When Roxas awoke, he found himself at the center of a large circular platform with nothing but endless darkness in all directions. And yet, despite the unfamiliarity, he still found himself at peace. Like he was somewhere familiar, yet... not. He looked down at the floor he stood on and took in the mural that appeared to be carved out of stained glass. It depicted a white room, with Thirteen figures sitting atop a circle of thirteen Thrones. All of them were hooded, save for the one sitting upon the lowest throne... Roxas. And in the center of the thrones stood a Fourteenth Figure, seemingly being welcomed by the Thirteen... or perhaps being judged. The vagueness of the mural made it hard to say one way or the other. And then, countless framed images began to appear in the air around Roxas. Each of them showing numerous moments in time, and all of them featuring him in some way. Almost like looking at an art exhibit themed around his own life. And then, on the opposite end of the platform, a door appeared. As if being drawn to it, Roxas instinctively walked forward and reached out a hand to open it. But it was locked, and so he instinctively drew his Keyblade to unlock it. But it wasn't either of his, instead the Keyblade looked much simpler, and was one he remembered belonging to another. Still, the weapon unlocked the door just the same, and it swung open wide, releasing a blinding light from behind it.

When his vision cleared back up, Roxas found himself elsewhere. It looked like Twilight Town, specifically the clock tower. He slowly walked toward the edge to look down, when a gloved hand rested on his shoulder and turned him around. Roxas saw a Tall Man in a black coat just like his own, eyes green and hair red like fire, "Say... what's most important to you?" he asked with a calm voice and friendly smile.

Roxas didn't even hesitate before he answered, "You are. All of you. My friends."

"That so?" replied the red-haired man with a grin, before he seemed to fade away from view. Roxas looked around, wondering where his friend had gone, when he saw Someone Else standing nearby. She was a girl, around his own age. She had the same black coat, and short raven-black hair. When she saw Roxas she gave him a warm smile.

"What do you dream of?" she asked in her usual sweet voice. That one actually made Roxas stop and think. What was his dream? The idea of a lifelong ambition had never once occurred to him before now. But he gave it a moment of thought and eventually answered her.

"I think... I wanna see more of what's out there. The town's nice and all, but a little exploration might be fun." he told her, eliciting a wider smile from her in response.

"The clock tower can seem a little cramped at times, huh?" and then, just like the first, she faded away from sight. This time Roxas looked around a bit more frantically, almost as if desperate to figure out where she'd gone. That was until one more familiar voice made itself known to him.

"What is it you fear?" Roxas turned around and saw a Blue-Haired Man with an x-shaped scar on his face, also wearing a black coat.

"Fear?" Roxas asked, but the man said nothing and simply waited for an answer to his question. There were some things Roxas could say, but only one of them kept cropping back up in his mind on a regular basis. With a bit of hesitance he finally said it aloud, "...Not being real."

The man looked away a bit, "...I see." he said, then vanished just like the first two. Upon this, the setting sun in the distance began to shine brighter, offering a blinding flash that stunned Roxas a moment. His vision soon cleared, and once again he was elsewhere.

It was another circular platform. The mural on this one appeared to split into two images. On one side was Roxas and the Red-Haired Man, weapons drawn and appearing to be ready to attack one another while surrounded by a wall of flame. And on the other side was a white, sterile room featuring a spherical white pod of some kind. Nearby it was a control console, as well as a Man Wrapped in Red Robes and a Girl In A White Dress appearing to observe the pod. And then, a stairway of rectangular platforms appeared and seemed to lead the way to another platform higher up. Roxas followed the path and then saw the second mural.

It depicted a group of Seven Lights and Thirteen Darknesses, about to fight a war in a barren world littered with hundreds of lifeless Keybladess. Roxas remembered this memory very clearly, and then followed a new stairway that led up up to a third and final platform. This time the mural featured a multitude of figures, impossible to identify, standing together on a cliff face as an Incomprehensible Enemy loomed above them. At this point, a group of Familiar Enemies appeared around him at once and poised to strike. Roxas drew the Keyblade once more to defend himself.



He easily deflected incoming attacks, sliding around each to get in a quick attack against their backs. These enemies were nothing new to him. Defeating them would be easy for him. It didn't take Roxas long to dispatch them all. But behind him, the Enemy from the mural had made itself appear. It lashed out with unstoppable tendrils of light that Roxas had no hope of defending against. And as he was attacked, Roxas began to feel a sense of deja vu. With one final volley of tendrils, the Enemy thought to finish Roxas off. As Roxas braced himself for the worst, he realized that the attack wasn't coming. A large, floating pink heart was blocking the attack before flying forward and colliding into the Enemy and seemingly shattering it into harmless sparks that quickly burnt out and faded away. And with a final flash of blinding light, Roxas began feeling his consciousness return to him... along with a single name that became burned into his memory.

Galeem



Roxas's eyes fluttered opened as he was shaken, "Huh... wha-?" the first sight he saw was Blazermate standing over him, asking what had happened and if he was okay, "Invisible sniper... got the jump on me." he said, answering the first question, "And yeah, I'm fine now. Thanks Geralt, I owe you." he said to the Witcher sitting next to him. He didn't actually know that Geralt was responsible for healing him, but he had to at least have carried Roxas to the train. But he reached up a gloved hand and rubbed his temples. Sure, physically he was fine, but now he had even more questions that needed to be answered.

"It wasn't the Organization that took my friends," he said to no one in particular, "it was him wasn't it? Galeem." having been Freed, Roxas now remembered everything. He and his closest friends were attacked by monsters of Light before everything became a blur. And he also now knew that the Twilight Town he had just left was not the one he knew, "And that Town... it's not the Twilight Town I call home. Just a very convincing copy that that thing created... right?" strangely enough, even that was somehow not the first time Roxas had been living in a world that wasn't technically real, "First the Virtual Twilight Town and now this... I just can't seem to catch a break."

One thing was certain, he felt like he needed to talk to the Master of Masters more than ever. At first he was simply curious about the man, but now he legitimately felt like he was the only one who could give him some clarity on this whole mess of a situation.

For the rest of the train ride, Roxas asked a few questions of the others. Namely what the deal was with Galeem and how his influence apparently worked. He'd also learned that Geralt used something called a Friend Heart while Roxas was injured in order to break Galeem's hold on him. Naturally Roxas also asked how he could do that himself in case he needed to free others that he met. And he was also wondering how many back in Twilight Town were under Galeem's influence.

"If nothing else, I think..." he said, aloud to no one in particular, "...if I'm still alive after Galeem's attack, then my friends must be too, right? So all I have to do is find them and use one of those Friend Hearts to bring them back." at least his goal was clearer now. But he couldn't help but wonder how exactly the Organization fit into all this. He'd just have to see them for himself. And if they were indeed still up to no good... then he'd deal with them, just like he said he would. Besides, Roxas thought, it's what He would do if he were here right now.



After the train had finally reached its destination, Roxas joined the Seekers in disembarking. Blazermate had never left his side and in fact was practically dragging him around by the hand. This didn't really bother him at all, but his free hand did occasionally hover over the spot that was hit by Panther's shot. There was a noticeable tear there now, and that would bug him until he could fix it somehow.

"Uh, give me just a sec." he told Blazermate, freeing his hand from hers, "I've got to use the bathroom real quick, be right back." and he took off in search of a private room of some kind. It wasn't specifically a bathroom he needed, just a place to change his clothes. He didn't want to walk around in a damaged black coat, after all. And eventually he returned to others, but now dressed in his Casual Attire. He held his black coat slung over one shoulder.

"Alright, that's better." he said as he waited for Blazermate to inevitably grab a hold of his hand again, "Hope there's a tailor or something here who can fix the coat for me. Not a fan of wearing it, but it's too useful to throw away."

Midna arrived too late to assist the bloody knife fight that Roxas and this Geralt guy had. She frowned a little at the bisection of one of the street cats that occurred right as she caught sight of them, but given the state of the pair, she could not blame the guy for acting as he did.

She could, however, blame him for the absolutely revolting striker he had apparently acquired. She had to stop briefly in her rafter traversal in order to clutch her stomach and press a hand over her mouth to avoid being sick upon seeing it. Not to mention smelling it even from on high. If anything got the cats off his back as he hauled the downed keyblade wielder, she thought, it was the stench of rotting oceanlife mixed with that of human remains rather than the threat of more violence.

Was she a hypocrite who had in her possession her own undead and psychic terror-cultists? Yes. But at least they didn’t stink.

At any rate, once she caught up and got on the train, she gave Geralt a look and then did her best to briefly explain things to their newest member, Roxas having been set into a state where he could be freed from his blinkers as part of his run in with the panther.

Fortunately he seemed to have remembered the basics, so she confirmed those details and then added some more:

”Yeah that is about it. Or, about it about who Galeem is anyway. It destroyed every reality, stitched them back together again into the world we are now living in, and then blinded everyone to the fact that it had done that. We call those still blind to the reality of the world, and to their own true past, the Galeeming. They are also compelled to put their all into any fight, and are more likely to get violent too, so be careful around them, OK?”

”We, meanwhile, are the seekers, and we, well, seek to destroy Galeem’s guardians so as to leave it vulnerable to direct attack. Taken down 4 already, but there’s 13 in all, so plenty more work to be done” she concluded, the princess leaning with her hands behind her head as she very casually explained this.

Then she had a thought, and pulled out one of the new rifles she had acquired, specifically the one she had gotten from the Therian. ”So I stole this from some cat who was trying to shoot you all, and, question, what do these symbols mean?” she held it up sideways and tapped at two icons next to a set of triggers, icons which were also found on a pair of canisters of green fluid on the gun, as she asked her question.

”One shoots healing stuff, and I think the other one is kind of nasty considering it did try and use it to attack but, uh, any idea which is which?” she asked.

If anyone was familiar with contemporary symbology, then the biohazard and medical plus symbols would have been obvious to them, but given the diversity of weird and wonderful worlds the party came from, there was no guarantee that someone with that knowledge was present.

Interestingly in a somewhat related fashion it turned out that the place they spilled out into was a modern looking town, full of numerous large buildings apparently used for the education of the youth for close to a combined 20 years of their lives. The princess found this very altruistic, and also wondered how the local lord or princess could afford such a thing, let alone how the common folk could afford to have their children attend for so long.

As interesting as the town was, it was not what they were here for, as she understood it, but rather a city called ‘Midgard’ which, as it turned out, was rather hard to miss, though the princess did at first not comprehend what she was seeing.

”Wait… That’s a city? Not a mountain or… or… or something? Goddess how in the world did anyone manage to build… all of that!” she declared in amazement once she found a little vantage point from which the city was visible. She took a few moments to just, acclimatize to the fact that mortal hands could apparently build something that big, and then turned her eyes to the vast stretches of land in between this town and there.

That was going to be a very long hike if they tried to take it on foot. Fortunately there were roads, if a bit ones that were rather snaky, but unfortunately their motor pool wasn't exactly the largest.

”I have a ride, but it fits three people comfortably, and even if we stack on in its not going to fit all of us I don’t think” she informed anyone who was listening, waving a hand and briefly showing off her warthog, the princess now rather wishing she had insisted on grabbing more vehicles or kept her technical from the races (she’d considered the warthog a direct upgrade).

”So, guess we’ll need to find more rides? Or maybe we can attach a coach wagon to the back, if we can find one” was her thoughts on that matter. It was certainly something she was going to look for. That and, well, just a map of the local area which might be handy for navigating from here to the city, something which she assumed would not be too tricky to get her hands on. These places of learning surely had libraries that might contain such a document, she thought, not considering that a simple bookstore would be a thing that would also exist in a town like this, one that might well sell local maps alongside its arrays of overpriced textbooks, unless she happened to run across one of those when the group went about exploring the town.

The first thing Jr did once everyone was on the train was put some of his new magics to work, the boy prince casting Medica a few times which pushed through all of the passengers of their carriage and fixed them all right up from any cat scratches, or worse, that they had received.

With that out of the way the Troop as a whole settled in for the public transport ride, enjoying the opportunity for a bit of rest before they got to this ‘under’ place. Unfortunately it turned out that the train did not actually end up taking them there, but instead to a spot that was above it.

”Guess you could call this the over, huh?“ Bowser Joked as they piled out of the train and into some worn down station that was not built for mass transit, if the limited surface access was anything to judge. The koopas took no part in that dinky little elevator, Bowser Mewoser scrambling up the wall while Kamek and Jr just flew up, leaving only Rika to to take up space on the various rides up.

Once everyone had ascended they all gathered up in a sad little town that was barely worth a look in the Troop’s collective opinion. So instead of taking a look around, the Troop trooped past the elderbug without a second thought and went to havea look down at what the unfriendly locals were also interested in: a massive, sprawling ravine.

