It couldn't be.

Frisk had her reservations about Albedo's feigned innocence, sure, but there were too many variables to confirm anything. Besides that, she wanted to trust him. Linkle did. Prisoner, though unintentionally drawing the alchemist's ire a few times, did too. Maybe they didn't know better either. She certainly didn't. She didn't think much of his actions, like blocking the entrance out or unwillingly letting himself get cornered like she did.

Because he was her friend.

...

Right?

Frisk could only react fast enough. Her soul sensed danger before she could. Holding her Spheal close to her as possible with the intent to take any hits that would finish it off, she quickly spun around to see-

"Prisoner!"

By some misfortune, she was right to suspect Albedo. Not matter how much she wanted to be wrong.

By some fortune, Prisoner was quick enough to intercept him before he could finish the assassination attempt. With her headless friend holding the rogue alchemist off, Frisk quickly grabbed her bow and arrows to try and attack from afar. She might be more comfortable with a firearm, but she has to try! But quicker than she could aim without risk of friendly fire, Albedo dissapeared.

Until they looked up.

"RUN!!" With no other way to go, the remaining trio had to sprint away from the collapsing icicles and jump down to the top floor, Frisk landing with a roll to protect the pokemon in her arms.

Sakura was clearly excited to watch this battle, her fists moving up and down as she bounced on her heels. Karin watched, arms crossed, weight on one leg, clearly more analytical than emotional.

They hit each other right at the same time, which elicited a barking laugh from Karin. Sakura meanwhile recoiled from the reverberation, arms flailing happily. The brunette was clearly blown away by the flashy combos and cool attack names. She grabbed onto Karin’s shoulder and hopped up and down, shaking the heiress.

Karin wasn’t as impressed. It was all flash, no substance. It seemed like they were flinging their weapons around like plastic tubes, hovering and floating about and exploding at each other. Still, Sol reminded her somewhat of herself, while Dante reminded her of Dhalsim. An aggressive zoner versus- well, Sol’s rushdown was angry and fast and unrelenting. Some people had forgotten the value of the walk and block.

Sakura was having her face melted off by the sheer power of awesomeness. ”OH MY GOOODDD!” This was easily a Top 10 Street Fight!!

”Come on Dante, kick his butt!” She punched the air with heavy haymakers. ”WOOOOHOO-hoooo uh oh.” Sakura couldn’t hear the theme music change, but she definitely felt it.

Both Karin and Sakura’s eyes widened, however, when Dante bounced off an invisible wall. ”Wait, what? Huh? You can just do that?” Sakura turned and looked at Karin, who was very focused.

”Just a free wall? It’s been ages since I’d had anyones back to the corner…” Sakura mused wistfully, causing Karin to suppress a wince. As sweet and naive and as dumb as she may seem, Karin does not want to be caught by Kasugano Sakura in the corner. Like a gleeful little pressure monster. Ugh. Sakura hasn’t had the chance or the appropriate arena to get someone’s back against the wall since she arrived in the World of Light. Watching a fight can almost be as good as actually being in one, and she’s definitely going to be on the lookout for such opportunities in the future.

Euden and Mym- oh, hey, Euden and Mym! Sakura hadn’t seem them since Lumbridge! Without them, especially Mym, Sakura never would have gotten to reunite with the Seekers. But right now, they were being huge nerds!

”Yeah, come on! Round two! Round two! Round two!” Sakura cheered. ”You can do it Dante!”

For a brief moment she paused to apologetically grin and wave at Euden and Mym, before focusing back on the fight. Personally she didn’t mind getting flipped off at all, Sol was playing an excellent heel. It wasn’t easy getting people to root against you while also being totally awesome at the same time.

Karin covered her face slightly. Maybe Sakura had a roaring crowd and theme music pumping in her empty head, but she was currently the only one cheering. Her high pitched voice was echoing loudly throughout the entire lobby. It was an unflattering effect.

”Must you be so loud, Miss Sakura?” She asked hopelessly , the words bouncing off the side of the other street fighter’s head.

With her companion held tight Frisk took a leap of faith, fleeing Albedo’s icicle deluge for the safer, more wide-open space below. The snow piled up down there, previously blown through the cave entrance prior to its collapse, broke her fall enough to prevent injury, and for a brief moment she was safe. The same could not be said for the Prisoner, who as a veteran of unending battle had faced and beaten much worse than this ice-wielding human while listening to far more expert advice than Frisk’s, had gone on offense. Albedo’s icicle spears pierced the Prisoner’s body as he leaped to cut the alchemist down, first piercing through his body and then nailing him to the cliff face above Frisk. One forearm and one knee got cut clean through, which promptly fell to bounce off Frisk’s head. While the Prisoner’s all-important head hadn’t suffered a hit, his body -so recently restored- was done for.

A short distance away, Albedo hit the ground. His face was one of pain and anger as he yanked two of Frisk’s bone arrows from his torso and tossed them aside. Then his expression turned to a cruel grin, as if already imagining the satisfaction he’d feel once he took his revenge. He did not offer any rationale or explanation, or even offer a handful of parting words. He merely held out his hand and created a brand-new ice sword, then moved in with killer intent. If Frisk and her Spheal did not fight for their very lives, it would be the end.

Elsewhere in the cavern, the goblins stirred, roused by the commotion of Albedo’s icicle barrage. Even more distant were the sharp sounds of something cracking–or of something breaking through.





Something happened, and Sol hurtled backward, beaten bloody. “GAAAH!” he roared as he flew, taken completely by surprise. “The hell!?” In the span of a single instant, he’d been trounced without seeing Dante land so much as a finger on him. His mind raced. Rather than a single show-stopping impact, it felt more like a dozen blows had battered him, leaving him with bruises both sore and smoldering. Had she been so fast she ignited the air itself? How could anyone be that fast? As Dante ran after him he saw her equipped with new weapons, although unlike her other gear he didn’t see it manifest from flame. One second it wasn’t there, and the next it was. Sol narrowed his eyes as he remembered his friend Axl, who at times seemed to possess uncanny speed of his own.

Sol landed on his feet, skidding through the dust. “Nice gimmick,” he spat. “That goddamn bag of tricks is gonna have to run out eventually.”

His adversary laughed as she blazed in. “Brother, I haven’t even started to reach!”

Sol whipped the Outrage Mk II at Dante as she stepped in, catching her in the jaw with the weapon’s heavy end. She winced, but turned with the blow and span around into melee range. Expecting a headshot, Sol went for a rising hook with upper-body invincibility, but like an expert boxer Dante wove around his punch. Welter Move brought her around to her foe’s unguarded side and zapped him with a bantam Revenge kidney shot, leaving him momentarily paralyzed. Her front hand then flashed as a fiery blur, darting back and forth to land ten light hits in succession. A demonic voice from her Balrog gauntlets counted out the hits, burning brighter with each one. Then her fully ignited uppercut flashed toward his chin. “Minimum Dragon!”

Her fist hit Sol’s palm, the smack and resulting shockwave strong enough to clear the ash and dust in a small radius, and his fingers closed around it. With his teeth gritted the bounty hunter peeled Dante’s arm out of the way, then slammed his cranium into hers in a fierce headbutt that she returned with gusto. Though the ensuing BONK had to hurt, neither overcame the other, and for a moment the two were deadlocked. “When…” she grunted. “...Are you gonna get serious?”

“Whenever you quit playin’ around!” Sol growled.

Hie brought up his knee to hammer Dante in the stomach, lifting her off her feet, but when he went for another the devil slayer slipped from his grasp. Her Balrog gauntlets melted away to be replaced by boots, and she came around with a spin kick that snapped his head sideways, leaving a red mark on his cheek. Her follow-up crescent slammed into his vengeful backhand in a shower of sparks, and only with the retreating backflip kick Flint Wheel did she avoid a brutal slam from the Outrage. Unfortunately for Sol, Flint Wheel worked as a launcher with Ignition, and the incendiary arc of Dante’s kick threw him into the air. As he popped towards her she capitalized with the flip kick Updraft to join the midair party, then the divekick Friction. As her boot drove Sol into the ground a burst of flame popped him back up thanks to Ignition, and with a shit-eating grin she launched straight into a fiery breakdance.

“Yahoo!” she hollered as she whirled around, striking and juggling Sol again and again. Too disoriented by the sustained tumble to mount any sort of defense, he could only try to protect his head as the Break Spiral continued, his face one of utter annoyance. “Damn I’m good!” Dante sang. “I’m on f-!”

“You think you’re nice!?” Having had more than enough, Sol burst out of the combo in a flash of blue energy. It threw off Dante’s groove and sent her end over end, barely giving her enough time to react before Sol flew her way. “Bandit…” He thrust his knee out only to be brushed aside by Dante’s Royal Guard, who absorbed the hit before pivoting to stop his momentum with Royal Release. Instead Sol’s shin whacked her in the side of the head, bowling her over. “Revolver!”

“Oof!” Dante saved her fall with a roll, and by the time she got back to her feet Coyote was in her hand. Her shotgun blast forced Sol to block, but when she advanced while firing a second she found that her foe had already memorized its timing. He jumped up and sprang off a magic circle to close the distance, so Dante jumped up to meet him mid-air. Rather than get dusted, she used her own demonic circle to Air Hike over his attack and come down with a Helm Splitter to return him to the ground. “Light ‘em up!” She pummeled Sol with Fireworks, a fusillade of twirling shotgun blasts, then launched him with High Time and warped up after him. This time a shot from Coyote connected, canceled immediately into Sky Star to boost forward into Sol, Mustang Air to backflip off him, and another Coyote shot. After two stylish repetitions she ended with the speedy one-two midair launcher kick Firestorm, then another Friction to send both her and Sol careening toward the ground. “Take a dive!” With a terrific crash they landed just in front of the fountain at the Great Hall’s rear.

This time though, Ignition had run out, so Sol had a chance. When he hit the ground Sol lashed out with a low sweep without even getting up to knock Dante off her feet. “Grrah! This’ll shut you up!” He got up and drove his weapon into her torso hard enough to drive its flat-bladed end into the floor beneath.

Dante blinked at the blade protruding from her middle. “What, this?” She shrugged. “Dunno about that one, chief. Pizza, pancakes, ice cream, and other people’s swords are basically my four food groups.”

Sol’s eye twitched. “...What?”

“Oh, and since we’re on the subject.” From nowhere Dante manifested a rocket launcher and jabbed its bayonet into Sol’s chest. “Eat this!”

Both fighters disappeared in a fiery explosion. Shrouded in smoke, Sol, flew backward until he managed to right himself and skid along the tile. That is, until he reached a second torn up by the duel, got his foot caught, and fell on his ass. “Gah!” The roar of an engine issued from the cloud of dust, and Dante burst out, a little singed but not much worse for wear with her now injury already healed, on a demonic motorcycle to chase him down. Sol sword and got to his feet and went on the defensive as Dante drifted into him, at which point her bike came apart and morphed into two giant buzzsaws. Sol’s eyes widened. “You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me!” The Devil Hunter attacked with low speed but overwhelming power, and as the blades ground against his guard Sol clenched his teeth and put up Faultless Defense to lessen the chip damage. Whooping, Dante buzzed him again and again with Cavaliere, eating through his tension until she went for a giant double slam.

At that point Sol’s eyes flared, and as flame surrounded him he performed a single punch upward, blowing both halves of Cavaliere back to leave Dante wide open. “Tyrant…RAVE!” he roared, unleashing a riotous flare with the last of his tension that blew his opponent away.

At least, it seemed that way until Dante punished him with her strongest Royal Release yet, straight to his core. Sol crumpled with a breathless gasp, falling to his knees. “All warmed up!” she gloated as she brought Cavaliere out again, hitting him once, twice, before she remade the motorcycle for a Highside backflip launch, straight into Braking to drag Sol all th way back down for a backbreaking ground impact with her wheels. As if that wasn’t enough she then proceeded to do donuts with Idling, juggling him just like she had with Break Spiral until he finally flew free. He tumbled along the ground and lay there, groaning.

“Sol!” Jack-O cried, leaping down from her perch to run up and crouch beside him.

Dante hefted one of the saws onto her shoulder with a smile. “Score one for me!” She walked forward, dragging the other across the tile as it span to kick up sparks. “So your name is Sol, huh? Tell ya what, you’re not bad. Kind of got the blood pumping.”

As Jack-O helped him sit up Sol put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and squeezed. They shared a look and a few muttered words, before they got to their feet. “...You ain’t half bad yourself, lady,” Sol admitted, his tone gruff.

“Lady?” Dante laughed. “You got me confused for someone else, pal. Maybe I hit your head a li’l hard there. How about callin’ it quits?”



Sol’s red eyes gleamed as he taunted her, pointing his thumb down. “I ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

“Then let’s rock! Gunslinger!” Producing a second rocket launcher with a harpoon rather than a knife, Dante stuck them both blade-first into the ground, then from their rear batteries unleashes a swarm of homing missiles.

They spiraled through the air toward not just Sol, but Jack-O too, and that of all things proved to be the tipping point. “Get back!” Sol barked at Jack-O before he took off running, sprinting in a wide arc to draw away the missiles. Once his girlfriend was in the clear he set a course straight for Dante. “Vortex!”

As he zoomed forward low to the ground, Dante warped above him, her rocket launchers angled straight down. “Heads up!”

Their payloads descended, but Sol Roman Canceled his Vortex and blasted off with Volcanic Viper. Its invincibility carried him up through the double explosion and straight into Dante’s face. “Screw you!” he roared as he cracked his enemy’s nose in a spurt of blood. Her devil sword appeared and she attacked with a blistering Air Rave in Swordmaster style, but Sol air-blocked the rain of blows to counterattack with Bandit Bringer. The meteoric dive punch drove both back to the ground in explosive fashion, and as Dante rolled to her feet Sol was already upon her. “Fafnir!” he snarled, throwing out a strong lunge punch. Without enough time to switch to Royal Guard, Dante blocked with her sword, which turned out to be the wrong choice as Fafnir guard crushed her.

With her defenses wide open, she attempted to switch styles, only for a second Fafnir to bounce her along the ground until Sol followed up with Night Raid Vortex. “Goin’ my way!” He moved in to apply pressure, and she answered back with a wheeling sword combo, but a gap in her string allowed him to start blocking again. Faultless Defense pushed her back just as her combo ended, only for Dante to transition to Million Stab and catch another Fafnir before it could get started. Sol grunted and replied with a Gunflame, backed up just a touch, then jumped after it with Bandit Revolver. He watched Dante deflect the projectile with Royal Guard, but the first hit of his well-spaced Revolver stopped just short of her defense, and before she could change tact Sol reached out and grabbed her.

“Gotcha now.”

He hauled Dante over his shoulder and pounded her into the tile with his Wild Throw, leaving a small crater. The impact drove the breath from Dante’s lungs, leaving her momentarily stunned as Sol began to stomp. For the first time, a flicker of uncertainty nagged her. Ever since this ‘round’ got started, her opponent had her number. He’d already betrayed hints of an intelligence that went far deeper than his rough-and-tumble appearance, but now things seemed to be going way worse. What had changed. Her frustration built as Sol brought his heel down on her abdomen again and again, and by the time he went for another sword plant, she’d had enough. “...My turn!”

Crimson demonic power exploded out from within her, throwing Sol off, and from the crater shot a fiery blur. Sol looked to see a demonic warrior, albeit vaguely female, her hand extended to grab him. “Your trump card, huh?” He teched the air grab, only to be blasted down into the ground by a purple beam from each of Dante’s palms in turn. “Ngh!”

