Whatever the source or cause of the team’s spectral assistance, it was both dearly needed and highly effective as it turned what had been dogged resistance and evasiveness into a sudden burst of renewed fervor as the replenished and/or restocked fighters took to the rooftops and deliver a furious torrent of fire onto the titan.

The bloody armaments they had received proved particularly powerful on the monster’s main mass, which explained why they’d gotten them. Kamek’s little storm rained down its crimson droplets, leaving a lovely speckled pattern of gold all across the thing’s head of hands and shoulders. Rika meanwhile pockmarked the limbs with her own specs of gold, but it became clear after a bit that their effort to goldify the whole thing was better spent hammering the big obvious weak spot that was the blood drunk eye.

Thus, Rika joined Mimi in hammering the eyeball, her reserve of ichor ammo stripping some of its innate defense away, while Kamek and Jr focused on the balloons, Kamek’s rain popping several even as they spawned from the neck hole while Jr blasted those getting close with fireballs.

“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaa-hey wait come back that’s cheating!” Rika interrupted her wordless roaring alongside her gunfire when the eye suddenly pulled into the BT’s body, fleeing the fire it was taking.

”What happened?” Jr asked her, having been too focused on keeping them clear of balloons to keep track of the eye/

“It just shut the eye! It can’t just do that right? It’s not fair” Rika complained, before glancing and seeing it re-emerge far far away from them “oh no wait its back. Just all the way over there!”

”Time to move then. All aboard Kamek airways troop! We’ll leave the hopping to the heroes” the old mage told them, grouping up her clones to help lift the two youngsters. They did this by having two clones link arms and flying right next to each other, creating a pair of broomsticks that acted a bit like a chair for Rika and Jr to ride. Or as the prongs of a forklift. Either way, in quick succession the troop was airborne and heading for a better firing position.

This didn’t go entirely smoothly.

“Whip things coming after us!” Rika cried out in alarm as the thing lashed out after them, trying to take advantage of the fact that they had all had to get out into the open to move out. Then it succeeded, at least in part, when it clipped and launched the hat kid. There were several cries of alarm from on high, but fortunately Nadia was on the yarnball and launched herself, and then a clone of herself, forwards to save the falling child from a hard landing.

That she wasn't dead was a relief, that she was left just laying there was enraging. Moments later Troop hit the deck of a crashed airship that had risen up out of the muck and set to work extracting vengeance. Jr swiftly monkeys up one of the masts to get to the crows-nest from which to keep launching his fireballs and Rika climbed up and used its dilapidated turret as a firing platform while Kamek stuck to the nice and sturdy deck proper for her spell-casting.

From there they unleashed their fury, hailing the blood drunk eye with a cavalcade of magic and metal along with the rest until, at last, one of the team's shots chipped off that last sliver of health and it was, at last, truly over. The titan stumbled. Fell. and the golden crystallization took hold, bleeding its way across its entire body which first petrified, and then shattered upon hitting the sand.

After one final shadowy surprise, the Orphan’s spirit was left behind amidst a field of statuesque hands and glimmering golden crystals reflecting the sunlight of the ever so welcome dawn.

Still, after two nasty surprises from the boss, no one assumed it was over till it really was, certainly not the troop who kept a tight formation as they dropped back down to the beach as the ruins sank away along with the tar polluting the world, all of it returning back to wherever it had come from. Yet moments passed, more than had passed after the monster’s physician form faltered, and eventually it looked safe to say that it was all over.

All that was left to deal with was the spirit and, fortunately enough, Geralt volunteered for that task, sparing them all the trouble of arguing over that cursed boon or, worse, finding out what happened if it was simply allowed to lay and fester.

He got some well deserved praise and thanks for his sacrifice, along with a ”Better you than me” from Jr.

”What the young master means is, thank you for your bravery, Geralt” Kamek insisted to the Witcher while elbowing Jr, which got her a grunt of agreement from the prince, and then after a hard stare, a quiet ”Yeah. Thanks” delivered to Geralt, along with a genuine “and good luck!” from Rika

As it turned out, the man didn't actually suffer too hard from the transformation, at least noticeably. Kamek had to give a little snort of a laugh at his joke about it being anticlimactic, before becoming the focus of a question about the state of the Atomos. This prompted a glance back to where Bowser had dumped it, which confirmed that it hadn't been devoured by the oil. Neither had Jr’s clown car incidentally, which sat on the ridge line as basted as ever and with the sentient meat hook Hook reeled out of it;s mouth and waving down at them in an attempt to make sure it wasn't left behind.

”Well, it’s still there, but it was being muddled by something on the island and it might take a fair bit of work to get it running again, if it even will” kamek replied. She assumed killing the boss would have lifted the interference preventing it from taking off, but there was no guarantee that was the case from where she was standing

Fortunately they had two other options for getting out. The first was Blazermate, who mentioned she had her teleporter exit still set up back in Limsa. She also mentioned the possibility of checking out the area for spirits, but at least as far as the troop was concerned, this was of no interest at the moment.

Jr for one was 100% done ”Screw waiting or doing annnnnnything else here. I wanna find my papa and then I want to go for a three day long nap thanks. You guys can muck around or wait for overalls to do his thing. I’m gonna go paint us a way home” he announced, ignoring Kamek’s whisper of ”Language!” in response to the use of ‘screw that’ and setting off for the cliff wall back near the entrance.

He vaguely gestured to one side as he got close, summoning a massive tower of goombas to retrieve his clown car, and then gave a tired twirl of his paintbrush and set to work doing a quick and dirty sketch of Alcamoth. Kamek and Rika joined his side as the clown car was slowly lowered down beside them and watched him work. While doing so Kamek glanced back the way they had come and wondered aloud ”I wonder if the wave of shadow hit all those minions who were bowing down back there?”

“Huh?” Rika asked, not knowing why that was relevant.

”Oh, I haven't mentioned this have I? When a boss dies it sends out a wave that frees everything in the immediate area form Galeem’s grip, so I was wondering it it reached though there?” she explained, before thinking a bit more and glancing at the in progress painting before adding ”maybe we should wall this back up? Just in case something tries to get through?”

“What? No! Shouldn't we go help them. And, you know. Explain stuff?” Rika demanded loudly, leaving the tired mage swaying slightly before she shook her head and found her empathy fighting its way up to the surface of the sea of sleep that was filling her mind now that the adrenaline was gone.

”I- Yes you are right. They must be very confused, and I’d hate to be like them in that state, lost in this dreadful place” she agreed, before cutting of Jr’s disagreement with this plan by saying ”You take someone with you and go find your father junior, we cant have him worrying after all. We’ll take a careful look and see what’s going on back there” which placated the boy, at which point he went back to finishing up his return method.

After that, all that was left was to see who was going to go check in on the cat saved folk, who was going to go and do one last mission of mercy, and who was just done with all this and wanted to hit the hay as soon as possible.

@DracoLunaris

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The bombs arrows flew and blew, along with everyone else's contribution to the barrage that assailed the Guardian's eye. Link just wished they came in more than packs of five before switching to the rod. Ace put the exclamation point on the combined assault by blasting the creature with something unstable that shot out of a barrel, an attack that finally prompted the creature to close that gargantuan eye before reopening somewhere out of range of most of their attacks.

On top of that, his platform started sinking as the beach reorganized itself once again. Link set out from his own perch, using Cryonis to grow a pillar of ice out of the tar that also began sinking. Jumping off the boat and scurrying up the side, he took a running leap off the ice and unfurled his sailcloth. It wouldn't carry him far, but it was faster than wading through the muck even with his water skates. Before he began to drift downward he swapped to the slate in midair and used cryonis to make himself another stepping stone. He could see the direction Ms. Fortune was so earnestly headed and, taking a moment to catch his breath and let Cryonis recharge, jumped again. He leaped from ice island to ice island like this until he found some more solid ground, what looked like the waterlogged steeple of some cyclopean temple. The large stones of the stonework made climbing an easy task, and as he reached the top he could see the cliff wall close by.

The creature, though, reared back for another attack. One that took hold of the behatted kid and would have reduced her to a dust stain on the side of the cliff face if not for Ms. Fortunes own intervention. The rest of the hands swept across the beach toward him, a balled up fist streaming toward him. He set his stance of the steeple roof, Lynel shield held out, and as the hand came in he lashed out at it and sent the fist that had come for him spinning away with enough disorienting force that it flopped into the beach tar. There was some satisfaction in that, but more in turning his bow and pumping a few more arrows into the creatures shoulder eye from his new vantage point.

He didn't think his simple arrows were what ultimately took the creature down, but he swelled with pride as he watched it fall over and shatter anyway. It's life had been short, violent, and full of grief and rage. At this point, though, Link was beyond caring for it. It was dead, finally. It was never coming back. The wave of darkness that swept across them, wiping away the distortions of the beach, assured them of that.

He collapsed onto his rear in the cool sand as the adrenaline finally began leaving his body. For the first time since perhaps they had entered the Maw he felt himself truly relax, allowing the exhaustion in his muscles and the wholly natural hunger that threatened to bore a hole in his stomach crawl to the forefront of his mind. While he rested, there were still things to do. Geralt strode out into the field of odd golden crystals an took the Guardian's spirit into himself. The change wasn't drastic, and none of the creatures vengeful violent nature had seeped into the Witcher's psyche. As this played out Blazermate got to work healing up the Kid's injuries and the others started brainstorming how to get off this cursed isle. Geralt's first suggestion was The Atomos, but Link pulled himself to his feet and shook his head at that idea. "I wouldn't try taking off from this beach." He spoke up, plodding over and looking around. "Who knows where you would end up."

Blazermate and an impatient Junior had the better idea of teleporting out of here, both having set up their contingencies beforehand, but in contrast to Geralt's and Juior's eagerness to leave Blazermate and Rika pointed out the business that they still had on the island. "Hold on, Kamek, I'll come with you. I was planning to search The Maw for survivors anyway. Just give me a minute, I'm going to comb the beach." Grief hardened his face for a moment. "I can't just leave Delsin here."

The mote of rainbow light that represented the mans spirit wasn't hard to find against the drabness of the Beach. He reached down and cupped it in his hand. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry." He said to it, unsure what to do. Delsin had an impressive ability, one that would help immensely in the battles to come, but just taking a comrade as some sort of prize felt dirty right now. He would hold onto it for now, bringing the spirit back to the group and showing it to see if anyone wanted to take up the mans mantle. If no one else wanted to, he would resign himself to carrying Delsin on in his heart, literally.

He also found his sword, buried halfway in the sand. That was good. He didn't want to use Glenn's bequeathment unless he had to, for fear of shattering the sword his friend had fought so hard to find. Satisfied, ready to push on despite the fatigue, he returned to Kamek. "All right, I'm ready. Hopefully they're too disoriented to be hostile."

Sakura watched as everything exploded and stopped. And that was it. Sakura’s shoulders dropped and she let out a long, low sigh of relief. She wiped a tear from her eye as she saw the tar recede and the hands reach up to the sky. There was still a sense of wonder as she saw all of these impossible things. Even if it was tampered by how she had gone to a relatively normal teenage girl to a battle hardened veteran over the course of a day and a half.

Elation of victory plus bad times. Sakura didn’t know how to feel.

She watched, worriedly, as Geralt decided to take the spirit into himself. It was either that or let it come back and have to kill it all over again later, so they didn’t really have a choice. While she didn’t mean to be selfish…no way was she taking that thing into herself. No freaking way. She didn’t want to be a giant ugly crazy old baby. She’d rather fight it all over again than do that.

Much to her delight though, the changes weren’t drastic at all, and Geralt seemed the same as usual. If anything, he looked a little more normal now that he wasn’t cartoonishly giant. Sakura gave him reassuring side hug and skipped on over to Link’s side.

Infact, she would offer hugs to anyone who would accept it. Add +1 Sakura Hug to your inventory.

She considered Blazermate and the Koopa Troop’s ideas. “As much as I would like to get straight back to Limsa…” Sakura began.

“Oh, man. I want to get straight back to Limsa. Alright, Link, Kamek. I’ll come with you two guys but we should seriously make this quick. I want to sit on a freaking chair.” Sakura said. She hadn’t even had the luxury of sitting on a simple, comfortable chair. With that small bit of complaining out of the way, she followed the wizard and the hero on their quest to measure the stability of a newly liberated region.

"It's like we're the United Nations or something." She muttered under her breathe. She paused as Link briefly considered Delsin's sad spirit. The fact that he didn't get revived after all broke her heart. And the street fighter wasn't sure what to do with the spirit, either. Personally, she only took Arashio's spirit as a spur of the moment decision to help people. Thinking of a living person, an ally, as an upgrade didn't feel right at all. Rubbing her elbow, she seemed relieved that Link thought to just keep the issue for later.

After Nadia voiced the question on everyone’s mind, Geralt -his thankfully rather minor changes taken in stride- directed her attention to the remnants of the Koopa Troop. The Witcher suggested that everyone make use of the Atomos airship, which Nadia herself had totally forgotten about. To be fair, she’d set off from Limsa Lominscuttle Town that morning as a member of the crew aboard Shippy, so she’d never actually ridden on it. Plus, with the magical aircraft rendered unusable by the malefic atmospheric conditions above the Bottomless Sea, the Atomos stopped being a factor at all right before the Seekers found themselves plunged into the innards of the nonstop nightmare machine that was the Maw. If the loathsome denizen of this impossible place truly did exist as the wellspring of the curses and storms that plagued this godforsaken ocean, then maybe with it dead the triumphant heroes really could just fly on out of here.

Whether by fatigue or good old-fashioned insensibility, It didn’t occur to her to think about what ‘here’ actually meant. Brought to the ill-omened Carcass Isle and its violated fishing hamlet by forces beyond their control, neither she nor her teammates could say where they were with any degree of accuracy. Limsa lay somewhere to the south and the continent somewhere to the east, but that amounted to everything the Seekers collectively knew for sure, and in the dead of night how could they tell cardinal directions? All that assumed that the Atomos could be made ready for flight in short order anyway, and judging by Junior’s words of warning even that might be a tall order.

As luck would have it, after Blazermate finished healing poor Hatty, she presented a different and far more direct solution. Thanks to her Engineer striker, she possessed what Nadia suddenly realized might be the most important ability of all: the power to return her team home, no matter where in the far-flung World of Light they might be. As it turned it, she wasn’t even the only one, either. The Koopa Prince Junior didn’t want to spend one picosecond longer in this hocus-pocus hellhole than he had to, and after announcing as much he began to ink a drawing of a floating city on a section of the nearby rock face. Fascinated by the painting and curious how that would facilitate the safe return of the Seekers, Nadia sat herself down in the sand nearby to watch at rapt attention. As the feral rested Sakura made her rounds offering hugs, and Nadia wasn't about to turn down some genuine humanity. Once hugged, she half-listened to Kamek as he dropped a little exposition, not just for the sake of Rika but everyone yet to participate in the destruction of one of Galeem’s thirteen Guardians, which included the crew’s resident cat burglar. Apparently that wave of shadowy fog was normal, and would even free everyone in the vicinity from Galeem’s influence, although in this case that amounted to a bunch of grotesque sea monsters, most of whom did not look remotely capable of rational thought. She felt uneasy seeing Rika go back through the tunnel into the Azure Weald, hoping that the Abyssal girl wouldn’t end up punished for acting on a good conscience. With Link, Kamek, Sakura, and of course Bella watching Rika’s back, however, she would be in good hands.

In short order, with everyone eager to be free of this place gathered around, Junior completed his work of art. His imprecise brush-strokes and hurried coloring might not stand up to a critical eye, but if the magical painting could really get Nadia home, it was a masterpiece in her book. When the tiny terror stepped forward to test it, he passed straight through the warp graffiti and disappeared. Peach went through next, and then the floodgates were open. When an opening presented itself, Nadia couldn’t squeeze through fast enough.



