It was hard to tell how much time had really passed, given the Purple Line's complete lack of sun and the Metro being indoors. Maybe time hadn't dragged on quite as slow as Therion felt it had, because when Jesse summoned a Moogle for what the thief thought was a futile effort to mark their location, the creature informed them that their task was actually finished. Another team had better luck finding a place close to the base. So... that was it...?

"So that's it?" he said, echoing his own thoughts. Apparently they were really done and the next step was to get back on the train. The trio's trip into the underground cities really had been a waste of time in the grand scheme of things. 'Operation Fuck-All' was accurate, and Therion smirked and let out a puff of amusement at Jesse's words.

Well, at those particular words anyway. Her next ones brought him back to his neutral look, a slight scowl painted on his face. He'd suggested checking the place out as a way to kill time more than anything, but that was meaningless now. And Jesse wasn't really wrong in anything she said, but it still rubbed him the wrong way. Then again, he was feeling extra prickly after talking with Raz earlier. That hadn't been the kid's fault either.

"..." Therion rolled his shoulder, considering if he should open his mouth or not. But Jesse was already on her way back toward the train, and the smaller psychic soon to follow.

He sighed, drew an apple left over from breakfast from his cloak and bit into it. Back into the metro it was. Besides, what kind of treasures could a resort have anyway? It wasn't a bank or a mansion. Therion shoved his bangled hand into his pocket and followed along behind the other two, not quite feeling up to getting separated from the rest of the group just yet. Maybe once he knew where the main base was he'd strike out on his own a little, but for now he re-boarded the train as well.

---

Back at the Metro's main area Primrose was pleased that she was recognized, even if it took a moment or two. She nodded her head, confirming that Poppi had the right person. Her and Tora's antics were amusing to watch, but she didn't leave them or Vandham in the dark for much longer.

"'Fight' is a bit of an understatement..." she began, "We did run into trouble. More than we had bargained for. Everyone made it out though. Midna is finishing up on the mountain, and Braum stayed in the oasis to let her know about the next steps when she returns." Her explanation was vague, but she left it at that - sparing them mental visions of monsters in holy robes, shrieking phantoms, and boiling flesh.

"Shovel Knight came here with me, and I expect he'll arrive before long. He went off to collect those pons."

And that was that, all caught up. For the most part anyway. Primrose was surprised to be one of the earliest to arrive, though she wasn't about to complain about it - after all she could listen to what type of places the others had found. Giving a little wave to Panther and the rest of the Phantom Thieves, she listened to their accounts. Interesting. She wondered if it was possible to have a map of the world drawn up. Maybe that was something already being worked on.

Other members of the Yellow Team trickled in, whether in small groups or one by one. Primrose supposed that being split up here was one of the better places for it, since any of them could always catch a train to wherever they wanted to go and then right back here to await other Seekers as they traveled from place to place.

Those that had taken the Purple Line arrived in short order.

Therion had dumped the apple core and swiped another pass, this time to the Mint Line. Most likely he'd never bother with gathering pons as long as he could keep getting away with stealing, but he held onto the few he had just in case. When he spotted the growing group of Seekers he began to make his way over. As usual he was content to hang on the edge of the cluster of people. He did a head count of the group while scoping out the station more out of habit than anything else - and then promptly did a double take at the sight of his friend transformed. It was much more of a difference now than when he'd first seen her again back in Tostarena.

"What the hell happened to you?" he blurted out. Primrose, now almost a head taller than the relatively short Therion where before they'd been the same height, blinked at him.

"Did we not discuss spirits and fusing with them...?"

"Not what I meant," Therion groused.

Primrose gave the same short explanation that she'd given to the others earlier as the Mint Line train arrived, letting more Seekers in on the knowledge that their friends were alright and would be on the way. Everyone should be up to date on the plan to move on to Twilight Town, so there was no reason to wait up. The Travelers boarded.

As the Seekers embarked down the rapids on their white-water rafting expedition, Geralt found a spot at the rear of the pack, taking his time and enjoying the adrenaline-pumping ride. It was nice to get this kind of feeling without your life being on the line. A few salmon found their way into his face, though he was protected from much of the force of the impact by the shield Quen gave him, which itself barely took any strain from a high-velocity fish. The spell could shield him from a swing of a Fiend's arm, so this was nothing to it. Still, he guarded his face with raised arms, fish bouncing off them to either side of his boat as he bounced and was carried downstream. Part of him was tempted to try and catch one for food, but they couldn't be sure of when they'd get the chance to actually stop and deal with the damned thing, so he decided against it.

Nadia's own experiences with the fish managed to rouse the massive sleeping bear, which roared so loudly that it displaced the water near it, before chasing after the Feral Feline. Geralt watched with a raised eyebrow as the utterly titanic beast barreled through the obstacles in its path, destroying some entirely and knocking others over with its bulk. Geralt, for once having managed to avoid this kind of nonsense, did absolutely nothing. With some effort, yes, he might be able to make chase and engage the creature, but he'd prefer not to for at least half a dozen reasons. Were they on solid land or in open water he could possibly manage, with his normal combat skills and the Breaching Bastion, respectively, but they most certainly we not in either of those scenarios. Even then, he'd prefer to have had time to prepare to fight something this powerful and dangerous. No, he was going to avoid getting himself caught up in this, dodging the perils of the river was annoying enough as it was. Besides, Nadia and the others, despite appearances, were able to take even more punishment than he could, and he was a veteran warrior in extremely high-quality armor.

Eventually, his intuition proved fruitful, as Nadia managed to trick the Runebear and send it hurtling down a fork in the river that Geralt very consciously avoided. He even ended up shooting down a solid half-dozen of the pots along the way, scoring himself a good smattering of Rupees without wasting any of his arrows, each shot having been a solid hit. It was a pain to catch the Rupees that fell, though, and a good few landed in the river to be swept away by the current.

Soon enough, the Seekers began to drift back together, Nadia sans her boat, but Geralt chose not to antagonize her and left it alone. She was probably miserable enough as is without adding salt to the wound. After quite a drop, they found themselves in a large lake filled with massive trees whose roots went directly down into the water.

Geralt agreed with Nadia, that the ride was, overall, not a terribly negative experience, and he nodded along with her positivity. He was remarkably dry for the journey, though that was because Quen had actually deflected some of the higher-velocity water sprays from him in a fortunate display of magical utility.

Soon enough, Blazermate and Susie rejoined the group, alongside those members of the Troop whom had gone after the pair and helped them bring Cortez around. Geralt was actually somewhat surprised that they ended up doing that right now, though with Kamek's magical utility, he supposed it made sense. It even gave him an idea for if they found themselves attacked on the water between here and their destination.

Part of him was skeptical about the wisdom of unleashing Cortez, a self-described Pirate King, on the ocean large, but given that he was more along the lines of Bowser and his cohort than Eredin or Skelliger Raiders, he wasn't overly worried about it. They could always just deal with him later if it came down to it. He'd cleaned up his fair share of messes he was responsible for in the first place in his day.

"Tour, huh?" replied Roxas once he was on the ground level. He'd never played the tour guide before, but how hard could it be? "Yeah, I think I can do that." he began to walk and motioned for the newcomers to follow him, "This is Twilight Town. Better get used to that sunset, because it never goes away around here." he was now leading them around via Market Street. Since it wound its way through pretty much all the districts, it was the perfect route to take for a tour.

"The town's divided up into districts, and the Market Street we're currently on grants access to all of them in some way. It's also our shopping district, hence the name. I've never gone looking for a magic shop, myself, but I'll bet you can find one tucked away some place here in Market Street." he said, now noticing they were passing by their first exit that would lead to another district, "The direction you came from was Station Heights, and in that direction-" he pointed to the exit they were passing, "is the Sandlot. It's mostly an empty lot, but we use it to hold various events and celebrations. I think they're prepping for an upcoming Struggle Tournament right now. Uh, that's a popular sport we play around here. You spar with another person using foam bats and try to pick up spheres your opponent drops when you hit them. When time runs out, the person who possesses the most spheres is the winner."

As they continued on he recalled the second thing that Sectonia had asked about, "Hmm, well we do have Le Grande Bistro. I think it's over there in that direction." he pointed off somewhere deeper in the Market Street, "It's down in the Tram Common section of Market Street, so the Tram goes right by it. As long you follow the track you'll find it no problem. They make all kinds of teas and other treats there. Though I'm more of an ice-cream guy myself. Speaking of..." he stopped when they passed by his favorite ice-cream vendor. Roxas bought a trio of ice-cream bars, light blue in color and one to each of the tourists, "Try a sea salt ice-cream. They're one of the most popular treats we have here. And my personal favorite too."

As the tour continued, Roxas noted that they were about to pass by the road that led to the barracks. He made a gesture in that direction and said, "Down that way is the Barracks. It's the headquarters of the Town Militia. We take patrols and make sure things stay peaceful around here. We've also had to clear out occasional monsters that try to make their home in the Underground Concourse - er, that's an underground network of tunnels and sewers that run throughout town."

Eventually the group would circle back around in the direction of Station Heights. But this time, Roxas made sure to show them the direction of the last district, "You can take the train to Sunset Terrace. It's more of a residential district but there are some breathtaking views there on Sunset Hill." he stopped a moment to think. He was pretty sure he covered everything, or at least most of it anyway, "I... think that about covers it all. The main stuff anyway. I'm sure you could probably find more things to see around town if you go looking for it."

As Jesse turned away, she wondered if she had said anything to make Therion upset. Despite being a psychic, mind-reading was not on her list of abilities.

Which is weird. Because that’s kind of a big one, isn’t it? Maybe someday we’ll get that one. It’d be neat. Make social interactions a lot easier.

Jesse waited on the train, watching the dark tunnels pass on by.

Wait, oops. It’d be pretty fucked up to just go around reading people’s private thoughts all the time just to make sure it easier to talk to them. Yeah. Glad to know it only took me thirty seconds to remember that crucial detail.

…We also can’t predict the future.

Once back at the Metro Hub, they reunited with other Seekers. Therion and Primrose were some sort of duo, and yeah, Primrose was pretty damn tall now. Generally speaking, Jesse was used to be taller than most of the women around her- even a majority of the men. That and her general…demeanor, meant some people were intimidated or off put by her. That was just one of many reasons why she liked juxtaposing herself against crazy bullshit all the time.

Once again it was Jesse’s job to get more Pons for herself. She jumped up, floating around, hopped and vacuumed some towards herself with her incredible cosmic powers.

Weirdly, some had reappeared in the same place she had just picked them up. So this was definitely intentional. Or just some immutable feature of the world. It’s not like people were going around-

Okay! Enough theorizing with the Pons, alright? We get it. It’s confusing. Who fucking cares?
“I’m back.” Jesse said, landing on the platform with a satisfying ‘thunk’ of her boots. “Let’s do this, people.” Having a clear destination in mind brought her confidence back to the surface. “The Seekers will be a force to be reckoned with after this.”

More and more people started to arrive at the metro. It was a little overwhelming in Bede’s opinion. All these people knew each other already, and Bede was the stranger in the group. He went off on his own, and sent out his two Pokémon. Pokémon was something he knew well. “Elgyem, you’re a member of Team Bede now. Your going to have to get to know your teammates. I’m Bede, and this is Hatenna.”

Hatenna smiled and waved her arm flap. “Hatenna!”

In response, the red green and yellow digits on Elgyem’s hands glowed before responding with and “Elgyem.”

Hatenna and Elgyem had a back and forth conversation that Bede could not understand, because he did not speak Pokémon. It was nice that the two of them seemed to be getting along at least.

Suddenly, the Elgyem teleported away. He wasn’t gone long. He returned shortly with a Pon in hand, and handed it to Bede. “Elgyem.”

Bede took the pon from him. “Yes, thank you. I suppose I do need these…” Even though from what he could make out from the conversation of the others, Poppi and friends already had the pons covered. For the life of him Bede couldn’t figure out what this Pokémon’s nature was yet. That would come with time. Even though Elgyem wasn’t the usual kind of Pokémon he caught, it was cute in a weird way.

Eventually, the train arrived, and Bede gestured for Hatenna and Elgyem to follow, and they boarded the train with the others.

It turned out that the train ride had not been a straight shot to the finish line. No, instead there were ‘routes’ and ‘transfers’ and all sorts of things that Princess really should not have to deal with. Really where was a personal carriage when you needed one?

Well. Probably being much too slow if the princess was honest. The train had taken them across the world in the blink of an eye and though for the portal hopping princess that wasn’t unheard of it was impressive to have an entire transport network work that fast.

Still, the need to hunt down these pons very much slowed things down, as the princess couldn't just hop on the next train they needed with the rest of her party without going on a pon hunt. Said party had accidentally gained an additional member in the form of Shovel Knight who they had caught up with just before he got on the next train. The noble knight had offered to stay behind and help them, which was very welcome, but it was still turning out to be quite the hunt around this place called Edinburgh.

The most notable encounter on her exploration occurred when passing by a store called “Arcane Tempurr” which had seen, well, a touch of vandalism. A big s had been spray painted over the can of the title, and that was only the start of it: windows smashed, shelves overturned, inventory (which looked to be minor magic macguffins of various sorts) scattered about. The few poor arcane mages who catted the store had been trying their best to clean up, but at the moment they were panicking as they various potion juices that had been being mopping up had started fizzling and sparking furiously in a bucket in the middle of the store

”Hey, what’s going on here?” Midna asked, floating into the shop, avoiding the other goop and glass shards on the floor as she went to investigate.

“Oh it;s a cat-astrpohe! Those Nyakuza jerks roughed up our shop and now the potions are reacting!” the closest store mage told her, while also trying to urge her back, only for the reaction to intensify even more and then explode before the princess could respond to this information. The blast tossed cat mages all around, and unveiled the result of the reaction: An undulating vaguely feline horror of pure shadow.

It looked around for a few moments, before wandering over and swatting at a poor mage with its claws, toying with the poor downed kitty.

”Stop that!!” Midna shouted at it, and when she was ignored added ”I’m the princess of twilight, obey me you creature of shadow you!”

This got it to turn to notice her, but rather than submit it narrowed its malice filled eyes at Midna for a moment, before slinking down into the shadows much like she could and rushing at her through them.

”What the!” Midna said as a mage pinned by a shelf cried out “look out miss, it's a shadow cat!” right before the shadow reached her and suddenly rose up too strike her.

Minda raised her sabo shield, blocking a blow from one side, only to be struck in the back by a follow up sipe from the other side. She snarled and slammed her shadow hand down into the floor, breaking floor tiles but not harming the cat, which instead slunk away in the shadows and reappeared close by.

”Get back here you copy cat!” the shadow hopping princess demanded, hitting the ground and sprinting after the cat with dragons clawed feet only for it to leap up on a shelf and saunter swiftly along it, kicking more items off the shelves as it went. The princess leapt after it, reaching for her knives in the twilight realm only to remember too late they were gone, melted in lava. She snarled and just tried to smash it with a shadow hand again, which ended poorly for a shelf, almost ended poorly for a kitty mage, and was a simple leap out of the way for the shadow cat to avoid.

”Stop running you jerk faced little-” Midna shouted at it, only to have to go on the defensive again as the cat dipped into the shadows and rushed her once more, the princess dodging one, blocking another and being clipped by an unexpected third before it darted away.

“Nya, don’t let it use that spell again, or the field will turn entirely black and it will be able to summon the mothership!” the helpful cat mage shouted from behind cover.

”The what?” Midna asked, only to glance around and understanding what ‘the field turning black’ meant, as the area was becoming saturated with dark magics ”oh goddesses, that can’t be good”

The shadowcat had the audacity to look smug, which only made Midna mad ”Spears! Skewer me that cat!” she commanded, summoning a horde of strikers behind her. Chilfos and Initiates hefted their spears of ice and psionic energy respectively and then rained hell down on the slippery kitty as it leapt and dodged about the store, Midna having to yell ”But not the other cats!” when it began to use the stunned mages as a way to disade their fire.

Still, by the time the fire was coming to a close she had managed to clip it a fair few times and it was definitely looking less than 100% held together. ”Ha ha take that…” Midna gloated, before realizing ”Wait… I should have had the Initiates root you!” which made the cat ever so smug at having taunted her into a bad move.

Especially because it was now it's turn to go on the attack again. The cat lunged through the shadows, and though the princess blocked each hit this time, and did a nasty amount of damage back thanks to her spiky Sabo Shield, it didn’t matter. The last hit point was the only one that mattered and the shadow cat still had it when it appeared atop a half destroyed shelf, sat down ever so proud and smug, and then meyowled a dark melody.

Black light pulsed outside the shop, and then to the terror of all in the station a house sized vessle descended out of nothingness and began floating just above the ground (fortunately not squishing anyone). A scanning beam of red light flashed from it, lancing into one of the broken windows of the store and then began sweeping across it, searching for its target. Said target did the only logical thing in this situation. She hid in a shadow and hoped it would not shoot if it didn’t find her.

It banished those shadows as it passed over the store, but found, somehow, nothing. Then the beam flared, banishing every shadow and again, nothing. The entire station. Nothing.

Then it suddenly locked onto the bathed in red shadow cat and began charging its cannons, which spooked the hell out of the cat, and with another dark pulse the mothership was gone.

There was a pause, the shadow cat looked around, and with no princess to be found, it shrugged and moved to finish off the cat mages. It raised a paw over the cowering kitty that had tried to help Midna, preparing to strike.

Then came a ”Ha” as the princess materialized out of the only shadow that had withstood the red light: that of the shadow cat itself. The monster spun in a panic, only to met its end as Midna’s purple glowing dragon claws cut down that last hitpoint to the sound of ”See how you like it!”

The cat fell, disintegrating into ash, as footsteps came running towards the store. Braum rushed into the scene, and then paused, and sighed in relief and said “Ah Midna, Braum can't leave you alone for two seconds eh?” before looking around the (now even more) wrecked shop and asking “did, ah, did you do this?”

”No. Well. Yes. Some of it?” Midna admitted as the rest of the party showed up, along with some onlookers. These include, she noticed, another big cat guard who gave her a look and started advancing through the crowd towards her.

“She saved us from the shadow cat though” the cat mage who had been moments from death piped up “so it's ok!”

The cat guard stopped its advance upon hearing this, and then gave Minda the second ‘I’m watching you’ gesture she'd gotten from one of those today. It looked like she was getting a reputation.

Best to try and make it a better one

”I mean I did. But I still feel responsible. So we can help!” she said, before turning to her cohort and adding ”Right boys?”

“Verily!” declared the shovel knight, which got the rest followed up with a slightly less enthusiastic round of agreement with the notion.

”Excellent, here, you lot, help as well” she said, snapping her fingers and re-summoning her strikers to help out as well. As they started picking up the junk and rescuing kitty mages the one who had stood up for her said “Are you sure you want to help. More than you already have? The Nyakuza did this, and if they see you helping, you’ll be on their bad side for sure” as the princess helped pull her up from where she had been trapped.

”Those the people that roughed this palace up? Don’t worry. If they come after me I’ll deal with hem the same way I dealt with that shadow cat in the end, don’t you worry”

“By hiding?” the cat pointed out

”Hey! Ok I mean I might… but what about you? ” Midna asked, as much to get off the subject as out of concern

“Us?”

”What are you gonna do if they come back?”

“Come back…” the cat replied before being horrified “Oh mew. They might come back! And they’ll be mad that you helped! And what if they think that ufo was us!?”

”Well. Maybe say it was to scare them?” Minda suggested duplicitously

“Huh. Hmmm. Oh but what if they call our bluff? Our magic is not all that great. We’re mostly a novelty shop, a bucha fraud according to the big shot magic schools upstairs. I don't even know how that cat got made out of our stuff. I just read about them” the cat replied, a moment of hope drowned in dejection.

”Hmmm” Midna thought for a moment, and then glanced down at the shadow cat spirit, and then she had an idea, bedding it over and picking it up. Then she had another thought and asked ”Hey what’s your name by the way?”

“Me? I’m Lana” the cat mage replied

”Well, Lana, how’d you like to get stronger much faster?” the twilight princess offered her a bargain, hand held out with the shadow cat spirit in it and adding, informatively, ”There’s only a few minor side effects”

The mage looked at the spirit, then at the princess of a realm of eternal darkness offering her the deal, then at her wrecked store, and then, finally, nodded.

---

Quite a bit of time and one big ol construction job later and the shop was looking as fresh as could be. Tiles and windows replaced, its shelves and sign cleaned and repaired, stock all back in order and, on top of that, a new bit of security thanks Lana and her new new orange glowing ears and tail tip.

While she had given up her spirit prize, the princess didn’t leave empty handed, the thankful kitty mages having thrust a shopping bag of items into her hands before she left. This consisted of a set of weak healing potions (all of which she used to undo the cat scratches on her) and the field magic spell: Fraidy Cat.

Probably not a good trade, but it was the one that felt right, and that was enough to put Midna in a good mood as she and the lads headed onward towards Twilight town to catch up with the others.

For a couple minutes Nadia rested on her rock, allowing the cool freshness of the rain to revitalize her. Ever since her fusion with the Rhodeia, the hydrokinetic Oceanid from Carcass Isle, she found herself endowed with a better sense of purity when it came to water. While not filthy by any stretch, the river couldn’t exactly be called clean either, with all the plant and mineral debris stirred and broken up by the ruthless rapids. Nothing felt purer than the rain, formed from vapor up. in the clouds where water, the source of all life, coagulated and fell far from the reach of earthly foulness and contaminants. And thank goodness, really, because without this newfound appreciation Nadia figured she’d be pretty damn miserable by now.

As the rain rinsed the fatigue built up by fighting against the rapids away, more of her fellow Seekers accumulated in Floria Lake at the bottom of the mountain river. It looked like Geralt, Sakura, Peach, Rika, Bowser, and Karin all made it without any obvious issue. Had she really been the only one to lose her boat? Then again, as she took stock of those around her Nadia began to realize just how many allies weren’t here yet. Of Rubick, Omori, Ace, Pit, Blazermate, Susie, Kamek, and Junior she found no sign. “Where is everyone?” she wondered aloud. “Hope they didn’t wash down a dead end, or somethin’.” She remembered the gigantic bear, and shivered at the thought of poor Junior or Omori disappearing into that horrendous maw. Maybe they should have all stuck together on the way down, after all.

Her reverie came into an abrupt end as a giant robot appeared over the waterfall, which nearly made her lose her head. “What!?” Only her recognition of Blazermate through the downpour stopped her falling back into the drink, and after flailing her arms to regain her balance Nadia got to her feet. It took a few seconds, as well as the sight of Kamek flying around the enormous Medabot, for the feral to put two and two together. “Ohhh!” She scratched the back of her head, looking sheepish. “I totally for-bot about Kamek’s size magic for a spell, huh?”

The arrival of both robo-ladies and the missing Koopa Troop members did a lot to assuage Nadia’s worries–it looked like the others just fell behind, after all. Only one question remained: what was giga-Blazermate holding? In short order Nadia got her answer, as the big healer plopped the thing into the water and Kamek restored both of them to normal. As Blazermate shrunk back down, the wooden thingamajig grew, revealing itself to be the pirate ship Adrian, seized from the ship graveyard up at the river’s headwaters for use on the open ocean.

“Wow, that’s so smart!” she exclaimed, impressed at the others’ resourceful combination of powers. How they somehow made friends with a literal monster like Cortez, she couldn’t imagine. “You’re tellin’ me we ‘arr’ actually gonna set sail on a real pirate boat? That’s some serious gourmet ship!”

Peach shared the feral’s enthusiasm. “Good work, everyone. And thank you, Mr. Cortez, for lending us a hand. They can be a rowdy bunch, but trust me, they’re all worth their weight in gold.”

“Gold, eh?” the skeletal pirate mused, drawing his hook along his jawbone with an unpleasant scraping sound. “I’ll hold ye to it, Princesa.”

A few of the heroes, eager to be out of the rain, in a sturdier watercraft, or both, climbed aboard. Nadia charged up her water pressure and launched off her rock to sink her claws into the Adrian’s exterior. Compared to Shippy, with its singular mast and sail, the Adrian was massive. It boasted three masts, with three sails on the largest of the bunch, and even an auxiliary sail on the prow. With its pitch-black hull and will o’ wisp crew, it looked every inch the haunted pirate vessel, which Nadia honestly found sick as hell. “I’ll take normal ghosts any day of the week,” she murmured. While she could have easily ascended to the deck and walked around like anyone else, using her claws to climb around the hull felt more fun, so she maneuvered herself all the way up to the prow. After stopping to appreciate the horrific skeletal figurehead, she swung up onto the bowsprit, then trotted out along the narrow beam -using her tail for balance- until she could take hold of the rope connecting to the forward sail. “Avast, me hearties!” she cried. “Aweigh anchor!”

Peach, having skated up toward the ship’s front after Rika, gave a nod. “Yes, let's move out!” she called, waving to Cortez up at the ship’s wheel.

“Aye aye!” the pirate replied. At his command the sails unfurled, billowed in the wind, and got the Adrian moving through the waters of Floria Lake.

This turn of events somehow took Nadia by surprise. “Wait, we’re really goin’? What about Ace and the others?”

“They know where we’re going, and they’re more than capable,” Peach replied. She did not look one hundred percent confident herself, but the situation couldn’t be helped. “Besides, we couldn’t very well go back and search the whole mountain range. With how much faster the rowboats are, they can catch up in no time.”

Not totally reassured, Nadia kept looking back over her shoulder as the final waterfall grew farther away, her ears lowered and a worried look on her face. The team had a whole haunted ship to call their own now, bound for open waters and a straight shot to a grand reunion, but the feral couldn’t put aside a sinking feeling.

Cortez steered the Adrian through the short channel to the sea. After rounding the mountainous bend at the forefront of the ship, Nadia was the first non-shipgirl to catch a glimpse of the open ocean, as well as what lay atop it. A ways from the shore lay what looked like a floating city, not unlike Limsa Lominscuttle Town, but as she studied it Nadia found more differences than similarities. While Limsa stood on firm foundations, a seastack city with bastions of stone like a castle, this one looked rose above the waves on stilts and trunks of wood, with tent canopies rather than carven parapets over huts and floors of slapdash, nailed-together wooden planks, their lower reaches thick with seaweed and bivalves. Rafts floated between the sea towers, many rather elaborate buildings in and of themselves. Anchored to the sea floor, they rocked precariously on the waves. Compared to Limsa’s splendor, the place looked shoddy, quaint, and dilapidated. Nadia marveled that such a place could still stand in such turbulent waters, but the World of Light nothing was impossible.

She also noticed that the rain seemed to have thinned. Though the sky remained moody, its deluge fell off to just a drizzle, and with the haze lessened Nadia could see a lot farther. She looked up and down the coastline, finding it mostly rocky and mountainous. The nearby cliffs divulged a flock of black birds, probably emboldened enough by the reduced rain to make their move back to their nests. Maybe it was just the cat in her, but Nadia couldn’t take her eyes off them. They flew in the direction of the Adrian, their flapping ungainly and irregular. Now that they grew closer, she could see that their wings looked rather small, too, with tails that were thick and long, more like a fish’s. Were these even birds at all?

Nadia’s eyes narrowed. Whatever they were, these things were weird, with their stubby white beaks, opening and closing as they glided. They looked more like teeth than anything. “Wait,” she murmured, craning her neck upward to get a better look as the creatures passed overhead despite the rain in her eyes. Black bodies, white teeth. Short, steady wings, and a long body. Almost like a plane. But what were they clutching in their talons? The feral gasped, so suddenly that she nearly choked herself, and at the top of her lungs yowled, “ABYSSALS!”

“Take cover!” Peach cried.

The next moment, the attack began. Several dozen explosive canisters rained down on the Adrian from the bombers, each packing the punch of a fragmentation grenade. The chain reaction laid waste to the upper deck, including the masts and the ship’s wheel, wounding Cortez in the process. As Nadia sprinted down the bowsprit one bomb struck the beam, snapping it like a matchstick. The feral jumped and let out some blood for an airdash, narrowly twisting around another bomb in the process, and latched onto the wood beneath the Adrian’s prow for cover. She fought to hold on by digging her claws deeper when the ship rocked wildly, bashed about by the force of both the explosives on deck and those that detonated in the water beside it. Shards of wood and smoke filled the air, while will o’ wisp crewmen dissipated into nothing with an ethereal shriek apiece.

Still, from her position Nadia managed to avoid the worst of it, and it also gave her a good look at what came next. From the shelter of the nearby mountains emerged an airship suspended beneath a giant balloon emblazoned with the symbol that was the nightmare of every mariner: the pirate skull. It kept its distance from the Adrian as it began to circle around, its deck full of neopets armed to the teeth and harpoon-wielding Gill Grunts, all screaming themselves hoarse in a terrifying throng. At the same time, the surface of the ocean opposite them exploded to reveal a three-eyed leviathan with another pirate ship built into its shell. Some sort of bubble that extended over its deck deactivated, and a horde of scimitar-wielding Tinkerbats appeared. A purple blur shot up from their midst to land in the crow’s nest, and from that lofty perch an uproarious laugh rolled across the ocean.

“Ohohohohohoho!” The lady captain guffawed, extending her sword toward the vessel that had fallen right into her trap. “Well hello there, my pretties!” she called, her voice amplified by her megaphone. “Welcome to the Sea of Serendipity. I, the great pirate Risky Boots, will be your guide today on your grand tour…of Davy Jones’ Locker! Prepare yourselves for the wrath of my Part Omni-Organic, Partially Titanic, Ocean-Optional Tinkerslug!”

Nadia blinked, thrown for total loop by her uncharacteristically quick observation. “P.O.O.P.T.O.O.T.!?”

Risky bared her teeth. “Don’t call it that!”

“RAAAWK!” A shrill scream from the other vessel. Nadia span her head around to see a purple-clad pirate parrot LeFwee on the deck of the airship, flanked by the warframe Hydroid Rakkam with a gunspear and the swordfish-wielding Rip Tide. “Not if we sink ‘em first! Fire, me hearties!”

Determined not to be outdone, Risky fired her pistol into the air. “POOPTOOT, open fire!”

Thunder rolled across the Sea of Serendipity as both halves of the pincer attack let loose. The Raptor fired a triple-fanged broadside, while the Tinkerslug unleashed its four forward-facing cannons. Finally, Port O’ Panic itself opened fire with the only cannon on its solitary Lookout Tower, operated by the marine iguana Reme Lousteau and the nymph Annetta Fish herself, with a tall stranger looking on. Cannonballs hurtled through the air toward the Adrian, none of them on target quite yet, but it would only be a matter of time before the bombardiers dialed in their aim.

“Gahahaha!” LeFwee cackled. “We got ‘em right where we want ‘em! Let’s finish it off quick-like! Get down there, ye scurvy dogs!”

Rakkam and Rip Tide vaulted over the Raptor’s railing and plummeted down toward the waves below, joined by two more fighters that, unlike them, stopped on the water’s surface. The Raptor’s chief gunner, Massachusetts, prepared to join the bombardment, while the medic Ingraham hung back with her healing drones. Rip Tide rose to the surface and began to swim toward the Adrian, backed up by Rakkam as he surfed atop a wave.

“I’m one step ahead of you, featherbrain!” Risky barked back. “Submariners, now!”

In the water beneath the Adrain, the sisters Adie and Elsie got to work. With their arm cannons they laid into the bottom of their target from below, blowing out chunks of hull so that the giant Thumpback could hook his anchor inside and really start doing some damage.

As the first cannonball hit the ship, jarring it almost hard enough to shake Nadia into the water, she grit her teeth and tried her best not to panic. Pirates, rogue shipgirls, loose Abyssals, and heavy artillery. Memories of Blackwater Bay had her stunned. This wasn’t just bad. It was terrible.



The moment the subway car’s doors parted to let its passengers disembark, Tora realized that the name ‘Twilight Town’ wasn’t just for show. Orange-gold light poured through the train station’s windows across the polished red granite and beige travertine tiles of the interior, casting long, dark shadows from the benches and counters beneath great arches. Vast, stately, and practically empty except for the new arrivals, it imparted a slight echo to the footsteps and voices of the visitors, but more than that it offered a sense of quiet and peace that neither the open-air platforms at Radlandia, nor the top-security Biodome headquarters, nor the cramped confines of Rapture’s underwater transportation hub, nor the vista at the terrace station amidst Karnaca’s pungent winds could provide.