“Just hit my boiling point!” Dante teleported to reach the ground, then let rip Drive and Overdrive. All three hit, and though Sol zoomed in with Night Raid Vortex, the devil hunter conjured four floating swords beside her and blew straight through with Stingers. The swords continued to drill into him even after she stopped, at which point she recalled Cavaliere in motorcycle form and finished the charge with a full-throttle ran from the bike’s spiked front. Sol crumpled, disarmed and bleeding, and after re-equipping her devil sword Dante began to charge the finishing blow. As she couched her blade four more summon swords appeared around her, one after another, spinning like sawblades. “...Have a nice trip. See ya next fall!”

Her Round Trips whirled forward, five flying guillotines of death. Sol tried to stand, but his body wasn’t responding. He couldn’t do anything as the blades closed in, except reach for the hilt of his weapon. “You…sonuva…!”

“I won’t let you!” A white blur flashed in front of Sol, and Dante’s Round Trips bounced harmlessly off a cluster of energy shields. As her devil sword returned to sender, she saw that Jack-O had jumped in to save Sol. Along with her were her three servants, one happy, one sly, and one as angry as Jack-O herself. They all wielded lollipop bats and little shields, which they’d raised on their master’s defensive command.

Dante’s Devil Trigger ran out, and she sighed as she leaned on her sword like a giant cane. “You too, huh? So much for a fair fight.”

“You call that fair!?” Very flustered, Jack-O balled her fists up at her sides. Slowly, Sol picked his aching carcass up to stand beside her as her servants expired. “That ‘Royal Guard’ of yours can block anything, and you shrug off injuries like they’re nothing! How many powers and weapons do you even have!?”

Snickering, Dante snapped her fingers. “Doppelganger.” Doing so manifested a new devil arm on her back, and beside her a swarm of flies took on a shadowy shape almost identical to her own. “Let’s just say that when it comes to two on one, I’m covered.”

Jack-O’s mask stuck out her tongue before she glanced at Sol. “You ready, hotshot?”

“You oughta get back,” Sol told her. “This one’s dangerous, she’s got all kinds of bullshit!”

Jack-O grinned. “Me, too.”

“...Then let’s get this over with,” her boyfriend grumbled.

The two teams closed in. Dante and her doppelganger pulled scarlet spikes from Lucifer’s wings and hurled them two, three, or even five at a time. Jack-O summoned and passed Sol a servant before both ran in together through the rain of swords, dodging them when they could and relying on the servants to block them when they couldn’t. Before they could reach her Dante clapped her hands together, causing all the embedded spikes to blow up, along with the servants that shielded them. As a flurry flew right at him Sol knocked them aside with the Outrage, then had to stop short as both Dantes came in hot. They battered his guard with a double combo of identical attacks, with the final overhead slam from both strong enough to bring Sol -who still wasn’t not doing great- momentarily to his knees.

That worked just fine for Jack-O, who vaulted right over him to drop two armfuls of Servants. She managed to catch both by surprise with a gymnastic spin kick that went smoothly into Servant Shoot, kicking all three of her minions right into the enemy. On her command they slapped both Dante and her doppelganger with their lollipops, once, twice, three times before they took the little guys out. By that time Sol got up and ran forward, scooping Jack-O up as he did. Well before getting into melee range the two took one another by the hand, and Sol swung Jack-O like a massive flail. Her pumpkin-shaped hobble became a wrecking ball, awash in green fire, and clobbered the Dantes before they could mount their offense. As they staggered the remarkably limber Jack-O twirled around to land sitting on Sol’s shoulder with her legs crossed, her hobble swinging up to land neatly atop her fingertips.

“What’s the matter?” she taunted. “Not as flexible as you thought?”

“It’s her ‘mode’,” Sol observed. “She switches between them, whether by snappin’ or sayin’ ‘em aloud. She can only warp or guard in the right mode, and this fly…” He narrowed his eyes at the doppelganger. “Thing is one of ‘em.”

Dante laughed. “Figured it out, huh? You oughta thank me for bein’ so stylish. Otherwise you’d have nothin’ to go on!” She shook out her shoulders. “Course, I’m pretty rusty too. Been a minute since I used this one! Let’s pick it up!”

She and her doppelganger split up, charging from different directions as they opened fire with Ebony and Ivory. Jack-O jump off Sol and kicked a servant at the double, which cut the minion in half before it jumped up while charging Round Trip to throw at her. She kicked her own hobble to intercept the double from a mile away and knock it back down, giving her a chance to set up more servants. Meanwhile, Sol’s Fafnir and Dante’s Stinger clashed, with the latter’s reach winning the trade. She launched him with High Time, switched to Lucifer to throw two trios of spikes into him midair, then pulled out Kalina Ann to spear him with the harpoon and reel him in. A mighty punch from Balrog floored him, after which a quick switch to Lucifer allowed her to throw a rose and detonate the spikes. She jumped up to fall on him with Helm Splitter only to get intercepted by his lightning-fast kick and promptly rolled by Fafnir into a ‘corner’, though her combo left the bounty hunter too winded to run after her.

He sent off a Gunflame and turned to see Jack-O mistime a Defend Command and get both herself and her minion hit by the doppelganger’s Stinger. While that move did a world more damage to her than him, she managed to fight through the pain and wake up with an invincible reversal. “Forever…!” Totally immune to the double’s attacks, she grew her hobble to the size of a bell and slammed it down over the swarm of flies, trapping them inside. She then launched into the sky with it, spinning it around, and in a blaze of glory cracked the earth with an incredible pile driver. “Elysion…Driveeeeeeer!”

At that point Dante and Sol were back at it, slugging it out in an all-out brawl of punches, kicks, and slashes. Without Royal Guard to mess up the flow they were neck and neck, with Sol weary but Dante in no particular rush. “You’re smarter than you look, but you brawl like it’s a bar fight!” the devil hunter teased as she swiped at her foe’s legs

“I’ve had my fair share!” Sol told her as he blocked low, then went for a jaw slam with the Outrage.

Dante took it in the chin and used the momentum to flip backward, releasing a twin-pistol charge shot. “You and I oughta grab a drink some time!”

Her opponent sidestepped it. “I’m spoken for!”

“I didn’t mean it like that!”

From Sol’s right sailed a trio of kicked servants. Dante slid forward on her knees with a purple guitar in hand and in a column of lightning destroyed all three. The sight of Jack-O rolling on atop her hobble meant that her doppelganger must have been destroyed, she knew. Dante lifted off the ground and sent a lightning orb toward her with Air Play, prompting Sol to get in the way. “You’re fightin’ me!” he yelled as he swung his blade. He saw Dante snap her fingers, then hurtled backward, electrocuted and limp from the barrage of free hits he took during Quicksilver.

“Uh oh!” Thinking quickly, Jack-O flipped upside-down, anchoring herself by her hobble to a point in the air. She caught Sol and swung upward, dispersing the momentum, then swung back down and unanchored her hobble to sprint toward Dante with Sol held overhead like a servant.

“Thanks,” he grumbled. This woman hadn’t been kidding about her bag of tricks.

Her face lit up with a smile as she looked up at him. “You’re–whoa!”

Jack-O dropped him, then herself to the ground to avoid Dante’s Helm Splitter as she fell from above, having warped over the two. One leg shot up with her hobble atop it to bean Dante in the head before her plunging attack could connect, throwing her off. As her foe landed Jack-O contorted herself to kick at Dante’s ankles, which she then sawed into with her halo. Dante toppled over backward, then rolled into a sitting position. “Whoa. You’re one flexible gal!”

“Thanks!” Having been crouched, Jack-O hopped up alongside Sol, before both spread out to either side of Dante. “Wanna see more?”

“As if that left anything to the imagination!”

The two went in, and Dante went for the weak link. She fired a rocket at Jack-O as she summoned a new servant, then brought out the Cavaliere saws. “Jack-O!” Sol yelled, changing plans in an instant. Hel jumped off the one she swung at him, and over her head, then airdashed backward and expended his Psych Burst to send Dante tumbling away, maxing out his tension in the process. It was a cheap trick, but rather than capitalize he went for the smoke cloud. “Are you okay!?”

“Yeah!” She announced as she flew from the smoke atop her hobble, using it to spit down fireballs at Dante. “Just focus on her!”

“If you think you’re up to it!” Dante added cheerfully, doffing Faust as she lazily sidestepped the fireballs. Another little hat-ghost appeared next to her with its shadowy coat of flies, and she summoned Agni and Rudra to hand. “C’mon, our friends’re getting antsy!”

She swept toward Sol in a cyclone of wind and fire and rained down blows upon him. To open up his defense she switched between Tricker and Swordmaster to teleport above and behind him, with her ghost friend shooting all the while, and it was working. Sol sacrificed some of his newfound meter for a Yellow Roman Cancel to get her off him, while Jack-O threw a servant before she descended on her foe from behind. Switching rapidly, Dante held off both at once for a moment, until Sol managed to snatch and blow up her mini-Faust. Jack-O took the chance to snuck her hobble beneath Dante and detonated it beneath her. In reply the well-done Devil Hunter whipped her swords around in a frenzy, stirring up a tornado of flames that hit both opponents but launched Jack-O way up high.

As she flailed Dante warped up next to her. “You’re a bigger problem than I thought!” she announced, chasing Jack-O with Sky Star. “Let’s get you back off the dance floor!”

Unable to escape the aerial onslaught, Jack-O anchored her hobble and dangled beneath it again. Dante landed on top of it, amused, only for a servant to pop up behind her and thwack her in the back of the head. “Ow!” By the time she turned to dispose of it it had fallen again, allowing one on the other side to appear and hit her, too. “Ow!” Below her, Jack-O juggled her servants faster and faster, tossing them up to hit Dante or force her to block again and again until finally she whirled Faust around to tag all three at once, then dispatch the lot with one three-sixty degree slice. She then thrust her arm into the air and snapped. “Red Hot Night!”

A meteor of crystallized demon blood formed and smashed down on her position in a tremendous impact, strong enough to shake the whole Great Hall. Jack-O screamed as she went flying, only to get cut off as she splatted against the wall above the fountain, where she stayed.

“JACK-OOO!” Sol roared. Despite getting hit by the meteor himself as he tried to help his girlfriend, he staggered to his feet. Unarmed but red-hot with anger, he pointed at Dante. “You’re dead meat, lady!”

The Devil Hunter smiled, a sinister streak showing through. “Oh? The Warden of Decay, the Sovereign of Pestilence, dead meat?” Dark power welled around her, and in an explosion of rippling flesh and foul curses she went into her new Abyss Devil Trigger, becoming a monstrous demonic insect. When she spoke, her voice was warped and inhuman. “I’d like to see you try, Sol!”

“Dragon Install!” Sol reached up and ripped off his headband, causing his eyes and symbols on his skin to blaze with infernal flame. He, too, transformed as he charged, reaching out toward his enemy with a clawed hand. “HRAAAAAH!”

The monster stretched out her wings and focused power through them, releasing a torrent of laser blasts that homed in on Sol like missiles. It was enough to lay practically anyone to waste, but as the bombardment continued, Dante realized that there might be a problem. No matter how many lasers she fired, they were only slowing Sol down. Heavy Mob Cemetery could not be stopped. With no alternative she kept up the pressure, but one foot at a time Sol pushed through, until finally he broke free of the Luca and bulled straight into the monster’s body. He lifted the whole thing off the ground, fifty feet into the air, and then in a pyroclastic plume of flame slammed her into the ground.

In that moment, all of Alcamoth ever-so-slightly tipped.

When the fire and smoke cleared, Sol stood over Dante in a new crater, both in their human forms again. “Hoo…hoo…” Dante panted. Despite being in bad shape, she was grinning ear to ear. “Whew, what a ride! I haven’t had so much fun in ages!” Sol opened his mouth to say something, but the woman on the floor just continued. “Still, we oughta wrap it up before the whole city comes knockin’. Pucker up!”

She blew him a kiss in the form of a bright pink heart. Sol blocked it, but it worked anyway, and in the blink of an eye he was fully restored. The barrage of memories and realizations made him stumble, and he hit the ground in front of Dante as she sat up. “Whah…huh? W-what the hell?”

“Yeah, pretty nuts, right?” Dante smoothed her hair back, a half-smile on her face as she glanced around. “Sorry, everyone. I coulda done that a lot sooner, but…well, it’s not every day you get a scrap like that.” She sighed wistfully. “One that makes you feel alive, y’know! Man, I’ll be ridin’ that high for a while.”

Sol got to his feet, his mollification writ on his face as he took in all the onlookers, including the Door Bosses. “Ugh. What a massive pain. Been a long time since I caused trouble like this…” His eyes landed on Jack-O, and he immediately ran to go and help her down. “Uh…listen. I know I made a mess, but…whatever you did for me, could you do it for Jack-O, too?”

“Least I can do!” Dante cheerfully obliged, offering another friend heart. “And while I’m at it, lemme be the first to say. Welcome to Alcamoth, you crazy-tough sonuva gun. Things’re gonna be a lot livelier with you around, I bet!”

Guile stepped up with a stern expression, his arms crossed. “Before that, I’m afraid you’ve got some explaining to do. I know this all started because we attacked you, but what happened is beyond out of the ordinary. Neither of our bosses are around, I dread to think what’ll happen when Mewtwo and Vandham get back. Talk about a perfect storm.”

Sol grimaced, groaning. Why, oh why did he have to listen to that Yuri girl’s advice?

Being unable to do anything with the Moogle, the trio went to the next stair landing where the walkways branched off into a couple of different areas. None of them looked like they'd bring them above ground. One of them did appear to go up further, not straight up but definitely higher, however it also appeared untrodden. Probably best not to forge a whole new path in an unfamiliar place. So at Raz's question, Therion just shook his head.

He switched to nodding when Jesse suggested asking the locals. "Good idea," he said, and then let her go. Back before... well, this, they'd always let Alfyn or Cyrus handle asking around. Sometimes Primrose or Ophilia, if the situation called. Therion's brand of information gathered had always been passive, so he stayed put right where he was. He turned and leaned against the railing, watching Jesse more to see if she'd get distracted and make a detour like it had seemed she might.

He glanced at Raz when the boy piped up. He'd been expecting that Raz would try and strike up a conversation, since he hadn't seen the kid just be quiet since he'd met him. The topic was unexpected though, and Therion squinted his one visible eye as he thought about how to answer it.

"...I don't really know how to describe it," he said after a bit of time thinking. "I'm not a mage or a scholar. It's like energy. But, yeah, I use it for my powers." Therion dragged out the last word, wiggling the fingers on one hand in a mock-spooky manner. Of course, his actual magic was still unusable for whatever reason. Stupid sun-monster thing.

The thief watched Raz's display while fully intending not to show off his own skills. He couldn't blame the kid for trying to earn some trust, after all he was surrounded by adults for the most part and he was expected to fight alongside them. But Therion couldn't do the same, even if the only witness was a little psychic boy. He wouldn't hold himself back in battle, but a demonstration like this? No way. Still, after Raz was done Therion let out an impressed whistle. His magic - or, his 'powers' - did seem useful.

Then Raz let out a comment so casual about mind-reading that Therion almost missed it. Mind-reading? Seriously? The thought nearly brought Therion's brain screeching to a halt, and he hardly focused on what the psychic was explaining after that. He registered portal, into people's minds, willing to let me -

"No."

