Blazermate's gambit managed to do the damage she wanted, although not as much as she thought it'd do, Sakura getting up to delvier the final blow. And while Blazermate's medaforce beam did heal her up from the damage she had taken to get the charge for it, the Orphan didn't like getting hit by the laser blast, and as Blazermate got healed, she also got struck by a direct lightning bolt, causing her to collapse, a bit darkened by the ash caused by said lightning bolt. This hurt, a lot, and disabled her shield arm that she had jsut healed up, alongside almost disabling her leg parts which would stop her ability to fly. All this and the grund was turning to muck while Blazermate was righting herself from the lightning strike. Thankfully, Link scooped her up to get her out of danger. "Ah, thanks Link." blazermate said, using the opportunity Link gave her to heal as everyone else dealt with the new boss. At least Blazermate could place a marker on the new boss's weak point as Link carried her and heal up at least her leg parts so she could keep herself out of the muck.

After healing for a bit, Blazermate soon had to dodge the strange jellyfish orbs this boss was throwing out. Although moving and healing herself was all Blazermate could do at this time as that lightning strike had also destroyed her sentry. But there was one thing Blazermate could do. There were still red cracks in the arena Blazermate could touch, and while dodging and healing these attacks, she managed to touch one, the ghost zooming off to hit the creature in its eye, knowing where to hit it apparently to do damage. That was about all she could do, especially as a spirit of one of their fallen commrades appeared in front of Blazermate. That cyber ninja that the first bosss he fought had killed. Although unlike the others, Blazermate's logical mind wasn't tricked by this apparition as she knew that spirits didn't become ghosts, thats not how it worked here, so this didn't distract her as much as it would others.

=========================================================================



This blizzard just got worse and worse, more and more people getting lost, it getting colder, and the Queen being sick adn tired of all of this. She could barely move without blinking, and blinking meant she lost her heat source which just made things worse. But like the others, after passing out from the cold she found herself at the summit of the mountain, all warm and healed up. She knew she wasn't dead, since she still looked the way she was. But she did make a note to destroy whatever caused that blizzard for revenge. And with the big colossus in front of them all being a good target to vent her frustration, Sectonia went on the attack. Being one of the few flyers of the group, she could get up and attack the so called Guardian with her rings of light, the large version fairly easily. Its size would make her slow spell useless, but she could haste herself to get these rings of light out faster. Even if some went every which way thanks to that mask that tripled the amount of rings she threw out.

The Seekers delivered their flurry of blows onto the Orphan, keeping sure to cover each other as they slowly carved away at the Guardian of the Blue. Geralt slashed and sliced, dodged a counterattack, and stepped back to give the others a clear avenue of attack. He hadn't predicted, however, that Sakura of all people would take advantage of it.

But take advantage she did, rushing back in like a woman possessed, bouncing off the monster high into the air and returning with an impossible amount of momentum, as if she'd been launched from a catapult, and decapitated the damned creature with a kick as she slid along the viscera-splattered sand.

Geralt watched as it dissolved, only letting out a breath of relief when the ash settled and blew away. He lazily drew a cloth from one of his many pouches, carefully cleaning his bloodied silver sword. Once he was satisfied with the job he did, the tension left his body with a deep breath, and he lowered himself to a sitting position.

He half-listened to Peach's speech, only focusing when she asked Nadia if anybody had taken the Orphan's Spirit. When nobody answered in the affirmative, catlike eyes narrowed before widening and Geralt exploded upwards, breaths still a little heavy. "Dammit!" He cried, looking around before noticing the floating crab as the others did. Following the supernatural umbilical cord to the water, he noticed the numerous other corpses rising into the air as if gravity had lost its hold on them.

"Oh. Oh, fuck." Geralt cursed, before looking down as tar began creeping up, covering his boot. "Move!" He yelled, pulling his foot out of the substance and towards higher ground. His relief lasted barely a moment, as the tar consumed everything around them, and more structures rose out of it to replace the relatively solid ground that the beach had provided.

As others started picking the smaller members of their crew up and out of the substance, Geralt prioritized his own survival in a return to old instincts. Pulling himself onto a rising building and rolling to his feet, Geralt took in their new surroundings. The battlefield had been replaced by an ocean of tar from which various platforms jutted out seemingly at random, and off in the distance their foe (or at least what Geralt assumed was a final, radical transformation of their enemy) reappeared.

"Figures." He said simply. It had already slaughtered one of them after nearly killing another, only saved by the timely rescue of Ace's felyne friends, why not make things more interesting?

To say that the largest moving...thing Geralt had ever seen was before them was not an exaggeration. Some castles were taller, but they were quite obviously not living, mobile things. To say the monster before them alive would be a liberal application of the word in his mind. Yes, it moved, but there was something profoundly wrong about it.

Resolving to dismiss the philosophical question for later, Geralt did the only thing he could think of in this situation: He summoned the Breaching Bastion.

Having been unwilling to use it against the Orphan's erratic movement and risk harming his allies, he absently wondered if the others were relieved to see the cannon platform or annoyed he hadn't tried to use it sooner.

The main gun thundered like it had each time it fired before, oversized shell aimed to hit the eye directly. The smaller guns targeted the eye as well, but Geralt quickly halted them when he saw Nadia flying in on a boulder that he assumed Link had launched at this thing like he did earlier.

"Dammit, Nadia..." He mumbled, but instead looked around while he waited for her to get clear of the gun's line of fire. The last thing he wanted to do was blow her to smithereens.

When the strange, jellyfish-like creatures began appearing, Geralt turned the smaller guns on them, still keeping an eye out for Nadia, which proved wise as she burst from the thing in a shower of watery blood, smacking into one of the floating creatures on her way back and being stunned.

Geralt's large stride length made it simple for him to maneuver himself into Nadia's path, catching the girl like one would a cat and setting her down with an eye roll at her comment. "Yeah, yeah, just be careful next time." He snarked back, returning to a defensive position near the gun. His ears would not be happy with him after this battle, but the damage wouldn't likely be permanent, between the healing he could receive from Blazermate and his own enhanced regeneration.

The guns continued firing away when Geralt noticed a familiar shape appear in his peripheral vision, though nothing else about the figure was recognizable for a moment, given that it was made out of the same tar that they were all surrounded by.

He'd recognize that gut anywhere, though. Letting out a wistful laugh, Geralt shook his head. "A ghost, huh? Never thought you'd be tied down enough to leave a specter behind. You trained us well enough, Vesemir." When the specter tossed a package his way, Geralt caught it easily, a small smile on his face.

His free hand lashed out and caught another package that had been thrown from a different angle, and he turned to see the receding outline of an old friend. "Didn't have to die, Djikstra. But Roche was a friend, too. Couldn't let you kill him..."

Both were gone in moments, though, and when Geralt looked at what his old friends had given him, his eyebrow rose. "Is that...blood?" The thing in his hand was clearly no wine, but he had trouble imagining what blood would do for them. He could toss them at the floating things, sure, but unless this was more acid than blood, he couldn't see it doing much.

Shrugging, Geralt turned back to the battle, targeting the Bastion's smaller guns at the golden humanoids that were being launched at them. He put the containers down and drew his silver sword again, sidestepping and cutting at one of the living projectiles that got a little too close for comfort.

Spinning and pointing his blade back at the colossus, he commanded the Breaching Bastion's main gun to fire once more, ears ringing a little once the shot rang out.

Midna pulled down her scarf, ripped off her mask and took a deep relieved breath of the fresh and clear mountain air as she took in the scenery. They’d made it. All of them. Through some miracle all those that had fallen had been drawn up to the heavens where the air was merely crisp rather than frostbite causing. Where the vistas were bright and glorious rather than bleak and barren. It was a fair bit too bright for Midna’s taste, but she was more than happy to put up with a bit of squinting if it meant not freezing to death.

”Goddesses. That’s a beautiful sight” the princess had to say, taking it all in, before looking a little closer at the murals on the walls on the ‘inverted bell’ as the strange man called it and frowning ”but I could go without the excessive depictions of suffering though. Never a good sign those, at least on their own.” Generally you wanted there to be some depiction of release from suffering in your religious imagery, or at least a building out of it as her people had done in their prison turned home.

She squatted down to gaze into the depths, and in a mixed mind of whether being able to see properly would be worth putting up with whatever sacreligious nightmares awaited down there, when the man who had identified the location made a request and brought their attention to the grand floating serpent soaring high above them.

”Well that’s convenient. Guess we won't need to go down there after all.” She said, squaring up for a fight with what was clearly the area boss, and then after a few moments dropped the fighting pose upon realizing that the titan was content to mind its own business while they were all the way down here.

”Huh. Well if it’s happy to wait then so am I. Gives us time to prepare… oh. right” she snapped her fingers upon remembering their whole plan, and, within a few moments, she had popped down the Portcrystal that could be used as a beacon that its smaller kin could teleport too.

”There we go, that should let everyone else come-” she was saying while dusting off her hands when Ciella popped into existence right in front of her, something she wasn’t really a fan of. ”- oh. Right. You're with us” she said dismissively, and then waited a few moments for literally anyone else to appear. Unfortunately it looked like the madwoman was the only person on the ball with her transportation rock. Or who had nothing better to do than keep checking it (which was Midna’s assessment of the situation).

”Well if we’re going to be waiting for a bit, and the big dragon’s looking like it's fine with just floating around for now, might as well camp up and get some rest and energy back” she said, floating down to take a seat on the edge of the inverted bell, legs swinging over the abyss as she summoned up a convenience store sandwich and a bottle of water from the twilight realm.

She popped open the bottle, took a deep draft of it’s continents, sighed happily as the hydration it revitalized her, and then asked ”Anyone want something? How about you, Redento?” happy enough to rustle up some post mountain climb grub for whoever wanted to tap into their stores of rations.

---

“Hmmmm. Balloons huh? I’ll keep those off of us, you focus on the eye?” the End offered, glancing over at his compatriot and getting the briefest of thumbs up from Quiet’s grip holding hand. She never ceased firing to do so, instead professionally and unflinchingly hammering shot after shot after shot into the titan’s weak spot.

The gave a little faint “hmm” to let her know he got her agreement, and then, unknowingly taking after a certain cadre of monkeys, turned his tranquilizer gun to the heavens and started using the darts to pop balloon after balloon till he and Quite ran out of time.

Down below the tar slick sand, having regurgitated its ruined cargo of monuments of a lost age, now hungered, threatening to draw anything and everything it had not sent out itself down into the muck. One of the group was finding this out the hard way.

“Oh nonononono I’m sinking, I’m sinking!” cried Rika, as her natural floating ability failed to fight the omnivorous oil which gripped her boots and tried to drag her and her wounded cargo down into oblivion. She tried to haul her weakened legs up out of the tar, but like quicksand, all her attempts just drew her deeper.

Jr’s own struggling didn't help much either, the boy in her grasp wriggling out of it and then more or less climbing her to try and get away from the muck.

“Jr stop you're just making it worse! Wait what are you-” Rika said as the wounded boy hurled himself clear of her and landed in the oil as well. Before being sucked down into a sticky end he thrust out his paintbrush, the end of which was caught by the quadrant of chef bro strikes he summoned, who worked together to haul him up to the safety of a half sunken building via an open window. The boy fell in through the window and onto the carpeted floor of the room, panted for a few moments, and then picked himself up and tried to reach the brush back out to Rika.

The sinking ship girl grasped for it, but it was too far to reach, even with the chef bros holding jr so he could lean out as far as he could. Then Kamek returned right in the nick of time. With a ”Hold on! I‘ve got you” she swapped down on her broom and bridged the gap with her body, grasping the brush with one hand and Rika’s outstretched hand with the other.

With a great deal of strain the shipgirl was hauled up to the half sunken family home, specifically a dreary looking child’s bedroom, within which the two youngsters more or less collapsed while Kamek landed and tried to regain her strength with more dignity.

While war raged outside of the room, inside of it the trio were more or less safe, at least initially. The snipers on the roof kept their building clear of gasbags, while the whirling lashes of its strange fingers were not designed to break through the concrete of their domicile based hiding spot (though they did lash Kamek’s remaining doppelgangers, who had been rendered sluggish due to Kamek’s lack of mana reserves, out of existence).

The golden wraiths however, were a whole other story, as one of them swooped down in a wide arch and then plunged right in through the window of the room and grabbed Kamek, which caused a whole lot of screaming.

As the mage struggled Rika drove her bayonet into the wraith and held down the trigger, hammering bullets into it (and forcing Kamek to cover her ears) until her rifle started clicking empty. Then she just started punching it while Mimi clawed at it until Kamek managed to get her want and pump a spell bolt into it, causing the golden wraith to stumble backwards and release her. A final wide swing from jr’s brush batted it back causing it to tip out of the window and into the muck below, into which it sank.

The troop were left panting, or in Jr’s case coughing as he tried to pant, from just that exertion.

”How is this not over yet” the prince complained, supporting himself on his brush in a mirror of Kamek who was doing the same with her broom. It was Rika then, who first saw what looked initially like their demise. The fact that the person at the center of the quintuplet of specters who had arisen from the muck was the abyssal sun princess herself certainly made it look like this was the end.

Rika started back in alarm and raised her rifle at the sight of the arch abyssal, only for it to click uselessly once again, still entirely spent. The princess shook her head and then raised a skeletal hand towards her along which, of all things, a trio of pixi sized repair crew women ran and then jumped onto the windowsill.

The three of them looked up at the agog ship girl, hands on their hips, and then all gave the sign of engineers looking at a machine that had really gone through the wringer and was going to be one hell of pain to fix up. Which was, when you got down to it, an entirely accurate assessment of Rika. Then they all had to duck as a specter of the Delsin tossed a red crate over their heads to Kamek, while Mikuma, the Pacific princess and B’giotahmo the white mage, all of whom’s spirits where confusingly inside members of the troop at that very moment, tossed Jr an oversized drumstick, Rika a bag of bright yellow ichor laced bullets and Mimi a little red berry respectively before they all turned away, giving at most a parting wave over the shoulder, and leaving the Troop very very confused.