”So, the Under’s down under all that somewhere then?” Jr asked as he raised a hand over his brows and spied down into the canyon and catching sight of a big ol dark pit all the way at the bottom. ”Probably that” he said as he pointed it out.

”I guess? Looks pretty rough going to walk there though, no, uh, direct path or anything down there” Rika said, before lifting up her gauntlets and deploying a pair of abyssal scout planes to go check it out. ”Ill see if I can find a good route” she explained as the two little aircraft hovered above her.

”I’ve got a new spell that will provide some excellent assistance in this situation” Kamek informed her, taking out his wand from a robe pocked. Rather than give it a wave, he instead pressed it rather gently forwards and then drew it back, somehow ‘pulling’ a few motes of raw mana from the ether. The wondrous raw magical potential likely caught the eyes of the numerous casters among the group, particularly when it did not get used up or fade away, but instead seemed to take on a life of its own.

As the little motes of light whispered to the caster, asking for his command, the magikoopa grinned to himself. The Sorceress may have fallen in the end, but her arrogance had not been without its merits. Her school of magic truly was masterful and full of nearly unlimited potential, and now that potential was all his. He could not wait to see how far he could push it.

”Go forth, and help Rika’s planes find us the best way down into the caverns” he commanded his latest creations. A sound like a mix of song and laughter came as a reply, before they took off, floating above or phasing through obstacles as together magic and machine worked together to devise an optimal route down into the pit.

”There we go, that should make things easier once they get back with some survey data. Now then, if we are going to go spelunking, it would be wise to pick up a thing or two for such an activity, yes?” Kamek suggested to the group at large, and got a slight agreement from the Troop.

They could, at the very least, likely make use of some extra light sources down there in the dark. Maybe some digging tools. They weren't going to need ropes or any other such navigation tools, other than maybe Rika, and her gauntlets made using such things tricky anyway, so she’d likely be getting carried if anti gravity gauntlets, shell jumping and new jet boosting couldn’t see her through.

The Travelers slammed into the train car, along with their allies. They arrived more or less around the same time, the space quickly becoming cramped with both Bowser and Sectonia squeezing in alongside Junior's clown car, but soon enough the doors closed and the cat attached to the train started running, doing it's thing to get them out of the metro. They'd all made it out in one piece.

...hopefully. As the train was moving and the Seekers could spread out a little, it became clear that the Purple Team were down two members: Big Band and the Ace Cadet. Neither Primrose nor Therion commented on it. During the ride, the former was happy to let someone else do the healing. Both the travelers felt their wounds mend and their pain fade, and they thanked the Koopa prince - one warmly, the other quietly.

When their train stopped, it was not at the Queen's Station, though it looked similar. Maybe it was the same place, but a different area? As one of the only two that had taken the Purple Line before, Therion didn't think it mattered either way. They were underground, or in "The Under" or whatever, so they were where they needed to be. As the group moved on they didn't see much around, save for a contraption made for taking people up.

The Travelers looked up at the lift, letting the more excitable of their group take the first ride while others just flew up the shaft. As they waited their turn, Therion said offhandedly, "I kind of get it now. The whole fusing thing."

Seeing the demonstrations, and the boons it had given the others - from the healing, to Primrose's teleportation, and no doubt many more - it wouldn't really matter how freakish they ended up looking. It was all a means to an end. The dancer looked over at him, waiting for him to continue.

"All of the skills from learning a new job, none of the hard work."

"There are some drawbacks," she told him, following with an example. "You get the good with the bad. I noticed since my recent fusion that the pyromancy I gained from another spirit seems to have been weakened."

So it was a good thing that the Seekers traveled in such large groups, they were able to accommodate each other's weaknesses. She did not say this aloud, but Therion seemed to sense the thought anyway if the curl of his nose was any indication.

"But if you want to try it, here." Primrose produced the spirits she had, that of a few of the metro cats and the one humanoid that had attacked Therion. He took one in each hand, raising a brow at his friend. When had she had time to grab these?

The thief considered the spirits in his hand, where the face of a metro cat and the blue haired man he'd killed stared back at him. In general, he wouldn't turn away from getting stronger. Who would? Besides, it wasn't permanent - he'd seen that princess take the spirits out of people back in Twilight Town, however unpleasant it looked.

"What the hell," he said, pressing both spirits to his chest.


When the light faded, he felt the changes right away. The scent of the earth was stronger than ever, and his ears, or rather his hearing, seemed clearer... speaking of his ears... Therion reached up to the top of his head, feeling the new additions there. He felt a tail flick behind him, his tail, and that sensation was so weird. He looked up at Primrose - Did I just get shorter? - who noted his new bright eyes in the dim cavern light. Or, eye - one of them was still obscured even though his hair had gotten shorter along with the color change. From below the bang, a facial scar peeked out, no longer fully hidden.

"Orange doesn't look that bad on you," Primrose teased. As expected, Therion rolled his eyes at her, though this time he couldn't keep a small grin from his face.

They rode on the lift next, out of the sunken station and into a dingy town (where Primrose offered the other cat spirits to the rest of the group). It looked pretty sad, but the town itself was only a part of the view. It sat in the shadow of a massive spire, on the edge of something incredible.

There before them was the Chasm, a hole wide and deep into the pit of the earth. The jagged rock around it suggested that some kind of sweeping, powerful blow had carved the Chasm into what it was now. It was quite beautiful in it's own way, the trees striking against the stone backdrop. Even with all of the man-made equipment and structures, it gave off the feeling of raw, powerful nature.

But when Therion looked at it, he had only one thought.

"Are you serious?" he groused. He had expected that they would start off underground, but now they had to descend? Whether it was a mountain or a pit, a long fall was a long fall.

While the Seekers took in the sight and no doubt came to the same conclusion that they'd have to descend, Primrose hailed the hunched, masked figure sitting nearby. "Might you tell us the name of this town?"

The Elderbug looked up, though his mask disguised his expression he seemed helpful at least. "Oh! Well, this is Dirtmouth. I hope you aren't too disappointed by our little town, travelers."

"Not at all," she replied. The town's name sparked some recognition in Therion, and he glanced at Jesse. Back at Queen's Station, she'd said something about Dirtmouth. The bugs had told her about it being hours away. The other stations must really have been dead ends, and wherever the train had just taken them was a new place - which meant they wouldn't have to do a grueling climb up before going back down.

"We lucked out, huh," he commented to the Director.

Rika and Kamek then set about scouting the Chasm, a smart idea. She watched the constructs, magical and mechanical, fly out over the gigantic pit and then turn down, scoping the route out. Then came the suggestion of gathering some things to prepare themselves for the descent.

"Just what I was thinking," Primrose agreed. She looked at the various miners and workers going about their business, figuring that even in a ramshackle town like this there must be a supplier of equipment somewhere close by, if not in the town itself. Perhaps some safety equipment for those of them that couldn't fly, like the gliders they'd used back on Split Mountain as a protection against plummeting down.

Pit only made it to the train just before the duo of Tora and Poppi, having covered where he could for the others. They squished inside, deemed safe once the cat-pulled train car took off. The Seekers sprawled out, healing, relaxing, and otherwise decompressing from the hectic chase.

"Did they really have to sic the entire subway on us? There were way too many!" the angel complained, leaning back in a seat with his legs stretched out.

He awaited Roxas' literal awakening after being spiritually awakened by Geralt's friend heart. He had been the most injured it seemed, and now that everyone else was patching themselves up or being patched up by the team's healers, all that was left during the ride was to fill the boy in on the nature of the World of Light. As it turned out, when Roxas regained consciousness he already had a good grasp on it.

"Whoa, you already know a lot," Pit said, surprised. "Yeah, I'm sure we'll run into them eventually! There's still a lot of people missing out there, but they're only missing until we find them!"

He pulled his legs up to sit cross-legged in the seat, nodding along to Midna's explanations. He only added a little more to it, like bringing up the 'army of master hands' - "So if you see a giant white floating glove, he's not that friendly right now. ...if he ever was?" - and mentioning the Seekers' base at Smash City Alcamoth, where he and a few others had come from to make it to Twilight Town in the first place. With that, Roxas was pretty much caught up.

After that, Midna asked about the symbols on her new guns, but since Pit didn't have a clue he just gave her a shrug. Soon enough the train came to a stop, arrived at it's destination. It turned out to be a bustling town, modern and colorful. The buildings were mostly brick and mortar, including three huge structures with many people going in and out, mostly on the younger side.

"So what's this place?" Pit questioned, squinting at the lettering on the buildings that he couldn't even read in the first place. Nearby, Blazermate answered the question with enthusiam.

"Schools? Uh, why would there be superpowers in a school?" he asked of the Medabot, his tone incredulous. Besides the superpowers, why would they find 'terror' there either? "Don't kids just go to learn stuff there? It's probably pretty boring.

"Plus we're not in the right place. Midgar is supposed to be a super big city." As he said that, the Twilight Princess exclaimed about a mountain-like city, and sure enough when Pit turned to look in that direction there was no way to miss what she saw. "Skyscraper" was an understatement, the metal buildings they saw from here were crazy big. He could scarcely imagine how large they were up close!

"Wow, it's huge! That must be it!" Well, finding the place had been easy thanks to the immense size of it. Getting to it would be another issue, as was pointed out. "I guess it is a little far to walk."

So the first mission for the "Black Team" would be securing transportation, which would give them a chance to explore the town a little. Borrowing some wheels shouldn't be too difficult!

Sakura and Karin rushed into the train, with Sakura flinging herself onto a seat and Karin taking a seat. For a moment, both girls flattened out their skirts. It took them both a second to realize they didn’t have skirts anymore and they both chuckled. Sakura rubbed her head and shoulder, and Karin wiped her lips to make sure there wasn’t any saliva on them.

“My goodness. Splendid work, everyone. Geralt, Roxas, Pit, Susie, Blazermate, Tora, Poppi, Midna, Peach, Bede, Raz…Sakura. It seems all of us but Wonder Red made it to their intended destination. Our mission can continue unhindered.” Karin said, straightening her posture.

”I hope everyone’s okay…” Sakura whispered. ”I think we’ll see them all again in a few days, at our next meeting. After we defeat the next two Guardians.” She said, nodding resolutely.

Then, suddenly: ”I’m not going to let this experience ruin my opinion of cats.” Sakura said, clapping a fist against her thigh. ”I mean, I am a dog person. I have a dog. But cats are cute too, y’know?”
Karin nodded sagely. They listened in on Roxas’ introduction to the Seekers. Sakura nodded as he stated his new mission. “That’s right, Mister Roxas. I think a lot of us are looking for our friends and, uh, family. I’m sure they’ll turn up. Besides, nobody covers more ground than the Seekers do, right?” Sakura said optimistically, mostly free of her doubt. Since her time in the World of Light, she’d come to terms with the ‘Gleaming’ situation.
Karin stared thoughtfully at the back of Sakura’s head, drawing the Street Fighter’s attention.
”What’s up, Miss Karin?”

“During our battle you asked to trade opponents. Why?”

”Oh, um.” Sakura shrank into herself lightly. ”I…I dunno. It was…it was weird.” Hesitating, she geared herself up to share some pretty heavy intel.

”Back on, um- there was- okay. There was this really scary ship called the Maw. Remember I told you about it?” Sakura asked. Karin nodded. ”Well, um…on that ship, it was really scary. I was tied up and, I was gonna be eaten and…” Sakura exhaled. ”Wow, this is harder than I thought.”

”And when that Cliffheart girl got my hands together, it was- it was like I was there. It was like I was back on the Maw. I’ve never seen- never felt anything like it before. I can’t describe it, but it was awful. And it caught me so off guard, I just- I just couldn’t fight her.” Sakura finished, rubbing her own arms and suppressing a shudder. A thought occurred to her. ”Now that I think about…I wonder if something similar happened when I was fighting Risky? My memories got a little fuzzy afterward.” She said.

”...I see.” Karin said. “How bizarre. Perhaps you’ve been traumatized?”

”T-traumatized?!” Sakura was alarmed. ””Geez I- I sure hope not! I don’t wanna be traumatized.” She dropped to the floor of the subway and started doing push ups.

”Oh, must you? That floor is disgusting, surely.” Karin said, nudging Sakura’s shoulder with her boot.

”Oh, right, probably.” Sakura jumped up and started doing jumping jacks instead, her hair and bandana bouncing up and down.

Karin watched Sakura, eyebrow raised. ”We’ll have to look into this. You can’t freeze up in battle.”

”I know! I don’t like that idea more than anybody. Just not sure what to do about it.” She said, jumping up and down. ”I really didn’t like that feeling.”

Karinn showed Sakura her wrist-mounted grappling hook weapon. ”Perhaps some testing is in order. Once we have a moment. For now we should focus on the objective at hand- we’ve no idea what’ll be waiting for us at our destination.”

Sakura reluctantly nodded, finishing out her set of jumping jacks and moving onto a series of stretches.