Therion stared at Raz, his hackles raised like a startled cat. His eye shifted from Raz's face to the little door he held in his hand. Going directly into someone's brain should be impossible, but in this hodgepodge world? Therion believed it was possible. And the thought of someone going into his mind, seeing him at his lowest - locked up, or bloodied, or betrayed, literally broken into pieces - was not something he wanted to entertain in the slightest.

He pushed himself off of the railing to stand, and when he next addressed Raz his voice was hard and serious.

"Do not use that on me. And don't read my mind."

Well, he couldn't make himself any clearer than that. If someone else wanted to do it, then so be it. But not him.

Jesse returned with news that if they tried getting above ground from here they'd have a hell of a time doing it, so it was best to move on. Therion agreed, and he led the way back down the staircase toward the station without stopping to wonder about the upsides of being eaten versus being dusted. He wanted to walk off the uneasiness in his chest, so he didn't pause until he was back on the train.

---

Like their previous ride on the metro Therion stayed quiet, though this time the whole way through. He'd even been trying to think less, given what Raz had revealed earlier, but that was a futile effort. He found it harder to relax than usual. He settled for exuding don't read my mind energy and hoping their little teammate would keep the mental probing to himself. When the vehicle pulled into the station Therion stood swiftly, stepping off the train he took in the place.

This station looked very... plain. But hey, maybe that was good news. Therion climbed the stairs with the other two members of their scouting team and about a dozen or so other people and creatures. Once outside of the subway, the second stop on the purple line greeted them with a similar ambiance as the first. The dull, ethereal glow of floating jellyfish was replaced with the stationary light of giant mushrooms, and in place of carved rock were dark outlines of a large city. It was interesting, not quite the same as the area around Queen's Station (way less bugs for one), but almost. At least this place had buildings and other makings of civilization.

Once the initial wonder at the new area wore off, something occurred to Therion. Something that no doubt occurred to Jesse and Raz as well. The fungus being the main source of foliage, the stone surrounding everything, the darkness so completely black wherever it wasn't broken up by paltry lights...

"We're still underground," the thief said. The Moogles probably wouldn't be able to do whatever it was they did here either... unless this place just happened not to be as far into the earth as Queen's Station. Therion doubted that. This trip was beginning to feel like a huge waste of time, and annoyance tinted his voice. In the grand scheme of things, this mission they'd been assigned wasn't crucial - more convenience than anything, and there were a handful of other teams that could find the place they were actually looking for. Still, it didn't feel great. Therion didn't summon a Moogle this time, as it was clear on his face how he expected it to go. His hands itched with desire to do something constructive, or maybe destructive, so instead he shoved them into his pockets.

"These are the only two stops on this line, yeah? Feel like checking this place out?"

At this point Therion didn't care if they stayed or just went back to Edinsomething Magicwhatever. As the other two gave their thoughts Therion's eyes traced the lit path up to the resort that the station was named after, wondering if there was anything inside worth taking. Or at the very least a bar to visit.

This next area, the next stop on the line was... Well there was a reason Sectonia cast her castle in endless moonlight instead of endless twilight. "The sun in such a spot is painful to the eyes." Sectonia said, meaning in more ways than one. Still, this place was a thriving metropolis that kept itself very clean and proper from the look of things, which is a huge step up from everywhere before Sectonia had seen in settings like this. Although the overcast of perpetual orange did the town no favors.

Glancing at the eternal sunset again, Sectonia counted the hours from when they woke up and what the time was in the previous zone they were in with how long the train ride was, and came to the conclusion that this sun was magically created, or controlled. This got her interested, or at least interested to send out some antillions to get the lay of the town. Considering there were other creatures such as walking turtles and mushrooms, she figured they wouldn't cause much trouble.

With that done, she looked for a good high point as it was, of course, up to her to get the lay of the land with that moogle creature. Thankfully it didn't take too long to find the tallest building, a large clocktower. "Lets hope this area isn't as hostile as the last one." With that being said to her allies, she made her way to the clock tower. She summoned the moogle when she had found a good spot, a seemingly well worn section of the clock tower.

"Here is the other stop." Sectonia said curtly to the Moogle, glancing around much like the Moogle to get the lay of the land and see if there would be anything that would be of interest to her.

-------------------------------------------------------------



Susie still observed the fight going on, waiting for the big koopa to do something. She wasn't going to get involved unless she needed to, especially without her business suit. Blazermate meanwhile helped Kamek heal up all the injured guards and got a fair amount of medaforce for her work. The intruders, people that Dante, the main defender, seemed to know. Blazermate had no idea how Dante knew this person, but either way, it seemed they were fighting pretty seriously. Blazermate did remember Dante was not an easy person to fight, but a little bit of help couldn't hurt.

Although this soon wasn't needed as Dante had wrapped up the fighting as Blazermate was going to buff him. So much for that idea. "Aw man. oh well." Blazermate said. Susie, seeing the situation was over and dealt with, went back to fiddling with her market sales on her PDA.

Following the battle, Pit and Geralt parted ways. It hadn't exactly ended on a high note, so it stood to reason that they were eager to split up afterward. Once back from the plaza and into the Alcamoth proper, Pit walked quickly through the arc mall. His movements were stiff, his mouth was pressed tightly closed, and his eyes were wide. No one looked at him differently than they usually did, after all why would they? But it felt like they should have.

At first Pit just went aimlessly in wide circles, moving just to move. When that didn't help him feel any better he decided to go up. Forgoing the many lifts and elevators in the indoor city, the angel climbed the stairwells between levels. It was a long way up, but by the time Pit made it to the top floor he still wasn't winded. Well, at least he hadn't run into Yennefer along the way.

He made a beeline toward the massive lift in the center of the structure, the one that would take people all the way to the top of Alcamoth. Usually Pit spent his time in Smash City on guard duty, whether keeping an eye on the area to make sure nothing nefarious approached the floating city or serving as one of the people that helped free others from Galeem's influence. Sometimes he ran missions, though it wasn't often. Rarer still when he was feeling particularly bad or lonely he would come here and let the multi-legged machine bring him high above the rest of Alcamoth. It helped a little to be as close to the clouds as possible. If Skyworld still existed it was as close to it as he could get at the moment. Normally, no one used the lift. Or if they did it was infrequence enough that the few times Pit had used it, he'd been able to go right in ride it to the top. Today though, of all days, it was missing.

Pit stared at the spot it usually sat, the gears in his brain turning slowly and working to catch up to his eyes. When it finally did he let out a pathetic sounding whine and brought his hands up to the side of his head, gripping his hair. "It's gone...?! Why does it have to be gone!"

The staff and patrons of the parapet cafe watched Pit with a mixture of amusement and pity as he spun in a circle, dramatically yelling "Gaaaaaaah!" at the ceiling. Without the ability to fly he couldn't just go up to the top himself either. He wanted to just fall onto his back and lay there, but seeing as that would be a nuisance for everyone trying to get around he instead let his arms fall to his sides and pulled himself over to a railing near the lift's entrance. He rested his arms against it and dropped his forehead onto them, standing at an angle. For a couple of minutes he just stood like that, but eventually he peeked out from his arms and over the railing to watch all of the people going about their business on the floors below.

"..." It was calming, watching over everyone, but he still felt... gross. Wrong. It was a sickening feeling, similar to the one he felt back when the Chaos Kin had taken over his body. Being trapped in that ring, seeing everything his body had been doing without his soul to pilot it had been awful. But he could rationalize it, since it wasn't him doing it. This wasn't the same. Letting out a groan Pit dropped his head into his arms again. He raised one hand to gently card the leaves of the golden laurel that rested in his hair. The Goddess of Light hadn't answered him once since he'd been free of Galeem, and she was unlikely to now. For all he knew she was still under the evil light's influence and unable to even receive his thoughts. Still, even if it hurt not to get a response, it was better than not trying.

Lady Palutena... I could really use your help right now! Some advice, or one of your jokes, or... or anything... even just a word...

...I wouldn't even mind getting teased by you. Lady Palutena, please...

The only voice in his head remained his own. Pit took a deep breath and dropped his hand, letting it dangle over the railing. He stayed there, mostly still, trying to get his feelings under control. It was a little bit later that he heard the lift coming back down. The next best thing to hearing the Goddess' voice was feeling the wind between his feathers, so he still planned to ride it. He gripped the railing in both hands and pushed himself to stand straight up - and with his gaze going from the ground to straight out of the glass walls that surrounding Smash City he noted that dark clouds had tumbled into the area.

"Seriously?" he said to himself, letting out a long sigh. The central shaft went so high up that even if it wasn't raining down here, it was sure to be up there.

While the angelic solider considered whether he wanted to sulk in the rain or not, the doors to the lift opened behind him. He turned to look and found himself frozen in place, arms and wings held up in surprise at the people exiting. It was some of the Seekers! Bowser Jr. and... the other ones! The thought of turning tail and leaving the area occurred to Pit, like the Witcher's teammates could sense what had happened. It was a shameful thought, and Pit shook his head to clear it. He was still himself, still a representative of the Alcamoth and the veteran Smash Bros., and he wouldn't shirk his duties or avoid taking responsibility! ...and so, he should at least say hi.

Pit approached the group while waving, after they said their goodbyes to a little top hat-wearing girl (he, too, had glanced over the railing to make sure she was alright after leaping). "Hey! You all just came from the top, right? It's a pretty nice view." He started with. Then he cleared his throat a bit awkwardly, preparing for a proper introduction.

"I still haven't really met most of you, so - uh, I'm Pit! It's the first time here at Smash City for some of you, isn't it? Well let me know if you ever need help with anything!" The angel placed a fist over his chest in salute, pushing a smile onto his face for the group.

With an unanimous vote, the gathered party hopped onto the platform for a long trip upwards. It was...surprisingly stable. Omori could wander around without the risk of getting thrown off his feet. Though the nice view he found himself staring at was soon blocked by the elevator shaft and some...

Okay, the music was a bit too intense for something as simple as an elevator. Did this used to be an arena? Atleast the others were feeling amped up. To the point where Nadia had the idea of training while they waited. She especially wanted to see how he faired in battle. Well, if it's going to be 1v1, he might as well. Omori walked up to face one of the summoned Copycats, and drew his trusty blade.

...

..

A few minor bruises, but nothing that wouldn't heal on it's own. Omori decided to practice at a steady pace, sometimes looking over to the real Nadia to see if he needed to slow down some. By his movements and how he held himself, it was clear he had some prior experience in fights. But something to note was when he used Sad Poem. The silhouette of a blue book appeared in front of him, flipping through a few of it's own pages. Was it a spell? Whatever it was, it seemed to make him sad, his gaze turning downcast. He took less damage, but his actions were slower than when he felt neutral.

Time passed, and the group finally reached their destination. When their practice battle ended, Omori took a deep breath, and like the flip of a switch he returned to his usual indifference. Despite being in what's essentially pyjamas, the cold didn't seem to affect him. He glanced around, pocketing his weapon, and followed the rest to the edge of the summit.

Woah.

To think, if Omori didn't conquer his fear of heights, he wouldn't be able to see views like this. So this is where he ended up. He couldn't see the small planet that made up Otherworld, but...

The youth took a seat at the ledge, letting his legs dangle off to the side. The curious gleam in his eye had returned. The flash of lightning and the roar of thunder only meant a storm was drawing near. And soon, he felt a drop of rain land on his head like an arrow hitting a bullseye. Another landed on his shoulder, another on his back earning a faint shiver from it's target. But he didn't mind in the slightest. Yeah. This was nice.

...

Okay, now he was just getting drenched. With the moment of peace ruined, Omori hurried back to the lift behind Nadia and Hatty. Not only did it take less time to go back down, but they managed to dry off a good bit. Hatty ran on ahead of them a few steps once they landed, as if trying to figure out where they could go next. Right, there wasn't any word from the other team yet. Unfortunately, it looked like the smaller kid wasn't going to stay with them for the long run. He waved goodbye to Hatty with a smile, and watched as she left.

"...Good luck."

Though that wouldn't be the end of introductions it seems. An angel, Pit, approached the remaining group to say hello. A ray of sunshine in contrast to Omori's gloom. Then again, that comparison can apply to any of his other friends. "Omori." He spoke up again, lifting a hand up slightly. "Anywhere else we can kill time at?" He asked next, though the question could be concidered in general.

There was a bit more commotion than usual in the Market Street, all thanks to some new arrivals. This wasn't particularly unusual, new arrivals came every so often and would cause a brief stir. But things had a habit simmering back down after a day or so. In fact, the only reason Roxas even became aware of any new arrivals was because he happened to be out patrolling when the commotion started. He wasn't alone, either. Hush the Sram Rogue was nearby as well. When Roxas looked to him after the commotion after the commotion started, the Sram just offered a shrug. It wasn't until they went a little further up Market Street that they heard a familiar voice calling them over.

"Hey Hush, Roxas, over here quick!" it was Nock, the Cra Archer. He was gesturing to them while focusing his gaze on something happening above him, "Up there, you see it?" he was motioning toward the Clock Tower. Roxas and Hush looked up and had to squint their eyes before they finally spotted what Nock had seen.

"What... what is that?" asked Roxas, having never seen anything like it before.

"I think it's a... bug of some kind?" Hush offered with a shrug.

"Some sort of bee." said Nock, able to more easily discern details from farther away thanks to his training as a sharpshooter, "And it must be a pretty big one too to be visible from this distance."

"What's it doing?" asked Roxas, straining his eyes to try and see it more clearly.

"I dunno." answered Nock, "And Ram's nowhere around to try and tell us either. I just hope it's not trying to make a nest or it could be trouble."

"Well? Only one way to find out." said Hush, offering the same suggestion the other two were thinking.

"Yeah, I agree." said Roxas, "Let's see, can you report this back to the commander, Nock?" asked Roxas, gesture back toward the direction of the Barracks, "Hush and I will get a closer look."

"You're not gonna try and fight it alone?" asked Nock with an incredulous tone.

"Nah, not if we don't have to." answered Roxas with a shake of his head, "I just wanna take a closer look and find out what it is first. Once you catch up with us with some backup, then we'll decide what to do."

"Alright, sounds good. Be right back." and with that, Nock took off back toward the Barracks.



Roxas and Hush had taken off further up the Market Street in the direction of the Clock Tower. But the two quickly realized that the crowded street would get them there too slowly for their liking. Roxas spotted what looked like a decent route they could take via the rooftops to avoid the crowds and bolted straight for it, "Follow my lead!" he told Hush. And moments later went sprinting by a two of the new arrivals without even realizing it.

The two strangers in question would probably notice fairly quickly that these two individuals were bolting in the same direction that their companion had flown off in. In fact, if they watched them for long enough, they would see the one with the skull face vanish altogether and become invisible while the black-coated blonde kid appeared to run straight up the wall of a nearby shop building in order to reach its rooftop. From there he seemed to quickly and spryly dash, jump, and even rail-grind his way across the Market Street rooftops and in the direction of the Clock Tower that the Queen Bee had gone off to.

As the fight between Dante and Sol ramped up, Geralt found himself carefully tracking their movements with his eyes. They were bombastic fighters, that much was for sure. They moved around, constantly clashing blades, fists, and all other manner of weaponry. The fight, for all of a few seconds, almost seemed even, but Dante slowly started overpowering Sol with each exchange. Even when she seemed defeated, bouncing against some sort of...barrier? He assumed Mewtwo had something to do with that, even if the creature wasn't present at the moment. Even then, Dante got back to her feet in short order, while Sol gave them all a one-finger salute that transcended cultures. "Hah!" Geralt barked out a laugh, content to watch. If Dante went down, well...that was a different story.

