the beleaguered Troop, the Monster had grabbed Sakura and began mercilessly smashing her into the sand. Anyone but Bella, who surged forwards to protect her savior and first friend, sharing her with her body and a screen of aircraft. The seaplane tender princess saved the street fighter's life, and then Peach’s cry broke through the moment of helplessness gripping the troop and spurred them into action.

“Go help her!” Rika demanded as she forcibly hauled her weakened from out of Jr’s carry and jerkily pointed the two white mage clones to go help her fallen friend instead of her.

”But-” the mage attempted to object, but the shipgirl would have none of it.

“I’ll… get out on the water like Peach is” she said, as she saw the princess darting away from the horror that became beleaguered in the shallows of the dead sea “it’ll be safer. I think”

That was enough of a plan to get them moving, the two koopas nodding in agreement before moving to assist. Jr gave Rika a goop trail towards the sea, over which the ship girl skated over and then onto the waves. Once there she sailed towards Peach, linking up with her and adding her firepower to whatever the princess used the space her new mobility and endless moat gave her space to do.

Meanwhile, Kamek directed her two white mages towards Sakura, to lend her a burst of healing magic. The simple spell-matrices that where their minds did notice something odd about her vitals, but they weren't smart enough to do anything with that information, and simply stuck to the plan, giving her what restorative power they could.

Both their pieces of aid rendered, Kamek and Jr linked up and raced after the Orphan. Inorder to not have a repeat of the Densil situation, they needed to actually pin it down, not just engage it and hope the fighting stayed away from Bella and Sakura.

But the question was, how.

Running low on tricks, gadgets and mana, however, the best they could come up with was encouraging it to keep bogging itself down in the water. The first problem with that plan was making sure Jr didn’t get struck down due to being bogged down in the water as well. A problem solved by Kamek suggesting the ape the antics a certain plumber had used during one of their many battles with him.

The prince ran towards the orphan, summoning his koopa korps, and getting them to launch themselves forwards towards the monster, turning them into a barrage of shells. That wasn't the main point of the summoning however. The main point was having Kamek beef up one of the shells by about 50%, making it as big and sturdy as a shiny shell, after which Jr hopped onto the back of that shell and started surfing using it.

The barrage flew forth towards the orphan, with Jr sweeping a swift brush of shocking goop over it for added stunning damage. Then as it closed in he swung to the side, out onto the water and from there he, Kamek, kamek’s two clones and Mimi (still riding the prince’s shoulder) provided close fire support (netting Kamek another 40 gold in the process) from the water, trying to draw it deeper into the waves.

There was only so much one medabot could do. Still she could zap away some of the rocks with her shield and block some of the organic globules of the Orphan, her shield didn't last forever. And while she was able to get 2 more ghosts to rush at the Orphan thanks to how much darting back and forth she had to do, flying above all of Orphan's shockwaves and staying out of his ire as she flew to heal those who needed it, the fight wasn't going so well. Even with the benefit of some team attacks and other new techniques Blazermate hadn't seen yet, people were falling and falling in health, most critical, and Sakura down for the count just barely hanging on.

At least Blazermate could now summon the engineer to finish building his turret, which had run out of ammo awhile ago and since it wasn't shooting him, the Orphan had ignored it. This would at least help the situation everyone was in, as it only took a few more smacks with his wrench for Dell to not only reload the entire sentry, but finally bring it to level 3, which began blasting the Orphan with its rockets and miniguns as it flew there throwing globes of... something... at people.

Blazermate meanwhile didn't have enough charge to uber someone, at least not yet having just ubered earlier. but she did have one idea... as painful as it sounded she could at least do some good damage to this thing seeing as it was near dead. And maybe assist Kamek with getting Sakura up at the same time. Seeing as the Orphan was distracted with the rest of her team, Blazermate came up from behind, using her beam to attempt to at least awaken Sakura with her revive ability before swapping to her ubersaw and smacking the Orphan in the weak point she had marked for everyone a couple times to build her ubercharge. When the Orphan turned to deal with the newcommer medabot, like it was want to do, Blazermate raised her shield and had it scream right in its face, the shield abosrbing a direct blow from the Orphan in the process knocking Blazermate out of the sky and causing her shield arm to be rendered useless. But she had gotten the ubercharge she wanted.

Blazermate having her plan all set, said to her teammates. "Keep it distracted and still, I've got a plan!" and letting her teammates know her idea, Blazermate prepared her medaforce beam to blast the Orphan when there was a proper opening.