Soon they were at their destination. Yasoinaba Station in particular struck Sakura as fondly familiar. ”This looks like it could be from someplace right where I live! It’s exactly the kind of train station you’d see in my hometown. ” Smiling, she spotted lettering on the wall. ”Yasoinaba station!” She read aloud for everyone, proudly showing off her bilingual ability. Karin smirked and rolled her eyes and made her way outside.

Emerging into the daylight, they spotted not one, but three academies. A trio of them all relatively huddled together.

Karin set her finger on her chin, a bead of sweat running down her head. ”Hmm…I see.”

”Wow, look, Karin.” Sakura said flatly.

”...M’yes, I-” She began.

Sakura jumped on Karin’s back and started pulling on her ear. ”If only someone here had a freakin’ school uniform!!”

”Ah! Unhand me!” Karin, indignant, managed to grab onto Sakura’s arm and dislodge her to the ground. Sakura laughed, facepalming.

”It’s- they’re western schools, anyway, you buffoon!” Karin said, crossing her arms and looking away from everyone.”If anything the track suit makes you blend in more than a seifuku would!”

”I guess you’re right, Karin.” Sakura said, teasingly. ”But hey, yeah, everyone! This almost looks like a place where we’re from. Though the schools wouldn’t be so close together, I think.” She stood up and looked around, scratching her brown hair.

”Huh. It must really suck to still have to do homework. This is kind of confusing to me. Are they just learning the regular stuff and pretending like nothing crazy is going on because of You-Know-What?” Sakura pondered.

She turned and spotted Midna’s magical ability to produce awesome space-vehicles from mid air. ”That’s amazing, Miss Princess Midna! Oh, man! If I had my bike, I could ride that around…I left it at Alcamoth because we had to take those weird, small boats.” Sakura complained. Enviously, she looked around at everyone with their bicycles. ”...I wouldn't have freakin’ bought it if I knew we were coming to a place like this! I could go buy one right now and actually get to use it! Aw, man, this sucks!”

Karin was looking away, and noticed along with everyone else the massive city in the distance.

”Now, that, I imagine…is our point of interest. Midgar, no doubt. If our Guardian is anywhere, it’s either there, or we can learn of its location there.” Karin concluded confidently. ”In addition to battling whatever injustice may be occurring, of course.

Sakura jogged up alongside. ”Wow, that is the biggest building I’ve ever seen! If I were a bad guy, I’d be sitting right at the tippy top and looking over my entire empire, stroking a cat with an eyepatch. Isn’t that right, Karin?” She nudged her friend with her elbow.

”Precisely.” Karin nodded. ”Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”

Sakura had already moved on. ”Yeah, that place is cool, but this place is also cool. If it really is like where I’m from, then we won’t be seeing any magical monsters or scary bad guys. At worst, just some creeps. But I can happily beat up any creep in the world, so that’s not a problem either.” Sakura said. ”There’s gotta be something we can use here. Not at these schools, though. If there’s a car shop we could buy a truck! I dunno about a coach wagon though, Midna. At the very least, I’m going to go see about a new bicycle. Maybe I can guilt Miss Karin into buying one for me since she’s so rich.”

”...I’m right here!”

Sakura was still talking. ”Come on everyone, let’s go look around! There’s gotta be something useful or fun around here. Like an electronics store full of radios! We can meet back here soon? Like, an hour? Thirty minutes? Something? Thumbs up thumbs up?” Sakura was already backing away, shooting semi-automatic akimbo thumps at her fellow Seekers, hoping to compel at least one of them to follow her. Karin snatched Sakura by the wrist before she got too far away.

”Take this coin purse, if you must. I’ve no interest in keeping up with your wondrous sense of exploration. Practical purchases only.” Karin said, handing her a small bag with the equivalent of 1000 gold inside. Sakura grinned. ”Kasugano ‘Practical’ Sakura. That’s me.”

If all went well and she wasn’t interrupted, Sakura dashed off into town with anyone that chose to accompany her. If she was all alone, so be it! The Street Fighter was on the lookout for bicycle shops, and maybe an electronics shop. To buy walkie-talkies for everyone, an idea Sakura had right at that very moment and was now very excited about. And also, troublemakers. Goons, gangsters, etc. If she ran into any bullies like that, she wouldn’t complain. Or anyone or anything that looked interesting or fun. Best case scenario, she ran into someone strong and she could get into a quick street fighter before the Seekers moved on!

Sakura would freerun up onto rooftops and across them, or she’d take ‘shortcuts’ through any alleyways to cover as much ground as possible.

Karin, meanwhile, would stick with the largest group and continue to strategize. ”Those odd roads look interesting. They’ll lead us to Midgar. Walking would take far too long. If we cannot buy or rent our own vehicles, there might be…public transportation, of some kind.” Karin said, failing to completely hide the distaste in her voice. ”Since that went so well last time. Regardless. Let us begin our search for automobiles, or, any other type of ‘ride.’” With that, she went to find the largest street around. A main street, if you will. Such a place would be a nexus of the town. While Sakura piddled and paddled about in the side streets, Karin searched in search of transportation with, ideally, some of the more non-distracted Seekers.

The further the trio ran, the more hopeless the thought of reuniting with the other Seekers for their respective missions became. The trains could have taken off already without them, or worse - one or more of them could have succumb to the onslaught. The Cadet chose to believe that everyone else had made it out alright though, given how tough and resourceful the people he'd come to consider friends had proven themselves to be. Anyway, if he, Band, and Red couldn't meet up with their teammates then they'd figure out a plan of action later once they were safe.

So they toughed it out, lungs burning until they could see escape in front of them. It wasn't one of the many colored metro stations that they ran toward, but an exit from the metro altogether. Daylight filtered in through the windows and doors of a wider open space, and it was through there that the three men made it out. Even after bursting out of the metro, the Cadet didn't stop running until the sound of feline tidal wave was cut off. He then slowed to a jog, then a stop as he turned back and noted that none of the cats were following them out.

"Oh my wrog..." he panted, working to catch his breath quick. He made his way back toward the other two, craning his neck to get a look at the city while they were out there. It was huge, more modern looking than not, and pretty damn cold. If the Cadet had to take a guess where they were, it would be that vague frozen section of the map they'd gone over at Alcamoth. Of course the most striking thing about the area was the super massive bumblepumpkin in front of them, in fact being where they'd just exited. That the entire metro had really been indoors, and not just underground somewhere was mind-boggling. As an aside, the fact that other-worldly cultures also carved their bumblepumpkins like his did was amusing.

The Cadet refocused his attention back on the doors that the trio had just come from. Through the glass they could see what remained of their pursuers, unwilling to leave the building. Though glad that the chase was over for now, it would have been a lot easier to lose a big chunk of the cats in city streets, he thought. Then, maybe they could have snuck back inside and chanced another trek toward the stations. With the horde staying put inside, that was a pipe dream.

"This giggisux," the Ace Cadet said, staring into the slowly disappearing crowd of cats behind the doors. "What are we gonna do now? We can't get back inside. I guess we call a Moogle and let home base know what happened, see how far away we are?" From the other two teams or from Alcamoth, he didn't specify. He let out a groan, rubbing the back of his head.

Among the metro cats, only one pursuer remained while the rest retreated back into the depths of the Nyakuza Metro. She was more woman than cat, with a large frame and the Gleaming coloration that forced her to stay and fight even while she was suffering from the cold. She charged then, right at Big Band. She was so focused on her prey that she didn't notice the monster hunter come up next the detective, and with shield still in hand he swung his arm out into her path. She crashed into it, skull colliding with the thick steel.

As it turns out, Mewo was sitting up above the entrance to the train, waiting on him. Omori motioned for her to climb down, and the two shambled into the car. He flopped down onto the nearest seat and allowed his pet to climb onto his lap. He was lucky he wore black. The blood would be a pain to clean out. The two watched the rest of the team scramble into the train, and before Omori could reach into his backpack (Which luckily didn't get bloodied) for any snacks to heal himself, Junior took the initiative to heal everyone. Even him.

"...Thanks."

"Meow. (Thank you.)"

The two thanked the prince. If anyone asked about the sudden appearance of a black cat, Omori would hold Mewo up and simply introduce her with: "Mewo." But for most of the trip, the boy rested his eyes.

Though as it slowly turned out, their destination was not deep underground. As the team climbed out from the station, Omori's eyes widened slightly in recognition, and he quickly walked out in front of the rest. He turned around to face the rest of the team.

"Welcome to....Dirtmouth."

Of course, the introduction was botched when the Koopa Troop rudely eagerly passed the Elderbug and towards the Chasm, while the Octo Duo went about to get information themselves, more than ready to get to work. Omori's expression was nothing short of unamusement. He sighed, reaching down to pet Mewo, who was rubbing up against his leg. "Feel free to look around." Was all he said before he stepped away to talk with Elderbug, the cat following behind.

After a moment, Omori joined the rest overseeing the Chasm. "Nice view, isn't it?" He attempted to break the ice, before noticing that Kamek and Rika were already trying to scout out the area. Well, he was tempted to suggest they could take the route he took, but something told him not to.

So without a word he went on ahead of them, not sparing a minute to wait as he followed the same path he took before. If anyone was willing to follow him, he wouldn't complain.

Jesse took a seat in the metro with the others, brushing a strand of red hair out of her forehead. She did a brief headcount.

Don’t think everyone made it to where they wanted to go. Well, I did all I could. I didn’t make the mistake of going too easy on my opponents this time, at least. I’m interested in seeing more of this beetle-topia situation.

Jesse patiently waited her turn for the lift, observing and admiring the stately architecture of the terminus. Bowser is way too big to be moving like that. It’d be unnerving if it wasn’t so…adorable? He’s like a big dragon cat turtle.

Glancing around, she spotted a sign that gave information about the rest of the Purple Line. MTT Resort and Queen’s Station- how far away were they? There wasn’t much there in terms of usefulness to objectives as far as she could tell, though they both certainly looked like interesting places. This place, according to a dusty sign, was the Dirtmouth Stag Station…which, from what the residents at Queen’s Station had told her, was well, well above Queen’s Station.

We’re gonna have to find the Guardian somehow. But this place is ginormous. It could be anywhere, guarded by who knows what kind of freaky underground monsters. I hope it’s not just keeping its head down somewhere or this’ll be a slog. What the hell would we do if the Guardian was an immortal roach hiding under a rock in miles and miles of cave network? I don’t imagine it’s that, though, if the last Guardian was any indication. Still, there’s gotta be a way to find out what the Guardian is and a rough location. Maybe Organization 13 will help us out again, if they’re so inclined. Or maybe that Master Hand thing I’ve heard so much about will give us a clue again. I’m assuming there has to be some kind of reason for all this, but it could genuinely just be some bureaucratic bullshit in a file somewhere that mandates a certain amount of monologues and clues. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Once they were up the lift, Jesse squinted against the sunlight and peered around at the small, sad bug town. Omori made a grand introduction. Jesse glanced over at him. “Have you been here before, Omori?” She asked off-handedly.

Despite it being so utterly alien on the surface, it reminded her of the many forgotten towns she had passed through and stayed in during her life after Ordinary.

Honestly? The biggest difference is that this place actually has a train line. And, from the looks of it…

She glanced around at the very busy workers. It still has an economy. Bizarre. Wonder why this place is so empty, then? Is there some magnate somewhere pushing all the locals out? Or maybe it’s just a result of Galeem’s little doll house project. Things don’t have to make sense, they just have to look the part. It’s anyone’s guess though- we’re just passing through. Jesse approached the beginning of the quarry and peered over the edge, taking in it’s massive depth with an appreciative whistle. Hearing the word ‘Dirtmouth’ she tuned into the conversation Primrose and Therion were having with the Elderbug.

Jesse waved once to the Elderbug and nodded her head, a familiar gesture like they were old friends. Then she looked at Therion. “My best guess is that the Guardian is somewhere between here and Queen’s Station, since that seemed like the lowest level. But from what they told us there, this place is way, way above Queen’s Station. So we’ve got our work cut out for us in terms of a search.” She said. Then she glanced over at Kamek.

“Yep. I don’t have a flashlight on me. I do, however, have a very tiny car in my pocket.” Jesse said…wisely.

“Be on the lookout for headlamps. I imagine we’ll need our hands in order to fight all the giant monsters that are no doubt eagerly awaiting our arrival. If we brought some heavier duty lights, I could shrink them and carry ‘em with us to expand and use later, too. Though, after that, my jacket will officially be out of pockets.” She admitted. “Need a backpack or something.”

“I’m also a little low on cash…” She said, rolling her shoulder. “So. I probably can’t pay for anything unless we want to stick around to do some odd jobs. Or just…regular jobs. I’ve been told I’m pretty good with a mop.”

