Karin took the point in the battle on the surfaces of the trucks, and the minotaur-esque wizard sought to challenge her. She regarded it coolly, in her battle stance. With its attention on her, it wouldn’t be able to attack her allies at range. The battle would continue to rage on around her while she fought.

The mage proclaimed he would have order, provoking a raised eyebrow from the Kanzuki. ”No. I shall have victory.” She said, glaring at him from the opposite side of the truck.

She expected ranged attacks from his general demeanor and staff weapon, and ranged attacks she received. A series of fiery explosions erupted towards her. In her elegant yet now practical adventurer’s outfit, she flipped forward with a jump. The explosions went beneath her. As she landed, she dropped into a defensive kneel, the explosions scorching across her now bare arms. Despite skidding backwards, she held firm, the damage and pain minimal thanks to her technique. She found a gap in the explosions and dashed around and forward, pausing to leap straight up into the air for the explosions to move beneath her. With one last dash she was in range, and Morax raised his staff to summon a close ranged, purple physical type spell.

But she was in range now, and he’d find his magic proudly interrupted by a crushing counter to his femur, Karin’s dance-like spin kick hitting with brutal power. This would also give her a head start on her V-Meter. As she did, her eyes were closed, a confident smirk on her face.

”Tenko!” She dashed forward and jabbed her palm outward as he recovered from her kick, looking to send him flying. The hit connected, but some type of magical Counter took place. Instead of flying away, he was rooted in place. Tenko was a high recovery move, and his Counter was swift, his stave smacking her across the face.


”Mmh.” She lost a step, her head flicking to the side, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. Doing any spell would be foolish now that she was in range. Curious about his magic, she stabbed her leg outward with long ranged, poking medium kicks. This time, when she triggered the counter, she was well ready for it. She caught the stave and the confident smirk returned and with a seemingly small movement of her arms, would do crushing damage to the extended limb.

Meanwhile, Sakura kept riding her motorcycle alongside the trunks, hunching her shoulders. People jumped around and above her, projectiles whizzed over her head, and the only thing keeping her from becoming a long skidmark on the desert road was two wheels and a motor.

Sakura bit her lower lip, eyes wide beneath her green goggles. They kept the sun, dust, and bugs out of her eyes, but they also painted everything an ominous hue. She saw two bikes clatter off the roof of the truck in front of her. ”Midna-san! Come on!” Sakura whined, watching them tumble and break apart with great remorse.

Sakura could only see people standing on the sides of the trucks, and even then usually only their upper halves or less. Pit was flying around, Roxas leapt forward. Raz was almost knocked off entirely. Midna’s great barrage of attacks didn’t seem to come through, and someone- the toilet demon?- cast some horrible spell. For a moment Sakura felt a horrible hunger settle in the pit of her tummy, but she managed to shake the effect off. It was a horribly familiar type of hunger, the kind she never wanted to feel again. It gave her a shudder just thinking about it, and reflexively her strong body deflected the spell with her 50% chance to resist.
Sakura steered her bike so she was in between the two rows of trucks, closer to all of them. It made for scarier driving but she was in a position to help more of her teammates.

Trumpeter made his call, and Karin was affected. A well of devastating energy began to form beneath her feet. ”Oh, my!” She exclaimed. Using the single Super meter she had gained thus far, she executed a Seppo dash. Becoming a brilliant golden blur, she zipped with a loud ripple of energy away from Morax. Unsure of the radius or nature of the spell, she jumped at the end of her dash and flung herself away and off the trunk entirely. She interrupted her speed by attaching a grappling hook to the truck she was just on, and for a brief moment she sailed in mid air as the Trumpeter’s explosions purified several areas of the field all at once.
”What the-?” Sakura watched in awe, and yelped, instinctively driving to the side to dodge an explosion that wasn’t aimed at her. Much to her relief she wasn’t considered a threat by the trumpeter. Just one of those explosions and she’d be toast. For a short moment she thought Midna had been annihilated, but the Princess emerged with some kind of crazy space army car! She unleashed a blaze of bullets as the convoy moved past her, Midna taking up a flanking position at the tail end of this entire battle.