If it weren't for the items they had left behind, the entire event might well have been a fever dream. Considering the trio of little chibi humans standing on the windowsill still, it might well still be. Then one of them pointed impatiently at the ship girl and gestured for her to sit down and at that point they more or less just had to deal with the situation rather than standing around staring in shock.

”Well… can’t say no to free food I guess?” Jr said as Rika numbly did as she was told and took a seat on the bed.

”I’m not sure if that is such a good-” Kamek began to say, but by that point it was far to late, as Jr was already ravenously chowing down on the king sized drumstick, the berry had vanished underneath Mimi’s disguise while no one was looking and Rika was in the mist of having the little ladies run around giving her a rapid fire fix up (as well as painstakingly loading the new bullets into her rifle).

The mage sighed, shrugged, and then cracked open the crate she had received, which revealed it contain a wand tipped with a crimson jewel surrounded by a brass crown, 6 blue potions, a couple of gold coins and, for no good reason 15 ingots of iron.

”How odd” she said as she picked up one of the potions and gave it a sniff. It smelled like mushrooms and magic. ”Well then. Bottoms up I suppose” she said, and then drank down its blue contents, feeling her Mana reserves swelling with each gulp of the potion.

”By the stars, that was effective” she gasped, before tuning and asking others ”how are you all?”

”My mouth’s on fire from spice but sooooo much better” Jr reported, (and he certainly looked it, his shell healed and his had been spirit energized back to his boisterous self by the memory of when he’d tried his dad’s own spicy fare one dinnertime and found it similarly too hot to handle) which Mimi echoed with a “kyu”, her reserves of pp all stocked up by the berry. Rika meanwhile stood up, carefully flexed an ankle, and then reported that “I think I’m all fixed up,” before turning and bowing to the little repair crew and telling them “thank you.”

The team gave her a mix of thumbs up and salutes before vanishing in a puff of smoke, leaving the team alone in their bemusement.

“Well... That was weird?” she said as she leaned back upright, pointing out the obvious.

”Who cares, let's just go teach that big jerk a lesson he’ll never forget!” Jr declared, which got an all around agreement from the rest of the gang.

A few moment’s later a roof access hatch to the building they had been in was thrown open, and the troop piled on out of it to rejoin the fighting. Jr and Mimi immediately set to work, the prince hucking homing fireballs from his spicy mouth at the floating balloons, while Mimi took advantage of her electroballs ability to inflict more damage the faster she was than her opponent (and the titan was nothing if not slow) by sending fastball after fastball buzzing towards its big old eye.

While Rika put her hefty supply of ichor infused bullets to work trying to crystallize and disable one of the titan’s hands, Kamek grasped her new wand, waving it to summon a quadrant of clones holding the same wand, and then declaring ”Now then’ let's see what you can do” before doing just that.

She and her clone pointed their wands up at the titan, pulsed power through the implement and sent five little balls of cloud sailing forth. She wasn't impressed at first with the fluffy projectiles, but then the clouds came to a halt above the titan and expanded, forming a little bundle of storm clouds above it, down from which a stinging crimson rain pelted onto/into the ring of hands that where where its head should be.

Skidding to a stop, Sakura turned and watched the headless creature fall, burst, and die. She had crushed right through. With the help of her friends, the thing was practically on deaths door, and she had shoved it over the threshold. She felt...strange. Hollow about it. The thrill of victory hadn't reached her heart. They'd lost people. Some permanently. But was that really it? Surely, their deaths weren't for nothing?

Sakura skidded back over to the beach and sat down on it, holding her face in her hands and listening to Peach's speech. "Is it really over?" She asked quietly. She dropped her hands and stared at the grainy sand below. "Doesn't feel like it's over." As mentions of the missing spirit was brought up, Sakura began to really suspect they were missing something.

And they were. Because now a hand-faced, chest-eyed, black tar giant showed up and flooded the entire beach with ooey gooey.

"Whaaa-?" Was all Sakura could say, utterly baffled. Instinctively at this point, she went to activate her harness. It pushed her up slightly but her sneakers were still caught in the muck.

"Huh? No way!" She cried out. Still, Sakura was no sloud when it came to wading, and she just pulled and struggled until she reached higher, solid ground. "Gueehhh...yuck!" She said, the liquid absolutely drenching her socks and sneakers.

She looked back up at the mammoth creature, awe struck once again into inaction. It felt like sizing up to fight a skyscraper. And worst of all, it had minions. Flying jelly fish. Nadia and Link pulled some insane stunt that bounced right off. "What IS that thing?! What are we going to do?!" She shouted on her little island.

"Hadoken!" Using her special anti-air fireballs, she blasted at one of the jelly fish. Both the fireball and the jellyfish exploded. And the creature did Sakura the favor of detonating all of the other jellyfish around it as well.

"That's something." She said. They were settling all over the field. Worst than that were the hovering golden humanoids that were making their way towards the Seekers with malicious intent. Sakura's lips tightened and she levelled a cannon at the enemy.

Click.

"Ehhh?!" Sakura wailed, staring at her gun in disbelief. "Out of ammo! That's possible?!"

Just past the eyeline of her gun, a figure emerged from the tar. A familiar shape. It was a lady from the Azure Navy! Baffled, Sakura turned around to see what the others thought, only to see several of them getting similar visitors. Geralt, Nadia, and the others. Thinking of the Azure navy, her eyes briefly fell on Bella. She whirled back around to the ghost.

"A-arashio-san?!" The spectre underhand tossed a cartoonish looking ammo box her way. Sakura reached out to catch it, but when she did it vanished, and she felt her cannons become heavier with ammo. "I- I don't know- I'm sorry-" Sakura began.

Arashio swept a hand towards the oncoming missiles as if to refocus Sakura's attention on the incoming projectiles. Then she began to sink back into the tar, back to wherever it was she was now. "Arigato!" Sakura called out. Not just for the ammo.

Then she turned and pulverized a golden specter out of the air only a few meters away. The shards showered her as she turned and focused fire on the other golden humanoid projectiles. Protecting her teammates with these cannons that she borrowed for one last fight.

When the majestic colossus crested the ringed peaks, serpentine and monumental, like some deific being of legend, the breathtaking sight left the whole cohort of Seekers a little on edge. Weapons sprang to hand, magic burned at the ready, and gunslingers set their sights as the team prepared for an epic clash. Just the idea of trying to fight this thing left Raz rattled, and as the others spread out the Junior Psychonaut shrank back. Phalanx, however, made no move to attack them, nor even seemed to acknowledge their presence. It merely slid through the air, its movements smooth and serene, unbothered by any potential threats as it loosely traced the circumference of the great bell Jondo. Five seconds became ten, then fifteen, and by twenty the sudden activity of the alarmed newcomers had completely given way to calm.

“Meh,” Tora said, puzzled. Lowering his guard, he turned an inquisitive look to his teammates. “Why it not attack us? Surely it see us by now.”

With his shotgun slung casually over his shoulder, Skull tried to look on the bright side. “Maybe it ain’t hostile!”

“Are you insinuating that the ‘boss’, per se, was more the journey here than the creature itself?” Fox attempted to explain, invoking a little poetic reasoning.

Big Band looked doubtful. “You been hittin’ the jug, son? Ain’t no way we’d get that lucky. It’s just waitin’ for us to make the first move, most like.”

Still, as Midna pointed out, that meant that everyone could take the few moments afforded to them and spend them in preparation for the fight ahead. Their first order of business: to place the portcrystal, and call forth some reinforcements from their holiday down in Tostarena Town. Once set, the cone-sized gemstone began to lustrate. Inside it glimmered an array of lights like the distant cosmos, with a central celestial body orbited by a dozen or so lesser motes of light. In quick succession those orbitals began to glow brighter, and after another moment the portcrystal divulged burst after burst of brilliant cerulean magic, bright enough to be dazzling if not for the splendor of the sky and snowy peaks.

When the lightshow died down, it revealed a handful of allies fresh to the fight. Ciella stood as tall and imposing as ever, her longbow in hand and her cyan-painted lips set in an icy frown. The warm coat of the sorcerer Robin flapped in the breeze as he took in his surroundings, and from his shadow Tharja stared daggers at anyone who got too close to them. As soon as he saw Phalanx, Mao crossed his arms, and from his back all four mechanical limbs deployed, their gadgets ready to cause some mayhem. “Oh, is this all?” he said coolly. “I thought it would be bigger.”

Peacock looked annoyed that she’d been whisked away from watching cartoons, but the sight of a colossal foe brought a wicked smile to her face. “Look out–here comes trouble!” She produced a cigar, flicked it into the air, and caught it in her chompers, then pulled out a gun to light it with.

Among the new arrivals was one face Tora found himself particularly happy to see again. “Jesse!” he sang, flapping his wings with joy. “Tora knew you make it down no problem, meh!” The FBC director looked a little worse for wear after a chilly descent all on her lonesome, but thanks to her invaluable glider and a few lucky wind currents she was still ready to brawl, if a little low-spirited. “Oh, Jesse not slow anyone down, meh meh! It very strange journey toward the end, so it sound like long story for both of us. After we deal with big baddypon, Tora tell all about it over plate of Tasty Sausage!”

At the same time, Midna offered some food to Redento, but the wanderer shook his bowed head. “Oh, you are kind indeed to offer such undeserved grace to one such as I, but I beg you, forgive my refusal. A genuine genuflecting pilgrim must always walk alone. It is the solitary path that will grant him constant meditation and understanding of what it means to be a pilgrim in the lands of the Miracle.” Murmuring his apologies, Redento shuffled sufficiently far from the gathered Seekers.

Jesse went on to request confirmation on whether or not Phalanx was the region boss of the Sandswept Sky, which boggled Tora’s mind. He might have just pointed at it by way of answering, but Poppi took the chance to be more helpful. “It match description we given,” she told Jesse. “Also fit with pattern of baddies so far being big monsters at end of areas. Plus, we did meet Master Hand right before this, and realistically speaking…” the artificial blade shrugged. “It not like we have any better ideas.”

Her reasoning seemed to be more than enough for Sectonia. Invigorated by her mystical restoration, the prospect of a final battle, and the lingering golden aura that made the act of flight easier than ever, the insect queen took to the infinite skies. Without so much as a smidgeon of hesitation she unleashed a torrent of light rings, and though Phalanx soared along at a good clip, its sheer size and predictable flight-pattern made hitting it such a breeze that even a few of Sectonia’s random projectiles ultimately hit their mark. That did her little good in the end, however, for her indiscriminate spells yielded almost nothing in terms of damage. What shallow marks they left across the colossus’ carapace bothered the creature so little that it didn’t even notice, but cruised steadily onward, ignorant of the fly buzzing around it. Only the rings that happened to cut into Phalanx’s three enormous bladders had any real effect; as the gas leaked out from the ruptures, the creature began to sink almost imperceptibly downwards.

“...Meh,” Tora muttered after a few uneventful moments, rather bemused. From below he couldn’t tell that his adversary was riding ever-so-slightly lower. “This might take while. Poppi?” He turned to address his artificial companion. “Run diagnostic, please!”

“Yes, Masterpon,” she replied, and having already done so on her own a few minutes ago, she proceeded to deliver her report. “No indications of damage to chassis or systems found. Ether furnace operating at one hundred percent efficiency. Ambient ether saturation index is high. In addition, can confirm presence of ‘afterglow’ effect that seem to confer both slowfall and updraft, making ideal conditions for flying. Poppi QT Pi is ready for action!”

“Looks like everyone who made the climb got the same buff. Instead of sitting down here and just shooting it, we could probably take the fight straight up to the boss!” Necronomicon added.

Big Band, Fox, and Joker exchanged a nod before the detective spoke. “This time is now. Let’s get to gettin’!”

He jumped, reconfigured to rocket mode, and blasted off in the direction of the colossus with Peacock holding on for dear life. As the Phantom Thieves opened up their gliders and zipped upward on the wind, followed closely and then quickly surpassed by Tora and Poppi, Mona padded over to his fellow big-headed youngster Raz. “Hey, buddy,” the catlike thief greeted him. “Just wanted to say that if you’re scared right now, you’re in good company. I’ve been with the Phantom Thieves from the beginning, and trust me, even if it looks like we know what we’re doing whenever we get up to crazy stuff like this, we’re mostly flying by the seat of our pants. We’re all a little scared deep down, but we know what’s at stake, and more importantly, we know we got each other’s backs. As long as we’re together, there’s nothing we can’t do.”

Mona adopted a heroic pose with his paws akimbo, looking up at his allies as they soared toward Phalanx. “No matter how big or bad the things we face, there’s always a way. Some kind of weak spot to find, or something in the environment we can turn to our advantage.” He glanced down at the four bronze statues on the bridge. “Like those. Kind of conspicuous, don’t you think? I’d check ‘em out myself, but I can’t exactly leave the guys on their own, you know? Heheh.” Turning back to Raz, he gave a big, toothy smile. “Listen, I gotta go now. Whether it’s up there or down here, just do your best, and it’ll all work out in the end.” His glider popped open, and with a salute the little thief shot into the air. “See yaaaaa~!”

Nearby, Ciella had adopted a shooting stance. She nocked her arrow and pulled taut the string, building up a miniature typhoon of water power around the shaft as she adjusted her aim. After a few calculated moments she fired, loosing the arrow not where her target was, but where it was going to be. Even with the Agito’s skill it missed Phalanx’ eye by a wide margin, owing to the wind, distance, and other factors involved, but Ciella was undeterred. She slipped another arrow from her quiver and, with adjustments in mind, prepared to shoot again.