Jesse turned and saw Omori heading down a path, with some of the Koopa Troop’s minions scouting ahead. She didn’t mind that the group would spread itself out a little, but she didn’t want any member to be too isolated. From a short distance away she traced Omori’s footsteps, making her way down the sloping surface of the aptly named Dirtmouth.

After an intense battle with a bunch of cats back at the metro, Bede managed to board the train. it soon arrived at its destination. That destination appeared to be a small town with a bunch of students going to and fro. School, Bede never really thought about school that much. He was sure that was a thing people did back home, but he had never been to one. They had teachers at the orphanage, and once Chairman Rose adopted him, he was given a Pokémon, and it was straight to challenging gym leaders.

Blazermate talked about superpowers and whatnot, which sounded farfetched, but Bede had to admit, he wanted to know what it was like inside of a real school… But that wasn’t what they were here for. Where they wanted to go was way far in the distance. A big city that looked very far away. Too far to walk too. “It’s too far for us to walk to.” Bede said to Pit. “But can’t you fly? Or are those wings just for show?”

Their goal right now was to find some sort of transportation. He could ride on Ponyta, but that might be too far for her too. “You don’t suppose one of the students attending these schools would know where we can get some transportation do you?”

Once Tora and Poppi stepped out of Yasoinaba Station, the pair found themselves agog at yet another amazing place his globe-trotting group wound up in. This might seem strange to a number of their friends, since to them this place probably registered as totally ordinary, or at least contemporary. To natives of Alrest, however, the very existence of such big places was a foreign concept. That held true for the land itself in the Sandswept Sky, with the jaw-dropping enormity of the desert sands and Split Mountain, but it also applied to cities and towns just like this one. Only a couple cities on the scale of Al Mamoon or even Radlandia existed in his world; that such civilization seemed utterly commonplace here would awe the young Nopon and his invention for some time.

“More castles!” Tora exclaimed excitedly. His attention flew between Gutsford University, Blackwell Academy, and Bullworth Academy. “Which one friends visit first?”

Poppi put her hands on her hips, her metal armor clanking softly. Her optics took in the impressive buildings, the people who milled around them, and their level of security–or lack thereof. She glanced over at Tora. Despite the team’s dangerous headlong rush through the Metro, her Masterpon seemed to be in high spirits. Did he just not realize, or not really care? When she took her habitual head count once the danger passed, the total number of allies came up one short of what she expected. Wonder Red was nowhere to be seen. Of course, there wasn’t much they could have done. If they waited any longer for the train to depart, the feline hordes might have literally stopped them in their tracks. She could only hope that Red made it out with the other team, and that her sometimes-inconsiderate Masterpon hoped the same.

“Probably not castles. Remember, everything just big in World of Light,” she pointed out.

Blazermate wasted no time pointing out what they really were: schools. A good look around turned up their names as well, emblazoned on signs on the perimeter of the three schools’ grounds in their respective colors, surrounded by their respective imagery. Gutsford’s banners and flags laid claim to brazen red, white, and black, with the likeness of roaring or grinning bears accompanying the appellation “Gutsford Kumas”. The oldest students could be found on its grounds, most of them adults in fact, and many wore jerseys or varsity jackets that shared their college’s symbology. Neither of the other schools appeared to be quite so loud, either from an auditory or visual perspective, with Blackwell sleepier and Bullworth perilously close to downright grim.

Even if they weren’t castles, Blazermate seemed keen to explore them, and Bede considered asking a student for information. These places weren’t schools of Japanese origin, but some of the students appeared to be, which ignited some sort of fire in the Medabot’s soul. Pit didn’t seem interested, though, and said that they sounded boring. Having already made a mental note that the angel appeared to be illiterate, Poppi wondered if he might benefit more from a visit than he thought.

Peach didn’t seem too keen about the idea, either. “If they are schools, then as unaffiliated adults, or unenrolled children…” She cast a glance at Raz, Roxas, and Bede as she offered her advice. “We aren’t allowed on the premises.”

Tora shrugged as best he could without shoulders. “Meh. It too quick and easy if we meet Guardian here, anyway.”

Luckily, the Seekers weren’t at a total loss as to where their destined foe might be. Few could doubt, after turning their incredulous eyes on the far-off steely metropolis, that Karin had the right idea. While those privy to the initial meeting between Alcamoth and Bridges remembered what Deadman said about the place’s size and advancement, they could see -even from here- that his words did not do the city of Midgar justice.

Midna was hardly the only one floored by the sight. “Meeeh…” Tora breathed. “Is bigger than Titan!”

“Maybe not vertically, but by Poppi’s calculations, not even Mor Ardain could carry on back,” his companion chimed in, her tone hushed.”

Peach took a deep breath, admiring the city from afar. It possessed a certain monolithic beauty, like a shining beacon of civilization, and she could hardly wait to see it up close. She nodded and echoed the conclusion drawn by Karin and Pit. “I agree. So far, our ultimate destinations have always been the biggest, most dramatic location in each region. My castle, the End, Split Mountain…even if it’s not in Midgar, there’s no better place to start.”

Right now, though, that starting line was a long, long way off. Much too far to walk, as the others noticed, even without taking into account any problems they might encounter on the way there. Without trains, go karts, or the Virgin Victory to speed them on their way, the Seekers would need to find some other way to go the distance, and as much as he wanted to drive the beefy-looking four-wheeler Midna showed off, Tora knew one Warthog wouldn’t cut it.

“Let’s split up and see what we can find, then,” Peach announced. “But keep an eye out. This place looks safe, and might not be important for our mission, but it looks like there’s more than one Consul, and if they found us before, they can do it again. There’s no telling who, or what, we might find.”

“Yes-yes!” Tora agreed. The team broke off into a few smaller groups, but without any idea what they really wanted to do for now, he and Poppi lingered for a few moments longer, watching the people of Gutsford go about their business. As the others left, however, he noticed something weird. Every few seconds a bush or hedge by the station shook in a way that didn’t quite gel with the wind. When Tora took a closer look around, things got weirder. He started to see brief, vague glimpses of eyes, peering out from bushes, through blinds, or even from trash cans. It didn’t phase him too much, since this happened in Radlandia too, with the eyes in windows and sewer grates and all. These were human-sized, though, always came in pairs at the same height, and always disappeared within a second or so after he looked their way. “Hmm.” Turning around, Tora saw a trash can lid slam shut suddenly, and waddled over to open it. Try as he might, however, he couldn’t pull the lid off.

After a moment he gave a grunt of annoyance. “Poppi?” he called. “Can come over and…!” When he turned to look her way he saw a camera pop out of the hedge behind her, which proceeded to snap a photo of them both. “Poppi!” The Nopon ran over as the camera disappeared back inside the hedge, raced past his confused companion, and pulled the hedge open with his wings. When he spread wide the leafy branches, however, nothing was inside.

“Everything okay, Masterpon?” Poppi asked. “What need from Poppi?”

Tora exhaled and stepped back, his brows furrowed. “Nevermind. Just Tora’s imagination playing tricks.” He dusted his wings off and turned to his companion. “Tora just have idea for new Poppi feature, though. Come with Tora!”

---

The team’s reconnaissance of Gutsford soon began, with Karin and Midna heading the search for transportation. This town featured a roughly triangular layout, with three double-wide avenues running at sixty degree angles and a roundabout at each point. The center of the triangle housed its business, with lots of one-way side streets, while suburban neighborhoods branched out from the exterior. Situated just above Gutsford’s northernmost point was its titular university, with the other academies on either side, and the train station on the other side of the roundabout. It featured very light traffic, with more people using bikes, mopeds, scooters, and skateboards than cars, and all the buildings had enough room to breathe. That bode poorly for means of long-distance transportation, but it also meant that the hubs that did exist were easy to find. As it happened, they shared the same position that Yasoinaba Station did: the interior of the triangular city’s roundabout ‘points’.

At the bottom-left lay the Bus Depot, the home of the yellow busses that shuttled students around the town from home to school and back again. Though they operated within Gutsford most of the time, a little chatting revealed that while the buses weren’t available for public use, they did rarely get used to transport passengers across the wastes, despite the unnecessary risk. At the bottom-right lay the Trade Depot, the resting place of the supply trucks that ran up from Midgar to deposit their shipments, refuel, and head back empty-handed. The visitors found a whole squadron of haulers there currently, with a departure imminent. Unfortunately for the heroes, the truck drivers -who worked specific jobs and schedules for their corporate masters in the city- were not permitted to take passengers for liability purposes. Additional inquiry turned up precious little more. Helicopters sometimes buzzed around, but they flew here and there at the city’s whims, not Gutsford’s. No car dealerships could be found here, and the mechanic here was not at all like Mumbo’s Motors. At the very least, bicycles and similar modes of transport were ubiquitous.

Sakura’s search for electronics took her to a promising foot traffic street denoted as the Shopping District, one of the few enclosed by an overhead roof, reminiscent of Kichijoji. After passing the cozy video store Random Play, run by siblings Belle and Wise, she found a big, brightly-lit shop that seemed to be hogging up most of the avenue’s business. It made sense, because in a town full of students nothing screamed ‘teens’ more than phones. Electronics Superstore Akindo featured all the latest models and brands, with some affordable and not-so-affordable service plans, but it also stocked some other everyday gadgets like music players and game consoles. In one corner she finally found them: six short-wave radio transmitters, used mostly as toys by children in Gutsford, but perfect for the Seekers. The store owner and technological sophisticate Kyle offered her a very fair price for them.

On the way out she happened to meet Tora and Poppi going in. The artificial blade greeted Sakura in her QT form, which blended in with the Gutsford populace a little better than her knightly Alpha or rather suggestive QT Pi modes, and after the three exchanged hellos the duo disappeared inside Akindo, on the hunt for some sort of device Tora wanted. Sakura only got a couple steps away from the door, however, before chaos befell the Shopping District. Four young men tore through the pedestrian-only zone on motorcycles, whooping and hollering as they scattered anything and everything in their way. The townsfolk, some of them just kids, had to hurry to get out of the riders’ way. A moment later the hoodlums blew past the electronics store, and a moment after that they surged out into the street beyond, forcing a school bus to screech to a halt.

“Ugh, damn Punks!” A spiky-haired boy in purple, not much younger than Sakura, jumped to his feet and furiously adjusted his rumpled clothes. “Next time I’m gonna beat your asses!” he yelled after the interlopers after they’d already gone before scowling. “Tch! Hope you bastards get run over by the Clustertrucks!” he growled, kicking at the dust.

Elsewhere, while Pit, Midna, and Karin looked into the other transport hubs, Peach ended up with Geralt, Bede, Raz, Roxas, and Blazermate. After convincing the Medabot not to go snooping around the schools in hopes of catching a live anime episode, they headed down the street with no particular goal in mind. At one point they did catch a glimpse of a Trubbish being played with by a stray Momo, which looked like a good chance for Bede to gain some experience with his new Pokemon. The Pokemon did not, however, explain the persistent feeling of being watched, which the Seekers could not seem to shake.



Other than students, plenty of workers called Gutsford home, and this third of the triangle in particular buzzed with activity. A lot of road work was being done, with a number of streets closed off. Handfuls of tall, lanky workers, all sporting the same distinctive khaki trench-and-hat uniform, stood around the various projects making themselves busy with the various tools of their trade. When Peach gave them a second glance, though, she raised an eyebrow at how the workers were using them.

Phone line repairmen stood around telephone poles with phones and ladders, saying things like ‘Please stay back. There is a severe electrocution danger’ and ‘I can climb telephone poles’ in a monotonous voice. Sewer workers wielded plungers as they stood around their manholes, muttering ‘I need to prevent blockages and this device is one of my tools’, ‘I am a waste management technician’, and ‘feces’. They seemed more interested in swinging their plungers like golf clubs and playing them like trumpets than putting them to any good use, though. Gardeners held their cans like cups of tea or soup tureens, announcing, ‘it is a good day for watering plants’ and ‘without water, these plants would die’. Worst of all, the road workers used their signs as shovels, pickaxes, and even guitars, assuring anyone who came near that, ‘the road is out, and we are working on it’, ‘not a thru street’, and ‘thank goodness it is Friday’. No matter where she looked, though, Peach seemed to discover workers looking her group’s way, their red eyes not-so-subtly gawking at the Seekers of Light.

Becoming more paranoid, the princess turned onto a side street leading into the business sector. It was a service road that ran between the backsides of a number of shops, including a butcher, a seafood grocer, a bakery, and a pet shop, allowing new stock to be taken in and waste to be taken out. She wanted to get away from all the unwelcome eyes, but halfway through the otherwise empty alley her group came to a halt. A few more of the men had appeared at the opposite end, all holding calculators and rulers. “What a lovely day for us students to walk about the town”, one said. “I’m putting off my homework because I don’t want to do it,” another replied. “I hope one day I, as a student, will be able to pay off my debt,” a third bemoaned, monotone as the others. As they spoke, the trio advanced, slowly but steadily, doing their best to seem casual. Peach looked over her shoulder to find that some road workers now stood in front of the side street. “Yes, we are all on the road crew. Our backs are killing us”, one said. “Sorry, road crew only.”