After being spit out the other side and picking herself up from the grass, the feral stopped short in surprise. With visions of her inn room in mind, complete with a hot shower to wash away the filth of the briny deep and luxurious bedsheets she could sink into forever, she’d been expecting a view of marble-white seastacks and washed-out driftwood walkways, complete with the gentle, low roar of the tide below and the pure ocean breeze. Instead she found herself in the atrium of some sort of colossal megastructure, spacious, sterile, prim and proper, not quite as reverent as a grand cathedral but not quite as hall-over-the-place as a mega-mall. If anything, with its sleek, futuristic design, it smacked of corporate idiosyncrasy, like the illustrious headquarters of some international megacorp, complete with an expansive indoor business park. Nadia’s eyes turned skyward, and through the glass dome she could see a night sky speckled by distant stars and alight with wondrous auroras that bathed the walkways and fountains of the atrium in splendid, dreamlike colors. It was beautiful, and it filled her with awe, but it also weighed upon her. All that space and grandeur in her current state made her feel exposed, gross, embarrassed even, and very, very small. She felt like she didn’t belong.

“This isn’t Limsa…” she breathed, stating the obvious in hopes that someone might be able to lend a hand.

On cue, Peach tugged on her arm, gently encouraging Nadia to clear the way so that everyone else could come through with no problem. Geralt in particular would need as much space as he could get, even if the Orphan’s spirit left him a bit smaller than before. “This is Alcamoth,” the princess told her. “Are you alright? You look almost horrified.”

“Uh, yeah…” Nadia tugged at her collar, causing her cat-bell to jingle softly. “It’s just…I’ve never been somewhere like this before. It’s practically alien to me.” It took some willpower to suppress the urge to shrink back into the shadow of the archway Junior’s return warp had been painted upon. “And you guys live here?”

“Not exactly. While a bunch of our allies live here, and have been for a while, our group only came through the other day. It’s more like our home base. If it’s any comfort, the back section is a lot less austere. That’s where Mercenary HQ is, plus a ton of different shops. There’s a place called Sushi Strikers you might like.”

Nadia’s eyes narrowed before she shook her head. “Nah, I’m not really hungry or anythin’. Was just hopin’ to get back to Limsa, clean up, and pass the hell out. I’m feline like the livin’ dead, ya know? Fresh from the dirty and everythin’.”

Peach pointed to where the Koopa Troop was preparing to head out. “You should follow them, then. Since Brineybeard returned to Limsa, Bowser probably did too, and I’m sure Junior wants to see him again.”

“Oh! Yeah, yeah, will do.” With what little vigor she had left Nadia scampered off, waving behind her. “Thanks!”

A few moments more and Nadia had put Alcamoth in all its glory on the far side of another Warp Graffiti, and she stood in the public docks in the harbor of seaside Limsa Liminscuttle Town. She took a long, deep breath of the crisp, clear, salty seabreeze, and for a moment longer just stood there on the wharf. The city was quiet, embedded in the comfortable dark, its lullaby the gentle wash of waves against the cove’s sandy shores, the whisper of life-giving winds, and the creaking of the wharves. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky to obscure the sea of stars. Such sights, sounds, and smells might not be to everyone’s taste, but to Nadia they meant ‘home’. This place might not be Little Innsmouth, but it was close enough. Close enough to forget the storm, the terror, the misery and rot, the deathtrap of iron and the specter of death. Close enough to offer some much-needed peace and tranquility. The seastack town was asleep, and once Nadia got a little help, she would be, too.



The Seekers dispersed, headed wherever they pleased. Too weary to rush despite her readiness to collapse at any moment, Nadia took her time as she made her way through the city to the grand central tower. With her three containers tucked under one arm, she let her tired eyes rove over everything that crossed her path, as if to reacquaint herself with the natural world. She took in the gentle rocking of moored ships whose masts waved back and forth in rhythm, shanty highrises that crowded around the seastacks like wooden barnacles, the web of ropes and nets that turned the city into one big jungle gym. All the workshops, stands, storefronts, and restaurants were closed; it must be very, very late at night. Here and there she spotted townsfolk out and about, some of whom stared back at her, but after what she went through Nadia couldn’t be bothered to care. She just padded onward and upward until she set foot inside the Drowning Wench tavern, where the late-night receptionist of the Mizzenmast Inn managed to admit her to her room without turning up his nose.

Once inside, Nadia took another deep breath. The white linens called to her with a siren song, but she wasn’t about to crash while crusted over with Carcass Isle’s mucilage. She went straight for the mercifully modern bathroom, where she deposited two of the three containers by the sink but popped upon the third, the one labeled ‘Timefall Porter’, and after cracking open all six not-so-cold ones the very thirsty feral got down to business. Her unsalvageable garments went straight into the trash, and after fighting to stay awake for fifteen minutes in the hot shower, a stupefied but filth-free Nadia barely managed to drag herself into bed before passing the hell out.

@Dark Cloud@Majoras End

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"Oh, that's your..." Linkle marveled in a state of shocked amazement as she looked at the heart Frisk has manifested in front of them. That was the child's whole soul? They could just pull that out and do different things with it? "Wow, I've never heard of anything like that where I'm from." Souls leaving the body was a very bad thing, and if either people or monsters could become more powerful from fusing together she could imagine the reasons why they would avoid one another. Or why there were so few humans that Papyrus had never seen one, but Papyrus seemed way too good natured and Frisk far too unguarded around him for that to be the case. She also couldn't help but notice how similar it was to the was spirits worked, and how it was literally a heart, the same way The Master of Master's talked about what they would call the soul. "Can I...this is so weird...can you touch it? Would that hurt?"

A more shocking revelation was that Albedo of all people only barely knew more about his own powers than Linkle did. He held out his amber trinket to show them, the source of all his powers. "I thought for sure you were just, like, a wizard." Linkle said. "So if I held on to that thing, I could make flowers bloom? That's so cool!"

The conversation was interrupted as the big cat came back to deliver their drinks, Linkle eagerly downing the cacao as he went and knocked on his masters door to summon her. Linkle was surprised they hadn't come out to see Papyrus, who spoke loudly as a matter of course. What came through the door made Linkle tense up a moment, as it was another candidate who qualified to fulfill The Prophecy of Linkle's beneficial death. She couldn't really stay tense around someone with that funny of an accent though, and even when she pulled out her blades it was only so she could do a little jig that healed up Treat's leg.

Linkle wasn't the only one who had tensed up. Treat immediately assumed that she wasn't welcome in the house as soon as she saw the other girls had the opposite ears from her. Linkle shook her head as their hostess reassured her that all were welcome in her house. "Treat. If you keep assuming people are out to get you just for how you look you're going to end up all twisted." She said gently, before standing up. It was a lesson this whole experience had taught her as well. "Can you hit me with that too, Miss?" She said, raising a hand as she addressed the healer. "We were going to head out to a spooky hospital after this to look for an 'internet' and I'd rather be in tip top condition for that."

As the four-man crew of would-be talent seekers maneuvered through the parking lot, chock-full as it was of nonstandard vehicles of all shapes and sizes, Yuri presented the idea she managed to draw up for how she and her team might accomplish her mission. Nero had to hand it to her; she’d already put a lot more thought in tackling their assignment than he had, and he was the one supposed to be in charge. While some might say that a leader’s primary responsibility lay in the art of tactful delegation, Nero had encountered so few instances of cooperation in his brief but storied career as a devil hunter that he knew precious little about teamwork, let alone leadership. In his mind, the old adage held true: lead by example. He couldn’t afford to pull his reluctant hero shtick, acting put-upon but always getting the job done in the end, when he had others to look out for. Of course, he also couldn’t afford to let pride get in the way of good ideas, and Nero planned to give respect where it was due.

“You’re a smart kid,” he told Yuri. “We’ll do it your way. Go case by case, try and figure out who we’re dealing with, maybe drop a couple hints about Alcamoth if we turn up any hero types.” Crossing his arms, he kept a stern face as he continued. “I’m sure I don’t need to remind you to make sure you ask whoever you’re planning to photo. Just good manners.”

The spirit photographer made it pretty clear that she’d like accompaniment as she went about her business, and Nero agreed wholeheartedly, even if his only visual response was a stiff nod. In an unknown and potentially dangerous locale, it didn’t make sense to split up four ways, providing one counted Banjo and Kazooie as a unit. On the subject of units, Nero felt like skipping the volunteer process and cutting straight to the chase. “How about you keep her company, Pit?” he suggested to the young angel, figuring that their wildly different demeanors might be able to balance one another out. As he did he positioned himself closer to the bear and bird, making the delineation clear. Yuri turned and nodded at the energetic angel, who in turn nodded back at her.

"Sure! Nobody's a better guard than me," he said. Just had to ignore the times that Palutena had been kidnapped, or turned to stone, or... yeah, ignore all of that. With groups decided, Nero turned his attention toward the massive, glass-domed structure before him, ready to score some interviews.

Though the Rocket League Arena contained a vast majority of this place’s populace, there was no shortage of people in the parking lot, either. Visitors by their vehicles or trekking toward the building would be easier to isolate, but harder to keep still, while spectators already inside promised the opposite experience. In his brief search of the nearby parking lot, Nero identified a few possibilities. Leaning against an obnoxiously pink hovercraft of some sort was a churlish man of impressive stature, bored, and though he wore sunglasses he seemed to be on the lookout for something. An aisle over he spotted a lavender-furred cat about to leave in a snazzy single-seat convertible, and it was a moment before he noticed the dull-eyed salamander girl sitting in a dingy, military-style jeep, listlessly munching through a sandwich only partially unwrapped from its clingfilm. And of course, one couldn’t miss the huge robot taking up a bevy of parking spaces.

More than the others though, a newly-arrived, brick-red motorcycle caught Nero’s eye, not just for its remarkable size and unique design, but also for the even more interesting pair currently disembarking. The man, so broad-shouldered and built that he might as well be the picture for ‘macho’ in the dictionary, sported a red jacket and headband in croppy dark brown hair, as well as a chiseled face permanently solidified into a stonelike state of unamusement. In sharp contrast, the woman who cheerily leaped from the cycle’s sidecar seemed full of energy, with long rose-red hair and a white jumpsuit sort of thing that couldn’t hug her figure more if it was glued on. They made for an odd but fascinating couple.

Pit jumped up, a couple flaps of his wings bringing him just high enough to get a decent overhead view of the lot and it's occupants. A lot of colorful people for sure, and some that looked vaguely familiar. Actually some looked more than just 'vaguely' familiar, he thought, although his gaze was drawn from the garish pink machine to a much larger one.

"I think I know that guy," Pit said as he landed, gesturing generally toward one area of the parking lot. He turned to Yuri with a bright smile, ahead of a suggestion for heading in the opposite direction. "But first why don't we check out that giant robot?! I bet that thing has seen all kinds of stuff!"

Yuri stopped craning her neck to spot whoever the angel had and instead turned her attention to the lots biggests occupant. Her face fell as she stared at it in all it’s industrial menace. The world, it seemed, conspired to throw her into the deep end with every new challenge she faced today. Fine. After this one, everyone else would be a walk in the mountains. Nodding, she approved the robotic behemoth. They approached.

“Excuse me?” She shouted up to it, treating Pit to the rare spectacle of Yuri Kozukata raising her voice. It cracked halfway through the word “Excuse,” and Yuri coughed a couple of times to clear the frog from her throat before continuing. “We’re members of an organization trying to map this world and reconnect people with their loved ones. Would you mind answering some questions?” She held up her little notebook slightly as though it were a shield, but the robot gave no response. “It would only take a moment of your time.” She implored again, but the robot didn't even seem to know she was there.

She stood there in hopeful silence for a short time, then turned back to her companion. “Pit? Do you think maybe this is a…” She faltered, cheeks reddening in embarrassment. “...a car?”

Her companion blinked at her, surprised she would even suggest that. There was no way it could be true, right? It had a torso. And sure, the Cherubot had arms and was just a... car, more or less, but this car in front of them had a head, so surely it wasn't just a car.

"Maybe it's just shy," he reasoned. Pit moved to the front of the tank-with-a-torso, waving his arms over his head. "Excuse me! Hey! It's okay, we're friendly!"

It didn't acknowledge the odd duo at all. "Hello!?" Pit all but shouted, but still it didn't move.

Pit huffed out a breath, his brows furrowed and his brain very unwilling to accept that this robot was just someone else's vehicle. After a moment he brought a fist down into the palm of his hand. Having apparently realized something, he turned to share his thoughts with Yuri.

"Oh, maybe it's shut down, or in rest mode! So it can't hear us. We'll just have to catch it when it wakes up later!"

“Uh, yes. Of course. It must be.” Yuri replied, looking back at the behemoth machine one last time. Giant robots were, after all, a boy's romance. Who was she to despoil such dreams? Besides, they might get to meet the pilot if they came back later.

Well interviewee one was a bust, so time to move on to the next one. Since the robot probably wouldn't mind Pit and Yuri continuing to chat in front of it, the angel shifted topic. "I'm pretty sure I saw one of the Assist fighters here," he told her, "We should go make sure it's him and tell him about Smash City, right? Maybe you met him too, before everything was Galeemified. His name was..." Pit trailed off, trying to recall how Captain Falcon had introduced the man. This was kind of embarrassing, it'd been three tournaments they'd been in together, but in his defense these get-togethers were brief and there was always a lot on his mind - just like there was now. So the only part that stuck out to him now was what had stuck out to him then. "Samurai!"

“Samurai?” Yuri considered. She hadn’t exactly been a social butterfly even in the fairly nice waiting area assistants used during a match, but she had spotted one beautiful young man that was the spitting image of the classic samurai warrior. “I think I know who you’re talking about.” She remembered especially because he had been accosted by some way too rambunctious middle aged man, who had whipped out a sword and challenged him to a duel right there in the waiting area before being unexpectedly whisked away to assist. “Yes, we should definitely send him to Smash City. Lead the way.”

After a quick glance around to make sure they were headed in the right direction, the two of them regretfully left the robot behind. They moved through the parking lot, weaving through the various impractical vehicles. The cars alone told quite the story, but most of their drivers were absent. As Pit led Yuri through the eclectic collection of cars they had the good fortune to pass someone who had apparently dipped out of the arena for a quick bite to eat in her car. Apparently human, if you discounted the long amphibian tail draped across the passenger seat. “Ah!” Yuri made a short sound as they walked past to get Pits attention before indicating back at the lizard girl. “Did the assistant look like they were about to leave?” She asked. “Because this one is right here, we may as well.”

"Not really?" the angel answered, though it had only been a glimpse. He followed Yuri's gaze to the woman and nodded. "The more people the better! Let's go."

They quickly backtracked until they were standing before the stranger. She was radiating an unfriendly energy, not that that would deter the angel. "Hello!" He started with a wave of his hand and then mimicked Yuri's earlier introduction, punctuating dynamically. "We are part of an amazing organization that's mapping the world and bringing people together! So we've got some questions for you!"

Asbestos narrowed her eyes and muttered "give me a break," under her breath as Pit gestured to Yuri for her cue.

Yuri stepped forward, already kind of regretting this just from the vibe the girl was giving off. Still, she couldn't falter after an introduction like that. “If you wouldn't mind. My name is Yuri, this is Pit.” She pointed to the angel with her notebook before opening it up and preparing to write. “Do you remember where you were when you first awoke in this world?”