Oh dear. For once, it seemed, Mondstadt’s Chief Alchemist had failed to think things through. With even the barest smidgeon of reflection, it seemed stunningly obvious that a sudden surge of light in the pitch black of the Beneviento House’s depths would be as much a distraction for Linkle as it would the Dollmaker. Furthermore, if his new friend’s fight was proceeding apace as he suspected, it made total sense that the young heroine would forget all about the horrific foe in front of her as she fixated on the unfamiliar figure behind Albedo instead–and for all intents and purposes, Papyrus looked just like another monster.

No good deed went unpunished, and for her innocent attempt to help Albedo, Linkle found herself clenched in the overlarge Dollmaker’s grasp. Were he possessed of a more sound mind or killer instinct he might have dealt a withering blow right then and there, but instead the madman aimed the Skullgirl toward toward the reinforcements that stood around the glow of Albedo’s Solar Isotoma. His spine-chilling bellow sputtered the fire in the hearts of the backup squad, momentarily stopping them in their tracks, and in a desperate attempt to either reassert his one-on-one fight or simply extinguish the flower’s stinging golden gleam, he hurled Linkle the newcomers’ way.

Albedo’s conviction waver only a brief moment, and the next he was on the move. It occurred to him that in a hypothetical interpersonal impact he might take a lot more damage than the much more physically powerful Linkle, but nevertheless the alchemist cast aside his sword without so much as a word or a second thought. He dashed into position, knelt, and braced himself with arms outstretched to catch Linkle before she could hit either the ground or his allies, taking the brunt of her motive force directly to his core. A guttural grunt escaped him, but his solid stance prevented a knockdown, and he staggered for only a moment. It was a good thing too, for there wasn’t any time to spare. Albedo let his friend down as softly yet expediently as he could, then got back to his feet.

While Frisk attempted to both shield and re-arm Linkle, Papyrus brought forth constructs of his own. A miniature forest of oversized bones sprouted up around the Dollmaker, but to label the freakish creature as ‘trapped’ would be a gross embellishment. Angry as a hornet and deaf to the good-hearted skeleton’s pleas, the Dollmaker stormed through the boneyard, using the bizarre length and slenderness of its limbs to great effect. No half-hearted attempt at nonviolence would quell a monstrosity like this in the World of Light, where surrender was never an option. Fortunately, Albedo had been sitting on a surplus of energy for a while now, and with the fate of some innocent bystanders on the line it was about time to cash out.

The alchemist lay in wait, one hand behind his back and the other across his heart, biding his time for a brief but crucial second or so, until the Dollmaker’s charge brought it into range. Then he flourished his hand outward. “Witness my great undertaking!” From the ground in front of him erupted a geyser of great citrine crystals like the petals of an immense flower. The size of Albedo’s Tectonic Tide in the confined space both bathed the area with yellow light and knocked his enemy’s limbs out from under it. Taken completely by surprise, the Dollmaker lost his composure, and as he went down Albedo thrust his palm forward. “Come into being!”

A second solar isotoma bloomed beneath it, replacing the first. When the Dollmaker fell on it, the alchemical creation generated its characteristic crystalline platform, and with the power of the earth lifted the monster’s body into the air. He quickly began to recover, but before he could escape, the flower’s lift pinned him to the ceiling, where he could struggle with thrashing arms and legs. “The Rite of Progeniture is boosting your elemental mastery,” Albedo told Linkle, calmly re-summoning his sword. “Let us dispense with this distraction.”

Level: 2
Experience: 2/20
Currently In: The Doll House
Word Count: 419 (+1 Exp)
Albedo @Lugubrious, Linkle @Gentlemanvaultboy, Papyrus @Dark Cloud

Huh. Looks like both of them decided to follow. While Frisk trusted Albedo to know what he was doing, only giving a slight shrug in response to his swifter approach, they were expectantly concerned about Papyrus. Poor guy was already spooked enough on the way back, and though they only got a spoken description of their target, who knows what they'll be up against? They really didn't want anyone else getting hurt...

Frisk mentally knocked the grim thought away. They have a means of defense, so atleast they won't be a total deadweight. The child lept down into the dark depths after Albedo, but they mentally cursed themselves for not grabbing a light beforehand, their soul didn't exactly glow either. Though before they asked themselves how they would be able to fight with the abyss staring at them, it turns out the Alchemist knew magic. Albedo had summoned a peculiar flower to act as a lantern, revealing wHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING?!