In Band’s eyes, the place possessed a solemn grandiosity that befitted a cathedral more than a train station. With stained glass and an altar or two, he might have just as well been back at the Grand Cathedral of the Trinity. That place always gave him the creeps, even before he caught wind of the rumored catacombs that lay beneath, where the Skullgirl Marie surreptitiously bided her time until New Meridian faced its judgment day. Did those sepulchral crypts still exist, beneath the city at the bottom of the ocean deep? The detective honestly didn’t want to know, and with how things were headed, he had bigger fish to fry, anyway. He lifted his face to the comfortable warmth of Twilight Town’s forever-setting sun, so much kinder than the cyclopean depths of the earth or sea, and for just a moment’s time pondered the irony of how the apocalyptic threat of the Skullgirl now suddenly seemed so small.

He took a deep breath and hurried after the others, stomping across the open floor of the train station to the front doors. Tora and Poppi led the way, though whether the defensive duo took point to protect the others or just sate their curiosity, Band couldn’t say. The two ended up holding the door open for the others, with Poppi taking stock of who’d made it in the process. Both Octopath Travelers, the entirety of the Phantom Thieves, Big Band, Jesse, her old friend Vandham, and her new friend Bede all stepped out into the eternal dusk that shone down on the Station Heights plaza. Poppi noted a handful of absences, but between the reports of Band and Primrose she didn’t concern herself too much about the missing members of the Black Line or Mountain teams. That left just the Virgin Victory delegation with their ornery escort Asbestos, and the Purple Line crew that Therion made no mention of. If something went wrong though, Poppi assumed that the thief would tell them, so for now she joined her Masterpon in the plaza with a worry-free processor to take in the sights.



“Wow-wow!” Tora marveled, flapping his wings in excitement. “It so pretty! And peaceful!” As she scanned Station Heights, Poppi couldn’t help but agree. It was, in a word, cozy. The whole city seemed to be cast in friendly, homey earth tones of brown, yellow, and tan, accented all throughout by the green of countless potted plants, flower boxes, and rooftop gardens everywhere one looked. The routes visible from here, especially the Market Street, curved and wended in an organic fashion, all awash in the soft yellow glow of lanterns, windows, and shop signs. Places like the nearby cafe featured chalked blackboard menus out front with the day’s specials written out in cursive. Railings and fixtures inevitably featured wrought iron, curled and bent into all sorts of shapes, and the people who ambled around seemed unusually carefree. Pleasant, relaxing music rolled up and down the brick roads from various establishments, completing an unprecedented nice atmosphere. Behind the new arrivals towered the clock tower in all its splendor.

Tora took a deep breath. He got no trace of the pestilence or sea-borne foulness that he whiffed in Karnaca, and none of the weird scents that befuddled his senses in Radlandia. Just the aromas of coffee and baked goods, reminding him that lunchtime couldn’t be far off. “Tora not believe it. Friends actually get spend time in nice spot? No sand, no snow, no monsters? Nothing to do but wait for more friends? Sound like Tora dream!”

“Better enjoy it while it lasts,” the team’s detective chuckled. “After this, we’re back on the beat.”

“Yes-yes, Tora know.” Grumbling, the Nopon brushed his hair back with a wing, only for it to pop straight back up. “So, where to for lunch?”

As it happened, the new arrivals were due for a reunion already. As they milled around the plaza, a familiar inhuman silhouette cresting the top of Market Street caught their eye, and Tora turned to see Sectonia on her way over. “Meh, meh! More friends incoming!” he called, waving. Since her fusion with a certain flowery Spectrobe the bug queen looked more monstrous than ever, but it looked like she and the Scout had made a new friend. Both Tora and Poppi noticed his distinctive outfit right away. “Oh! You…you!”

“Organization 13?” Poppi asked, her memory banks crystal clear on the matter. Though the member who called herself Ram assisted the team several times in the Sandswept Sky, she remembered the hassle that the die-headed one caused them in Lumbridge. “Here to help this time, Poppi hope?”

As the reunified Seekers ironed that out, Tora’s attentioned began to wander. He heard a noise above Twilight Town’s general ambiance, the unmistakable sound of motors and machines, which naturally piqued the engineer’s curiosity. As he listened the noise got louder and louder, coming roughly from the plaza’s north side, and he pitter-pattered over in that direction to look. Suddenly, a bizarre contraption roared around the corner, drifted past a candy shop, and promptly tipped over onto its side with a loud crash. “Dangit!” the boy behind the wheel yelled, seemingly more annoyed than hurt by the impact, before he unbuckled himself. As Tora watched, taken aback, a handful of other makeshift cars hurtled around the corner, each more kludged than the next.

A long buggy narrowly missed the fallen vehicle, giving the monkey Amigo driving it a chance to screech at Alex, followed shortly by a white-bearded dwarf on a trolley. An H-shaped doohickey wobbled along with the graffiti artist Gum in back, and a monster truck steered by a red-suited maniac in a gas mask brought up the rear. The parade of cobbled-together vehicles did a rather low-speed lap around the station plaza, honking their horns to clear the road, then headed for the south road. Multiple collisions occurred, making the reason for the wrought-iron poles around the plaza’s perimeter sidewalk very clear, but somehow the vehicles just bounced off everything in their path, including one another.

Poppi jetted over to make sure her Masterpon was okay as he approached the fallen racer, then landed beside him and turned a furrowed brow on Alex. “What is meaning of this?”

“It’s a race, duh!” the boy told them. “Can you help me here? Pretty please?”

Tora, who’d been staring at the machinery, suddenly gave Alex his undivided attention. “If we help, can we ride with? Tora help distribute weight better!”

“Sure, but c’mon! I’m gonna come in last at this rate!” Alex wailed.

Nodding, Tora turned to his companion. “Please to flip it, Poppi!”

“What? Why? Masterpon, explain.” Poppi questioned him, baffled. She didn’t question the danger of joining the race, knowing that his durability made any accidents at these mediocre speeds a joke, but she couldn’t fathom why.

“Where there funny contraption, there certainly funny mechanic, meh!” Tora reasoned, his eyes sparkling. “While have down time, Tora want learn all about local machines! Plus, after seeing friend Rose-Rose, Tora have many new idea for upgrade Poppi Qt Pi chassis!”

Poppi crossed her arms, a suspicious look on her face. “Poppi chassis just fine as-is, thank you.”

She glanced over to see Band on his way over, having threaded the needle between racers on their way out of the Station Heights plaza. He honked his horn as he slid to a stop. “Hey, if there’s a grease pit nearby, you can finally gimme that tune-up ya owe me, instead.”

“Meh!?” Tora balked, the prospect of one exciting project pulled out from under his nubby little feet and replaced with something totally different. Still, time was wasting, and the pros outweighed the cons. “Fine, fine, yes. Tora make good on word for friend Biggypon Band!”

Poppi nodded, and with one hand flipped Alex’s car back onto its tires. Both he and Tora mounted up, with Poppi and Band resolved to follow behind. The Nopon waved to the other Seekers. “Come on, friends! This look like fun!” Alex put his pedal to the metal, and at a sprightly twenty miles an hour, sped away.

---

The race came to an end in the town’s southernmost point, halfway down the slope, in a lot surrounded by trees with padded bumpers on their trunks; there, the Seekers found a machine shop called Mumbo’s Motors. With Tora as ballast in the back Alex’s rickety contraption only tipped over two more times on the downhill stretch to get here, and as the vehicle slowed to a stop to take last place, the Nopon hopped down with only minor bruises to offset his giddy excitement. This place looked like an inventor’s paradise, with piles of components from nuts and bolts to engines and wheels stacked high. Some of the racers who stuck around already seemed to be tinkering with their rides, pulling them apart and socketing them together like toys. In charge of the place were two chief mechanics whose only point of commonality was their overalls: the skull-headed Mumbo and the formidable Ellie. They alternated between telling the racers what to do and trying to do it themselves, bickering all the while. It was perfect. The fact that the building’s plumed facade looked sort of like a Nopon with a mohawk was just icing on the cake.

It was perfect. As much as Tora loved the smell of food, the odors of oil, gas, coolant, and rubber were near and dear to his heart, as well. He bounced up and down, flapping his wings. “Meh, meh, meh! Tora can’t wait for tinkerings!” When he looked at Band, however, he closed his eyes and gave a stiff nod. “But first, Tora fulfill promise! When done, friend Band feel good as new! Tora learn lots about ancient tech from peeking around insides too, meh!”

“You sure you oughta have said that last part?” Band asked him, brows furrowed, before sighing. “Still, ain’t gonna turn down my first real tune-up in who-knows-how-long. Show me whatcha got, li’l man.”

As the two went inside, Poppi approached the others. “It look like they let anyone use chop shop for free. Everyone allowed to put together own cars and race around Twilight Town perimeter track, or others, but Mumbo Motors not liable if people do bad job. Could learn how drive, too.” She shrugged. “We just need kill time until rest of Seekers arrive from Alcamoth, so can do something else if friends want. If Poppi know Masterpon, he definitely want lunch after this, though. Hopefully finish just in time for full reunion, and everyone get bite together. Meet you all in hour?”

Sakura was pleased by the sight of the giant Blazermate with a giant ship and a giant pirate skeleton. Karin just pressed her lips together and thought that these Seekers really did just let anyone join up. A practice that would inevitably betray them at some point. At some point, the giant skeleton monster was going to want to eat them instead of being their friend.

Next up, was a spot of serene serendipitous sailing. The two girls carried their Steve-made boats on deck and sat them down. While Sakura sat on the edge of the boat, happily kicking her sneakers against it, Karin observed the entire thing with a discerning eye. Not that one needed one with how much of a mess this boat was. ”This boat doesn’t have much class. It is quite literally in a state of disrepair.”
”I think it’s cool! Come on, it’s a little cool.” Sakura said. Karin frowned as a will o’ wisp crewman passed her by. No comment.

It was then something caught her attention. She squinted up at the birds that were taking flight. If it wasn’t for Nadia’s keen eyes and warning, it would have taken her a while longer to react. Even still, her only reaction was a surprised gasp and a flailing of her limbs. It was Karin who yanked her off the railing and onto the ground. Crouched over Sakura and raised both her hands. An explosion went off in front of them and defensive Ki energy sparked as Karin deflected the fragmentation blast with comparative ease. Though the sleeves of her red jacket were cut into, and it still hurt. Sakura got up and crouched back to back with Karin just in time for a bomb to land behind them. Crossing both arms, she too absorbed the kinetic energy of the blast. Wood and shrapnel chipped at both girls. Wide-eyed, Sakura looked out to the water as their enemies made their introductions. She didn’t even notice Karin speed off to grab something.

”Oh, man…” Sakura said. ”Is- is everyone okay? We have to do something!” She called out, frenetic.

Then she turned around to face her friend rapidly approaching friend, Karin. ”You saved me! Karin?” Her friend was carrying a single rowboat.

”What’s the plan?” Sakura asked, wide-eyed.

”Our enemy has naval superiority. You and I must get on board an enemy ship as fast as possible, where we have the advantage.” Her eyes, razor sharp, scanned the oncoming forces. There was only one ship to board. Since their enemies were uncoordinated, there was a sizeable gap in their assault that would allow Sakura and Karin to breach through and attack the overlong named Tinkerslung.

”My boat was destroyed, so we will be taking yours. Are you with me, Miss Sakura?” Karin asked.

Sakura nodded rapidly, hyped, her adrenaline pumping. ”Yeah! Let’s go kick some ass!” She said, raising the back of her fist, which Karin quickly met with her own.

”Quite. Let us begin.” Karin said with a small smile. Fear or hesitation wasn’t an option. She tossed the boat overboard, where it landed neatly on the surface. Sakura followed after, crouching and gripping the oars.

”Sakura and I shall be assaulting the Tinkerslug! PROVE YOUR WORTH, SEEKERS!” With that command she vaulted over the edge and joined her long-time battle companion. Karin seemed to want to let Sakura drive, but Sakura insisted.

”You drive, Karin! I’ll use my Hadokens to stop any cannon shells that get too close.” She said. Karin opened her mouth, but then nodded, letting Sakura take her by shoulder as she sat on her legs in the boat. Karin swished her coiled hair and leaned forward, her arms beginning to pump circularly.

One speedy vessel, relying on their small size to not be hit by the enemy. They would leave before the Raptor Elites arrived, and they would be of no notice to the forces attacking the Adrian from below.

”Once there, we shall destroy the enemy's cannons! Then, defeat that scantily-clad, royal pretending pirate queen and seize her disgusting vessel for ourselves, taking it out of the fight. After that is done, we will decide our next move depending on the state of the battle.” Karin surmised between breaths, watching the Tinkerslug infront of them.

”We can do this! Our friends have our backs. They’ll get done beating the other guys before the TInkerslug is ours, I bet!” Sakura said optimistically.

Karin smirked, slyly, eyes narrowing with battle lust. ”Oh, I doubt that very much so.”

The Seekers traveled through the inlet river, some experiencing a simple ride and others running into problems of their own creation. And meanwhile at the rear of the procession of boats was Pit. After a little while he'd gotten the hang of maneuvering the small watercraft, how to handle it's speed and the rhythm of rowing. He'd figured that anything would be easier than piloting an Aether Ring, and sure enough though the rowboat's surprising smoothness reminded him of the Ring it was indeed a much simpler matter to steer it. He had curled his wings over his head in a makeshift umbrella to keep the worst of the rain out of his face, the water sliding off of his wings into the river below. With a little more visibility, Pit was well on his way.

His quick learning didn't stop the multitude of obstacles from getting in his way though.

When finally the spouts, or whirlpools, or various other things would release him and his boat was back on the correct course Pit always sported a childish pout on his face for a couple of seconds. Then it would melt away into a smile. It was actually kind of fun, especially in a large group like this. Sounds of laughter and excitement drifted from the front of the pack of Seekers just as often as yelps of surprise.

Further obstacles came in the form of rocks and broken ships, much easier to manage. Pit slowed to get past them, not too concerned about falling behind. From some the wreckage of some of the ships he could hear vaguely familiar voices, figuring them to be Seekers checking out the boats. He planned to use the time to catch up, and carefully picked his way through the narrowing river. By the time he made it out of the ship's graveyard, he was none the wiser about the rune bear chasing the others downstream. He caught sight of a familiar pair on the shore curiously looking down the way the other Seekers had gone.

"So this is where you two have been!" Pit called, waving an arm and a wing at the duo to match Banjo and Kazooie's waves.

"If it isn't the little bird brain! You joined up with the main characters."

Her comment, even in jest, caused the angel to sputter. "Uh, 'bird brain'? You're an actual bird!"

"Hey Pit, make sure you watch where you're going," Banjo interrupted with some advice before anymore could be said.

"Huh?" He turned to look ahead and saw only sky in front of him, just before the gravity took over and pitched the boat over the top of the waterfall. "Whaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The near-free fall was far from the most harrowing he'd ever had, but the surprise of it had him gripping the sides of the boat tightly and just hanging on as it was thrown back and forth through the rapids. Almost by reflex he'd summoned the Guardian Orbitars to fend off the fish, branches, and all manner of other debris that threatened to knock him out of his craft.

When the rapids came to a stop at last, Pit pulled himself upright from where he'd been sprawled on the floor of the square boat. He shook his head, clearing the lingering dizziness as he took in where he'd ended up. It seemed to be a lake or some other wider body of water just before the open ocean. And hey, it seemed like he wasn't too far behind - where at first it seemed that the group ahead were nowhere to be found, there was a big ship slowly sailing through a channel out to sea, with the Seekers onboard! So that giant robot carrying a ship hadn't just been some crazy hallucination he'd seen while the river tried it's best to capsize him.

Pit took up the oars and rowed after the vessel. It had looked big, but the closer he got to it the more he realized how massive it actually was. Thankfully the rowboat was pretty speedy, so he was able to catch up with soon after the ship hit the open water.

"Made it!" Pit declared after an impressive leap and a few flaps of his wings managed to get him over the Adrian's railing. He'd only just managed to realize that the vessel they'd picked was a ghost ship when immediately after, the bombardment started.

His Guardian Orbitars had protected Pit from the worst of it, and he peeked out from behind them. So this was naval warfare. It was pretty good fortune that the Seekers had pulled this huge ship from the wrecks of the others, or they all would have still been stranded in those little boats.

"How did they know we'd be here?!" He wondered aloud, his limbs splayed out for balance as the last of the overheard flock's payload was dropped and the explosions stopped, however briefly. In short order the rest of the ambush revealed itself. Normally such large numbers would not deter Pit, and they didn't now... or they wouldn't, if the circumstances were more even. He couldn't exactly bring the fight to the enemy, stuck on the Adrian as he was. His options were limited. But he could still help.

---

The Ace Cadet skated into the ocean battle's theater just after it began, glad that he wasn't even later to the event as he already was. It turned out that getting distracted by admiring the mini-map, riding the waterspouts for fun, and then picking through a ship's graveyard wasn't the best idea. It'd put him well behind the others even if he'd managed to find some useful items. Only when he'd got a spine-chilling feeling and then turned to noticed an enlarged Blazermate flying one of the stranded ships over to the sea did the Cadet realize it was time to get going. He rode down the rapids and through the channel, playing catch-up with the rest of the Seekers. The trek down the river had been downright leisurely all things considered, but leave it to their ragtag group to run into trouble eventually. It was bound to happen, and he should have stayed at the front of the pack to account for that - but there was no use kicking himself now. He zoomed over the water's surface toward the Adrian where he spotted the majority of the other Seekers taking cover. At the same time he produced the great bow, preparing himself for the fight.

He rendezvoused with the other ship girls in the water toward the front of the Adrian. "Rika, Boss! Is everyone okay?" Then, a double-take at the figure holding onto the prow. "Nadia?!"

For a few moments now the cat burglar had been stuck there, clinging to the wood alongside her skeletal figurehead companion for dear life as she attempted to turn her maelstrom of thoughts into some sort of plan of attack, but the monster hunter's hail seemed to stir her out of her tailspin. "Oh, Ace!" Nadia sputtered, twisting around to look. The sound of her own voice just then, uncharacteristically and unacceptably insecure, prompted her to finally clear her throat and get her head on straight. "Here I was thinkin' we'd have it easy for a change. Guess I shoulda known better! When it rains it sure pours, huh?" Her eyes drifted toward the four elites inbound from the Raptor, soon to become a major issue for anyone still around the Adrian, then to the tumultuous water below. Without sea legs of her own, she couldn't fight except on the Adrian's deck, which right now meant braving a much more volatile downpour than before. "Got any bright ideas bouncin' around in there, my man?"

Glad at least that she was alright enough for her usual quips, the Cadet offered her a reassuring grin. "Yeah, pretty par for the course at this point. But for ideas besides finding a way to sink them before they sink us? Not a one."

His eyes flickered over the opposition, including the squad currently headed directly toward them, but found his attention drawn to the Tinkerslug hauling a ship on it's back. Am I overestimating myself if I think I can repel that thing? Nah, not at all!

"If I can make it over there I can take on that thing, push it back enough to get it out of range, but..." he'd nodded his head toward the POOPTOOT as he spoke, then looked back at the elites. Obviously it didn't need to be said that it would leave one less defender against that group. "If I draw one of them off on my way, you guys think you can take the rest?"

Peach drew up between the two, her parasol held in her right hand like a rapier while her left gripped the handle of the massive war fan slung across her back. Her skirts and hair whipped in the wind, and the princess's face was grim. "These don't look like mere rabble. I wish we could challenge them on even footing."

"You said it," Nadia agreed with a humorless laugh. "I'd give my ninth life to be a shipgirl right now." As the elites surfed and swam nearer however, her eyes narrowed. She let go of the Adrian's hull with one hand and hung off it, sizing up the competition. They all looked like tough customers, minus the medic though that presented its own slew of problems, but one member of the bad company caught her attention in particular. Even from a ways off, Nadia could tell she was looking at a knockout, and between her white hair and caramel skin tone, one with a coincidentally similar appearance to boot, down to the hoodie-and-shorts combo that for a moment looked like the feral's own jumpsuit. Something clicked in her head, and as new schemes raced through her mind she gave a resolute smile. "Maybe it's just meant to be. If ya wanna focus on that snail Ace, go to town. We'll hold off these guys, you'll 'sea'."

They'd all faced worse before, so despite the opposition when Nadia said they'd take care of it he believed her. There's was a whole contingent of heroes on board, in the sky and at sea prepared to defend themselves after all.

"I trust you! Where there's a will there's a wave, right?" The Cadet skated a few feet away from the ship, and idea coming to mind before he took off. "I'll be back in no time, but first!"

Attaching the haste accelerant to an arrowhead took only seconds. He aimed skyward, pulling the drawstring back. At his full draw he released the arrow and watched it sail high above the Adrian just before a cannonball splashed into the sea nearby, it's wave momentarily washing the Cadet under water. The Haste Rain he'd fired broke over the haunted ship, spreading it's stimulant over everyone in the general area to increase their movement, attack, and charging speed all around. It would help with avoiding the worst of the danger, and if anyone planned to disembark and take the battle to the enemy like he did, they'd get there all the faster. Cadet resurfaced, popping back up and landing on the water's surface.

"I'm good! Ugh, dealing with this kind of thing once was enough!" he said, coughing the rest of the water out of his mouth. He'd gladly stick to sandships after this. The battle in Black Bay had been intense, and not the fun kind of intense, with way too many close calls. He had no desire to repeat that, so whoever was attacking them now had to be swiftly dealt with. Bow in hand the Ace Cadet prepared to charge, fulling planning to turn the leviathan so that it's cannons wouldn't be able to reach the Adrian. With the right opportunity he might even slay it, but one thing at a time.

The Ace Cadet was not the only one planning on heading for the Tinkerslug. Sakura and Karin were in the water and already rowing towards it. All the better, if they focused on the ship's crew he could put his full attention on repelling the snail! Wasting no more time the Cadet heeded Karin's battle cry and skated after them, though he banked toward the elites to make good on his suggestion of trying to handle at least one of them. His rigging was primed and ready, plugging shots at the lot of them.

---

After the fall of the Haste Rain, the Seekers found themselves moving faster. Of course this included Pit. Face set in determination, the angel spotted the flying fleet beginning to turn back toward the Adrian.

He scrambled up one of the ship's masts while it still stood, aiming to get as high up as possible. "I got this!" he called to the group at large, making haste to the top of the mast as it began to tilt dangerously. He couldn't have stopped the initial bombardment, but as the creatures (Abyssals he'd heard them called) came around for another pass the angel was confident he could protect against the second wave.

He focused the orbitars up above himself, and with a pulse of power and a "Hya!" they formed a huge barrier of shimmering opalescent energy. It was several times larger than Pit himself and in the vague shape of a shield. The barrier easily took the brunt of the airborne bombs, and it did so while continuing to move - extending upward from the place Pit had activated it. Any Abyssals it crashed into, or any that crashed into it during their flight found themselves taking damage. It was enough to tear weaker Underworld enemies apart, he only hoped it would be the same for these evil looking planes. When the explosions above started signalling defeated Abyssals, Pit let himself feel relieved for the moment. The smaller orbitars, still hovering, aimed at any unscathed planes that Pit could see and took pot shots at them as the angel panted and clung to the teetering mast. Being so much weaker in the World of Light than in his own turf, summoning the shield took more energy than he'd thought it would. It would dissipate in only a few seconds.

”What the…”

A safe distance away from the ambushed ship, Omori was admittedly caught off guard by what he was witnessing. Maybe it was dumb luck that he lagged behind far enough to avoid direct involvement in that. So the rest managed to drag that one ship out of the Kove? That’s neat. If it wasn’t currently being attacked by fleets of ACTUAL pirates. Though it looks like neither of them took notice of him yet, thank goodness for that. Perks of being the quiet type. Omori took the opportunity to map out a plan. The enemies below water were a hard pass, and he didn’t see a way up the friendly ship from where he was. He couldn’t exactly shoot down either ship with just a weird pistol either.

But that turret looked like some decent firepower. If he can just take out whoever was using it, that could be a good form of leverage for his team.

So if anyone caught sight of him, the boy could be seen speeding over to the Port-O-Panic in his rowboat. Time to put his new weapons to use.

”Hey wait up!” came a call from behind as Jr came whizzing through the air, propeller blade of his clown car just cm above the surf swaying below it.

”You're gonna take that on your own? That’s crazy! Crazy cool!” Jr called over as he started catching up, before insisting that: ”But I’m coming with you. Don’t worry tho, teaming up with me is even cooler!”

Without turning his full attention away from his destination, Omori’s head turned towards the direction of the prince. An unexpected teammate, but a welcome one nonetheless. With a nod, he slowed down enough to where Junior’s clown car matched his pace. ”I’m not sure what we’ll be facing up there, but I want to take control of the turret away from them.” Omori explained as briefly as he could. ”If all else fails, think you can destroy it?” He asked.

”Take it down?” Jr asked, and then took a look at the rapidly approaching tower. It was, he noted, pretty top heavy, a whole platform, roof, and massive pair of skulls all held up by a single (comparatively thin) central wooden pillar. This made him grin as he hit a button and a pair of saw blade tipped robot arm deployed from the side of the car ”Might take a while, but I can have 'em screaming timber if stuff up top’s too hot to handle!” he said, before storing the blades again to keep up his speed and adding ”Not that we won’t be able to take em, bet i’ve handled way worse than whatever cannon manning mooks are hiding there”

Which was about the moment that said mooks took notice of their incoming attackers and switched from bombing the boat to trying to introduce the kids to the fishies.

”Wah! Look out!” Jr cried out as the first big chunky cannonball came whooshing through the air and then splashed down beside them, sending a ripple of a wave washing out towards the pair.

Omori snapped his head towards the only place that attack came from and furrowed his brows. Dang it, he was hoping they wouldn’t notice them just a bit longer! The boy took to the evasive, steering away from any cannonballs that came too close for comfort. Then he slowly realized something, as most of the turret fire aimed at the duo was slow, and some didn’t even come near them.

Whoever was up there…was an absolute amateur! Did he even have to worry??

”Cover me.” Once he reached the base of the lookout tower, Omori grabbed the ladder that hung off the side, and began his climb up to the top.

Jr meanwhile had come to the same conclusion and had been buzzing to and fro childishly going ”Can’t hit me can’t hit me na na na na” as he drew fire from the incompetent gunners before racing up the side of the ladder past Omori. He pulled out a pokeball and chucked it up so it bounced onto the roof and deployed Mimi in a flash of light, the boy timing it so that his pokemon dropped down onto the banister on the right side of the ladder at the same moment as he himself zoomed into view on the left side of it, clown car boxing gloves at the ready.

The climbers’ approach, though hardly unnoticed by the gunners, met no resistance even after they left the turret’s line of fire. “Where’d they go!?” a panicked, high-pitched woman’s voice cried as they ascended. “They were there last time I looked! Did they get by us?”

“Must have. We’ve got to warn the others!” a gruff, elderly voice said in reply, already hoarse from the exertion of tired old bones.

“But what else can we do!? Everyone’s already holed up indoors. LeFwee and the others were supposed to protect us!” By that time the young’uns scaled the last few rungs, and in the dazzling flash of Junior’s pokeball they made their entrance.

“Eek! They’re here!” Annetta squealed, taken by surprise and half-blinded by the sudden glare. The nymph stumbled backward, tripped over the butt of the cannon, and hit the deck in a tangle of sea-blue hair. Red-faced from embarrassment as much as from the effort of loading the cannon again and again, she struggled to try and get upright. Her comrade fared little better; the marine iguana Reme reached for a nearby harpoon gun to defend himself only for it to slip from his grasp and clatter across the planks, forcing him to shuffle after it like a child after a runaway ball. When he finally grabbed hold of the weapon and aimed it at the intruders, his hands were shaking from nerves, causing the harpoon’s tip to wobble precariously. Only then did Annetta finally manage to right herself, adjusting her seashells furiously to make sure nothing was amiss before darting behind Reme for protection. “D-don’t get any closer!” she squeaked, but after swallowing her fear she seemed to find her resolve. Fists clenched, the nymph used her magic to levitate a handful of stones, ready to throw at the little monsters and the ghostly, knife-wielding child. “We won’t let you take our lives!”

This was it? These two were the ones firing at them? They didn’t even look like they wanted to fight. In fact, they seemed to be afraid of both Omori and Junior, and that funny looking creature the latter summoned. Of course, Omori wasn’t as afraid of them and their weapons as they might have hoped. The blade wielder dusted himself off and stared at the duo with indifference.

”Take your lives??” He noted what Annetta said, and one of his brows rose. ”I can’t speak for the rest but it looks to me like it’s the other way around. I don’t even know who you are, or why you’ve decided to ambush my companions.” He said with a blunt tone. After a moment, Omori let a sigh slip out.

”Be honest, do you really want to fight us?”

”Trust me, it’s never gone well for anyone else '' Jr added (to which Mimi added a supportive ‘kyu!’) while punching his palm while grinning toothily at them as he hovered just behind the monochrome knife wielding child.

The two gunners shrank back somewhat. In their eyes, it sounded like the invaders were telling them not to bother even resisting. Sure, Port O’ Panic and the pirate crews took the initiative, but how could they have just let themselves get picked off, knowing what they did? But now they’d messed up, and the murderers were at their doorstep, ready to take revenge on their victims for daring to put up a fight. Reme tightened his grip on his harpoon gun. “Maybe not,” he growled, teeth clenched. “But we won’t go quietly!”

“Consul, sir!” Annetta pleaded. Her desperate gaze switched from Omori and Junior to the turret’s central support post, halfway between the two pairs. “I-I-I know it’s not our place to ask, but isn’t there anything you can do to help us? Anything?”

“Hmm.” From the opposite side of the column, hidden from the newcomers’ view, a new voice revealed the presence of an unknown third party. “Is this not your moment?” the stranger drawled, his accented tone that of an erudite sophisticate. “In each of our lives, we are faced with a single, defining moment to paint upon the tapestry of history our truest colors, and this, it would seem, is yours. To make manifest your love for your home and its people, and shelter them from harm. With enough conviction, even the meekest of souls can achieve the impossible, yes? You need only believe.”

From behind the pillar slid a figure, an impressive seven feet in height, but slender, and adorned in a suit of cherry-red armor. A luxurious black cape fluttered at his back, partially hiding his figure, and the intricate crested helmet with its axe-like half-discs on either side looked over the stranger’s shoulder just enough for mahogany-brown eyes to peer through the x-shaped visor.

Did Junior’s comment only make this worse? Perhaps. Were the other duo going to listen to reason? Probably not.

Did the stranger that decided to reveal himself seem trustworthy? Absolutely not. Already Omori saw the third party as manipulative. His attention drawn away from Annetta and Reme, he furrowed his brows at the voice, and his eyes widened at how tall its source was compared to him. ”...Hm. So it’s like that then.” The youth brushed his bangs back, and allowed himself to scowl at the opposing trio.

”Rough ‘em up!!” He called to Junior, drawing his machete and pistol out.

”Blech, what a load of old mush'' Jr gagged at the weirdo red guy’s speech, before he smacked a button and a set of two boxing gloves deployed from his clown car. The groves gave a practice one two punch before Jr informed the poor fools that ”I’m gonna knock some sense into you chumps. Because I wanna and not coz he said to'' before kicking it into gear and charging forwards while Mimi pulled a sneaky and sent her shadow to give the harpoon guy a swat on the back to disrupt his aim.

Reme gasped and jerked suddenly, throwing his aim off Junior and, in a stroke of terrible luck, toward Omori. His trigger finger locked up, and the spear flew in the general direction of the boy’s right thigh. Even in the hands of an old lizard, the weapon did its job, and its payload flew with dangerous speed behind its cutting edge. Annetta, meanwhile, threw her pebbles at Junior’s clown car ineffectually, reaching out for nearby pieces of wood to hurl in her panic.

The stranger, meanwhile, stepped away to give the combatants room. “You’d be wise not to mistake kindness for weakness!” he warned the newcomers, crossing his arms. On his chest glowed a purple core. “It’s times of dire need, just such as these, that give rise to the greatest of heroes!”