Aside from Raz, that left the Scout, Mao, Braum, Robin, and Tharja on the ground, with only the most mustached among them bearing the ‘afterglow’ that Poppi described. Mao sighed. “Well, this is somewhat inconvenient.”

“You know, tactically speaking, our little friend might have a point,” Robin ventured. “Unless the others find a way to bring that thing down, our options are limited, so we might as well investigate those bronze statues. Surely they’re here for a reason.”

Up in the sky, Tora and Poppi passed Phalanx by for an eagle eye view, but Big Band made straight for the colossus. He redeployed his legs as he came in for a flying Brass Knuckle, his brazen arm extended. “Gimme a…hit!” Unfortunately, his fist glanced off the creature’s scales, and Band skidded backward until he came to the thick carpet of dark fur that ran along the creature’s back. It provided enough purchase for him to come to a stop and upright without being blown around by the wind. Once the heroes boarded Phalanx, it reacted for the first time, letting out a long, low groan as it wove from side to side in an effort to shake its riders off. A good grip proved sufficient to overcome its maneuver. As Band narrowed his eyes, examining the unique situation he found himself in, Peacock hopped down. “Make sure ya grab on tight when it’s fixin’ to bank around,” he told her, but the little menace was already waltzing away. With a shrug of resignation Band turned his gaze elsewhere, hunting for any weak spot.



Though the unerringly kind-hearted Skullgirl did not fail to offer Treat the encouragement she needed to open up and accept help, Albedo’s attempt to garner support for the trepidatious shut-in resulted in nothing more than taciturn silence from either Frisk or Papyrus. The alchemist fretted that his social inexperience left his outreach more subtle and indirect than it should have been, but he also considered the possibility that the child and the skeleton might still be suffering from the shock of the basement encounter. Once Papyrus no-sold Linkle’s direct request, Albedo began to feel more sure of that secondary hypothesis. For any normal person, particularly one as young and innocent as Frisk, such a nightmarish episode might leave scars that lasted far, far longer than any physical wound. Neither were such injuries as easily healed.

When it came to psychiatric help Albedo regretted that he could offer no assistance of any kind, not even a recommendation on who the two might be able to consult, but for the matter of Treat’s sprained ankle he knew just who to call on. “Let us pay a visit to the town healer,” he suggested, cutting off the awkward moment of silence before it could drag on too long. “Here, just sit tight, miss Treat. I’ll lend a hand.” With both him and Linkle guiding the sled, taking pains to ensure the trip down the mountainside steps wasn’t too uncomfortable, the little group of oddballs made their descent. Wanting no further reminders of the creepy craftsman who would haunt the Beneviento House no longer, they ignored the dolls that dangled overhead in the deadwood copse, and pushed on through the alleyway into Snowdin’s far more wholesome thoroughfare.

Fresh snowflakes were falling, light and fluffy. If it kept up through the afternoon and into the evening, their accumulation would soon wipe away the comings and goings of the day, brushing over the footfall-worn ruts and leaving a perfect blanket of smooth, unblemished white for the villagers to wake up to and look upon with new joy beneath the brilliant colors of the Christmas tree. Smiling snowmen stood beside doorsteps and decorated hedges, snug in their hats and scarves as they silently kept the townsfolk company. “This way,” Albedo murmured, directing his party down the road.



Once Linkle helped Treat off the sled, the alchemist stopped at the door of a little house with a red door, knocking once before he stepped back out from beneath the icicles that hung menacingly from the eaves. No sound reached the newcomers from inside, but after a few seconds, the door swung open. Inside stood none other than an adult male white tiger, regal, armored, and voluminous. Recognizing Albedo, he bowed his head, and in a most gentlemanly baritone, greeted him. “Good afternoon, Mr. Albedo. And to the rest of you, good day as well. Dromarch, at your service, and I bid you welcome to our humble home. Please, come in.” Moving with remarkable strength and silence, he cleared the way, allowing the alchemist and his acquaintances to come in from the snow. With his tail he turned the knob of and opened a little closet in which they could put their coats if so desired. After leading them toward the couches by the fireplace, Dromarch proceeded to tend it. He took a fresh log and tossed it in with such grace that he didn’t even burn his whiskers. “My lady is currently curled up in bed, reading,” he told his guests as the fire crackled merrily away. “Shall I fetch her for you?”

“Please,” Albedo replied. “Our friend here is hurt, and we were hoping ‘your lady’ could take care of it.”

Dromarch bowed his head, the very picture of etiquette. “Certainly. And may I offer you any refreshment? Cocoa, tea perhaps?” He glanced at Papyrus. “We…do have milk as well, if it would do your bones any good.”

“I would be grateful for some tea,” Albedo told him.

Once the tiger had the group’s requests, he went over to the kitchenette to take care of him. He created water using some sort of magic, filling a kettle that he gingerly put on the stove with his mouth. Somehow, he managed to take out not just tea bags but also cocoa bags should the situation call for it, tearing them open with the air of his paws. While doing so he left the guests to their own devices, to warm themselves and chat as they say fit. For her part, Treat kept quiet, quite overwhelmed by all the kindness being shown to her.

Level: 2
Experience: 3/20
Currently In: Snowdin Outskirts, Outside of Treat's House >> Back in Snowdin
Word Count: 665 (+1 Exp)
Albedo @Lugubrious, Linkle @Gentlemanvaultboy, Papyrus @Dark Cloud

With the Dollmaker's defeat, there was no further reason for Frisk to keep their shield up. Their soul flickered back to it's normal red, and the heart-shapped object went back into their body. Between Papyrus's dismay over their brutal methods, and Linkle's questions, the child could only frown in silence. It felt a bit overwhelming, and they were tempted to just say that they'd explain later like they kept doing durning this little event. Even if they wanted to speak, they just...couldn't.

There was nothing else to do but leave anyways. The child gently tugged the skeletal sentry's glove, leading out of the basement and back to Treat. They quietly listened to the other three talk, idly looking off to the waterfall until Linkle asked Papyrus to help the wolfgirl move out. Frisk glanced up to him, awaiting an answer like the others, but was only met with an even awkwarder silence than what they usually have.

It wasn't that Frisk was traumatized, rather the ordeal made them felt uneasy. Being more pacifistic in nature, any encounters where the only options were fight or flight never sat well with them. But they were human, they knew better than to let their guard down. But Papyrus? They felt he was reasonable in his dismay. They really do owe him an explanation, don't they? Once Albedo and Linkle prepared to finally take Treat to a medic, the two undoubtedly followed, ever willing to leave such a dismal place behind.

The group had arrived at a small house. Answering the door, a white tiger that despite his grace, Frisk held back the urge to pet. Something about fluffy animals they liked. They were led inside to the second fireplace they've rested at in the same day (Third? Eh, whatever.) and once they've sat down, Frisk took off their cap and let it rest on their lap. "Cocoa sounds nice." They requested, looking back to Dromarch with a polite smile. They felt a bit better now. That being said...

"Now seems to be a good time to explain." They looked back to Papyrus, trying to think of the right words to start with. The child thought back to when they first fell. To the deception of an otherwise unassuming flower, his words. Man, if Flowey was nearby, he'd be laughing his petals off at their situation.

It really was kill or be killed now.

"Wherever we've ended up, it's not like the Underground. Or our world in general, actually. People, monsters out here, they're not like you guys. Alot of them don't listen to reason, or the whims of a kid who doesn't like fighting. Heck, some only run on the primal instinct to kill. It's only by dumb luck I survived long enough to make it back to Snowdin, town being changed or not. You can't really do much with just a stick." Frisk chuckled, before continuing. "But we can't let it drive us down. You've seen it yourself, there's still good people around. It's just...harder to find, y'know? Need to know where to look." The rules of the game had changed, they thought.

After a pause, they sighed. "I'm sorry, Paps. I didn't mean to get you dragged into that mess." Frisk pinched the bridge of their nose. "But it was either put the...er...guy...out of his misery, or let it continue tormenting innocent people. Or run the risk of it escaping into town and doing more worse things. We can only hope the next one isn't as bad." They tried not to come off as harsh in their words, patting the skeleton's back in reassurance.

Although, something did cross their mind. Something they were curious about. While Frisk and Papyrus were able to use magic themselves, the former had never seen anything like what Albedo or Linkle wielded. The child turned their attention to the two, brows raised. "I am a bit curious about your magic though. Mind telling me about it?" They asked with a grin.

It didn't sit well with Primrose that they would move on without a search for the teens, but if Necronomicon didn't sense them and their fellow Phantom Thieves were fine with continuing, then who was she to tell them otherwise? After a few seconds of lingering she turned and followed the example of the others. Just one foot in front of the other, focus on going up, and believe that the missing from their party were alright. It was just as slow, but even more miserable.

After a little while Therion felt a hard pull on his hand that nearly dragged him down into the snow. Bewildered he looked to find Primrose, fallen to her knees and shrinking in on herself to protect against the cold, still clinging to her friend as a life support.

"Oooh no," Therion started, tugging at Primrose's hand. "You d-don't get to give up now after d-dragging me all this way."

Primrose scoffed at him. She said some words that he couldn't hear over the storm, though he imagined it was probably something like "I'm not giving up." "C-come on, no keeling over." Therion pulled her up and the dancer stumbled to her feet.

"You know I won't die here," she told Therion, fighting to stop her teeth from chattering and giving him a smile. There was too much she had to do, in this world of light and back in Orsterra. If Primrose was anything, she was a stubborn survivor. With some effort she took a step forward. Then another. Back to pushing against the blizzard. The sound of Big Band's music was long gone by now, though neither Primrose or Therion noticed. The kept moving through the white out, chasing glimpses of Split Mountain's peak and gradually growing slower. It felt like a long time with little progress made. Several times the Travelers had to press their stinging eyes shut against the wind and push on, and at one points after opening them again Primrose realized they were no longer moving.

"Therion?" This time it was Primrose looking back and seeing the thief collapsed, with snow already beginning to cover his body. He didn't stir when his name was called, or when Primrose squeezed his frozen hand. When she knelt down to check on her friend, she had the feeling that she wouldn't be standing back up. She denied that feeling even as her eyelids grew heavy and her body grew numb. With shaking hand she raised her palm to her chest, planning to withdraw a friend heart to give the thief, but her movements were stiff. She let out a sigh.

---

When she next awoke is was to a vision, and flight, and then suddenly she was on the mountain top alongside the other Seekers. There was no storm here as they were above the clouds, with a breathtaking view of mountain tops and floating scenery. It looked similar to that sky spa she, Midna, Sectonia and Yoshitsune had visited. Much chillier though, of course. There was no trace of fatigue or frostbite on her person either, and the rest of the group looked just as healthy. She glanced at the white haired head of her friend just to be sure he was alright too, and was relieved to find that he was. Besides looking very uncomfortable and more than a bit queasy, Therion was also in top shape. He waved Primrose's attention away from himself and towards Skull and Panther, and her relief just about doubled. After some regrouping, the Seekers continued on in much higher spirits. The landscape was really a sight to behold, with the cloth bridge reminiscent of the scarf Primrose had thought she'd lost in the blizzard - turned out that along with their vitality returning, any belongings lost had returned to their owners as well. If this was it's origin of the scarf, perhaps there would be more to find? It was a passing thought, as most of her attention was on the mountain and it's surrounding sky. As for Therion's attention, it was planted firmly on the wide backs of their largest members are they went forward, still disoriented from the near death experience followed by flying up to the summit. Plus they were very, very high up.

It was much longer until they ran into an old man who tipped them off to the beast, and then said beast's conspicuous appearance. It was the biggest creature either Traveler had ever seen. Their eyes widened at the sight of it, in awe not just from it's sheer size, but also the grace with which it twisted through the air. After a few second they thanked the gods that the monster didn't initiate a battle with them, even as Sectonia tried to start one with it.

"This is the monster you all were after? You're expecting to kill this thing?" Therion asked, incredulous, as the portstone was activated and several other people appeared, some even posing much the same question. He could sympathize with Raz, even if he wasn't afraid so much as incredibly skeptical. Poppi's answer to whether this was their actual goal or not didn't inspire much confidence in the thief. Primrose considered what the artificial blade said, but having not encountered the kind of enemy they were after before all she could do was take Poppi's word for it.

She leaned over to Therion. "We did help H'aanit against the dragon in the Whitewood, compared to that this monster is... almost cute," she told him, to which he shook his head and replied, "and about three times as big."

Since the colossal creature didn't appear to be immediately hostile the group took some time to... not think all that hard about a plan, it turned out. Primrose didn't have the firepower to break through the monster's defenses, and wasn't so keen to try an fight in midair just yet anyway, so she remained behind. Therion had his glider but he refused to even consider flying up at the monster. "If those gas bags keep it flying then they might be able to get it down here," he said, pointing out the sacs that Sectonia had already punctured. Until that happened he'd gladly wait on the mountain with the others rather than take to the sky. He glanced at the generous Midna, figuring they did have better things to do than just wait around, and some food would be nice. "I'll take whatever that old guy didn't want," he said, palm already open.

As far as investigation went, Primrose nodded. Their air force flew off a bit to quick to be able to dance for them, so until they were back in range she'd help out. "Let us give them a look," she said, picking a path that seemed safe enough starting down it toward the statues.

---

The Ace Cadet had really thought that with the Orphan's head disconnected from it's body, that would have been the end of the battle. He could feel relief, hesitant but there all the same, start to radiate out from himself and the other Seekers. Once it's body collapsed forward and began disintegrating the monster hunter let out a puff of air that was half a sigh, half a chuckle. Congratulations were in order, and Princess Peach handled them. When Hat Kid popped out of her ice form the Cadet offered the girl a high five, and then leaned heavy on the lance. When they got back to Limsa he was going to eat and drink up a storm. Sleep one too. Maybe even ask a certain someone out on a non-life threatening date. He didn't really think about how they were going to get back there across the ocean, only what would come after.