The two sides began to converge. While they did not seem hostile, they were unnerving, and they had the Seekers trapped. Unless they jumped, climbed, or flew over the buildings, of course, or chose violence. As Peach considered her options, the back door to the pet shop creaked open. “Psst.” Inside were two men in blue suits, a pair of identical twins. “In here! Just stay calm, walk in like you’re supposed to be here, and everything will be fine.”



Nadia spent the ride to the Under in uncomfortable silence. Not in physical discomfort like Sectonia, who had to squeeze herself inside a human-sized subway car, but in the turmoil of her own thoughts. In her mad dash through the Metro and her ensuing back-alley brawl, she hadn’t thought about Ace once, which only now gnawed at her because the Monster Hunter hadn’t appeared before the incoming mob of cats forced Purple Team to get a move on. The ‘why’ was obvious; she just expected him to have made it, just as she expected everyone else to. After all, aside from her run-in with Zelmer it had been smooth sailing, more like a fun game of tag than running for her life. When she slid into the train like a baseball player to home plate, she’d been snickering to herself about the situation, about how that important-sounding cat lady had mobilized an entire city’s worth of enemies and still got nothing to show for it.

Only after Nadia got done patting herself on the back did she realize that the Empress might have proven her wrong, after all. When forced to flee, her team’s train got underway with not only Ace, but also Big Band nowhere to be seen. For a time the disconsolate feral couldn’t help but fear the worst, peering into the infinite darkness beyond the subway windows. Had she just been behaving selfishly again, thinking about nothing but her own skin, just like back on the Maw? Gradually, though, she convinced herself that she was just being silly. Not, as Nadia noticed with a chuckle, in her usual way, but silly nonetheless. She didn’t know Big Band, but he looked tough, and he was huge. She just couldn’t picture the brassy titan succumbing to a bunch of two-foot-nothings like the Metro cats. Nadia did know Ace, though, and she knew just how capable he was. He didn’t need her watching over him; his superhuman physique and never-say-die attitude would be enough. So this wasn’t a goodbye, but an until-we-meet-again. The feral inhaled deeply through her nose, closed her eyes, and relaxed in her seat.

…Still. Even if he didn’t need her…she wished she could be with him, anyways.

When the train came to a stop, she disembarked with the others, and like many of them didn’t wait for the lift. Instead she climbed up the walls of the shaft, finding plenty of purchase in the shells’ ridges and grooves to dig her claws into. Nadia emerged into the afternoon sun, breathed deep of the fresh mountain air, waved at the endearingly doddering Elderbug, and stretched her arms as she scoped out the great craggy basin that lay before her. This whole place itself lay in a valley surrounded by the magnificent Valtarra Mountains on all sides but one, a canyon leading to the east. “A lot to take in,” she muttered, her eyes roaming across the camps and worksites that dotted the place. Most of the structures here looked old, some to the point of dilapidation, but still a good number of people seemed eager to unearth whatever this place had to offer. The cat burglar reached out her hand and closed her fist around the pit at the very bottom, where her own team’s treasure hunt would probably begin. “And it’s all ‘mine’.”

As always, the Koopa Troop seemed happy to take the first step. Both Kamek and Rika deployed some flying minions to fly down and get a lay of the land, and while Nadia couldn’t imagine how either the miniature planes or that ball of light might communicate any of their findings, she didn’t object one bit. She watched the scouting party soar down over the tricky terrain, sweeping down the slopes and weaving through furrows of stone and ruddy grass. They passed through and around a couple of campsites and quarries, garnering reactions from ordinary laborers and unsavory ne’er-do-wells alike, but generally it looked like the team’s agility would allow them to circumvent most obstacles on the way down if they chose. Finally they reached the lowest portion, where the inclines suddenly got a lot steeper, and then disappeared behind the stony cliffs. There they found the Chasm, a yawning, mostly cylindrical pit deep into the earth, so deep that none of the scouts could make out the bottom. Winches surrounded it to lower small wooden mining platforms into the depths so that workers could carve new tunnels into the pit walls. One heavy-duty crane stood above all the others, however: the biggest and sturdiest by far. Likewise, it supported the biggest platform, suspended dead center over the Chasm, not for giving miners access to the walls, but for lowering people all the way down to the bottom–however far below that might be.

While the scouts drummed up a path, Nadia and the others made their preparations up at Dirtmouth. It was a solid plan, but unfortunately she didn’t really know what one would need for an underground expedition. This would be her first time delving beneath the land’s surface not counting Carcass Isle of course, but that had been more of a dungeon anyway. This seemed to be an entire region beneath the surface, so who knew how long the team might be down there? The Deep Blue Seaside campaign took days, after all, and that involved both lots of guidance and copious amounts of luck. Hopefully both would come the Seekers’ way this time, too.

Luck couldn’t be bought in a store, though, so as the others searched for a supplier of some kind Nadia took it upon herself to look for guidance. She found her way to a curious-looking building, one of the very few that seemed to be open in any capacity, and strolled inside to find a long-nosed bug lady slumped over the counter, a dejected mood about her. Upon seeing Nadia, she sighed, although the feral assumed it was less ‘at her’ and more just in general. “Bah fannada,” she greeted.

“Bah fannada to you too!” Nadia smiled, sauntering over to join the lady. After noting the nameplate on the countertop, she leaned her elbow on the counter as well and rested her head in her hands. “Everythin’ okay, Ms. Iselda? If I didn’t know any better I’d say that somethin’s buggin’ ya.”

“Ha, ha, never heard that one before,” Iselda said sarcastically, hanging her head for a moment.

Nadia gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry, had to get it outta my system. Seriously though, ya doin’ alright? If there’s any trouble, I don’t wanna be a bother.”

“No, it’s fine.” Iselda shifted herself slightly, clearing her throat. Despite being a giant bug, which admittedly gave Nadia the creeps a little, her tone and body language were just like anyone else’s, and they told the feral that Iselda wasn’t angry. “Just waiting for my husband to get back. Corny’s down below, making his maps like always. He'll pop back occasionally to deliver new maps for the store but I do wish he'd spend a little more time up here. I've not much interest in retail myself.”

Tilting her head, Nadia gave what she hoped was a comforting smile. “Aw, man. Well, if it’s any help, that’s where we’re headed. Might need his maps too, so we’ll keep an eye out for ya!”

“Will you really? Well, you’ll know you’re near if you see any discarded paper around. Thank you.” The act of bowing her head to show respect made Nadia wonder if Iselda’s lack of interest in retail stemmed from a more disciplined background. “You’re new in town, then? Now, let's see what's here for me to sell.”

Nadia’s ears went rigid as straightened up, taken by surprise. “Oh, ah, don’t bother. I’m actually kinda, sorta flat broke. Not a lick of cents to my name. Thanks for the help, though!”

Judging by her shrug, Iselda wasn’t too bothered. Maybe in such an inhospitable place, even an everyday interaction like this could lift someone’s spirits. “Well, if you mine any Geo or Mora down there, you’ll know where to find us. Good luck, miss.”

“He-ey, you’re the best!” Laden with even more valuable info, Nadia treated her new friend to the double finger-guns as she backed out of the map shop, then scampered over to find the others.

Being a remote and not really livable city, Dirtmouth lacked any sort of general store, but the supply hunters didn’t go hungry. They found that the work crews currently on break or making ready for a new expedition owned surplus equipment, though none planned to give it away through the goodness of their hearts. Some would accept money, some would trade for other things they needed -or wanted- and some wanted help meeting their quotas. They seemed surly and inflexible too, at least until the Octopath Travelers got involved. Neither Primrose nor Therion could have asked for a better reason to ply their respective trades, either wiling the workers out of their gear and goods or filching them from beneath their owners’ noses. Doing so could net them a bounty of rope, cleats, lanterns, picks, shovels, rations, canteens, firewood bundles, pots, sleeping bags, and other things, not all of the best quality since the strongest-willed, toughest, and most perceptive men owned the choicest stuff, but invaluable to a thoroughly under-prepared team like the Seekers.

Impatient to begin, perhaps, Omori decided to forge onward and downward before anyone else. Jesse watched him go and, not wanting to risk losing anyone else just yet, followed behind him at a distance. Her Levitation enabled her to tail the boy across the rough terrain effortlessly, taking shortcuts down that he couldn’t, and it also allowed her a sneak peak at any dangers in the way. As it happened, this side of the Chasm -closest to both Dirtmouth and the exit canyon- boasted a number of encampments where vagabonds lurked. Whether in the shade of tents or in log-walled compounds they quaffed their booze and sharpened their weapons, ready to make the careful preparations and hard work of any unwary saps their own. Even more lay on the other side of their Chasm, including one in a rock formation of unusual shape and color.

Most impressive among these points of interest was a two-story structure with mining equipment attached to either end, almost more like a barge than a camp. It housed both black market traders and a gambling hall to those in the know, but to Omori it just looked like a miniature citadel of painted wood and rusted metal. With armed guards on patrol, he probably ought to steer clear.

As he went to give the bandit barge a wide berth, however, he became aware of some commotion there: the muffled sounds of yells, heavy impacts, and soon, gun shots. After a moment, a blast of white energy exploded through one of the walls, and through the hole leaped a short creature just a couple feet in height, with a gray mantle and a horned white mask. It landed on the bridge that spanned the rocky river in front of the barge’s main entrance, light on its feet, and ran across. “Damn it!” a voice shouted out from inside. A huge shape blocked the hole, then tore through to fall down hard at the barge’s front door. Clad in green, the pig-masked man stood at seven feet tall and well over three hundred pounds. Scowling in rage, he snapped off a big bite of bacon from the bundle clasped in his fist and chowed down. “Get back here, you little bug!” he yelled, spraying bacon bits everywhere. A number of people came to the windows and railing of the barge, but only a trapper and her monster followed the big man down; the rest watched, but none -not even the pink-haired brawler or purple-haired mercenary - cared to interfere. After crossing the bridge, the runner came to a stop in front of Omori, the pitch-black holes in its mask fixated on the other short, monochrome being before it. That brief moment, however, was enough for the trapper to fire her gun. She shot some sort of mine that landed in the ground and shot a harpoon into the knight’s mask, lodging in the back to drag the bug back toward the barge.

The big man came to a stop, grimacing down at the two little scamps in front of him. “Who the hell’re you?” he spat at Omori, but without missing a beat he continued. “Bah, doesn’t matter. Only name you need to know is Oinkie. Me! Leader of Oinkie’s Gang! And this,” he grabbed the knight with one hand, pulled it off the harpoon trap, and held it by the head as it wiggled weakly. “Is ours! Took us a week to trap the little bastard, it did! So keep your damn distance!” Behind him the trapper’s monster barked at Omori as if to punctuate the ultimatum. Then the pair turned to go back, and with a grunt Oinkie began to follow her.



BONG! Lin Xiao reeled, her hands clutching her head and her head swam. Nevertheless, in a testament to her powerful woman’s sheer fortitude, her headlong collision with Ace’s shield did not put her on the ground. Roaring in pain and anger, she went to take a blind swing at where she thought the monster hunter might be. It was then that Band stepped in, deploying two halves of a bell as big as his own chassis that slammed together around Lin Xiao and trapped her inside. Then the detective vigorously rang the bell, bouncing his unfortunate opponent around in a barrage of blunt force and sound. After only a moment he let her loose, but that was more than enough for even someone like her to slump, senseless, to the ground.

Band let out his breath, which turned to mist in the frigid air. “Thanks for the assist, kid. That was one tough customer, she was pullin’ stuff on me I only seen in wrestlin’ matches.” He shook his head, his neck still aching from the suplex that crumpled him like a giant can of beans. Still, looking down at the unconscious woman he couldn’t help but feel a little bad for her, just laid out in the cold like this. “Guess we oughta put ‘er somewhere she won’t freeze to death, hm?”

When he looked back at the lobby, he found that the metro cats had already gone back inside, leaving Lin Xiao to sort out her own affairs. There was nobody they could leave her with, and Band didn’t fancy another visit to the Metro. That brought the ragtag trio’s main issue into sharp relief. “Even if we got back in now and none of those furballs lifted a paw to stop us, we couldn’t catch up with the others in time,” he said, his voice grim. “But somehow I got a feelin’ we won’t be welcome there. We oughta find somewhere to lay low for a while. Maybe figure out where in the world we ended up.” He noticed a couple passing citizens giving him, Ace, and Red a strange look, which Band couldn’t exactly fault them for given Lin Xiao’s current condition. She still wasn’t moving, and was probably out cold. “...Preferably after we drop off our tiger someplace.”