But Dante did not go down, and round two of their fight was even more bombastic than the first, with Sol's girlfriend Jack-O joining the fight. Dante created some sort of copy of herself to engage in the fight, though that was quickly dissipated and the fight was two against one. Dante, however, proved to be more than sufficient, as Jack-O went down in short order, with Sol following not long after. The final blow having had enough force to tilt the entire floating city, even only a little, though?

That concerned Geralt. He wasn't afraid to admit it. That kind of power in one person was immensely worrying. He wasn't even sure Eredin or Imlerith would have been capable of that. Of course, it might have been from the Spirits Dante had absorbed, but even then...

Well, she was on their side (at least for now), so it wasn't of immediate concern. While Dante gave a Friend Heart to Sol and Jack-O, Geralt found himself sliding over to join Sakura and Karin. "One hell of a fight, huh?" He said, unintentionally giving Sakura even more reason to gush about what they'd seen. "Hate to be on the wrong side of Dante's arsenal." He added, more quietly. It was nothing against Sol, the man had held out longer than Geralt felt he'd be able to, but that was no reason to pour salt in the wound, given that he was surely going to be getting an earful about the sheer scale of the fight.

He looked up, to where Bowser and Kamek were, waving the two down to join the slowly-growing group. "Hopefully the Yellow Team reports start coming in soon. Nice as it was to get a little friendly spar in, I'm anxious to get more work in on Galeem. Get to Midgar, and start working on that, too."

Jr grumbled as his suggestion that they bailed didn’t get responded to right away and so after only about a half dozen drops plopped down on his head he had had enough of being rained on. The boy prince hopped out of his car and then proceeded to pick it up, flipping it upside down in order to hold it above his head and use it as an umbrella.

”Blech, fine, get wet all you want, see if I care!” he complained from beneath his shield.

”Aw come on, its not that bad” Rika replied cheerfully, although she quickly changed her tune when her new sundress started getting wet and it, unlike the pirate-y or swimsuits-y clothes she’d had on, did not respond well to the drenching.

”Oh ok ew that is not fun” she complained as she raised her gauntlets over her head to block the rain, though the way they did not slot together and instead left a gap meant she got water dripped on the head and shoulders quite a bit.

Thus both she joined Jr and Omori in hurrying over to the elevator, and being thankful that it both sped its way down and had a rain shield that closed up above them to block out the downpour.

Once at the bottom there was a twining of farewells and greetings, starting with the hat wearing kid running off on her own adventure/quest to gather up all her ship’s fuel.

”Bye! Have fun and stay safe whatever your name is!” Rika called after her, while Jr just shrugged, somewhat indifferent to her departure. They hadn’t exactly been close despite Jr’s perhaps miss guided attempts to change that.

As for the greeting, well, here was Pit who they’d met once at the meeting and Jr vaguely knew from smash. Unlike with his dad there hadn’t been any kind of world warping adventure attached to the tournament he’d been in, and as there was a difference between competing with/against someone and going through an actual crisis side by side with them, his familiarity with the angel was a fair bit lesser than Bowsers.

”Sup Pit” Jr greeted him simply, while Rika gave him a little hand wave and a nod in agreement to how good the view was as she said ”Yeah it really was, I didn’t know there was so much stuff in the world!” before thinking for a moment and adding ”Oh and I’m Rika, nice to meet you. I like your pretty wings”

The lack of any kind of city wide alert or moogle showing up ment they still had time to kill, something Omori noted and took Pit up on his offer about tapping into his knowledge of smash city to ask if there was anywhere else they could spend time.

”Like somewhere to eat? All that fighting and training means has left me hungry” Jr said, despite the fact that he’d been passive through most of it. Rika nodded enthusiastically at the idea, having contrastingly put lots of effort in over the last little while that had worked up a fair bit of an appetite.

---

Someone who was way ahead of them on the whole food front was Bowser. The king, having been denied a throw down by the spotlight hogging Dante, had gone and gotten a second serving of shrimp which he was sitting on the stairs and munching through like popcorn while watching Dante throw down with the two intruders. His enthusiasm was somewhere between the noisy Sakura and the cool Karin, giving the odd call of encouragement, but mostly focusing on munching and watching.

Kamek, once she had seen to the wounded (who seemed to have come off rather lightly considering the damage being thrown around and giving a pretty clear indication that the pair had pulled their punches) had settled down next to her king alongside some of those same said wounded who where fit enough to sit and watch. Together they made up something of a little spectator gallery joining in Sakura’s cheering, especially from those that had lost to the intruders and who had a personal stake in seeing them get their comeuppance.

Get it they did, Dante and her endless bag of tricks not quite wiping the floor with them, but certainly showing herself to be head and shoulders above the couple when it came to competence and sheer style. The ending of the fight was met with cheers and applause from the miscellaneous onlookers.

”Well done Dante, and thank you two for not hurting anyone too badly while under the influence of Galeem” Kamek called down, adding just a little bit of positive spin to Guile’s sour faced take on the situation

”Eh you two were lucky Dante jumped in before I got in the ring, else you’d have seen what a real trouncing looked like. I’m the one who freed her after all” Bowser added, leaving out just oh so many details of that little confrontation in the name of being his boastful self as he and Kamek followed Geralt’s beckoning for them to wander down to join the reforming Blue team group.

”As for getting back in the action, well, I for one am appreciating all the downtime I can get before we go back to the grindstone. It's not like we really have a time pressure on us or anything, what with Galeem being passive and the master hand being reactionary in its methods of opposing us, so plenty of rest and preparation can only help our cause” Kamek replied to the Witcher’s notion about wanting to get back out there.

Bowser meanwhile had the opposite opinion ”Nah I get ya, it’s well past time we got back out there and started smashing shmucks into dust again. Can’t let that big flappy glowball get comfy thinking we ain't coming for its neck…? head…? orb! Yeah that! Plus there was that whole city that was in trouble or something right? I’m guessing you here types are chomping at the bit to go save that place.”

Rubick left the opposite way Karin did, not wanting to be near her for the time being. After all, how dare she say she won when he so obviously took pity on her? It wasn't his fault she was so boring to fight against. Well, that and the fact that he had yet to regain his attack-oriented spells. He could still remember the days he Fade Bolted a group of magicians and ran away chuckling while they recovered and chased after him, slinging their own spells his way.

As he walked, he came across a door. On it was the label "Item Storeroom". Rubick stared at it for a second, briefly wondering what was inside. Of course, he couldn't resist his curiosity and opened the door. What lay before him was a plethora of items and gadgets that Rubick had never seen before. He knew that he just had to try as many as he could.

Rubick first picked up the Staff. He waved it up and down experimentally, trying to figure out how it worked. He then gave it a proper swing, which caused the Staff to fire a beam. Wide-eyed, Rubick stared at the resulting scorch mark on the opposite wall. He eyes darted back and forth between it and the Staff in his hands before finally putting the item in his robes while saying to himself, "Whoops! I should be more careful."

He then promptly forgot his resolution and continued to try more items with reckless abandon. He picked up a banana, wondering what a food item was doing in here, which then fired its contents like a gun when Rubick accidentally touched the trigger area and left him with an empty banana peel in his hand. Tossing it behind him, Rubick continued on and picked up a Ray Gun. Fortunately, he had enough sense to keep the open end away from him. He didn't want any projectiles flying into his face in case it worked the same way the banana did. He gave it a brief examination, turning it around in his hands, before placing it inside his robes as well.

There was a comically giant hammer lying around, but when Rubick tried to pick it up, the head immediately slipped off the handle, prompting Rubick to toss it aside. There was a stopwatch device on a nearby shelf, but Rubick could not figure out the purpose of the item, despite clicking the button several times. He was going to put it away when he accidentally knocked over a Bob-omb. Rubick jumped back, but he quickly noticed how slowly it was falling to the ground. He walked back over to it, wondering why it was so slow. Before he could connect the dots together, however, the Bob-omb exploded, knocking Rubick back into another shelf.

While he was unconscious, a Healing Sprout rolled off the shelf, landing on and sticking to his head, slowly healing him. It did not take long for Rubick to regain consciousness. Looking around, he soon noticed that the storeroom was a mess. Not wanting to be caught, Rubick decided that he spent enough time in here. Quickly swiping another item at random (a Star Rod), he left the Item Storeroom and tried to make his way back to the group. Wherever they were, it would hopefully not be too far.

At the end of it all, Sakura’s loudness was NOT an issue. It was drowned out by huge yells and even huger weapons. Sakura was shocked into silence as she felt the entire place tilt to the side on a particularly climactic hit. For a moment, Karin feared Sakura had passed out standing up, until she snapped back into a reality with a fangirlish squeal like she had just watched her favorite boyband perform.

“Wasn’t it AMAZING, Mister Geralt? The power! I’ve only ever heard of people that strong back where I’m from!” Sakura gushed just as predicted, clenches fists vibrating under her chin.

”It was- fine.” Karin said, somewhat dismissively. ”If Sol was trying to, say… destroy a dam. If Dante hadn’t been so focused on using her projectiles she could have jumped right over it. That’s the problem with focusing on power instead of technique. It gives you tunnel vision.”

“Yeah hey cool except shut up! Any of them would have wiped the floor with you!” Sakura poked Karin.

”I doubt it.” Karin dismissed the idea outright.

Sakura wouldn’t let it go. “That new guy beat Mister Guile- oh, hey, it’s Mister Guile!” Sakura waved at the ever-serious soldier. The two weren’t exactly friends or anything, but they definitely knew each other. They were both street fighters! Sakura believed that all street fighters were at least, a little bit, buddies. There were only so many weirdos on the planet that got into it, after all, they had to be kindred spirits on some level.

”Yes, Mister Guile is exceptionally talented. But it was a two-on-five! Who knows how that fight happened? No. Perhaps I can’t defeat five talented fighters at once, but I can certainly beat the person who can.” Karin said proudly. She fully believed her duelist skills were unmatched. She DEFINITELY knew she could defeat Jack-O. Minions weren’t meant fight along side. Minions- excuse her, employees, were only to match the forces of the villain. Karin never hid behind her army. Instead, she trained them to face off against the forces of evil. The day Sakura had to fight through an army of ninjas to get to Karin was the day Karin shaved her head and took up house-keeping!

Now it was Sakura’s turn to be unimpressed. Had Karin already forgotten that Sakura JUST beat her up on the beach? “Man. I’m surprised you made your hair so big when you need to stuff your head up your own butt so much.” Sakura teased, totally blindsiding Karin. ”N-na-?!”

But Sakura had already moved on. Despite being the one she was rooting against, she loved a fighter who shouted the name of their attacks as they did them. She hopped up in the air and brought her fist down a few times as she walked forward. “Bandit Bringer…Bandit…Bringer!” She said to herself.

“Anyway- Mister Geralt. Mister Kamek, Mister Bowser- I wanna hear details! I know, I know, we’re busy and gotta save the world but- come on! How did your fights go? I had a great fight with Cadet- I won, by the way- and I think I learned a lot! About potions, bombs, and grenades.” She bobbed her head a bit, dodging invisible potions. “Did you guys do okay? Learn anything, win or lose?”

After another brief moment of silence, Nadia shook her head and breathed in, trying to freshen herself up. She’d said her goodbyes; it was time to move forward. “Alrighty then, this kitty’s had enough introspectin’ fur one mornin’,” she announced, as much to herself as to Omori, Junior, Bella, and Rika. She pushed herself up off the railing and put her hands on her hips while she addressed the others. “Well, rain or no rain, I’m su-purr glad Hatty brought us up there! Never seen a view like that in all my twenty-somethin’ years.” And yet, scarcely did she say the words before her focus began to drift again. While she wouldn’t be forgetting that breathtaking vista anytime soon, the reality of the World of Light was that her rooftop trip was just the latest in a long line of incredible experiences. While a bird’s-eye view amazed her, it also got her stoked to actually go out and explore the places she’d gotten a sneak peek at–to see this world’s wonders up close and personal.

Already the feral looked around the parapet cafe, keeping an eye out for anything else that might turn out to be interesting. Of everything present, however, her eyes settled on the tea and coffee menus. Raspberry, hibiscus, milk, cream. It all sounded good, but as she patted down her pockets Nadia realized there might be a slight problem. “Man, I’m parched. Could really do with a drink right now, but I spent my last bits o’ gold gettin’ pancakes!” Shrugging, Nadia snickered to herself. “Heh, maybe I shoulda just opened my mouth while standin’ in the rain up there, eh? Oh well.” Folding her arms behind her head, she continued her search. “Let’s see what other cool stuff this place’s got!”

As luck would have it, the first thing that Alcamoth had for Nadia was an angel. When Pit approached she waved back, wearing her typical genial smile. “Heya!” she replied. “You’re darn tootin’! Bein’ able to see so far just about blew my ever-lovin’ mind. Guess I’m lucky I ain’t scared of heights, huh? We woulda been up there longer, but it started rainin’ cats and dogs.” While the others might not feel the same way, Nadia found Pit’s awkward earnestness rather endearing. He looked like the textbook definition of the sweet, innocent kid archetype, straightforward and oblivious but lovable.

His funny name certainly didn’t ruin that impression, either. “Pit, huh?” the cat burglar grinned. “Sounds like you and a certain princess I know would make a peach of a pair! You can call me Ms. Fortune.” Not knowing any better, she returned his salute. “I’m purr-etty sure I saw you earlier in the meetin’ room, right? Didn’t get the chance to say hi though. Pleased to meetcha for real!”

The others introduced themselves, and Omori went on to ask the question that happened on Nadia’s mind as well. Junior and Rika, meanwhile, wanted food. She was all ears as Pit went to answer their questions, happy to hear any suggestions he might have on ways to pass the time.

His advice would not, as it turned out, be necessary. As Nadia and her friends spoke atop the dividing wall, a loud, clear tone rang out through the Ark Mall below them, followed by the stern, no-nonsense voice of Mission Control. “Attention, all Seekers of Light,” he said, his amplified words echoing through the wide-open space. “Operation Metro is a success. Please report to the Garfont Center A.S.A.P. for mission briefing. Over.” The transmission ended with a staticky click, and the silence it left behind quickly turned to excited chatter all over.

Nadia’s face lit up with excitement as she looked around at the others. “Wow, already!? It’s been, what, an hour? Not that I’m complainin’, let’s get a mewve on!” She sprinted through the cafe from the park side railing to the mall side, deftly weaving around the chairs and tables, and peered over the edge to assess the situation. Nine stories made for a long drop, much longer than she could stretch, and while a cat always lands on her feet, there was no guarantee the rest of her would survive the impact. Even if the Life Gem would let her recover from such a fall, she did not relish the pain. But at the same time, she wasn’t about to entertain the thought of going all the way around to use the spiral staircases. Not when today’s big mission was about to begin, and there wasn’t time to waste! Then it hit her: the perfect way to descend from a height, one that she’d employed with great success many times before. It made so much sense that she’d already put one foot up on the railing to jump when she remembered that the others couldn’t follow suit. Still, Junior could give Rika and Omori a ride down with his Clown Car, right? Nothing for her to worry about. Convinced, she climbed up on the railing. “Last one there’s a rotten egg!”