“Tsk.” In no hurry at all, Asbestos finished chewing her mouthful of sandwich. It took her a few moments to work through it and swallow, after which she took a deep breath in while opening her mouth to respond. Then she just took another bite, leaving her guests hanging in awkward silence. As Yuri and Pit looked on she held up a finger as if to ask them to wait another few seconds, but when she finished she simply popped the last morsel of her meal in and polished it off, too.

Then she passed her hand through her bangs, and as it crossed her face it left behind a startlingly surly scowl. The adjustment revealed a vivid fuschia left eye with black sclera alongside her lime green right, detectable even beneath Galeem’s sunset-red haze. Both were fixed in a ferocious squint, and her mouth full Asbestos declared, “What a pain in the ass.” Her husky, churlish voice sent crumbs flying as she spoke, a few of which landed on Yuri’s notebook. Yuri made a disgusted little noise as she wiped the notebook on the leg of her shorts. “Whadda I look like, a toah guide? A walkin’ encyclopedia? Beat it, kids. I’m busy as hell, an’ I sure don’t have time fah any dumbass questions.”

That said, rather than brush the two off and turn away, she crossed her arms and leaned back, using her salamander tail as a neck pillow as her bangs fell back across her evil eye. “What’s some prissy schoolgahl doin’ ‘round heah anyhow? Some kinda reseahch papah? Or maybe they jus’ ran outta shoaht shoahts where yah from, huhuh. Well, fuggedaboudit. Drawin’ maps and blazin’ trails ain’t my style. I just run around the woahld chasin’ thrills. That’s about all theah is to know about me.” Her admiring gaze landed on the megalithic skull that hung above the Rocket League Arena.

Yuri had been about to excuse them and walk away after the girl refused, but after she asked a question of her own Yuri felt like they might still be able to get something out of her, even if the question was sarcastic. Kazooie might have been rude, but this girl was downright abusive. Seriously, schoolgirl? Did she still come off as that young? Besides that, Yuri was nothing if not persistent. This had been her idea, after all. You couldn't quit just because a few poison words were thrown your way.

“Like Pit said, we’re just trying to learn more about the world. Help reunite people. Find things that have been lost. That’s why I’m out here, I’m good at finding things. That’s all.” She brought up the notebook again, read her list of questions, then abandoned it for a while. “Have you managed to find many thrills yet, or is this the only one?”

“Huh!?” With her eyes wide and her mouth open enough to see her sharp teeth, Asbestos looked genuinely surprised. “You been livin’ undah a rock or somethin’? This whole damn country’s been one big conga line a’ advenchahs, one aftah anothah!” The salamander girl sat forward, suddenly fired up by the greatest hits of her past experiences. “Nothin’ but new, new, new no mattah wheah I go! Ancient ruins, giant monstahs, goahgeous scenery. Stuff ya wouldn’t believe, like those hoahn-shaped mountains with watahfalls. Then theah was a city wheah everyone’s crazy about fightin’, one with whole ‘nudda level on stilts like giant pizza pie, and one fulla nothin’ but rotten zombies! And the people, jeez. I nevah seen so many different soahts a’ people! Always gotta make my life hahd, too. Whetha it’s punchin’ ‘em out oah doin’ theah damn choahs. Some real close calls, too! Heheh, I betcha I could tell ya a couple stories that’d have ya pissin’ yer pannies, kid.” Calming down, Asbestos cleared her throat with a cough, then gave a dismissive shrug as she reached down to grab her paper bag for something else to eat. The marker on the crumpled front of the bag read ‘Mel’ and had a heart drawn on it. “I mean, if I wasn’t so busy, a’ course.” As she rummaged her narrowed slit eyes glanced at Yuri and Pit again, wondering what they were still doing there.

“Of course.” Yuri replied, finishing up her notes. It had been hard picking through the girl’s accent once she started talking with such energy. She jotted down what she heard about the horn shaped mountain, the city with the pizza upper level, and the one where everyone liked fighting. “The zombies are all gone now.” She said, looking up. “The city up the road from The Hammerhead Garage, right? We just came from there.” She shook her head. “Don’t travel back that way. It’s nothing but a crater now, full of disembodied spirits and rain that will kill you.”

She could tell that the girl's patience for them was coming to an end, so she decided to wrap things up now rather than risk losing. “If you wouldn't mind one last thing, I was wondering if I could get your name and photograph you? We’re near a pretty well trafficked location, so if someone who knows you comes through and sees it we can point them in your direction. Or…” Her eyes fell on the bag, and the man’s name circled upon it. “...Or if you have anyone you would like to find, you tell us and we’ll keep an eye out for them as we travel.”

Despite Yuri’s best intentions, her warning had the opposite effect. At the mention of what became of the Dead Zone, Asbestos more or less repeated her response from before: surprise, followed by excitement. “You kiddin’? That sounds awesome! I’m dyin’ anyway, so might as well go out aftah seein’ some kickass ghosts.” She pulled a film-wrapped cookie from the bag, barely even looked at it, then chomped it in half, plastic and all. “Blech!” she coughed, reaching up with her other hand to pull the plastic wrap out, and giving her interviewers a good look at her vivid blue tongue in the process. She tossed it on the ground and kept on munching as if nothing had happened. By that time, Yuri had posed a few follow-up questions. “Like hell I’m posin’ for a photo,” the operator smirked. “I ain’t got a good side. Might as well say my name’s Asbestos though, ‘cause if anyone recognizes it, they’ll know to steah cleah.” She sighed coarsely, scratching at a few oddly-covered scabs on her neck. “Knowin’ that bastahd, he’d probably come aftah me, anyway.”

“I’m so sorry.” Yuri said after a short intake of breath after she heard Asbetos’s prognosis. Was she sick? What with? You couldn't tell from the outside. Was the tongue a symptom? Was the tail? Those scabs? Everyone looked so distinct that she couldn't call any of that unusual. “Have you seen a Doctor since you got here?”

Asbestos’ brow furrowed. “Sorry? For what? Don't need any a' your pity, Shortie,” she told Yuri, shielded from the realization that the spirit photographer had seven centimeters on her by the height of the jeep she sat in. “And no, I ain’t seen ‘em. Been enjoyin’ my time oaff just fine. With all the shit they put me through, I figyahed I’d make the most of it. Sure as hell beats sittin’ around in sick bay stuffed fulla tubes and needles.” She glowered as she trailed off, though not at Yuri. Evidently the idea of being vulnerable bothered her almost as much as the idea of needing help. After a moment, however, Asbestos regained her composure. ”So yeah, I’m just fine. Who assed you anyhow?”

“I understand. I’m not fond of hospitals either.” Yuri said emphatically, finally finding some common ground with the lizard girl. It might not have been being poked and prodded, but she would be a happy woman if she was never trapped between those clean, sterile walls for the rest of her life.

“Hey!” Before Yuri could ask anything else, there came a shout from Yuri and Pit’s right. They turned to see an ordinary-looking family headed their way, a mother, father, and young son, all blondes. The man, who held his boy against his body with one, looked kind of familiar, but right now he mostly looked upset. “The heck are you doing in my car!?”

The salamander girl’s surprise quickly turned into a toothy grin. “Time’s up.”

She launched herself from the jeep, and after landing nimbly behind it, took a moment to retrieve something she left propped against the side. With a grunt she hoisted a massive tower shield, or maybe some kind of metal door, despite it being bigger and heavier than herself by a long shot. Asbestos paused only a moment to look up in bewilderment at Yuri, who she did not by any means expect to be taller than herself, then took off running as fast as her giant shield would allow. “Piss off, banana hair! Hahahahahaha!”

As she hustled off with her tail waving behind her, Ken walked up at a controlled pace, determined not to disturb his son’s rest. He treated the back of the fleeing Asbestos to a scornful stare before turning his attention to Yuri and Pit. “What was that about? Friend of yours?” An inkling of recognition filtered through his features as he fought to remember where he saw these two before.

Yuri looked between the blond man and the rapidly disappearing Asbestos looking absolutely gobsmacked, mind processing what was going on. “Wha…I…they’re…,” she stumbled over her words.

---

“‘Scuse me.”

Both strangers turned in unison at Nero’s hail, and the devil hunter got his first good look at them. First and foremost, the swivel of the floating glyph around the woman confirmed that it was no mere gaudy accessory affixed to her back; it was an honest-to-goodness halo that gently bobbed behind her, silhouetting a head of long red hair that seemed to be white in the inside. When she glanced his way, her expression was one of such geniality, curiosity, and wide-eyed innocence that he couldn’t help but wonder if he stood before a genuine angel. Although typically not one for idle speculation, Nero had at some point or another mused whether or not the existence of demons in his world implied the existence of angels as well. If he did ever meet one, he certainly wouldn’t have expected one to be wearing a skintight bellbottom suit, gloves with metal fingernails, or a hobble shaped like an iron pumpkin.

He did not, however, examine her appearance too closely, because the guy she was with looked pissed. Maybe his face was just built like that, its resting position an imposing glower, or maybe he just vehemently objected to anyone disturbing his date. As far as Nero could tell, though, his sense of style seemed even more out-there than his girlfriend’s. Belts covered his outfit, buckled with gold, halves of a pair of handcuffs, and -where a belt should be- a plate inscribed with the word ‘Free’ that also featured what Nero first thought was a loincloth. A headband lurked underneath his wild, spiky brown hair, adding further weight to his brow. Most impressive of all, of course, was his physique. A relatively small waist compared to his broad shoulders and giant chest made him look remarkably top-heavy, and those arms looked like they could punch through a brick wall or two. Nero did not relish the thought of being on his bad side.

Sol looked between the odd combination of bear, bird, and devil hunter. “You talkin’ to us?” he asked, his voice as gravelly as one might expect.

Nero nodded stiffly. “Yeah, uh. Just wanted to ask you two something, if you got a moment.”

“We sure as hell don’t,” the man practically growled. “Whatever happened to respectin’ a man’s privacy?”

“Got somewhere to be, Buckles?” Kazooie half spat, though with honest curiosity to her inquiry, should it happen that anything might require their attention.

“Kazooie…” came a starting reminder of manners from Banjo to reel Kazooie in early before her mouth could get them into trouble, to which she tacitly complied, her apology (to Banjo) implied through body language. Thankfully, both duos had their own handlers, it seemed…

Before anyone could turn tail, however, the woman gave a bright, cheerful laugh. “Aw, someone’s a little grumpy-wumpy from the drive over,” she teased, her voice youthful and expressive. She jumped up behind her partner and threw herself over his back, her arms wrapped around his neck, after which she proceeded to rub her face against the side of his head. “C’mon, we can lend ‘em a hand, can’t we? One good turn deserves another!”

He groaned, averting his eyes, which seemed to be good enough for her. “Heehee!” She slid to the ground and stepped in front of him, waving hello with both hands. “Trick or treat! I’m Jack-o, and this lovable hunk is Sol. What can we do ya for?”

“Erm, Trick or Treat, Mrs. Jack-O!” Banjo returned casually with a small wave, assuming it may have just been a flavorful form of greeting for her. Though, he still couldn’t help wondering in whisper, “_{Is it really Halloween?} Anyway, we just wanted to… erm…” He held a long, thoughtful pause before admitting, “Actually, I forget. What are we here for again?” He looked expectantly to Nero for an answer.

The devil hunter put a hand to his face, mortified and baffled as to how he’d gotten himself into this situation in the first place. “We’re just hoping to get the lay of the land,” he supplied. “Anything you’d care to share about cities, towns, or even landmarks would be a big help.”

“Lay of the land, huh? Hmm~” Jack-O crossed her arms, her brows scrunched together as she got the gears turning. “‘Fraid we’re not the best people to ask. We mostly keep to ourselves out in the country, just goin’ into town for groceries and stuff. When we’re out bounty hunting though, we ride all over! The forest, the mega-huge forest, the mountains. And everywhere you go, there’s something fun to find!”

“If by ‘fun’ you mean a new pain in the ass, then sure,” Sol groused.

“Hahah, yeah!” Jack-O smiled. “I guess if you’re out explorin’, don’t go too far north on either side of the big hole. On the right there’s a city totally overrun by monsters, at least until it all blew up last night. That was bananas! We were just cruisin’ along like normal, then BA-BOOM, the whole place goes up in smoke! The light was so bright I was seein’ stars for hours!” Energetic gesticulation helped to express just how remarkable the experience had been for her, even if Nero already knew all about it.

“You should see it now,” Kazooie suggested in a cheeky, offhand manner…

She kept on talking. “Oh, and if you go too far up ‘round the other way, there’s just a flat-out war goin’ on. I’m talkin’ GIGANTIC armies, with dragons and tanks and flyin’ machines. Trust me, you do NOT wanna get too close to that whole mess.”

“Hm, that doesn’t sound good,” Of course, Banjo couldn’t pretend to be surprised at this point that every subsequent region of the World of Light to be explored would, by assumed design, contain some great absurdly inflated and possibly thematically accurate challenge for them to pass through. “We’ve been through a great deal already, but I’m not so sure we’re prepared to go to war.” What he seemed to forget in his expressed doubts was that, like it or not, they [The Seekers of Light] were already at war–with the entire World, no less. That contingently included just about anyone and everyone they talked to just as they were doing now, not excluding present company.

“You two seem to have made it out okay,” the question of ‘how’ being implied though emphasis.

Jack-O nodded, grinning, and put her hands on her hips in a determined, heroic pose. “Uh-huh! Sol here’s, like, the toughest guy around, and I’m no slouch myself!”

“Tell the whole world, why don’t ya,” Sol grumbled. With no other option, he stepped up to try and disarm the situation personally. “Look, I ain’t some big shot or anything. Just a guy hopin’ to live a quiet life. Don’t want any trouble.”

Even as he said it, though, the gears in Nero’s mind were turning. Maybe this guy didn’t go looking for trouble, but it sure looked and sounded like he could deal with it once it arose. People who lived quiet lives didn’t go around with giant greatsword slung across his back, after all. The earlier detail about hunting bounties for a living didn’t escape the devil hunter, either. It wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility that they could help out Alcamoth. Something about this guy worried him, though…would Smash City’s ‘welcoming committee’ be enough to onboard him? Of course, to even get to that point he’d need to choose his words carefully.

“No sweat.” Nero held up a placating hand. “I just thought that you two looked, you know, capable, maybe even strong enough to take on a job or two for Alcamoth. That’s who we’re working for right now, as mercenaries. Funded by the princess of the, ahem…” He cleared his throat to bide for time until he remembered the name. “Uh, Mushroom Kingdom. So, I’m just saying, if you need work, maybe you two oughta stop by.”

The prospect seemed to interest Jack-O. “Hey, that sounds fun!”

“Sounds like pain, you mean,” Sol just about spat. “We don’t need to get ourselves involved in any kingdoms or politics. Goin’ it alone suits us just fine.”

“But you’re… not alone...” Banjo observed aloud, curiously, and rather unhelpfully, that the two traveled as a pair, which he perfectly understood.

“Wait, aren’t you always sayin’ its a huge hassle runnin’ all over lookin’ for jobs?”

Sol grimaced. “Agh, Jack-O…”

“That’s me!” the woman innocently beamed.

“Well… now you know where you can find some, and I’m sure they’ll be happy to have your help.”

“Now just tell us which way YOU came from, and we’ll go there instead… in different directions... away from each other.” In her indirect inquiry regarding the bounty hunters’ previous whereabouts, Kazooie made an unironic, if needlessly overt appeal to the man’s professed asocial sensibilities, and provided him a possible easy ‘out’ from the discussion as an unintended byproduct.

The Breegull’s choice of words, not to mention their tone, seemed to rub Sol the wrong way. “You’re sendin’ some real mixed messages, Tweety,” he just about growled. “If you don’t want us, we’ve sure as hell got better things to do.” He abruptly turned and walked off, headed in the direction of the Rocket Arena.