The three hurried to find a clinic of some stripe. Working together to carry their unconscious attacker, they questioned every local they came across for directions, but hit an unexpected snag when they found out that everyone boasted a thick Scottish accent. Still, they somehow made it to a doctor’s office up the street and around the corner, where they left Lin Xiao slumped in the warmth of the waiting room. Band gave her one final look as he left, somewhere between begrudging and respecting. Despite her strength he did not once consider finishing the job in order to take her spirit, however beneficial that might have been. After all, Band was a man who’d been running on outdated hardware for years, but he held the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ almost as high as the word of the law. Once he joined the others outside, the next order of business was to find their current location.

He, Ace, and Red ended up in a pub a few doors down. Despite specializing in beer, it offered coffee as well, and a warm drink helped to chase out the unexpected cold that numbed the three during their escapades earlier. Once left alone they summoned a Moogle and asked for help, who disappeared to enlist the aid of Alcamoth and soon returned with some news.

“Wow, you’re way up there!” she said. “Almost as far north as the Biodome signal we got this morning, but waaaay out west! And a giant city with a big pumpkin in the middle, you said? We didn’t know anything like that even existed out there!”

Band grumbled. “That ain’t good. Means we’re stuck high and dry, I figure.”

“Um…well, I guess so!” The Moogle tried to remain cheerful. “With the Virgin Victory still sitting in the desert, we can’t really do much to help you. But…keep your chin up! Sometimes a detour opens up a new way forward, right?” She put her little fists up to encourage them. “Where there’s a will there’s a way, and where there’s a new region, there’s a new Guardian! Not saying to try and fight it on your own, but maybe you can figure something out! Why not look around once you finish your drinks?” She flew over the frosty window and put her paws against it, looking up and down the street. “Who knows what’s out there!”

Band shrugged and sipped his coffee. The Moogle bid everyone farewell and left them to their fate. Setting down his coffee, the detective gingerly leaned back, only to freeze as his four stools creaked beneath his weight. “After goin’ up Split Mountain, I don’t expect the cold ‘round here will give my metal parts any trouble,” he mused. “So I’m game to hunt around for any clues if y’all are. Might as well make the most of the time we got here. Only question is, where to start.” He looked between Ace and especially Red in his thin uniform. “Maybe with some winter clothes for you two. Don’t want you catchin’ cold and leavin’ me out here all on my lonesome now, do I?”

Things got hectic for the group right when they had to overcome this last hurdle and make the final stretch. Being stuck in a dead-end will do that. Raz helped hold back the encroaching tide of the mob as his friends did their best to make it up to the landing, though he wasn't fast enough to stop Roxas from being shot down. "No!" Since Geralt was dealing with the assassin themselves Raz continued to blast the cats back, enough aggression coursing through his big head to provide him ample ammo to give Geralt and the downed Roxas a wide enough berth. The others either pitched in to help defend or focused on getting up to the station, but luckily Geralt made quick work of their attacker with the help of some little creature that appeared out of nowhere. Was that one of those Spirits people mentioned? He'll have to ask later, since their ride was here - literally, as Raz could hear the train pull into the station above them.

Another bit of good fortune; by the time Panther was dealt with and the group was ready to move on, the wall-bound cat vacuum (or "catuum") was close enough to bounce off of, giving them all the way up they needed. Raz made sure that everyone else had made it before he took the cat-vacuum-bouncy-thing, sproinging off it like a pinball against a bumper and landing with ease in the last hallway to the Black Line.

"Everyone okay?" Raz asked, pulling his goggles back onto his head now that the worst of the assault was behind them. "Did we lose anybody?" Apart from Roxas still being unconscious, the only one not in their group was the very conspicuous Wonder Red. How they lost someone so flashy was beyond Raz. Hopefully he only got split up and not... you know, worse. No use in worry about it right now. That guy seemed pretty capable. Yeah! That's enough justification to put it aside.

On the train itself, which thankfully did not have any feline foes after a bounty, Raz watched Roxas as Blazermate and Geralt healed him up. He was sure he was fine, he was more curious about the un-Galeem-ing process. He wasn't exactly cognizant enough when he got freed, so there was still a curiosity there to sate. It was pretty uneventful, though. Geralt produced a heart out of thin air, which was neat, and then tossed it onto Roxas, where it disappeared with a small poof and restored color to the kid.

"I'm trying to find my friends too," Raz said to the newly awakened Roxas. "It's a pretty big place though. It'll probably be hard for either of us to find them. But if your friends are anything like you, I'm sure they're doing okay out there!" Raz looked out the window as the train pulled into their stop. "Same for mine..." A sadness flashed across his face as he thought about just how many people close to him were out there somewhere, under Galeem's influence and possibly in danger. He turned back to Roxas and the others as they all prepared to leave the train, trying to get that particular thought out of his mind. If only he managed to learn the Memory Removal technique before he got beamed into this world. There were quite a few things already he'd just love to forget. The smell of monster guts still haunted him, after all.

Gutsford seemed like a much needed break from the whole 'cat mob bounty onslaught' they just went through. Appearances weren't everything, sure, but how much danger could there be in a place like this? Student debt was probably the biggest threat someone could encounter. "School? I never went to a big academy like these," he noted, "or even a public school. Mom and Dad taught us everything we needed to know. Usually things to help run the circus. You'd be surprised how useful Geometry is when it comes to performing a spiraling septuple front flip without hurting yourself." His family... great, another thing to worry him!

Lili, Sasha, Milla, Ford, they all could take care of themselves just fine in this dangerous world, but what about the other Aquatos? Where were they? Are they even still together or have they been splintered all over the place? So much anxiety flooded his mind that he wandered straight forward without paying attention, leading him to slip in a puddle and fall flat on his face. "Oofgh!" Picking himself back up, Raz caught a glimpse of something quickly hiding into a conspicuous mailbox on a seemingly random part of the sidewalk. Weird.

Everyone's attention was brought to the city in the distance, a massive metropolis the likes Raz has never seen before. "Oh man. That's a... really far walk." Raz looked up and down the roads leading to Midgar, hoping for a convenient bus or friendly taxi driver to show up. "Not to complain about our super important mission to save pretty much every world in existence or anything, but after climbing that huge mountain I'm really not looking forward to another hike. Hey, if there's roads leading from here to there, there's gotta be some kinda way to use them, right? They're not just there for show?"

And that was the next thing on the agenda: finding transportation! Despite only just getting there everyone split off into their own smaller groups. Raz stuck with Roxas and Geralt, also finding himself in the company of the leader, Peach, and Bede and Blazermate. On Peach's warning about keeping cautious, cleared his throat nervously and fell into step with her. "Hey, Princess, uh, Peach? I'm not super familiar with this Organization XIII or these Consul guys, but exactly how evil do you think they are? They wouldn't, like, try to find the people we care about and hurt them or use them against us... for example?" He tried to pass it off with a big, innocent smile, but that only made things more awkward.

Things only got more awkward as their search lead them to a very busy section of Gutsford, one that seemed rife with construction. Or so it seemed. As soon as Raz's eyes rested on one of the trenchcoated street workers, he froze in place. "Uhmmm..." There were more of them, too, gardeners and sewer maintenance workers and phoneline repairmen bemoaning the advent of cellphones. "Okay, this situation has officially gone from 'strange' to 'alert level reddish indigo'." In a hushed tone, Raz advised his teammates while trying to corral everyone into a safer, less surveilled part of the city. "These G-Men are from my world. I know them! They aren't real-- well, okay, they are here, but what I mean is that where I'm from they were only mental constructs inside somebody's mind. If Galeem can bring those out into a physical space, that could have so many implications. How many places or people or creatures have come from someone else's mind?" As the group turned into an alleyway, Raz got off one last piece of advice. "Oh, also, don't get near them, answer any questions, and if you see a particularly pyromaniacal milkman, run in the opposite direction."

Of course this ended up being moot since soon after they entered the side road. The G-Men, much more proactive than Raz remembered them being, started to corner them, first from one end of the street than the other. They were trapped. "Okaaay... we might have to fight them off, which is not a good idea, but..." Before he could finish the thought, a door to the pet shop opened, and two twins told them to follow. Without much time to gauge the intentions of the pair, Raz seized the opportunity. "Oh look! He said, loud and stilted much like the G-Men that threatened them. "A store for pets and pet accessories! My newly adopted animal companion could do with a new leash and/or toy!" Hoping that was enough to convince the G-Men, Raz semi-quickly sidestepped towards the shop, beckoning the rest with a look and a tilt of his head to follow his lead.

---

At first, Rubick was excited to ride a train. He had never ridden one before, and the new experience thrilled him... for about 5 minutes. He soon realized that he would be riding the train for a while, which meant staying within an enclosed space for a lengthy period of time with little to keep him occupied. That was not something he could tolerate, and was soon bouncing around the train looking for something to do. He even contemplated blowing up the train more than once. Fortunately, the train ride did not take too long, and Rubick was quick to get out.

Even the dreary train terminal was a nice change of pace compared to staying in the train. Riding the elevator up, Rubick soon found himself in a quaint little town occupied by an assortment of people, both human and non-human. The real attraction, however, was what lay beyond it. The sight of the large canyon was simply breathtaking, so full of vibrant colors and mining operations. Rubick hoped this new adventure would be exciting.

The others were already beginning their explorations of this Chasm, such as Kamek using a new spell to do the searching for him. Rubick was fascinated by the magikoopa's application of mana. "Fascinating, allow me to try that for myself," Rubick said, using his Power Steal on Kamek to obtain his technique for himself. "Ah, so that is how it is done." Rubick held his staff up and gathered mana within the head, creating a few motes of his own. Rubick also summoned his Xweetok spirit, Wiggles, who sat upon his shoulders. Wiggles looked around at his new surroundings, the adventurer's spark being rekindled within him, but ultimately stayed put. "Take a look at these, Wiggles!" Rubick said to the little fuzzy creature, bringing the little motes closer. Wiggles perked up and took a few cautious swipes at the motes, but soon lost interest and continued lying down on his shoulder.

It was then that he saw Omori moving to explore the Chasm ahead of the team. Not wanting to miss out on exciting events, he followed alongside Jesse as they set out after him. When Rubick finally made it over to the boy, he also saw the conflict between a group of rough-looking people and a midget creature, as well as the big man's introduction/warning to Omori.

Landing next to Omori, Rubick mused out loud, "'Oinkie'? Quite a well-fitting name. Your mask and physique really capture the image as well." Wiggles stared quizzically at Rubick, not sure if he was trying to incite a confrontation between the Purple Team and their gang, but stayed alert anyway in case such an event occurred.

The sight of the schools wasn't particularly impressive to Roxas. Of course, he was from Twilight Town, which was generally of a similar bustling nature. No, it was the sight of Midgar in the distance that really impressed him. He had never seen a city or structure that big before. The closest frame of reference he had was the Castle That Never Was or The Skein of Severance, but he didn't remember either one being quite like that. He stuck close to Princess Peach for the moment, as well as Blazermate seeing as how the robot girl insisted on holding his hand the whole time. But he was too busy taking in sights and sounds to let that bother him. As they walked, he heard Raz nearby asking about the Consuls and the Organization. Roxas decided to pitch in his two-cents.

"Well I dunno anything about those Consul guys," he said to Raz, "But the Organization has never been good to my memory. They had no problem with ruining and toying with people's lives to reach their goal. That's why I was surprised when some of you guys said they had been helpful." though now that he knew about Galeem and the bringing together of many worlds, it did make him wonder that this Organization might be vastly different if it had members from vastly different worlds. But even if it did... he was still certain it was likely being controlled by someone from his own world. Where else would they have learned the name and other conventions of the Organization except for from someone who had previously been a member themselves? And while Roxas could probably speculate as to who that might be, he chose not to for now.

"Honestly, Raz? I wouldn't put anything past the Organization. At least not the one I knew anyway." it didn't take much for him to realize that his answer was probably not the one Raz was hoping for, "But no matter what they're scheming, I promise I won't stop fighting." he said, hoping to sound reassuring.

Internally, however, Roxas was less sure. He kept thinking back to the Nyakuza Metro and just how easily he was taken down by an enemy. Now that his full memory had been restored, it became obvious to him that at some point he had lost a lot of the strength he previously had. He wasn't sure why, but he knew for sure that he was much stronger than this when he fought against Xemnas and Saix at the Keyblade Graveyard. So what had happened? Well, Galeem happened, obviously. And now here he was, feeling like a complete rookie again. He recalled Sora having gone through a similar situation, and wondered to himself if this was how he was feeling at that time.