Even that would have to wait though, because apparently the fight wasn't over. An eerie feeling came over the beach - well, an even eerier one than it already had anyway - and along with it, pools of tar began welling up through the sand. As the black substance spread it sucked rocks large and small down beneath the earth, trading them with man-made structures that it brought forth.

The sight was so surreal and baffling even after all that the Cadet had seen over the last couple days that he didn't even really register that they were in danger until the Witcher barked out his command to move. Then in the next moment the Cadet was backpedaling away from the ocean and the massive, ghostly being that emerged from the fog. It was spooky, but not the most immediate problem. That would be the quickly spreading pools of sludge, though it seemed like their newest enemy (or newest evolution of the same enemy?) would be upon them sooner rather than later. The tar was faster, and as it took over the beach the Cadet found himself not quite able to outrun it. He could feel himself slowing and sinking down. With lance already in hand he tried to pry himself from the muck, only for it to get just as stuck. "Come on," he complained, casting his gaze about for any kind of salvation that he could pull himself over to. Working the near broken weapon until he could at least take one more step, the Cadet aimed his clutch claw at the shattered mast of a decrepit, barnacle covered ship. The claw's anchor wrapped itself around the rotted wood, and then the coil snapped taunt and began trying to drag the hunter out of the tar.

He ended up having to sacrifice the lance, sending the nose of the sharq deeper into the muck and hoisting himself up as much as possible, and eventually the clutch claw's cable worked to reel him in. The Ace Cadet landed on the deck of the ship started to get his bearings back immediately. It was great to see that everyone else had also made it to safety. He'd just caught the tail end of Nadia unsticking herself from the giant and thankfully landing without too much issue thanks to Geralt. Where she'd extracted herself on the giant began to turn gold, in stark contract to the rest of it's dark body - hopefully that meant it was hurt. That seemed to be the case, as what the Cadet could only imagine was a defense mechanism started with the release of equally dark and tar-like jellyfish.

The guns on his rigging focused upward, and they let loose in order to shoot down any of the jellyfish that looked like they were getting too close to the Seekers. There was a veritable gun volley already taking out the dark balloons, and with his own added in it was just more security. This would certainly be a long range battle, as Nadia's earlier stunt had shown that the titan's body was just as sticky and tar-like as the substance covering the beach. Back to the bow! The Cadet drew the greatbow and fired at the big glowing eye in it's chest. The range was fine, and his target was slow moving, making striking it a simple thing. Unfortunately he didn't fire as many arrows as he would have liked, as it started sending golden ghosts to dive bomb the group.

He and his mini guns shifted focus to the golden enemies, moving from ghoul to ghoul and plugging them until they dropped out of the air. It was only a matter of time until one slipped by though, rushing through the air and tackling the Cadet off of his current perch. He caught hold on the edge of the ship with one hand, and the blades on his ship rigging ripped the ghostly being off of him and send it into the pit below.

He pulled himself back up onto the deck, now coming face to face with a few shadowy specters. Initially he was on guard, but their silhouettes were familiar. Feminine shadows with mechanical pieces, and they didn't move any closer to him, just staying on the opposite side of the ship. Ah, ship... weren't they the navy's ship girls?

One of the specters, with long hair, a cap and a half cape, sparked a greater sense of recognition when she took a step forward and tossed something to the hunter.

"Oh my wrog, this is...?!" He had no idea how an item like this had turned up on this beach, or why these spirits had it, but at the moment he wasn't about to look a gift Kirin in the mouth. In his hand he held a small wooden barrel with a bright indicator light harnessed to it's side. With a press the barrel expanded until it was full size.

"My heart of justice is practically fluttering! Time to get to work. Thank you!" he said to the specters. They were already fading out, though he could have sworn he saw the shade of Jamaica smirk before she disappeared.

The monster hunter was pretty excited, even given the circumstances. He knew how Alchemy Barrels worked, had seen them in the field with other hunters and had used them himself a couple of times. That style wasn't his first choice, but as far as he was concerned he was about to become an expert. With the guns on the rigging covering him from any other attacks from the golden spirits he ducked behind the ship's mast and popped open the keg. If recalled correctly it could make a pretty mean fireball. So while the other Seekers threw all of their long range attacks at the BT, the Cadet chucked a couple items into the barrel. That siphon grenade, the dragonfell berries, dung pod, and his sonic bomb, figuring that was enough to get the explosion cooking. He messed with the indicator and re-secured the lid. Now it just had to stew, and be shaken. It felt like much too long of a time to wait and not be helping with the fight. In between hefting the barrel and shaking it the Cadet would peek out from his spot just to make sure everyone was still alright, and when finally the violent concoction was complete he lifted the Alchemy Barrel and emerged from behind the mast.

He probably looked pretty silly, holding a barrel that was steaming and almost pulsating in his arms and pointing it at the titan, but fighting with the Sharq Attaq had already proven that he didn't mind looking kind of absurd in battle. Aiming this was hard enough as it was, but the Cadet would take just hitting the creature close to it's weak point so long as it helped. Once it strode a little closer he shook the wooden keg until it was literally about to burst, then let the "bazooka" fly.

”mmf cmmm ommm” Midna complained through a mouthful of sandwich and threw up her hands in frustration when the other fliers blasted off, all in a big hurry to put the glowey light surrounding them to use. Then she chewed and swallowed and added ”don’t come crying to me when fighting on an empty stomach comes back to haunt you!” to her complaining.

If they wanted to run brazenly into danger when an opportunity for rest and strategizing presented itself then they could suffer the consequences the princess thought to herself as she watched them get stuck in. Or squinted up at them as they approached the titan. She started to get a little nervous as the true size of the thing became clearer with the people approaching and assailing it, but her fear was unfounded.

It didn't really seem to have a way to fight back other than trying to shake them off, which was reliving in the short term but that also gave Midna a sinking feeling that something was off with the situation. Still, that things had not gone disastrously wrong quite yet meant she could finish her food by eating quickly rather than wolfing it all down in one or simply abandoning it. At least she wasn't the only one who was taking a snack break as Therion took her up on her offer for food where the old man had turned it down. Even though he didn’t exactly have the option to fly off into the fray, she suspected he would have been the kind of guy to take a moment to relax even if he could have rushed ahead. She could respect that

”We’ve got lots of stuff so, hmm, here maybe you’ll like this?” she said, picking one of the items from the pile sitting in her extra-dimensional storage cave at random,and handing him an egg and mayo sandwich.

Then she finished up her own food, flicked the rubbish from her meal back to the twilight realm, stood up, rolled her neck once and then prepared to get going. The feeling of niggling dread was still there, building now, and so she felt like she had to air it before she moved out.

”Is it just me or does this all seem a bit… off? Just… keep your guard up down here while we’re up there. I don’t trust that pit.” she said, mostly aiming her words at Prim and anyone else who was heading down into the bell.

Still, even if stuff was a bit weird, the boss was in front of them and it was best to try and deal with it as quickly as possible before her bad feeling became justified. So she walked around into Therion’s shadow, and then in the blink of an eye she was gone from there and dropping out of the shadow of one of the sky serpent’s fins. Just in time for it to give one of its shakes and toss her right off with an ”eek” as she spun end over end which felt extra unpleasant due to her recently filled stomach.

Fortunately she didn't hit anything, and so one quick summoning later and the princess was stable in the ear wearing her Vibrava like a backpack: its legs around her torso like straps, its tail wrapped around hers so she could direct it with but a thought, and body pressed to her back and giving the princess the look of an impish fairy with how its wings splayed out behind her.

She’d been thinking about this little maneuver for a while now, and this was the perfect time to put it to use. The winged princess buzzed after the titan with the sun at her back, which gave her the ability to inspect its form properly and see how the gang were rather ineffectually slamming its heavily armored and gargantuan form.

She was reminded of an inexperienced or frustrated Link, hacking at a boss and not really achieving anything with swordplay alone. She smiled a little at the nostalgia, and then looked thoughtful, skimming over the titan again with the same mindset she had had when helping Link in those times and spotted something interesting. Sigil hidden under dorsal ridges. Three of them, to be exact, which was quite the significant little number in this kind of situation.

Now that she’d spotted them she realized she’d spun right past one while being tossed off it, and remembered a brief feeling of magical power radiating from them, which more or less settled things. Being in the open air, there weren't exactly any shadows to jump from back to the ridge however, so the princess was stuck chasing after it and relaying her hunch via yelling ”The sigils under the fins! Try hitting them!” at those who did have a shot.

Up until this point Papyrus hadn't said a single word, uncharacteristically silent since what had happened in the dark basement below the Beneviento House. Up until then the goofiness and seemingly unshakable enthusiasm the skeleton had appeared to falter from the shock the whole nightmarish encounter caused. It was up until now that Papyrus had been sheltered from the harsh reality of the world.

It was kill or be killed, or was there more to it than that? Surely there was more to this world than that ? And that at least gave Papyrus some hope, listening to Frisk's explanation also reminded the skeleton that even in this harsh new world there was a glimmer of good in everyone.

"I-I THINK...I UNDERSTAND." Papyrus finally spoke up, his voice while hopeful had a hint of uncertainty in his tone "YOU HAVE NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE." as soon as he noticed Frisk seemed down, sighing being the tip off the skeleton's gusto returned "FRET NOT FOR IF YOU MUST DRAG SOMEONE INTO THIS THEN IT MUST MEAN YOU NEED HELP!" as usual the point of their explanation was lost on him but if there was one thing Papyrus understood it was when someone needs help, who better than he? The Great Papyrus himself to assist! "NYEH-HEH-HEH! WORRY NO LONGER! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS AM HERE WHICH MEANS THAT EVERYONE ELSE MUST BE HERE TOO!" if anything could be said for the skeleton he certainly wasn't one to let something stop him from believing in himself and others, if he was here then so would all their friends and if this was Snowdin...

"GREAT GOOGLEY MOOGLEY!" the sentry suddenly exclaimed standing up from his seat in excitement "I WAS SO BUSY CHASING THAT CURSED DOG WHEN I FOUND YOU, I NEARLY FORGOT WHERE WE WERE...ER WHERE WE ARE." correcting himself the skeleton sheepishly chuckled at his lack of awareness, it was silly of him to forget something so huge "AFTER THIS WE MUST BOONDOGGLE NO LONGER, AFTER ALL MY HOME IS HERE IN SNOWDIN," Papyrus was giddily shaking from his epiphany looking at Frisk then the rest of the motley bunch sitting around the room with glee on his face when his gaze fell upon Treat and a pang of guilt hit the skeleton for never saying anything to the poor girl after their endeavor "AND YOU WILL HAVE THE PLEASURE OF STAYING THERE!" Papyrus told Treat with a chuckle, quickly realizing he was being presumptuous "IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO OF COURSE" the sentry added gently.

---

---

"Get down from t-!"

Link's demand was cut off by the roar of Bella's railgun, but he wasn't sure she heard him. While he was trying to tell her to get off his rock she had been in the middle of making what was no doubt a terrible pun.

Unfortunately when relative silence fell they both tried again. "Get off the-," but this time they were interrupted by sound so low and base that it could only have come from the creature. In contrast to that were the high pitched beeps as the stasis wore down, growing higher and higher and louder and louder as the time limit came up and Ms. Fortunes' foolhardy plan of climbing all over that tar monster came close and closer to fruition.

She got the pun out, finally. He couldn't appreciate it. With a final frantic warning of "Idieddoingthis," Link threw himself at the rock and clung flush to the side as the yellow sheen on it shattered and it rocketed through the air toward the creature. He didn't have any kind of plan for how he was going to help Ms. Fortune survive whatever it was she was attempting, and there was no time to strategies with her even before she bailed off the rock mid flight. He followed her lead, letting go of the rock. She shot up toward it's shoulder on a blast of watery blue blood, but he had to settle for pulling out his sail cloth and drifting through the air in front of it.

They both missed their target. Link's boulder went too low, Ms. Fortune's human drill went too high. Worse than that, Ms. Fortune got stuck in the tar of the creature's body just as he feared she would. He angled himself to drift closer to the creature, get close enough that maybe he could use Cryonis to help her out of that sticky situation, but before he could he found his path blocked by the tar balloons that the creature spewed from its neck. Her angled himself left and right, weaving between the things as they passed by and floated down to the battlefield. He could avoid them, but he couldn't get any closer and he was drifting lower all the time.

It was while he drifted through an aerial minefield that the creature began attacking in earnest. It lifted up its fingers out of the waves, a simple movement that sucked the cat girl deeper into its body. Giving up on the cryonis plan, he dropped. He switched to the bow mid fall. If he couldn't get to Ms. Fortune than the only hope was to kill the creature before she could be fully absorbed. Time slowed down as he aimed for the eye and fired, adding an arrow to the bullets, darts, and cannon shells the others had already blasted into the eye. He pulled back another arrow, catching out of the corner of his eye one of the creature's fingers coming toward him like an eel. A hand grasped for him on the end of it, opening and closing in slow motion. He ignored it, put the other arrow into the eye. He grabbed another one, pulled it back...

Pure fatigue forced him back into normal time, the strain of maintaining the focus too much for him at the moment. He felt himself dropping for a moment, then the golden hand slammed into his side and squeezed around his chest like a child holding a doll. He could feel the Sheikah Slate digging into him, being pressed flush to his side. He grasped onto it as much as it grasped him, taking the moment to catch his breath in its embrace, before it started reeling him in. It was at least pulling him higher than he had been. If he could just free himself, cut this cord and redeploy his sailcloth then...