It looked human, it had a body structure a monster could obviously have, but even Frisk didn't know what to do about it. Seeing that Linkle was holding out well, they were prepared to toss her crossbows back to her. An attempt to reassure her that Papyrus was a friend got interupted before the child even spoke, the Dollmaker had thrown the Skullgirl at the group.

Can they even reason with this...thing??

While Albedo caught Linkle, Papyrus took an attempt to restrain the creature, wanting to talk things out instead. Frisk's expression cracked into a frown. They really need to explain once things died down. While the Dollmaker was stalled, albeit shortly, the child stepped over to Linkle and passed one crossbow back to her. With one hand free, they could swap their soul trait from it's normal crimson to a kind green, thus being able to produce a pale blue barrier out in front of them. They passed the second crossbow, then focused their attention straight at the incomming creature.

The child watched in honest awe as the Alchemist made quick work in incapacitating the Dollmaker. As the more experienced of the group prepared to finish it off, Frisk thought to themselves.

This thing can't be reasoned with. It can't escape alive, as much as thoughts like that make the child's stomach turn. Though for it's execution, they'll leave it to someone else.

"...Do what you must." Frisk nodded to the two, then looked back to Papyrus, shield still raised. "Might wanna stay by me."

@Dark Cloud@Majoras End

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Linkle couldn't stop herself as she flew through the air like a fastball, her body focused more on pulling air back into her lungs than doing anything to soften her inevitable impact with the ground. Luckily for her someone did that for her. She watched Albedo move forward, brace himself, then get closer and closer before the sudden impact.

She, much like the Doll Master, had expected she would knock him over. Maybe it was due to that climbing he did, but Albedo held firm. He had caught her in more of a hug than anything, and was treated to the Skullgirl wheezing into his ear for a moment before he righted himself enough to put her down. It wasn't that far to the floor. "Nice catch." She managed to choke out as he did.

As Linkle took a few more deep breath's she spotted the Stalfos begin glowing and, with a wave of its finger, call up a barrier of bones between them and the behemoth. It was a technique that seemed oddly familiar, but more importantly than that he showed himself to be definitively on their side. That was a relief. Though now there was another friend down here with that man in addition to Frisk and Albedo.

Speaking of Frisk, the kid approached and handed her one of her crossbows. It was only when they swapped the color of the little heart floating in front of them that Linkle took notice of it, but that was only for a moment before the child handed her the other one. She nodded her thanks to Frisk before standing up, just in time to see the man smash his way through the Stalfos bones and come right at them. His charge was stopped, however, by a garden of crystals that bloomed underneath him courtesy of Albedo. This the Alchemist followed up with one of his flowers, pressing the man up against the ceiling where he began lashing out mindlessly in rage, or maybe fear. He reached down, trying to grasp the stem as though it were a regular weed he could rip from his garden.

She hesitated. She was never comfortable with fighting someone that didn't have an avenue to fight back. Then, Frisk spoke up and reminded her that she didn't have the option of finishing this fight on her terms. She could take a punch, but she didn't Frisk could and if what he had done to those bones was any indication neither could the friendly Stalfos. Playtime was over.

Her strawberry hair flashed into a icy blue and the temperature around them dropped sharply as she raised her crossbows to the ceiling. The tips of both glowed with the same blue light as she fired a pair of bolts as the Dollmaster. They struck him in the head and pair of his exposed chest, and he let out one last airy shriek as an explosion of cold covered him and threw up a veil of mist that began to fall from the ceiling. As it cleared it reveled the dollmaster, completely encased in ice. She jumped up, giving the ice a high kick. At her touch the ice imploded inwards all at once, then shattered. Linkle landed only moments before the mans sprawling body followed, slamming into the basement floor hard enough that the fur of them could feel it in their boots.

Labored breathing still came from him, even if his body was broken. His fingers managed to drag one arm, plaintively, across the floor toward them. Linkle took a few steps back out of reach just in case he had some unexpected last gasp of strength. "My dolls..." he gasped out as the arm snaked its way toward them. "My beautiful dolls. Don't...leave..."

Then the hand collapsed upon the floor. Shortly after, it was dissolving into fine flakes of ash leaving only a small mote of light shining in the center of it. Linkle wondered how many people had actually seen him before they had? Had there been other dolls he had watched before Treat? Was he the reason the owner of this mansion was missing? How long had he been hiding from the world?