The cat burglar leaped, then twisted around as she fell to harden her nails into steel-hard claws. As the wind whipped her ears, hair, clothes, and tail she pushed her claws into the surface of the grand atrium’s dividing wall, at which point she came to the sudden realization that its constituent material might be tougher than she gave her credit for. Sudden panic flooded through her as she failed to get enough of a grip to slow her freefall. “Oh, no.” Clenching her teeth, she pushed harder and harder, but no luck. Bloody steams blasted out from her ankles, but it wasn’t enough, and she lacked the time to build up pressure. Time seemed to slow down as adrenaline pumped through her veins. Part of her wanted to squeeze her eyes shut and brace for impact, but she forced herself to keep her eyes open as her mind raced. Think, moron, think! Nadia screamed internally. There has to be something I can do. There has to be! I just need to remember! She gasped. Remember, remember…!

She split herself apart into ten pieces: head, torso, arms, hands, legs, and feet. From the cut-off points of all ten she blasted out her vital fluid, slowing the descent of her much lighter components, and just in time. Nadia’s pieces rained down just a moment later, their impacts no worse than that of a stubbed toe. As her head came to rest, she sighed in relief and began to pull herself together. “Jeez, that coulda been bad,” she breathed. “I gotta be more careful.” At no point did she consider that to any onlookers, it might appear as though she hit the ground at terminal velocity and exploded.

Not long after she stood in the Garfont Center meeting room, upright and attentive as if nothing had gone wrong. Along with her and rife with anticipation waited the other Seekers, gathered together after their dispersal throughout Alcamoth following the end of their sparring matches. Apparently, while she, Junior, Omori, and the Abyssals went topside, some sort of big duel went down on the bottom floor, but Nadia still knew only the barest details. She did notice the Peach sported a new battle outfit that made her look totally different, like some kind of superhero. For now though, her focus lay on Mission Control like everyone else.

“Thank you for coming, Seekers,” the surly-looking dwarf told them, lit from behind by the green glow of his holographic charts. “At this time, we have discovered what we believe is the closest Metro station to Alcamoth, just as planned. It’s here.” He pinged a spot on the map table way to the southeast, on a wide peninsula that faced the ocean not too far from their current location. “Twilight Town, so called due to a localized atmospheric phenomenon that bathes the area in permanent dusk. It appears to be a peaceful place, so conditions are perfect for a rendezvous. This is the route you will take.” A dotted line appeared on the map, extending from Alcamoth across the Eryth Sea, through the winding river canyon among the mountains, and out to the open ocean before heading south. “You’ll be going by water. In lieu of the Virgin Victory, which is still in Gerudo Town, our personnel have prepared transport in the vehicle bay, which will descend to the surface of the Eryth Sea imminently. We also have some mini-maps for you with the course plotted out, so that you don’t lose your way. Rock and stone, Seekers. Rock and stone.”

What followed was a mad dash across Alcamoth, out of the main atrium and to one of the neighboring domes. The moogles helped usher everyone in the right direction, so the whole affair turned into a race. With no passengers on her shoulders Nadia could really let her speed and agility shine, allowing her to leave most of her friends in her dust, although it all amounted to nothing anyway since the vehicle bay dome required everyone present before it could be lowered. That gave Nadia a little time to scope out the transport provided by Alcamoth’s personnel, which turned out to be just one person: the blocky craftsman, Steve. That left a sinking feeling in Nadia’s stomach, which ended up being well-founded when Steve revealed that the things she assumed to be boxes of some kind were in fact the Seekers’ watercraft: rectangular wooden rowboats of various sizes.

Nadia tried to hide her incredulity. “These?” she asked as she knelt by one, which got her a nod from Steve. “Won’t that be…really, really hard?”

“Actually, these boats are very easy to row, kupo!” one of the Moogles told her. “And once you get going, they go really fast. I’ve seen it, kupo!”

“Uh huh…” Like any good cat, Nadia went and sat inside the box, where she took one of the oars in her hands to get a feel for it. Its angular edges did not strike her as particularly ergonomic. She cast an envious look at Ace and Peach. “Kinda makes me wish I kept that shipgirl spirit, after all!”

Once everyone was ready, the dome began to lower. Whatever antigravity technology it incorporated made the descent as smooth as Nadia’s ride on the spider lift. Steve took the opportunity to give everyone their maps as well, which were paper and would have been totally mundane if not for little arrows that moved along with their holders to mark their current locations. As the dome got closer to the surface the bay doors opened, allowing water to rush in and flood the lower section of the floor, turning the bay into a sort of futuristic dock. Along with the others Nadia dragged her boat into the water and hopped in. Surprisingly, it didn’t really rock back and forth, maybe owing to its flatness. After taking up her oars Nadia looked out across the Eryth Sea in the midst of the pouring rainstorm, thanked her lucky stars that she didn’t mind getting wet anymore, and took a deep breath. Step one: cut across the Eryth Sea. Step two: navigate the winding canyon river. After that…well, if she got that far without encountering any sea monsters or raging rapids, she’d come up with future steps. “Well…water we waitin’ for? Here goes nothin’.”



The boutique that caught Tora’s interest bore the name Glorious Karnaca, and the plaque outside the prestigious-looking place made it seem less like the average upscale shop, and more like some sort of cultural emporium. He stepped inside full of curiosity, excited to see a vertical slice of everything that made this new location special, and the establishment did not disappoint.

Each of the emporium’s corners featured an overarching theme based around an element of its storied history. One of them seemed to be dedicated to a period known as the First Silver Age, wherein the coastal city’s prosperity first abounded thanks to the discovery of rich veins underground. Various bits and bobs from that very early Karnaca could be found both on display along the walls and for sale on the racks and shelves on the floor, all hundreds of years old–or perhaps tailor-made to look that way. Tools, materials, and collectibles of the island’s original settlers could be found down the aisle from mining equipment that still found use in more recent times, long after the silver veins had dried up. Though not glamorous, it was this era that evidently started Karnaca down the long road to where it ended up today, but despite the glint of all the silverware on sale Tora found the whole display pretty dull. For now at least, he did not care to absorb its historical value.

Another fourth of the building centered around its high arts period, a direct result of the aforementioned Silver Age. Thanks to the influx of settlers and heightened cash flow, the arts and music that were once the purvey of pirates got adopted by high society, and they flourished with the help of the noble patrons. The silks and satins of fine party clothes caught the eye, and Tora found a number of cool-looking instruments around the area, but since the signs insisted that they weren’t to be toyed with Tora quickly lost interest. In his eyes, if an instrument could not be played, it held no more value than any other piece of wood or metal.

The third section Tora never got to see, because he then found the real start of the show: the mechanical corner. Dedicated solely to the works of the Natural Philosopher and Grand Inventor, Kirin Jindosh, it offered a wealth of curious devices and fascinating doodads. Tora oohed and aahed over them all, even if technically speaking they had nothing on the ether technology of Alrest, for they were incredibly clever in their relative simplicity. He pored over an audiograph player, an alarm system, and a loudspeaker, rudimentary to him but elegant and functional. Nothing compared, of course, to the Clockwork Soldiers. Though the one on display here was only a model, it showcased the lethal device in all its intricacy, a stunning marriage of metal, magnetism, and lacquered wood, all topped by a terrifying head that resembled a bird’s skull. Tora whistled at the machine’s four bladed arms as he hovered around it, trying to figure out how it worked without laying a finger on it. Despite his intellect and his subjection to the horrors of war, the Nopon was still a child at heart, comparable to a human of thirteen years, and right now he might as well be a kid in a toy shop.

Of course, his overenthusiasm eventually got the better of him, and Vandham went ahead and removed Tora from the premises before the proprietor got annoyed enough to kick him out. He got the sense that the man behind the counter knew that these two low-society bumpkins couldn’t shill out enough cash for anything in there, anyway. Though very disappointed that his friend elected to carry him away from all the incredible clockwork gizmos by the back of his overalls, Tora couldn’t stop his eyes shining even as he and Vandham returned to the morning sunlight outside. “It ingenious is what it is, meh!” Tora gushed. “It very basic, electric-powered, in some case using actual gears, but sophisticated at same time! Tora want meet this Kirin Jindosh smartypon someday!”

Vandham couldn’t help but chuckle at the Nopon’s optimistic enthusiasm. “Well, if the ‘Grand Inventor’ ain’t got anythin’ better to do than meet adorin’ friends, maybe someday.” He eyed Poppi as she approached, no doubt bearing news from Alcamoth. “But not today.”

“Meeeh! Tora bucket list growing by hour!” He sighed before turning to face his newly-arrived companion.

Poppi glanced over at Bede before nodding. “Made contact with HQ no problem,” she began. “Unfortunately, it look like we still very far away, maybe more than last time. We very close to southwestern corner of map. Based on destinations so far, Poppi predict that Blue Line run along whole western seaboard.”

Now it was Vandham’s turn to whistle. “Bloimey, this Metro’s somethin’ else. From the scorchin’ desert in the east up to a winter-locked city up north to tropical islands down south.” He crossed one arm, and with the other thoughtfully rubbed his chin. “If we can actually get a handle on it, we’ll be able to deploy all over the bloody continent, and at that point the world’s our oyster, eh?”

“That not all,” Poppi told him, getting the others’ attention all over again. “We not need see if Poppi prediction correct, because other team finish mission! Mission Control say that we need return to Metro and take Mint Line to Twilight Town, pronto!”

The news took Tora by surprise. “Meh-meh-meh!? That great news! Tora thought it take hours!” His bouncing up and down quickly stopped, however. “Wait, that mean we need gets pons again for different color pass…?”

“Reckon so, mate,” Vandham repled.

“Ugh,” Tora groaned. “Well, it annoying, but not hard, meh. We get it done soon, reach twi-twi town in time for lunch!”

Vandham nodded. “Shame we gotta go so soon. After all those grits and greasy slabs o’ bacon at that saloon, I was ‘opin’ I might be able to snag a bite of fruit or somethin’.” He shrugged, then started back toward the train platform. “Ah, well. Mint Line, ‘ere we come.”



A couple minutes went by before another pitch-black hole opened up in the forest floor next to the log where Big Band waited, and out popped Peacock. Snow from outside piled up on her hat and her shoulders, and her cheeks and nose had gone cherry-red from the cold. Though mostly mechanical, Peacock still shivered ferociously, her teeth chattering cartoonishly loud.

Band’s eyebrows furrowed. “...Was it really that bad.”

“It soitenly was!” Peacock fumed. “Bouta hunnid degrees below zero I figure, two hunnid with the windchill! Where the hell is this place, the arctic circle!?”

Her companion winced. “Sorry, Pea. I know ya didn’t ask to be dragged along with us. Woulda gone if I could.”

Peacock stopped shivering, and gave a helpless shrug, rolling the six eyes of her Argus System. “Ehhh…fuggedaboutit. If youda gone out theres, you’d’a probably frozen stiff in a second, and I sure ain’t carryin’ your two-an’-a-half-ton tin can around, tell ya what.”

“Heheh.” The detective reached out a mechanical arm and patted his charge on the back to help get the snow off. “You’re a good kid, Pea.”

“Whatever ya say, pal.” Peacock made a show of turning up her nose as she reached up to raise her hat. Doing so revealed Avery atop her head, who placed a fresh cigar into his controller’s waiting hand. After replacing her hat she pulled out her revolver and shot the tip of her cigar to light it, which naturally worked thanks to her ambient aura of cartoon logic. One long puff later, she turned back to Band. “So, we goin’ back, or what?”

The two began the long trek back to the Biodome’s visitor center, retracing their steps. While they made sure to give the sunning rocks a wide berth, it looked like the reptile feud had resolved itself in their absence, and now the Ludroths lay across the wide, flat stones to soak up the polar sun’s meager rays. They spotted Rain Deer on the way back around the marshland as well, and though neither could tell if they were the same individuals they saw before, these ones minded their own business as well. Some buzzing bugs showed up to pester the pair and got swatted for their efforts, and at one point an accidental step in the swamp’s shallows triggered a writhing Water Devil that wriggled and splashed in the muck, but in a rare turn of events no actual problems presented themselves. In the distance a giant energy dome took shape over the deep forest, making Band wonder if the hunters he’d briefly ridden with had managed to corner their quarry, but there was no way to know. Despite his best efforts, he felt bad about bailing on them, and fervently hoped that the absence of himself and Peacock didn’t make the difference between the hunters’ survival and their extermination. If it did…well, he could only hope that he never found out.

After Band and Peacock found their way back to the four-wheelers’ tire tracks at last, the detective could begin to expedite the arduous journey back through the lush landscape. He bid Peacock jump on, then deployed his rockets to take to the skies. With the power of flight on his side, he both cut the trip down to a couple minutes and got a panoramic view of the Biodome’s verdant interior wilderness. He and Peacock scanned the forest for any exotic creatures, and took turns pointing their discoveries out to one another. Only once did they take a slight detour, as a massive Ekidno took off from the top of a towering rock formation to fly around, and though a mechanical marvel Band was not built for aerial combat in the slightest. Otherwise he made good time, and the duo touched down at the visitor center soon after.

Inside they found their missing cyborg ninja, who’d just finished talking with the biomechanical tour guide Ivara, and found they had less in common than he hoped. “Raiden! Was wonderin’ where in the world ya ran off to. You would believe all the crazy critters we nearly tangled with out there, coulda really used some help, man, I thought we were a team. Next time, how ‘bout a li’l warnin’ before ya go disappearin’ on us, hm?”

Peacock flicked her cigar at him. “Don’t got any room for double-crossers on this team, capiche?”

After the reunion Band made his back toward the train platform. “Okay, on to the next spot,” he said, trying to stay upbeat. “Next stop is…somewhere called Rapture? Sounds kinda ominous, if y’all ask me…”

“Actually, we oughta hightail it back to the Metro,” Peacock told him. “I forgot to tell ya’s, that Moogle fella said someone found the spot they wanted. Somewhere on the Mint Line, Twilight Town I think he said.”

For a moment Band stared with wide-eyed surprise. Then he reeled dramatically, as if blown away by the girl’s carelessness. “Why didn’t ya say so sooner, kid!? We nearly went who-knows-where!”

“I woulda stopped ya’s before ya got off the train,” she told him, her eyes closed in a nonplussed manner.

“Ugh, well, it’s fine. Music to my ears, in fact, ‘cause we don’t gotta wander around any longer.” Band peered over at Raiden to make sure he heard the news. “Hear that, my ninja? We’re headin’ back to kittyville. If you’re still with us, you’ll need to snatch up enough pons to snag another pass.” From the giant cat door one of the Metro’s giant tabbies appeared, its subway train in tow, and once it came to a stop at the platform the ASG soldiers stepped aboard.



Together Red and the Scout watched Sectonia buzz off, headed for the highest ground she could find for a call to Alcamoth. With nothing to do but wait, ideally with no violent skirmishes this time, the dwarf seated himself on the curb and made himself as comfortable as he could. Idly he wondered why the wasp queen decided to go up to the tower in particular. Since she could fly and all, the open air worked just as well, and all this course of action really accomplished was to show herself off to whoever might happen to glance in her direction. Hopefully the townsfolk wouldn’t mind the sight of Sectonia floating around the place’s most beloved landmark. It really was a miracle that he consented to working alongside her in the first place, considering his vast and varied but universally unpleasant experiences with bugs.

Up above, Sectonia successfully summoned a Moogle, who proceeded to repeat the same process that she went through in the heights of the overgrown city called Haven. This time, however, it took a little longer for the fuzzy little creature to return, and when he did he arrived in quite the tizzy, basically exploding with excitement. “It’s a hit, a hit, kupo!” he exclaimed. “Mission Control says this place is close enough to Alcamoth as we’re going to get, kupo! They’re gathering the crew to head your way as fast as they can! You just hang tight while we tell the other teams, kupo. Operation Railroaded Unity is a-go!”