His heart dropped into his stomach as he called the broken straight sword into his hand, the most fallback of all fallback weapons. He would have felt more secure holding one of Larry's butcher knives, but it was literally the last cutting he had left. Everything else had been used up. He swung it at the tar, but it left a shallow cut even in that soft substance. He chopped again, a little of the gunk flying off, but he didn't make any progress. He swung again, and again, but the dull blade would cut deep enough and the tar was fighting back. It was reforming in the wound whenever he slowed down even slightly and the mass of the creature's arm was growing ever closer. Soon he would be in the same situation as Ms. Fortune. He needed a blade. He needed a real blade!

He looked up from his work, shocked to see something rising out of the tar of the cord. It looked like a man, indistinct save for a cape blowing in the wind and hair that spiked straight up. He drew the broken sword back, ready to defend himself from whatever this new attack was, but he didn't feel any hostility from the figure. Instead it seemed familiar. Then the figure took a sword hanging from its side and thrust it hilt first toward him. Recognition flashed in Link's eyes and he lowered the sword, everything else about his situation forgotten in this moment. Time stood still.

"Glenn?" He asked, his voice trembling. There came no answer from the figure in front of him, but the sword was unmistakable. Unmistakable and real, solid in a way Glenn just wasn't. His eye went back and forth from the sword to the apparition and back, indecisive. "It's your sword, not mine."

The apparition shook its head. It hadn't been his sword, either. Not until he took it up. He thrust the pommel into Link's chest, hard enough to hurt, meeting Link's gaze with an insistent stare. He felt the weight of both settling on him. It was more than a sword he was being bequeathed, it was the will of Glenn the knight. What he had inherited from Cyrus. Then the apparition nodded its head, and Link nodded back. "It would be my honor."

He took the blade in one hand, wrapped the other around the hilt, and drew. The Masamune flashed in even in the dim moonlight, and as he brought it down on the strand that bound him. Glenn was gone, the man vanishing with what looked like a satisfied smile as the holy blade cleaved clean through the tar where he had emerged. The hand gripping him crumbled as they fell, accompanying Link's descent with a hail of glittering gold.

The sword vanished into the Slate as he again took out his sailcloth and sailed backwards. The patch where Ms. Fortune had been trapped was now encased in the same gold crystal, but a quick sweep of the beach from his vantage point showed him that she was now down there. Turning back to the creature, it threw out its arms and unleashed a horde of ghostly golden specters, far more hostile than the one he had just dealt with. As they came for him, ready to tackle him out of the air, he stowed the sailcloth and dropped. Unperturbed, they angled downward after him. He had Slate access again though, and met their charge with a bomb he tossed straight up. The explosion popped them all like Chu jelly, scattering golden goo into the tar as he landed on the hull of a half submerged dingy. The hard landing sent him to his knees, and all around him he could hear the sound of his comrades putting everything they had into the colossus that towered over the beach.

As he started getting back to his feet he spotted a face emerging from the muck. Far more familiar to him than the specter of the man Glenn truly was. He had to give Glenn even more thanks, because if he had been surprised by this face with no forewarning he might have fainted. You could have mistaken her head for an odd fish in all this muck, but then the rest of her emerged. A kindly face, a smooth and slender body built for moving swiftly through the water. A blue scarf wrapped around her body, somehow clean despite the tar it emerged from. Shyly, she took a case she was holding and slid it toward him across the wood. Then she smiled, and sank without a word.

"Wait, Mipha!" He said, starting to crawl toward her. Then he felt another case hit him right on the head. He only caught the fleeting shadow of the one who dropped it, sweeping over him and across the tar before vanishing abruptly. Link could only imagine how smug the look on his face had been.

Another case landed next to him, and he spotted a statuesque woman giving him a casual wave. She pointed past him, and he turned just in time to catch the big case a giant jolly looking Goron had hucked directly at him. With a thumbs up the Goron too sank back beneath the muck. He smiled, and gave it right back. It seemed as though all the ghosts of his old regrets had come back to cheer him on. The worst thing he could do was disappoint them. He set to opening all their gifts.

Mipha's contained a pink heart, and simply touching it cased the pain in his legs and left side to instantly diminish.

Ravli had gifted him a bow. Not the best bow, but the bow best suited to striking distant targets.

Urbosa had thrown him a Thunderstorm Rod. He wondered if she was encouraging him to get her back in the fight as soon as possible.

Daruk, true to his style, had thrown an entire Savage Lynel Shield at him. If it hadn't been in the case he probably would have died from it, but as it was he put it on as soon as possible.

He stood, feeling like a man renewed, and pulled out the bow he had been given. He just wished he had some better firepower. As though in response to his thoughts, the shipgirl he had fused with popped out of the surf and tossed another case to him. This one he caught as the girl vanished with a short salute. He popped open this one to find a bundle of Bomb Arrows, five in all.

He used them up, firing them all off into the eye of the creature before switching to the thunder rod and sending sparking balls of electricity it's way. He called out to the Siren and Cia, the women appearing beside him and joining in with balls of darkness and single sonic blast as Link unloaded everything he had at this monster.

Jesse could tell what Tora was thinking. “I mean, no shit, big monster.” She said. She nodded over at Poppi. “Thanks. I just wanted to be sure.” She looked at the giant thing and the great, precarious heights around them. This was quite a lot to take in. Jesse imagined it would be colder.

She watched as an airborne contingent of their troupe zipped off to do battle with the Guardian stone serpent. Evade made avoiding fall damage easy as long as she had some Energy, but it was nowhere near as efficient or as reliable as Levitate. She decided to let stay grounded for now and let them take a shot at the great beast. With an unsure wave to yet another fucked up old-timer she followed Primrose and her new friend to the great bronze statues holding up the ringer of the inverted bell.

She ran a hand along the oxidized bronze. It reminded her of the Statue of Liberty. Before Midna teleported away, she vocalized her suspicions about the situation. "I guess I just thought the Guardian would be guarding something more obvious. Like a big treasure vault or something. Guess it's not an archetype." Jesse knocked her knuckles on the bronze statues.

“Well. If we want to make a lot of noise, I could no-collide these statues and bring the ringer down. See if it actually, uh, rings. Maybe it’ll do something magical.” Jesse pondered aloud to Primrose. “Or I could find a high spot and start taking pot shots at the big monster and see if that helps anyone.” She approached the edge of the walkway and peered over it, the toes of her shoe hanging over the edge. She whistled appreciatively. Somebody somewhere put a lot of work into this thing. And now it’s been cut and paste into a random mountain top in the biggest fruit salad any dimension ever knew.

For a long moment Nadia stood stock-still atop the roof of her briny, tar-splattered hovel, trying to get herself under control. It came as no surprise that even taking aim with her strange, plasticky firearm she’d been given was a challenge. It extended backward rather than forward, with a tall, heavy body and a large stock, but no forestock or handguard of any kind. The best plan she could come up with was holding the grip with both hands like a fishing rod in front of her, and extending her neck muscles high enough that she could look down the sights.

Of course, the logistics of using the gun was only the tip of the iceberg. Her limbs felt like lead, and perhaps due to the constant and oftentimes external exertion on her muscle fibers, her best efforts couldn’t prevent a bothersome twitch. Her nerves were shot, and not just from all the physical duress she’d undergone. As numb as she’d gotten in recent times, the sight of her beloved Fishbone Gang shook her more than she could describe, reopening the one wound that never quite healed. It would be a while before she could wrap her head around what she saw in that all-too-brief moment, as taunting and ephemeral as a long-forgotten dream, but in a way…it was enough. Nadia didn’t need any scientific explanation or therapeutic soul-searching to know that her family was watching over her. That even if she couldn’t see them, they were right here with her, holding her up and guiding her hand. And that gave her the strength to carry on.

Dimly Nadia was aware of other visitations across the beach, other haunting glimpses of bygone souls offering much-needed relief to her teammates in their hour of need, but she did not dwell on them. As far as she was concerned, these precious memories were private, and none of her business. Instead the feral steeled herself at last, flashed open sea-blue eyes, flattened her ears, bared her fangs, and with her bizarre handgun as well-aimed as it was going to get, squeezed tight. Dutifully the weapon sprang into action, condensing her oceanid blood into bullets that it then launched via magnetic propulsion. “Have a taste of your own medicine!” she cried as her weaponized blood streaked through the air, more than happy to pay the Orphan back in kind for the bloody devastation it had wrought.

Nadia’s visceral charge shots joined their strength to the bombardment of cannon fire and sniper support that had been both whittling away at the giant BT and shooting down its attempts to return fire. None of the Gas Bags withstood more than a single shot from anything, instead bursting like the balloons they so resembled before they could plant themselves like mines in the tarry battlefield the accursed beach had become. The heroes’ ghastly pursuit by golden BT’s warranted more urgency, and though the lustrous fiends managed a couple close calls, they failed to drag anyone down into the muck. As more and more of the Seekers received aid from their phantoms, replenishing not just arsenals but bodies and souls, the cannonade turned into a withering deluge of steel, lead, bombs, flame, electricity, sound, shadow, and blood. Thanks to Blazermate’s healing even Peach could lend a hand, and though she couldn’t blast out railgun shots or deploy bombers like Bella, she had a trick or two of her own. Mr. Grimm’s revolver sent forth screaming spirits of the restless dead to home in on the BT’s blood-drunk heart alongside the Medabot’s purgatory ghosts, where all three specters collided with explosive results.

Working together, the team piled on the damage while keeping one another safe from the hazards that the BT spat back out at them. The punishment culminated in an uproarious fireball from Ace’s alchemy barrel, almost bright as the sun in the stormy dark of the shoreline. Its explosion ruptured the heart in a burst of nauseating, necrotic slime, and with an abysmal moan the eidolon recoiled. Its strands flailed like streamers from the tips of its stricken arms as it took a half-step back, and despite all that ailed her Nadia found herself wearing a gleeful grin. “We’re making progress!” she called out to encourage the others, but by now the feral knew better than to celebrate prematurely. “Just keep your guard up!”

Right on cue, the odious collapsed eyeball slid shut, and began to recede into the BT’s chest. In the span of a second the organ disappeared, and the patch of golden crystal began to slide across the nightmare’s tarry skin. It moved upward and around, coming to rest on BT’s left shoulder, where after another moment the mutilated eye protruded once more. Nadia couldn’t help but let out a wry chuckle. It was such a simple move, but on such a large scale it meant that most if not all the Seekers couldn’t hit that weak spot any more. Not from their current positions, at least. Luckily, the problem had an equally simple solution. As Nadia lowered her gun and prepared to move, though, she realized exactly what was going on. The beach was shifting again, and in a big way. Almost everything that lay above the surface had already begun to sink below, while new fragments pushed up elsewhere. The scraps of shipwreck and shack that bubbled up looked even more rickety and decrepit than what she’d seen already, if that were even possible. She set her sights on the pieces of ancient Atlantean ruins instead, but even they seemed weird, their odd angles impious with horrible images and hieroglyphs. “...Hissterical,” the feral spat. Like it or not, it was time to get a move on.

Loathe to leave her family’s parting gifts behind, Nadia sacrificed the use of one arm to bind the cases and the gun in a sling of muscle fiber. Then she was off to the races. Before her roof could disappear into the mire she got clear with a running jump. She used the prow of an upturned rowboat and the top of a lamp post as stepping stones, then nimbly ran across the top of a crumbling stone wall. Spotting a rotten ship’s figurehead, she jumped for it with a blood-propelled dropkick. The impact snapped the spar supporting the carved maiden, and with Nadia atop it the whole thing fell forward into the quagmire, forming a bridge to a circle of standing fish idols. Breathing heavily, she crossed over, used the statues as stepping stones, and landed on a section of antiquarian aqueduct just in time to see the BT’s strands whipping across the beach. “Whoa!” she yowled, separating at the thighs to avoid the first pitch-black tentacle. As she came together she sprang forward in a jet of blood, diving between two more before she landed with a roll at the end of the aqueduct, blotched by the tar pooled within. “Eugh,” she groaned, getting to her feet to assess the situation. She’d managed to get almost to the beach’s east side cliff, from which she could definitely hit the big bastard’s eye. When she looked back, however, she spotted the BT swinging its strands in a colossal backhand, chasing the heroes as they made their way Nadia’s direction. “Look out, it’s coming around again!” she yelled.

Hat Kid was mid-jump when she got hit, caught wholesale by one of the hands that adorned the BT’s strands. It squeezed her tight, then like a stone from a sling, let her loose. The poor child hurtled out of control, straight toward the rocky cliff. “Hatty!” Nadia screamed, dropping her loot without a second thought. With only a split second to act she launched herself toward the girl as best she could, but it wasn’t good enough, and she realized mid-flight that she and Hat Kid would pass one another by a matter of meters. In an act of desperation she sacrificed a chunk of what little blood she had left to throw a half-formed copycat Hatty’s way. It managed to intercept her, grab hold, and be dragged along as the little girl flew, wrapping itself around her in a hug until the two hit the cliffside. Nadia’s copycat exploded from the impact, but its gelatinous body managed to cushion the kid just enough. She fell onto a stony shelf behind a promontory, and a moment later the real Nadia descended with the help of an airdash. Though lightheaded from the blood loss, the feral crouched down beside her. “Hatty? Hatty!” The girl wasn’t moving, and Nadia didn’t want to touch her, lest she worsen her injuries. “Blaze, over here, hurry!”

There wasn’t much that Nadia could do for her, she knew. Blazermate would have to bring the tyke back from the brink. At the very least, though, the cat burglar could make that monstrosity pay. She dropped down from behind the promontory, retrieved her weird gun, took aim, and fired. As the others let loose, having made their way to new vantage points from which they could strike at the BT’s eyes, Nadia fired and fired and fired again, until the expenditure of blood made her pass out, too.