“Ooh, really stepped in it there, didn’tcha?” Jack-O laughed. “Oh well! I’m sure we’ll check it out some time. Toodles!” After giving the Mercenaries a little wave she bounced off after her boyfriend, leaving Banjo, Kazooie, and Nero to themselves.

Shockingly, Kazooie’s smart-ass, roundabout method of persuasion didn’t win them a great deal of favor or produce gratifying results. It wasn’t without opportunity, however, to perhaps see what they were capable of, depending on their unspecified business at the arena. Sparing the thought, the arena itself was its own marker of interest, doubtlessly replete with potential, and they had yet to enter to see for themselves.

“Hmm…” Banjo began, cupping his chin and tapping his foot as he watched the couple trail off into the colosseum. “Anyone else wondering what they’re here for?” Given their spoken profession, if they weren’t competing or participating in whatever was taking place inside, then it was likely some other trouble might go down. A trip inside, he thought, for whatever reason, might educate them one way or the other.

“I’m curious about what’s happening in there…” Kazooie agreed, but voicing her curiosity in a broader sense.

“Maybe they’re here to watch…whatever those cars are doing.” A chorus of cheers brought Nero’s attention to the Rocket League Arena, where he and his associates could see a giant soccer ball soaring through the sky with full-sized cars flying around it in desperate attempts to hit it in one direction or another. He shook his head and, hearing some noise over in the direction of Yuri and Pit, went to investigate.

---

Luckily, Yuri only had to flounder and falter in the face of suspicion for a few moments before a certain gallant devil hunter came to her rescue. While she and Pit attempted their own interviews, Nero and Banjo/Kazooie (but mostly Nero) had acquainted themselves with the stylish couple who’d just arrived themselves. Their efforts yielded mixed results, since while the big dude rebuffed his with grumbles about privacy and minding his own business, his shockingly cheerful girlfriend roped him along for a quick chat. That went on a little while before its abrupt end, after which Nero appeared just in time to catch a glimpse of Asbestos on her way out. Wearing his best no-nonsense face, the devil hunter looked between Yuri and Ken, then came to a stop with crossed arms. “Something the matter?” he asked.

“I sure thought so for a minute there.” The martial artist gave an exasperated shrug. “My family and I were just about to head home, only to find some hoodlum sittin’ in my car like she owned it. And then the other two…” He noticed that a few moments had passed without a reply of any kind from Nero; in fact, the devil hunter looked quite taken aback, staring at Ken with something akin to bewilderment. “Uh, you all right, buddy? Something on my face?”

Nero’s brows scrunched together, and in a momentarily tentative voice ventured, “...Dante?”

Now it was Ken’s turn to be confused. “Who?”

“Uh. Sorry,” Nero coughed. “For a second I thought…well, it’s just, you sound just like someone I know. I mean, exactly like him. My bad.”

Confused initially by Nero’s tangent, his given explanation for it clarified for the bear and bird the metafictional nature of the conundrum of familiarity, of which only they were likely aware. This led to the two exchanging hushed comments about how “there are only some many voices,” presumptions of the voice acting industry’s need for “fresh talent”, the realization that the law of averages dictated more than one instance of this in the World of Light, and an admitted gratitude for never having the same problem themselves, having foregone proper acting in their own games well before it hit a proverbial stride.

If he thought his gaffe might exacerbate the situation, however, Nero was happily mistaken. The stranger gave a good natured laugh instead. “No worries, I get that sometimes. Name’s Ken Masters, nice to meet you. This is my wife Eliza, and my son Mel.” He adjusted the arm supporting his kid as he laid a hand on his wife’s shoulder.

Even though it was just to be polite, Eliza’s smile was dazzling. “How do you do?”

“Eh, can’t complain.” Never one much for pleasantries, Nero cast a glance in the direction Asbestos went. “Yuri and Pit are with me, I’m sure they weren’t up to anything. As for that other girl, she’s no friend of ours. Think I oughta chase her down, bring her back?”

“I dunno…” Ken rubbed his chin. His cursory examination of the car turned up no damage or irregularities beyond a couple ransacked picnic lunches. “Whoever she was, she didn’t take anything from the glove compartment. Just food.” He shrugged, still wearing that smile. “If she’s that hungry, she’s probably got enough problems as is.”

“Poor dear,” Eliza mused. “Probably a lost soldier, judging by all that gear she had on her.”

“She told me she was dying.” Yuri relayed, more to herself than anything.

"Wait - wait, wait, wait!"

Pit had initially been extremely confused at the appearance of this family. He didn't put two and two together that Asbestos was just sitting in someone else's car, what she planned to do with or in it unknown. But the man that joined them looked incredibly familiar, but the hairstyle and the outfit were throwing him off. Not to mention the wife and child he'd never met. But then he'd introduced himself, and it all made sense. He thought he knew those eyebrows!

He looked between Ken, Yuri, and Nero with big wide eyes. "Didn't you hear what he said? It's Ken! Ken, like - wham, wham, pow!" Pit did some mock punches as he made the sound effects, bouncing on his feet in his best impression of the street fighter. He blinked up at Ken, smiling.

"You remember me, right? It's Pit! We were in those tournaments together! And then we were all on that cliff, and then Galeem..." Oh, right, Galeem. The blue of Ken's eyes were shrouded over in red, just like everyone else that had yet to be freed. Pit's wings and shoulders drooped. Almost the entire world was Gleaming, but seeing someone you knew, even if not that closely, really drove that fact home.

"He's part of the whole Smash Brothers thing," Pit supplied to Nero, sure that Yuri and the dynamic duo already knew.

"The what now?" Though still maintaining a friendly demeanor, the information barrage was starting to get to Ken. "Sorry guys, I think you might've lost me." He scratched his head as he took a second look at Pit. "Now that you mention it, you do look familiar, though. If you say we've met before. I believe you."

"It's a start!"

“That’s right. You were one of the tournament’s real participants.” Yuri said, realization dawning in her eyes. “You wore red.” She hadn’t been able to recognize him without that distinctive red gi of his, having never been that close to the action when summoned.

As the conversation went on, Mel began to fidget. "Dad, I'm hungry," he complained.

"Whoops, sorry, sport. Here, it looks like my lunch is still intact. You can have it." He hefted his son over, put him into the jeep, and passed him the last film-wrapped sandwich, which Mel got busy extracting.

With the excitement of meeting Ken again, Pit had pushed the person that had coincidentally facilitated their meeting from his mind. Now though he was reminded of not only what the Masters family assumed about Asbestos, but what the lizard girl herself had so casually divulged. She might have been a petty thief but if she needed some kind of help, it was only right to offer it to her.

"I guess someone should go check on that Asbestos girl. I can probably find her, but..." The angel trailed off, thinking. He didn't want to lose Ken after randomly finding him. The man was strong, determined. And he'd probably want to know if he was being mind scrambled by some kind of cosmic entity. But Pit also wasn't about to throw down with the street fighter right in the middle of the parking lot in front of his family to get a friend heart into him. Assuming Pit would win anyway, he'd been on the receiving end of that Hurricane Kick before it packed a punch. Packed a kick?

"Oh! We're looking for information so maybe you could answer Yuri's questions, it might help you remember?" Pit sounded hopeful as he voiced the suggestion. The others could occupy Ken, and then he'd just go check up on Asbestos and come right back. Maybe even weasel an apology out of the girl if nothing else.

"I'll be back soon. Don't worry Ken, we'll fix your brain!" Pit said, hopping onto the top of the jeep and then off in the direction he'd seen Asbestos run. Before he got very far he twisted back, waving at Mrs. Masters and her son. "And nice meeting you both!"

“Somebody should fix his brain,” Kazooie remarked snidely, unprompted, in the wake of the angel’s sudden leave.

“Pit, wai-” Yuri started, but the angel was already running off. She worried that Asbestos girl might get the wrong idea if she saw Pit running after her. Maybe that wasn’t an entirely bad thing though. “Banjo” She said, turning to the bear that had more experience at this than either of them. “That girl seems incredibly well traveled. She only talked vaughly about what she had seen, but she could be more amenable to sharing details if you cured whatever was killing her with a friend heart.”

Shaking his head, Banjo politely replied, “Afraid I can’t, ma’am. I don’t think it works like that, and I’m not a doctor.” Mostly clueless to the reptile girl’s condition–be it medical, magical, or metaphysical–the point stood that neither him nor anyone he knew was particularly qualified to treat the sick or terminally ill. It was worth considering, however, that there may be one among their plentiful number back at home base who was. “Buuut, I’m sure Kazooie and I could still ‘help’ her, see where it goes from there…” he suggested with an expectant glance over his shoulder at his partner, awaiting her to inevitably endorse the idea.

“I’ve had worse excuses,” she replied with casual enthusiasm before lifting Banjo onto her back and setting off after Pit and the diseased reptilian girl in question, without waiting for any word or sign from him to go, for none were needed between them.

“Thank you.” Yuri said as the duo set off before turning her attention back to the Masters family and giving an apologetic bow. “I’m sorry. I never considered that this wasn’t her car. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Masters. Mel.” She stood up again. “Like Pit said, we’re here trying to gather information in the hopes of better understanding this world and helping people find their friends and loved ones. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you mind answering a few questions?”

“Eh, I don’t know how much I’d be able to tell ya, really.” Ken ran a hand through his hair. “I also don’t want to keep my family waiting forever, but I guess I can answer a couple questions, best I can.”

“Thank you. I promise this won’t take long.” Yuri replied, pulling out her notebook and a small pen. “When you first woke up in this world do you happen to remember where you were? Or, what you were doing right before that?”

The martial artist crossed his arms, a perturbed look on his face, as if something about the girl’s terminology struck him as bizarre. “You mean where we’ve been living? Well, we moved to Esaka a while back…don’t remember why, but since then, I’ve been squaring off against other fighters from across the world almost every day. Might sound strange, but fighting is pretty much the lifeblood of that place. I like testing out my skills as much as the next guy, but there’s some real tough customers, and after a real close shave I figured my family and I could use a little road trip.”

”I see. It sounds like an interesting place to live” Yuri said, slightly disturbed by her first real brush with the effects of Galeem’s domination. So it seemed that asking about their awakening was a non-starter. She could only assume that this ‘Esaka’ was where Ken and his family had been placed when they were engulfed by the light. Wasn’t that odd, though? As far as she knew Ken had gone to face the Master Hand army with everyone else, and she had never seen the woman or the boy he was with in the arena. Had Galeem intentionally placed him with his wife and child? She couldn't help the pang of jealousy that welled up in her. What was the difference between the people who were scattered and people like Ken?

“We’ll be heading for Esaka eventually.” She said, pushing her feelings down. “On your road trip, did you happen to see anything noteworthy between there and here? Other settlements, dangers, curiosities?”

The martial artist nodded. “Sure, a whole bunch, even if it’s been a little dicey at times. The countryside around Esaka is full of awesome Japanese and Chinese flavor. Palaces, pagodas, shrines, fortresses, you name it. There were festivals and haunted mountains, and just a crazy variety of yokai. Great places for fighting, let alone sightseeing. We stopped by a whole bunch on the way out, but we’re traveling to get something different, you know?” He cleared his throat as he continued, recalling the events of the past few weeks. “So we kept on goin’ southeastish, through the land of reeds..Spent a night in a hotel on top of a giant tree. Eventually we hit this huge valley filled with the ruins of some old city, sprawling out for miles and miles, totally overgrown. And sittin’ on the plateau above it all, Midgar. We heard about it and wanted to visit, but the ruins were full of weird creatures, and after a couple fights we high-tailed it outta there.”

Ken paused for a moment to catch his breath, then worked through the final stretch of his journey. “South of that, we hit this giant ravine, so deep you can’t see the bottom. Built right across it was the biggest circus I’ve ever seen in my life, roller coasters and all. Mel wanted to go, and for a bit we did, but something wasn’t quite right. It was…I dunno, just sort of creepy. If you head that way, keep an eye out. Anyway, south of that was another city, but this one had nothin’ but zombies in it! We were just about ready to give up and head back, but in the end we decided to go around, and boy was that the right decision. Took this windin’ path through the mountains around the east, and little lady, you won’t believe how gorgeous it was. Green hills, crystal-clear lakes, trees with golden leaves, cheery little villages, campsites, all sorts of animals...made the whole trip worthwhile.” He shrugged. “So we kept on goin’, and ended up here. Probably turnin’ back before long.”

“It’s good to know there’s a safe way around the dead city.” Yuri replied, again noting the description and directions Ken had given them. “Especially since it’s gotten worse. The city was reduced to a crater, and the rain there ages whatever it touches now.”
She tapped her pen on her notebook, before taking a shot. “If I could make a suggestion, if you plan to go a little farther, our group came from a similarly lovely place called The Land of Adventure. A village called Lumbridge. It’s just down the road that way, past the Hammerhead garage.” She gestured out to the road, giving the man the route they had taken to reach the arena from the town where they had started. “If you want to take in the sights or just restock for the journey home I can’t think of a better place. You might even find someone you know with all the travelers that come through it.”

Ken seemed to brighten up at the suggestion. "Hey, sounds pretty good to me. I'll see how Eliza and Mel feel." He gave Yuri a cheerful thumbs-up. "Thanks a bunch, li'l lady!" With that, he returned to his jeep, leaving the girl to await the return of her fellows.

---

Pit sprinted off down the lane of parked cars and open spaces, headed for the mundane white-and-brown camper van he’d been fortunate enough to spot the salamander girl disappear behind as she fled the scene of the crime. He rounded the back of the vehicle expecting no more than a shot at seeing where his quarry ran off to next, if anything at all, but instead stumbled upon the object of his search right there in front of him. Scarcely had Asbestos managed to break line of sight with the innocent bystanders she’d been bother than she collapsed to her knees, clinging to her tower shield as the last line of defense between her and the pavement as she hyperventilated. Her ragged gasps suggested some kind of respiratory issue, no doubt related to the terminal disease she hinted at so offhandedly. The operator’s back faced the new arrival, but even if she heard his sandal-clad footsteps as he slid to a stop, she couldn’t do much about it other than fight to regain her composure. Even compared to her previous scene, this was not a flattering display.

The scene surprised Pit, who hadn't expected to run into her so quickly but definitely hadn't expected to find her in such a sorry state. He flitted around her tower shield to peek at her face, worry for the stranger beginning to grow. He held his hands out to brace her.

"Are you okay?!"

When Asbestos met his gaze, her scowl only deepened. “Ugh! What’re you…? Nevermind! I’m…fine, okay? Just catching…my breath!” Gritting her teeth, she ignored his hands and tried to force herself to stand up. The cold sweat on her brow, however, made her struggle quite clear despite her best attempt to save face. Though the angel couldn’t know it just by looking at her, her untreated Oripathy had advanced to a point where even just a moderate burst of exertion left her in bad shape. It wouldn’t be long before the crystallization of her organs began. If Pit’s focus wasn’t on her, he might pick up on some motion and noise from inside the camper van she’d taken refuge behind - but as it was, his attention was devoted to the obviously not-fine woman in front of him. She was putting on a tough act, though it was not very convincing.

"You are not fine!" He said, still hovering around her. "You're sick, right? Let me help you, we can go find a doctor or a healer! Ken's not even mad at you for breaking into his car, it's okay."

“You deaf or somethin’?” the salamander girl snarled. She let go of her shield with one arm to shoo Pit away. “I said I’m-!” No sooner did Asbestos put her whole upper body’s weight on one arm than her hand slipped from its purchase. The next second she hit the pavement, hard enough to elicit a gasp of pain that carried a few shiny flecks of dark red fluid with it. Then, as if to add insult to injury, her door-sized shield tipped over in her direction, a split second away from falling down onto her back.