“Heroes…” Annetta breathed, her and Reme’s hasty retreat from Junior leaving both backed into a corner. She understood in that moment that her Consul was helping–to inspire even a damsel in distress like her to fight for what she believed in. “I won’t let my friends down! Take this!” She put her palms together to manifest an orb of moonlight, then released her magic in a desperate flurry of projectiles.

”Grr!’ Omori would have to deal with the stranger afterwards. Seeing the harpoon gun fired at him, he quickly swung his blade low to deflect it. In a stroke of luck, it narrowly missed his leg. He’ll have to be careful and keep his emotions in check. Omori might pack an extra punch while he was angry, but it can cause him to let his guard down. Snapping his head toward Reme he charged at the lizard, going in for an attempt to sever that gun-toting arm of his.

The boy caught Reme midway through his attempt to jump another harpoon into his launcher and cut straight through the wetsuit into his opponent’s arm. His machete failed to shear through both flesh and bone, but blood poured from the slice wound. Reme let out a strangled cry of pain as the gun clattered to the planks below, but now that he’d been attacked, Galeem’s influence took over. Holding the harpoon like a spear with his good arm, the old iguana jabbed at Omori’s body again and again.

”If that were true every terrified toad’d be a hero!'' Jr yelled back at the man in red, before being proven at least somewhat wrong when the fairy he was charging did her best to fight back with a shower of sparkles. ”Tch'' went the boy, before shouting ”Goomba meatshield!'' and summoning a gang of squat little strikers right in the path of the incoming volley.

The poor things were hammered this way and that by the moonlight magic, and a bit of that reflected onto Jr, but it was massively mitigated by this delegation of the blow. As was the added damage of him then plowing straight through the remainder of the goomba pile and continuing to go straight for the fishy crowned fairy, a princess-napping claw primed and ready to snatch her up with well practiced style.

Annetta shrank back, screwing her eyes shut,but before the pincer grabbed hold it -and by extension the whole clown car- bounced off a cuboid forcefield around her, revealing it in the process. The force rippled across its magic surface, briefly giving Junior a look at the six-sided blue barrier inlaid with intricate glyphs. When nothing hit her Annetta blinked for a moment, confused. “I’m okay!?” A sudden surge of confidence brought a smile to her face and the glint of hope to her eyes. “I’m okay! My turn!” She reached out with her magic to levitate the cannon itself, wielding it like a massive, improvised club. Realizing that Reme was hurt, she ignored Junior to swing it at Omori first.

Omori blocked each spear jab, trying to find the opportune moment to go in for another slice. Though, with his focus solely on Reme, he did not anticipate the diver’s ally to attack him as well. Once he raised his blade up to swing down on his opponent, he didn’t have time to react against Annetta’s makeshift club even if he saw her from the corner of his eye. Omori was struck down onto the floor with a hard thud.

Jr’s head was still spinning from the unexpected car crash, so the best he could do was yell ”Mimi! Help him. By copying her!'' to his presently deployed Pokemon, who had already been rushing over to help

“Mi Mi!” she replied before arriving by Omori’s side and copycatting the magic Annetta had used to lift up the cannon, and using it to grab that same cannon as well as it came close, wrestling the fairy for control over the oversized bludgeon.

Annetta’s attempt to bring the cannon barrel around for another strike met unexpected resistance in the form of the Mimikyu’s stolen levitation. “H-hey!” the nymph protested, trying to yank the giant bludgeon toward herself like a tug-of-war rope. “Let it go, you weird puppet! Reme, are you okay?”

Just the sound of the old diver’s breathing told her that he wasn’t. With one hand on his wound to try to staunch the flow, but unable to retreat, Reme hobbled toward the downed Omori to try and finish him off with a harpoon hab beneath the ribs.

Emitting a grunt, Omori pushed himself up off the floor to see Reme approaching him. Wounded, but not wounded enough for his liking. Gritting his teeth he bounced back up onto his feet, and swapped his gun out for his knife. The boy with plenty of fight still left in him charged at the lizard with grim intentions. With his machete, he shoved the harpoon aside, opening a way for his knife to stab him where it hurts most. Dead in the heart.

Which was about the time Jr got back in the fight with a helpful shout of ”I gotcha'' to the kid he thought was in trouble as his clown car coming buzzing in at high speed just over head height with boxing gloves deployed to deliver a much less lethal sock to the gutt. It was something of an unintentional race to see who’d strike down the old codger, and how.

Who defeated him was anyone’s guess, but who killed him was plain to see. Reme jerked violently as the blade entered his chest, scraping off ribs to plunge into the source of his life’s blood. A combination of shock and absolute agony dropped the old diver in a second, his eyes wide as he slumped to the floor.

“Reme! Nooo!” Annetta cried, forgetting all about the cannon she and Mimi were fighting over. The total loss of resistance sent the hunk of steel straight into the Pokemon at full force, dealing a massive, mostly self-inflicted wallop, but the nymph didn’t seem to care. She tried to fly over only for Omori and Junior to block her way, forcing her to backpedal to safety lest she run afoul of the kid’s blade, too.

That wasn’t all, though. A sudden wail reached the fighters from outside the turret platform, in the direction of the connected sea tower. “Grampaaaaa!” the young voice cried, belonging to a small purple marine iguana, stumbling across the bridge from the cluster of tent-covered shacks nearby. His parents, realizing that their son had slipped out without them noticing while they watched in fear from afar, started yelling too. “DIMITRI!” the father howled, running to unbar the front door while the mother tried to squeeze through the window. “GET BACK HERE, NOW!”

Distracted, Dimitri tripped and fell onto the plank bridge, spraying tears from his eyes. “Grampa…” he gasped. “Who’s…gonna tell your stories…now?”

But the old-timer had already capitulated. The shock to his already-infirm system meant that even if he had enough blood left to pump, the oxygen wouldn’t reach his brain. His life flickered out before he could even extend a grasping hand to his grandson. Annetta fell to the floor in despair, and even the Consul closed his eyes.

For a moment, Omori hadn’t thought there would be consequence in his action. No matter the excuse, his knife was now stained in the sanguine of the late Reme. It had to be done. For the sake of the other Seekers.

So why did he have to screw up like this?

As the wail of a mournful child reached his ears, Omori seemed to…freeze up. His grip on the knife trembled, tightened, yet he didn’t pull it out. This guy, he had a family. A family, a grandson that could only watch as he took their grandfather away from them. An internal struggle brewed within Omori.

This wasn’t right.

This was self defense.

But they just wanted to defend their home.

At the cost of his companions' lives?

He could’ve been freed! What if it was someone you cared about!? What if it was…

Sunn- Omori shook his head out of the stupor and swiftly yanked his knife out. One down, and he knew who to turn his ire towards next. The Consul himself. The blade was pointed at the armored stranger.

By that time, however, the Consul had already opened his eyes, and his gaze was accusatory. “Oh, spare us the act,” he snapped, his tone harsh. “What, prithee, did you think might transpire when you aimed for his heart? You know well what it is you’re doing…and what you have left to do.” He glanced at the iguana family, who’d recovered their bawling son and were dragging him back toward their hovel, their eyes wet with tears themselves, as if that would keep them safe.

Annetta saw it too, and she clenched her teeth. “I’m sorry…Consul. It looks like we’re not…gonna make it.”

“Nay. The fault is mine.” The man shook his head. “Tis clear I underestimated these monsters. You’ve done all you can.”

“Not yet.” The nymph balled her fists, fluttered her wings, and rose from the floor in front of the Consul, streaming tears from her face. She knew what she needed to do. With her magic she reached out, seizing both Reme’s harpoon and one of the spare cannonballs, which she hovered over her palm for use as a makeshift wrecking ball. Streaming tears from her gleaming sunset-red eyes, she turned her fiercest face on her foes, even if it wasn’t all that fierce. “Just like poor Reme said. “We won’t go quietly!”

Accusatory gaze met a furious stare. By that time, a shadow had obscured Omori’s eyes, save for one whitened pupil. A spiteful retort bubbled in his throat, but he could only growl in response. The taller of the two had a point. He had aimed for a critical hit for a reason. But this wasn’t Headspace. Not anymore. He couldn’t just bring him back on a whim and act like everything was okay. The blood that dripped from his knife attested to that.

The vengeful Annetta had found her second wind. ”...You got her yet?!” Omori asked Junior, without looking over his shoulder.

”What part of ‘knock some sense into them’ did you not get!'' Jr shouted over his own shoulder as he squared up against Annetta who he then told: ”I know someone who can bring back the dead, but it needs all that ash to do it. If you still fight me, and it gets messed all over the place, this is gonna be on you instead of just that idiot''

”I heard that.”

”and?'' Jr replied dismissively ”what you gonna do about it?''

It might have been hard to tell, but Omori merely rolled his eyes in response.

“Enough of your games!” the nymph cried. She hurled the cannonball at Junior, while throwing the harpoon at Omori. Rather than just rely on her somewhat doughy throwing arm, though, Annetta cheated with her magic, both guiding her projectiles to her target and pulling them back afterward to use again.

Of course she wasn’t going to listen. Not after the fight escalated this far. Even if he didn’t want to, Omori was forced to turn his attention to the nymph and sidestep the harpoon thrown towards him. When he saw it retract back to its wielder, he got an idea. The boy baited another throw, and began to slice the harpoon apart each time it passed him.

Jr meanwhile took his problem head on, lifting up his claws, squaring his shoulders and catching the cannonball, the impact bruising the boy and sending the hovering car scooting backwards till it hit the deck, wheels deployed and breaking to bring prince and captured cannonball to a halt. Still, one of her weapons was his, and though he was stuck holding it, he had a teammate he could rely on

”Mimi! Zap her unconscious!'' he commanded breathlessly and his pokemon moved before he was even done talking, as if their wills were one. Mimi leaped atop the cannonball itself, arm wound back and then hurled her own orb of destruction back at the watery princess in the form of an electro ball.

The lightning blast burst against Annetta’s barrier, reducing the damage dealt to her to only a fraction of the Electro Ball’s original power–just enough for the nymph to feel it. This time, however, small cracks showed up in the cube-shaped shield. She relinquished her grip on the cannonball, turning it to dead weight in the prince’s arms, and unleashed a stream of rather weak moonlight bolts at both attackers. Evidently, what she lacked in offense, this barrier more than made up for in defense.

For how weak the bolts were, with Omori’s defenses so low, they managed to hit their target. Moonlight sliced through his skin, breaking red out of his black and white. He didn’t have to calm down yet, so he went to work breaking down the barrier. Once an opening was made he counted on Junior to knock her out this time. No one else was going to die by his reddened hands, not if he had anything to say about it.

Jr meanwhile had a convenient if incredibly heavy shield, the moonlight splashing against the cannonball instead of the one holding it. Then he ditched it and commanded Mimi to ”Keep up the pressure with shadow sneak'' before deploying they synapse bio electrical gun one one of his car’s robo arms and sending a ongoing stream of electricity towards the nymph while moving laterally away from the dust of the fallen Reme.

All three interlopers went on the offensive, and Annetta had no choice but to trust in the barrier while she fired back in turn. When Omori got close enough she favored a moonlight flash over individual bolts, but she sprayed a healthy amount at Junior and Mimi, too. Still, their damage quickly added up, and after just a couple moments the shield shattered.

Only to be immediately replaced by a second one. Annetta took no action to do so, and neither did the observant Consul, for that matter. It simply shimmered into existence around her, albeit with fewer glyphs than the one before. The nymph, fearful for a moment when the first shield broke down, got right back to it. More magic filled the air, this time joined by delayed moonlight explosions at specific points, but the frequency of her casts dwindled just a little. Her breathing was getting heavier; her chest heaved with hyperventilation. All her mana expenditure on top of her physical exertion was beginning to take a toll on her not-so-great stamina.

Mimi and jr did their best to dodge the incoming sparks, the tiny target that was the mon having the best luck at it, skipping between moonspray with ease although it did prevent her from doing any fighting back while doing all that running around and dodging. Jr meanwhile could (mostly) have avoided eating magic while keeping up on the offense too, his car allowing him to float from side to side and shoot at once: the prince hucking bouncing fireballs across the deck of the cannon tower while toughing out the spellfire that managed to scald against his scales.

When he noticed Mimi was having trouble actively contributing he made a switch, calling out ”come back Mimi'' and then tossing Dazzle’s pokeball straight up so that the Poppilo landed in the clown car with him where he ordered the mon ”Disarming voice, go!''

Dazzle obeyed, opening his mouth and sending out a musical pulse of pink sound waves that did emotional damage.

Omori on his end only grew more frustrated when one barrier was replaced with another. Okay, looks like tiring her out might be their only option. Brushing off the not-so deadly moonlight that struck at him, the boy aimed to break the glyphs off the second shield, remaining relentless as he could muster.

No matter whether the sources of damage were physical or ethereal, the barrier protecting Annetta stymied them all. Still, the punishment wore through her protection bit by bit, giving her little room with which to come up with new strategies. When both Junior and his Popplio united to attack from the shelter of the tyke’s clown car, however, an epiphany struck Annetta Fish. She reached out with her magic to try and seize the clown car itself, throwing it off-kilter and hopefully either into Omori or the turret’s central support pillar.

”Ah! That’s cheating!'' Jr cried out in alarm, before thinking fast and smacking a button and then bailing as a wrecking ball deployed out the bottom. While at first this might seem like an awful move, it gave Jr something to grab (the chain) as he dropped down to the ground to act as a living break, summoning up a troop of koopas to help him in trying to wrest control of the situation.

”Gah, shoulda stuck with Mimi'' Jr cursed before getting the mon he had out to help with ”Dazzle, use Penguin Jet!”

“Pilo!” the mon replied, the command letting him recover from his own panic. As trainer had ordered, he tossed himself out of the clow car, bounced on a bubble he made, and then went careening towards the fairy in a lighting fast stream of water, the impact sending a burst of dark energy into the shield for good measure that let Dazzle bounce away while he was at it.

Annetta tossed the clown car off to the side as best she could with a burst of magic, then braced herself instinctively for the pokemon’s attack. Of course, he just bounced off the second shield, though he did crack it further. With some more concerted effort, the barrier would give way. The nymph knew it too, and yanked free a wooden plank from the floor to swing around like a baseball bat in a desperate attempt to send Dazzle flying out into the sea.

”Ugh, this is getting us nowhere!” Brute force was only leaving small dents in the nymph’s defenses, and with Junior’s vehicle getting compromised, Omori had to speed this up. NOW. And there was one thing he hadn’t tried yet. Putting some distance between him and Annetta, he swapped back to the pistol and fired it at the barrier. The fiery wallop of the gunshot did a number of the barrier, leaving it on its last legs. Just a little more would do it, but if Omori tried to shoot again immediately, the flintlock would click empty.

”Wowowowowow!'' Jr cried out as he and his minions were dragged towards the edge by the sudden punt which set them all teetering on the edge, the wrecking ball they were holding onto both a blessing and a curse as it stopped the car from dropping, but also starten to thereent to just roll off and drag them along with it.

Behind him the land locked Dazzle did his best to hop out of the way of the swinging plank bat, dodging once, twice, and then on the third getting a right old smack and sailing away with a cry of “popopopopiillo” as he went blasting off.

”Dazzle!'' jr cried out in alarm as the mon when flying up, and then he made a snap decision and leapt off of the platform after him, both minion and master disappearing from view as the wrecking ball lurched and then got dragged off the edge, the koopas failing to hold it falling down with it.

Victory, at least! Well, some semblance of it, at least. A wheezing laugh escaped Annetta, as if she couldn’t believe she’d done it. But that wasn’t to say things were looking good from her. Her wingbeat had slowed, and her breathing gotten even heavier as she sunk low enough for her feet to scrape the floor. The nymph was exhausted. It took a lot of effort for her to put her hand together and fire a couple moonlight bolts at Omori, the sole opponent who remained.

Welp. There goes his teammate. Omori’s further attempts to fire the pistol would come up with nothing. Sure it managed to do a greater number on Annetta’s defenses, but what now? He didn’t see any form of ammunition when he found the two weapons, and stabbing didn’t seem to do much either. He raised his machete up to block the brunt of the bolts fired at him. Then the boy began to put the pieces together. There was a reason why it didn’t feel right separating the pair of weapons. Perhaps…

Once another opening was cleared Omori went back in, slashing and stabbing away at the barrier. And when he felt it was enough, he bounded back once more to fire a second round. He was certain, this’ll finish it.

The boy’s slashes shattered the shield, opening the way for a final shot. Feedback from the attack knocked Annetta to the ground, tired and hurt by the bleedthrough of all the attacks she’d received. Before Omori could finish her off, however, a third barrier sprang up. This one looked even weaker than the last, however, and Annetta only barely managed to muster some moonlight magic, meaning that Omori could whittle down what must be the last shield to his heart’s content.

Which was when Jr reappeared, the mad monster kid having jumped into his dangling clown car, rasered controle, swept around and caught Dazzle before buzzing back up at an unexpected angle. ”can’t get rid of us that easy!'' jr cried out before waiting for a response and not really getting one from the pooped fairy.

”Oh. Huh. Well this is over then'' he said, hovering over while weaving between attacks. When he got close he deployed a pair of chucky drills on robot arms from his car and driving both forwards so that they crossed over and delivered their drill attack specifically to the shield, with no risk of hitting fairy herself even once they broke through. Omori took a moment to step to the side, just in case.

”When it breaks, hit her with another disarming voice!'' he commanded, priming her for an (emotionally) crushing defeat.

With only a token resistance to slow him down, Junior broke through the shield after a bit of sustained drilling, a portion of which bled through to the despairing fairy inside. When the barrier finally succumbed to the fractures, two things happened at once. The Popplio attacked Annetta with its weaponized voice, and from the magical remnants of the barrier a burst of bright green floral magic restored her to full health. When the nymph lifted her head after being smacked against the turret box’s railing, she found herself in unexpectedly good condition, above the Friend Heart threshold and able to fight with the very last of her stamina, as Galeem’s influence demanded.

Omori found himself dumbfounded again. How the heck did she get healed back to square one?! They were trying to tire her out! The boy wasn’t sure that even Mr. Consul had a hand in it either, so what or who could it be? He had calmed down slightly, yet remained enraged. He looked around for any possible culprits in hiding, and promptly got beaned by a moonlight bolt in the forehead. Right, still fighting.

Jr threw up his arms and cried out ”Oh come on!'' before fuming looking around and instead of spotting the cannon laying on the ground.
”You know what, bolts to this'' he said, driving over in his car, grabbing the big gun hauling it up over his head and preparing to toss it…. Off of the tower.

Their original plan of taking the turret for themselves went out the window anyway. Seeing no other alternative, Omori had to continue fighting Annetta on his end. Hopefully stalling her long enough for his ally to get rid of that stupid cannon. Now that he had figured out how his piratical weapons worked, he held no hesitance in using his pistol.

But the guilt, buried under his wrath from killing Reme, was urging him to hold back. With the barrier down, every slash drew blood. His opponent possessed no defense whatsoever, and now that she could feel the full pain of every attack, she wanted nothing more than to run, but Galeem’s influence would not allow it. Immersed fully in pain and despair, she could only struggle feebly to form and fire her magic as tears streamed down her face.

”Alright you’re done'' came a voice from behind Omori as a scaled hand grabbed his collar and Jr (having successfully ventured his frustration via cannon caber toss) hauled the blade wielding child out of the way. Omori put up no fight against the small koopa. He did enough, and only responded with a deep breath to calm down further. The prince took over finishing the fight and delivered a stunning headbutt to the fairy’s own noggin, before snapping his fingers and flicking a friend heart into her chest to put an end to this farce.

“Ugh!” Annetta hit the ground, slipping into unconsciousness as she lost blood, only to reawaken with her health and stamina fully restored. For a moment, a look of bewilderment overtook her. “I…whuh?”

”About time.” Omori spoke up, returning back to his cliff-faced expression now that she was freed. He’ll have to take note to learn how to make one of those friend heart things for next time. But for now, he glanced between Annetta and Junior, then to-

…Oh.

Guess Junior’s resurrection idea wasn’t going to cut it. In the midst of their fight, the dust that used to be Reme was too scattered by the time things settled. Omori glanced away with a regretful frown. ”The others will explain everything, but for now you should get to somewhere safe.” He told Annetta.

”And that’s your problem now'' Jr told Omori before rolling his neck and turning towards the red armored man ”And I’m yours. What is even your problem, pulling this on us, huh? What did we ever do to you?'

S merely tilted his head. A wooden plank slammed down on Junior’s own noggin from behind. “What in the world are you talking about!?” Annetta seethed, aglow with the power of moonlight. Her eyes held no trace of Galeem’s influence, but they shone with anger. “I’m not through with you yet! I don’t know what you did, or what all these memories mean, but if you think I’m just going to lie down, you’ve got another think coming!”

Around the Seekers, the turret box began to come apart. Annetta ripped the planks up piece by piece, creating a battering maelstrom of debris. “You people killed Reme! Our protectors are dying out there! I’m the only one left to keep everyone safe! If I give up now, everything we did until now to survive, all the people we’ve lost…even if I’m worthless, I won’t let it be for nothing!” In the midst of the storm, as the ground beneath her foes’ feet broke apart bit by bit, she unleashed a flurry of magic bolts.

”Then don’t let it!”

With his focus returned, Omori took to the evasive. ”Look, I don’t know what my companions might be facing right now. But even if your group technically attacked first, I’d think they know better than to mindlessly kill!” He attempted to talk Annetta down. The desperate outburst seemed far more out of the ordinary for someone like him. ”I know I made a terrible decision, and I know nothing will make up for it! I wasn’t thinking! But you can help the rest of your friends just as mine helped you and me! Please! We can end this!” He pleaded.

”Owwww'' Jr rubbed his head and then turned back to face the furious fairy ”Oh come on! You really made a mess of everything you know'' Jr told Omori as he went back into the fight, the boy hovering over the killer and covering him. ”you get one shot at fixing this and then I’m taking over'' the prince told him as he used a pair of saw blade arms to hack apart some of the planks as they came swinging in while Dazzle, sat beside his trainer, used water gun to push others away.

With what Annetta had been through and the current raw state of her mind, Omori’s confusing speech ended in what sounded like an offer to relieve her of her pain. She knew that she’d be lying if she said the offer didn’t tempt her; she wasn’t a warrior, after all. When it came down to it, she was little more than an assistant who’d somehow been promoted after the loss of her boss, and not one ‘hired’ for her smarts or skills, at that. She didn’t want to hurt anymore. But she also meant what she said.

“You’ll have to make me!” the nymph cried. With a slamming motion from both hands she sent a wave of debris through what remained of the turret structure, threatening to wash both assailants overboard, or through one of the many holes opened in the floor.

She wasn’t listening. Not even when Omori didn’t wish to fight her anymore. Junior’s comment didn’t help relieve his guilt either. They were running out of breathing room, and somehow the Consul hadn’t done anything yet. Who was he kidding? Omori looked back up to the other boy and nodded to him, swiftly moving out of the way. He’s done enough damage as is, and there was only a slim chance Annetta would listen to a murderer him. He ducked behind the central pillar.

”Urgh, fine, I’ll clean up your mess'' Jr sighed and then hit the throttle, flying over the top of the wet wave and aiming to end this the same way he had at the start. Claw deployed and ready to princess nap her. The pincer closed around her middle, leaving Junior almost point-blank for a moonlight orb.

Having her grabbed in the caw jr then reached out grabbed her in his own claw inorder to haul her into and over the shoulder carry, arms pinned at her side in a classic princess napping grapple so she couldn't point and shoot at anyone who wasn’t directly in front of him. She got back at him by bonking him again with another scrap of wood, albeit a little inaccurately, and with her renewed stamina kicked at his face with her legs. After a moment she remembered her strategy from earlier, and extended her magic to interfere with the clown car’s flight systems again.

”What, ow, you can, just, ow!'' jr complained as he got thwacked over and over ”Dazzle do something!''

“Polio” the pokemon sitting next to him replied, then leaned over next to her head in order to deliver its Disarming Voice directly to her ear.

The sonic punishment left Annetta’s head swimming, the aches in her heart intensified. She continue to try to break free, but she couldn’t focus, and the grip of Junior’s pincer closed tighter around her middle. “Guuh,” she gasped, starting to turn red. Her eyes landed on the Consul, and she reached out toward me. “C-Consul,” she choked out. “Help! Please!”

For a moment the Consul froze, his eyes narrowed. Then he groaned and snapped his fingers. “Repose.” Pink magic swirled around Junior, and the young koopa promptly fell asleep, losing control of his ride in the process. Able to breathe again, Annetta wrestled with the pincer in an attempt to squeeze herself loose.

Watching the young prince get knocked asleep from where he hid, Omori hurried to use Sad Poem on Annetta, slowing her struggling down slightly.

The machine fell to the floor with a bonk, jostling Dazzle and ending the sonic attack. The pokemon shook its head and then looked to Jr for instructions, only to find hom dozing. Well that wouldn't do. The mon raised a flipper and gave him a slap across the chops, and if that didn't work, well, a spray of water and an icy wind might do in its stead.

The prince shook his head, just in time for Annetta to slip free. ”Urg, what. What happened?'' the prince shook his head clear, and wiped the water off his face and then noticed their surprisingly resilient foe had escaped ”Hey, get back here!'' he shouted, making a grab for her to put an end to this the old fashioned way. A hefty headbut to the noggin to knock her out.

Another punishing bout of head trauma left Annetta stunned, momentarily unable to fly. By now, her desperate efforts to destroy her foes had taken out about sixty percent of the structure’s floor, leaving vast holes with nothing but air for hundreds of feet to perilous, debris-filled water. As she stumbled the nymph tripped over a cracked board, gouging her ankle, and with a cry of pain she toppled backward over the drop. “Forgive…me!”

”Oh for-'' Jr began before smacking a button and shouting ”Hook grab her. Gently!'' as eponymous sentient meathook was field out of his clown car’s mouth, Hook cannoning down after her, aiming to catch up and then swing round to wrap its chain around her and hook onto itself in a non-gory catch at best, and at worst, well, this was gonna hurt.

”That’s gonna leave a mark.” Omori couldn’t help cringe at the nymph tripping over one of the cracks in the platform. Just how resilient was this lady? Why hadn’t his fellow audience member played a more active role in this? Why did he keep questioning this stupid fight? Who knows. This was giving him a headache. The boy looked over to the armored stranger. ”For someone who’s definitely not suspicious, you seem fine not fighting with her.” He spoke to him with faint sarcasm.

The Consul, who’d been pretending Omori didn’t exist whilst the boy glowered at him, looked idly out to sea. “I have no right to interfere. This moment is hers…and yours.” He put his fingers together in the shape of a rectangle, looking through it at the battle being waged on the water as if to capture a snapshot of the whole chaotic affair. “To fly your true colors, for all to see.”

”Hasn’t she suffered enough by my hand? This isn’t my moment anymore.” Omori responded, looking down at the blood that hadn’t washed off him in the storm. Wonder how he was going to explain this to the others.

S shook his head in disdain, his laughter derisive and dry. “Perhaps. You whelps have demonstrated more than enough cruelty. For all her painstaking effort, it seems as though our leading lady’s curtain call has arrived.”

Through the gaps in the floorboards, everyone could see the results of Junior’s Hail Mary. In order to succeed, he needed his hook to surpass Annetta falling at terminal velocity, bend under her, and then ascend far enough to create a loop. Against all odds, the maneuver succeeded, and with the loop created the winch locked up to break the nymph’s fall. As it did, it dragged the clown car down, only to stop suddenly as its chassis and propeller lodged in the structure’s planks. Annetta went from terminal velocity to a dead stop in an instant with the force of that transition concentrated directly on the middle of her spine, made worse by the poor woman’s exaggerated hourglass figure. A sickening sound rang out, and Annetta limply dangled from the line.

Closing his eyes, S lowered his head in solemn respect. “Such needless tragedy. To have fought heroically for what she held dear as an underdog, only to end as a martyr.” When his eyes opened, they held cold anger, and something else–in his left iris, a red leminscate, glowing as it moved in serpentine motion. “If you pitiless monsters truly abhor this world thus, all will known of your villainy. We shall not allow you to destroy the world.”

Omori could only watch in dread as Annetta seemingly perished in Junior's attempt to catch her, a hand reaching out in vain. This- This wasn’t even intentional! Even he knew this! The grip on his weapons tightened as S spoke. Once he was done speaking, the boy swiftly went in to attack their remaining enemy. The Consul moved quickly. He stepped in, leaning forward as he extended one arm, closing the remaining distance almost immediately thanks to his comparatively immense stature. He struck Omori in the chest with just his index and middle finger together, but even that sent the boy flying backward to smack into the back of Junior’s clown car, almost dislodging the machine in the process. As the wood began to go, S put those same fingers to his brow, turned away with a mock salute, and teleported away in a flash of purple particles.

”Dang it!” Omori coughed, the wind having been knocked out of him. He stumbled back to his feet with a hand against his possibly bruised back. As their platform shrunk, he caught sight of the ladder still intact. ”Screw this, let’s move!” Not even caring if Junior was listening to him at this point, he rushed down and back to his rowboat.

”Oh no no no no no…'' Jr panicked as he reeled Annetta in before realizing something ”wait she’s not poofing I think she’s alive!'' and then carefully taking her off of the chain and resting the out cold and possibly still dying fairy in the car. He had, for entirely different reasons, the same thought as Omori: to get out of here.

The boy hit the sticks of his car, took off and started racing back to what remained of the ship, calling out for ”Kaaaameeeek'' as he got close. He could only hope she was unhurt and at least partially able to help–and that the other battles went well for everyone else.

Sectonia took in the tour Roxas was giving her, enjoying a place that was both decent looking, and wasn't in one extreme temperature or another. Although the boy showed her things that, for the most part, didn't really interest her too much. He was being friendly enough however, and Sectonia figured fairly quickly that Roxas had never interacted with royalty before. Still, the lack of things she was interested in did bore her near the end. Roxas, also not being sure of exactly what he was doing, then shared a blue ice cream bar on a stick with Sectonia and the others, saying it was his favorite, something called sea salt ice cream.

Sectonia tried the ice cream, but she knew from the start she probably wouldn't like it. Salt was something that didn't really agree with her pallet, so only after a lick or two, she was done with the bar. While looking for a way to dispose of it without being too rude to her new minion, the others got off the train and the two groups were going to run into each other. Poppi then made the same observation Sectonia had made with Roxas, and while the boy was distracted, she more or less shoved the ice cream bar at Tora to get rid of it.

More distractions soon came with some kids using what looked like cobbled together vehicles to race along the streets, nearly hitting everyone. Sectonia could easily dodge them by flying up a bit, but the others had to be a bit more careful. After a bit of arguing, eventually Tora had gotten an idea and gestured for everyone else to follow him to where these kids had made their vehicles, being the gearhead he was. While this wasn't much of interest to Sectonia, she really had nothing better to do. So she figured that maybe something could happen that'd amuse her while they waited for the others they were supposed to meet get here. She had some requests to give Peach, as she wasn't really all that happy with the spirit she had decided to try to fuse with in the desert. Sure it had some nice floral patterns, but the rest it gave was... just not to her liking. It made her look more bestial than beautiful, and that was an issue for her.

The rest of the trip had been blissfully uneventful. No more close run-ins with the cat police, no more UFOs attacks. Just riding a train with the lads and then arriving at their destination: a town bathed in twilight.

The sight was a nostalgic one to Midna, this land blanketed in an eternal sunset orange, and it also made her frightfully home sick, because this wasn't home. She’d had to take a few moments away from the others to compose herself, despite having known in her gut that it wasn't going to be where her people were. Then she was back to her usual self, and set about finding where the bulk of the team had ended up.

It wasn’t hard, all she had to do was ask a few passers by if they had seen any of the motley and distinctive crew that made up the seekers passing by and they pointed her gang right to them. Where she found them was at some kind of stable for more self driving machines, ones a bit like some of the ones that had raced past them at the start of their climb up the split mountain. How long ago that felt now

Her first stop, after just a quick general catch up with Tora and the rest of the main group who were just hanging around, was with Sectonia, and not for a social call. No she was getting her loot from the convent converted using the mimic hat. Specifically crushing all three of the sisters she’d nabbed before they had made a run for it.