It wasn’t long after that that the Seekers struck the final blow. The BT has reached the shore, but the relocation of its eye had been its last resort, and once they maneuvered their way across the perilous beach to get a bead on their target, Nadia’s allies finished the job. Their enemy fell to one knee, vying to support its weight on one arm, then with the last of its strength attempted to stand once more. Golden crystallization spread across its entire body, and as it stiffened,the hands that sprouted from its neck splayed wide. As the fingers bent and twisted, as if grasping for any shred of salvation, it shook the beach with one final bellow, like the song of a dying whale. Above it, the tumultuous sky began to calm, and the tar -with all its clutter- began to recede into the earth. Then, with agonizing slowness, the abominable thing toppled backward into the surf. Its golden body shattered like a mirror, and from within surged a tide of darkness. It swept over everyone present, but instead of pain or further horror the heroes found a strange relief in its momentary embrace, like the relief of closing one’s eyes after staring into a bright light.

”Ah, the sweet child of Kos, returned to the ocean…”

Then the shadow passed, and in its wake it left only the Beach, devoid of tar, or corpses, or filth of any kind. The water had receded a couple hundred feet from the black sand, leaving a wealth of chiral crystals, a field of frozen, grasping hands. In the largest formation, the spirit of the Orphan of Kos lay, its visage every bit as horrifying within the cerise swirl. A distant sunrise shone through the clouds, and in its warm rays the last traces of black mist melted away.

”A bottomless curse, a bottomless sea. Accepting of all that there is, and can be.”

After making doubly sure that no more nasty surprises awaited them, the weary heroes reconvened. Those in good shape helped along those who weren’t. Despite being barely conscious, Nadia clung to her gifts as if her life depended on it, which turned out to be oddly appropriate when a friend of hers inspected the containers. One of the labels on the box of cryptobiotes mentioned their ability to restore blood levels when eaten, and once made aware Nadia began to chow down. Though gross, the little bugs proved effective, and after munching through ten of them the feral felt a lot better. “Oh, man…” she exhaled, still a little woozy but able to (mostly) stand on her own. “I hope that worked. Otherwise, my efforts will be…in vein.”

She felt bad the instant she made the pun. Everyone was dirty, in pain, tired, and miserable. Their gear and clothes were in a pitiable state; Nadia was one hundred percent sure she’d have to throw hers away. Her mind swam from the horror of what she’d witnessed as much as from the blood loss, but no amount of not-so-yummy snacks could make that go away. Nobody died, at least. Bowser got whisked away by the cats to go hang out with Mirage, Link overcame his electrocution, Sakura jumped up from the mud like her alarm went off, Hatty got knocked out and...that was all she’d seen. It had been pandemonium, but all of her friends were still here. That’s something worth celebrating, she thought. Aside from the whole saving-the-world thing.

Once everyone left was accounted for, Peach took a deep breath. “Screw this place,” she declared suddenly, all the optimism and goodwill she’d striven for in her earlier speech washed away by the Orphan’s final act. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

The princess only got a few steps before she suddenly stopped, an important realization came to mind. “Damn it.” She turned back around. “I know that freak is the last thing we want to think about, but someone needs to fuse with it. It can’t be destroyed, and if we don’t take care of it...well, it’ll probably come back.” She looked around, her expression as apologetic as it was weary.

"Think I might be the best one to take it." Geralt said in response to the question. "That...thing...isn't something to be considered lightly. And Witchers, specifically, are mutated in such a way that allows us to take in alchemically prepared monster parts to gain some of their traits. Spirits are like that, in a way." Looking at the Orphan's Spirit, Geralt nodded. "And I'm willing to take the risk, and the downsides, that come with it. Whatever they are..."

For volunteering the Witcher found himself caught in a deluge of thanks and praise. Nobody wanted the Orphan inside them, horrific as it was, and to have someone willing meant a weight off their backs. Going near the chiralium crystals proved to have an immediate negative effect on his mind, taking the form of a sudden surge of depression, but Geralt’s long stride allowed him to retrieve the Orphan spirit quickly and retreat to a safe distance. There, with everyone looking on in worry, he did the deed.



When the light died down the Seekers were relieved to see that their grouchy friend didn’t look all that much worse for wear, somehow. In fact, he looked rather like his original self, if a little worse for wear. With that matter settled better than anyone -Geralt included- could have hoped, there wasn’t much to do other than gather up loot and get the hell away from the beach, as Peach prescribed. Though it glittered, the chiralium was certainly not gold, and just going near such a vast deposit gave rise to a disquieting onset of dark thoughts, so the heroes prepared to hurry on their way.

That left just one question, which Nadia, after blinking a few times, ended up voicing. “So…how do we get back to Limsa, again?”

@Dark Cloud@Majoras End

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Frisk and Papyrus both seemed pretty out of it. She supposed getting thrown into the deep end of monster fighting and dungeon delving would do that to you. She flashed back to how she had clammed up after her parents had been killed. She had hoped giving them something to do would help put their minds at ease, but maybe they just needed time? She just hoped they weren't as shaken up as she had been.

So she went in and packed all of Treat's things herself (save for the magic fireplace which was way too heavy to pull down the mountain) and, taking hold of one half of the sled, slid it as gently as possible down the mountain and into the town itself.

She marveled at how much bigger Snowdin was than it had seemed from the distance. Albedo led the group round to a street where what Linkle initially mistook for giant snowmen sat amid the quiet houses. As they got close enough to see the undersides of the noses that jutted out from them, though, she realized that they were in fact giant cannons. Maybe even giant robots.

There was no time to consider that as Albedo pointed out a particular house. Linkle parked the sled next to the door and then reached down and princess carried Treat to the door with minimal effort, heedless of the taller girl's weak protests. What opened the door wasn't a doctor like she expected, but a big cat. Before Linkle could react it had bowed and greeted Albedo and the rest of them like a perfect gentlemen. Linkle kicked her shoes on the side of the door, then turned sideways and crab walked inside

The cat, Dromarch as he introduced himself, set about answering the question of how exactly you open a door with no hands by using his dexterous tail. Link watched with interest as she set Treat down so she could sit on the sofa and then monopolized the seat closests to the fire. The tiger turned out to be the healers…pet? Familiar? Servant? Whatever he was, Linkle eagerly raised her hand for cocoa while they waited. Frisk spoke at that too, to Linkle’s relief.

They turned chatty, trying to hearten Papyrus and it was during this conversation that Linkle learned that they were friends. Not only friends, they were from the same world! Not just the world, they were both from this town! Papyrus, sufficiently mollified by his friend, even turned out to have a house which he generously offered to let Treat stay in. “You guys are so lucky you ended up home. Most people I’ve talked to have been scattered to the four winds. I’ve seen, like, three pieces of Hyrule since I started traveling and I don’t think any of them were even from my time. Your house could be your house, but from the future!”

This speculation was put on the back burner as Frisk expressed interest in both her and Albedo’s powers. “If you’re talking about my ice magic, I’m not sure how it works. It’s sort of like my ears, it’s not really mine. Here, let me show you something.”

She reached into her belt and pulled out the bottle where she had stored the creepy man’s spirit and held it up so the two of them could see it floating around in there. “Everyone in the world has a spirit like this. When they die the spirit drifts for a little while before…disappearing? Going to the afterlife?” She looked over at Albedo, an implicit question about where spirits go when they vanish dancing in her eyes. “Well, anyway, if you get them before that you can fuse with them and become part…them?” She dumped the spirit out of the bottle into her palm, holding it up to her chest. “If you put it in here, you get their powers.” She moved it up to her head. “Up here, and that will let you know stuff that they knew. Not memories, but practical stuff. How to shoot guns, how to fight with a sword, how to cook. Stuff like that.” She took the spirit and squeezed it back into the bottle. “You can also make friends with them, so you can summon them for a little while, or crush them and turn them into an item.”

“I didn't know the girl I got my ice powers from.” She said, a regretful tinge in her voice for a moment. “I got her spirit from someone else she had fought. She’s the one that lets me make ice whenever I concentrate on it. Before that all I could do was store up magic and use it to make myself really strong. I don’t know how or why she could do this, just that she could. So now, I can.”

She felt like she could trust the three of them with that sort of information. They seemed like regular, killing averse people. Not like people that would go out and start slaughtering their neighbors for the sake of power. As though they needed another reason not to, though, she flicked her bangs. “Also she turned my hair this color. I used to be blonder than Albedo. Plus, I think I inherited a nasty temper from her. It’s weird, but it’s been super useful so far. Also super unfair, because I’m sure you guys all had to study hard for all your magic.”

She leaned forward after Albedo had had his turn. “Now you guys have to tell me about this cool world where monsters and humans live underground together and haven't wiped one another out. That sounds wild. How much of Snowdin is still Snowdin?”

"WOWIE THE FUTURE?!" fascinated by the prospect of his home being his home but from the future, Papyrus imagined all the cool things it would have.

Like a puzzle machine but with even more flashing lights and swinging metal objects, and of course flame decals. His bed would be rocket-propelled and cool, he'd fly around on it too like he had always dreamed of driving a car except now it would be a flying car! "FRISK! JUST THINK OF HOW AWESOMELY COOL MY ROOM WOULD LOOK!" the skeleton could see it now: the Great Papyrus driving his flying rocket-propelled bed, all the envy of his peers and King Asgore himself would sing his praises offering him a position as head of the Royal Guard.

"A SPIRIT? IS THAT DIFFERENT FROM A SOUL?" he was slightly uncomfortable seeing the Dollmaker's visage again but thankfully the skeleton was on a roll from quick recoveries today "I MUCH LIKE MY BROTHER SANS, NOT TO MENTION MOST OTHER 'BOSS' MONSTERS OF THE UNDERGROUND CAN USE SOUL MAGIC, ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU!" to demonstrate his point the skeleton held out his gloved hand, closing both his eye sockets in concentration as he summoned his magic manifesting as a blue light in his chest cavity then a small bone appeared in his hand "SEE! COOL RIGHT, WELL NOT AS COOL AS WHAT HUMAN SOULS ARE CAPABLE OF..." Papyrus' voice trailed as he looked at Frisk, remembering it might be a touchy subject for them after all they had been through.

"NYEH-HEH-HEH, IT MATTERS NOT!" the goofy skeleton laughed it off letting the topic change, the subject of friendship was more Papyrus and Frisk's speed anyways "WHILE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS AM SURE THAT EVEN HERE THERE ARE FRIENDLY PEOPLE! I WILL ENDEAVOR TO MAKE IT MY QUEST TO BEFRIEND EVERY SPIRIT OR PERSON OR MONSTER THAT CROSSES OUR PATH!" he stated in a matter-of-fact tone, as if proclaiming an oath.

On the topic of humankind, monsters and the underground. Well suffice to say Papyrus' version of the tale was only half of what it really was, or possibly not even the correct interpretation of it at all "WHILE I'M NOT SURE HOW MUCH IF AT ALL, OF SNOWDIN HAS CHANGED." the skeleton explained, scratching his cranium with the tip of the bone in his hands "WE MONSTERS ACTUALLY HADN'T EVEN SEEN A HUMAN IN A LONG TIME." shaking his head Papyrus sighed, still not quite understanding the whole humans sealing all of monsterkind underground to begin with "UNFORTUNATE BECAUSE I'M SURE THEY WOULD LOVE MY SPAGHETTI, BUT IF WE FIND MY BROTHER I'M CERTAIN HE CAN TELL YOU MORE RIGHT FRISK?" they definitely could count on his shorter yet no less personable brother to know the complete version of the story "THAT'S IF MY SKELETAL SCALLYWAG OF A BONEHEAD BROTHER ISN'T NAPPING." and that was a big if.

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Stepping off the edge of the building, Raiden had decided he had waited long enough in the little town, ultimately deciding that it would be best if he looked for work so that he could find a means of repair. He had recalled multiple key landmarks in the area that he previously had not much paid attention to, those being a vending machine which had advertised medicines and healing items, while the other was a sort of billboard with sheets of parchment and posters plastered on the cork.

Ultimately making the choice to check out the assortments of medicines advertised in the vending machine, Raiden took quick walking steps as he began wrapping around corners of the town, trying to recall where he had subsequently seen the machine. Once the machine came into eye sight of Raiden, he approached it, taking coin out from the inside of his poncho, prepared to pay his share for what was seemed to be similar to that Healing Draught the rabbit lady inside the wrestling arena described.

Something was incredibly off about this vending machine however, once Raiden prepared to put his cash in the machine, it beamed with light as it began... talking. "IF YOU NEED A HEALING, STEP RIGHT UP!" It spoke in a rich southern accent.

Startled, Raiden jumped back, drawing his blade from his back, ready to attack the machine if it made any funny moves. "What the hell!?" He exclaimed bluntly, sure he had seen talking robotic dogs, and had certainly seen a talking vending machine, but considering the timing of this machines speech, Raiden hardly considered it coincidental. He kept his stance, until the machine spoke again. "If you ain't dead, I'll keep ya that way!"

After sheathing his blade, sure this machine wasn't going to transform into a Metal Gear, Raiden approached the machine once again, picking up the change he had dropped in fright moments ago. After placing each coin into the machine Cachink, cachink, cachink! Raiden looked at the selections one last time to make sure there was... Nothing else? To be fair, the man had no idea what half of this shit was. Shields? "Health Now?" In the end, he figured it best he select which of the options (supposedly) worked, and selected the "Health Potion" option. Potions? What the hell was this place?...

This machine heralded multiple red flags aside from talking. It was incredibly dusty and sand-tinted. While the machine appeared to be made of a carbon metal, it was rusting. This machine was rarely used and was not being taken care of, meaning only one thing...