Pit swooped in, catching the hunk of metal before it could do her any damage, though it was a near thing. "I am trying to help you!" he said from behind the shield, maneuvering the heavy thing to the ground. He looked at Asbestos, clearly worried for her well being despite her protest. He offered his hand again, proving as stubborn as her. "So let me!"

If she could muster the strength to rebuff the angel’s plea Asbestos probably still would have, but as her continued humiliation proved, she had barely any pride left to salvage, let alone the wherewithal to salvage it. With a groan as much from despondency as from unwellness, she gave up her struggle at last, allowing her limbs to go limp. “Huhuh,” she laughed, bitterly. “Guess I ain’t foolin’ anyone.”

She breathed as deeply as she could, and let it out in a long sigh that ended in a couple coughs. “Ugh. I just thought…I had moah time.” Her dejected gaze fell on the pavement. “Oah maybe it was just wishful thinkin’. Now thatcha seen me like this, I guess…ya might as well.” Ruefully Asbestos glanced at Pit out of the corner of her eye. “‘Course, unless yah a real-ass miracle wahkah, theah ain’t much you can do foah me, angel boy.”

"I hope you're not giving up, I barely know you but that doesn't really seem like your style," he said, kneeling beside her. Now, miracle worker Pit may be, but it was not in the healing arts.

I wish Lady Palutena was here, she'd know exactly what to do. She could look into her lungs or heart or whatever is the problem... oh, heart...!? Pit arrived at the same thought that the group he'd left behind had come to. He had the same crash course about the process as everyone else at the Alcamoth, so he knew that low health + friend heart not only would break someone out of Galeem's influence, but also heal them completely. Surely that would be enough to fix whatever was ailing the salamander! Now if only he could actually do it.

"I've got an idea, but, um," he stopped, once again hovering around Asbestos and conflicted as to whether it would be safe to even try and move her. If she was in so much pain maybe carrying her would actually be worse. "I'm gonna have to leave you for a second and bring something back to you. So you're gonna stay put, right?"

Asbestos sighed, as if even rock-bottom expectations had been shattered. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m goin’ nowheah.”

Pit nodded, and then he was off once more. To his surprise though he didn't have to go very far.

The approaching chirps that accompanied every tallonfall faintly announced the bear and bird’s arrival on the scene, meeting Pit shortly into his backtrack for additional aid. “Oh…” Banjo started, seeing the floored sick patient-in-waiting in the distance over his shoulder and Kazooie’s back. “Done already?” he asked, assuming the possibility that the boy angel had quickly beaten her into submission, as if it would have been necessary.

"Huh?" Confused, Pit narrowed his eyes slightly. "No, she's still alive! But she could really use some help. I was coming back to get one of you for your heart!"

“OH… That serious, huh?”

“Sounds reeeal noble and all, but I think I need it more, thanks.”

The duo misinterpreted the boy angel’s request by his phrasing (or at least acted to), taking it to be more in line with a literal medical emergency, as opposed to what he was really asking for.

Unsurprisingly Pit didn't pick up on their joke, taking their puzzlement at face value. "Not that kind of heart!" he expressed, looking like he was seconds away from facepalming. "A friend heart!"

“Oh… right!” responded Banjo as if having a “Eureka” moment in light of the obvious. “That makes more sense.”

“I knew what he meant.” Whether she spoke true following jest, or saved face after joint confusion, only she really knew.

Banjo hopped down to dismount Kazooie, drawing herself back into his pack as they approached, calmly so as not to alarm the woman in need. He pulled a Friend Heart from his chest with one hand and held the other up in a placating gesture, emphasizing in his body language that they presented no threat, where keeping Pit company should ideally suffice for her. With her permission, he knelt down next to Asbestos and gently presented her the Heart…

“Here. It’s not much, but hopefully it helps.” With her medical condition, he could make no promises; just that he didn’t expect a cure-all. At the very least, she could be her own woman again.

While in no state to object, Asbestos kept a sharp eye on the bear as he approached, though her defensiveness turned to confusion when he popped a bright pink heart out of his hand to offer her. From the others’ descriptions Asbestos expected some sort of medical aid, maybe an injection, definitely not the sort of sprite one would expect to blossom in the eyes of a lovestruck cartoon character. Still, if it meant some kind of relief, the salamander girl accepted it nonetheless. Closing her eyes, she winced as Banjo drove the heart home.

There came the typical momentary, dazzling pop, and in a flash Asbestos was restored. She blinked, her eyes as comically wide as her mouth as she slowly picked herself up into a sitting position. After a moment’s utter bafflement she rolled her sleeve down to check her arm, then tugged at her collar to run a hand across her neck, shoulder, and chest, feeling for any irregularities. Her search turned up nothing other than a slight discoloration and scarring on her neck, which now wasn’t even visible above her turtleneck when in place. Try as she might, the operator could find no evidence against a single, overriding conclusion: that in a single flash, months’ worth of untreated affliction had been wiped away. Her Oripathy was back down to a wholly manageable level, and stable as the day she left her world behind.

“Well, I’ll be damned!” she exclaimed, filled with such relief and insuppressible glee that a sharp-toothed smile stretched ear to ear. “I’d just about fahgatten what feelin’ good’s like! Hoo…” Asbestos flopped backward against the side of the camper van, relaxed for the first time in ages. A sigh of long-awaited bliss escaped her as she allowed her head to fall back and her eyes to slide shut, not even minding the bonk of her head against the metal. A moment later, her green eye cracked open to glance at Banjo. “What the hell was that ya hit me with? Ya must be oaff ya rockah oah somethin’, wastin’ a miracle like that on the likes of me. No mattah how chummy ya ah, I’m not gonna retahn the favah.” With a grunt she got up to retrieve her shield, handling the massive, custom-built gadget like it was a kite. Avoiding the gaze of the others as she looked it over for damage, she muttered, “Still, yah alright, I guess.”

Delighted that the cure-all friend heart had worked, Pit split a vivid smile between Banjo and his newly healed patient.

"Aw, we're just happy to help!" He said. He nearly forgot the whole reason they'd run into Asbestos in the first place, and most likely would have if he Banjo and Kazooie weren't right there next to him. Instead of thanks (which would be going to Banjo anyway, realistically Pit was just the middle man), the angel would accept more information from the salamander girl, so eager not to let her go so quickly he spread his hands and started talking again.

"We don't need a favor, but we do want to know more about the places you've been!" he told her. "Didn't you have a bunch of stories that would— Um. Well, you know!"

Saying he didn’t want a favor and then asking for one took Asbestos by surprise, especially since she’d been hoping these do-gooders would graciously accept her implicit thanks and move on to the next sorry soul in need of salvation. “Well, uh…” The salamander girl took off her hat and ran a hand through her hair. As much as she wanted to blow the request off, it probably wasn’t an exaggeration to say she owed these people her life. Being her regular incorrigible self at that point would leave a bad taste in her mouth. She cleared her throat and gave the trio a nonchalant shrug. “...I guess. I mean, I ain’t really the story-tellin’ type, but I seen a couple sick-ass spots, suah. Like Esaka in the Fahbidden Kingdom, the place they cuall the Tieahed City.” A mischievous, sharp-toothed grin appeared on her face. “Tell ya what. Let’s grab some actual chow at the food couaht, and I’ll tell ya oall about it.”

“I could eat,” Banjo conceded with a casual shrug, having forgotten they had come from (a branch of) Grillby’s not long before, and extended a helping hand to Asbestos to lift her onto her feet (and support her further thereafter if she would take it).

“You’re buying,” came a terse insertion of condition from Kazooie in acceptance of the proposal.

"That works for me!" The angel said, glad for her agreement. "C'mon, let's go tell everyone the good news."

The four retraced their steps back to where they last saw Yuri and Ken, although Asbestos seemed understandably reluctant to show herself to the man whose young child she literally stole food from. They arrived just in time to see Ken pull away with his family and head off through the lot of parked car, which gave Yuri, Pit, Banjo, and Kazooie all the time in the world to decide what to do next, with or without their new hanger-on.

Prompted by her guesswork the aerial crew surged forwards and aimed to strike at the three great glowing runes half hidden by the titanic wyrm’s ridge-like scales. Sectonia struck first and fastest, driving her blades into a nearby rune, causing a spray of black blood and a great cry of pain from the titan.

”Knew it!” Midna cheered as she saw this happen, and then braced for whatever retaliation was going to come in response to that wound. That response turned out to be… a corkscrew of a turn. While it might have been quite the effective shake off strategy, tossing the queen bee aside and forcing everyone else to cling on for dear life, but that turned out to be about it.

”Where’s the fury and the fire? The, I dunno, swarms of kees or something? Anything? What is going on here?” the princess asked herself as she drew closer, confused by the lack of any offensive abilities on the great snake. She was getting a bad feeling about this, one that only grew as the second rune was attacked and eliciting only more shaking.

More writhing from the wounded beast.

Then the time for reflection was over for the moment as Midna’s vibrava assisted flight caught up with the titan, and she shot out a shadow hand to grab hold and pull herself aboard.

She immediately regretted it.

”Oh goddesses, I think I’m going to be sick” the princess groaned through a hand cupping her mouth and puffed up cheeks as the shaking disturbed her recently filled stomach. With dragon clawed toes, hand and shadow hand gripping tight she fought for control of her body and after a few moments shoved down the nausea through sheer force of will.

After that first trial, it certainly felt like more of a life or death struggle now that she was aboard and climbing threehandidly up along its fur, vibrava wings buzzing behind her to keep her pulled down (or sideways, or up) into the dragon’s body, but it still felt like a reasonable reaction form a wild beast being hunted than a battle with a captain of the enemy.

Her extra limb, her vibrava’s wings and the power of her levitation certainly made her climb easier than it was for some, even if her light little body meant that every buck was ever more treacherous, and so soon enough she’d gotten to the last fin.

”Almost over. Almost done.” she muttered, still a little queasy, as she grasped the fin with an oversized shadowhand, and then heaved with all her magical might. ”Come on come on just a little crack and- gotcha!” she shouted as her heave drew the fin up just enough to open a little gap between it and the fur. Seizing this bit of progress, the princess summoned her two sized up wolfos on either side of her via portal to aid her.

After scrambling to find purchase on its back for a moment, the wolfos and wolf-dran both managed to sip their lower jaws into the gap she’d created. Then both clamped their maw shut around the fin and together, along with the princess, wrenched it upwards, cracking it open to expose the Sigil beneath ”like shellfish, and there’s the meat inside”

The princess drew the longer of her knives from the twilight realm, almost lost it to the wind for a second, and then hefted it to strike what might well be the final blow… and hesitated as her doubts suddenly crystalized at the last second.

”Ah… goddesses damn it I am going to eat so much grief for this if i’m wrong” she cursed with a sigh, before pulling back and letting the fin snap shut in front of her.

”I’m calling a timeout! We aren’t in any actual danger, so lets hang back and think this through, because something is off here, and I really don't want to murder some giant defenseless animal without being sure we actually have too!” She shouted out to the others while clinging to the fur for dear life, slapping a shadow hand down over the fin to keep it sealed shut, at least for the moment.

She did not need anymore avoidable deaths on her conscience.

The dark wave that washed over the beach, the island, and the heroes themselves had to signal the true end of the battle. It was just like after the Enderdragon's defeat, especially so when after a few moments of tense patience, nothing else emerged from the surf to stand against the Seekers. There was only the spirit of the Orphan of Kos, presented to the group on a bed of golden-colored hands.

When all was quiet the Cadet began his transition out of battle-mode. With the alchemy barrel empty of contents, it easily shrunk down small enough to stow in the hunter's item pouch. He wasn't sure how the shades had procured it, but he was thankful that they did - and that it didn't disappear after the guardian's defeat. The device was sure to come in handy again. His armor had miraculously held up, though it was dented and had some small punctures in various places. Nothing a touch up couldn't fix. His weapons were safely sheathed, though the lance wasn't salvageable - pieces of it resurfaced on the beach, which the Cadet collected. Who knew, maybe they would be useful somehow. He had tried to take some of the crystalline hands that sprouted up from the sand, but the feeling he got from them was... awful, and dark. Just being around them was hard. They were better left there on the beach.

As the sun started to shine down on the island, the Seekers reconvened. Everyone was exhausted and then some, and there was a sobering feeling hanging in the air. It was dispersed by Nadia with some much needed levity. The Ace Cadet let out a loud snort in response to her pun. Following it was Geralt's rather anticlimatic fusion, which put the Cadet in a much lighter mood. He usually worried for the people fusing, but this was pretty much the best outcome they could have hoped for.

"That's really handy," he said in regards to the Witcher's explanation for the subdued changes. With the area's boss taken care of, the only thing left to do was go home he supposed. The manner in which they did that was in question though. The Atomos was one option, thought several counterpoints were brought up. "Don't think we could all fit in it anyway," the Cadet reminded them, as half of the crew had taken to traversing the sea by ship. Blazermate offered a teleporter, but the Koopa prince was quicker on the draw with his portal-creating art.

Not all of the Seekers were quite ready to leave yet, as it turned out. After Link retrieved the spirit of Delsin, he, Kamek, Sakura, and Rika decided to sweep the island again. Normally the Ace Cadet would join them, but... he was tired, so tired that he felt it in his bones. This whole adventure left him much more drained than he probably had ever felt in his life, between all of the close calls and the new feeling of revulsion he had to grapple with around magic after the Maw. With all the adrenaline fading from his system, he was definitely on team "get the hell out of here."

"I'll go with Junior," the Cadet told Kamek. "The palicoes are pros, but I wanted to check in on everyone they looked after anyway. Better make sure Shippy made it back in one piece too." He did feel some sense of responsibility towards those that the felynes carried away and he was worried about the living sea vessel, but saying it out loud just made his body feel heavier. He could use a good night's sleep and a meal or three. The hunter pinched the bridge of his nose to will away the sleepiness and the headache that was sure to come along with it. Once the painting portal was completed, he shuffled through it with the rest of those eager to leave the Carcass Isle behind.

The relief that seeing the Alcamoth brought washed away the last of the ill feelings brought by the stormy sea and it's beach. Although inviting, he trudged right through on to Limsa. Their path took them through familiar streets and market stalls closed up for the night, including where he and Junior had met those piglets. Nadia wasn't far behind them, heading in the same direction, but beyond some light and brief comments the small group was mostly quiet. The Cadet waved her off as she headed to a room for some well deserved rest. He intended to follow suit, as soon as father and son were reunited and he confirmed the good health of Mirage, Shippy, and her captain.

Sakura followed Rika, Kamek, Link, and Bella. The more she and the others committed to this little trip, the better she felt about it. People always said Sakura had a lot of energy. Besides, she thought, it might feel weird to just go straight home after fighting and killing a giant horrible monster. Maybe she needed time to wind down first! Mentally. Like an epilogue, almost.

“Man. Can’t believe all that really happened. That was so crazy.” Sakura said, brushing some of the leftover dust off her skirt. “It was really hard. And we lost people. But we did win. One step closer to stopping Galeem.” She managed. "We beat one boss in two days. Two are done already. At this rate, we’re only like, eighteen of adventuring away from winning? Or twenty, I guess, since we’ll have to destroy Galeem too and that’ll probably be a whole thing.”

“Who knows? Maybe everything will go back to normal once we beat Galeem.” She said as they walked back into the cave. “And the people that are gone will all… come back to life.” She scratched her head, wondering if she really believed that. But the thought of what would happen AFTER they beat Galeem hadn’t really occurred to her too much. All she knew was that the World of Light was the shiniest, biggest, and most beautiful hellish prison in the world. A place where she tried to kill someone as close to her as Ryu.

“I just hope all the other Abyssal Princesses can…get out of this.” From what she had seen, almost all of them were just people trapped inside bodies and mentalities they had no control over. Victims as much as anyone else.