As the group made their way around, it became incredibly obvious that the locals were suspicious of them. They would turn heads, or people give them uncomfortable looks everywhere they went. This eventually lead them into an alleyway, and slowly becoming surrounded by people following them. With no easy way to get out, it was beginning to look like they might be forced to fight their way out. Or they would, if not for the intervention of someone else. A nearby door into a pet shop opened up and a pair of suited men ushered the Seekers to come inside. Roxas had to admit this seemed suspect, but it was better than getting into another fight.

Raz had pointed out the people following them were from his own world. G-Men, he called them, and he also said they weren't supposed to physically exist, "Huh?" Roxas asked in surprise, "So wait, it sounds like you're saying Galeem can make imaginary people become real. But I can't even begin to imagine how that could even be possible... even for a God."

But the conversation had to be put on hold. For now, Raz pretended to be interested in shopping at the pet store. And Roxas, for his part, attempted to play along with him, "Oh, good idea, I'll go with you and help you pick something out!" and slipped in through the opened door.

”Couple of groups of rough looking people down there” Rika noted offhandedly as she idled, back leaning against a building with her new helmet held under one arm and her eyes looking up and to the right as she watched her scout plane’s feeds.

”What, rougher than this lot?” jr asked, jerking a thumb towards the closest group of miners, ”How they manage that?”

”You know. More weapons than diggy things. Loitering around rather than using said diggy things like the others down there. Oh also one group of them yelled at one of the diggy thing people till they handed over something they had on them. That kinda stuff” Rika replied in a very detached manner

”Huh. Sounds like bandits or robbers or something…” Jr said idly, then had a thought and yelled ”Hey! Kamek! Ask that guy about the armed thugs in the canyon or whatever!” at the magikoopa in question, who was trying to negotiate for some surplus goods with the Troops’ not exactly impressive stash of money. Or rather Kamek’s not particularly impressive stash of money, because the other koopas were broke, and his promise that Rika’s money was all her’s still stood.

The people, or rather, person in question he was talking with (with Bowser looming over them all in a failed intimidation check) was a brain in a jar leading a couple of cyclopean robots who seemed to be both quite well armed and rather well geared given that the digging equipment they had were technologically advanced cannon shaped devices that their owner had been more than happy to show off, the digging tool boring a impressive hole in a rock in mere seconds.

These futuristic diggers which were, naturally, way out of the troop’s budget. Something the brain seemed to enjoy lording over them. Fortunately, Jr’s interjection interrupted the snobbish corporate gloating from the brain unit, which turned its glass dome towards the boy to admonish him for being so rude as to interrupt him.

”Ah, hmmm, that does not seem like it is constitutive to a safe working environment” Kamek noted once the unit had got gloating and complaining out of his system, before inquiring ”Don’t suppose you could tell us about what to expect from these, ah, ‘armed thugs’?”

”and hey, maybe we could ‘take care’ of them if you make it worth our while” Bowser added with a crack of his knuckles.

“Hah. Those low lifes are no threat to the likes of me and my magnificent Techion machines” the brain unit replied in a slightly synthetic man’s voice, while one of his robotic troops racked a shotgun for emphasis (and then had to crouched down to pick up the shell it had ejected) “So I hardly need to take you up on that offer”

”Really? There’s quite a lot of them” Rika asked, having wandered over seeing as her scouting was the basis of this whole run of the conversation

“Yes yes but they have all the coordination and unity of a bucket of crabs, so they can’t get together to do anything of note. So instead of being kings of the pit they are a bunch of flocks of territorial magpies, cawing at anyone that comes near, and only distracted from their scavenging in the muck if they spot something shiny. They aren't worth the trouble interacting with, and they certainly aren't worth the trouble to put out a hit on. Anyone with half of brain knows you just need steer clear of their rather obvious holdings and not flaunt any big findings and you’ll be golden“

”Huh? But I just saw someone get into trouble with some of em?” Rika said, genuinely confused by this attitude

“One of these brainless county bumpkins no doubt” the brain replied dismissively “I don’t see how that affects me. I’m not exactly running a charity here, I have quotas to fill”

Attempts to point out that he could very well be next to fall prey of the bandits fell on deaf ears, and the same went for the next few groups Bowser attempted to convince into handing over stuff in return for vague promises about dealing with the bandit problem. The general consensus was that if you know how to avoid them, the bandits were no threat, and if someone got caught out, well, clearly it was because that person was an idiot.

In the end the troops lack of real negotiation skills meant that all they could really boast from the whole string of encounters with the miners was being fleeced out of all Kamek’s souls for a stack of tourches

”Well. Having more sources of light can’t hurt I suppose” Kamek said, trying to find a literal bright side to the situation. When it came down to it, however, this wasn't a complete disaster, as the Troop had (unintentionally) brought some gear that would help, and powers too.

Kamek had his new wisps and an Abyssal Lantern he’d picked up some time ago to shed light into the darkness. Bowser had his fiery breath and would be turning himself into a lamp by eating up as much light as possible before they descended. Jr had glowing fiery goop, Mimi’s electro balls in a pinch and, rather importantly, drill arms on his clown car that would help with any digging they might need to do.

That left only Rika without any light of her own, unless you counted muzzle flares, and so it was to her that the majority of the torches ended up going too, with the ship-girl almost immediately point two in the ‘eyes’ of her Brachydios gauntlet, giving it some spooky glowing eyes which everyone agreed was very cool.

”Well that’s all we got” Kamek admitted once the rest of the group who had stayed topside gathered back up again, ”So I suppose we head down now?”

”mmm. I’ve got an easy path down there that avoids lall the bandit camps all scouted out, so yup, we can go whenever” Rika informed them all as her planes came back in for a landing in the little hangers on her gauntlets.

”Excellent…” the mage replied, before realizing something and asking ”wait, what happened to my whisps, hmmm?”

The mage turned, raised a hand over his brow and spied out over the canyon, but it was jr who first pointed up at the glowing motes hovering in the air close to a building that looked like a barge.

”There they are … Are they making an arrow” he asked and, sure enough, the dots of sentient mana were doing just that, creating the rough shape of a glowing arrow pointing at the area where an incident seemed to be ongoing. One involving some of their crew and some rough looking fellows. Quite possibly the bandits they had been informed only an idiot would get close too.

”Oh come on! He can’t go like an hour without causing trouble!” Jr tossed his arms up and cried out, blaming all of this on Omori, before slapping his hands down on the rim of his clown car and declaring ”Guess we’ll have to go and bail him out. Again!”

With that, the prince took off, swooping down towards the barge, though odds were he’d arrive after whatever was going to go down. An ever nervous Kamek went after his young master, worried about both children, and leaving the ground pounders behind.

”But… my path… aw” Rika said, a fair bit dejected that her route wasn’t going to the one they used.

”Eh, their fault for running off before you could make it. Besides, we’ll still need to go down the rest of the way so, uh, maybe re-jig it a bit and it’ll be good?” Bowser told her encouragingly with a pat on the back, ”now come on, you can beat your disappointment into a bandit or something if things get messy”

With that poor advice given, the king set off at a stomping jog, occasionally leaping over obstacles or Meowser scrambling up them. Rika revved her chainsaw bayonet once at the thought of working out a bit of her frustration, and then set off after him, floaty jumping and thruster boosting herself after the rest of the Troop.

Sectonia looked over her allies and the various stuff they were doing. Some entered the shop which did interest Sectonia, but she decided that it wasn't worth it much when she glanced in and only saw basic stuff and nothing magical. It seemed that as she looked around dirtmouth, she saw some bugs like herself, although much less beautiful with the rest being scavengers. Much like a few others, she found herself looking at what was around town. A few of her allies were dealing with some bandit camp thing, something she'd aid them with if they needed it but considering who was there and how weak these bandits looked, she probably wouldn't need to help much. Bored, she decided to look around to see if anything got her eye.

As Sectonia surveyed the territory, something caught her multi-faceted eye, attuned as it was for anything exquisite and shiny. On one of the looming crags at the uppermost portion of the Chasm's spiral valley, she spotted the telltale gleam of gold. Unlike many of the other mineral deposits around the area, this one seemed unclaimed, as well. While the others rooted around in the rocks and dust for supplies, it was only fitting that the queen help herself to the bounty of the heights.

Up she soared, making a beeline for the concentrated vein that glittered at the end of its arched promontory, distant and dazzling as an unattainable dream, at least for anyone but her. Once she arrived at the upper tier of mountains, more ordinary than the rugged terrain that constituted the Chasm's immediate surroundings, she soon learned why few came up this high to get at the resources. A steady rumble and the low roar of shifting stone beneath the earth warned Sectonia that she wasn't alone up here, and after a few moments a monstrous Thresher Maw erupted from the earth not far from the gold. The giant alien centipede waves around scythelike legs, a vivid blue tongue, and a horrid mouth large enough to swallow a goat whole. Having sensed the vibrations of an intruder too close to its favorite source of food for comfort, the Thresher shrieked, warning its fellow insect to stay away.

Well, considering the sheer amount of gold in those rocks would mean Sectonia wouldn't be a 'mercenary queen' anymore, she got to work on getting rid of this pest so her antillions could get to work. According to its body language it wanted to devour this gold, so she would have to stop it from doing so while she destroyed it. And to that end she hit it with her Slow spell, slowing down all of its movements by quite a bit before she unleashed ring after ring of cutting light at the creature, one of her items greatly increasing the amount of rings she threw even if they were a bit haphazard in their trajectories at times.

Thanks to the slow motion of the worm and its lack of ways of even reaching Sectonia as she unleashed barrages of large light rings at it, even some of the more off course rings could clip it due to its hampered ability to dodge. She made an attempt to get around the creature as well, in an attempt to herd it away from the gold rock with her barrage of spell attacks.

Those down below would see the glowing light rings Sectonia launched from atop the cliff face going off into the distance, or at least those that missed, going a fair distance before finally dissolving into particles. The creature, offended that this large colorful bee was both peppering it with bright hurty round things and was trying to steal its meal made an attempt to defend itself by gobbling up nearby rocks and spitting them at the bee queen. This... didn't work like it would expect though as Sectonia's light rings collided with a fair amount of the rocks, destroying them and the rocks that did hit the bee queen... didn't look like they did much at all.

The few rocks that hit Sectonia did in fact do damage, but she was far to regal to show that she had taken any damage, especially to such a stupid beast. A few more barrages of light rings later, the creature fell and Sectonia could claim her prize. At least her Pipe of Insight would let her heal up on what damage she took. Not as good as Blazermate, but she hadn't really been with the medabot for that long. And with this extra wealth, she could have more bargaining power overall. Especially since she didn't have access to Floralia... All that was left was to summon her antillions to mine the rock for her, collect her prize, and make it back to the group.

Another day, another mound of boring busy work to sift through. It was another crisp, brisk late-fall day, with the breeze from the northern sea just beyond Gutsford's limits rustling all the school town's autumn trees, whether they featured colorful deciduous leaves or evergreen needles, but for the third day in a row Benedict found himself tucked away in a back corner of the warm, aromatic Cafe Alps. Students could be found here all hours of the day fueling up for classes or studying, especially in the evening, when they swarmed the place to take advantage of the free wifi. At first his assignment away from Midgar seemed like a nice getaway, despite the fact that it concerned potential insurrectionist activity, but it didn't take long for his mood to change. It was peaceful, but it wasn't quiet--quite the opposite, in fact. Everyone seemed to be out and about, constantly talking about this or that, making so much noise that the clamor swelled into a cacophony, and it was the job of Benedict Pascal to sort through it.

He took a break from staring at his laptop's screen to take a sip the last of his tea, remove his spectacles and massage the bridge of his nose. It wouldn't be so daunting a task if not for the G-Men. The grunts of the city government's Public Security Division tended to take their task of surveillance a little too indiscriminately, monitoring the populace so constantly -and not to mention, without subtlety- that every day his inbox flooded with their reports, pictures, and other 'evidence' of sedition and conspiracy, which almost always amounted to nothing of importance. When first introduced to a computer, a seemingly arcane device from a far-flung future beyond anything his medieval perspective could fathom, Benedict could scarcely believe what such an ingenious contraption was capable of. To think that the wealth of mankind's knowledge, and the ability to communicate across any distance, were at his very fingertips! But in the course of this monotonous assignment the tech quickly lost it's magic.

How would he ever find her like this? The woman with crimson hair, already a person of interest before she and a couple unknown colleagues risked the dangerous journey from Midgar to Gutsford, their passage and purpose kept so secret that they left the Public Security Division scrambling when they caught wind of it. In the end they sent Benedict, along with a posse of G-Men to join those already stationed in Gutsford, but whoever his targets might be were good. They covered their tracks well, and even his overzealous lackeys turned up nothing so far. Just some local punks causing trouble. But if Benedict so much as glossed over a single photo, it could very well be the one he'd been waiting for.

He parsed over a few reports of minor disturbances in the area, the details of which were thoroughly detailed as per usual and nothing of absolute importance struck out from the full record. Local ruffians riding through a street on their loud and obnoxious motorcycles, causing the usual complaints and fist-shaking. It was an open-and-shut case, just another public disturbance...