She kept the disciple for now. He was strong, and she wanted to fuse with him for that strength, but also he was unstable and so she decided to wait till peach arrived to have a way of undoing the damage if it managed to be too great for her sanity to handle.

As for the items, well, the Piece of a Golden Mask she decided to frame as a trophy rather than a symbol of any kind of shared faith, and it went on the rosary string next to her other reminder of that awful part of the mountain (after a brief argument with Sectonia about her claiming it as tribute in-order to mitigate rid of her fire weakness. A fire weakness she was going to get rid of anyway, as Midna pointed out, this having come up in their conversation before she got to crushing)

The other two weapons were an interesting addition to her arsenal that was for sure, and if Sectonia’s appraisal was anything to rely on, they looked to be quite the little combo machine, if she could pull off switching the fire starter for the fire lover in time.

After those were stashed away, she had an actual look into what this place was that they had decided to wait for the blue team’s arrival. Turned out that yes, the machines were being used for much the same thing as the ones that had blazed past them on the mountain trail: racing. Not that that was all they could be used for, as she found out. Indeed mainly they were meant for transport, which sounded useful, or even warfare, which sounded even more useful.

Partly out of curiosity, partially out of an interest in learning a new useful skill, and partially out of the lingering frustration of not being able to operate the train, Minda then inquired if there was somewhere she could learn how to use one of these machines.

That was how she ended up standing outside of a little shack with a sign saying ‘U-Drive-U’ and talking to a moose lady wearing a police uniform (not that she knew what either of those where)

“You wanna learn how to drive huh? It's harder than you think it is.” the moose, who had introduced herself as Instructor Mooselini, told her with a stern voice.

”Well I can ride animals already, so what can be so different about riding a mechanical machine, right?” Midna said, entirely proving the instructors statement true

“Uh huh?” she replied, looking very skeptical, before pointing a challenging finger at the princess and saying “If you think you can handle it, try this rap!”

”rap?” the princess replied, and thus, after the pair of them had pile into a ‘refurbished’
Mucle began her dual introduction to both rap and driving.



“Alright, we're here, just sittin' in the car.
I want you to show me if you can get far.” the instructor said before she began to instructed her instructee

“Step on the gas!”
”Step on the gas?”
“Step on the brakes!”
”Step on the brakes?”
“Step on the gas!”
”Step on the gas?” the princess replied hesitantly each time, heavily mismanaging the pedals that her short form had a fair bit of difficulty reaching

“When I say boom boom boom, you say bam bam bam!
No pause in between, come on, let's jam!” she was instructed more forcefully, and this time with some (literal) pointers

“Step on the gas!”
”Step on the gas!”
“Step on the brakes!”
”Step on the brakes!”
“Step on the brakes!”
”Step on the brakes!”
“Step on the gas!”
”Step on the gas!” she echoed, getting a basic bit of control right before they raced out into the open street without Midna really having intended that

“I'm glad you know which way to go, but it ain't gonna stop me, here we go.” the moose said, not realizing Midna’s mistake, and then gave her a crash course on how to navigate a town behind the wheel

“Check and turn the signals to the right!”
”Check and turn the signals to the right?”
“Now turn to the right!”
”Now turn to the right!!!!!!!” Minda basically screamed in response as they swerved around a corner with next to no control
“Check and turn the signals to the left!”
”Check and turn the signals to the left!”
“Now turn to the left!”
”Now turn to the left!”

“Woh ho ho ho! Stop the car!
We got an emergency, can't you see?” the instructor suddenly commanded, much to Midna’s relief and also a bit of concern. Had she failed? She was sure she did better on the second turn

“Do you know why we stopped the car?”
“Do I know why we stopped the car?”
“Guess…”
“Guess?”
“What…”
“What?”
“Do you know why we stopped the car?”
“Do I know why we stopped the car?”

“I forgot to close the door.”

“You forgot to close the door?” Midna echoed slowly, before thinking for a moment and then pointing out angrily “There is no door!”

“…”

“right”

“Now just don't forget
This ain't kung fu, come on again!” the instructor commanded, getting them to set off again

“Check and turn the signals to the right!”
“Check and turn the signals to the right!”
“Step on the gas now turn to the right!”
“Step on the gas now turn to the right!”
“Check and turn the signals to the left!”
“Check and turn the signals to the left!”
“Step on the gas now turn to the left!” she commanded as they served through town
“Step on the gas now turn to the left!” Midna replied in turn, actually feeling likes he was getting the hang of both the driving and this whole rap thing, right in time for Mooselini to commanded:

“Step on the brakes!”
“Step on the brakes!” Midna echoed as they slowed

“Do you know why we stopped the car again?” she asked
“Do I know why we stopped the car again?” Midna asked once they had parked by the side of the road again

“That's because you just got your license!“ the moose informed her, throwing up her arms in celebration.

“What, already? I mean Woo hooo!! Yes!!” Midna cheered, amazed at how lax this vetting process was.

Then only a few minutes later, after getting her photo taken and inserted into her new license, Midna was joining in the race, roaring around the track in a borrowed technical.

Regrouping with the others aboard the Adrian, Geralt found the pirate vessel to be quite the ship. Even most Skelligers couldn’t lay claim to a ship this robust, and it gave the impression that Cortez’s self-imposed title might have been a little more than bluster after all. He had the feeling Cerys and Hjalmar wouldn’t hate having this thing for themselves to take the fight to the Nilfgaardians, had they the chance.

Rubick managed to reach the Adrian with not a moment too soon, as the Toadies spell expired while he was still in the air. The Toadies faded away, and Rubick fell a couple feet onto the deck, roughly landing on his rump. “Oof!" Rubick exclaimed, and the Staff he had pocketed earlier was now peeking out of his robe. Rubick was quick to shove it back in and jump back onto his feet, brushing his robe off for any dust and water.

Soon enough, without waiting for the few laggards, they were off. Peach was right in that they knew the group’s destination and were more than capable of taking care of themselves on the way there, so he didn’t dwell on it himself. Separating when convenient and meeting up later was something he’d done plenty lately, it felt, even before having been brought to the World of Light.

Cortez brought the Adrian out of the lake and out onto the open sea, which spilled forth before their eyes. Geralt took a moment to admire the view before his eyes locked onto the rickety sea town that looked like a stiff enough breeze could take it out. It certainly didn’t stand up to Limsa Lominscuttle Town, not by any metric. As he and the others looked out into the water, Geralt frowned when he noticed Nadia’s focus on something, turning to the strange ‘birds.’

She caught on a moment before him, but when they did, Geralt’s hand made the all-too-familiar Sign of Quen and he drew his bow, not even managing to get an arrow off before the bombs fell.

Rubick took a page out of Geralt’s book and quickly copied his Sign, making a Quen shield to protect himself as well. He then looked around for suitable cover and dove towards it. The bombs did quite a bit of damage to the ship, but at least he’d be fine for the time being.

Blazermate had been chilling on Cortez’s ship along with Geralt, having procured the pirate’s help and it in a way with her cute looks and charm. A bit of self pride that was shattered as they came under attack by no less than 5 different groups of enemies! Apparently this spot was a huge ambush point, and these people would not be reasoned with. Cortez took a fair amount of the opening fire and clattering to the ground. Blazermate started to panic, but stopped when she noticed Cortez was fine. While he looked dead, her Scan ability told her he was okay. Did… Did he just start to play dead? Well, seeing as he was fine, even if his ship was a bit damaged, Blazermate looked to join the others in dealing with one of the groups. They’d need her healing and shields.

Of course once Blazermate left the ship, Cortez got back up and yelled. “We’re being attacked, get to it men!” and his ghost crew sparked back to ‘life’ after having been extinguished. He assumed a more menacing form and began charging up some type of attack, getting ready to deal with those attacking his ship, but with the spirits’ vitality tied to the Adrian’s it wouldn’t be long before both craft and crew went down.

“Oh, what fun! I was beginning to believe this would be a boring trip!” Rubick yelled in delight. Plenty of adversaries attacking their ship, leaving them in dire circumstances. There was nothing better!

His big mouth. Geralt didn’t even have to say the words, the mere thought of being attacked seemed to bring it into being. While his magical shield protected him from the heat and much of the explosive compression of the bombs, it shattered and the remaining kinetic energy pushed him into the deck’s railing, his arms holding on for dear life as the ship rocked.

A pair of ships had revealed themselves in the chaos of the attack, one fused into a titanic snail and the other floating and held aloft by a balloon. It was the latter that Geralt focused on, a savage and sadistic grin forming on his face, even darker and more disturbing due to the physical traits the Orphan had granted him as his cat-like eyes narrowed.

Susie didn’t really react with any kind of shield or anything when they came under attack. But she was also in an area with more cover, having found a place on Cortez’s ship to relax as best as she could. Cannonfire and the sound of fracturing wood brought her to her senses though, and with a battle on the way, Susie was admittedly a bit nervous at the massive amount of enemies in the way. Sure they had a lot of seekers too, but without her business suit, there wasn’t too much she could do. Still, at least she could try to summon it…

And this time it worked! A pink drill shaped robot with massive deadly arms materialized in front of Susie. With a clap of excitement, Susie hopped into her mech, put down her visor, and followed Geralt into battle with her piloting her mech, Susie using its missile launchers to fire basic rockets at their foes as she approached.

Before peeling away to race after Sakura and Karin, Ace left everyone still holding out in and around the Adrian a priceless parting gift. As Pit purged the skies of the Abyssal bombers overhead through clever use of his orbitars, he cleared the way for a fresh cloudburst of vitalizing tonic. “Ahh, that’s quite helpful,” Rubick remarked, noticing how much quicker he had become. “I’ll take the flying one.” Geralt called out as Ace’s invigorating rain fell over him, giving him a boost that would surely be appreciated in the coming fight. “Gonna need some cover!” With that, he hoisted himself over the railing, falling into a roll as the Breaching Bastion appeared below him, and he rose quickly from the recovery, already pointing his guns towards the airship, and more specifically, the balloon keeping it in the air.

Without the threat of bombs falling on her, Nadia clawed her way up the side of the Adrian and vaulted onto the deck just in time to get a burst of energy from the monster hunter’s stimulant. It alleviated the last of her fatigue from the river, as well as the shadow of dread that the naval cannonade cast over her heart. Of course, with the pirate ship disintegrating bit by bit thanks to the withering combined assault of the Raptor, Tinkerslug, and submariners, she didn’t have a moment to lose. Something needed to be taken out of the equation–and with his Breaching Bastion, Geralt had just the ticket.

“We’ll cover you!!” Nadia called to him. “Just give us a sec!”

Speeding toward the Adrian from their airship came LeFwee’s finest, the shipgirls Massachusetts and Ingraham, plus the fearsome Hydroid Rakkam and a tenacious-looking fishman, who managed to keep pace with the wave-riders with the simple act of swimming. Ace’s parting shots made them wary, but none hit, so his attempt at a diversion fell short. All four would be running circles around Nadia if she tried fighting them in their element, but she didn’t plan to leave the piratical gang to Peach. She watched the sky until one of the bombers not yet dispatched by Pit cruised in to rip through one of the Adrian’s sails, then rushed to shimmy up the nearest mast. When the freakish plane-monster burst through the sailcloth, Nadia pounced with her trademark catlike reflexes and grabbed hold of the Abyssal’s rigid wings, digging her claws in. “Here, birdie-birdie!” It shrieked and scratched at her with its talons, but to no avail. The next second both were out over the water. Just as Nadia hoped, this thing could support her weight while flying, and when she yanked on one wing or another Nadia could make the creature turn. Just in time, too; the next moment Massachusetts opened fire on the Adrian, and at Rakkam’s beckoning great tentacles burst from the ocean to encircle the ship and pull it apart. “Hmm, that looks fun,” Rubick said to himself as he observed Hydroid, pointing his staff at him and Power Stealing it for himself. When the information reached his brain, he quickly became excited. “Oh ho ho hooo~ it’s even better than I thought!”

Blazermate, being the medic of the team, had been spending her time buffing those who weren’t too badly damaged with her medi-beam, increasing their effective health and charging her shield and her medaforce. While she would need more time to get her medaforce up, this quickly got her shield charged in the matter of a dozen seconds having such a massive target rich environment to heal.

With Geralt under fire, the Seekers needed to take initiative. Nadia steered the Abyssal toward Peach as Blazermate flew out to join them, healing those on the way, and together they headed out to meet the LeFwee pirates atop the waves. The princess added to Susie’s rockets with an explosive salvo from her own launcher and a handful of torpedoes in the water. Registering the challenge, the enemy squad turned their attention to their opponents and changed formation to engage the threat. Massachusetts turned the six cannon barrels of her rigging on the incoming misfits with a smirk. “I can appreciate a little backbone,” she said, her low but powerful tone amplified by her comms array to carry across the water. “Show me what you can do.”

Rip Tide let out a foamy, guttural chuckle. “Course, we’ll blow you chumps outta the water long before then!” As Massachusetts took aim, Rakkam unleashed his Tempest Barrage, calling from the ocean an artillery onslaught of liquid fury to rain down on the water’s surface, forcing all three Seekers to take emergency evasive action. Peach quickly realized that her umbrella wouldn’t be much help against this deluge as several projectiles punched through the fabric and into her body; Nadia’s Abyssal ride didn’t make for much of a shield either. She, Peach, and Blazermate all took a battering from the impact damage, softening them up for the cannonade from Massachusetts that followed. As it turned out, the Raptor’s chief gunner possessed some serious skills. Two shots whizzed by Nadia close enough for her to feel the heat before one struck the bomber she dangled from head-on, nearly destroying its head. Seeing the first two shots of cannonfire coming to the group as Blazermate recovered from her tumble from the wave, Blazermate used her projectile shield to block incoming shots. She missed the first one that nearly missed Nadia, but was able to fizzle the shell that was heading right for Peach. And all while she could heal herself and the others from the safety of her barrier as they approached, at least from the front.

Susie meanwhile had begun advancing on the location of the pirates from a different direction than the others. She began to spin up the arms on her mech before dashing forward with them spinning like sawblades, moving at incredible speeds as she dashed to crash into all of them. By that time of course, they’d broken formation, and Rakkam, who’d been mitigating the incoming explosives with corrosive shots from his Carcinus Scourge speargun surfed up to take care of the easy target before she started causing problems. He hurled his speargun at the incoming mech, and though it did little damage, the burst of strange energy it released in an area created a bullet attractor field directly on Susie’s head. Rakkam swapped to his secondary weapon, the Akjagara pistols, and hammered the trigger. The precision barrage left Susie in dire straits in a matter of seconds.

Susie figured that this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but boy was she wrong. She never had to deal with this stuff when dealing with pinkie, as even if he turned into a weird rock and came down on top of her in her business suit, the suit would just take the damage. Apparently that wasn’t how things worked in this world, and Susie’s suit started to spin wildly as she was hit and more or less knocked out, the suit’s arms still spinning and damaging anything nearby for awhile before she came to a stop, just floating on the water. At least she wouldn't’ sink unlike some others.

For the moment, however, Geralt was in the clear; it was time to silence the Raptor’s thunder. Geralt took careful aim at the Raptor, a test shot of the Bastion’s smaller guns confirming that he had the right of it. With no fanfare, only grim determination, he fired the main cannon, the massive projectile firing directly at the balloon keeping the Raptor in the air.

“Looks like they need to be taught a lesson,” Rubick said, finally leaving his hiding spot and making his way over to the edge of the ship. While Geralt took aim, he’d pointed his staff toward Massachusetts and begun to charge the ability for a few seconds. Once he was done, he announced, “Tentacle Swarm!” and summoned a large mass of watery tentacles underneath the Shipgirl, intending to restrain her and prevent her from damaging the ship further. Massachusetts neither anticipated nor could guard herself against her ally’s attack turned against her. The tentacles that erupted beneath her ensnared both her limbs and her rigging as they lifted her into the air. Amused, she pit her strength against them in a mighty struggle, but for a moment her artillery assault against the others petered out.

In that same moment, Geralt’s ordnance hit its mark. His shell blew straight through the Raptor’s balloon, in one side and out the other. A chorus of yells rang out as the ship jerked, knocked off-kilter enough to stop its continuous broadside in its tracks and begin its descent toward the water. “What in blazes!?” LeFwee squawked as his crew members rolled around the deck, ignoring the Gill Grunt who got hurled overboard. He glared up at the gaping punctures in his balloon. “How’d they hit us!? Where be the Trophy thingy!?”

Holding on to the railing for dear life, his Blumaroo deck hand yelped back. “But captain, you said to…!”

“I DON’T CARE WHAT I SAID, JUST GET THE DAMN THING!” the parrot screamed. “And someone patch the balloon, before we be dead in the water!”

As the Raptor dipped lower and lower, losing helium fast, the crew scrambled to salvage the situation. Most climbed up the rigging and slap a couple of giant patches on the balloon, while a few fetched a curious device from the hold to set up on deck. For now, no more cannonballs sailed toward the Adrian, allowing the Seekers to focus on the battle at hand.

Hydroid’s Tempest Barrage came to an end just a couple seconds before Massachusetts ripped free of the Tentacle Swarm, using her cannons to blast apart the constructs and give her room to move. She then carved her way loose with a pair of small anchors connected by chains to spools on her rigging, wielding them like hand axes. As Ingraham sped up to top off her health, she pointed her anchor toward Rubick and Geralt. “Rakkam. Take care of those two, will you?” In response the warframe twirled his speargun and began to surf their way.

With the Raptor slowly descending, Geralt turned his guns towards the advancing Rakkam, the smaller cannons opening fire while the larger one slowly reloaded. “Unfortunately,” He called out to Rubick above, trying not to be too loud so that their enemies heard, “This thing can barely move. If it goes badly, can you pull me up and out onto the ship? I also can’t fix this thing if it gets too badly damaged, it needs to be physically repaired. We have an engineer I could ask where we’re going, but it’s a big ask and I don’t think he’d do it for free.”

Rubick tilted his head from side to side as he responded, “Sure, that’s an easy matter. And in the other scenario, I do still have some funds, so there’s no issue there either.” Turning his attention back to the Shipgirls and warframe, he couldn’t help but worry a bit. They were converging towards the Adrian, and he was still sorely lacking in firepower. Even the Tentacle Swarm wouldn’t hold them back for long. Still, it was something to do. Charging the spell again, Rubick once again summoned the mass of watery tentacles under Hydroid Rakkam.

Rubick then pulled out his Magic Wand and activated it, causing the energy stored within to restore a portion of his spent reserves. Rubick did have a large reserve of mana, but he needed to manage his resources efficiently. He would have to work hard if he wanted to survive this. While doing so, he also witnessed Rakkam disappear beneath -or maybe into- the surface of the water with Undertow, effectively dodging the stolen ability and hiding his approach. In another moment, the warframe would be here.

Back out on the water, Peach’s group had managed to gain some ground after weathering the Tempest Barrage and gunfire storm with the help of Blazermate’s shield and healing. Since the medabot prioritizes her allies, a shell to the head spelled the end for Nadia’s ride, but the cat burglar didn’t mind hopping on top of Blazermate instead. Balancing on top of the robot’s pigtails with feline grace, she tensed her muscles for a superjump as the barrier began to flicker. With a final explosive burst from Massachusetts, the shield went down, and it was go time.

Looking to take out the medic first, Rip Tide immediately breached the surface to drive his swordfish into Blazermate’s torso with the whole weight of his body behind it, ensuring that even if he didn’t hit anything vital, he’d essentially tackle both her and her passenger into the water. That is, if Nadia hadn’t already been jumping as well. “Peach, send me!” The feral bailed off of Blazermate and went for the princess, who understood and used her umbrella to bounce the catgirl in the direction of the enemy. A pressurized blood blast did the rest. Nadia launched toward Massachusetts, not really knowing if her daredevil pounce would hit or miss, but either way, the shipgirl didn’t plan on letting her foe find out. Her anchor whipped through the air toward Nadia with a tremendous din of clanking chain, fast and well-aimed enough that the feral barely put up her guard in time to deflect the heavy metal to the side. “Anchor, aweigh! …Nyowch!” Despite her pain resistance, the dent left in her forearm hurt a lot.

Massachusetts grabbed her chain and yanked to reel it back in while throwing her other anchor. Nadia’s first instinct was to airdash out of the way, but going anywhere else would leave her with nothing but the ocean. She made a split-second decision and stayed her course, which meant that the shipgirl’s anchor struck her clean in the head, literally knocking her block off as she reeled backwards midair. Seeing her enemy beheaded, and a little disappointed it was over so soon, Massachusetts took hold of her chain to retract it. To her surprise, Nadia pivoted midair, the muscle fibers that still connected her head to her body -and her toothy grin- hidden by the blood. “Purr-fect!” She snatched the passing anchor and let the surprised shipgirl pull her straight to where she wanted to be. Nadia zoomed in, somersaulting like a vertical sawblade, and slammed her fishtail down on Massachusetts’ head. As her tail curled she kicked off her opponent’s shoulders and into the air, then at the height of her backflip shot both forearms down to grab the shipgirl’s rigging and rubber-band back down headfirst for a skull-rattling headbutt. The impact knocked Massachusetts over backward, and both tumbled across the water.

Blazermate, having seen that her shield was going down, was preparing for more evasive maneuvers. Nadia put a bit of a stop to that for a bit by jumping on her pigtails though in order to attack someone else, which forced Blazermate to have to rely on her suffering shield arm when Rip Tide decided to jump at her from the water. Still, Blazermate could try to deflect the guy so she didn’t go into the water with him, it’d take forever for her to get out of that, so she sidestepped his attack and used her suffering shield to deflect his thrust away from her. The shield, having been attacked, attacked back by biting Rip Tide as he passed by, infecting him with the zombie virus. Of course, for it to have any effect he would need to die first, and for this Aqua-Fighter that was a tall order. The bite stopped his momentum, and he used that moment to twist around and grab hold of the shield’s edge. “Not bad!” Suddenly, Blazermate was supporting his weight, and Rip Tide plunged his swordfish inside the mouth of her shield, piercing through its innards and into the arm inside. He then leaped off her, and from his pocket somehow pulled a large Blubber Whale to hurl down at the medabot like a giant mallet. “But not good enough!”

Blazermate didn’t like this guy trying to shove a sword fish into her shield, and battered away his sword when he was a fair amount in there to reduce the damage and disarm the guy, which he seemed all too happy to lose as he leaped away and tried to throw something at her from his pocket. Blazermate had the mobility to dodge the car sized whale coming at her from this guy, especially considering he had to make that throw while falling being unable to fly himself. Before he fell in the water though, Blazermate could mark all of his weak points, which light glowed through the water when he was near the surface, making his ambush tactics not as effective anymore. The Blubber Whale struck the surface with a mighty slap, sending up a geyser of water, but its target got away just in time.

It had gotten her attention that a few people were hurt, so she had to go deal with that. Susie most of all, who got hit by something nasty. ”Hey, someone else play with this brat, I’ve got work to do.” Blazermate said as she went to go heal Susie, buffing the nearby Peach her with some overheal before doing so. Obligingly the princess skated in to give Blazermate a break and take her place against Rip Tide. The fishman held out his hand for his swordfish to jump into, and moved in to accept her challenge.

Meanwhile, Rakkam exploded from the water’s surface with a well-practiced bullet jump, shooting through the air toward Adrian. He aimed not for the ship itself, but for the Breaching Bastion that rose from the waves just in front of it, and the Witcher who stood atop with his massive armaments trained on the Raptor. Rakkam drew his third and final weapon, the intricate paired cutlass and dagger called Nami Skyla, and descended on Geralt with his blades extended like the claws of an osprey for a hapless fish. “Incoming!” Rubick called out in warning. He did not do so in ignorance of Rubick, however; when the sorcerer went to capitalize, he would find himself faced by the warframe’s tentacled sentinel, Scyph Diriga, which fixed its sea-green eye on Rubick to take a calculated shot with its built-in sniper rifle. Rubick quickly backpedaled, but was still caught off guard. Fortunately, his copied Quen shield was still up, which blocked the shot but shattered in the process. Determined to not give the Scyph Diriga a chance to follow up, Rubick then raised his staff and cast his Telekinesis spell on it, intending to launch it away and into the water. He succeeded, overpowering the sentinel’s flotation system to separate it from Rakkam for a precious moment.

The Bastion’s guns took time to move, so they hadn’t quite managed to catch Rakkam as he approached, and when he burst from the water, Geralt bit back a curse, but stared down the attacking Warframe, quickly making the sign of Aard to try and knock him off balance before moving in, silver singing as he drew his own blade and lifted his sword to meet his foe. The Witcher’s force blast actually succeeded in knocked Rakkam down, but no sooner did he hit the water than a Tidal Surge crashed against the Breaching Bastion, shifting it just enough to mess with Geralt’s footing as Rakkam vaulted back up, swords at the ready. Wielding the Carving Mantis stance, he attacked with a mix of cutlass slashes and dagger stabs while maintaining forward momentum in an attempt to push Geralt back.

Stumbling when the Bastion shifted, Geralt met Rakkam’s assault with his own aggression, silver blade lashing out to meet the cutlass, evading the dagger stabs as best he could and letting his armor catch what he missed. He did his best to keep Rakkam from pushing him back, though the fighter seemed to be quite adept at the strange dual-wielding fighting style he was employing. The bigger issue was that, while this foe lacked defense, any hits Geralt did land at the moment got absorbed by some kind of energy shield, allowing Rakkam to focus wholly on offense. Sensing that he couldn’t necessarily trust himself to meet the enemy blow for blow and survive, Geralt called upon Fizz to perform hit-and-run strikes and give him room to breathe.

The striker appeared with a lunging dive that struck Rakkam square in the chest, the triple prongs of his trident depleting a chunk of the Warframe’s shield. Rakkam swung both blades in a cross-slice to pay Fizz back, but the nimble fish vaulted on top of his weapon, then when the swords clanged against the polearm shaft flipped over with a smack to Rakkam’s back before timing out. Rakkem’s spinning slash cut nothing but air, and when he realized that he’d turned to strike the decoy he wheeled back to face Geralt again with disadvantage, his dagger upheld to try to parry.

With Rakkam distracted, even for but a moment, Geralt capitalized, sheathing his silver sword and taking a breath as his fist plunged into his own body, a spurt of blood heralding the Orphan’s Hateful Flesh, which Geralt swung brutally with a full-body lunge at the Warframe, hoping to overpower his parry and shield through pure force.

While the two fought, Rubick watched their battle unfold, waiting for his chance to slip in. The two exchanged fierce blows, but he could tell that Geralt was the one being pushed back. Finally, Geralt decided to make a big move, which Rubick saw as an opportunity. Thrusting his staff towards Rakkam, Rubick performed an instant cast of Tentacle Swarm, summoning a few tentacles to wrap around the warframe and hopefully immobilize him just long enough for Geralt to land a decisive blow. “A taste of your own medicine!” Rubick called out as he casted the ability.

Rubick’s tentacles worked just as he hoped, neutralizing Rakkam’s defense just as Geralt’s massive, fleshy cleaver struck home. His shields broke with a static effect as the Warframe stumbled back, but from there things took an unexpected turn. His shield’s gate effect prevented any of the excess damage leaking through to Rakkam himself and granted just over a second of immunity, allowing him to recover as he backed out onto the barrel of the Bastion’s main gun. Adopting a swashbuckler’s stance with his cutlass forward, cape billowing, Rakkam expended some more energy to call down a Tempest Barrage on Rubick, forcing the magus to run away and find cover while he contended with Geralt. His Diriga appeared over his shoulder as well, radiating electricity in a small area from its Arc Coil. The battle was on.

Hefting the Hateful Flesh, Geralt smirked as his free hand reached into the bulbous flesh that suffused the blade, pulling a cluster from it and tossing it Rakkam’s way before commanding the main gun to fire into the ocean, hoping to ruin his balance and use that opportunity to close the gap with an attack. Even if the gambit failed, he couldn’t wait forever for an opening. Luckily, Rakkam attempted to deflect the flesh bomb with his sword, which blew up in his face and pushed him back onto his tiptoes at the edge of the barrel. When the gun fired, he got bumped into the air and fell, only to grab the tentacles of his Diriga and swing around on them and fly Geralt’s way with a gutsy dropkick into his guard. In the moment that he dropped to the top of the Bastion, his sentinel released a short-range shock burst as well, closing the gap in Rakkam’s offense long enough for the warframe to get up with a double low swipe.

Geralt raised the Hateful Flesh’s blade to catch Rakkam’s kick on its side, and though he slid back with a grunt, Geralt avoided a boot to the gut. The shock burst had the Witcher step back, and as Rakkam swiped his blades low, Geralt jumped vertically, lashing out with a quick snap-kick while he was airborne, following with a swipe of his blade to follow it, before stepping back and grabbing another flesh bomb to toss at the Warframe to force him to keep on his feet.

The blow hit Rakkam right in the helmet -or was that his head?- but the heavy Hateful Flesh moved a little too slow. Rakkam sidestepped it, and rather than stick around to take another fleshburster the Warframe flipped off the Breaching Bastion. He changed his momentum midair with a bullet jump, whipping out the Akjagara to enter bullet time as he flew. A volley of sidearm fire at the Witcher, punctuated by a sniper shot from Diriga, accompanied his launch aboard the Adrian. Out of Geralt’s range for the moment, Rakkam ran along the railing on the edge of the deck, hopping over wrecked sections as he emptied his magazines into his target.

“Hmmm. Fuck.” Geralt cursed, stowing the Hateful flesh with a groan once the barrage ended, having hidden behind the fleshy weapon to avoid being punched full of holes. That thing was not pleasant to pull out, and with Rakkam wreaking havoc on the Adrian, he needed the mobility that came with not lugging around a giant cleaver of flesh and eldritch metal. Jumping to grab onto the ship, Geralt pulled himself up and quickly set about hunting his quarry. “Rubick!” He shouted. “Where’d the whoreson run off to?!”

Rubick had run towards a ship door, but got knocked down when a Tempest Barrage Projectile struck him in the back, sending him sprawling onto the floor. “Hh! That stings,” Rubick grunted as he pushed himself back up and finally made his way inside the ship, safe for the time being. The attack lasted for some time, which made Rubick decide to take stock of his inventory again. A few bits and bobs, some gold, and other miscellaneous items were still there. He activated his Magic Wand again, restoring a small sliver of health and energy. It wasn’t much, but anything would help at this point. “Oh, that’s right! I forgot I had this too!” Rubick said, pulling out a Ray Gun. He held it in both hands as he twirled it around, trying to remember how to use it. When Rubick pushed the red button on the handle, a bolt of energy shot out of it, leaving a black scorch mark on the ceiling. “Whoops! I hope no one saw that,” Rubick said, finally managing to hold the Ray Gun the way it was meant to be held.

Peeking outside, he noticed that the Tempest Barrage was finally over. He cautiously stepped out, and soon spotted Rakkam jumping onto the Adrian while firing downwards at something, presumably Geralt. Well, that simply wouldn’t do. “Bird’s eye view!” Rubick said as he casted Telekinesis on Rakkam, intending to lift him up into the air. When Geralt came up to the deck and called out to Rubick, he responded with, “Right here!” and forcefully dropped Rakkam just a short distance away from the witcher, the magical energy from the Telekinesis drop also stunning the warframe for a second.

When halted forcibly, Rakkam turned his eyeless gaze on Rubick, but took no other action other than to reload in a menacing fashion. The lack of incoming damage for a few seconds meant that his shields had also begun to regenerate, but by the time the Warframe took his speargun in hand he got splatted against the deck. This particular piece, undermined by cannonball fire from the Raptor earlier, broke beneath the impact and dropped Rakkam to the second deck. Before Rubick could celebrate, however, the tentacled Diriga arose from another hole behind him and unleashed a surge of electricity. Rubick leapt away, pointing the Ray Gun at the Diriga and firing off a successful shot, but that was all he could do before he was zapped by the electricity, and he fell to the ground in a heap, stunned for the time being.

Pausing to follow Rubick’s voice, Geralt nodded when the Warframe dropped unceremoniously from the magus’s telekinetic grab, drawing his silver blade and blinking when the aquatic enemy crashed through the deck. “Of course.” As the Diriga rose and targeted Rubick, Geralt dropped to the deck below, sword coming down in an overhead slash to take Rakkam as he stood up.