“And don’t forget to check on New Southern.” Sakura said. She sighed, pondering the vastness of their situation. It wasn’t just vast, it was unbelievably compact. This whole world was squished together. Nothing had room to breathe. Even the long distance she had traveled, from one side of the World of Light to another, had only taken a couple months. That was nothing. It was all just…so much! Fortunately, Sakura was pretty good at handling heavy things.

Jesse watched Raz climb up on the statues. “Yeah. I think they’re holding up this big ringer. I’m not exactly sure how upside down bell physics work, but if these statues broke I bet they’d make a big noise. Maybe something magical would happen.” Jesse said with a shrug.

Raz voiced his doubts about killing the monster. “Honestly kid, all I know about that monster is that it matches the description.” The Director said. “We have to kill the champions. I don’t know how we tell what is or isn’t a guardian, or how we got the description in the first place or who knows what a guardian looks like.” She rolled her shoulder, a habit of hers.

“All I know is some secret organization made of enemies of Galeem are apparently backing us Seekers up. And apparently a lady told us what the Champion looks like.” Jesse said. “I just hope I backed the right horse. I’m kinda wingin’ it here. Not like that’s anything new for me or anyone else.”

Jesse squinted up at Phalanx, spotting the tiny dots of the Seekers on top of it. Once again she took in the expansive scope of the bell, and the very long walk she would have to take to get to the center of it and it’s ringer. It was a very big bell. One could fit a city inside. Jesse looked at the statues holding up the ringer again. If she squinted, she could see more around the rim. What would happen if they broke all of them and let whatever they were holding up fall? Her desire to help was matched by her curiosity. This World of Light was full of wonders. Even just a little while ago, she encountered a mysterious monster that the others had missed. She’d have to tell them that story later.

“There’s a non-zero chance this entire bell is an Altered Item of some kind. And if I know my boss fights, sometimes you have to summon the boss. Or maybe the boss of this area is just a weird floating snake that doesn’t do shit. Or maybe the giant snake is going to get really really angry and power up if Midna and the others mess with it. I really don’t know. In my experience it’s best to just go for it and see what happens. If they kill that giant snake and nothing happens, we should ring the bell and see if an even bigger monster comes out.” She had a very casual attitude about the whole thing.

Therion had not moved onto the stone bridge overlooking the massive bell. After Midna had shared her food with him, he'd parked himself on a rock with on knee tucked close to his chest and took his sweet time eating it. The sandwich was delicious, especially after suffering up that huge mountain. He looked at both groups of Seekers, the ones fighting in the air and those investigating the statues, as he munched. He had a good view of both, and he could see the progress that the air team was making on the beast. Honestly he was surprised that the sky serpent hadn't retaliated at all beyond trying to shake them off. He didn't believe for a second that it would be so easy, if everything that the group had said was true. Which... seemed unlikely, to be fair.

"Looks like they might really be doing it," he commented, loudly enough for all of the ground team, statue investigators included to hear. The colossus was thrashing about like it's life depended on it, which is very well did.

It was good news, though very unexpected. Primrose glanced up to see their progress for herself, though only briefly. Her attention was mostly with Jesse and Raz.

"This does all feel very strange," she murmured after Midna and Raz voiced their concern. "Off" was a good way to put it, as most of the world was strange in general. Things didn't seem to quite match up with what she'd been told, and Tora and Poppi's earlier confusion gave credence to the idea that something was not as it should be. She listened to the the other two chat, talking about if they needed to kill the beast in general, and Primrose nodded along to Jesse's words. As far as she understood it, that was the only way to get the world... the whole universe back to normal.

After getting closer to the statues Primrose had a much better understanding of the situation. The statues were spread across a stone bridge, the chains they held wrapped tight around something in the pit underneath. It looked like... a massive bell, with it's clapper being suspended.

Why would that be? Primrose wondered. Her eyes roved over the area, the smooth brass of the gigantic instrument and it's stone captors. A thought occurred to her as Jesse went on. Primrose looked up at the FBC Director. "I think you are right. You mentioned that it should be guarding something, but perhaps that monster is a decoy and the real guardian is..."

She trailed off, unsure of her next words. Was it waiting, safe and sound somewhere and content that no one would ever find it? Or was it sealed away, and this bell was the key to freeing it? If the latter, was it so dangerous that even it's master saw fit to keep it chained up? "...connected to this bell, somehow," she settled on. "Even if it serves as a prison for our enemy, since we need to defeat it... we would have to break it out first." The logic made sense to the dancer, and she gestured to Jesse to let the redhead take the lead in setting the bell's clapper free. She had faltered slightly when "no-collide" was mentioned, only realizing she meant that gun she'd picked up at the museum in Al Mamoon a few seconds after. "Though I'd get off this bridge before any ringing was done," she said as she did just that, making her way off of the stone pathway and back to the mountain's terrain.

As Primrose stepped off of the bridge, she found Therion with the scrunched up expression he sometimes got when he was suspicious of something, but he wasn't sure of why. Primrose had always attributed to his personality, but she could understand his hesitance in this case. Even she wasn't sure that ringing the massive bell would be wise, but she did think that Jesse was on the right track. Therion turned, his gaze finding Redento still shuffling away.

"Hey," the thief called over to the old man, "you know anything about this? Why's the bell chained up, what'll happen if it rings?"

"Forgive me, but I cannot say with any measure of certainty," the pilgrim bemoaned. "Mine eyes are ever affixed upon the path I travel, in accordance with mine order's old precept. Little of what lies beyond me feet is known to me, other than what I may hear during my travels." Redento hung his head. "Yet I have heard that its tolls will resound throughout the earth itself, filling every corner of the world with the magnificence of our most Grievous Miracle."

"Real helpful."

Despite Therion's remark, it sounded almost like a confirmation of their suspicions to Primrose. She glanced at the other Seekers and nodded her head. Her friend stood, meal long finished, and flexed his hands. "You really think it's a good idea to ring that thing if it's going to let something dangerous loose?" he questioned.

"We may not have much of a choice."

"It sounds like it could bring the whole mountain down." His words were a warning to everyone gathered on the ground. "Resound through the earth itself" did not seem like something they wanted to do. The Travelers were split in their thoughts, one for and one against setting the bell's clapper loose, although Therion couldn't really understand what was at stake in his current state.

Phalanx put up quite the struggle, curling and swerving through on the winds as it strove to rid itself of its unwelcome riders, but the Seekers stayed the course, and while some of their more terrestrial members tumbled off into the wild blue yonder, a few others managed to close the distance. In prime condition thanks to the full restore and with their flight abilities still bolstered by the afterglow that brought them up the mountain, they chased the sky leviathan down and grabbed hold. Tora and Poppi might have beaten Midna to the punch if not for the unlucky twist of a colossal fin in their direction, brushing them aside. But even that misfortune only delayed the inevitable. Their enemy’s panicked thrashing soon subsided, and as Phalanx evened out, the dynamic driver-blade duo closed in on the final sigil.

They swooped in for a landing while Midna and her wolves worked at the covering, ready to help pry it away from the weak spot should the Twilight Princess need another couple hands, but their friend managed just fine. A little dimensional sorcery brought a vicious-looking dagger to Midna’s hand as she prepared to strike the decisive blow, so Tora and Poppi stood by. While excited by the locale, the momentous occasion of a battle against Galeem’s chosen Guardian, and the high-flying daredevil action, neither were particularly tense or worried. All things considered, especially their previous boss battles, this seemed pretty uneventful so far. Of course, neither imagined that this moment would be the end of the fight, either. Fights against gigantic beasts in their own world made them very well acquainted with foes with utterly absurd levels of vitality. Surely more weakspots would reveal themselves, or additional enemies would appear to complicate things, or it would change forms, or…something. As nice as it would be to have a cake walk for once, nothing worth doing ever ended up being simple.

At the last moment, however, Midna paused. Tora looked on for a moment, confusion mounting, as she lowered the blade, but not into the runic flesh. She then let the fin fall, which clamped down over the sigil with such force and noise that Tora nearly jumped straight off Phalanx’ back. By that time, Big Band, Joker, and Skull were close enough to hear her announcement, which only gave rise to further bafflement among her allies. “...Middypon serious?” Tora asked after a moment, brows furrowed, but the shadow hand she placed on the fin to hold it down -in essence, keeping it safe from her fellow Seekers- told him she was. It took him another brief moment to overcome the ridiculousness of having a moral debate in the blistering wind atop a titanic monster’s back above the clouds, but Tora soon found his tongue.

“Meh meh!? Why!?” the Nopon called back to her. “If Midna not want kill animal, just fly off and squeeze eyes shut while Tora do it, meh!” He held up and activated the Variable Saber, its vibrant laser blade ready to burn deep into Phalanx’ flesh. “Tora do this all the time, like with Stoyan and Reginald. Death just natural part of life for all animals, especially big meany ones that probably deserve it! We not come all this way for nothing, Midna! Here, let Tora at it!” Despite his protests Midna remained adamant, which made the Nopon a little frustrated. “You go crazypon or something? We right on cusp of big-big victory! Here, Poppi!” He turned to his companion. “Use superstrength to get open again!”

The artificial blade hesitated, not because of the potential harm to the colossus, but because doing so meant directly opposing her ally’s will. “Poppi not know, Masterpon…”

“Mehhh! Please use superstrength?” Tora reiterated, serving the nicety alongside a helping of exasperation.

“That not it!” Poppi snapped, looking between her creator and the Twilight Princess. “Think about what Masterpon asking! Poppi not want go against Midna. Even if she seem crazy we should talk it over first.”

A moment later, one of Ciella’s mighty arrows of despair ripped into Phalanx’ flight bladder like a raging typhoon, piercing through the membrane and exploding on the inner wall of the opposite side. As yellow gas streamed from the rupture the colossus began to pitch downward, descending from on high now that it couldn’t keep itself up as well. From the rocky precipice where she’d taken aim at the creature from below, Ciella did not smile, but tightened her grip on her greatbow with renewed focus. Confident that she’d be able to bring the creature down this way even if bullseye shots eluded her, the Agito slowly pulled taught her bowstring once more, condensing a torrent of water for another spiral arrow.

Meanwhile, the others had fanned out across Jondo from the point at which they entered, searching for anything that might be of use for their communal efforts against Galeem’s champion. From their distance the ground team avoided experiencing even the token difference that Phalanx mounted against the fliers, which helped make its total lack of meaningful threat so impactful that Raz down below started having the same doubts that Midna soon would up above. After a cursory examination of the surrounding area, Robin couldn’t help but agree. “You may have a point. While I can offer no further hints at the moment, if this truly is our foe, one whose existence directly serves to protect Galeem…it does seem rather too easy, does it not?”

Tharja had her narrowed eyes on the statues, attempting to divine their purpose. “The chains…” she murmured. “The ringer. They’re not holding it up. They’re holding it in place.”

Jesse, however, was two steps ahead. She’d run through the situation in her mind from both a practical and meta perspective, and everything was coming up ‘destruction’. Simply put, if they didn’t do anything with the tools at their disposal, nothing was going to change. Her ideas concerning the functionality of the bell in the boss fight garnered some interest, but it took a couple choice words from Primrose to make those above Jondo begin to see Phalanx in a new light.

“A decoy, yes…and the bell…” Robin repeated with a slow nod. “That would make sense.” His eyes turned toward the craggy pass where the climbers came in, and the reinforcements appeared via portcrystal. “The challengers arise, beset by a grueling climb. Up soars the creature, enormous and impossible to miss, but easy pickings for a well-armed force. For those seeking a quick end to their ordeal, the day is soon won…” He walked over to join Tharja, who knelt at the edge of the bridge staring down into the darkness. “What was that the pilgrim said? It was built to ring across the land, but ‘now Jondo resoundeth in a deep triune moan’...”

Therion’s consultation turned up no definitive information, other than reinforcement of the bell’s importance. Coolheaded and reasonable, he seemed averse to the idea of sounding this mountain-entombed instrument, but his friend Primrose seemed resolute, and Robin agreed. With Jesse raring to go, the course of action seemed obvious. “Looks like we have a plan. Once all four statues are broken, the bell should be free to ring. Shall we divide and conquer?”

“Allow me!” Braum declared, as bombastic as ever. “Ever since that villainous hand appeared I’ve been itching to break something, and if it helps the team, all the better!”

Mao stepped forward, his hands in his pockets. “Finally, some action. Just busting a statue, is it?” His mechanical arms roared to life, ready for some industrial-scale disassembly. “No sweat.”



With Treat feeling quite a bit better, more welcome, and even a little wiser, the general mood of those basking in the cozy little household’s crackling fireplace was suitably warm and bright. While the goodwill was flowing, Linkle took the opportunity to request medical assistance for herself as well, and her host quickly assented. “Right, yeah, comin’ right up.” She performed her dance once more, and in a matter of seconds Linkle found herself suffused by the healer’s ether magic as well. Its reconstructive power knitted together her wounds and breaks, and though the pain of injury did not reach the Skullgirl as it once did, any chance to be whole once more was a welcome one. “Though you can forget about that ‘miss’ guff,” the cat-eared girl added with a casual smile. “The name’s Nia.” She glanced over at her big, fluffy companion. “I’m guessin’ Dromarch already introduced himself?”

“But of course, my lady,” the tiger replied with a polite bow of his head.

“So, you’re lookin’ for an internet, hm?” After laying her ringblades on the coffee table, Nia crossed her arms. “Well, I’ve ‘eard of an etha net, but I ‘aven’t seen one, and it wouldn’t be of much use on anythin’ but Blades anyway. As for an ‘ospital…” For a moment Nia and Dromarch exchanged a glance. Then the healer’s brows shot up, and she looked back. “Surely ya don’ mean Mount Massive? That en’t just some ‘ospital, it’s a flippin’ insane asylum! And from what I’ve ‘eard, it en’t empty, eitha!” Full of genuine concern, she searched the group as if for confirmation that they were serious. “You lot sure ya can’t find an internet anywhere else?”

The news left Albedo less than pleased. “Well, that seems far from ideal,” he admitted. “It really is rather important that we find one, and we can handle ourselves in a fight should it come to it, but if this facility is unable to assist us in this regard perhaps we should seek an alternative.” He took a deep breath, his face contemplative. “Rather than try our luck with additional points of interest scattered around the Highlands, perhaps it is past time I struck out beyond my comfort zone.”

He turned to look at Linkle. “To the northwest lies Dragonspine, a mountain from my home. It is where I spent most of my time back then, and when I am not in Snowdin, it is where I spend most of my time now. On clear days, I can look out from its heights across the ocean, past the floating obelisk you mentioned before, and see a sprawling cityscape upon the water. A city of frozen canals and great arched bridges, and buildings shaped like pumpkins with icicles the size of trees hanging from their frosty witches’ hats. The size and distance of the place are somewhat…well, intimidating. Only once did I seek out a boatman, and though I did not enlist his services, I did learn the city’s name.” As he spoke, he produced his sketchbook, and after some flipping arrived at a two-page that he then turned on Linkle in all its glory.

“Edinburgh MagicaPolis.” If the Skullgirl wanted a closer look, he offered her the book for her to hold. “If what we seek is a product of what they call ‘advanced society’, surely we will find it there.”

Nia leaned herself against Dromarch, putting an arm around his neck and absently scratching his chest. “Well, good luck with all that, then! As for me, I’ll be stayin’ nice and warm at home, thanks!”

“Indeed,” Albedo offered a rare smile, even if the expression didn’t reach his eyes. “That said, that is but one possibility, and we cannot go anywhere until Treat’s well-being is assured”

“Oh! I’m fine!” the wolfgirl fretted, content to listen and not at all expecting that she’d be brought to the forefront of the conversation. “Please, don’t worry about me!”