While Sectonia’s appearance did not cause an uproar, it did not go unnoticed, either. Soon enough, a couple strangers crested the top of Market Street, having taken advantage of the rooftops and trams to make their way here on the double. One wore a black robe and sported spiky blonde hair, while the other seemed to be clad head to toe in a dark turquoise suit bearing white bone patterns, with a big skull mask to match. With their eyes on the far greater anomaly of Sectonia neither really paid Red or the Scout any mind, though they certainly didn’t look like the average Twilight Town citizen. They did not make any sort of fuss or give any sign of hostility, they did look rather wary, and with how fast their response time had been the Scout wondered if they really planned to do nothing, or were just biding their time. Either way, his team didn’t need the extra attention, so he made his way over.

“Oi, you lot!” he called, his somewhat high-pitched voice as gruff as it conceivably could be. “Whatcha gawkin’ at, eh? Might not look it, but that big bug’s with us. Just gettin’ a lay o’ the land for us, so think nothin’ of it, yeah?”

As the red-bearded Scout and the Militia members spoke, a keen pair of eyes watched from the other side of the window of a cafe on the edge of the plaza. “So, they’re coming here, after all,” the watcher purred, his lightly-accented voice as smooth as silk. “Won’t be long before things are in motion again. I suppose I should get moving then, as well.” He placed his half-empty mug down upon its china dish, then carefully took hold of his camera with gloved fingers. Darkness welled around him, and he snapped a quick photo as he disappeared.

---

For a moment, Frisk breathed a sigh of relief. The snow broke her fall. Now she just had to hurry and get Albedo off her back first and foremost. But she didn't hear prisoner landing anywhere near her. Don't tell me! As Frisk booked it away from the now-destroyed camp, she looked behind her to see Prisoner making a careless effort to attack the Alchemist. And for what? His restored body torn asunder. Frisk was on her own now.

She visibly tensed up as Albedo landed near her, tearing the arrows in his chest out with cruel intentions. Damn it all, did she miss his heart?! Adjusting her pouch to rest on her hip, she aimed her bow at him once more. "I trusted you..." Was all the cold words she could muster, but her scowl said enough.

Frisk could hear her smaller charge begin to growl. This wasn't the time to be afraid, even the Spheal knew they had to work together to survive this. Once she fired another arrow at their opponent's head, the Pokemon took aim itself and followed suit with Water Gun.

At this range an arrow flew fast enough that a well-aimed shot couldn't be avoided, but in these conditions it took only a little effort from Frisk's foe to make a well-aimed shot impossible. He ran not in a straight line toward her but in an arc, which in conjunction with Frisk's shivering prevented the amateur archer from leading her shot, and when her arrow missed he closed in. Before he got close enough to slash at her, however, her Spheal's surprise water gun struck him in the shoulder. It both knocked him off-balance and flash-froze a moment later thanks to the Starglow Cavern's subzero temperature, provoking an annoyed grunt. The unexpected assistance bought Frisk an extra second to nock another arrow, but with such unsteady hands it would take a miracle not to fumble it.

To make matters worse, her enemy went straight for her this time, his ice-shrouded arm held up to protect his head and neck as he charged. Even if Frisk did let fly her final shot in time, one arrow might not be enough to put her attacker down, and then she would be defenseless in melee range.

Not quite.

"Tch!" With Albedo closing in, Frisk had no choice but to change tactics. She tossed her ranged weapon aside and grabbed Vorpan. She waited to time her next move right, and once he was close enough to strike?

Her soul remained red. The alchemist had probably expected otherwise by now. Instead of relying on her defensive magic, she went in to deflect his sword with Vorpan. If she managed to stagger him even a little, she'd go in for an onslaught of hits. Her Spheal, growing more confident, followed up with Powder Snow. If they can just freeze him down, they could go in for a critical hit!

The weight behind her blunt-force strike not only deflected the ice sword, but actually managed to snap off about a third of its length. Emboldened with a flicker of hope by her small victory, she pressed her advantage to make the most of the opportunity, but her adversary was fast. Cryo power flowed through his weapon, reforming it in a mere moment, and then it was his speed and reach versus the stubby Vorpan's unwieldy top-heaviess. The two clashed in a flurry of attacks, giving Spheal a chance to spray Powder Snow, but its enemy scarcely even noticed. No matter how intense, the cold did not seem to affect him one bit beyond a mutual reduction in visibility, rendering ice-type moves nigh-useless against him.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Frisk. As if not numbed and shivering enough already, the slashes that her enemy cut into her clothes broke down her meager defenses against the cold, and when he drew blood the chill seeped into her very being. Her opponent had every conceivable advantage, from greater natural ability to a favorable environment. Things were not looking good.

So much for that idea! The duo was getting overwhelmed already. With every cut and every slash, it was getting harder and harder for Frisk to ignore the numbing chill threatening to envelop her whole. But she couldn't give up. She couldn't! Prisoner could only watch, but Linkle, Joel and Teba were waiting for them to come back alive with Joserf in tow. If Albedo killed her here, who knows what would happen afterwards! And her pokemon, she had to know if they were alright!

"Fionn! Gordon!! Anyone!! If you're still alive, n-now would be a good time to help!!"

Frisk called out for help. Left unaware that Spheal had climbed out of it's pouch and rolled a distance away with a Defense Curl.

Her only reply was a haymaker punch from her enemy's ice-encrusted arm, right to the ear. Frisk went down in the snow, almost all the fight sapped from her body by the pain and the cold. The man she trusted smiled, relaxing somewhat, and stepped in, ready to finish things off with a quick thrust to the heart. But when he raised his blade to do the deed, the Spheal rammed directly into his legs with Rollout, knocking him to the ground. With its defense-boosting preparations complete the rotund creature would make its stand alongside its new trainer, and fight with all the strength it had to keep her safe.

Visibly angry, the enemy rose and extended his hand. From his palm shot an icicle of pure Cryo power, piercing straight into the poor Spheal's belly. Not being physical, it ignored the defense boost, and though the Pokemon resisted ice damage, its attacker had no shortage of spears. As Frisk tried to recover the icicles blasted forth, again and again, until her new companion was dead.

No...NO!

It was like her eyes were frozen wide. For a moment, she couldn't move, petrified at the sight of the poor pokemon butchered like nothing. Why? Why did she keep screwing up? First Melony, and now...

Driven to avenge, Frisk's body began to move again. With Albedo distracted, she hurried back to her discarded weapon and fired whatever arrows remained at him. As long as she was still breathing and her soul remained intact, she won't stop fighting. The Spheal's death made it clear enough. Albedo can't walk out of here alive.

While her foe anticipated some sort of action on Frisk's part, he'd been more expecting her to flail in despair than to seize her bow with her faltering fingers and start firing. One arrow grazed his arm, while another lodged in his hip. While this took him a little by surprise, Frisk wasn't by any means moving with mechanical precision, and after that just a little movement on her adversary's part allowed him to ride out the remainder of her ammunition.

He held up his hand, manifesting a snowflake glyph above his palm, and poured in power. The glyph grew larger as it rose higher, increasing in intensity as flurries of snow began to circle around him. If his most basic projectiles had been enough to take out the Spheal, then whatever this was would be Frisk's doom--no bones about it. A maniacal grin overtook him as he readied the injured woman's death sentence, so assured of his own victory that he did not suspect a thing as a steel swordblade sprouted from his ribcage.

"Ah." He jolted suddenly as the snowflake faded, looking down at the weapon that penetrated him. Wide-eyed, he craned his neck behind him at the individual who'd stabbed him in the back, where he found a visage very much like his own. Not one but two Albedos stood there in the snowy dark, perfectly identical except for two details. The one behind Frisk's attacker wore a winter coat, heavy, fur-lined, and crusted with snow. And on his neck he bore a star-shaped mark, where the murderer of Pokemon had none.

The second Albedo said nothing, but yanked out the blade, and with a groan the starless alchemist staggered. With the last of his strength he hefted his ice sword, turning around to inflict whatever parting gifts he could, but the new arrival stepped aside to reveal a familiar figure charging forth. "HYAH!" Linkle screamed, emptying her hollow lungs as she delivered an electric dropkick that sent her target flying over Frisk's head to smash into the cave wall behind her. Skull-eyes burning blood-red, Linkle unleashed two bomb bolts to seal the deal with a tremor-inducing double explosion. Only then did she relax, releasing a long and angry sigh that gave no puff of breath.

"Are you okay?" she asked Frisk, jogging over with the real Albedo in tow. "I can't believe that thing did this, it makes me so mad!"

"Here." Albedo offered two drinks to Frisk, one green and one red. The potion offered an herbal aroma, while the red one smelled of spice. "These will help."

Frisk's eyes had widened in disbelief. Two Albedos and Linkle followed after her. Had she been fighting a clone? Or was the Albedo that saved her the clone? A mix of emotions brewed in her; confusion, regret, fatigue, nonetheless she nodded in response to Linkle checking up on her and downed the two health items.

"...I've been following a fake, haven't I?" She spoke up with a regretful frown, but her tone bore no remorse for their wounded adversary.

Linkle nodded, her expression still one of rage both at the impersonator and at herself for not noticing sooner. "We all were. The minute that doppelganger appeared from the avalanche we all just wandered off without thinking about it. Without even noticing the difference! And all the while the real Albedo was trapped under all that snow, alone."

"Don't blame yourselves," Albedo told the girls quietly. "It was a cunning strategy. And the differences must have been minute to escape your notice."

"Still..." Linkle trailed off as she noticed the frozen tears that had sprung unbidden and frosted over on Frisk's cheeks, then the spirit of the ill-fated Spheal floating nearby. "Oh, no. That little one...we were too late?" The woman hestiantly nodded.

She took a deep breath. "Don't worry. I can fix this."

She held out her hand, and there came a sound like a single beat of a heart, albeit massive, and from everywhere at once. The Pokemon's spirit changed, turning from all the colors of the rainbow to a ghostly blue before sinking into the ground. Then, from the spot arose a handful of bones. They moved of their own accord, bound together like a classroom model, wriggling free of the snow until the whole skeleton had emerged. Its skull turned its empty eye sockets on Frisk, and it wagged its fleshless tail.

Linkle gave a reassuring smile. In her eyes, the halves of the Skull Heart seemed crystal clear. "There," she said softly. "Good as new."

"This isn't over," Albedo said suddenly. A crackling sound rang out from the cavern wall, and the others turned to see the impostor surround himself in a cocoon of ice. Fissures of cryo power spread out from the location, forcing the onlookers to dodge the rows of icy spikes. Then, in a burst of frozen shards, a monstrosity arose. Its bulbous head towered above the three travelers atop of a stalk of blue fronds and snow-white fiber, while petals spread out around it like a crown. The Fellflower turned its malefic gaze upon its enemies as its light illuminated the area, and it howled its rage at its denial.

By Asgore's name, how was Frisk supposed to fight this thing?! She used up all her arrows on it's first phase, and like hell she could do much to it with a weaponized frying pan of all things. As the woman found herself stepping backwards from the monster's majesty, she felt the newly resurrected Spheal bump into her boot. Looking down, it smiled back at her, putting it's faith in it's new trainer. Right. She wasn't alone anymore. They can do this!

The heart shaped object hovering over her chest turned green. Her shield was at the ready.

Linkle started off with an abundance of crossbow bolts filling the air with her bony spikes to turn this monster into a pincushion. Right away, however, her plan hit an obstacle in the form of an icy shield. All of her bolts bounced harmlessly off a barrier that encircled the Fellflower, and when she upped the ante with explosive bolts Linkle found no more success. In cold anger she stowed her crossbows and zoomed forward in an eletrifying charge to slam into and kick off the creature with her boots, but even that failed. If looks could kill, at least, the Fellflower would already be dead. "Hm. I've never met something that's just immune to damage."

She dodged backward as something crashed down on her position, narrowly missing. The offending object seemed to be a strange mix between plant flesh and gemstone, almost like a lantern, and it floated back up into the air to hover alongside two more just like it.

"It's protecting itself," Albedo advised the other two. "Target the Arcane Fruits instead."

With how much they moved it was tough to get a clear shot, but by standing still as a tantalizing target Frisk was able to draw one in and block it when it tried to crush her, giving Linkle a chance to shoot it down. It exploded into three arcane essences that scattered around her. One down, two to go.

Interesting. So the fruits were acting like a form of weak points. "Come on, come on..." Seeing a gamble pay off, Frisk grabbed the three essences for herself and continued to bait the Fellflower's attacks.

The second fruit, however, did not come down. It floated around the Fellflower as it hurled snowballs at its attackers. This time Linkle tried to draw its attention away, while Albedo created a Solar Isotoma. "Here, use this to get high enough," he advised Frisk.

With a quick nod, she sprinted for the newly made platform and readied her weapon to take a swing at the stubborn fruit. As she began to rise, however, a flurry of snowballs flew her way to smack her back off the impromptu lift and into the snow. Frisk turned her shield to block the attack, being forced to wait for an opening. This thing was slowly breaking her defense. She'll have to be careful. Still, as furious as it was, the attack was one-dimensional, and when Linkle and Albedo worked to draw the Fellflower's ire below the storm stopped long enough for Frisk to reach her target--but she would have to jump for it.

One.

Two.

Three!

She had to take a second to hype herself up, but the woman lept towards the Arcane Fruit and swung Vorpan at it in a downward strike. The mighty swat splattered the elaborate thingamabob and spilled out another three Arcane Essence, which rained down alongside Frisk to the snow.

The Fellflower jerked suddenly, stunned, and the final fruit fell to the ground. Upon impact, however, it summoned four golem-like ice elementals to protect the fruit with their lives. Crackling like icicles in thaw, the creatures went on the offensive, swinging their frozen blades with reckless abandon. Albedo engaged one with his sword in an effort to draw it away, while Linkle went in for some long-overdue lightning kicks, which left just one formidable elemental between Frisk and the final fruit.

Spurred forward by her unyielding determination, she charged forward at the only elemental in the way of their true target. Frisk juggled between offense and defense, raising her barrier up to block her opponent's reckless blows for one moment, then retailiating by attacking the ice that made up it's limbs the next. Her blows left cracks in her attacker's body, but being nothing more than shards of ice suspended by magic it weathered her onslaught. As long as it kept Frisk from her objective the elemental was just fine, and with two blades versus her one vorpan, it would steadily gain momentum unless more decisive action was taken.

"Well aren't you stubborn? Very well then!" The increase in momentum didn't go unnoticed. She'd have to make this next move count. It would force her to go back to her normal soul trait, but if she could just find another opening, she'll resort to using that buckler of her's if she had to!

*Crack!*

Like shattered glass, the elemental managed to break through her main means of defense. But this time Frisk wasn't caught by surprise. As her soul returned to it's shade of red, she viciously swung for the head.

While the ice elemental's head lacked the weak spots that made headshots such a big deal for the average combatant, the sheer force delivered there managed to send the whole entity off-kilter, pulling the rest of its magically-anchored body after the head and giving Frisk the shot at the Arcane Fruit she needed. The woman took it with no remorse. She marched up to the last target and crushed it under the flat end of her weapon.

Or she would have, if the second Arcane Fruit hadn't reformed from the essences Frisk did not collect. The Fellflower's shield, nearly depleted, surged back up to two-thirds full, and as two Arcane Fruits orbited around it a new barrage of snowballs flew free.