The machine made a noise that every American feared, the sound of vending machine failure. Whatever was supposed to roll off the shelf inside the contraption either got stuck or refused to get released from the springs inside. The most annoying part? It blinked back to life and decided to shout at Raiden once more, as if to torment the man for even trying to purchase an item.

"Sold!" It roared, despite not giving Raiden the item he requested from it. Most machines would spit out the coins it had previously been so eager to take, but this one did not. Frustrated, Raiden would grab the sides of the machine, make sure no one was looking, then begin to shake the contraption.

Raiden grit his teeth as he shook, speaking under his breath, "Come on you... Piece of shit!" Nothing. The machine produced nothing for Raiden. Angrily he punched the machine, now ready to give up entirely, turning around as the machine beamed "Do not harm the machinery." in that now annoying country accent.

Snapping around his shoulder, Raiden turned back to the machine as he voiced his displeasure openly with the machine. "Fuck the machinery!" As he extended his clawed hand into the innards of the machine, ripping out a health potion that he had previously paid for before. He examined the red liquid, trying to determine its origins before he even considered putting the viscous liquid into his mouth. There is no way this tasted good. Turning back again, Raiden began walking away before the machine gave a final testimony: "See ya real soon! I'm sure,"

Now even more frustrated with the machine, Raiden quickly drew his sword and sliced the machine down the diagonal as liquids from the products inside leaked and their bottles fell out. Now feeling the judgmental stares of the locals, Raiden scratched his head as he met the gaze of the passers. "Uh... Put it on my tab?" He shrugged, now unsure of what to do as he quickly ran away from the situation.

...

After leaving the situation that Raiden had created near the town square, he navigated the streets to look for the cork billboard he thought about. There seemed to be very few... "adventurers" and the such huddled around it, but the few that were there parted kindly to let Raiden through so that he may examine the board as well. There seemed to be a few missions and bounties up right now, many others seemingly being claimed or completed by others who had taken refuge in the town. There were, however, three specific requests made by the locals that stuck out the most to Raiden.

The first request was to deal with some cacti nearby that have been causing issues crossing the desert. The objective there was obvious. The second was to investigate anomalies from a nearby ghost town to the west. Obviously he would be debriefed on the situation should he choose this mission. But the last flier was the quest that Raiden ultimately decided to take. His goal was to travel to the northeastern fortress to take care of a looming, giant monster. He doubted the description of said monster at first, but after all he's seen both in this world on his own, he supposed he could give it the benefit of the doubt. Besides, Metal Gears were kind of in their own way giant monsters, so how could this be any different.

Deciding it best to take a dune buggy from one of the tourist guides, Raiden would seek to find a method of somewhat discreet transportation to the described location. Most travelers became wary of the location, as it was no longer safe for visitors due to the threat described on the flier, so finding a driver however, may be near impossible. The man had become lost, not sure of where to go to find any form of second hand travel. He had never considered himself a tourist and any time he did need to travel it would either be some form of government agency dispatching him or Raiden simply driving himself.

It was then Raiden had found at the edge of town an area he could rent a buggy to transport him to his mission. He pulled out more coins from his poncho. This job better be legitimate He thought to himself, staring at the few coins he had left. There was just barely enough to get him there and back in full payment, but there would be nowhere for him to return if he was out of cash. He paid the local in the station, nodding as he exited just as quickly as he arrived.

Throwing one leg over the side of the buggy, Raiden couldn't help but feel somewhat excited to finally be back in action. A grin would creep over his face as he adjusted his sombrero. His visor would snap shut as he started up the buggy, and began driving into the distance, towards where his UI showed him was the Northeast. He looked back at the town as he bid it a temporary goodbye, clutching onto the mysterious potion he had grabbed earlier.

"¡Ole!"

Level: 2
Experience: 4/20
Currently In: Snowdin, Frozen Highlands
Word Count: 462 (+1 Exp)
Albedo @Lugubrious, Linkle @Gentlemanvaultboy, Papyrus @Dark Cloud

Frisk could help but chuckle at Papyrus' excitement over possibly seeing a glimpse of the future. "Time being wonky here does make sense. Explains how we arrived at different points. Uh, Of time, I mean." They noted. Then Linkle went first in explaning how she got her magic, and in turn, her rabbit ears. The child's brows rose as she pulled out the spirit of the Dollmaker. They didn't see that back at the basment. Then again it was dark and she could've quickly grab it as a precaution.

They listened to the skullgirl explain how spirits work in the world. Man, that's alot of stuff to do with them. Papyrus beat them in seeing the similarities of a spirit and a soul, even giving an example by summoning a bone. Once he trailed off at the mention of human souls, Frisk took the opportunity to add onto his explanation. "Don't worry, I can answer that." They softly reassured him.

"The type of magic a monster uses mainly depends on their species, while the magic humans use depend on their soul trait." At that, Frisk called their soul back out. "For example, Determination can adapt to a different soul trait, A bit of focus, and the red heart turned green, not unlike what Linkle saw. "And Kindness can create some sort of shield that blocks enemy attacks. To an extent. I haven't figured out it's limits yet." They tried to focus on changing to a different trait like Justice, but for some reason or another, they couldn't. _{"That's weird, I can only change it to Kindness..."} Frisk's brows furrowed. They shook their head in resignation, and went back to their default trait. "Anyways, Determination has it's own ability too, but it's kinda hard to explain. _{...Is there anything I can draw with around here?}"

The child looked around before continuing. "If a human soul and a boss monster soul fuse, the base soul becomes more powerful. But uh, it's easier said than done. Souls tend to shatter moments after someone's death." Speaking from experience, they thought. "Pretty similar though, yeah?" They smiled.

Once Albedo had explained his source of magic, Linkle spoke up again, asking about the Underground. "Uh...it's a long story, but yeah. It's just me now. As for Snowdin, from what I can tell, it's gotten alot larger than it used to be." They added after Papyrus spoke again, noting the new sections of the once small town. At the mention of Sans being able to tell the full story because they sure as heck won't, the child simply nodded. For the embodiment of the phrase "Lazybones" he gets around. They looked over to Treat.

"Don't worry about staying at his place though, I've been there, and it's pretty nice!"

Gunshots rang out all around as the Seekers continued their attacks against the Colossus that had taken the place of the Orphan. Geralt kept the Breaching Bastion firing as often as it could, but each time one of those golden creatures slipped past and crashed into it, Geralt winced just a little. He knew that this thing didn't repair itself, and while he might be able to work with Blazermate and that Engineer Striker of hers after the fight to fix it, that wouldn't help them if it got destroyed in the middle of the battle. So when the Guardian's massive hand came sweeping in, ready to potentially crush the Bastion in its grip, Geralt dismissed the cannon platform with a small bit of reluctance and looked down at the package he'd been given.

With his enhanced senses, Geralt managed to get a tiny whiff of the odor that the matured blood gave off, and he wrinkled his nose at it. "Yep, blood. Why in the hells would they give me this?” There had to be a reason, of course, so Geralt shrugged and decided to give it a shot.

Or, more accurately, a toss. As the pungent blood cocktail flew through the air, Geralt wondered, not for the first time, just what the hell he’d been pulled into. Tossing vials of blood at weird floating jelly creatures and gold humanoid missiles? Not to mention the absolutely gargantuan tar monster that was slowly ambling towards them, being beat on by what was left of the expanded Blue Team. A few had come and gone, but the team had overall grown in size and they were about to be finished with their job.

The vial hit into and exploded upon one of the floating gas bag creatures, spraying shards of glass and blood all about the place, causing it and a few around it to pop like the others all had when damaged. Geralt hummed at that, before running and leaping from his building to another in order to dodge a massive sweeping hand that looked to take hold of him.

Landing with a grunt, he looked back at the colossal monster and grabbed another vial of blood, throwing it at the Guardian BT with the hopes of doing something. What he got was a section of the tarry body boiling off violently and being covered over with gold. “Ohoho.” Geralt breathed upon seeing that. “Blood hurts, huh?” Armed with new knowledge, he tossed another vial at the giant Guardian before dodging out of the way of another golden projectile-person, getting an idea.

“Gonna stink, though…” He muttered before smashing a blood cocktail against the floor beneath him, blood splattering his legs and leaving a powerful odor to assail his senses. Geralt had to suppress a gag for a moment, before drawing his crossbow and dipping the bolt head in the thick, goopy substance. Letting loose the bolt, he nodded as it struck true into the Guardian’s form, turning a small section gold. It certainly wasn’t enough to make the time investment worth it, so he left the rest of the blood on the floor to serve as a deterrent for the enemies and simply let loose a somewhat slow volley.

The smoking, volatile barrel that Ace tossed at the thing, however, made the fight turn quite heartily in their favor. The massive eyeball on its chest shut and retreated, being replaced by a field of gold crystal, before reappearing on its shoulder. That wasn’t all, though, as the buildings they were using as shelter began to collapse beneath the tar, new structures even more dilapidated and unstable as the last appeared.

Following Nadia’s path roughly, Geralt bounded off the roof of a small shack to reach the stone wall she sprung to, then charged across the makeshift bridge she created. When the hand-tentacles came swinging, the giant Witcher threw himself to the ‘ground’ to avoid it. The other two took some doing, and Geralt’s fingers barely brushed against the last tentacle as it passed, but he avoided being pulled into its grip and crushed. The Hat Kid, however, did not have such luck, and Nadia leapt into action to rescue the child.

Taking advantage of the Guardian’s proximity, Geralt hurled the last of the blood cocktails he’d gotten from Djikstra’s package before cracking open Vesemir’s and tossing another pair at the colossus before drawing his crossbow again and firing more bolts at the open eye. He wasn’t willing to risk the Bastion in such proximity, especially with their enemy so clearly on the brink. Instead, he summoned the Imps and Fizz to attack while he turned his aim towards the gas bags and shot them from the sky.

Before long, the combined efforts of the Seekers felled their quarry, and Geralt let out a deep sigh of relief when the wave of darkness swept over him. That marked their victory this time, well and truly.

“It’s done.” He stated. Simple. As the Seekers gathered, Geralt looked over the others. It had been a tough ride for them, but Blazermate did a damn fine job of patching them up. Speaking of which, Geralt summoned the Judicator for a quick round of sickening healing to help ease a bit of the burden on Kamek, who’d run dangerously low on magical stamina, and Blazermate, who could only heal so many people so quickly.

Peach’s ultimate declaration made Geralt chuckle. That was how they all felt, he was sure. He was tired, his armor would need hours of work to even remotely resemble what it once looked like, and somebody needed to deal with the Spirit.

Might as well be him. He wouldn’t admit to a small bit of reluctance, and even a bit of annoyance at the idea, but not only did he have trouble imagining the others taking it, he wasn’t sure he wanted to see them take it. As much as he didn’t want to become a literal monster, he didn’t want to see it happen to the others. His point about mutation was part of it, of course, as well.

Crossing the chiralium field, however, was an effort that took much more than it seemed at first glance. Each step weighed on him like an anvil. A near century of regrets, pain, loss, all sought to drag him into the sand and suffocate him. He grabbed the Spirit and turned around, forcing himself to move out of the field quickly.

As the others watched, he plunged the thing into him, facing the familiar light of Spirit Fusion. When it ended, Geralt noticed that the others looked taller than they had. Which, of course, meant that he’d shrunk.

He noticed a few other things, as well. The first was a noticeable irritation at the slightly empty feeling in his stomach. Now that the battle was over and the adrenaline was fading, he was damned hungry. Whether the Spirit had given him a ravenous appetite, or it was a mere coincidence, he couldn’t tell. He could also feel the presence of…something…inside of him. It felt almost natural, having surely come from the Orphan’s Spirit, but he wasn’t sure exactly what it was, nor was he in the mood to find out just yet.

As he looked himself over and started taking stock of his new, leaner, appearance, Geralt frowned. Was that all? He looked a bit uglier? Wow, that…so much for the horrific ramifications of fusing oneself to an eldritch monstrosity. Walking over to the others, Geralt rolled his eyes. “Aside from the obvious, physical changes, I honestly barely feel different. Maybe a bit annoyed at the anti-climax, if anything.” He joked. Shrugging, he turned his head to Peach. “The Princess is right though. Let’s get the hell out of here. Same way back, I take it? Is the Atomos still shrunk down?” The last question was directed at Junior and Kamek.

It was time for them to leave.

Besides Blazermate's ghosts or marking the weak spot, there wasn't too much Blazermate could do to put this thing down. Especially when running from the summoned ghosts of those who had fallen on their adventures that seemed to chase after the Medabot herself with strange weapons in hand. Screw this flesh baby thing, it was so annoying! And it bloody refused to die even when its health was gone! And yet it still hit like an absolute truck, swatting Hatty out of the air like she was a fly. Seeing the absolute mess that Haty was in after getting swatted into the cliffs, Blazermate made her way over to her as Peach called to the medabot to start to stabilize the kiddo. Although she wasn't all that fast needing to still heal her own injured/broken parts and dodge all these apparitions.

After one final hit though, the fight ended. The goop, gore, and all the filth of the area receded as the Orphan was finally no more. Blazermate managed to get some healing into Hatty, but hatty would deferentially need to sleep some of those hits off. With the defeat of the Orphan came something Blazermate, and the rest of the group dreaded. In order to get rid of this area boss for good, one of them would need to fuse with it. Blazermate would speak up if no one else did, as her parts system would at least make it not SO bad... But thankfully for her Geralt spoke up giving a very good reason as to why it would be perfect for him. "Thanks a lot Geralt. That thing is uh... Good luck." Blazermate said. Funny enough, Geralt looked... normal, if a bit ghoulish after absorbing that spirit. At least he was smaller now, but that also meant no free rides on him anymore. Although what lasting effect those crystals that were left behind when the orphan died is anyone's guess.