The alchemist furrowed his brows. “Don't worry? After we found the house you’ve been squatting in has been haunted by a giant monster for who-knows-how-many months? Surely such a thing is only natural.”

“Well, you know..” Treat began.

“Listen for a moment, Treat,” Albedo cut in, his voice soft but stern. “You have been through a great deal, suffering in isolation and silence. But the way you are treating yourself is self-destructive. Almost prideful. All we want is to get you back on your feet, and to show you that you do not have to be alone. Seldom do I insist on anything, but if our efforts mean anything to you, please stop devaluing and effacing yourself, and accept the help of others, little though it is.”

“Exactly!” Nia just about exclaimed. “I mean, I don’t know for sure what you’ve been through, poor thing. That monster bit especially, that’s pretty freaky if true. But, take it from me, ya can’t run away forever. Sooner or later you’ll ‘ave to find where you belong, and there’s no shame if it takes someone else to teach that to ya. If it’s pride, swallow it. If it’s fear, face it. But whatever it is, it’s better than livin’ a lie–even if that lie is just ‘everythin’s fine’.” She gave Dromarch a final scratch and pulled away to put her hands on her hips. “So, whaddya need, if ya don’t mind me askin’?”

Treat looked terribly uncomfortable, but also touched. Though she felt a hair’s breadth from melting away, she took a deep breath of her own, and pushed through. “W-well, I guess I need somewhere new to stay.”

“How ‘bout ‘ere?” Nia ventured instantly. “I mean, it’s nothin’ too special. Pretty quiet, nothin’ ever happens. But it’s nice, and Dromarch ‘ere is the best friend anyone could ever ask for.”

The tiger bowed his head. “You give me too much credit, my lady.” After regaining his posture, he fixed his temperate, azure gaze on Treat. “I must concur. I would be honored to extend to you my hospitality. It would also behoove my lady to make a friend near her age, as well.”

“Can’t force ya or anythin’, but it’s a pretty good deal, eh?’ Nia grinned. “Why not stay the night at least, see ‘ow ya feel? Not like ya got anywhere else to go, right?”

Treat mulled it over, but the fact that she wasn’t brushing off the offer said a lot already. As abrupt as this arrangement stood to be, it was true she didn’t have a lot of options. Between her chill but cordial fellow beastgirl Nia and the prestigious Papyrus, she already had a preference forming.

Soon enough, Jr had finished up his bit of artistry, though considering he’d painted the city several times over at this point, it was more by rote than by any kind of inspiration that it turned out so well.

”Good luck I’ll, uh, meet you back at Peach’s castle yeah?” He said to Kamek and Rika.

”Stay safe young master. We’ll see you soon” the mage replied with a tired nod, while Rika waved and said “yeah, see you soon!” and then a few moments later after jr had vanished into the painting she asked “Wait, Peach has a castle?!”

---

A swarm of colorful bubbles appeared in the air just in front of the entrance to Alcamoth and then coalesced into the form of jr, who dropped to the ground and nearly toppled over from the weight of his busted up clown car that he was carrying.

”Geeze I am tired” the boy complained, getting a “Mi kyu” of agreement from Mimi as he stepped forwards to let other people land. Just going off to bed was oh so tempting, but the little prince was too worried about his dad to throw himself onto the nearest soft surface. Or to be more specific, he was worried about what his dad would do as a result of him worrying about his son.

So he shook his head, yelled at the closest person he could find to get them to babysit his broken vehicle, and then pushed forwards, leading the way back to Limsa via another warp painting.

Upon his arrival, the prince looked up at the looming city and realized he might have a problem.

”Wait… where in the world is he gonna be?!”

---

Back on the haunted island Rika and Kamek lead the way in going to check out the state of the strange prostrating sea-folk/monsters. Or, to be more specific, Kamek’s doppelgangers lead the way well ahead of the rest of the group, because the mage would be damned if anyone even took a scratch at this late an hour.

Fortunately this proved to be unnecessary, at least initially. The scout clone meandered into the cave and found those within had been freed both from Galeem and from whatever power had been making them bow down towards the orphan and its corpse of a mother, but left dazed and confused by the result. Even the undead/mutated horrors and Pelagics which Kamek somewhat assumed would be hostile weren't doing much more than stumbling around or sitting still trying to recover their senses.

That said, soon enough they would regain them, and then this place would go off like a powder keg. The mage said as much to the others in a whispered tone ”We need to be very very careful here. Things could get nasty at any second”

“Then we’d better get the nice people out before it does…” Rika replied, before scanning over the mass of sea life and realizing that would not be an easy task at first glance. Kamek started boiling down the crowd of creatures into groups of things they knew were hostile and/or mindless, while Rika just went with the answer she knew was right, which involved strapping her gauntlets to her back and then moving into the mass of creatures, carefully picking her way through them towards the two dazed Princesses.

“Psst. Hey. Hi, I know you're confused and stuff but we need to go before things get messy, ok? You’ll be safe with us, I promise” She said, once she’d snuck up to them, gently taking each of them by a hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze, and then trying to gently guide them back towards the relative safety of the exit of the cave.

Kamek meanwhile wasn’t going to take the same risk, both out of self preservation and out of the pragmatism that someone needed to be standing back and ready to intervene if things did go wrong. So instead he was using his clones to test the waters with the other creatures. Or quietly eliminate the worst of them, which a pair of red clones were doing by shuffling around non threateningly and then point blank spell blasting the horrifically mutated victims of the Pelagic Plague into dust.

For the others she used a pair of greens as envoys to attempt to gauge their friendliness, which didn’t get any particularly good result.

On awoke an atlantean fish man by waving friendlyly in its face till it got his attention. The fish man took one look at the situation and then promptly mounted its giant lobster of a steed and rode it on out of there with nare a word to anyone else.

Another gently poked a Tonberry and offered its hand to shake, only for the deceptively cute creature shake its head clear, give the most fowl look at this stranger and then it draw a large kitchen knife from its robes with which it proceeded to shank the green clone, killing it in a single hit.

Then it turned and stabbed the nearest thing to it, which was a massive crab like Dreugh... and killed it in one hit too.

”Oh dear” was the mage’s understated response to this unintended first domino he’d tipped.

---

Out on the waves beyond Limsa, the Koopa King slapped himself fully awake as he heard the rumbling towards him from behind. The king, who had been sailing back along the route they had set off that morning at a painfully slow pace, turned, bristling for a fight, then growled at what he saw and proceeded to yell ”Go away! You couldn’t stop me going after my boy once Brinybeared, and you ain’t gonna pull it off this time either,” at the approaching form of Shippy.

“Ah give it a rest you stubborn seashark. You’ve not even gotten outa sight of the city” the old sailor shouted back, “besides, I’ve got your boy right here. Told you you shoulda just stayed put, ya had him worried sick, going off all on your own like that!”

”I couldn’t just sit there, waiting and biting my claws off while… wait what did you say?” Bowser shouted back, only for his own tired mind to catch up with the latter half of Brinybeared’s sentence, just in time for jr to appear, hopping up and hanging off the railing to shout ”Papa!” at his dad.

The king blinked a few times and then went racing back towards the ship, jumping aboard and scooping up his son with a ”Junior! I’m so glad you're ok!” before the two embraced while the old sea dog laughed quietly to himself and turned them back towards the safety of the city.

---

Kamek carefully stepped around the dazed denizens of the weld and planted her wand against the back of the Tonberry’s head, the serial knife murderer fast asleep thanks to an expertly placed sleeping dart in its neck, courtesy of the End. The mage’s two red clones joined her, and together they put a permanent end to the endlessly vengeful creature’s life with bolt after bolt of point blank spellpower.

”Ech, I am quite sick of this place” the mage cursed as she picked up the spirit of it and the crab thing it had killed and hurried her way back towards the far end of the cavern, where Rika was trying to explain things to the two princesses.

”I don't suppose anyone has a better way of dealing with this, because I’m starting to think this might be a lost cause. Baring the two we've already pulled out of this mess, every one/thing in here does not seem to be of the friendly variety” she said, conscious of how her own attempt was causing a stir among the nearby survivors. Somewhere slinking away into the depths of the weld like the lobster rider had done, but while Kamek had done her best to dispose of the close by guaranteed threats, it was only a matter of time before things went completely pear shaped.

@DracoLunaris@Zoey Boey

---

---

"If you want to sit down we could go back and get the ship. Ride it through the cave." Link suggested to Sakura, only half joking as they walked. He was able to be slightly at ease because of the Kamek clone scout force that forged ahead in front of the small group, secure in the knowledge that if a ravenous horde of monsters streamed out of the cave set on avenging their god, they could run back to Juniors painted portal and be done with this place. At least, for now.

As he walked he listened to Sakura talk, about their progress and what might become of those that had left them when the world was made right again. "Linkle thought the same thing." He said. "When she was telling me about everything that had happened. How all the spirits would probably be brought back once Galeem was defeated, safe in their own worlds." He looked down at Delsin in his hand. "They are still around, somewhere. I think we all just experienced proof of that back on that beach. One way or the other, I think they'll be home once this is over."

Deciding not to leave off on that half-dour note he nodded thorough the cave, to the hole they had entered from in their first trip through. "New South was still holding in place when I left, through there." He was pleased to see that most of the monsters that were hanging around were in fact too dazed to fight them. Some he could see leaving, having grouped up with their fellows and found their own way out of the caves. Scaly and bony backs retreated into nearby tunnels, seemingly no longer united around their object of worship and free to make peace or fight for this accursed isle at their own discretion.

At least their targets were easy to spot, the ethereal beauty of the Princesses standing out against the grotesques mass of life. The two hadn't moved, still sitting with their underlings in a daze. Kamek seemed to pick up on a certain tension in the air, ready for a fight to start at any moment, while Rika stepped up to the pair and tried to bring them out of it. As she did Kamek's clones set to work, quietly putting the fish monsters that had obviously once been something other than fish monsters out of their misery while extending olive wands to anything that seemed like it could be non-hostile. Unfortunately, the clones judgement proved poor as one was murdered by the cutest monster in the room who proceeded to stab another of the nearby monsters before Kamek and his pet gunmen managed to put it down. Rumblings of future violence began spreading through the cave like ripples in a pond, and Kamek came to them asking what they should do.

Link's mind started to race, not wanting to get caught up in another missive battle, but his eyes settled on the small Abyssal fleet stationed in the room that was stirring before his eyes flicked back to Rika, Bella, and their sisters. "Intimidation?" He said. "Nothing that isn't driven by pure, stupid malice would pick a fight with a group of Abyssals that size. Someone just needs to take command and lead them."

Blazermate, seeing a group of people still wanting to explore this hostile island, waved goodbye to Jr and those that left with him in his little painting. Although considering the stuff she saw on this island even with the guardian defeated, it might've been better to leave with Jr. Even free, the island inhabitants seemed to be incredibly hostile, or at least, indifferent in what they hurt. While Link and Sakura talked about what defeating the boss meant and all that, Blazermate kept healing herself and the others as they explored the island, backtracking and all.

They did eventually find a group that the others seemed to be interested in talking to, other Abyssal Princesses. Blazermate did absorb a spirti of an abyssal princess earlier, but she figured if she brought that up that might harm things worse than they were. But considering how hostile even the cute fish creatures were, the creature killing Kamek's clone and another beast with its large knife in one strike, before Kamek finished it off. Seeing as a few of the others were having second thoughts, Blazermate said. "So... I think we should go... Like, if this is just their default state like that kid monster Bowser tried to help it doesn't seem to be worth our time?" The Medabot was questioning even staying, so she was hoping these guys would want to go sooner than later.

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



Having laid into the creature, it retaliated much like ti did to the attacks of the others, by spinning and shaking off its attackers, sending even the bee queen flying. Although unlike many of the others, Sectonia could recover form her tumble without much issue, evne if it was comical seeing a large bee like her do a few spins in the air. "This isn't much of a 'guardian' is it? I've got a feeling that things will get much worse once its dead." Sectonia said, echoing the opinions of a few others as she got ready to go in for another attack. This was their enemy, even if it was 'passive', it would eventually have to fall.

Soon though, many of the others stopped attacking this creature, having heavily wounded it with all of their attacks, feeling sorry for having attacked something that wasn't attacking back. Heck, Midna's apprehension after having revealed another weak point made Tora stop, and the nipon was fairly bloodthirsty Sectonia noted. Although if this was misplaced pity like Midna was want to do or a genuine good idea Sectonia didn't know. An idea did present itself though, as a few allies pointed out that the bell this thing was circling and the statues holding it were part of the 'riddle' of the area, and that might reveal why this creature was either passive, or possibly the 'real' boss of the area.

There was an idea of destroying the pillars, which Sectonia begrudgingly went with. "Hmph, very well. We can try to destroy these pillars and 'free' this bell, seeing at this creature refuses to fight back. We can kill it at any time it seems if thats the case." Sectonia then flew next to Midna, glaring at the imp. "But will this be another case of a 'bleeding heart' for you? Need I remind you the last time you tried to spare something for it to only bite you in the end?"

Seeing as the others were getting ready to destroy these pillars, Sectonia summoned some Fire Antillions to help smash them as well, seeing as they were Sectonia's strongest antilion type in raw physical strength. She also hasted the more physically gifted of her allies as well, their newfound speed hopefully expediting how fast they could destroy these things.

Link's suggestion drew their attention to the little fleet of abyssals Rika had escorted the two princesses out of. The wretched dregs of the fleet, broken amalgamations of shiprightery and fragments of human woman that stood there, near motionless and making little to no attempt to recover from the dual shock of liberation. They were the lowest on the totem pole, broken patched together husks and it was perhaps a blessing that they exhibited nothing akin to human intelligence.

“Hey. Psst. Is anyone home?”

Better they be mindless than have thinking and feeling people trapped within those twisted shells, or so Kamek thought as she watched Rika, who the mage had come to realize was something of an expedition among the abysall’s soldiery in that she had a form close to human/the princesses, try and fail to rouse any kind of personhood from them. At the very least, they didn’t attack either, simply stared at the shipgirl, as if awaiting orders.

That would have to do.

”I think they recognize you as one of the fleet’s leaders?” Kamek drifted over to say. They certainly seemed to be looking at her rather than either of the rescued princesses or even Bella who was keeping them company, ”Specifically Pacific?”

“Huh? Oh…” she replied, reminded of that unnecessary death. Kamek would have consoled her, and indeed she would later, but right now they needed to act.

”I know it may not feel right, but we should try and follow Link's plan. Take command of these minions, and we might be able to resolve this with less death and injury” she insisted

“Ok but how do I…” Rika began to ask how she should lead, before realizing she had an example to draw from. How good an example Bowser and his son were to draw from was highly debatable, but, well, that's all she had to go on.

“Um. Ok. So,” she began faltering almost immediately before clearing her throat and tapping into the bits of her hack job of a personality drawn from the Brachydios and the Pacific princess. Namely loud and stern.

She stepped one foot up onto one of the squat abyssals, planted her hands on her hips and commanded loudly “Abyssal feet to attention! From up into a defensive posture around me, on the double! Then hold your fire until I command it!” before glancing over at Kamek and whispering “was that good?”

The answer spoke for itself, as the wretched mass of ship-mutants crawled, flopped or hoovered towards her, forming, as rapidly as they could, a wall of guns and far too human maws in front of the tunnel leading towards the dead sea and their way home.