Narrowly the Warframe managed to handspring out of the way. He landed on an unstable section of the middle of the deck and flipped off before it could collapse beneath him, putting him at a distance from Geralt. A jagged gulf, the handiwork of the Abyssals and Thumpback down below, ran through the middle of the half-sunk ship all the way down to the water. As his damaged sentinel flew back to him, Rakkam flipped his speargun into a reverse grip and hurled it like a javelin at his opponent.

Geralt spun, pirouetting out of the way of the makeshift projectile and bringing his sword up in a guarded stance, slowly making his way around the gulf in the floor, his eyes on Rakkam. “Come on, just you and me. Let’s do this.”

The electricity hurt, but Rubick would live. After the Diriga left to rejoin its master, Rubick got back up and shook his head, then made his way over to the hole in the deck. He was just in time to see Rakkam throw his speargun at Geralt, who nimbly avoided the attack. An idea began to form in his mind, and he raised his staff. He casted Telekinesis again, but not against Rakkam or his Diriga. Instead, he targeted the thrown speargun. With careful manipulation, Rubick turned it towards Rakkam and launched it towards his head, canceling the spell so that it kept its momentum and allowed the projectile to deal damage.

Distracted by Geralt and surprised by the reversal of fortune, Rakkam had no time to think and could only go by instinct. He’d already pulled out the Akjagara to take advantage of the death sentence he’d sent the Witcher’s way, and couldn’t try to deflect the gunspear. Instead he threw himself upward in a bullet jump, but not fast enough to avoid the Carcinos Scourge’s area of effect, creating a magnetic field on his head that would attract any projectiles in his vicinity for a few seconds.

Watching the speargun fly back towards Rakkam, who tried to escape vertically, Geralt quickly swapped his sword for his new bow, quickly drawing and loosing a flurry of arrows at Rakkam. Thanks to the uncanny magnetic field all four hit, and the fourth added a nice extra bit of electrical damage, chaining to and hurting the Diriga sentinel as well. Rubick took the opportunity to fire off a few shots from his Ray Gun too. Despite a furious attempt to deflect the incoming shots with Nami Skyla, Rakkam quickly lost his shield and a huge chunk of health to the barrage. Knocked to his knees, the Warframe said nothing, but reached up and pulled the arrows from his biotech skin. He grabbed the Scourge again and flourished it, tranquil in his fury and ready for the next round.

It was at that moment that Cortez appeared, manifesting from the deck behind Rakkam to take care of the unwelcome visitor. “I’ll have yer guts for garters!” he roared as he swung with a broadsword, scimitar, saber, and hook. Rakkam began to move, maneuvering with a ninja’s agility around and between the furious blows. With each slide and flip he pelted Cortez with a burst of corrosive automatic fire, until after a few seconds he bullet jumped clear of a four-way slam to loom above the monstrosity’s head. At the apex he unleashed a charged Tentacle Swarm of his own. The distinctive noise heralded the arrival of the swarm, rising from puddles strewn around the area. Most began to tear the place apart, destroying the wood that Geralt and Rubick were standing on, but those near Cortez wrapped around his spine and four enormous limbs to tug him around like a skeletal marionette. “Yarrrgh, get off me!” the captain howled, but for the moment he -and those in range of his strikes- were at Rakkam’s mercy. The tentacles yanked his limbs around in a chaotic whirlwind that threatened to turn the others into fish food.

Geralt took a few potshots at Rakkam with his bow while he and Cortez fought, but when the summoned tentacles appeared and began destroying this section of the ship, he had to stow it and move to safety, leaving Cortez to be grabbed and manipulated by the writhing appendages and Rubick to fall to the second deck below. “Dammit!” He cursed, drawing his silver sword to parry while his free hand cast the Sign of Quen, protecting him from what blows he couldn’t stop from landing. He leaned into ‘fighting’ with Cortez, trying to buy Rubick time to get off an attack of his own. This was less like a fight and more like a natural disaster, however, so after the first couple weighty blows cracked the Quen shield it seemed like a better idea to fall back out of the flailing skeleton’s range. Rakkam, standing on top of Cortez’ skull, focused his spray of corrosive rounds on Rubick. If the mage so much as poked his head up to be a thorn in the Warframe’s side again, he would find that fancy getup full of painfully burning holes. The seconds ticked down on Tentacle Swarm; only half of the original twenty remained.

As Quen shattered, Geralt started falling back, careful not to let the flailing blows Cortez was letting off hit him as he moved. Rubick retreated behind him, putting away his Ray Gun and taking out his Loch Shield. He held it above himself while being equally careful to stay behind the cover Geralt was providing. Geralt reached into one of his pouches for a grapeshot bomb, quickly tossing it up at Rakkam to try and distract him from Rubick yet again, and if he was lucky, do a little damage himself. Rubick casted Telekinesis on Rakkam to force him onto the ground, trying to immobilize him to allow the bomb to deal its full damage. He also instacasted his own Tentacle Swarm in quick succession, attempting to further pin him down with a few well-placed tentacles.

The lack of communication between the two meant that when Rakkam pulled back Cortez’s head to shield himself from the worst of the grapeshot bomb, Rubick’s long range telekinesis caught the monster’s skull instead. As Rakkam fought to maintain his balance, a new swarm of tentacles erupted alongside his own around Cortez, stretched up around his bones in a single-minded bid to grab him. In doing so they also practically immobilized Cortez, and with his wild ride drawing to a close anyway, the Warframe bailed. He bullet jumped off and over toward his enemies, raining down a fully-automatic barrage of acid, then went into a plunge attack from directly overhead. Rakkam came down between Rubick and Geralt on the exposed starboard middle deck in a blast of seawater, poised to become a typhoon of alien steel.

“Fuck!” Geralt cursed as the acidic ammo pitted his armor and stung at his exposed flesh, moderately annoyed that the ploy hadn’t worked. Rubick fared somewhat better, his glass shield deflecting most of the acidic rounds. They still had the numbers to take him down, and Geralt pressed that advantage, sword flashing as he ran in to attack Rakkam with silver, attacking even more aggressively as his anger rose. The two traded blows in a blood rush, their duel messy, furious, and brutal. Meanwhile, Rubick walked backwards to gain some distance while continuing his efforts to hinder Rakkam’s movement, casting Telekinesis on him to lift him into the air and make it easier for Geralt to land a blow on him. In response the Warframe used Undertow, melting into a puddle of water that spread out across the deck beneath the fighters. A tentacle reached out to lash around Rubick and pull him into the ground, but Rakkam himself popped up behind Geralt. With the last of his Energy, he cast Tidal Surge once more, bulling into both foes atop a powerful wave. All three smashed through the side of the Adrian’s hull and out over the ocean, just a couple yards away from where the Breaching Bastion still resided on the right.

Rakkam bullet jumped backward to stab into and cling to the outside of the hull with his dagger, just above the hole. Rubick was not so fortunate, falling off the boat and crashing into the waters below. Fortunately, he was able to make his way back up to the surface and grab a piece of wood large and buoyant enough to hold his head up above the waves. Geralt managed to catch one of the Bastion’s cranes, and had it swing such that he could quickly dismount and get atop the gun platform again, staring Rakkam down threateningly, his sword in a defensive posture. “Come on, then!”

His opponent obliged. He launched off the Adrian’s hull and came down with a double-bladed plunging attack to knock Geralt back a touch, then went to work. Being proficient with two blades, his offensive style meant that his opponent couldn’t hold a block, or otherwise risk a wound from the other weapon, as the Witcher quickly found out. In his usual pragmatic way he made up for the weak spot with plentiful use of kicks, unafraid to stomp on feet or try to blow out a knee for the advantage, but whatever it was that constituted Rakkam was stern stuff. Geralt landed blow after blow, be they thrusts, slices, or hilt bashes, but the Warframe gave out even better than he got. As if his flexible metallic flesh felt no pain, he pushed through Geralt’s attacks to land twice as many of his own, and the war of attrition quickly turned in his favor. As Geralt sagged, cut and stabbed too many times, Rakkam went for the finisher. With a whirling strike he blew open his foe’s guard, pinwheeling backwards, then launched his hidden Parazon blade into Geralt’s heart. When he yanked it loose on its silken tether, the Witcher slumped down in apparent defeat. Rakkam took a moment to breathe and allow his tension to fade before switching Nami Skyla for his Akjagara to finish Rubick off.

For a moment, Geralt’s vision blackened, blood seeping out of the wound in his chest, turning to ash as his life faded. And, in a repeat of what had happened earlier with Pit, suddenly he felt revitalized, as if he hadn’t taken a single blow. Rather than slump over and succumb to his wounds, the Witcher exploded forth, a scream bellowing from his throat and lightning wreathing his blade. Rakkam attempted to parry the first blow with a hastily drawn cutlass, but the electricity from Geralt’s weapon caused him to delay just another moment, enough for the Witcher to force the Warframe’s weapon aside and slice across its throat with silver. Rakkam rallied after a moment, Nami Skyla flashing in a whirlwind of steel, but each time Geralt met the aquatic warrior’s weapons with his own, the electricity that ran through it and into him caused just a moment’s twinge of the musculature, giving Geralt the upper hand as he broke into Rakkam’s guard and tackled him to the ‘ground’, stabbing his blade lightly into the Warframe’s metallic flesh.

As Rakkam looked up at the foe who’d defeated him, he found a curious sight. The Witcher’s eyes were deep and sunken in, pupils narrow slits as he breathed heavily and intentionally, forcing the adrenaline in his blood to fade. This was not particularly odd, except perhaps the shape of his eyes, but what was truly odd was the fact that he was offering a hand to help him up. Grabbing for his dagger, Galeem’s curse still controlling him, Geralt sighed and blocked the hasty stab, shoving something into the Warframe and pulling him up with surprising strength. Suddenly, the will to fight left as Geralt spoke, the red fading from Rakkam’s eyes. “Not sure why you’re trying to kill us, but you need to listen to me. There’s a bigger problem at hand than your little ocean village. Just look at the floating ball of light and take a second to realize it’s not the sun if you don’t believe me.” Geralt’s explanation did not cover even the most basics of their goals just yet, but he was trying not to overwhelm his hopeful new ally. When Rakkam didn’t immediately try to kill him, he continued.

“To keep it short, that’s an extremely powerful being, to call it a god wouldn’t be incorrect, that has taken control of the minds of everybody in this world, forcing them into a complacent state where the slightest bit of conflict drives them to unceasing battle, only to stop when one party wins the fight, either by incapacitation, death, or some other predetermined criteria. We’re trying to kill it, and we take just about anybody who’s willing to join up. You in?”

For a moment Rakkam held his head, considering all the new information with appropriate gravitas. Briefly his gaze landed in the Raptor, where LeFwee and the pirates were wrapping up their ship’s repair, then on the shipgirls out at sea. He seemed to come to a decision, for he then bent to retrieve Nami Skyla, promptly sheathed the blades, and stood up straight with his fists together. The Warframe bowed to Geralt, took out the Carcinos Scourge speargun, and planted it on top of the Breaching Bastion as a token of gratitude before bullet jumping away into the water.

As Rakkam put the speargun down and jumped away, Geralt paused, watching him go, before remembering something important. “If their eyes are red, they won’t believe you! That’s the sign of his influence!” He shouted, cupping his hands to help his voice carry so Rakkam would hear him.

That done with, he walked over to the speargun and picked it up. “Hmm. It did something back there when Rubick tossed it back at him. Wonder if that’s from this thing or his magic…”

Back on the water, the seafarers’ own fight raged on at an even more frenetic pace. Nadia and Massachusetts tumbled together across the waves, splashing through their crests in sprays of seafoam, for a moment before the shipgirl found her footing. She planted her feet and skidded backward along the water as her rigging corrected her balance, well aware that the cat burglar who'd just given her a black eye was still clinging to her tower. With her teeth bared she took an anchor in one hand and craned her head around to swing, only to take a kick to the jaw as Nadia jumped onto her right-side cannon battery. "Taste of de-feet!" As the shipgirl reeled Nadia crouched down to follow up with her one-two punisher. "...And cattail!" Incensed by another tail slap to the head, Massachusetts twisted around fast enough to sweep her attacker's foothold out from under her, allowing her to seize the catgirl's neck. Quick as Ever, Nadia sliced a set of red claw marks across her foe's face, but Massachusetts pushed through to smash Nadia in the gut with her anchor, hitting her up hard enough to leave her wide-eyed, stretched-out, and windless. Wasting no time, the shipgirl reached up, grabbed the feral, and slammed her into the sea with a massive powerbomb. With her opponent stunned by the back flop, Massachusetts trained her cannons as she skated backward, then unleashed a six-barreled blowout into the spot where Nadia fell.

Ingraham raced in as water rained down from the geyser-like eruption. “Everything alright?” she asked, sending her healing drone to her comrade’s side to patch up her wounds. Without giving an answer, Massachusetts scanned the water for any sign of her foe. She half-expected a handful of body parts strewn around the water, but she saw nothing, not even a blood-red chum on the surface to suggest where her opponent went down. Her warrior’s intuition told her that this wasn’t over just yet–but it couldn’t predict what happened next. A bloodied but very much alive Nadia burst from the ocean to her right with a pirouette, having propelled herself through the water with her Full Mrowtation like a living torpedo, and launched both arms at Massachusetts again. Now turned to face her foe, the shipgirl blocked with her anchors only for Nadia’s hands to grab hold. “Gotcha!” With a tremendous effort Nadia cracked her stretched-out fibers like whips, sending a wave all the way down the springy line that lifted Massachusetts off the water by her arms and slammed her right back into the sea face-first. “Drink’s on me!” PLOOSH!

The feral then rubber-banded her arms, zipping in close to springboard off her foe’s head as she tried to pick herself back up. With her momentum she thrust her hand into the support drone’s ‘face’, then swung around to land on top of it, crouching. Despite downing Massachusetts for a moment, her mismatched eyes were on Ingraham. “I can tell I’m not gettin’ anywhere long as you’re around!” she told the medic. With a yank she extracted a bundle of vital components from the drone, greasy and sparking, then sprang again off the drone as it fell. “So you’re first in line!”

Ingraham gasped and boosted sideways, firing her mini-turrets. Nadia hurtled through the air as a corkscrew, boosted by blood jets from her thighs and tail, to try and cut her off. Cornered, the medic raised her hull shield just in time to block Nadia’s x-slash, but the feral had momentum on her side. “How’s this for a heel?” she grinned, somersaulting to bring her axe kick down overhead. Ingraham narrowly raised her shield to take the blow, prompting Nadia to realize that she hadn’t thought about anything after that. Seizing her chance, her opponent put all of her strength into a shield bash to throw her off, but as Nadia sailed off the persistent feral just airdashed back in. This time she saw Ingraham’s attempt to defend herself coming, and from her blood conjured a copycat to shoot down, grab hold of the shipgirl’s shield arm, and peel it away like the lid of a can. Ingraham panicked, and in that moment Nadia dove down, her extended arms spinning like drills. “Points for trying!” Her ruthless Feral Edge drove Ingraham into the water, but before Nadia could pierce too deep, an anchor shot hooked around her bicep.

“Huh? …NyaaaAAAAA!” The feral went flying, whipped around by Massachusetts’ superstrength like a giant meteor hammer. Nadia circled around, yowling the whole time, until the battleship slammed her against the water. When pulled from the sea for another slam, a dazed and disoriented Nadia yelled, “Anyone!? Need a hand here!”

Nadia would soon get her help as she could hear a verr-ing sound as Susie came to intercept Massachusetts with her mech, the robot girl having been fully healed by Blazermate in the meantime. The healer bot then came into view and started to heal Nadia, saying. ”This is one chaotic battle. I’ve got charge now though.” Blazermate said as Susie inside her mech clashed with Massachusetts, Susie learning that she had to be a bit more careful with her business suit now.

Following a tackle from Susie’s business suit, Massachusetts lost control of her anchor, and Nadia slipped free to plunge, flailing, into the ocean. When she bobbed to the surface she found the welcome sight of Blazermate to heal her bruises, broken bones, and other symptoms of intense impact damage. “Thanks a million,” she sighed, relieved that the throbbing was coming to an end. She kept her eyes on the shipgirl, currently outmaneuvering and putting shots into Susie’s mech only to find it surprisingly resilient. Now that she’d been taught to cover her cockpit with the business suit’s arms, the little robot was soaking up the punishment no problem. With such tech totally foreign to Nadia, she couldn’t help but admire the impressive battle machine. “With her around, we got this, no problem,” the feral announced.

Unfortunately for Susie, Ingraham had arrived, too. With her own critical injuries taken care of, she didn’t even need to risk getting close to the fight thanks to her drones, which she could send to undo Masachusetts’ wounds from afar. “That one’s gonna be a pain in the boat, though. It kinda feels like a me-dic move, but maybe you could take her out? I mean, healers fightin’ one another, that’s only fair, right?” Without waiting for a reply, Nadia dove underwater and took off swimming toward the battle.

”Yeah, I might as well… I’ve got full charge so it's going to huuurt. Just don’t die.” Blazermate said. It sucked there was no spot to put down the engineer and her sentry nearby, so she’d have to go fight this person one on one. At least she had full charge, so some shenanigans could happen. And if she got a zombie medic, that could be neat.

Blazermate looked around for this ‘ranged healer’ who probably wasn’t much of a fighter, making sure she wasn’t being protected by any of her allies either. In a one on one fight, Blazermate figured she could win vs another support medabot no problem, and with her charge and shield ready, she could do some decent damage as well.

Going at a high angle, trying to keep the sun behind her to cloak her approach, and was able to safely approach the other team’s medic with the rest of their team being distracted. That was the downside of being a ranged healer, you were out of the perception of your allies and you were only really noticed when it was too late. Coming down on Ingraham with her ubersaw first, followed by a bite from her shield, Blazermate was ready for a one on one fight. Although considering she was going to use her energy shield for massive damage and defense, it might not be a fun fight for the other medic.

“Ah! Get away!” The glasses-wearing shipgirl immediately raised both of her rigging’s shield arms when Blazermate came down on her, stopping her assassination attempt in its tracks. “Leave me alone!” Her mini-turrets started pelting her assailant, and though they did low damage, the Medabot would need to get around her defense to take her out. And to do that, she went with her plan of deploying her projectile shield, both blocking all the gunfire from the shipgirl and causing a piercing, plasma shield appear in front of her which did intense damage to the shipgirl while she was stuck inside it. And Blazermate would make sure to keep her inside it with her greater mobility. Ingraham cried out in pain as she found that her attempts to break free were in vain. She commanded every drone she possessed to begin healing her at once, but it only prolonged her torment, and Blazermate wasn’t about to relent. After a few agonizing moments with no escape, Ingraham gave up, and dismissed her drones in order to hasten her demise. “I’m sorry, everyone.” She unceremoniously fizzled out, her drones flown off to aid Massachusetts as the lone medic’s final act. Blazermate was a bit surprised at just how fast that shield ripped through that medic’s hp. Apparently that was another downside of being ranged, you had not much in the way of defenses as well.

Susie meanwhile, being in a fight nearby Blazermate, was keeping Massachusetts busy with her business suit. While her opponent possessed some serious firepower, she was having some difficulty dealing enough damage to Susie’s business suit thanks to its raw tankiness. And since Susie knew now to protect her cockpit, she had to use the other methods of attack with her mech, including missiles and the drill on the bottom which really hurt when it hit. Massachusetts’ speed and maneuverability, paired with her mini-turrets for AA purposes, meant that Susie’s efforts at return fire came to naught. “Pretty tough, aren’t you?” the battleship remarked. “You won’t cry if I hit you, will you?”

As she swam closer Nadia sneaked a peek above the surface, trying to find an in. Her first idea had been to climb on top of the business suit and get Susie to throw her, but that looked less feasible by the second. It would only reveal her, make her a target, and make sure Massachusetts knew to stay away. Just how would she get her paws on this elusive, hard-hitting enemy..?

Nadia swam closer, homing in on her target despite the shipgirl’s erratic movement. It took a few moments, but she managed to put herself right in Massachusett’s path, and as her enemy skated overhead Nadia reached up to seize one of her anchors. Massachusetts sped by without noticing until the chain unwound to its full length and began to pull the feral behind her, first on her rear and then on her feet as she found her balance, her tail used as a support. The battleship looked over her shoulder to find Nadia water skiing, a huge grin on her face, and Nadia waved cheekily back at her. Leaving Susie behind, Massachusetts zig-zagged and turned to shake her opponent off, but Nadia would not be dislodged; her grip, core strength, and balance were too great. Her cannons thundered , but at these speeds her shots went wide. Her eyebrow twitched. “You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that. But that’s enough..” Massachusetts span around, slowed to a stop, and took hold of her chain for a powerful yank.

“Whoa!” Nadia found herself pulled off her feet by the battleship’s superstrength yet again. As she sailed toward her opponent, Massachusetts picked up speed and leaped to meet her in the air, the other anchor held above her head. Cat and boat came together in a flash, with the latter bringing her bludgeon down in a bone-crushing diagonal chop. Fueled by adrenaline, Nadia separated at the bicep and thigh, and the anchor passed through. She breezed past Massachusetts without making contact, but she left something behind. “Gotcha!” Twisting around, she belted out a wad of muscle from both sides, and once they made contact the fibers bound together to reconnect Nadia’s shoulder -as well as her momentum- to the arm with claws fastened around the shipgirl’s throat. “Sorry, lady,” the feral winced, steeling herself. “Maybe necks time!”

The fibers went taut, and the forces at play did their jobs. Both combatants hit the water at the same time, but while Nadia dove beneath, Massachusetts belly-flopped. It was a moment before the cat burglar rose to the surface, but when she dared to look over her blood nearly froze. She watched her opponent stagger to her feet on the water, soaked through, then turn to look Nadia’s way. How is she alive after that!? her mind screamed. Can this woman not die? After a moment though she got her answer. Ingraham’s drones revealed themselves by surrounding Massachusetts, having healed her back from the brink of death. Something primal burned in the woman’ eyes, an anger fueled by both pain and horror, and Nadia’s ears instinctively flattened as she gulped.

Thanks to Nadia able to pin down the evasive Massachusetts, Susie was able to gain some ground. Blazermate meanwhile, having finished her fight with the medic, also came to assist the cat girl with her fight. She had no shield, but her medigun glowed with a full uber charge ready to help. When she came to a stop however, Massachusetts abruptly lambasted her with a six-shot salvo her cannon batteries. The significance of the drones’ arrival had not been lost on her.

Blazermate had been expecting some kind of return fire, and while she had used her projectile shield, she still had something else. When the shots were about to connect, Blazermate hit her ubercharge, and while Massachusetts saw her shots land and hit the medabot dead on, from the smoke emerged said medabot, unharmed and glowing metallic blue. She then put her medigun on Nadia, which gave her the same effect. ”I’ll get the drones, you get the shipgirl. ” Blazermate said. And with Blazermate focusing on the shipgirl herself, all her weak points were highlighted for everyone to target. Susie meanwhile was closing in, and would give Nadia a good spot to anchor herself, as the feral had been having issues fighting on the water without a firm spot to land.

For a moment it looked like the arrival of the Seeker’s resident support hero would end in disaster, but Blazermate’s uber saved the day. “Ya had me goin’ for a second there,'' Nadia admitted as her ally flew in to link up. Massachusetts elected to hold fire once she saw the futility of even direct impacts with her foes shielded like this, watching grimly as the seconds ticked down. Neither could get close enough to get any more use out of the ubercharge in the time they had left. As Susie floated in over the water her gaze shifted to take stock of the new threat. That clumsy metal hulk couldn’t hit her, and Susie seemed to know it, flying over to offer Nadia a hand instead. Still, three against one, with no sign of Rip Tide nearby.

“It’ll take a few more of you to make this a fair fight,” she taunted, her voice a little more gravelly than before.

Nadia jumped up from the water and landed on the back of the business suit, holding on in a position where she’d be shielded from shots in the front. She felt conflicted. The pragmatic part of her urged her to use everything to her advantage. This was a life-or-death fight, after all; what mattered was to win. But she admired this woman, both her strength and her sheer tenacity. While she hid it with jokes, she felt bad enough about her intent to claim her opponent’s life and spirit already. If Massachusetts met a cheap end, it would leave a bad taste in her mouth, the feral just knew it. “Go for the drones then,” Nadia said to Blazermate. “And Susie, get me close, if ya don’t mind. But after that, ya both gotta buzz off.” She lowered her eyebrows, eyes on the prize. “She’s mine.”

”Uh sure. Just don’t die.” Blazermate said, a bit concerned with how serious Nadia was getting fighting this shipgirl. Susie shrugged, not really caring either way. With Blazermate being the fastest of the group, she had to hold back a bit with the other two for a little bit to give them both overheals before flying around, punching the drones with her ubersaw and trying to avoid the shots from the shipgirl. Susie meanwhile did what she was suggested to do, and brought Nadia to the shipgirl. Susie would prefer to shove a drill into this evasive shipgirl if she could, but… well she was just too fast and Susie would have to go find someone who was less dodgy to pulverize.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Nadia assured her friend under her breath as the trio began to move. To think, yesterday the two of them had been scheming about how to win Ace over, and now they worked together to orchestrate a stranger’s demise. How far they’d come. She took a deep breath. “I can’t.”

They approached Massachusetts together, just far enough apart to split their foe’s attention. The shipgirl divided her gunfire between Susie and Blazermate, allotting each one rigging arm apiece in the hopes of bringing them down. Nadia braced herself, but her ride was tough, and soldiered on through the bombardment with its armored arms raised. When she got close enough, Massachusetts began to use her anchors as well, whipping them around on their chains with crushing force. Her punishment left dents and tears in the armor of both Susie’s business suit and Blazermate’s chassis, but the Seekers made it. An assortment of missiles from Susie helped Blazermate take on the somewhat sluggish medical drones, picking them off one at a time, and when Susie got close enough she grabbed hold of Nadia to hurl her like a baseball.

Massachusetts sidestepped the living projectile, swinging her anchor as she did. This time Nadia clashed with her, in a bone-jarring impact, her own hardened fishtail wielded like a battleax. When the shipgirl’s strength won out she flung Nadia away, but before she could sail into the drink the cat burglar expelled a surge of blood from her tail, boosting her back toward Massachusetts as her foe tried to shatter her like a shot put. As she flew in Nadia hurled her tail down, saw it sent flying by an anchor whack, and extended her foot for another painful kick to the jaw. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the opening she thought it was. Massachusetts launched her anchor and caught Nadia out of the air, swinging her around in a circle overhead before she brought the chain down into the ocean. Hitting water at that speed compared to hitting concrete, but when the feline shape crashed down, the battleship couldn’t help but notice the wrong coloration of the blur at the end of her slam.

The next second a high-speed forearm drilled into her back, fired from overhead, and Massachusetts turned with a pained grimace to see her enemy dropping toward her. Nadia had parted herself to escape the hook and put a copycat on the line instead. Before her opponent could counterattack, the feral spiked her own head to hit Massachusetts’, then descended with a somersault slash-talon scratch-knee shot combo into an axe kick. She hit the water, but when an enraged Massachusetts moved to capitalize, Nadia’s head fell upon her. “Omnomnomnomnom!” It chewed relentlessly, all over the shipgirl’s body until Massachusetts grabbed it by the ears and kneed her in the nose, breaking it. As she raised it to hurl it away, Nadia’s body burst up from below with an uppercut to the chin, flipping over her to seize both head and missing arm before landing on Massachusetts’ back, seated on her tower connector. In an instant she had her opponent in a headlock, but the battleship wasn’t about to let her foe slice her throat again. After a moment of straining against her attacker she pivoted her cannons inward. Nadia realized what was happening and tried to jump away, but got caught in the blast as Massachusetts blasted herself point-blank and flew into the air, burnt and torn.

Still, Nadia was nothing if not tenacious. She recovered midair and, using her blood jets to slow her fall, went for her new technique. “MRAAAAAAAAAOW!” the feral yowled as she let loose her blood rush, firing both arms down at her dazed adversary and snapping them back in rapid succession. Her furious flurry of long-range punches hammered Massachusetts over and over, but against all odds the battleship got her beatdown under control, crossed her arms before her head, and pushed straight into the barrage. Nadia’s eyes widened as the shipgirl got closer and closer, until with a final burst of speed Massachusetts burst forward with a revolving anchor slam straight to Nadia’s side, just below her ribcage. It cut straight to the spine, paralyzing the feral with pain.

Massachusetts exhaled slowly, her breathing heavy. Though bruised, bloody, and carved like a Thanksgiving Turkey, she held Nadia’s weight aloft on her anchor. The catgirl had to give her enemy some credit: she was tough as nails. “Look at you, making me get serious like this,” Massachusetts told her. “But this is it.”

She drove in her other anchor from the opposite side, kicked Nadia to send her flying, and at the end of her chains wrenched the heavy axeblades loose. Nadia screamed as the brutal technique split her horizontally in half across the belly button, then clenched her jaw as she tried to push through. Even with her numbness, this hurt a lot. More than anything in recent memory, except maybe that shark giant from Carcass Isle. She scarcely even felt her halves hit the water.

But…compared to then? When that bitch Black Dahlia carved her into pieces, fresh from the horror of watching her family butchered before her eyes? This was nothing.

Massachusetts skated in to make sure that she finished her foe off. She found Nadia’s upper half floating on the surface. “You’re still alive,” she remarked, taken aback. “Whatever it is keeping you alive, I’m sure it’ll do wonders for me. To the winners go the spoils, after all.” The battleship lifted a limp Nadia up by one arm, her anchor back in the other. “You did well, but it’s time to sleep.”

“Heh…” the feral laughed suddenly, her voice small. “It’s been a while…since I got a new scar, huh?”

Her opponent furrowed her brow. “What?”

Blue blood surged from the fresh wound, forming into a doppelganger of Nadia’s lower half. With a grin she lifted her legs and rotated her lower half like helicopter rotors, cutting into Massachusetts’ own midsection. “Agh!” she gasped, tossing Nadia away as she swung her anchor. The copied lower half turned into a blast of blood that propelled Nadia out of the way. As she flew Nadia revved up her right arm, turning its forearm into a corkscrew drill of blood and bone. “One final…” she grimaced, taking aim with her left hand clamped around her right bicep. “Shot!”

The drill rocketed downward. Massachusetts swerved to the side just in time, her cannons trained on Nadia once more. “As if. Now…!” So focused was she that she didn’t notice Nadia’s lower half burst from the water behind her with a copied upper half and kick the drill upward until it was too late. The copycat airdashed up to grab the arm, then plunged it into her foe’s back and out through the abdomen. Massachusetts seized up, let out a small, choked grunt, and died.

Her ashes diffused into the water between Nadia’s halves as the badly-wounded feral paddled them together. Gingerly she reattached them whilst floating on her back, wincing at the enormous fresh scar. “Ow, ow, owww. My poor…organs.”

”Jeez… I leave for like 15 seconds and your already in this poor of a shape. Your like a berserker medabot.” Blazermate said, appearing after the fight seemed over, giving Nadia some healing beam magic. ”I healed up Susie and she's off helping the others, I’ll be joining them soon but yeah, gotta get you back up to working order. At least this’ll give me another zappy shield of DEATH.” Blazermate said, a bit too eager to get her energy shield and use it to zap one of their enemies to dust like the medical shipgirl she had done earlier. She had gotten a taste of that shield’s power and she wanted to abuse it now.

Nadia sighed in relief as the healing washed over her, closing her eyes for a moment. Even when restored to one hundred percent, she figured that massive new scar would remain as a new separation point. Useful? For sure. Pleasant? No way. Aesthetic…? Very doubtful. But at least the feral had something to help with that. Once her condition improved, she grabbed Massachusett’s spirit. “You were one tough beach,” she punned. “From now on, you’re gonna help meowt.” She placed the spirit in her heart, and transformed.



As the lightshow died down, Nadia rose, only too happy to feel the strange but liberating sensation of repelling the ocean’s surface beneath her once more. She took a deep breath as she got to her feet, a little shaky for a moment, then flipped her new long hair with both hands to get the water off. “Well, I’ll have to do somethin’ about all this,” she muttered, excising a small bit of muscle fiber to tie her hair up into a big, voluminous high ponytail. She then unzipped her new hoodie, noting the change in her outfit as she felt the sea breeze on her skin. She felt tougher, bigger, and stronger–in a word, powerful. And, well, pretty hot, which the selfish Nadia was not-so-secretly happy about. “Well, it had to happen schooner or later,” she assured herself, rotating her shoulders as she cracked her neck. “Whoever’s up next is in for a hull of a time!”