So that's what those things were for!

Linkle wasn't having any of it. Shrugging off the snowballs, she team-jumped off Albedo up to drop a lightning-infused heel on the second fruit. The Fellflower reeled once more, and the Skullgirl bopped its shield once in the nose for good measure. Once again the third fruit descended, but this time the elementals it called out looked far fiercer.

Albedo hurried to collect the essence, now aware of what would happen if he did not, then stepped forward toward the frigid mob. "Witness my great undertaking!" The power of his Geo catalyst surged, and from the earth burst great petals of crystal amber beneath the arcane fruit. Linkle unleashed her frozen power while they tumbled, spearing into the elementals' armor from beneath to lift them into the air, leaving the fruit undefended. "Now."

"Right!" Frisk ran over to the hopefully actual last fruit they needed to destroy, and smashed it apart once again. This time, making sure to collect the essence left in it's wake.

With that, the Fellflower's shield shattered, blowing away like flakes in a snowstorm. Unprotected and dazed, the monster could do little but flail weakly as Linkle, Albedo, and Frisk laid into it with everything they had, piling on the damage before it could find a chance to recover.

Frisk amended her thoughts at that moment. The Fellflower, it couldn't walk out of here alive. And it wouldn't. Even if she was weaker compared to Linkle and the real Albedo, she couldn't help venting out all her frustrations on the weakened monster. Relentlessly. Mercilessly. Of course, her assault paled in comparison to Linkle's, who leveraged three elements and seemingly limitless crossbow bolts to destroy the Fellflower with style. With no strength left it collapsed under its own weight and sank into the snow.

Before they could celebrate victory, however, the ground began to shake. Ice, snow, and stone began fell from the ceiling, first in shards and then in chunks. With the enemy gone, Linkle's rage subsided, and she waved to the others as she began to pick up speed. "C'mon, let's get out of here! Back to camp, quick as we can!"

"But what about-!"

Whether or not she was going to mention Joserf or the Fellflower's spirit, Frisk was interrupted by a chunk of ice narrowly missing her. She quickly grabbed the Buckler shield out of her inventory and held it over her head like a makeshift umbrella. "Forget it, let's go!" She scooped up the undead Spheal back into her free arm.

Through the freezing darkness the escapees plunged, with the skeletal Spheal and the Prisoner along for the ride. Even if the viral blob couldn't move all that well without a body to call his own, he could roll downhill like nobody's business, and with the Fellflower's final avalanche threatening to crush anything in its path, roll he did. Linkle led the way, holding high her makeshift torch of bone that shone with a ghostly blue flame. Behind the agile archer sprinted Albedo, his golden Geo vision but dim in comparison, and Frisk followed right behind. As they plowed back down through the cave, the goblins -agitated by the chaos- let loose volleys of red-hot solar energy from their Slap Rifles, but though they coordinated their fire they could not lead their shots well enough to catch up with the runners. Instead their bolts created an incendiary crossfire in the darkness of Starglow Cave, like fireworks in the night. The squads of squawking machines kept at it even as the tide of stone and snow swallowed them up, and only when their targets finally disappeared into the tunnel did the survivors' onslaught cease.

With whatever hearts they had pounding, the trio sped through the tunnel, charged past the shattered remains of the impostor's blockage and burst back out into the moonlight of a wintry Dragonspine night. Though the avalanche had long since ceased to be a threat by now, none of them paused at the tunnel's mouth, but instead piled onto Linkle's sled, ready and waiting. As perilous as the mountain after dark might be, it was all downhill from here, and soon they were hurtling down the snowy slopes. While Albedo carried the torch, Linkle worked to steer the sled past obstacles and around the rocky bends of the downward path, using her cryomancy beneath the sled's tracks to turn it this way and that. The wind whipped at their hair and clothes the whole way, tearing the breath from their lungs, and by the time the sled finally crashed into a massive snowbank at the edge of an icy river, everyone was red in the face and numb--save for those who lacked blood or feeling to begin with.



Once Albedo extracted himself from the drift, he found himself in quite the magical place. The frosty boughs of the trees around here, tall and thin, glowed with a soft yellow light, and even the spiky flowers that grew in clusters from the frozen soil cast a dull, pale radiance, like the winter sun. Azure crystals provided even more light that reflected beautifully off the surface of the brook, and the alchemist couldn't see any monsters or other immediate threats in their light. "Is everyone okay?" he asked the others.

"I'm great!" Linkle exclaimed, not even feeling the powder on her hair, rabbit ears, or face. "What a ride!"

Once everyone was accounted for, Albedo received a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you made it, Frisk. Though I regret that your traveling companion did not, whose spirit I imagine is the reason for your altered physique." He bowed his head in sadness, and took a deep breath. When he exhaled it came out as a long puff of white mist. "If my mental map is correct, we ended up a ways north of the giants' forest. We left young Joel in Teba's care at the camp there, and should circle around the base of the mountain to let them know how things turned out."

Linkle's anger still smoldered at the impostor, who'd fooled her so completely, but for now she looked downcast. "...Yeah. If that thing's been hunting down whoever turns up on Dragonspine, then...the poor kid shouldn't keep waiting for his dad."

”Me and Peach had a big brawl which, you know, obviously I won. Ain’t nobody but that pesky plumber who can get the best of me, and I’ll get him one day, that's for sure!” Bowser gloated in response to Sakura asking them about how their practice bouts had gone, before half bobbing his head to the side and adding ”But hey, Peach’s come a pretty long way, mind. Even managed to leave a scratch or two which is honestly pretty impressive”

”I’d say it was a touch more than a scratch” Kamek said, remembering the not insubstantial chuck of scales she’d seen blasted out of her king’s chest before he got patched up ”As for me and the young master, well, we had something of a minion battle rather than fight ourselves and I suppose I technically won, however that’s hardly fair to say when unlike the young master I cant run out of troops. It all ended up as something of an endless survival game for Mimi and Dazzle rather than a straight up fight, and I think they did rather well, all things told”

”Oh, and I also worked out how to do this while we were at it” she added, conjuring a shadow clone of Rika for a brief moment which did a dramatic combat pose, before giving a blank faced wave as it dematerialised, all in the span of a few seconds ”Rather neat, yes?

A only a little bit later an announcement blared through the halls, informing them all that the railway mission had been successful, which put something of a damper on Jr’s plan to have lunch before setting out, as did Nadia’s challenging the others to a race and then proceeding to splatter herself on the ground several floors down, the watching of which was at first harrowing and then appetite killing.

“Are you ok down there Ms?!” Rika called down to the cat girl, and then sighed with relief as she started to pull herself together down there. Then she glanced to the side as a propeller started whirring and Jr began to take to the skies to chase her down and win the race.

“Oh no you don’t! Your not leaving me behind this time!” Rika shouted as she hopped up, grabbing the size of the car with the jaw of her gauntlet, and then ,using the hull blades for extra leverage, hauled herself up and into the car “So scoot over”

As the prince complained the shipgirl sat herself bedie him and then reached a hand down and out to Omori and asked him “Wanna come with?”

However which way they got there, the blue team all found their way to the meeting chamber and got the sit-rep, and then headed on down to the vehicle bay, though not before Jr held everyone up by detouring to get a BLT sandwich on the way there (he got over Nadia’s accident pretty quickly).

Once there they went past their still busted airship, and the princess had to have a giggle at what everyone else had been saddled with instead of it, namly dinky wooden rowboats.

”Now now young master, that’s hardly becoming of a prince” Kamek tutted, but even she had to cover her mouth and suppress a laugh when Bowser stepped into the boat… and it promptly slowly sank with him onboard. Amusement quickly turned to panic however when the king proceeded to also sink like a brick to the bottom of the dock and proved unable to just swim back up to the surface.

Fortunately, after a muffled ringing of a bell the king reemerged in his Meowser form, claw climbing up the side of the dock and then violently shaking off all the water like a dog, much to anyone nearby’s displeasure.

”Bleh, sire really!” Kamek complained, while Rika moaned about her new sundress getting all wet for the second time today.

”Yeah yeah, complain all you want, but you’ve got way less to moan about than me, coz I’m stuck” Bowser retorted, understandably a bit miffed at the prospect of being left behind after all he’d done for the cause.

”Now now sire, don't give up so soon, I’ll just have my Toadies carry you” Kamek said after she’d dried herself off, before waving her wand and summoning the stocky hooded and propeller hatted creatures with which to hoist the king up.

”Yeah and what if they drop me, huh? I’ll just sink like a stone. I need something waaaay more resilient before I even think of going out there” the king replied, not wanting to trust his life to the grips of those floaty wee henchmen

“Oh Oh, I can help with this!” Rika announced before scrunching up her fists and eyes and holding her gauntlets in close to her chest while focusing, only to suddenly rise them up with a cry of pain as she summoned Pacific Princess’s white whale at the expense of her vitality, the ship girl bending over, panting and bleeding from her nose as the great beast filled up much of the docks.

”Wow hey I’ve got you” Bowser said as he carefully caught the shipgirl by the shoulder before she just completely collapsed ”you didn’t need to do that you know”

“What not, it's fine, it's fine!” she replied while appreciatively leaning on the big guy for support before adding “Besides, Kamek and Blazermate can just fix me up right?” which was something the mage was already in the process of setting up white mage clones to start doing.

A little bit later she was all patched up and they were ready to go. Kamek and Jr hovered above the group as usual, though the prince did take the time to send out his Popplio, Dazzle, to go for a swim, the sealion happily leaping to and fro among the boat riders, eager to set out into the water unknown.

Despite his playful antics, the pokemon was out and about mainly to act as an escort, a task he was joined in by Rika (who as a shipgirl was of course entirely suited to keeping everyone safe as she scooted across the waves) and the unlikely pairing of her great white whale and Bowser, who was riding just behind its array of cannons was, and who was primed and ready to add his own firepower to the great sea beast's own. Woe betide anyone who got on the wrong end of that barrage.

With them all set, all that was needed was for everyone else to get ship shaped and then they’d all head out on their watery adventure to Twilight town. With it being a quick scoot along the coast after all, so what could possibly go wrong in that short a distance?

Omori, Rika, and Ms. Fortune. Pit committed the new names to memory. He was familiar enough with the Koopa prince but this brief meeting with the others, far more than the initial one in the Garfront Center, gave Pit a good insight into each of their personalities. The sullen monochrome boy Omori was quiet and direct, befitting his appearance, though Pit didn't get the feeling that he was unkind. The woman with ears and tail, Ms. Fortune, who confirmed that it was indeed raining up above, was animated and jovial with a sense of humor that for the moment went right over his head. And finally was Rika the girl with mismatched horns, who seemed open and friendly. She even went as far to compliment Pit's wings, which surprised the boy.

"Oh, thank you!" he said, his wings flapping happily behind him. He hadn't heard them called "pretty" before, but any compliment was a good one especially since they were... well they were perfectly fine, which made it all the more strange and frustrating that he couldn't fly on his own. He hadn't dwelt on that for quite a while and he wasn't about to start again now, so instead he smiled at everyone and nodded his head at Ms. Fortune when she mentioned the earlier meeting.

"Yup, I was there. Good to meet you too!"

And then the all important question: what else was there to do in Smash City Alcamoth? Omori mentioned somewhere that they could kill time, while Bowser Jr. added that somewhere to eat would be preferable. Pit tipped his head, thinking. "Well there's a bunch of places to get food here, since there's a bunch of people that need to get fed. Let's see..."

He began to describe the various food spots, including a relatively small general kitchen and mess area, and of course the 'famous' Mona's Pizza, even if it was still in need of some additional staff. Ultimately he didn't get very far, because a notice sounded through the Arc Mall's speaker system. Apparently, the Yellow Team's "metro mission" was a success. The Seekers were directed to meet again at the Garfront Center to move into the next phase of their plan.

Eager to get a move on, the four started to make their way to the meeting area. Ms. Fortune in particular dove off the side similar to the way the little girl had earlier, only she didn't have an umbrella to stop her fall. Seeing her blue blood and body parts strewn around nearly made the angel sick, and his relief when she literally pulled herself together was palpable. How many people am I almost gonna see die today?! Pit thought to himself, letting out a huge sigh.

He watched the others go, their enthusiasm cheering him up a little. He found himself wanting to put himself to work too, it was sure to help him refocus himself. He leaned against the railing as he'd done earlier, noting that the rain had made it down to this level. He recalled the various open jobs around the nearby areas that needed to be handled sooner or later, considering them before another thought came to mind. Why not just go with them?

He wobbled back and forth, debating with himself on whether he should go or not for a few minutes. Ultimately Pit stood up, an expression of determination on his face. He knew he could be of help, and no matter what had happened between himself and one of the Seekers he'd have to get over it eventually. Exposure therapy is what it was called, right? Something like that.

Pit pitched himself over the railing the same way the others had gone, gliding down to a stop and then running toward the Garfront Center after giving the others a few minutes handicap.

---

Meanwhile, the Ace Cadet had been hard at work restocking his inventory. After his spar with Sakura he'd tagged along with the street fighter right up until they met up with her friend Karin. Seeing the state that she was in and not wanting to risk saying the wrong thing and offending the person that had so generously fed their group of gluttons the day before, the Cadet excused himself quickly with an apologetic smile and went off to further explore the indoor city. At first he didn't have a plan in mind, and he considering trying to find some of the others. A pit stop saw him at the pizza place he'd visited with Cuphead before, and then he moved on. Eventually after peeking into public spaces and around corridors he found himself in what appeared to be a workshop of some sort.

It was a mid-size room with soft music playing from somewhere, with long tables pushed together and all kinds of things strewn about on top of them. There looked to be pieces of equipment, broken weapons or items that sat there waiting to be fixed. There was no shortage of parts and tools intended for their repair, or just general materials like wires, metals, nails and screws. There were plenty of stranger items as well, like fireballs that floated on their own, food stuffs that had more uses besides for eating, and more. The room wasn't empty, as apart from the Cadet there was a Mii Gunner locked in intense concentration as she worked on the gun affixed to her arm, a small white and blue clad person fiddling with bombs both inanimate and animate apparently, as well as a R.O.B. that carried things over to an expanding of completed items on one side of the room.

The room's final occupant was a short pink rabbit in a black vest with a name tag that read "A. Bunny," who sat at one of the few tables that wasn't completely littered with items. He appeared to be taking a break, and when the Cadet entered he raised a paw in greeting. "Hello!"

"Hi," the monster hunter said. He pointed toward the room at large and asked, curious, "Is anyone free to use this place, or is it like official Alcamoth use only?"

Arcade Bunny chuckled and answered, "it's open to anyone. Knock yourself out!"

"Groovios!" The Cadet beamed, nearly diving headfirst into the mess. He stayed there for the rest of the time, tinkering with the more practical parts of his arsenal in order to recreate them using whatever was on hand. He got some help from Bomberman to add a new arrow coating to his options, a blast coating using powder rather than the explosive slime commonly used back in the his world. Though he supposed if he ever needed, he could get Rika to help with slime collection. Paint balls were another new addition that were simple enough to make, and he was sure eventually he'd find some use for them. He took apart many Pokéballs in an attempt to see how they worked, and though he didn't end up figuring it out he pocketed some just in case. Similarly he grabbed some Deku Nuts, foreseeing uses for them immediately whether as is or taken apart for use in other things like bullet casings. I should see if any of the higher tech bowguns can use that kind of ammo, he thought to himself, if they can I could whip up a bunch of support shots.