With all of that taken care of, Nadia gave the real question... How ere they going to get back to town? Thankfully Blazermate prepared for this situation much like she did in the Dead Zone. "Well, unless someone wants to try their luck on finding some neato spirits in the area, I still have a teleporter side in Limsa. So we can just teleport back. I figured needing to go to the bottom of the sea, getting back up would be really difficult so... yeah." blazermate said. They'd have to wait a bit for her striker to charge back up before she could make said teleporter, but at least they wouldn't be suffering nightmare after nightmare traveling back.

======================================



Sectonia soon found her attacks had no effect to this behemoth, the creature itself not even retaliating it seemed. That... seemed odd considering what Sectonia knew of how things worked here. Very, Very odd... Yeah it did shake people off when they got onto it, but other than that, it was just... flying there. This diffused Sectonia's rage a bit. Something was off here, perhaps defeating this thing would reveal the true area boss? Or there was some other puzzle or something they had to do here. Still, all they had to go on was that they had to deal with this creature, so Sectonia after a moment of reflection and thinking, continued her assault, throwing void globules at the creature instead.

Sectonia kept up this little ranged attack until Midna called out that there were weak points under the fins of this creature, weak points that Sectonia's swords could possibly do some damage on. Why a creature would willingly have weak points was something Sectonia could only laugh at, as she moved in to strike at the mark Midna had called out, striking out with her swords.

"Just do my best, huh?" Sound words of advice, but Raz wasn't entirely buying into it. His best was barely a drop in the ocean. There were people stronger, wiser, faster, and more useful than him in the group already. And some of them could fly, making any feats of acrobatics utterly pointless. So while things might work out in the end, Raz being involved might cause a few extra road bumps along the way.

Not that he was going to start getting lazy just because he's feeling sorry for himself.

On Mona's observation, Raz followed the other on-the-grounders that made their way over to the basin's statues, though he kept looking up at the flying leviathan. He was feeling like something was off too, so he decided to voice his concerns to the group. "I get that this is probably one of those Champions and that we have to deal with them to stop..." he glanced over to Therion, who still exhibited the murky palette and red eyes of someone under Galeem's influence, continuing with, "Uh, something from happening, not that I really know anything about it, ahah." Raz coughed. "My point is that it doesn't seem to really be doing anything, does it? Do we really have to resort to, you know... killing it?"

When they neared the statues, Raz split off to go examine one of the farther ones, specifically climbing up onto it to look at the chain it held. "Hey, these chains don't look like they're part of the statues!" Raz called to the rest. "You think they're holding something up?"

---

After soaring above Phalanx, Tora and Poppi could get their first really good look at the creature while a number of their allies cruised in for a landing. In the span of just a few moments, the big blue yonder had filled with heroes–or at least, a very small subjection of it, anyway. In addition to the dynamic driver-blade duo, Sectonia, Big Band, Peacock, and all the Phantom Thieves (minus Mona, who would be ascending fashionably late after a quick pep talk with Raz) had taken to the skies in search of a way to bring the airborne colossus down. That, rather than any kind of actual threat, seemed to be the main issue. Although Phalanx made its objections clear with vigorous shakes once boarded, it had yet to attack in any fashion.

The lack of hostility left Tora perplexed. Raising his voice above the wind, he asked, “Why it not fight back? Everything fight back in world of light, right?”

“Maybe bosses exception,” Poppi hazarded a guess. “Or maybe we not actual inflict damage yet?”

Though full of energy and eager to get their hands dirty in this climactic mountaintop fight, Tora and Poppi remained aloft for a few moments longer, trying to figure out a plan of attack. The others’ search continued pretty much fruitlessly, for no matter how much they pummeled, pried, shot, or scorched the creature’s body, none of it seemed to matter. Ciella seemed to be aiming for its eyes, judging the trajectory of her charged water arrows, but given the circumstances hers were some very difficult shots to make. When the thieves took a crack at the eyes themselves, they quickly realized they couldn’t get a clear shot from atop Phalanx, and if they jumped off to use their gliders the colossus would leave them behind in an instant. With the lingering blessing of flight, falling posed little threat, but if left behind the Seekers would have to wait quite some time for another pass at their high-speed adversary.

It was Midna who cracked the case. Thanks to a combination of magical sense, experience, and luck, she managed to spot an unusual glowing glyph hidden beneath a fin atop the creature’s back as she tumbled free into the sky. As Tora and Poppi flew in, they just managed to hear their friend’s words of wisdom on the wind. “Meeeh!” the Nopon exclaimed. “Why Tora not realize it sooner!? This classic stuff!” He extended a wing, pointing down at the sigil Midna spotted like a hero. “Okay, Poppi! All power to thrusters!”

“Roger, roger!”

The two boosted off in hot pursuit, but they weren’t the only ones to hear the Twilight Princess’s advice. Sectonia beat them to the punch, using her aerial expertise and her blinking to circumvent as much wind pressure as she could as she chased the weak spot down. Once there the insect queen mustered her strength and plunged her blades into the runic flesh, as hard and as many times as she could.

Jets of black smoke burst from the stab wounds, and Phalanx screeched. It banked hard enough to jerk Fox and Panther from their handholds, then began to roll. In a desperate attempt to get its assailants off its back, fueled by the agony of its grievous injury, the colossus pulled off a corkscrew maneuver of epic proportions. Sectonia got dislodged and hurled away, and while she could take a few moments to bask in her victory, Tora and Poppi needed to fight to keep up. After putting her thrusters on full blast and having her Masterpon hold on by her ankles, the artificial blade managed to grab onto a prominent ridge in one of Phalanx’s fins. It tested them both, but in the end mechanical might won out, and not just for the two of them.

Farther back, both Big Band and Peacock managed to maintain their hold until Phalanx finally straightened out. “Whew!” the detective exhaled. “Y’know, I wish I could have grandkids, just so I can sit ‘em down and tell ‘em this story, someday.”

“Whatever ya say, old timer!” Peacock handwaved, popping up from a portable hole by fin number two. It seemed to be sealed tight down around the sigil, protecting it like a shield. Andy Anvil and Tommy Ten Tons appeared, but the both of them together couldn’t pry it off. “You quit on me now, you’re dead weights, ya hear me?” the living weapon threatened, but even with that encouragement her cohorts couldn’t budge it, forcing her to look to her elder. “Here, gimme a hand with this thing, wouldja?”

“Ain’t no thing.” Big Band stepped in with brass arms deployed. His pneumatic might did the trick, and in just a few seconds the glyph was easy pickings.

Peacock stepped over it, revolver at the ready. “Reach for the sky!” At a pull of the trigger a giant black blade popped out, it’s gleeful grin only outdone by Peacock’s own. “Yah!” With a grunt she drove the blade in, then hammered the trigger to empty the chambers, splitting five bullets in half on the blade to carve deeper into Phalanx’s weak spot. The colossus shrieked, and the rodeo began anew, stronger and fiercer even than last time.



In the comfort of the little home’s cozy parlor and the white tiger’s gracious hospitality, both the cold and the stress that clung to the five began to melt away. Even for a Snowdin household, it really was toasty in here, enough to be a little soporific. Barely had Albedo seated himself before he rose again, headed for the coat closet he didn’t think he needed to use. Most of the tiny room seemed to be occupied by what looked like a puffy yellow snow suit, but he managed to hang his coat up alongside it. When he returned he stopped short of the couch, averse to getting into anyone’s personal space again, and stood by with his arms crossed. As Dromarch gingerly -and rather painstakingly, given his lack of opposable thumbs- prepared their refreshments, Frisk sparked up a conversation in front of the blazing hearth, and the alchemist listened in silence.

It proved mildly interesting to hear the child rediscover, bit by bit, the way this bizarre world worked. Its mechanics lay in stark contrast to the state of affairs in Frisk’s home, or so a little reading between the lines would imply, but for better or for worse, they seemed to be both making sense of and coming to terms with it. What Frisk said about luck stood out to him; although not a particularly pious person, Albedo did consider it to be something of a miracle that day-to-day life in the World of Light seemed mostly stable, given the sheer scale upon which worlds were colliding. This hodgepodge reality could just have easily been complete and utter chaos, an indecipherable maelstrom of various places, forces, and phenomena in which no living being could endure, but its creator Galeem seemed to have sewn this tapestry together with logic in mind. But how? And why? It made for a conundrum as intimidating as it was fascinating. It might be nice in here, but the truth was out there. Albedo ended up staring impassively out the window as the fallen child and the silly skeleton traded words.

After their exchange, Treat was surprised to find herself on the receiving end of a most generous offer from Papyrus. “O-oh,” she stammered, suddenly filled with anxiety. “I…I…well, uh, I mean, thank you. You’re way too kind, I really just, don’t deserve it. But I just don’t know…”

She trailed off weakly, unable to articulate her thoughts, although at the very least her reticence showed on her face. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Papyrus or anything, but did she want to live with him? Aside from him being a guy, and aside from him being a slightly creepy skeleton, she’d already gotten an idea of his exclamatory, goofy, over-the-top, larger-than-life nature, and Treat didn’t know if she could deal with that energy. When Albedo and Linkle mentioned living somewhere else she assumed they meant a different empty house, not cohabitation! If she was going to be living with someone else, whoever it was needed to be a lot more chill and normal than Papyrus, as bad as that conclusion made her feel.

Eventually the chitchat pivoted toward magic. Linkle had a lot of insight to offer on the subject, and after a few words on spirits in general, covered both her inherent talents and those gained through fusion. The Skullgirl’s testimony about the source of her cryomancy, as well as the lack of a Vision on her person, helped to put the nail on the coffin of a worrisome hypothesis that first arose when Albedo noticed the bright blue of her hair when fighting. While not particularly close to the Spindrift Knight Eula, it would have pained him to find out that she died, when she could instead be living free of the scorn heaped upon her Lawrence lineage, somewhere in the world.

When his turn came around, he swallowed, and replied in brief. “I’m afraid I don’t have much to say on the subject. In my world, humans are able to manipulate the elements through the use of Visions. This one is mine.” He held up an amber gemstone inlaid in a winged metal talisman, a geometric pattern shining in its center. “Although, it’s really nothing more than a tool to aid in my experiments, no different from a beaker or crucible. The one thing about it that really intrigues me is the principle behind how it works... One day, I will uncover its secrets, it's only a matter of time.” With nothing else to say, he drew quiet once more.

Once Dromarch delivered everyone’s drinks, he stalked down the hall toward the house’s rear, where he rapped upon a door with his paw. “My lady? Excuse me. We have guests in need of your expertise, if you would be so kind.”

“Eh?” a girl’s voice came in reply. “Oh, sure, sure, I’ll be out in jost a sec.”

True to her word, the healer came right out, but if the newcomers had been expecting a noblewoman befitting Dromarch’s regal treatment they were in for a surprise. A head of dusty gray hair topped by side-turned cat ears poked around the corner, with curious dark yellow eyes just below, and the next moment their owner appeared. Nia was short and thin even for a teenager, cozy a a set of plaid yellow, green, and black pajamas, her unkempt hair not even tied into their customary bundles. As much as she’d been enjoying an afternoon spent reading in bed, however, she greeted her customers with bright eyes and a genial smile.

Dromarch followed her, looking mollified. “My lady, are you quite sure you’re ready? This is most undignified…”

“Aw, no need to stand on ceremony, eh Dromarch?” she told him in a pronounced Welsh accent. “We’re all friends yure, or will be soon enough–ahem! Heya guys,” she greeted the five with a little wave. “So, ‘oo’s our lucky sufferer what needs some ‘ealin’?”

For a moment Treat seemed somewhat dumbstruck, staring with wide eyes at Nia. Albedo cleared his throat. “Treat here has a sprained ankle,” he replied for her, indicating the wolfgirl with his hand.

“Huh, that all?” Nia zeroed in on Treat, but received no response. “Ya alright there? Well, doncha worry, we’ll ‘ave ya patched up before ya find your tongue again.” In just a moment she retrieved the ringblades, and with one in each hand she performed a very short dance. It ended with rings on one upheld arm, spun around her wrist like hula hoops, and from the weapons waves of bright green ether washed across the parlor. Just like that, the wolfgirl was healed.

Treat’s face was one of astonishment as her healer tossed up and caught her ringblades. “Wow, that’s all it takes?” she gasped. “That’s incredible!”

Although she brushed off the praise with a shrug, Nia didn’t bother to hide her grin. “Ah, that’s nothin’. Just glad to help, an’ all.”

It took only a moment for Treat’s elation to turn to misgiving. “Uh, s-so, what do I owe you?” She looked down at the floor. “I-I know I probably shouldn’t have asked you, you being a catgirl and all, so if it’s extra I understand.”

“Eh!?” Nia looked genuinely confused. “A cat…? You mean me? I’ll ‘ave ya know I’m Gormotti, but wot’s that ‘ave to do with anythin’?”

“Ohh…” Ears drooping, Treat looked like she wanted to sink through the floor. “W-well, you know, ‘cause I’m a…a wolfgirl?”

Nia scratched her head, looking at Dromarch and then back again. “I mean, yeah, but…oh, oh! D’ya mean, like, the thing with dogs an’ cats? Pff!” Shaking her head, she crossed her arms. “Well, ya en’t a dog, and I sure en’t a cat. I don’t know where ya gettin’ these funny ideas, but all that matters is that ya needed my ‘elp. Doesn’t matter what ears ya got, or if ya don’t even got ears,” she nodded at Papyrus. “Anyone oo’ stops by our ‘ouse is gonna leave feelin’ better on the way out.”

Although the moment got a little awkward, particularly with so many bystanders around, Nia managed to turn it in a direction Albedo felt pretty good about. For most people, one’s animal features made little to no difference. It was just the same back in Mondstadt, with the Kätzlein. It was high time Treat stopped dwelling on the bad people and see the good in the rest of them.