While it might have cost Kamek a great deal of energy, there was no denying that Blazermate and Susie’s hanging back and wheeling and dealing with the undead pirate king had paid off. No more flying, surfing or whale back riding for the troop no sir, from here to Twilight town it was going to be smooth sailing on the back of the fully crewed pirate ship.

Well that was the hope as the Troop settled down on deck to rest. Said hope then proceeded to be dashed in about the time it got them to get comfortable.

It all started with a cry none had expected to hear out here to the east, and yet, here they were again, Abyssals. A swarm of their fliers appeared out of the blue and without provocation, swooping in to deliver a bombing run.

”No no no! Turn back! I’m your boss or something so shoo!” Rika the resident Abyssal jujmped to her feet to shouted up at the bombers flying in, but it was no use. They had other masters, ones that had fallen into the wrong crowd (though it could be argued that Rika’s specific turtle villain crowd weren't the best either).

Said turtle based crowd’s where blasted into action by the, well, blasts rocking the ship: Bowser hunkered down in his shell and returned sporadic fire with the cannons atop it, Jr ran for the cover of his car and leapt head first into it before taking it off and Kamek… well she was still exhausted from using her magic for pirate ship transport, so she mostly just hobbled for the cover of the brig.

The gang would not be getting any mage support this time round.

They’d have to take the boat he had helped acquire as compensation, the boat that had a single cannon on it that Jr had salvaged to return fire with. Against them, as it turned out, was an airship, a giant snail (also an airship), a cannon platform and an unknown number of enemies in the water, all arrayed in a mighty fine ambush despite the lack of any kind of cohesion in their aesthetic other than being kinda piraty and nautically. Had he had brain cells, Bowser might have found this a bit odd, but as he had at most two rattling around there and so his response to this, after the bombers had done their first run, had been to stomp up to the prow of the ship, plant a foot on the bowsprit and bellow:

”I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU THINK YOU ARE, BUT I KNOW WHO I AM, AND THAT’S THE ADMIRAL OF AWESOME, THE BARON OF BAD ATTITUDE AND THE ONE AND ONLY KOOPA KING WHO IS GOING TO BE ALL YOUR DOOM! FLEE BEFORE BOWSER YOU SCHMUCKS, BEFORE I RIP UP YOUR LAME AIRSHIPS AND STOMP EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU INTO THE OCEAN FLOOR!”

While he was trying to intimidate them, their enemies were busy raining hell down on them from afar, and, worse, up close.

”Bowser! Torpedoes!” Rika cried out as the explosive tubes hammered the underside of the ship from some unseen foes, giving the poor ship ensconced Kamek quite the bout of seasickness on top of putting her life in danger.

”Oh, that’s brave. Getting up close. Well then let’s see how you like it!” the king said as turned his gaze to the waters, and then joined in with what Rika was already doing: returning fire with torpedoes of their own.

The ship girl had hopped overboard and was dropping off twin pairs of torpedoes from the undersized of her gauntlets which she sent wheezing towards where she thought the enemy subs were.

When Bowser got in on the action he had no such finesse. He retracted into his shell and started spinning, firing off a hail of fury spikes straight up into the air, which then arched end over end and fell down and hit the waters, where the propellers on their rears bit into the wet and pushed them down down into the blue to explode like depth charges vaguely around where the unseen shipgirls where.

As for the whale fellow hooking away at the ship, well, he was about to meet one of his kin, as Rika’s white whale, now free of acting as a transport for king or cannon, dived down under the water, ready to meet biting jaw with biting jaw, and anchor flail with anchor tail.

Down below, the arrival of torpedoes in their underwater battleground prompted the Abyssal twins to take notice. “We’ve got incoming,” Elsie, the younger but paradoxically bigger of the two, idly commented, prompting Thumpback to tear himself away from his task of tearing up the Adrian’s underside to look.

“I can see that,” Adie snipped back at her. The older but smaller and more elegantly-dressed of the pair kept her focus on the primary target, pounding away at the pirate ship’s hull with the four emplacements on her massive, heart-shaped arm cannon.

Elsie adjusted her horned sensory visor. The indigo light building within her own cannon’s ‘eye’ died down. “Doesn’t look like they’re really aiming at us, though,” she deadpanned.

“Hence, why I’m not bothered!” Rolling her eyes, Adie double-checked to make sure. Whoever her assailants were, they seemingly hoped to take out the subaqueous threat without getting wet themselves. Sure, Rika’s torpedoes entered the sisters’ vicinity but they weren’t locked on. The fury spikes fell around them like rain, driven by their propellers straight down to the sea floor on all sides, but with three submariners sheltered directly below the Adrian it took only minor adjustments to avoid the explosives. After a few moments, Adie quit firing to restock her ammunition. “There! That oughta be good enough, right El?”

“Keel is approximately seventy-percent destroyed,” her sister reported. “The rudder is disabled, so they’re unable to steer, and the loss of ballast in the bilge increases the risk of listing.” A rain of golden coins from the hold, which together with stones in the bottom of the ship helped keep the whole thing balanced upright, glittered in the fitful light as they fell to the sea floor. “They’re taking on massive amounts of water.”

Adie waved her hand. “Okay, okay, that’s plenty. Ready for the next step, I’m sure.” She narrowed her eyes at Thumpback. “Your turn, blubber brain.”

The whale grumbled, releasing a fount of angry bubbled. “Once this job’s done, we’ll settle things, mark my words.” He twirled his anchor around like a lasso, preparing to hurl it up and into the guts of the Adrian with titanic strength.

It was then that Rika’s nightmarish beluga appeared, plunging down through the water toward the three on or above the sea floor. The sight took Thumpback by surprise, who quit spinning his anchor and grabbed hold of it like an axe. “Hey, heads up!”

“We see it, obviously!” Adie huffed. Without even needing to communicate, both sisters changed targets. Both unleashed a handful of shells from their arm cannons, which not being self-propelled couldn’t change course and would eventually slow down to act as depth charges. They then charged up their weapons, and when the white whale got close enough, they fired twin energy beams -one indigo and one lavender- both to damage the enemy and set off the shells.

The whale, naturally, returned with its own fire, its own twin double barreled turrets unleashing shots as it swerved to avoid running headlong into their fire, braudsizing them as it circled at a distance where its longer barreled guns had an advantage. Nevertheless, it took some damage, particularly from the range-irrespective beams.

”Did we hit anything? Ships not shaking any more” Bowser asked up above. Around him, the Adrian continued to accumulate withering damage from the cannons on all sides. Even if the barrage was letting up a little due to the others’ efforts, the irreparable damage done to the ship’s hull and innards was threatening its structural integrity.

”They’re just shooting up my whale now!” Rkia replied ”and no, I don’t think so?”

It was a shame she hadn’t gotten any depth charges on these things, she was thinking, before she recalled what she did have them. A few button presses later and two little hanger bays snapped open on the side of the gauntlets, launching a pair of Abyssal Reconnaissance Planes which shot out over the water, scanning equipment and giving her a better view of what was going down down there.

”I think I see, aw no, princesses!” Rika despaired, having somewhat hoped she wouldn't have to deal with that whole messy aftermath by traveling to the rest of the world. Well if the planes hadn’t sunk that hope the pair down below certainly did.

”Well, where are they!” Bowser wanted to know ”Because I can’t swim anymore remember!”

”I.. I.. I.. ah whoreson” Rika cursed and then committed shouting ”Follow my lead” and cocking both guns and torpedoes, spraying with more accurate fire and an actual target lock now on the subsurface princesses. Bowser followed her lead, but not with shells but with sound, sending supersonic waves down into the water to confuse their foes.

Down below, the Abyssals were treating Rika’s beluga roughly. On its own against the three submariners, it lacked speed, maneuverability, armaments beyond its two head-cannons, and worst of all, intelligence. Their cuttlefish torpedoes left chunks missing in its pallid flesh, and when the giant Thumpback hooked its mouth with his enormous anchor and pulled, he left a massive split in the monster’s jaw. Still, the largely one-sided beatdown didn’t give the sisters tunnel vision. Bullets quickly lost speed underwater, but when Rika sent a flurry of far more accurate torpedoes their way, they were forced to use their lasers defensively.

“They have a lock on us,” Elsie pointed out.

“Obviously!”

“Should we relocate?”

Adie scoffed. “No way, we’re sitting pretty down here. It’s just one enemy on the water. See her scooting around up there?” From below, she could see Rika’s every move silhouetted against the light, while the Abyssals blended into the shadows of the deep against the sea floor. “I give ‘em one more person up there blindly chucking stuff down at us, tops. But, ugh, what’s this noise?” She held onto her head, wincing. “Some kind of alarm?”

“Unknown. It’s affecting me, as well.” Elsie expression tightened. “My targeting is deteriorating. I recommend activating your FCS-CIC as a countermeasure.”

“Well, duh! I’m already on it.” With an internal toggle Adie activated her sonar, sending her own pulses of sound through the water. Every solid surface in a massive radius caused the waves to bounce back straight to her, allowing her to image her surroundings perfectly. “Hah, there we go. Feel better already!”

Elsie nodded. “Must be negating the sound somewhat.”

“That’d be why. But…ugh!” Adie expression turned toward disgust. “Hey, big guy. Y’know you have barnacles down there, right?”

Thumpback grunted. “Mind your own business, pipsqueak. Is it go time, or what?”

“Yeah, let’s,” Adie affirmed, dispatching another volley of incoming fire with her laser and torpedoes. “My ASW is best-in-class. Once my sonar’s on, I’m invincible underwater.”

“We’ll cover you,” Elsie added.

Thumpback grunted again, and spun up his anchor. This time he let it loose, and it shot straight up to crash through the wood and lodge in the bowels of the Adrian’s starboard side. Then, using his incredible might, the giant began to pull. Already gutted and filling with water, the ship began to tilt sideways.

Having been already leaning on the edge of the ship, this tip was more than enough to unsteady Bowser, his arm’s going flailing in the open air before he hit the water and sunk like a stone, cheeks puffed up as he held onto the air he had.

”Bowser!” Rika cried out alarm and, after a quick breath, dove into the water and tried her best to swim after him, calling for her battered whale’s help to save the sinking king.

At least they could see their foes a bit better now, and rather than stay a sitting duck or panic while sinking Bowser moved first to defend himself. Or rather get someone to defend him, the King summoning Marie Korbel, the former, skull girl, to aid him beneath the waves.

The undead maid took one look about, got the gist of the situation and then unleashed a wave of flying skulls at the ship girls, and a horde of skeletal mariners at the big whale while she herself acted as cover for the king tried and failed to swim

”Gaah, this can't be how it ends!” he raged ”I'm Bowser,The bad guy, chumpy water doesn't deserve to be the thing that does mne in!”

“You do realize your breathing under water just fine right?” Marie, who didn't need to breathe thanks to being dead, pointed out.

”Huh?”



”Oh. Sweet!” was Bowser’s rather understated response to not drowning as he landed on the seafloor.

Rika, surprised and relieved by this turn of events, turned her focus to fire support, her desperate dive into the drink meaning she was better able to see how her cannon shots were arching under the water, the ship girl using them to supplement her dwindling torpedo supply while racking up the shots towards her All Out Assault.

Taken by surprise but far from helpless, the Abyssal sisters carved a path through the avalanche of bone with their lasers and blew holes in the undead legion with their torpedoes, but that was a lot of skeletons. The oversaturation of targets taxed Adie’s sonar to the point that she didn’t detect Rika’s own torpedoes until they’d gotten much too close for comfort, at which point her countermeasures got her caught in the blast. “Agh!” she gasped, gritting her teeth. Her arm cannon worked as a shield in a pinch, but it was far from perfect, and if it took too much damage it wouldn’t work as a weapon.

“Adie!” Elsie exclaimed, chomping through an undead sailor with her arm before she swam to her sister’s side. “Are you well?”

“I’m fine,” the Abyssal snapped. “And if you’re about to say something like, that big reptile is coming towards us, save your breath!” Swimming backward, she blasted apart a skeletal horror with her laser, then singled out Thumpback. “Hey, meathead, quit playin’ with the ship! We’ve got bigger fish to fry!”

The whale retracted his weapon and turned to face Bowser. “Time to drop anchor, then.” Both titans began to approach one another, though in terms of size Thumpback definitely had the Koopa King beat. “Let’s dance, turtle!”

An unusual but not unknown situation for the littler big guy.

”Alright, show time!” he declared, and then owned his mouth... And found bubbles coming out instead of a fireball. ”uh, alright” the king said before recovering and putting up his dukes ”Alright bring it” he said, bouncing from foot to foot and then snapping his shell open to deploy two spider Dreugh limbs out the bottom and using them and water jets from his cannons to launch himself forwards with a massively wound up right hook, Kinetic Strike Module blowing bubbles as its engines failed to ignite under the water.

Up above Rika popped her head out for air, and then had a thought. If those two could work just fine under water, could she? She was fairly sure they weren't submarine princesses, but rather a cruiser and a destroyer. She steeled herself, ducked into the water, and took a hesitant shallow breath. Unfortunately, the dilution of her Abyssal nature through spirit fusion left her water-breathing abilities sorely lacking. A little got through, but it still felt like choking, enough to force an instinctive panic response, she ship girl scrambling for the surface and hacking up the water up there before cursing ”Belech! No, that didn't work”

Down below, Thumpback accepted Bowser’s challenge while his uneasy allies worked through the remainder of Marie’s skeleton horde. Though the King Koopa moved faster than one might expect, water resistance hindered any large objection’s acceleration through the deep, giving Thumpback enough time to answer in kind. With longer limbs he aimed a giant kick at Bowser’s middle, then planned to swing his anchor like massive flail once the blow connected, not even considering the possibility that things might not go to plan.

”Ooof” went Bowser as he got booted in the gut, bubbles streaming from his mouth as he was punted back. Still he had enough sense in him to spot the incoming spin, the king popping the turrets on the side of incoming blow out, and firing a blast of water out of them, turning him towards the incoming wrecking chain.

Positioned correctly, he raised his dukes, mecha mit shield and kinetic strike module both raised side by side in a boxer’s guard to block the hit. That wasn’t all he did though, and as the king landed he deployed the other three sets of cannons on the side now facing Thumpback and blindly fired cannon shells in his direction.

With how close he was to such a large target, however, Bowser was in luck. The shells burst forth and struck Thumpback before the water resistance slowed them down, resulting to a chain explosion to the torso. Additionally, blocking his anchor robbed it of all its momentum, leaving it dead weight in the water for the whale to drag along the ocean floor as he stumbled back from Bowser’s broadside. “Ghh!” Thumpback bubbled, irate but able to keep himself under control. He snagged his anchor on a rock and used it as leverage to burst forward again. This time he went in with a tackle to open Bowser up, his true purpose being to reach out with his giant mitt and grab the Koopa by the head. Even if bludgeoning didn’t work well underwater, crushing force would do the job just fine.

Another burst of water, another turn, and Bowser was presenting his spiky shell back to the incoming whale. However, this meant that if he did tough out the spikes, Bowser wasn't going to be able to dodge the attack. Fortunately for Bowser however, he was a turtle.

Unable to halt his momentum, Thumpback ran into the spikes, albeit not at high speed and with enough natural durability that it wouldn’t be too bad. His attempt to get a grip on Bowser failed as his target withdrew into his shell, though that also gave the whale free reign for a moment to do what he pleased. He upended the shell and planted Bowser spikes-first into the seabed, then with his anchor in hand, began to drive its point into Bowser’s middle with both hands.

Nearby, the skeleton onslaught was coming to an end. Adie swerved out of the way of an undead sailor and brought her arm cannon down on top of it, pinning it against the gravelly sea floor in a spray of sediment. With a scowl she brought her heel down, shattering the skull. Elsie, back to back with her sister, cleaved the last couple boneheads in half with her laser, then scanned her surroundings. “The enemy wave has petered out.”

“Why are you telling this to the one with sonar?” Despite her reproach Adie held her fist up beside her, and Elsie clanked her own against it. On the outside one might seem obnoxiously critical and the other coldly aloof, but the sisters didn’t need words to express their bond. “Let’s focus on the big lunk who thinks he can muscle in on our turf.”

“Understood.” With Elsie in the lead, the Abyssals swam to assist Thumpback.

Which was right about the time a recovered Rika got back in the fight, the ship girl having to hold her breath as she rode atop the back of her whale that was diving down towards the ship girls at a right angle to how they were trying to go after Bowser. Ship and girl opened fire on the other two, shells and torpedoes flying, until there was a click and the highest caliber of the ship girl's assorted guns suddenly unleashed a veritable wave of shots as her All Out Assault triggered.

Adie whipped around like she’d heard someone talking behind her back, fully informed about the smorgasbord of ordnance headed her way thanks to her sonar. “Elsie, watch it!”

While the shells fizzled out, the torpedoes bore down on them en masse, moving quickly. There wasn’t enough time to flee for cover, and they couldn’t mow all of them down in time, even while swimming backward. Elsie’s gaze turned to the sea floor. “Adie. Dust Bowl.”

“Yeah, sure!” With their artillery the sisters pounded away at the ground around them, kicking up a massive cloud of sand and stone that hung suspended in the water. It spread for hundreds of feet in every direction and obscured their position. Rika’s torpedo fusillade disappeared inside, a few detonating on contact with larger pieces of rubble, and the rest plowing blindly through to blow up as close to the Abyssals’ last known location as possible. A veritable fireworks display went off inside the silkscreen, and when it finally came to an end, the dust settled with no sign of the sisters to be found except Elsie’s mask, shattered in half.

”!” Rika couldn't speak, but she was certainly alarmed by her seemingly having killed the sisters… only to then realize there were no spirits. That relieved her, and also alarmed her slightly, because they could be anywhere.

At least they weren't bearing down on Bowser any more, and so, with her barrage done, she had her whale bring her up for air.

Meanwhile the ship girl’s target was in the worst position for a turtle to be: tipped on his back. Not a good time. He poked his head out of his shell just in time to react to the blow, his claws reaching up to try and grab the wide bars of the anchor before it smashed point first into his gut.

This would leave him and the whale kind of stuck, so Bowser did his best to wrestle himself to the side, Dreugh limbs deployed from his shell trying to help with that. He also got himself some more help on top of that, and with a ”Get him boys!” summoned Mallet and Sledge right above Thumpback, who dropped down to grab him and start whacking him with their hammers before they ran out of air.

Unbothered by the flies buzzing around him, Thumpback wrestled back. He lifted a foot to try to pin Bowser down, then applied pressure.

”Oof, argh, hey, maybe we can talk this out?” Bowser said, now stuck holding the anchor as he started getting the air crushed out of him by a stomping foot. Turns out letting yourself get caught by the bigger guy was not a smart move, and his smallfry went doing much. He had something of a trump card, but he wasn't sure where the ship girls where’s so he couldn't risk it, and instead he dug in to his toolkit of stickers for a different one, summoning Trowlon just under the thigh of the leg Thumpback was using to crush him, and then having the large lifter rise up to try and off balance the whale enough to toss him off and then use his cannons to jet propel himself away from the massive bruiser.

The Trowlon’s uncanny ascending abilities worked flawlessly, levering Thumpback right off his target. Off-balance and too heavy to do much of anything about it, he stumbled backward while windmilling his arms, and Bowser got away.

Not too far away, Rika’s retreat prompted the sea floor to stir. Adie and Elsie arose from the muck, the former’s gremlin leer and the latter’s dazzling, almost crystalline aquamarine eyes fixed on Rika as she went up for air. “If you think that little stunt sank us…” Adie began.

“...You’re dead wrong,” Elsie finished.

The two unleashed a swarm of cuttlefish torpedoes, followed shortly by Elsie’s Abyssal Searchlight. When Rika turned around, its eye-searing glare would momentarily blind her, leaving her and the white whale at the mercy of a terrific bombardment.

Though she couldn't see what was coming, she had to assume something was coming, and so there was only one course of action she had open to her. The girl tapped the side of her whale and then leaned down close as it sped up, racing towards the surface, trying to outrun the shots.

While her dated sunglasses did not dim the glare, they did help in another way as any shots that got within a 5 foot radius were slowed by their power. She fired her turrets backwards blindly too, but the goal was simple. Breach the water with stylish amounts of speed and leave the torpedoes floundering in the water. Hounded by a series of explosions for too close for comfort, her whale burst from the waves, but things did not go quite according to plan .With its giant mouth, arms, and tiny tail, her ride did not build up enough speed. It cleared the water, but only just, and the torpedoes that arrived soon after either struck the monstrous beluga away from Rika, or hit her slow-down field to hang in the air like floating mines when the whale crashed down. It smacked into the water hard, severely wounded, but Rika got flung off having avoided most of the damage.

Down below Bowser had gotten himself free, and now needed to try and work out a way to not repeat his sluggish leap of an opener. He scratched his cheek for a few moments, and then got a Bowser of an idea: if jumping resulted in slow, then he just had to do a run instead. So he did just that, stomping at first and then storming forwards, fist balled up for a pretty telegraphed right hook, while a Dreugh held back and charged electricity, ready for a more sneaky left jab.

Underwater, just about everything happened in slow motion, which included Thumpback’s response. He found his footing and turned to Bowser to bring both fists down on him when he came near, but the Koopa King was tougher cookie than Thumpback bargained for. Instead of flattening Bowser against the sea bed, the whale’s fists came up short against the turtle’s shell, and the next moment Bowser’s own strikes hit home. Electricity packed a punch down here, more than making up for what the spiky bruiser lost in speed as he went on the offensive.

”Ah ha! That’ll work” Bowser said, getting a clue and backing up just a bit so he could use his arms as well as shell to guard against more attacks, and then started jabbing away with the Dreugh limbs when they had charged up, aiming to deliver shock after shock if he could.

”Ahhhhh!” Rika screamed as she went flailing through the air off the back of her critically wounded whale, surrounded by explosions before splashing down with a stumbling gait atop the waves once more, only now she was soaked with seawater

”Ahhhhh whoreson,” she swore, and then pivoted before more shots came in and wracked her brains.

”I… can't beat them two on one and in their element” she concluded and then resolving ”So… gotta trust Bowser, and keep them off of him till he’s done with that big whale guy”

With that in mind she commanded ”Suppressing fire” and went back to using her scout planes to track the underwater ship girls, spacing out her fire so she could conserve ammo while keeping their focus on her and what little remained of her wrecked whale.

Far below, Elsie narrowed her eyes. “Looks like she’s had enough of us.”

“That’s a shame, ‘cause we’ve only just gotten started.” Adie did not feel challenged by the handful of shots winding their way down through the water. “C’mon, let’s teach her a lesson.

Her sister peered over at Thumpback. His seafloor slugfest with Bowser had continued to intensify for a few moments now, trading hefty blows back and forth. Bit by bit, the whale was beginning to realize that despite being smaller, his opponent was more of a powerhouse than he first suspected. “Shouldn’t we help him?” Elsie ventured. “Our crews are ostensibly working together on this mission, after all.”

“Eh…you know, we prooooobably should. But wouldn’t it be funny if we didn’t?” Adie said, smirking.

Elsie tilted her head, a dry smile on her face. One joint venture wasn’t about to smooth over the months of bad blood built up between the Risky and LeFwee pirates, the submariners most of all. Though many came and went, Thumpback and the Abyss Sisters remained, locked in a stalemate of sheer brawn versus firepower. Even the most indifferent Marauder couldn’t snub a chance like this. “...I concur.”

“HEY!” Thumpback bellowed, bubbles flying from his mouth. His baleen had been chipped in the fight, and his lips bled into the water. “Don’t turn your backs on my, you conniving fiends. What about the truce?”

Elsie crossed her arms, her tone matter of fact. “The truce pertained only to not harming one another. It didn’t say anything about save you.”

“Have fun with your little playmate there, blubber brains!” Adie laughed, turning away. She swam up toward the Adrian, which at this point had sunken to just above its second deck, and Elsie followed. Once they took shelter directly beneath the ship, taking out Rika’s torpedoes along the way, the scout planes lost her. From there they would seemingly hide out, further destroying the pirate ship in order to force Rika to come to them, but the two took a more devious tactic. They pushed up into the Adrian’s underbelly through the holes, swam through its gutted interior, and climbed up onto the ship itself. In only a few short moments, the sisters stood in the captain’s quarters, looking down at Rika through a hole in the side. “She’s almost cute,” she muttered as she took aim with her guns. “Like a seal puppy chasing its own tail.”

Elsie leveled her four-barreled arm cannon at Rika as well. “Weapons hot.”

Rika was completely blindsided by this strategy, having not even considered that they would ever board the ship, let alone get up there uncontested. Her sunglasses flashed as the shots came in, but they only gave her time to turn towards her attackers and receive shellfire to the gut. A blast slammed into her chest, sending her skidding back. She raised her her gauntlets in guard and tried to be evasive, but she had been out positioned on top of being outnumbered, her whale going down in the first volley.

Explosions sang, shells slammed, and then with a one two hit Rika’s defenders were blown apart and she was blown away after a dozen heartbeats of resistance, the final explosion sending her flying a short distance away from the ship towards the cannon tower before she hit the water, out cold, and started sinking, bubbles trailing from her lips.

Down below Bowser had been busy dismantling Thumpback’s defenses, simply overwhelming the bigger brute with shocking stabs, claw swipes and balsts of poison from his cruel cannons.

”And this, this is why you don’t do villainous team ups,” Bowser helpfully enlightened his foe as he dealt him a thousand cuts ”They always stab you in the back or leave you to face the hero on your own while they take the prize.”

“So just like you and yours, leaving her to those two,” Thumpback garbled, choking on poisoned ocean water, bleeding from cuts and muscles spasming from electric shocks.

”What…?” Bowser didn’t get it, for a moment, but then he got a cock sure look on his face as he insisted ”Ha, no, Rika can handle herself”

The whale just let out a single “ha” as he finally fell, rendered too weak to stand by . The gave a victorious grin, and then saw where his enemy’s eyes were looking. Up and past him.

The seafloor locked King spun, eyes wide, looked up, and saw Rika sinking towards him.

”NO!” Bowser cried out, running towards her and then trying futilely to swim up to catch her, his weight dragging his boyantless form down every time.

The Abyssals lowered their smoking weapons. “Target eliminated,” Elsie reported.

“Eh, she might still be kickin’ around down there, but whatever. Close enough,” Adie replied, shrugging.

Elsie looked around at the Adrian, noting how the water had risen above the second deck, as well as the ship’s pronounced list to one side. “It looks like our job is just about done here.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Adie said, a smug smile on her face. “This ship’s doomed, so we’ve done all we need to. Might as well clock out early, eh? And if things go belly-up here, well, we’ll be long gone, eh?”

“Agreed.” With a final glance at the place where Rika went down, the sisters prepared to leave the battle.

Which was exactly when a monstrosity burst from the waves, the towering terror of tentacles that was Scylla breaching the waves and, upon her back was Bowser. The king was looking very worse for wear due to the strain of the summoning, but he held in one hand: Rika, and in the other: the form of Heel, the Rabbid supporter striker which he was using/commanding to wake up the unconscious ship girl and bring her back from the edge of death just as someone in the background was calling out ”Kaaameeeek!”

The sight of not just Bowser, but a gigantic deep-sea horror emerging from the water took the sisters completely aback, and they quickly shrunk away from the hole in the the wall of the captain’s quarters. With all those enormous limbs and fangs almost close enough to reach out and touch, it wasn’t hard to imagine what had become of Thumpback, and with more enemies on the way, the two suddenly felt very confident in their decision to bug out. “Oh!” They went for the door at the exact same time and got stuck, crammed in the doorway for a moment as both struggled to be the first out. After a few seconds of urgent whispers and shoving, Elsie pushed through and promptly fell flat, only to get stepped on by Adie as she ran for the port-side railing. Brows furrowed, Elsie reached up and grabbed her sister’s ankle, tripping her. With a muffled swear the girl tumbled over the railing in an ungainly fashion, and the next second Elsie dove after her.

”Ah, well, that solves that problem” said a voice after the sisters had made a run for it, before Kamek’s head emerged from under the captain’s desk. She briefly poked her head out the door to confirm that yes, the abyssals where indeed running for it, before turning back and heading for the hole they had been looking out off, the head of her broom tapping against the deck of the ship as she went.

When she stepped to the edge she found two things. First, the water was rapidly rising, or that her and the ship was rapidly sinking.

”Oh dear. The captain will not be pleased about that” she noted, before looking up and finding the second thing: a heavily overloaded clown car stuffed full of wounded people (one of which she didn’t even know), and also a very cramped Jr clamoring for her attention.

”Kaaameeeek! Kamek Kamek Kamek! Help!” the prince demanded

”I leave you alone for… fine fine scoot over. Ship’s going down” she told him, before pulling out a mana potion, popping the cork and chugging it. Her cheeks briefly bloated as she was struck with mana sickness that combined with her fatigue in just the worst way, but it was enough for her to be able to pop out a set of white mage clones to start trying to do something about the damage they’d all taken.

Jesse squinted against the twilight sun, taking in the breathtaking vista. A sprawling yet cozy city of warm colors and happy people.

Suspicious. Jesse thought to herself sarcastically, squinting even harder. She just smiled to herself, quietly stepping off the train and listening to the others rejoice or chatter, comfortably lingering on the outskirts of the conversation as she often did. Happy to take in the view, this looked like the nicest place so far. Al Mamoon was alright but that whole civil was business had left a sour taste in her mouth.

And, of course, Jesse always was on the lookout for evil brewing underneath the surface. She didn’t want to get too settled down, right?

It was about that moment a series of slap-dash yet undoubtedly effective cars came screaming around the corner, one of them flipping over entirely.

There’s a make-your-own-racecar factory in town? For free? And then you do street races also for free? Fuck yeah! We’ll never turn down free shit, would we? Besides, I kinda know how to drive. Even if I don’t know how to drive, a little car crash never hurt anyone. Okay that’s objectively untrue, but I’ll probably be fine anyway.

“Good luck learning how to drive. Right into the deep end, that’s the best way to learn.” Jesse said as Midna took off. So many people here had probably never even seen a car until a few months ago. Jesse felt lucky to be from a universe where she could hazard a guess as to what she could expect to see.

Big Band wanted a tune up, and Jesse began to wonder the true nature of his situation. He hadn’t come out of that thing even one time. Does he choose to be in there, or is he just a cyborg..? Some kind of overtuned prosthetic?

Hah. Ha ha. Overtuned.

Jesse went on down to Mumbo’s Motors. The entire place reminded her of a bizarro world version of a place she used to work. She never did mind the smell of gasoline.

“So anyone can just build anything, huh? Mind if I take something out for a spin?” Jesse thought. Soon a simple vehicle began to take place. A rectangle with four wheels and steering wheel attached. Jesse produced and considered her Tool Gun. She could make it…really big? Or really small.

Hell. I could shrink down a vehicle and keep it in my pocket for later use. That might come in handy, huh? She thought to Polaris.

The colorful pieces came together and Jesse ended up with a spring loaded contraption that she attached a lot of balloons to the roof of. Her plan was, whenever she wanted, she would grab the vehicle with Launch and fling it upwards. Then the balloons would let her drift wherever she wanted. She had a few wacky and/or zany ideas but she wanted to take a slightly smaller risk first.

“Thanks, Mumbo’s Motors. I’d drink from a coffee mug with your logo on it any morning of the week.” She called out to the staff, pleased with how things were coming together so that she could amuse herself.

Jesse palmed the steering wheel only to realize she forgot to add a horn. “...Beep beep.” She said aloud, hitting the steering wheel anyway. “Who's ready to eat my proverbial dust?” Taunting flatly, she pulled into the race track and pressed responsibly on the gas, going at a reasonable pace as she felt things out.

“Man. Fuck this.” Jesse chuckled, and put the pedal to the medal. Almost immediately she nearly skidded into a wall but took the corner just in time. “Hey, Princess Midna.” She said, pulling up alongside her and matching her pace. Balloons trailed from the top of Jesse’s car. Balloon-Car is born!