Of course, this shouting drew the attention of a lot of the other creatures as well, stirring them awake. They had to act fast, and Kamek did so by hovering up and over the fleet and shouting

”We mean you no harm unless you mean it to us! If you want to leave, you are free to do so. If you want answers, step to the side and we will treat with you once only you remain. If, however, you wish to die senselessly” he raised her hand and beckoned the true monsters closer to Rika’s new army ”come and meet your fate”

---

The smoke cleared soon after. The dead where tallied, the fled where long gone, and the friendly moved off of the walls they’d pushed themselves up against to stay clear of the fighting.

Of the living, there where:

One hulking river zora who briefly thought he recognized Link, and then when it became clear they hadn’t met before, offered to sell him a set of flippers like he had one of the hero’s past reincarnations.

Some incredibly ugly but otherwise unremarkable Lungfish Citizens who reacted to the whole situation exactly as a bunch of panicked humans would and had to be placated with promises of safety and modern conveniences.

Much less ugly but just as helpless band made up of various fish-folk who called themselves The Chirpy Chips.

A friendly talking fish who introduced himself as Freddy and asked if they’d be able to help him leave the restrictive tide pool he was in.

And finally a mermaid who seemed to have no issue moving around on dry land despite her lack of legs who called herself Irenes and who, along with the Zora King, and another mermaid called Yumei had kept the lungfish folk and (non combatant) musicians safe at the sides of the cave.

The dead consisted mainly of Pelagic Plague victims, Squirts, eldritch undead and Ocean Crawlers, along with some surprisingly dangerous dire penguins and dolphin wielding zombies. These spirits where piled up along with the Dreugh spirit and a fair number of fallen abyssal minions, while Kamek kept the Tonberry for herself.

The various xenophobic fishmen, from murloks to pelagics to aquatoids, had taken one look at this mess and decided to leg it in the name of self preservation, while the hulking diving suit had crushed everything dangerous near it with cold brutality and then left without a word, ignoring any thanks or questions called out after it.

”Well. That’s the end of that” Kamek sighed with relief, not knowing how much more of this she could take, before saying ”now maybe we can finally rest?” before wincing at Rika shouting “Minions, make way for the friendly people” to her remaining fleet troops.

As they obeyed and the friendly folk hurried over to ask questions about where they were and where safety might be found, and where directed back to the painting to get such things, Rika reminded Kamek that “We still gotta find New South, remember? Like Link said”

The mage sighed, gave the hero of the wilds a dirty look and then with a groan agreed, saying “Well at least she can’t have gone far.”

She turned out to be quite wrong about this.

Some of the Phantom Thieves, Mao, and Braum all seemed on board with the forming plan to destroy the statues and see what happens. If nothing works, they’d kill Phalanx. If killing Phalanx and destroying the statues didn’t work, they’d probably piss off some ancient nature God and be cursed to never travel across moving water again or some shit like that. But it would be better than leaving empty handed without having tried everything.

Everyone seemed ready to go, the social momentum leaning strongly towards immediate action. Jesse decided to try her shot at pulling the reins in. She had no authority over the group, and she wouldn’t hold it against them if they moved now. Still. Sometimes a dissenting voice in and of itself could be useful, even if ignored.

“Hold on, guys.” Jesse held up a hand. “It’s probably best we play it cool for now. We have no idea what’ll happen when we break these things. If it fucks with them up there, that’ll be on us. If it unleashes some giant monster on us, the party’ll be split.” Jesse said. “I don’t think we’re pressed for time. We should wait for the other half of our team to come aground before we make any executive decisions.” She said.

“Don’t accidentally break it, either. It’s extremely fragile.” She added with a slight smile, glancing up at the statue. Any one here could break it with a flick of their wrist. Literally, in Braum’s case.

Certainly after her solo debacle involving running off without letting anyone know, Jesse wasn’t eager to repeat the mistake of splitting the party anymore than necessary. It was unwise to make any moves in this World of Light without being fully prepared to face the consequences. Normally Jesse would be half-way done breaking them by now, but just like when she was with her Rangers, she couldn’t afford to dive ahead. Other people’s safety was at stake. It was one thing to put herself in danger for the hell of it, another thing entirely to put others in danger without their consent.

While the exhausted princess wanted nothing more than to follow Nadia, Ace, and the others back through Junior’s painting to Limsa, where she could collapse at long last among the sheets and pillows that a triumphant hero so richly deserved, she couldn’t clock out just yet. It had been a very big day, especially the unconscious Hat Kid she cradled in her arms, but not just for the crew that set out yesterday morning across the sparkling sea. For all she’d been through on Blackwater Bay, beneath the Bottomless Sea, and within the bowels of curse-rotted Carcass Isle, she acutely remembered every face that set out alongside her just a couple fateful days ago. When she closed her eyes she could see them, locked in combat against the grisly Thing from the Stars or the darkly magnificent Enderdragon, but it was here in Alcamoth where she physically saw them last, when the team split into Yellow and Blue. Fox, Midna, Primrose, Tora and Poppi, the enigmatic man known only as Courier 6, the precocious Phantom Thieves…where had they gone, and how had they fared in that inhospitable desert known as the Sandswept Sky? She needed to make sure Bowser and Mirage were okay before she could relax herself, but right now she couldn’t turn down a chance to ask for any updates on the others, either.

Peach took a long, deep breath in, then exhaled, and set off across the great atrium of Alcamoth. She moved at more of an amble than a march, and she made sure to disturb Hatty as little as possible, but she moved with purpose nonetheless. Even in the dead of night the countless lamps arrayed throughout the atrium garden filled it with a soft, blue-green glow, so she had no trouble finding her way toward the place’s back half. For a moment she took a brief detour by the receptionist’s counter, but not even the hard-working Isabelle was up at this late hour. With a sigh Peach hoped that her excursion wouldn’t be for naught, and pressed on.

With the floating citadel’s adjunct domes serving as the complex’s fighting arenas, it fell to the main structure to serve the residential, commercial, and utilitarian needs of the populace, and still Peach found herself marveling at the grandeur of it all. Countless stories of shops, businesses, apartments, and more extended upward to such dizzying heights that she needed to crane her neck to see the highest one, arranged like immense shelves. It made Coconut Mall look like a shoebox. Still, the princess paused for only a moment, since she knew that her destination lay at the bottom. She made a beeline for the Garfont Center, where the Alcamoth Mercenaries -and by extension, the entire campaign against Galeem- were based. The watchman on duty, one of the Miis, offered her a bow. “Can you please get this poor girl to the infirmary?” Peach asked, and with a nod the Mii accepted her precious cargo. He then ran off, leaving the princess to admit herself to Mercenary HQ.

Stepping inside the place, she almost didn’t recognize it. In the time since she’d been here last, the place had turned from a slapdash alcove outpost into an entire pseudo-military headquarters, complete with its own wood-and-iron style tailor-made to differentiate it from the futuristic temple aesthetic of Smash City proper. It featured a wide-open central command chamber dominated by an enormous round table, where a holographic screen that took up most of its area displayed a map of the World of Light. It seemed to be based off the map recovered from her castle on the day everyone first arrived, with much of it vaguely covered by the fog of war. At least the Eryth Sea, the surrounding mountains, and much of both the Land of Adventure and the lower third of the Sandswept Sky seemed to be filled in, with places of interest marked. There were even a few bright lights in small clusters here and there that Peach realized must be mercenary teams out in the wild. Looking around the command center, she found four arched doorways that elsewhere in the building, those being labeled Dispatch, Mog Station, Armory, and Barracks. There were two strange terminals marked as Vehicle Bay and R&D, which she could only assume were transporters of some kind. On the far wall lay another screen, this one marked ‘Spirit Board’, and as she approached it lit up. Hundreds of people, creatures, monsters, and more suddenly appeared across its breadth, neatly organized and available for selection. It was by no means complete -she saw no mention of ‘Abyssal’ under A, for instance- but the scale of the compendium was already staggering.

“Magnificent, eh?” a deep voice remarked from behind her in an Australian accent. When Peach turned she found Commander Vandham leaning on the table, fully dressed and styled, every bit as enormous and imposing as she remembered. “Weren’t much for a while, but once we got our ‘eads togetha an’ put ‘er to rights, she’s a beaut an’ no mistake.” He ran his fingers along his jaw as he looked Peach up and down. “Speakin’ of, you’re lookin’ spiffy, but not quite as I remembers ya.”

Peach managed a weary smile. “Hello, Vandham. No need to try and make me feel better, I know I must look like death itself. But yes, I ended up fusing with a girl named Chao Ho. There was…a battle on the sea. It’s a rather long story, and not a pleasant one.”

“Sounds intense,” the giant murmured, pulling out a chair at the round table for the Princess that she gratefully accepted. He then seated himself, causing the chair to creak. In the light of the map screen his hairdo seemed even more dazzling than usual. “Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do to survive. No matter ‘ow big an organization gets, if the right person kicks the bucket, that’s all she wrote. I’m glad ya made it back, Princess.” He leaned back in his chair, crossing his burly arms. “I take it things went well?”

Peach nodded, exhaling. “It was close. Very close, and not just the end. We had a few losses, I’m sorry to say. But to make a long story short, we’re one step closer to flushing out Galeem.”

“Holey dooley, anotha one already?” With the news of casualties in mind, Vandham measured his response. “I don’t mean to downplay the losses you mentioned, but that’s ‘uge news. Three outta thirteen, that’s nothin’ to scoff at. Proof ya got what it takes to go the distance, even if it ‘urts. Sometimes victory demands sacrifice, but if it means savin’ the worlds, the prize is worth the price.”

“I hope so.” With a sigh, Peach looked down again at the map, taking in the scattered lights. “How are things here? I know it’s late, but I needed to see if everything’s okay.”

Vandham leaned on the table, thinking. “Well…it’s a mixed bag. On one ‘and, we’ve really started putin’ a foot’old in the area. Workin’ on solvin’ problems like transport an’ supplies. Got a few missions done, an’ our scouts ‘ave some juicy details on other areas, includin’ what became of that bloody Dead Zone. Trouble is, a couple didn’t turn out well…”

Peach bristled. “Like what?”

“I’ll get straight to the point,” the big man said, turning to place his elbows on the table. After tenting his fingers he kept his eyes on the map. “Don’t suppose you ‘eard about this bludger Eggman, sendin’ a bunch o’ tin cans to attack your castle?” Looking alarmed, Peach shook her head, so Vandham continued. “Well, don’t fret, ‘cause our guys beat ‘im off. Trouble is, they went after ‘im, followin’ ‘im all the way back to his base. They stormed the place, but once inside things went south. Team got separated. Dedede, Ness, and Wario made it out, but those crazy blokes, that li’l fella Pikachu, and Mario got stuck inside. Ain’t ‘eard from ‘em since.”

A sharp intake of breath from Peach told Vandham that he’d been right to be reluctant. After a moment, however, the princess got herself under control. “Well. That’s bad, but it’s Mario we’re talking about. If anyone can get the job done in this whole world, it’s him. I trust him with my life.”

Vandham nodded. “Right you are. When I asked ‘round, I was gobsmacked by what everyone ‘ad to sa about ‘im. ‘E’s like a bloody celebrity. I’m sure once ‘e an’ the othas are done givin’ those machines a good thrashin’, ‘e an’ the rest’ll be ‘ome in time for dinner.” He leaned back again as the tone lightened. “I do ‘ave some news ya might wanna ‘ear.”

“What might that be?”

“Well, earlier today we got some visitors. They flew in on this giant ship, a real sight to behold. Turns out they’re a joint operation between two groups called Bridges and the Centennials, connectin’ places together and keepin’ the peace, ‘cept neither got enough manpower for the job. Wasn’t gonna make any big decisions ‘til you came along, but I’m was thinkin’ we stand to gain a lot from joinin’ forces. Ya ought to meet ‘em in the mornin’, once ya got some shuteye.”

Peach nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. On both accounts. Don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay conscious much longer. Need to rinse off and sleep.”

“I can tell!” Vandham laughed. “Well, you can use the Barracks. Save ya the trouble of goin’ anywhere else. Washroom’s in the back.”

Peach dragged herself to her feet. “You’re a lifesaver. I’ll go right away.” Without further ado she turned to shuffle off in the indicated direction. Only once through the doorway did the princess turn. “...Goodnight, Vandham. Don’t stay up too late yourself.”

“Bahaha!” the giant’s shoulders shook. “Just you try an’ stop me, li’l lady!” With a wave he stomped off, leaving Peach to put herself to rights and to bed by herself. Even after all that excitement, it was looking like a busy day tomorrow.

As his human friend would likely tell judging from the skeleton's reaction to Treat's silence in regards to Nia and Dromarch offering the wolfgirl a place to stay, while most of the time (or rather almost all the time) the goofy looking Papyrus was a little oblivious and even a bit childishly naive however his expression suggested otherwise from what anyone could tell. He hadn't missed the fact the wolfgirl had yet to brush off Nia's offer.

While she hadn't accepted the pair's offer as of yet, it was more than enough to take the wind out the skeletal sentry's sails.

A second or two passed in awkward silence broken only by the crackle of the open flame, then he ventured a fist over his face as he made a sound much like one would expect someone to make when clearing their throat for attention.

"AHEM, WELL I THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAVE ALREADY..." as he spoke up the skeleton forgot his words as attention fell on him, he didn't want to make this an awkward decision for poor Treat after all she had been through so his voice trailed off slightly "ALREADY...HAVE DECIDED I MUST PREPARE FOR THE DAY AHEAD YES! DEFINITELY NOT BECAUSE MY FEELINGS HAVE BEEN HARMED IN ANY WAY. NYEH-HEH-HEH HOW RIDICULOUS WOULD THAT BE?" naturally Papyrus buried himself in denial, wanting to dwell on it no longer he stood looking to the fallen child Frisk with a hopeful expression.

"OF COURSE I WILL REQUIRE THE AID OF MY HUMAN FRIEND, WHAT IF THAT DASTARDLY DOG STEALS MY BONES AGAIN?! OH FRISK THAT WOULD BE DREADFUL!" without waiting the sentry was up and making his way to the door "COME HUMAN WE MUST FIND MY HOUSE!"

Just as she had predicted, the princess got plenty of grief for her attempt at preventing them from making what she saw as a mistake. She could maybe put it down to the fact that they had been in the thick of what felt like a fight for their lives when she had had time to observe, but it was still disheartening to be belittled like this by all of them, being called ‘crazy’ and a ‘bleeding heart’ wasn’t exactly pleasant, even if they did relent.

The generally kind hearted Tora being against this stung deeply, but she took particular issue with Sectonia’s comment, despite her agreeing with her suggestion at leaving it be for now.

”Last time my bleeding heart prevented several people from being needlessly killed. My only true failure of my was not being able to save each and every one of them from that goddess damnable floppy eared rat-” the Princess was prevented from completing her tirade against Ciella when the women herself unknowingly interrupted it by shooting a massive hole in the side of one of the titan’s air sacs, causing the dragon to suddenly lose a portion of its lift and begin sinking down towards the mountain.

”That lady is going to be the death of us all I swear” Midna seethed as she gripped the now sinking behemoth as it struggled to maintain its altitude alongside continuing to try and get them off.

”Could someone please call her off?” she requested, still clinging to the beast and holding her shadowhand over the fin defensively, and then realizing how this looked added ”It’s not that I don't trust you” technically a lie, she did not trust Band’s crazy friend/daughter/person for whom he was a social worker one inch, ”it’s that she and I don’t really see eye to eye… so could one of you maybe try and enlighten her? Tell her we’ll all be cursed if this dragon-worm-thing dies or something” she suggested, and then only after having done so thinking that that might actually be a real risk here.

It could be they had been about to kill some world’s own Spirit of Light or other sacred being, and if there was one thing they did not need, it was being censored by some god or other for that misdeed. Considering something akin to divine intervention had saved them from freezing to death, it wasn't the most unlikely of scenarios, at least in the princess’s mind as of this moment.