She didn't let these concerns show on her face as she twirled her crossbows and holstered them in her boots, her hair changing back to its normal color as she turned and faced the three of them. "I'm really sorry guys. I should have been able to handle this before you got back." They had returned weirdly fast now that she thought about it.

She glanced over at the Stalfos, the two half skulls laughing in her eyes briefly meeting the two empty sockets in his. Maybe he was the reason? "So, who's your friend? Oh, is Treat okay!? Did you guys manage to talk it out with the rabbits? I have completely reconsidered, I don't think she should be living up here by herself."

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Rusting. Raiden felt as though he were rusting each and every day he sat around doing nothing in the dull little town, no offense to the town, of course, but there wasn't a lot for the swordsman to do. He wasn't much for parties and tourist traps. Each day was spent, staring at a window which had been dyed due to the town's colorful origins, endlessly waiting for a call to action. Part of him had wished he had stayed in the place he was "resurrected", more excitement might have lived in those areas, yet the man sat by idle.

It had been a few hours since Raiden entered the building he was currently residing in, and he finally decided it was time to leave. Before standing up he'd sigh in desperation for any escape from this dull, new life he had entered. Approaching the front door, he would look back at the small colorful skeleton, who would gleefully wave at him. Raiden would nod, after speaking a quick, "Thanks for the hospitality." His hands would swiftly reach to grab a black and gold set of clothing, which included a sombrero and poncho. This was Raiden's master "disguise" in the blistering desert, although it seemed his outfit was rendered useless considering no one in the town seemed to recognize him. At this point, it was just the norm for Raiden.

As he left the building, a burst of searing wind would stream across his face, making him thankful for air conditioning. God, he could have already felt his body creaking against the shift from cold to hot. After taking in the overall traditional Mexican setting for the thousandth time, he'd tilt his hat and strut, looking for something-anything to do. Sometimes he'd find a stray hostile, but that was rarely the case. Maybe he could today. Once he arrived at one of the taller buildings in the area, his feet would begin to generate lightning. Now able to defy physics, he'd full sprint at the tower, clinging to the wall after his first step on to it. He would be able to quickly ascend the wall with this maneuver, although he slowly felt himself becoming less and less able to do so. It would only be a matter of time before Mr. Lightning Bolt would become... Well, something that wouldn't have any similarities to a lightning bolt.

Why the hell was he still here? He was there. He was there the day that group of... individuals arrived by train. They were unlike any people Raiden had seen in his 30 odd years of life. They came in many shapes and sizes, in a wide range of age and mythological faction. Raiden was surprised there was so much diversity in this realm. None of them saw him, none of them would have been able to. Raiden always kept his distance, and with his masterful disguise, how would anyone be able to suspect anything from him? The man chuckled in hindsight of his genius. Raiden had felt uninclined to interact with the townsfolk, sure they were lively and probably had one or too many stories to tell about their fascinating lives, but to Raiden, it all still felt fake. He had also considered talking to the travelers that had passed a few hours ago, however it felt best to let them deal with their events. They seemed on a mission, something that Raiden envied.

Raiden had become somewhat familiar with the layout of the land, minus the blooming mountain, where a portion of the group had split off to climb. He would huff, now irritated with his choice not to stalk them in hindsight. A good day as any for retrospection. It wasn't much. Like it was stated, a little town without much to do. Raiden would love to be a hero again for the inhabitants. How he was disappointed. After taking a seat on the edge of the building, his single eye watching the landscape carefully. There was always scenery, he'd given them that, but as for activities, all that really happened was parties and other social events, which Raiden nearly cringed at the thought of. Raiden had saved the president, destroyed giant sentient robots, and even killed a supposedly immortal man, but for some reason the idea of socializing to drinks and dinner was always... unappetizing.

His mind drifted back to the travelers... not all of them had left up the mountain. In fact, a decent amount stationed themselves in the town last Raiden remembered... Maybe they could be his ticket to some more practical use? Raiden knew he could use an "oil change", there was never any immediate threats in the town, so he'd felt bad if he slaughtered them for personal use. Protect the weak: That's what Snake taught him. It was decided- he would seek out those who had stayed behind to get some insight into how he could move forward. He needed to, his robotic parts begged him. He knew about their plan to meet back up with the other group... maybe Raiden could join their posse somehow.

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