“I’d ask why they gave you a license this fast but then I remembered they sanction street racing using scrap vehicles. Kind of answers itself. Must be a tourism thing, huh? You need any pointers? I got a B+ in my driver’s ed class so, I’m pretty much an expert.” She said, raising an eyebrow and glancing at Midna over the top of non-existent sunglasses.

---

mentions: Midna @DracoLunaris

Mere moments after Roxas finished the tour, more new arrivals made their way down from Station Heights. Looked like today was going to be a day for lots of arrivals. Though these arrivals appeared to be friends of Sectonia, which logically made them part of whatever group Sectonia herself belonged to. And it also didn't take long for them to ask about Roxas's outfit. He was starting to getting the feeling this would be a recurring thing. But that was fine. It'd be a good way to inquire about the Organization without actually having to constantly ask people. But for now the blue-haired... robot(?) girl needed a reply.

"Um, no." he said with a shake of his head, "I'm not with the Organization, sorry. But I am trying to find them. Think you could tell me about-" but he was cut off by the approaching sound of engines. Soon enough a group of semi-familiar-looking vehicles bounded the street and toward the Plaza. They were mostly locals who frequently raced their machines around Town and at other chosen tracks. And unfortunately, the robot(?) girl took off immediately to go greet them. Oh well, he could always ask his questions at another time. For now he went ahead and followed the racers down to the plaza with a dash.

He had to admit he had always felt somehow drawn to the racing, though for the life of him Roxas couldn't figure out why. Sometimes his patrols took by the tracks or the plaza during their races and for some reason Roxas couldn't help but stop and watch them for a while each time. He'd obviously thought about learning more or even competing himself, but his work in the militia wouldn't have spared him a whole lot of time to participate. That and none of the others in the militia had ever shown any interesting them either. But as long as this new group was interested, Roxas figured there was no harm in taking the opportunity to check the races out himself.

He followed after the newcomers until they all eventually reached Mumbo and Ellie's shops. Well, he was here so he might as well ask them. "Morning, Mumbo, Ellie!" he greeted with a small wave, "Y'know I've been watching some of the races and was getting a little curious about joining them myself. Where, uh... would I need to start?" Ellie was the first response, giving a little jovial smile.

"Well g'mornin', darlin'!" she said in her usual drawl, "I reckon the first thing y'all need's a car. And yer in the right place for that."

"No. No car yet." that voice was Mumbo, speaking in his usual strange way, "If Roxas want drive in race, then need Driver License. Go get license from Moose, then Roxas get car and race."

"From... who?" surprisingly enough Roxas wasn't sure who Mumbo was referring to.

"Oh he means Mooselini, hon." Ellie chimed, "Her place is right nearby so I reckon y'all oughta find her in a snap."

"Oh! Right, I'll be back with one of those licenses then! Thanks!" and he dashed out to where he remembered Mooselini's shack was. When he got there, it looked like she was already out with someone else. So Roxas just watched the lesson from a distance, unable to help but laugh to himself at the rapping. But soon enough Mooselini was done with the student and returned back to U-Drive-U where Roxas was waiting.

"Oh, another one already?" she asked, "Didn't take you for the driving type, Roxas."

"I... kinda wanted to give the races a try." he answered with a shrug, "Mumbo says I need to get a license from you before he can give me a machine though."

"Yep, he's not wrong. Just hop in when you're ready and we'll get started."

With one last glance, Roxas jumped in the vehicle and suddenly heard the rap for himself. Thankfully he knew it was coming since he heard part of it just minutes ago.

"Alright, we're here, just sittin' in the car.
I want you to show me if you can get far.” the instructor said before she began to instructed her instructee.

“Step on the gas!”
”Step on the gas!”
“Step on the brakes!”
”Step on the brakes!”
“Step on the gas!”
”Step on the gas!” Roxas was able to reply with less hesitance than the previous instructee, largely because he had seen a bit a rap beforehand while waiting his turn.

“I'm glad you know which way to go, but it ain't gonna stop me, here we go.” the moose said, and then gave Roxas the same crash course on how to navigate a town behind the wheel

“Check and turn the signals to the right!”
”Check and turn the signals to the right!”
“Now turn to the right!”
”Now turn to the right!” Roxas's replies were getting a bit louder and more comfortable with the whole rapping thing.
“Check and turn the signals to the left!”
”Check and turn the signals to the left!”
“Now turn to the left!”
”Now turn to the left!”

“Woh ho ho ho! Stop the car!
We got an emergency, can't you see?” the instructor suddenly commanded, Roxas guessing that she was about to give him the same pop quiz.

“Do you know why we stopped the car?”
“Do I know why we stopped the car?”
“Guess…”
"You forgot to close the door?"
"Did I forget to close the door?"
"No!"
"No?"
"No! There is no door!"

“…”

“Right”

“Now just don't forget
This ain't kung fu, come on again!” the instructor commanded, getting them to set off again.

“Check and turn the signals to the right!”
“Check and turn the signals to the right!”
“Step on the gas now turn to the right!”
“Step on the gas now turn to the right!”
“Check and turn the signals to the left!”
“Check and turn the signals to the left!”
“Step on the gas now turn to the left!” they were swerving through the course by this point. Unfortunately this was also the part Roxas didn't hear so now he felt like he was slipping up.
“Step on the gas now turn to the left!”

“Step on the brakes!”
“Step on the brakes!” Roxas responded as they stopped yet again.

“Do you know why we stopped the car again?” she asked.
“Do I know why we stopped the car again?” Roxas asked her back, hoping he'd made it to the end okay.

“That's because you just got your license!“ the moose informed him, throwing up her arms in celebration.

"I did? I did!" Roxas threw his own arms up in celebration and jumped out of the vehicle he had just been driving. After he did, the moose handed him a little card that was to be his license, "Yes, thanks Mooselini! Now I just need a car of my own." he was already running back to Mumbo's.

He felt something else while driving. A strangely familiar sensation, as if he had done something like it before. But that was impossible. That was the first time Roxas had ever been behind the wheel. He couldn't explain it, but Roxas did quite like the feeling nonetheless.

Roxas held up the license up for Mumbo to see when he burst back into the shop, "Got the license, just like you wanted." Roxas said and then added, "So? Do I get to build a car now?" he asked, eagerly waiting for their answer. He wasn't sure why, but he was getting pretty excited about driving in a race.

”Ace!” Sakura said happily, briefly glancing over her shoulder. ”You’re here! That’s great!”

The hunter in question skated closer to the two street fighters, finding it humorous that on the way toward a giant enemy creature Sakura was surprised to see him, not the other way around. "Of course! I -"

”From above!” Karin shouted, swerving to the side while the Cadet slid the opposite way. Sakura threw a fireball at the cannon ball, but missed due to Karin’s dodge. Another cannon aimed their way and Sakura focused on it this time. The cannon boomed and the ball swooshed ominously towards their area- not direct enough to hit, but enough to slow them down. ”Hadoken!” She called out. Fireball and cannonball collided, detonating the massive payload early and with a tremendous explosion the shattered pieces of the Tinkerslug’s projectile scattered across the water’s surface.

”Better!” Karin said, still rowing up a storm. It wasn’t exactly a very dignified charge, her upper body zipping back and forth as she worked, hunched over.

As the three drew closer, their frantic efforts to weather the Tinkerslug’s onslaught earned them the attention of Risky Boots, who snickered down at them from the vessel’s crow’s nest. “Oho? You’re coming straight to me? You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that!” She signaled to her gunners to change tact. “Aft Cannons, arc fire!”

”N-not too late for you to surrender!” Sakura managed to say back, watching with wide eyes as a veritable storm of cannonballs be shadowed against the overcast sky.

The top cannons ceased their long-range bombardment of the Adrian’s port side, already mauled and set aflame by the explosives, and pivoted their aim upward. After a moment, both of them fired in impossibly rapid succession, each sending a volley of four explosive cannonballs in a high arc to rain down in the general vicinity of the three attackers. Even if they somehow dodged all the potshots, the effect of the blasts’ concussive force on the water’s surface would wreck havoc on their approach.

The good news was that for now, they'd technically halted the Tinkerslug's assault on the Seeker's ship. That was all well and good, and now they just had to survive the cannonballs being aimed at them. The Cadet's eyes were on the fusillade, considering whether they could outrun the blasts. Then, he swapped his arrow coating to the blast kind - after seeing the hadouken intercept and destroy one right in front of him, he figured rather than running another explosive impact would work just as well to rupture them before they got too close and it was too late.

"Max I can shoot at once is three!" he advised, preparing a Triple Volley. One of the girls would have to clean up the remaining cannonball, assuming he even hit all three. His aim was great, but unstable ground and moving targets in the middle of battle? It was a tall order. Even so he let the three arrows fly, and they rushed upward to meet their targets. Two struck dead on, detonating the cannonballs high above them. The third glanced the projectile on it's side. It ignited the blast powder on the arrowhead all the same, and the explosion pushed the cannonball off course where it splashed into the water.

Karin said nothing, trying to figure out where the best place to move this damn rowboat was. Sakura nodded, making a noise of assent. ”Hadoken!” She cried out, firing another fireball. It missed, and she fired another. This time it connected, and the cannonball exploded over their heads. Karin grunted as she was flattened against the ever buoyant rowboat, grabbing onto the edges as her gold coils briefly dipped into the sea water. Sakura yelped as she was knocked off into the drink once again. Knocked to the side by the concussive force, Karin would have to row back into position to get to where Sakura was. Under the water, the force traveled well, and a big bubble of air escaped Sakura’s mouth as several shock waves hit her. Desperately, she pushed herself to the surface where she gasped loudly for air, reaching out her arms.

She felt the leather and iron of the Ace Cadet's kote as he shifted gears for a quick water rescue, slightly singed by the heat of the explosions but no worse for wear. He grasped her hands and bodily hauled her out of the water and deposited her hastily back into the small rowboat.

Karin shoved Sakura upright, and the coughing brunette brushed the wet hair and bandana out of her face and gave a barely noticeable thumbs up as thanks. Karin, companion collected, picked up the pace to get to the boat where at least they would be safe from cannonfire and drowning.

”Prepare!” Karin shouted, whether that was a threat to her enemies or a warning to her allies was unclear. Either way, she was closing the gap and fully intended to leap onto the ship and scale the slug. The Cadet, part shipgirl or not, felt almost compelled to answer her authoritative tone with an, "Aye aye!"

A big, ugly visage suddenly loomed over the Tinkerslug’s railing, but Karin didn’t get much time to process it before an anchor zoomed her way. ”Oh, wow!” Unable to be blocked, it latched on to her and yanked her straight off her boat like a caught fish, reeling her up to the leviathan ship’s deck. There, a couple dozen Tinkerbats awaited her, eager to overrun the unlucky Street Fighter with sheer numbers. Worst of all, however, was the enemy who brought her hence: Risky Boots’ ghastly quartermaster, the Jolly Reaver. Questionably alive and seemingly one with an octopus whose tentacles functioned as his missing left arm, the piratical ghoul wielded an anchor hook, a heavy cutlass, and a flintlock all at the same time, with a fiery cannon strapped to his back whose barrel was split from overuse. In mere seconds Karin had been separated from her allies and stranded in the middle of a feeding frenzy. As Risky looked down from above, the first wave of Tinkerbats came at her from all sides.

Karin planted her foot against the railing and raised her arms as bladed weapons came down upon her at all sides. Where she blocked one weapon, blue ki sparks spread, guiding the others away from her. Still, her arms were cut into and her jacket started to fray, and around the edges the sharper blades managed to find her side. Fortunately, multiple opponents meant her ‘meters’ filled much quicker, and she felt her fighting spirit well up within. ”Ressen Chou!” Blocking one swing with a satisfying thwack of her arm on wood, she pushed forward into an elbow that carried the wind with it. It collided with the nearest Tinkerbat and shoved him off his feet. The others would feel the impact to a lesser extent, giving her time to prepare a proper defense. Karin sneered at the grotesque quartermaster in front of her. How this lumbering thing could be trusted with any amount of authority was beyond her. Karin sharpened her gaze, and as she cut a smooth movement through the air with her hands, developed a menacing aura. Whatever Tinkerbat took the next step forward would surely encounter the beating of a lifetime. This was an apparent fact, regardless of intelligence or loyalty. One would have to willingly take a step off a cliff in order to continue to overwhelm her.

”Karin!” Sakura called out, bending her knees in Steve’s small rowboat. ”Yoisho!” With an impressive standing high jump, she flung herself upwards onto the third from the lowest rung and began to scamper up the ladder.

"Sakura!" Came the Ace Cadet's voice from below. When she turned back to him the Cadet held a familiar looking device up, one of the things he'd used on her during their spar. "I'm gonna see what kind of damage I can do to this slug, but here, catch!" He tossed the sonic bomb to her, a little support if she found herself and Karin overwhelmed when she made it onto the deck.

She plucked it out of the air, grinning. ”Sweet! Thanks!” For a moment she thought, but then she just shoved it into the side of her bloomers and used the pressure of her waistband to keep it in place.

Up above, the Jolly Reaver broke the stalemate. A foul odor preceded a toxic, choking gas, emanating from his putrid, ever-swelling mass. The misma, gross enough to deal mental damage and noxious enough to deal real damage, affected Karin’s composure enough for the Tinkerbat mob to try their luck. The critters approached four or five at a time, but at least they seemed to be on the slower and duller side. If the perfect victor wanted to get off the back foot, she’d need to break through these goons and get away from the Reaver.

”Ugh! You revolting-” The swarm began to close in, and Karin clenched her fists, frustrating. As the first group of four came in, she kicked one square in the chest. Then she span into a ”Ressen Ha!”, pinwheeling elegantly over the group and bringing her outstretched arms down like hammers onto the Reaver’s grotesque form. Would it connect, she would slide her legs violently into his and push underneath him, launching him head first onto the ground while she switched sides.

The Reaver had a lot of meat on him, but Karin wielded a lot of strength. She managed to shove him and his rot into the Tinkerbats, squashing one flat as the others floundered. In doing so she got a good look at the octopus on his back, which seemed to be multitasking to an impressive degree with its tentacles in order to hold up the cannon, work as the monster’s left arm, and keep a hold of its flintlock. Still, that accounted for only a small portion of the Tinkerbats on board, and now with Karin center-stage the goons could come at her from all sides. They crowded her way, scimitars upheld, to take their chances.

Karin frowned, eyelids at half height, eyebrows low. ”Well, this is just wonderful.” She quipped flatly. ”I shall turn that infernal octopus into a delectable, exotic meal.” As the Tinkerbats came in, she back flipped, dodging an entire group of swings at once. Behind them, she landed and dashed in, bringing her palm gracefully up and popping one single Tinkerbat fifteen feet into the air. Karin froze, having to hold that pose for a second as she recovered her momentum. And that was that- soon the others turned around and she backpedaled, defending herself from the strikes as best she could. She popped one in the mouth, kicked another in the legs, and then narrowly avoided getting one of her coils cut off as she jerked her head backward.

At that point, Sakura leapt from over the railing, arms and legs pinwheeling. ”Karin-saaan!” On one Tinkerbat she landed on his shoulders, before shoving him into the ground as she leaped forward. Two more bandana-clad heads were kicked as she used them like stepping stones to reach Karin. She landed on one Tinkerbat right infront her, driving his head into the ground with her feet. Then she span on his head, extending her leg out and knocking three others clean over and away into their fellows. After that she cartwheel off and launched a ‘slow’ and steady Hadoken rumbling into the crowd, shoving a large group back. She punched her fists together and slapped the side of her head.

”You doin’ okay?” She teased.

”Of course!” Karin responded immediately.

”If it makes you feel better, I’m only this good because of all the practice I got fighting your army of ninjas.” Sakura said, shrugging. That and fighting SIN, Shadoloo, and Yakuza. But she left those three out.The two were shoulder to shoulder, facing down the pirates. Karin smiled. Sakura saying that actually did make her feel better.

A bang from above interrupted the friends’ reunion, follow very shortly by a triple shot of leaden bullets. “Welcome aboard, ladies!” Risky called, dangling from the rigging up there. “Save the teary reunion for later, ‘cause you’ll need them for crying once we’ve beaten the tar out of you! Get them, men!” The remaining throng of Tinkerbats surrounded them and moved in, followed by the Jolly Reaver, who attempted to interpose his rot-addled, blade-swinging mass between the two Street Fighters to separate them.

Both ladies blocked the bullets, dealing not insignificant chip damage. ”Bring it!” Sakura said up to Risky, pumping her fists.

”Indeed!” Karin smirked confidently, adjusting her hair coils.

As the Tinkerbats and the Reaver closed in, the Street Fighters went to work.

Karin stepped towards the Reaver and crouched, shooting her leg out. Striking him there and preventing his forward movement, she shot forward and thrust her palm up into his body to launch him into the air and get him out of the way. ”Tenko!” If anything, she would launch the quartermaster towards Risky Boots above. Instead of Karin having to go on the defensive immediately as before, Sakura covered her friend and socked a Tinkerbat square in the ‘mouth.’ She parried aside a few more strikes and swept out her leg, knocking three over in one. In close quarters, the bodies of a swarm of enemies could be used against each other to decent effect. Like bowling. It wouldn’t get any knockouts but it would trip them up.

One swung at Karin with a bladed polearm, and she promptly shattered the shaft with a strike of her hand and palm thrusted the pirate away. At that point, the Reaver would fall back to Earth and squish one of his allies. Karin moved to the next one, snatching his wrist and flipping him easily over head, crashing him into another one of his allies.

Sakura was brawling up a storm, her bare forearms lined with small cuts from blocking bladed weapons, and an exhilarated smile on her face. ”Whatever she’s paying you, it isn’t enough!” She taunted, firing out two one handed fireballs into two Tinkerbats on either side, before ducking a swing and driving an elbow into their solar plexus. They had worked through a third of the Tinkerbats without really breaking a sweat. Lacking any real AoE attacks meant they had to put the work in though, so it was a matter of consistency and persistence.

If the friends worked together like a well-oiled machine, however, the Reaver was the spanner in the works. Despite Karin’s strength, he’d fallen well short of Risky on account of his bulk, and once back on his feet he made himself as much of a problem as he could. What he lacked in damage he made up for in bulk and disruption; since just getting close to the girls meant dealing damage to them with his Rot, they needed to either deal with him or move every time he got near. He gave Sakura a taste of his hook right in the middle of a finishing attack on a Tinkerbat, saving the enemy and yanking her right into his putrid danger zone. Not long after that, he started doing something even stranger. Whenever the boarding party managed to put a Tinkerbat on death’s door but not quite finish it off, the Reaver would kill it instead, permanently boosting his own health and damage bit by bloody bit.

”What the-?!” Sakura, still coughing as she backed up from the rot, was obviously even more disgusted by the behavior of the Reaver. ”That’s messed up!” She accused the Reaver and by extension, Risky. Obviously they were pirates trying to kill her, but killing your own guys like that?! That was just wrong. Given that none of the Tinkerbats seemed to mind though, she wondered if they were really ‘guys’ at all.

One of the Tinkerbats came in for a swing she grabbed its arm, before tossing it over her shoulder and thoroughly overboard. Then she pointed at the Reaver. ”Yeah, chomp on that you-!” Her undoubtedly clever insult was cut off as she coughed again, eyes watering from the Rot. ”Ew!”

Karin ducked another swing and sent a Tinkerbat puffing into purple smoke with a knife-edged chop. She was growing quite tired of this repugnant abomination. Buckling down, she EX-dashed across the deck of the ship in the blink of an eye, a trail of golden light following in her wake. She turned and smashed her back into the Jolly Reaver’s, crushing into him hard enough to crumple. "Mujinkyaku!” She popped him back into the air with a pair of kicks, and then finally slashed across his backside with her legs, sending him crashing near the railing. Meanwhile, Sakura covered Karin by stepping behind Karin and roundhouse kicking a few Tinkerbats away.

While Sakura and Karin battled on the ship's deck, the Ace Cadet set his sights on the ship itself. It didn't appear to be a boat resting on top of a creature - rather there were quarters and cannons physically built into the snail's shell. So if the snail were to be defeated and turn to ash, its entire crew would be in the drink taking them right out of the battle. Now, how quickly could the Cadet accomplish his self-imposed task? Faster than the Street Fighters could take down everyone on board? Time would tell.

He skated around to the Tinkerslug's face, loosing the giant arrows at it. They struck the slug's skin, sinking into its soft flesh. With no natural armor besides its shell, this wasn't surprising - but even with the arrows embedded into it the Tinkerslug seemed unphased. Undeterred, the Cadet continued shooting, including with his rigging. What damage the slug took was minimal at best.

Okay, so piercing and shots won't do much to it, he figured. Time for a change of equipment. As the hunter switched to his sword and shield the Tinkerslug's gaze finally settled on him, as if seeing him for the first time. Its eyes were covered by the red filter of Galeem, and though mostly ineffective so far the Cadet's attacks had damaged it. The Tinkerslug shifted, using the only weapon available to it: its mouth.

With a lurch the creature closed it's mouth around the Cadet's sword arm. Blunt as they were its teeth were made for crushing, and once it was done with this limb it would be trying for the rest of him next - not that the Cadet was about to let that happen.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, tugging his arm at first and finding that it only worsened the pain. With his other arm he rammed the Master Bang's shield into the Tinkerslug's face. It appeared to do just as little damage as his earlier attacks. He switched his tactics to smashing it in its eye. The creature groaned, wincing, but with two other eyes glaring at the man it did not loosen its hold. The Tinkerslug reared its head back up, taking the Cadet with it. Dangling in the air the Cadet's rigging unloaded its ammo into his captor, and the blades extended to cut at the Tinkerslug, to no avail.

"This is not exactly how I planned this to go!" the hunter complained to himself, struggling in the slug's jaws. His arm was going to be a mess after this, it was already throbbing painfully. Only when his next shield bash struck the slug's tooth and shattered the enamel with a sickening crack did the Tinkerslug let go, wailing its discomfort. Its movement threw off the aim of its cannons, and with the end of their resumed bombardment following the Seekers’ approach, the gutted Adrian was finally no longer under direct attack. Angry now, the Tinkerslug began to move, trying to smash Ace with its head or bull into him and crush him beneath its bulk.

Glad that those fighting back at the Adrian wouldn't have to deal with any more shots headed their way when they already had their hands full, the Cadet kited the slug's lunges. He circled the creature, watching as it followed his lead until it, and its armaments, were turned almost completely around.

"There we go," he said to himself. Now he could really put his full focus into it. The slug made to slam its body on top of him again and he skated just out of reach before making a lunge of his own, sword first. He could tell within the first few strikes that it was more effective than the bow had been, but he was still finding it difficult to get through its skin. What gives? Its body was squishy and it didn't seem like anything else was protecting it. Was it just super thick skinned?

The underside of its head came down again. This time the Cadet blocked it with the shield, but given he was standing on the sea and not solid ground the force sent him directly down into the water. With no better time to try attacking its underside the hunter raked his sword across it, but found no weak spots. When he surfaced again there was an expression of clear confusion on his face, mingled with frustration. There had to be some trick going on, he'd faced armored monsters with less resistance than this thing. He went through his mental inventory, eventually deciding that if nothing else, an explosion could probably soften it up - and he didn't need a cannon of his own when he had a barrel.

The Cadet retrieved the Alchemy Barrel from his bag, and with a button press it rapidly grew to proper size. In went some of the gunpowder he'd gotten from the Alcamoth, along with some of the various things he'd picked up from the ship graveyard like flints. Without many options for attack the Tinkerslug was predictable enough to dodge while he prepared the fireball. Once it was ready and thoroughly shaken, the hunter held the barrel tight as it shot its explosive payload at the monstrous snail.

His homebrewed explosive was just what the doctor ordered. The bomb’s uproarious explosion provoked a violent reaction from the Tinkerslug, delivering such a jolt that it flung a handful of Tinkerbats from its deck and threw Sakura, Karin, and the Jolly Reaver to the deck, while Risky dangled from the rigging overhead. In an almost comedic fashion the Tinkerslug’s head wavered, wobbling from side to side, before slapping down onto the water with spirals in its eyes.

Seemed like the Cadet had stumbled upon its weak point. It was a hardy slug for sure, but now that it was stunned it would be much easier pickings. Hopefully the ship's lurching as the Tinkerslug went down wasn't too much for the girls up top to handle - he expected it wouldn’t be, and besides he was close enough to the action that if they were in real danger he’d be able to hear them. With that in mind the hunter grinned and dove in close to make sure it was really down for the count.

Sakura landed awkwardly on the sonic grenade she was keeping at her side. ”Itai- I gotta invest in some pockets.” She said to herself as she kip-upped to her feet. Karin pulled herself back to standing using the railing, flicking her ringlets over her shoulder. Both of them were rather quick to get up when knocked down, their quick rises taking less than a second. Still, both girls were short of breathe from how much time they had spent in the Rot, but it was worth it if they could eliminate the Reaver early instead of dealing with him the whole time.

”We’re winning!” Sakura cheered. ”As for you-” The Reaver didn’t seem to be the most mobile sort, and he had just gotten knocked down by Karin before the ship exploded. Sakura flashed orange and leapt up into the air, bending backwards and clasping her fists together over her head. She dropped upon him like a hammer, and the impact sent them both upwards.

”Ichi- ni- san! She followed up with one extra hit that popped them both even higher, before the third hit sent the Reaver crashing back into the deck, while Sakura soared above. There she ambitiously landed on the rigging, closer to Risky herself. ”You don’t actually like that gross zombie guy down there, do you?” she asked.

The pirate shrugged. “He does his job, which is more than I can say of most people!” She rolled her eyes as she idly toyed with her flintlock, instead of shooting at Sakura immediately. “Don’t even get me started on the sisters, ugh. Always playing by their own rules.”

Karin, meanwhile, scooped up a downed Tinkerbat with her leg and foot, tossed him up, and slung him over board. At this point their formation was thoroughly scattered, and she dashed from Tinkerbat to Tinkerbat, dealing with them all individually in short order. It wasn’t long before the Reaver was back on his feet, however, and this time he decided to deal with Karin personally. While she dispatched a Tinkerbat he hooked and pulled her in, but instead of a normal hit he unleashed his ultimate, Dismember. Karin found herself completely disabled as the monster drew her in closer still, hacking away with every limb and weapon at his disposal. In just three seconds the street fighter lost a third of her life, and the Reaver healed himself for the same amount. The handful of leftover Tinkerbats swarmed in to add their own pokes and slaps to the mix, as well.

"Aah!” Karin had screamed in pain as she fell onto the ground, yellow sparks of Ki flying from her body as she reeled from the slashes. A Tinkerbat brought a sword down and she caught it in between her palms, before rolling away. Her jacket had been split on the right shoulder. That bastard had drawn her blood!

Sakura turned her vision downwards, away from the Pirate Queen. She wanted to pursue Risky, but Karin was going to spend too much energy and health if she let her fight it out alone.

”Attaaack!” With a battle cry, Sakura jumped from the rigging and launched a heavy fireball to the Reaver, looking to send him and all the Tinkerbats around him stumbling. When she landed, the impact of her rolling fall rattled the floorboards, tripping up the lesser pirates.

”Take this!” Cashing out, she fired an EX-Hadoken towards the Reaver, the blue fireball leaving a pink streak in the air behind it. Even being near the impact turned a Tinkerbat into poofy smoke. As the Reaver flew off his feet, Karin dashed in and under him, launching him upwards with a Tenko. Sakura had rolled forward and jumped up and off the mast, meeting him in mid air. Once again she brought her hammer fists down on top of him, sending him crashing down to where Karin was waiting.

"Ressen Ha!” Karin finished up the tag team combo by becoming a veritable pinwheel of golden destruction, sawing into him with her palms as she rose up like a rocket. The two were making this up as they went along, and as a result Sakura was caught in the crossfire, her athletic fall back to the ground eliciting a surprised ‘oops’ from the brunette as she flailed inelegantly onto the deck. Regardless, at the zenith of her EX-Uppercut she pivoted and crushed the Reaver downward, sending him hurtling back first into the mast.

For as much as he’d boosted his own health from teamkilling Tinkerbats and healed himself up through Dismember, there was a limit to how much punishment the Reaver could take. The mast cracked as his bloody bulk struck it, and though it didn’t shatter or snap, all the amusement left Risky’s face. Between the mast and the Tinkerslug itself, which seemed to be getting the worst of its exchange with the Ace Cadet, the Marauders needed to stop fooling around soon. “Get up, Pudge!” she shouted down. “You’re supposed to be a butcher, aren’t you? Not just some stinking lump of meat!”

Any sane person would have stayed down, but Pudge, the Jolly Reaver, had long since forsaken his humanity. Eking feculent smog, he rose to his feet for one final bloodbath.

Karin tsked, shaking her head. ”Foolishness. A Kanzuki grants no mercy to monsters.” With that she dashed forward, one last time into the fog. Baiting out a reactive swing from the zombie, she stepped gracefully out of the way, and much less gracefully shattered into his kneecaps with a spinning leg kick. She crossed her ankles and lowered her body with something almost like a curtsey, but she brought the back of her fist down into his head, caving in his chest. For the coups de grâce she rolled into the air, spinning. When she was perfectly aligned above his head, she grabbed onto it at arms length and pulled both her knees down. One for the Reaver’s skull, the other for the octopus companion. Both were crushed into the deck with a rattling impact that would scatter them both into dust. Karin span back up into an upright position flattened out her skirt with a flourish.

Sakura grimaced. ”Ouch! Brutal.” But then she cracked her knuckles, turning her eyes upward to Risky.

As Pudge fell, Risky rolled her eyes. “Alright, this game is over.” She swung down from the railing, used her hat as a parachute to break her fall, and landed on the deck. With her giant cutlass shining she pointed her off-hand at Sakura. “Catch.”

Her grappling hook zipped out, a tiny blur at high speed. It latched onto Sakura, be it her body or her guard, with a painful clamping sensation.

Sakura gasped in surprise, looking down at where the grapple had pinched the skin of her bare midriff.

Risky then aimed at one of the Tinkerslug’s cannons right alongside the deck and fired again, attaching the other end of the hook to the cannonball. “Bye bye now~!”

Sakura looked up with wide eyes, gasping even harder. She reached for the sonic grenade in her waistband.

At a snap of the pirate’s fingers the cannon fired. Somehow, the cord and both the attach points held, and as the cannonball hurtled away it yanked Sakura with it–instantly and effectively removing her from the equation.

”Shimattaaa!” Sakura yelled as she disappeared into the distance. The sonic grenade rolled to a stop on the surface of the deck after she had fumbled it.

Risky put on a smug smile and drew her flintlock, assuming a battle-ready stance. “One down, one to go!”

Karin ground her teeth. They had meant to destroy the cannons, but hadn’t gotten a chance ever since Karin was unexpectedly pulled up into the ship. ”Fool. Now you have left yourself alone with Kanzuki Karin.” She said, slicing her hands through the air and getting into her battle stance. ”Allow me to educate you on why that was mistake.”

“We’ll see who’s teaching who after I school you!” Risky fired her grappling hook at a middle target. Karin didn’t plan to fall victim to the same maneuver her uncouth friend had, so rather than try to block it she slid deftly out of the way. It shot harmlessly past her and latched onto the head of one of the few remaining Tinkerbats, who’d been creeping up behind the street fighter, and yanked it off its feet. As Risky’s line retracted it dragged her underling across the deck at a blistering speed, poised to sweep Karin’s legs out from under her with the flailing miscreant.

Elbows poshly bent, Karin sharply back flipped over the Tinkerbat and shot her leg out, kicking it in the back of the head and popping it up so it would fly vertically towards Risky instead.

Without hesitation, the pirate executed an upward slash with her oversized cutlass, easily wielding it in one hand to deflect the minion above her at the Tinkerbat’s expense. The moment her grappling hook reeled in, she took action once more. After jamming her sword into the deck for a moment she took a triple spread shot at Karin with her flintlock, aiming her other arm as she did. It grabbed one of the red barrels beside the cabin doors behind her, and shot forward as another makeshift projectile.