He was still working when he and the other occupants of the room felt the whole place shift. It was slight, but with delicate work such as this it was easily felt. The Mii Gunner huffed in frustration, her work thrown off by the subtle movement. Arcade Bunny offered her a sticker to help her mood. The Cadet gathered up his things and pushed himself to his feet.

"Welp, I should go check out what happened," he said, "Probably something my group's part of." He grinned and made for the door. As he passed the table that the Mii and bunny sat at, Arcade Bunny held something out to him.

"Sticker for the road?"

"Don't mind if I do," the Cadet replied, taking it and noting that it appeared to be a cartoonish dragon. His smile widened, and he stuck the cute thing to his shield before heading out the door. A broadcast to meet at the Garfront Center redirected the hunter to the meeting area.

---

After getting the lowdown on the next part of the mission, everyone made their way to where they'd get their transport. Most everyone, when they thought of watercraft to carry them, pictured a ship of some sort. The Blue Team had plenty of experience sailing by now, through waters harsh enough to temper anyone. Their transport was indeed a boat, but... just a rowboat? And one that looks like that no less?

The Ace Cadet blinked. It seemed inefficient, but then again he had a backpack that seemed that way too and it worked like a charm. "I'm sure it will be fine!" he said amidst the couple of snickers from the group. Although it wasn't like he would be dealing with it personally. As the dome lowered and they got closer to the water, the Cadet sent a teasing smile Nadia's way after he comment.

"Don't worry a-boat it, it something happens you can catch a ride with me." He was glad he was still able to glide across the water as well, which he fully planned to.

If there was an extra boat or two because of those still fused with the shipgirls planning to take to the water directly, then it happened to work out for the tag-a-longs the Seekers had picked up. Among them, the angel Pit.

Like many of the others Pit looked dubious about the blocky boats' integrity, but he was already committed to making the journey. Plus the dome was already at water level and people were pushing their boats into the river, it would be way to embarrassing to go back up now.

"I'm coming with you all!" Pit announced, looking toward Peach to make sure she didn't disapprove. After given the go ahead Pit smiled widely and wasted no time dragging his own wooden boat toward the water. He was pretty sure he'd get the hang of rowing it after watching the others, even if he'd prefer a ride on that whale.

With his focus on maneuvering the boat, Pit didn't notice the little green glowing bugs until they were almost right in his face. He sputtered and waved them away, where they moved on to the next person in their group.

"Gah, those bugs again?" At that the Cadet looked over, having previously been engrossed in the mini-map and how cool it was. He gave Pit a look that said it can't be helped.

"The scoutflies have to learn everyone's scent - even the people they've already met probably smell different with all the spirit stuff going on. They're harmless though, don't worry!"

The insects flew around all of the Seekers, briefly visiting them all before returning to the cage tied to the Cadet's waist. The hunter himself skated across the water, taking point with Dazzle as well as the other shipgirls as the Seekers moved down the river toward Twilight Town.

"Finally. Perhaps we can get something done then." Sectonia said as the moogle completed its surveillance of the area and reported that they had, indeed found the closest station out of all of them. However, it being a large metroplex and Sectonia being the royal visage she was, it was bound she'd attract attention. She wasn't much one for hiding unless it was absolutely necessary as it was, so this didn't bother her. What did bother her though was the person who was confronting her.

"Hmm... I wasn't expecting this... " Sectonia said, looking at Roxas and less at his companion. It was around this time the Scout had used his grapple gun to get up and confront the two, his deep yet high pitched voice defending Sectonia, or at least making it clear she was with him. A good minion, defending her queen like that. But Sectonia had a few other ideas other than avoiding conflict. "You, Your coming with us. We have questions for you about your organization." Sectonia said, not drawing a weapon but pointing at Roxas just the same. "At least you have a decent looking face. The last of your order had a dice for a head."

Even saying that, there was something else about this Roxas character that was... familiar... but she couldn't put her finger on it. Still, she would prefer to handle this situation without causing a scene. She knew these cloaked people weren't pushovers and while she had gained a lot of power recently, she did know these people had been holding back when they fought for some reason. Although if she could somehow get this one under her control with her striker, that would be the best, but that was plan B.

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



"So, its about time to get going then? I'm fine with constant fights, but..." Blazermate said as they had gotten word the Moogle had found what they were looking forward to, yellow team's job having been completed successfully. Still, she wasn't so sure about how the rest of the team was doing. Susie still hadn't been able to summon this 'business suit' she had been talking about, while Rika was still incredibly green. And there wasn't much when it came to powerups for everyone that weren't temporary from the item room. Speaking of which, Blazermate, having no need for the super large bean she had gotten, gave the bean to whoever would be interested in it. It took a bit to find someone interested, but eventually she found someone. And that someone would become ungodly powerful once they ate this bean, much to the annoyance of everyone around him.

Wario had no qualms about eating a strange food that could or couldn't be a powerup. And for him, it was most certanly a powerup. Seeing as one of his strongest attacks was his farts, an item that let him unleash an earth shattering fart on demand was right up his alley. How did Blazermate figure out what this did? Well, Wario was more than happy to test the item and thats what happened. At least Alucarth was made to withstand stuff like that...

Meanwhile Susie waited until the meeting was complete, fiddling with her PDA like usual when she lacked interest in what was going on. So apparently they had to cross a body of water to get to their new destination. When everyone got back together, the groups were lead to the docks, where Rika showed her green-ness again as she summoned a giant ship girl for Bowser who was very much not for rowing in the square wooden boats. Blazermate herself would just fly, and Susie could only sigh as she pulled out her transporter to fly alongside Blazermate, not wanting to deal with the savage boats either.

Blazermate looked to Rika who had managed to injure herself after summoning her ship girl and only sighed as she helped Kamek in healing her. "Yeah, I can heal you, but don't take unnecessary damage in combat. I only have so much healing to spread around." Blazermate said, lazily floating above Rika and healing her with her healing beam.

Inside and out of the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage the wasp’s nest’s rage was cooling from a frantic inferno to a simmering range. Neither the intruders nor the captives could be found, no matter how far the sisters scouted out into the snow. It was as if they had jumped off of the roof and then simply vanished into thin air.

Which was, of course, exactly what had happened, as Midna had swiftly whisked everyone back to the virgin victory via her twilight warp. However, the mountain still held unfinished business for her, and this time she was not going to put the others in danger for the rest of her little side quest. So once she (and her minions) were healed up, rested and recovered, it was back into the fray for her while the others headed off after the train riders.

First thing’s first, she teleported back to the warpstone they’d set up a closet inside the convent, adding another few more tallies to the kill list in the process when she appeared right beside some suspicious sisters prodding the out of place stone.

She then stashed that rock in the twilight realm, jumped back to the other warp stone atop the mountain before anyone responded to the sound of violence, stored it too, and finally used her own warp system to return to the entrance of the convent to start the next leg of her descent.

Slipping from shadow to shadow the princess made quick work of avoiding the religious weirdos spreading out across their section of the mountain, then slipped down through the ice cold caverns and equally chilly catacombs, the darkness within the mountain giving her endless ways to just shadow skip past any and all threats.

Knowing the way back certainly helped a whole bunch as well, and soon enough she was back in High Hrothgar, home of the greybeards and the highest (sane) bastion of civilization on the mountain where the heroes had taken a break during their climb.

Midna did the same here, and traded a few words with their leader Arngeir over a light lunch regarding both the true nature of the Convent, the elder promising they would warn anyone else climbing the mountain of this danger so that the fate of the faithful would not be repeated, and about the rest of their climb as well to which he listened with polite interest.

She also asked him about those that had turned back, and found that Sora, Mao and Minamoto had all passed through on their way down, and were presumably back at Tostarena Town by now, as long as they hadn’t run into trouble on the way.

With information traded the princess bade the greybeards farewell and headed down to where they had met the man entombed in the iron statue who’s request for oil had begun this whole side adventure. Midna wasn’t sure how to feel about him now that she knew all about the place the oil he desired came from, but his request had indirectly saved two lives, so she still felt she owed him his strange last wish.

Retracing the party’s steps, she found him, and found that when he had said ‘Now, let my numbed arm become another branch of this withered olive tree’ he had been quite literal, as his exposed arm had indeed become a tree branch while they had been away. His half exposed face, however, remained human and its eye opened in order to look down at at her when she approached, boots crunching on the snow.

A hoarse voice tried to speak, but no words could come, and all the entombed man could do was watch with anticipation and then relief as the princess brushed a hand over her palm and summoned the little thimble of oil from the twilight realm, its contents still piping hot despite the time passed.

She rose up into the air before him, holding up the thimble, only to hesitate before doing the deed. ”I…” she began to say, and then bit her tongue. This poor soul did not need to hear her disparaging his last wish, this she knew, and so instead she simply said ”Here. Be at peace” and looked away as she ‘blessed’ him with the scorching oil.

In a response there came a cry of pain and rapture, and then a the words

“I feel the boiling oil entering my frigid veins.
I can still answer the call…”

Then, nothing more. Midna tried to get his attention a few more times and then sighed. She turned. Began to drift away, and then turned again to look at him one last time, only for her eyes to go wide.

”What. Where?” she asked, seeing the statue suddenly empty. At first she thought he had simply turned to ash, but none was to be found inside the statue, nor was his spirit. Then she looked down and saw that there were footsteps in the snow, leading down the mountain.

She had no idea how he had moved so fast or so silently, or even escaped from the sealed statue, but she followed his steps nonetheless, his footprints becoming surrounded by more and more root like impressions till they entered a cave. Midna followed, and gasped as she came across a field of lumionse flowers within the cave, and then despair as she saw what had become of Gemino.

The man was a man no more, but instead had been consumed by wizened bark, branch and roots to such an extent that he had become a tree, one that knelt before a coffin surrounded by other figures who had turned into trees just like him.

”Was this the call? Why? Who even is this?” the princess asked the dead as she floated across the field of flowers to avoid stepping on them, as the man had somehow also avoided doing so, and examined the tomb upon which she found a name: ”Engracia?”

She had no context for any of this, least of all who this was. Was she to blame for Gemino’s state or if she had been a last respite for him before the curse took him. She had no idea.

In the end all she could say was ”At least this is a better place to die than that barren slope” while picking a few shining flowers and placing them on the tomb, an offering to Gemino as much as it was to this woman whom he had come to pay his respects to in his final moments, willingly or not.

Then, after a few moments of silence for the departed, she left, the princess rendered equal parts confused and sorrowful by the whole ordeal. Yet it wasn’t at an end quite yet. As she exited the cave and returned to the path she saw the statue he had been trapped in once again. Yet rather than remain as she had left it, it now sported a bloom of frozen flowers at its feet and, sitting in their midst, a bright red string, its luster contrasting greatly with the white snow. Upon its length sat a single frozen olive strung up like a rosary bead.

A strange and yet fitting parting gift from this misbegotten mountain.

With the string draped around her neck the Twilight Princess descended it at a breakneck pace atop her Wolf-Dran steed, blasting through the monster infested slopes, past the slumbering bear and through its autumn dream, alongside the racers of the Redstone City and finally back down to Tostarena Town where a happy reunion was had and a trio of allies returned to the fold.

Then, one last twilight gate opened in the vicinity of the mountain and the Princess finally left it behind, now with Sora, Mao and Minamoto in tow. It was well past time she and it parted ways in Midna’s opinion, and besides, they had a train to catch.

Geralt nodded at Bowser's declaration of intent to get back to the fighting, even as Kamek mentioned she wouldn't mind some more relaxing. "Think us old hands just have to try and keep up. Kids these days, all work and no play." Geralt laughed as he 'complained' about the day's youth, albeit in a different manner than the stereotypical old person's manner. "And while I wouldn't normally call myself the hero type, never hurts to have more people on your side, or in your debt, for that matter." He figured the more self-inclined Koopas would at least be able to appreciate that line of thinking, even if they weren't keen on helping for the sake of helping.

Sakura and Karin's bickering made the Witcher smile and shake his head a little. They reminded him of how he and the other Witchers would insult each other back and forth with little venom behind their banter, but plenty of familiarity. It was refreshing to see the pair getting along like a house on fire.

"Fight with Pit went well enough, I suppose." Geralt lied. "Had him on the ropes for most of the fight, but failed to keep him down long enough to end it and he got me good. Couldn't keep it going after that hit, so the match went to him. Kid's tough." While what he said wasn't exactly wrong, it left out a rather major part of what had happened. While he was certainly curious about his miraculous regeneration (especially given that the last time he'd been wounded like that, it took weeks of recovery to get back to normal), he didn't want to test if it could be recreated, or worry any of the others. He also had no desire to worry Yennefer more than anything, or hear it from her if she found out he'd been nearly killed yet again, this time during a friendly spar no less.

Bowser's nonchalant description of his victory made sense. Even with how ferocious Peach could be, Geralt doubted even he'd be able to take Bowser down without anything but his absolute best effort, and that was assuming he was aiming for a kill. Sure, he could almost certainly take anything Geralt could dish out, but he wouldn't draw Silver in a spar, or use the Bastion if he had the chance. The fact that she got a good wallop in on the King Koopa Himself was nothing short of impressive.

Kamek and Junior's minion fight was more impressive for the kid's Pokemon than anything, even though Geralt would admit he hadn't put much stock in the creatures, or much thought for that matter, until now. He knew the little yellow-ish one could use some sort of lightning attack, as well as sneak through shadows (he certainly recalled something like that from the Maw), but other than its aquatic nature, he was completely unawares of the abilities of the Prince's new companion.

Karin, of course, was still not over having been utterly, humiliatingly, and thoroughly defeated by ring-out in mere seconds, and Geralt secretly reveled in that knowledge.

And then, the alert came. It was a rather concise message, declaring that the Yellow team had accomplished their job, and that they were needed for a mission briefing.

As they gathered for the briefing, Geralt nodded to the others as they came in as a quick greeting. They were being asked to travel via the ocean to the East then South, rejoining the others in Twilight Town. The area seemed to be peaceful, as well, which would make things much easier for the Seekers. Excellent.

As the gathered group made their way to the vehicle bay, Geralt let his ungodly stamina show off just a little, nearly sprinting the entire way there, and even weighed down by armor, he was fast. Far faster than any human could hope to match, even for a short distance, and yet his pace barely flagged until the vehicle bay was in sight and he had to bring himself to a stop lest he crash into someone or something. As the others trickled in, Geralt decided to twist the knife a little and taunted those that came after: "Come on, I'm near on a century old! You kids can't even beat me in a race? What a sad state today's youth have found themselves in..." He joked with a shake of the head. He was enjoying having fun with these jokes today, it seemed.

As the group headed down and reached their transport, Geralt's face fell. "You're joking, right?" He asked aloud, to nobody in particular. They were being expected to ride in that? They were just planks of wood with slightly-raised edges!

Geralt, nonetheless, got into a boat, finding it strangely comfortable and actually rather smooth to move around in. Almost too smooth, actually. It was definitely odd.

Bowser, unsurprisingly, did not fit and instead sank to the bottom, much to Geralt's entertainment. Rika, wanting to spare him the indignity of being flown around by Toadies, summoned a massive whale upon which he could travel. Geralt silently lamented the essentially non-existant speed of the Breaching Bastion at that, but he could at least use it if they were attacked.

Soon enough, however, they were on their way, with Geralt suggesting that he ride towards the front of the group, explaining that if they were attacked, he could provide both cover and offensive support without having to risk harming the others with his opening salvo.