Benedict's fingers hovered over the keyboard, poised to simply brush the email off as a dead-end lead when something made him hesitate to delete it outright. Something about the frequency of these reports suddenly gave him pause, yet he hadn't questioned it outright, they were just public nuisances not Midgar's problem after all.

Benedict closed his laptop with a crisp snap, shaking his head slightly "No, these are youth." he rubbed the center of his temples between his fingers gently "Not the Ever Crisis." Benedict told himself in his hushed monotone of a voice, pushing the thought aside as drawing too many conclusions with only suspicions to back it.

With a sigh, he glanced out the cafe's large glass window that filtered in the light cast between orange leafed trees lining the sidewalk and the shadows cast from other buildings. Students milled about the sidewalk, chatting and going about their day. They were truly oblivious to or too scared to question the strange workers out and about, he didn't envy them for that but he found himself wondering if this work was getting him anywhere.

He was no closer to finding out what happened to his life, no amount of strings he pulled had lead him to any information on the whereabouts of his friends and allies. Truly was it to be that he would never find them? The thought made Benedict's heart fall, and as he looked to the local youth going about their lives he wondered if he had failed the promise he made to Lady Destra those many years ago.

The strategist's forlorn reminiscence came to a sudden end as something buzzed in his pocket, sudden and loud enough to spook someone unfamiliar with it. It had been some time since Benedict first got introduced to a phone too, but it would be a while longer before he got used to that vibration. Though an everyday item around Midgar and Gutsford, it still remained a miraculous device to a medieval man, even more incredible than the laptop for its small size and portability, but he couldn't marvel at it now. While G-Men could pollute his inbox with false positives as much as they wanted, they weren't allowed to call him unless it was a really serious matter.

When answered, Benedict's contact relayed his message in his characteristic monotone. "Hello, my good friend Mr. Pascal. I am calling you because I, though a humble road worker, am your good acquaintance, and simply wish to chat about nothing important in order to pass the time. A large group of unusual people arrived about a half-hour ago from the Metro station, and proceeded through Gutsford. Eager to welcome them to the neighborhood, my other friends and I joined them on their walk, but they went into a pet shop and the door somehow locked behind them. We are concerned for their well-being since they went in the back door, let in by people we do not know. We are currently waiting for them to come out again, since we are road workers and there are no roads in there to work. However, if we were to quit being road workers and became pet owners, we could go inside. Yes?"

A moment of silence passed, Benedict pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat with an ahem placing a fist over his mouth. "Indeed, procure whatever you need for your..." he droned, voice trailing a bit as he did his best to play along with the G-Man on the line "Disguises, and investigate these individuals." his chair groaned on the floor as he slid it back to stand, leaning on his cane with a grunt "Keep an eye on them until I arrive for questioning." placing the laptop in it's carry bag, Benedict slipped it over his shoulder and made for the exit.

---

A man was sitting in a saloon, seething. It had been DAYS since he had arrived in this strange, no, strangest land and still no sign of an escape. His greatest goal was to slay the demon lord. It had almost happened. He was so, so close. His rage filled him until he had no choice but to slam his blade into the table, flicking a coin to the bartender as he did. He calmed down, returning to the stoic, unyielding man he was, or tried to be. He downed the rest of his ale and stepped outside to deal with the slight affect it gave him, which while not drunkenness, made his vision slightly blurry. Not a good idea when in a place such as the Barge, bar fights could break out at any moment, and it was best to stay awares.

A wander through the city could do himself some good, thought The Adventurer, recovering from his episode. He strolled into a shop and nitpicked over a dagger, but really he was looking at a weapon in the back, a long, two handed weapon that looked slightly rusted with age and his mind ached with familiarity. The weapon, many coins away from his possession, was a barely shining Zweihander. There was no way he could have taken it. Four hired thugs were posted every time he watched. Only one other thing interested him, a decently sized shield, only wood and steel studs and a thin strip of metal to make up for its appearance. Perhaps it was only because his defensive capabilities were not exactly on par at the time.

He wasn't really paying attention to the prices, and turned to face the owner of the store "I'll buy the shield, 95 coin." he snapped at the almost goblin-like bandit manning the shop. There. That had to be more than fair. "Fu-ha-huck off, bastard." The bandit replied in a vague, almost Cockney dialect, drawing his knife and pointing with it to a piece of paper that said "150 coins". The Adventurer remained calm, his facial expression never changing, before flipping the vendor the bird and returning the eviscerating words. "Have a nice life, you over-selling fuckhead. I hope you stay in this place." Now, this was rather strange, as he preferred to keep his mouth shut and let his blade do the talking.

As he was leaving, he flicked back his head and shifted sideways, giving a last look that almost begged to be wiped off of his face. It worked, and the fire in the shopkeep's eyes grew hotter until, shook to the bone by this stranger's impertinence and disrespect, took out a Hand Crossbow and The Adventurer barely had time to dodge downward as the mechanism slammed back and released a bolt, no hint of descent in it's rather short path to the target. "Whoa, let's not get violent, but I have one of those myself." he said with a smirk, drawing his own, slightly more rickety armament and loading it as fast as one can during the heat of a battle. His hand on the trigger, he glared at the man. "If you act once more in such a violent manner, I'll be forced to attack." he said, this thought somehow filling his head with glee instead of apprehension.

"Devilkin! Get in here....we'll teach him a lesson." the Shopkeep grinned, bringing a large man to the front, a stranger wearing the mask of a demon. The large man gave a cocky grin and hefted a metal club. "Well, now this is rather unfair. If I can somehow beat both you, may I take that Zwei?” The Adventurer asked, chuckling to himself slowly. The Shopkeep had his own little laugh with his bruiser, confident they would win. “Not beat, but kill then. Cuz’ the only way you’re getting your hands on something that expensive
is over OUR dead bodies." The Adventurer meant to grumble, but for some reason, it came out as a bloodthirsty growl. He unsheathed his sword and charged into the glass counter holding the shield, breaking it, and equipping the new item. "How'd you like that? Want to actually try now?" he teased, dashing backwards and out of range before turning back to face his opponents.

The man in the devil mask charged through the remainder of the shattered counter, smashing a path with his club. "Die. Die! I will squash you like a fly!" He continued, bringing down a strike The Adventurer struggled to block, his feet breaking through the floor from the force of the blow. The Adventurer managed to deflect the blow and the club landed beside him on the floor, letting him jump up and slash the bigger man across the face, breaking off half of his mask. His opponent roared with fury, and his anger made him sloppy. The Adventurer stepped inside his next slash, cutting him on the arm. It wasn't a deep slash, but the blood awakened something within him. His vision got blurry, and eventually, a bright white light took over all his senses.

When he woke up, the big man's broken body laid behind him, and blood was all over the Adventurer's clothes. The shopkeep whimpered and he noticed that his blade was against the man's throat. The battle was over, and he stomped the man's face into the floorboards as he passed the shocked guards and took his prize. As soon as he stepped outside, exhaustion overcame him and he and his sword fell to the floor. His wounds were great, and they had all returned to him as the adrenaline wore off and a red light enveloped him, (A sign of Galeem's influence, if anyone wants to play off of that. It's usually blue.) and set him down some distance away, back outside to land behind a confrontation between a group of people. His health was slightly restored to him, enough so that he could open his eyes and move. "Agh. What the fuck happened? Why is there blood on me? I've not....This is a Zweihander! I should return this to the....Wait, how did I get this in my possession anyway?" During this self-discussion, he saw that someone was being held captive by a pig faced man. In no condition to fight, he clambered up onto the roof and watched from above.

Omori trekked down the side of the Chasm, Jesse and Rubick in tow. He had forgotten to answer the former's question about him being here before, but if the focused yet unfearful way he passed by the campsites of vagabonds and bandits was anything to go by, then he definitely made a stop here. Strangely enough there didn't seem to be any active bandits down this route, not this time at least. Either they must be busy elsewhere or he scared them off. Sucks to be them, he guessed.

At one point did he stop to take a look at something he must've missed. A shady looking barge-building-thing. The boy glanced over at the armed guards patroling the building. Whatever the case was, he had other buisness to take care off besides investigating it. Might wanna keep your distance-

Before Omori could walk off however, something seemed to be happening inside. He could hear it from over where he was. But what was going on? The very answer broke a hole through one of the walls and sprinted across the bridge. Someone was escaping. He watched as a repungnant collective of gang members appeared to witness the pursuit, their potbellied leader and a woman with a much larger creature than Mewo being the only ones to chase after them.

And for some reason, the small, hollow eyed creature stopped in front of him. Omori looked down at them as much as they looked back up at him. He titled his head in response, and they mirrored his movement. Why did they stop? He wouldn't get an answer. The boy flinched as the little bug's slip up gave the hunters their opporunity to seize them. Feeling the harpoon latch itself into their mask, they struggled to release themself, though not before its main captor grabbed them from the trap, spoutting an indignant warning to Omori. He really did want to free them as quick as possible, but it was too little, too late when Oinkie approached. Did he really want to face a whole gangs worth of enemies by himself?

And yet, as the pale bug struggled against Oinkie's grip, they stared back at him as if pleading for him to help. A red tainted void.

...He had to admit, Omori couldn't leave the poor thing to their fate. He motioned for Mewo to hide. And apparently he wasn't alone in this either. Rubick's comment towards Oinkie caught his attention first, then he noticed that Jesse followed him too. The boy nodded to them, but no doubt Rubick will have riled the gang leader up. As his hand reached for a weapon, he noticed the troop closing in from a distance, an angered Junior leading the way.

Omori furrowed his brows in response. Great. Just great. He hadn't even done anything on purpose yet, but he could bet Junior was going to use this to antagonize him further. What was he supposed to do? Leave the little bug to die?

Ugh, he hated situations like this. And he was starting to really hate the brat too.

But you know what? If the little runt wanted to make a monster out of him? Fine. He gave the Troop a knowing, spiteful look. Omori's flintlock hadn't been fired since they weakened LeFwee.

"Cover me." He pulled the aformentioned pistol out and fired it at Oinkie, paying mind not to let the captive get hurt too badly. He can quickly free them with a friend heart if things get too nuts. He'd quickly switch to his serrated knife afterwards and follow up with a stab in the pig-faced leader's gut.

Midna was having a somewhat frustrating day, as her attempt to turn up transport had come to naught. She’d harangued a whole host of folks, from truck drivers to various logistics and garage personnel, and it all turned up the same answer. There was just no kind of regular travel between this town and the city that they could, legally, make use of. She found this quite bizarre until she got a scant bit of info about how the ‘wastes’ were a dangerous place.

That somewhat explained it, as did the map she acquired, which was more of a pamphlet really that she ‘borrowed’ from the trade hub. Made for the workers there in, it mostly laid out the key logistics of the city that they were a cog in the machine of. Their main two tasks were transporting resources from a ‘Satisfactory’, and food from Meridian Farms, to the city, and so that, along with the transport routes across the winding and dangerous roads of the wastes, was what she now had a knowledge of.

That would be better than heading out into the wastes blind, but the problem of how they would actually make the journey still remained.

There where a whole host of very sub-optimal options that the princess could think of:

• traveling back and forth 3 to 5 people at a time in the warthog
• getting into some big scraps to ‘harvest’ the necessary energy to open more twilight portals, and then putting one here and one in the city
• acquiring mopeds or bicycles and going it slow (but still far faster than walking)
• heading all the way back to home base to get more cars
• bribing a bus or truck driver
• stealing a bus or truck driver
• sneaking in with some truck cargo
• just walking forever

But as she sat on a rooftop and scribbled them down with a pencil she had also ‘borrowed’, the princess found she did not particularly like any of them, or at least not liking any of them over any of the others, when she heard the screeching of tyres and the yelling of panic.

Upon hearing the commotion she folded down her map/notepad and took a look down into the street to watch as four rowdy young men went blazing across a pedestrian area, forcing people to duck and dodge out of their way, and then almost caused a crash of a school bus before racing away from the scene of their crime, leaving the shouts of detain and derision from their victims in their wake.

”What a load of jerks. Someone should really do something about that” the princess said to herself, acting the bystander, before flipping the map back up to return to her scheming.

For about 3 heart beats.

Then she flipped it back down, her eyes widening just a little as she realized that ”Wait… I could do something about it!” and flashing a spiky toothed grin before she put her map away, hopped into the closest shadow, and started shadowing the motorcycle gang to see if she could find their lair. If she did, well, then she could confront them and administer some good old fashioned vigilante justice.

Or considering she was royalty, it would, in her opinion, be entirely legitimate justice she’d be handing out. Specifically, she’d start off with a fine, which they could pay her back using their ever so disruptive two wheeled devices of terror that they had used to commit their crimes in the first place.