Karin had strode forward in her stance, head barely moving up and down as she advanced on her opponent while they made preparations for their next attack. The flintlock was raised and Karin reacted, deflecting one bullet and zig-zagging her upper body to avoid the next two. For the barrel she stepped forward and planted her forward foot. ”Meioken!” Her palm shot out, her other hand horizontal next to her face. There was a gust of wind from the force of the strike, crushing the barrel into wooden bits. Karin was quickly gaining ground on Risky. Yet Risky was smiling. When Karin destroyed her barrel, a vast quantity of black powder had burst from the remnants. Spread far and wide by her powerful blow, it coated both Karin herself and a few square feet of the deck, harmless by itself. Karin looked down at her bold red outfit, now ruined, and frowned. Regardless, she dashed quickly forward, just inside of Risky’s swinging range to cause her to flinch, and then stepped out of range, looking to capitalize on any ill-advised reactions. And if Risky wanted to retreat, well, she’d just be giving up more ground.

As the fistfighter came in Risky went for a huge cleave of her cutlass in an attempt to stop Karin before she could get in punching range, only for her preemptive strike to be preempted in turn. Her lip curled, and rather than attempt to recover herself she doubled down with a follow-up spin kick. As much as she liked her sword, she was no slouch when it came to dishing out punishment with her legs, either.

Karin received a taste of Risky’s infamous boots, spit spraying from her mouth as she spun away from the impact against her jaw. There was a sound like breaking glass as the counter attack broke through more of her health than it usually would due to the Kanzuki leaving herself open for the attack.

There was no time to quip, but Risky grinned devilishly. For a moment there she thought this girl had her, but it looked like both had underestimated one another. Even if her opponent lacked real skill with martial arts, Karin would find herself in hot water very fast if she thought she had the pirate's number. Risky backpedaled just a touch, one step closer to the cabin behind her, and hurled her cutlass at her foe.

Karin held her jaw with her hand for a moment but shrugged off the blow quickly, eyes sharpening once more. Karin felt her body could withstand less than another full dose of the punishment it had taken thus far before she could carry herself no further. The cutlass sliced towards her and she elected to crouch underneath as it whizzed over, barely missing the blonde ringlets that trailed behind her head. Though she couldn’t imagine the enemy would dispose of her weapon so easily, even after proving she was a decent kicker. Karin also noticed Risky was retreating closer to her cabin- no doubt a place full of tricks and weapons. Doing some calculations, Karin dove diagonally forward before rolling into a standing position. Closer to Risky and keeping an eye on that sword of hers.

As Karin repositioned, Risky moved to cut her off. She threw herself forward into a slide kick, conscious of her scimitar’s position, for her opponent had been wise to try keeping an eye on it. Against all laws of physics, the curved greatsword did not obey gravity as it flew, but slowed down in the air while continuing to spin until it came to a stop. The next second it rebounded like a cartoon boomerang, headed back to Risky with enough speed to slice into anything in between them.

”Gracefully!” Karin proclaimed, dodging backward from the slide, her entire body leaving a dark blue trail in its wake. Still under the effects of the V-Shift she stepped forward and struck Risky with an open hand, knocking the pirate queen away and softening her up for later, dealing grey damage. The speeding sword would also fall victim to Karin’s evasive maneuver as she bent backwards underneath it, eyes closed with a smug smile on her face, before she settled back into her stance.

Rubbing her new bruise on her shoulder with one hand, Risky reached out with the other to catch her cutlass on the way back. She then vaulted backward up to the rear deck, landing next to the wheel in an impressive acrobatic display, and put her grappling hook to work. One after another the pirate hooked a barrel, then attached the other end to a spot opposite Karin, sending three more projectiles in quick succession from a variety of angles.

In a series of dance-like maneuvers and leaps, Karin twisted away from one barrel and leapt over another with an aerial cartwheel, avoiding the third one by being out of position. Karin landed on the railing of the Tinkerslug, looking the picture of prim and proper despite being covered in black powder dust. She dashed to the back wall of the front deck for cover, moved to the side out of Risky’s view, and then wall-climbed and vaulted over the railing of the rear deck to join Risky there from an unpredictable spot. Karin wanted to get a particular distance away from Risky, about 15 feet, so she could punish any more projectile attacks. Thus she walked forward, adjusting her footwork as she went, looking for Risky’s next move.

Rather than face her opponent head-on, the pirate took the chance to escape again. She leaped over the rear deck railing and grappled to the center mast’s yardarm, swinging beneath it to speed to the ship’s prow. Despite her agility she nearly stumbled upon landing, for the Tinkerslug was in motion. After dishing out a lot of damage to the big snail, Ace had seemingly fled to go help Sakura, which meant that his Galeem-struck target could only pursue him. As it wended through the waves it rocked back and forth, which ticked Risky off. “Don’t go TOWARD them, you stupid slug! Ugh!” Taking her cutlass in both hands, the pirate began to run, quickly picking up speed and power as she charged toward Karin, planning to dash up the rear-deck stairs if Karin hadn’t already descended to the main deck.

”My, my, what a poor captain of a ship you make.” Karin said, calmly pursuing Risky beginning to head to the rear deck. When she saw Risky making her charge, she decided to meet Risky at the least opportune spot for her. She dashed and met Risky halfway, right on the top of the stairs itself. Karin jumped the entire length of the stairs and thus, over the charging Risky. Landing with a flourish, she began to make her way back up the stairs to meet Risky once more on the rear deck. Once there she walked to the right, interposing herself between Risky and the centermast she used to escape last time. She arrived in time to see Risky plant her foot against the rear wall in order to wrench her sword free from the wood. Despite her best attempt to stop in time, she’d only slowed down enough to avoid blowing straight through and out onto the ocean. For a brief moment, the pirate was open.

Karin zoomed forward, low to the ground as she closed the gap between them. She twisted and smashed her back into Risky’s, turning all of that momentum to flatten her face first against the wall, right next to her sword. Completing the spin she jammed her leg into the back of Risky’s knee, dropping her, and to finish the combo off she brought that same leg up and smacked it into the side of Risky’s head. As a result her head would bounce harshly against the flat end of her own embedded sword with a resounding ‘ding’. Karin took her stance again and didn’t relent, looking to keep Risky in this disadvantageous position.

After a pained groan the pirate’s eyes flashed open, and she doffed her hat. The sea breeze plus the forward motion of the Tinkerslug combined to blow the hat up to twice Risky’s own size in an instant, like a parachute, and once she grabbed hold she burst into the air. Of course, the next second she promptly flew out over the open water, stopped in her tracks while her vessel continued on, but Risky dropped one hand from her hat in order to shoot her hook again. It latched onto the back of the Tinkerslug’s shell below the opening and pulled her along. Now parasailing, the pirate retracted the cable, coming closer.

Karin took a few steps backward, watching Risky from a distance. She had no interest in shaking Risky off- if Risky wanted to keep fighting, so did Karin. The blonde wouldn’t be happy until the purple-skinned pirate was laying at her feet. Dusting some of the powder off of herself, she stood in the middle of the rear deck and put on a bit of a yawn, like this fight was boring her. As she did, she subtly cast a look in the general direction of where Sakura had been, spotting Ace moving over to her. That was good. It’d put quite the hamper on her victory if Sakura drowned out there, wouldn’t it?

The sight of Karin yawning as Risky reeled herself in left her fuming. She wanted nothing more than to shoot her in her big, dumb, rich face, but in her current situation she didn’t have enough hands. Then an idea hit her. She pulled up her left arm, aimed at Karin, and fired the other end of the grappling line. If it managed to hit her opponent it would pull her straight off the back of the ship, but rather than wait with bated breath to see if it worked, she shot her cable at the Tinkerslug again. This time she aimed higher, at the section of shell that covered the rear part of the deck, and after getting closer she fired the back and at Karin again. She repeated this maneuver to travel over the ship and toward her crow’s nest, continuing to plague her foe with chances to be yanked off the deck until the shell broke her line of sight.

Karin peeked one eye open and side stepped the first hook as she saw Risky aim it at her. They were too fast to react too projectile wise, but all she had to do was outpace Risky’s aim. She huffed, growing tired of this game. ”Do you intend to fight me or not, Miss Risky Boots?” She dashed over to the wheel and wrenched it cleanly off its pedestal, before flinging the entire thing like a frisbee towards the flying pirate queen just before she could disappear from line of sight.

“Ow!” With a bruised calf, Risky landed in the crows nest a little less elegantly than usual, but her adrenaline made up the difference. She shimmied down the ropes with one hand free, which she used to level her gun at Karin from a high angle. “That’s just the thing, princess! Whatever you call a fight, I’ll do the opposite!” Another triple shot exploded from her flintlock’s barrel, the three projectiles spreading out as they flew. Risky reset the hammer just by running the gun along her other arm, then without reloading fired again. And again. “By the way!” BANG! “Nothing of mine ever runs out of ammo.” BANG! “Bullets, cannonballs, ropes and hooks, you name it!” BANG! “Just a little perk of being me.” BANG!

Karin blocked the first shot, bringing in her arms and legs as the impact pushed her backwards. Then she advanced, leaping over and dashed to the side of the other shots, bending her torso away from the bullets to avoid Risky’s aim. ”Yes, I have noticed your quaint little parlor trick.” Soon she was right against the mast, and put it between herself and Risky. Her fingers felt a crack in the mast where the Reaver had hit it earlier, and she drove her powerful elbow into it to see how much give it had. ”But you cannot produce what you do not have. And you do not have what it takes to defeat me.” Karin said confidently.

The pylon wavered beneath her impact, and the crack spread. Risky paused to both see and feel the result, curious about what would happen herself, and the threat to her ship’s most important feature did not make her happy. Yet, her lips curled upward; the wound on her pride accelerated her plans. “If you’re so sure, why waste all that breath on bluster?” She switched ammunition types to one she actually could run out of, and jumped. “Let’s wrap this up!”

Risky attached her hook to the mast’s yardarm and swung down. As she picked up speed she let out the line, swooping down for a giant double kick. In her right hand, however, she held her pistol, and as she zoomed in she unleashed a spread shot of roaring flame–not at Karin, but at the black powder scattered around the upper deck at her foe’s feet. “It’s over!”

Karin let out a breath, having heard Risky switch ammunition types. Seeing all this powder everywhere, either she had a match, or incendiary rounds. Risky swung in for her finishing move and Karin gripped the mast tight as she flung herself around it and up into the air to meet Risky on her swing. She intended to absorb the incendiary shot herself, and slam her palm into Risky’s belly to trade impacts and finally knock the pirate out of the way and into a losing scenario.

“HRRGH!” Taken aback by the self-sacrificing strategy, Risky couldn’t prepare herself before her foe’s palm left her with one hell of an upset stomach. Her grappling line snapped as she flew backward, tumbling across the deck toward the prow in a spray of unspent black powder. Even her grip on her flintlock failed, and the weapon clattered off the boards a few yards away from her. Risky slid to a stop on her back, one hand on her belly as she fought to keep her breakfast down. “...Ugh,” she gasped after a moment, her smirk wiped off her face. “I didn’t think…after all that, you’d still be willing to…” Coughing, she got to her feet. Even at a dead sprint it would take Karin a moment to reach her. Only for a split second did her eyes rest on her gun. Without either of her weapons, she could do little but ball her fists.

Karin also pushed herself up to her feet, coughing. The powder on her own jacket had resulted in most of it being burned away. Grinning widely, she grabbed the shoulder of the red jacket and flung it off, revealing the skintight sleeveless back crop top with a stripe running up the middle underneath. She was hurt, but her injuries hardly slowed her down. If anything her blood only pumped faster, more energy rippling beneath her toned muscles. ”But of course! Of course I am!” She yelled, almost manic. ”Not bluster, no- a warning.” She took her stance and strode toward Risky. Despite her high emotional state her movements were as calculated as ever. Once in range she dashed in and made to snatch Risky’s wrist, pulling and twisting it at an awkward angle before slamming her shoulder into the pirate’s chest, looking to throw her into the deck.

This time, rather than swing early, Risky held back in order to block and get a read on her opponent. No more tricks this time, she thought. But Karin was in her head. The next moment Risky found herself thrown over her opponent’s shoulder, and the impact drove the wind from her lungs. Desperate for a moment to think and recuperate, she turned her pitiable writhing into a sneaky sweep with deceptive speed. The advancing Kanzuki was knocked off her feet, and just as handsprung back onto her feet- but that was all the time she needed for a plan. Risky was angry and in pain, her ego as bruised as her body. This snooty snob kept getting the better of her, even after a scrap with the Tinkerbats and Pudge, and Risky herself had only landed, what, one hit, maybe two? And even if she won this, how many foes stood after her, without her crew to do her dirty work? For a woman who could shatter solid stone with a hypercharge and run faster than most animals, she was doing badly.

But she couldn’t lose her head–not yet. “Not bad, blondie.” True to her name, Risky would bet it all. “Too bad you’re right where I want you!” She released her hat as a distraction to blow up and fly away, but the pirate wasn’t holding on. As she sacrificed her hat, she shot her grappling hook at her pistol, or rather, above it. By hooking onto the railing beyond it she could speedily drag herself across the deck, with all the black powder lessening the scrap, and snag her gun on the way.

”Oh?” Karin asked, raising one eyebrow. Her golden eyes were gleaming in a different way. She glanced up at the rising hat and jumped upward, out of Risky’s view so she could fire her hook and make her play. Alas, Karin did a backjump, jumping backwards away from Risky so she could meet her as she ziplined. As a result, she dropped the heel of her shoe on Risky’s back, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Mujinkyaku!” She hooked her shoe under Risky’s chin and popped her back up into a standing position, before doubling her above with her other leg snap-kicking her in the abdomen.

”Orochi!” Flashing with spent power, Karin twisted and thrust her back into Risky’s body, crumpling her around Karin’s shoulders like she was her replacement jacket

Karin took Risky’s head and rested it on her shoulder. ”Did you really think the hat would fool me? Why would you ever go for that silly hat escape again?” She said, looking straight ahead.

”You wouldn’t. Had you tried, I would have broken the mast once you landed on the rigging or crowsnest. And you would have been totally unarmed, unable to take advantage of the high ground. Retreating would have been guaranteeing your loss, so there was no reason for me to stop it. We both knew this, meaning of course you would try to go for your weapon, guaranteeing your loss. And if you hadn’t gone for your weapon, you would have been forced to take me on in hand to hand combat, guaranteeing your loss.” Karin chuckled, tsking her tongue.

"Do you see now? How your choices don’t matter? How your defeat was inevitable?" Karin sighed, content with her monologue, lightly tapping Risky's cheek. "That is what it means to be a Perfect Victor." While monologuing, however, her foe had recovered a modicum of strength. Her hand lunged forward like a snake to clasp around Karin’s throat, the grappling hook primed to pierce the tender skin, but Karin was already in motion. She drove her elbow into Risky’s solar plexus and then shrugged her off her shoulders and onto the deck. ”Oho!” Karin let out a short bark of a laugh.

Risky Boots crumpled, unable to fight but also fully conscious to deal with the wracking pain in her torso. An agonized scowl twisted her face into a mask of rage, but she could do no more than bubble over with loathing as she lay there, defeated.

Karin took a few steps forward and then turned around, eyeing the captain's miserable state. ”Still awake, I see. Apologies.” She stepped back and swept her foot across the defenseless pirate’s jaw to render her unconscious. She picked up her arm and pulled the grapple hook from it, eyeing it curiously. She fetched Risky’s firearm as well, observing the weapon and wondering if it was Risky who somehow gave the weapons infinite ammo, or if the weapons themselves had an innate, entropy-defying quality. She held the large gun under her arm and attached the grapple hook to her now sleeveless arm. All that was left was to find some rope to tie up Risky and take her prisoner. Perhaps there was a rowboat around she could be stored in. Or perhaps…she looked over the side of the railing at the head of the Tinkerslug. Then over at the sinking Adrian and battle-weary Raptor. The Tinkerslug is a living creature, is it not? Perhaps it could be persuaded to assist the Seekers. If there was any upside to Sakura’s defeat it was that it had drawn the monster hunter away. Karin tapped her chest as Sakura had explained, and considered the Friend Heart. In the distance she glanced up and saw the sinking Adrian. Clearly, a solution was required.

-

The sound of the cannon firing caught the Ace Cadet below off guard. It was pointed the complete opposite direction of the battered Adrian and the other Seekers, aiming only at open ocean - so why in the world would they bother firing it? Curiosity alone would have drawn the Cadet's attention to the weird shot, but the sound of a familiar someone's voice trailing after the cannonball made his head snap up towards it. Was that Sakura tied to the thing and currently sailing through the air into the middle of the ocean?

"Sakura?!" he exclaimed. You gotta be Kirin me! That was just mean. The Cadet abandoned the Tinkerslug, not keen on letting his friend drift stranded out there for any length of time. Stashing the sword and shield, he sprinted over the water after her.

The distant figure of Sakura tried to get her thumbs in between her abdomen and the hook, but to no avail, her legs kicking in front of her. The bomb hit the water and as the explosion sent a huge splash into the sky, Sakura vanished almost immediately into the water plume. A moment later she emerged from the top of it, flailing her limbs as she trailed into the sky. Disoriented, she was helpless to prevent her loud slap of a belly flop, flattening against the ocean’s surface. Stunned and semi-conscious, Sakura began to sleepily slip below the surface, bubbles trailing from her lips.

By the time the Cadet arrived at the splash zone, she had already dipped under the waves. The lack of animated flailing like her previous fall into the water concerned him, so when there was no sign of Sakura besides the bursting of air bubbles on the surface the Cadet didn't hesitate to dive into the water himself. It could be a pain to swim with all of his gear, plus the rigging was less like extra limbs in this case and more like dead weight that longed to resurface, but adrenaline and worry pushed him on. He spotted Sakura slowly sinking and swam over to grab her arm, dragging them both up until they broke water.

"Hey, you awake? Sakura?" The Cadet tapped the side of her face.

Sakura stirred, eyelids fluttering, before suddenly violently jerking in Cadet’s grasp, coughing up water and swinging her arms around, punching the air and incidentally at Ace. The hook was still tight around her midsection. ”Uaa- ah- lemme at ‘em! Get off!” It was clear she was extremely disoriented.

"It's me, it's me!" The Cadet said, ducking his head to avoid the worst of her flailing and only just then noticing the thing attached to her - a mechanism not unlike his own clutch claw. It was tough to hold her up out of the water, weather her random punches and check on her health at the same time. "You got shot out of a cannon or something, and this thing-?" He fiddled with the grappling hook and eventually figured out it's release. Sakura stopped struggling and just held the side of her head, wincing.

"There! Are you alright? We'll get back to that snail ship, clean up and patch up."

He wasn't sure at this point what enemies were left on board, but they'd find out soon enough. He turned back the way they'd come from, momentarily blinking in surprise. "Heh, and looks like we won't even have to go that far!" he said, as the Tinkerslug was headed right for them.

Sakura flinched and held on tighter to Ace, looking at the Tinkerslug. Then Karin appeared over the top, now jacket-less, and looking very full of herself even from this distance. ”What ho, Sakura, Ace Cadet!” She called down.

”Risky is my custody. Now, I shall tame the beast.” Karin vaulted over the side and went towards the head of the three-eyed slug. Tapping her chest she produced a Friend Heart and placed it within. The creature was restored to vitality, memories no doubt rushing back to it. Karin kneeled on its head and went to imprint herself upon it like the animal whisperer she was, using her forceful, dominant personality to cease its disrupted instincts.

Seeing that, Sakura realized the danger had passed; that she had been defeated in a single move. Thus, she hid her reddening face behind her hands. ”...I was used like a cannonball, Ace.” Sakura admitted, dismayed. ”I want to curl up and freaking die. I didn't even use your cool bomb.” Being carried by her back and knees by a friend wasn’t exactly helping her dignity problem, either.

Karin was speaking softly. ”Hush, hush now…my little three-eyed, buck-toothed companion.” The creature was quite ugly, but it had a certain amount of pluck to it that Karin found endearing. Karin had always been a lover of pets.

”Honestly. Your previous name was an insult. You deserve a noble name, like Triumph. For your three eyes, and for my victory.” Karin nodded. ”Now, to them!” She pointed at Ace and Sakura and the Tinkerslug pulled up alongside, coming to a stop.

”Quickly! The Adrian is sinking. We musn’t delay.” She called down to them once more.

Sakura grabbed the ladder from Ace’s arms, still trying to hide her face from him and hunching her shoulders. ”Uhm…thanks.” Then she hurried up the ladder.

There was no time for either of the Street Fighters to collect their previous rowboat, and Karin seemingly had little time to reassure or comfort her long-time friend. Sakura, drenched and aching all over, crawled onto the deck. It was a mess. And off to the side was Risky, captured with rope. Also on the deck was the sonic bomb, rolling uselessly around.

Karin stood boldly on the mass above the head of the creature. ”Turn, Tinkerslug! Turn, Triumph! To the Adrian!” She pointed, and the Tinkerslug followed her line of sight and began to go to assist the allies on board the sinking ship and rally with the rest of the Seekers.

”Ohohohohoho!” The Kanzuki laughed victoriously, and Sakura tilted her head to the side and tapped some water out of her ears. Maybe if she was lucky, the ringing would fall out, too.

Primrose waved back to Tora as he sped off in the back of the weird car with Poppi. A few other Seekers went after them, Therion being one of them surprisingly, but the dancer did not. Racing wasn't really her idea of fun, and even if it was she wasn't looking for another adventure quite so soon. Standing in the dim twilight just outside of the train station, Primrose stretched her arms high above her head and then settled into a neutral pose with a hand on her hip, regarding the other people in their group that hadn't tagged along after the racers.

"Well then. I suppose the rest of us can find something else to do while we wait," she said. It seemed to be a large town, and with the twilight cast on the brick and cobblestone it was quite beautiful too. "I wouldn't mind just getting a look around."

Bede was less interested in going racing than some of the other members of the group. If he needed fast travel, he could probably find a Rapidash or something somewhere. This sunset colored town must have something else interesting to do. “Hm, this town is certainly an improvement from the last place I was at… I wouldn’t mind having a look around either.”

Primrose's gaze slid over to Bede. Her soft-spot for children hadn't faded even after taking in three spirits, so she wouldn't mind his company while seeing what the town had to offer. She did note that he was still under Galeem's influence - his eyes shaded in red, glowing ever so slightly in the dim sunlight. That was something they should take care of sooner rather than later if they could help it - she recalled on the mountaintop how the gleaming Therion had nearly thrown himself from the summit to try and get at that sky serpent, saved only by Big Band's quick thinking. Primrose found herself thinking now, and after a moment and a twinkle of an idea she turned to Bede and smiled at him.

"Sounds like a plan then," the dancer said. "We'll explore a little. By the way… you said you were a Pokémon trainer, didn't you?"

Bede smirked, and proudly flipped his bangs. “Of course! I’m not just a mere Pokémon Trainer though. I’m the best there ever was! I’m a Gym Leader trained by Opal herself! I was on the verge of becoming Champion until… you know what that’s not important. What matters is that your little group is lucky to have a Pokémon Trainer like me!”

Ah... I think I'm getting a bit of déjà vu, Primrose thought to herself as she listened to the boy hype himself up. She was glad to hear it though, as she expected that his pride would prevent him from turning down her next suggestion.

"I see. I happen to have a Pokémon myself, but I don't know much about them. If you don't mind, could you teach me a thing or two? I do know that they seem to enjoy battling. We can find a quiet place for that if you're interested."

Of course she didn't bother mentioning that her Pokémon had already been reduced to a spirit, but so long Bede took her up on her battle offer then he'd find out soon enough - and Primrose could take the opportunity to free him from the light.

Bede grinned. “Gladly. You’ve come to the right trainer. I’d be happy to teach you.”

"Wonderful," Primrose said, returning his smile. It had been mentioned that the town stays in perpetual twilight, which gave off the feeling that the sun would go down soon and darkness would fall. There was a vague sense of hurry because of that, but even if they weren't really in danger of losing the dim light Primrose followed up with, "We may as well get going."

The other Seekers that hadn't followed after the racers had all decided to do their own thing, and so at the moment Bede and Primrose were on their own. They strolled through the city's center, taking in the sights. The town's atmosphere was subdued for a settlement of its size, but there was no lack of charm - from the warm glow of lamplight, to the shimmer of the twilight reflecting off of water fountains, to the ivy vines crawling up the brick walls of many buildings. There were establishments built close together on either side of the cobblestone road, and it felt cozy to walk through.

For the most part, Bede stayed quiet as he took in all the scenery. He thought this town was pretty. Definitely a step up from the last town he was in. No strange creatures wandering around, it had normal buildings and people, and all in a pretty sunset hue. It still couldn’t compare to Galar, but this wasn’t bad.

The silence between the two was to be expected, strangers to each other as they were. Over the last couple of days Primrose herself had grown more talkative, so after more than a few minutes of companionable quiet she eventually turned to Bede as they walked and spoke up.

“So. My Pokémon’s name is Hippowdon. Have you heard of it?”

Bede scrunched his face. “Yes I have. It’s a hippo that summons sandstorms. Not my kind of Pokémon. I specialize in Fairy types… And Psychic types sometimes. Although I like any cute Pokémon, and no offense, Hippowdon is not what I would call cute.”

“Oh?” Primrose chuckled. “No, I suppose it’s not cute. It does have a certain charm though… or maybe I’ve just gotten used to the way it looks.” Not that she ever saw it for very long, as its nature of being a Striker meant it only manifested for seconds at a time.

They continued on like that. Market Street wasn't far from where they wandered, and since the citizens were well used to the twilight they were just as enthusiastic about chatting, selling, and buying as though it were midday - which technically it was. Primrose steered them away from the more populated parts of town for now, keeping an eye out for a good battle spot and anything else interesting that might catch her eye. There were a couple of cute cafes that she noted, though she wasn't sure if any were large enough to feed all of the Yellow Team, let alone the other Seekers that were making their way here as well. Maybe I'll suggest a picnic instead of dining in to Tora after this, she mused to herself.

The town got more populated as they walked. Bede found some vendors selling stuff. Bede made a note to go shopping here later. He wondered if any of them took Pokedollars. They went away from the crowded parts of Market Street. If Primrose was going to send out a Hipowdon, they were going to need all the space they could get.

Eventually the road they'd taken grew wider. The businesses and residences were a little less packed together, and alleyways between them opened new paths to other areas of the city. The Back Alleys were as good a place as any for a fight - spacious enough to move, secluded enough not to draw much attention, but not too far out of the way. Primrose stopped and motioned her head towards one of the more alleys. It featured the same brick and cobblestone as the rest of the city, with more sprawling plant life that extended up to balconies stretched out above them.

"What do you think about here for our battle?" she asked.

Bede looked around. “It’s as good as any other area.” Bede grabbed Hatenna’s Pokeballs. “Are you ready?”

Primrose took up a spot opposite of Bede, putting a decent amount of space between them. She did not take out any equipment, Pokéballs or otherwise, but she did look prepared. “Yes,” she said.

Bede grinned, and threw his pokeball. Hatenna appeared in front of Bede in a flash of light. It was only then that he noticed something odd. “Wait a minute… Where’s your pokeball?”

“That’s the item that your Pokémon came out of?” Primrose guessed. “I do not have one, but not to worry. Hippowdon!”

With its master’s call, Hippowdon manifested in front of the dancer. The Heavyweight Pokémon blinked, sized up the Hatenna in front of it and then let out a long ‘Pooooooow!’ Primrose considered her strategy, and decided that though it may be a bit crude, the faster that Bede could be freed the better. With a flourish she held her hand out towards the trainer.

“Hippowdon, use your Dig attack!” she commanded. The Pokémon obeyed, breaking through the ground and submerging itself. As it traveled underground it left a trail of overturned earth heading straight for Hatenna… and then underneath her, instead surfacing at Bede’s location. Hippowdon burst out of the ground, tossing Bede up into the air.

Bede was shocked to see the Hippowdon appear out of nowhere. Where was she keeping that thing? He didn’t have much time to be impressed. She immediately commanded Hippowdon to use Dig, which sent Bede flying. He landed back on the ground on his feet, and was completely unharmed. Hatenna on the other hand was hurt. She let out a pained cry.

Bede didn’t even notice he went flying, and acted like Primrose had attacked Hatenna directly. “Hm, good move, but my sweet Hatenna is still standing. My turn! Hatenna darling, use Disarming Voice!”

Hatenna opened her mouth and cried cutely. Releasing pink heart shaped sound waves, and musical notes in the Hippowdon’s direction. The attack struck Hippowdon, as its “trainer” was too surprised to give it an order to move.

The damage filtered through the striker and to Primrose, the opposite of what had just happened with Bede. Though confused at what had just happened, Primrose gave her Pokémon another command in order to make the most of its time before it disappeared. “Use Crunch!” she called, and once more Hippowdon’s target was not the small Psychic-type in front of it but Bede himself.

Even though the Hippowdon crunched on Bede, the young Pokémon Trainer was unfazed. Hatenna took the fall for it. Literally, the Super Effective move caused the small Pokémon to faint. Bede was more upset about that, than being bitten by a giant hippo. “Ugh, whatever. It’s beginner's luck! I still have one more Pokémon!” He threw out Elgyem’s Pokeball. “Elgyem, Psybeam!”

The cerebral Pokémon appeared, and released a multicolored beam at Hippowdon.

Once more the attack struck Hippowdon. It disappeared completely from the field right after, it’s time running out. Primrose narrowed her eyes, considering the situation. Hippowdon had definitely managed to land its own attacks on Bede, and yet he appeared perfectly fine while his minion suffered the damage. So that was his ability, then? Some kind of connection that transferred pain and damage? So at the very least she would have to get through his Pokémon to get to him. How interesting.

“My apologies in advance Bede, but though I am out of Pokémon I do have a few more tricks up my sleeve,” Primrose said. “Now… Makami!”

Where Hippowdon had been there now appeared a long and paper thin wolf spirit. It floated and swirled in the air before lunging straight for Elgyem with its master’s order to use its Dream Needle skill.

Bede was impressed. He had never seen that Pokémon before. Was that even a Pokémon? Regardless, it attacked Elgyem, and he fell asleep. “Oh come on Elgyem! Wake up, and hit it with Confusion!” But it was no use. Elgyem was snoozing. The Makami vanished from sight soon after, and Primrose found herself smirking. She was in a good position now, and though so far the battle had been pretty low stakes as it had been between minions, it was a battle all the same - which meant her battle boost could be used. Primrose's body began to glow as she charged a spell, her dark magic gathering in both hands. Beneath Elgyem a magic circle appeared, and then grew larger to encompass trainer and Pokémon both. It roiled with power, and then all at once the Night Ode spell erupted. Given the Pokémon's weaknesses it would be more than enough to take it out, but would enough damage spill over to affect Bede himself?

The dark magic easily took out the sleeping Elgyem with ease. Without a Pokémon out to protect him, the excess dark magic damaged Bede. “AHHH!” The young Pokémon Trainer screamed out in pain before falling unconscious. Without his Pokémon, he was just an ordinary human.

When the magic and dust cleared and Primrose saw Bede lying on the ground, she went right over to him and knelt by his side. A twinge of remorse ran through her, her expression softening, but ultimately this was for his own good. Hopefully he didn't hold this against her.

She produced a friend heart from her chest and pressed it gently into the unconscious Bede. Its effect was immediate, healing all of his wounds and clearing the light from his person.

"Bede?"

Bede’s eyes fluttered open, and he sat up. He rubbed his pounding head. “Ugh, what just happened?”

“I had to knock you out in order to stop the… mind control spell put on you,” Primrose began. Somehow it never got any easier trying to explain exactly what lunacy had happened to the newly freed. “You might notice things seem a little more confusing to you now, but it will be clearer soon… after the shock of realizing you’re not in your own world anymore wears off.”

She gave him some space, then offered a hand to pull him up.

“Basically, a lot of worlds got mixed together by some… cosmic entity that they’ve called Galeem. Our group, the one you’ve been traveling with today, is actually trying to put things right.”

“Ugh… that would explain a lot… Um… thank you I suppose…” Bede still found this whole mess strange.

”I know it seems crazy. I’ll do my best to explain everything on the way back,” Primrose said. She smiled at the boy. ”I think you’ll be able to appreciate our colorful crew even more now.”