Karin pulled herself back onto the surface of the truck’s roof and rolled forward Morag, sliding to a stop. ”Now, where were we?” She asked, with a confident brushing of her ringlets.

If anyone needed to use Sakura’s bike to navigate the field she’d be within jumping distance of whoever she could. But otherwise the vehicle bound street fighter was just keeping her head down and trying to survive. She was acting like something of a reserve unit at this point- though unintentionally. If anyone really needed her help, she could abandon her motorbike and hop in to help.

Just before the girl could say anything, a distant grumbling indicated the approach of another. The King of Evil watched as a large turtle-like creature came stomping onto the scene. Accompanying him was yet another girl, followed a bit later by green-robed wizard of some description. And it was the turtle that spoke first, greeting Ganondorf as though he were a friend. While it was only natural for someone to try and cast themselves as an ally of the Gerudo, Ganondorf was not amused by the creature's words. His gaze narrowed and the smile fading into a brief scowl.

"Watch your tongue, you overgrown reptile!" Ganondorf said with an unamused glare to Bowser, "I am partner to no one. Certainly not to the likes of you." while it seemed as though Ganondorf was patently denying ever having known Bowser, the reality was that the Koopa King was telling the truth. But as neither of them had yet to realize, the King of Evil was still Gleaming, and that was preventing him from recalling anything other than his original world. There was something of a vague familiarity, but Ganondorf simply brushed that off as a mere figment of the imagination.

But Ganondorf did not keep his attention on the Koopa for long. For it seemed as though the first girl had already decided on her favor. She asked specifically for information on something she called a Guardian. And while Ganondorf had never directly heard of anything by that name before, he did have what he believed to be the answer she needed. And so, being a man of his word, Ganondorf shared what he knew, "The creature you seek is likely the one that slumbers within the Temple of the Black Egg, there behind me." he told her, "But the way is sealed, and you shall not be able to open it in its current state. But fear not, for it can indeed be opened."

Ganondorf gestured to the Temple behind him, bringing the Seekers' attention to the trio of faces carved onto the sealed door, "There are three masks. One for each of the faces you see carved onto the Temple before us. They must be gathered here together. Only then will the way be opened, so that the slumbering creature can be within in your grasp."

Before he could say much more, Ganondorf couldn't help but notice the stares he was getting from the green-clad wizard. The magus seemed in awe, which was of no surprise to Ganondorf. Who wouldn't be in awe when the King of Evil stood before them? But he also made some comments on Ganondorf's power that were... interesting. It seemed he could detect the power of the Triforce to some degree, but seemed unable to identify it. Having no desire to fend off someone foolish enough to try and take it from him, Ganondorf decided to play coy for now, "Perhaps it is this sword you are sensing?" he asked, holding out the white sword he had taken from Toriel, "It seems to have been crafted for the purpose of slaying dark beings, so its power is not the same as my own."

Having given Nadia the answer she asked for, Ganondorf could have considered the debt repaid and simply walked away. Oh, but there was no revenge to be had from doing that. He wanted that snot-nosed Consul left kneeling before him and begging for mercy. And what better way to draw the little bastard out than to destroy that little pet Guardian of his?

"The masks you need are scattered, and as I presume none of you are at all familiar with the area then perhaps you should like me to guide you for now? It's the least I can do in exchange for the chance you gave me to get my freedom." he offered to Nadia, that wicked smile from a moment ago returning to his face. He wasn't exactly trying very hard to hide the fact that he had his own agenda. But at this point the Seekers would certainly have little choice but to take him up on his offer. Otherwise they would have to wander the Under on their own with no actual knowledge of where to go or what they were looking for.

"Nice one!" Raz went for a high five with Pit, which hopefully the peppy angel would reciprocate before the two were approached by Peach.

"An angle they wouldn't expect?... Oh, I got it! We can 'float' down near the bottom of the trucks, and--" His quick plan was interrupted by Trumpeter's trumpeting, which pierced the rushing wind and roaring engines. With it came light that also pierced the sky, landing on where most everyone had gathered. "Okay new plan wing it!!" Raz shouted as he dived out of the way of the nuclear blast. Even if the other two didn't go with his original idea, Raz still figured it was worth a shot. He turned the dive into a roll, tumbling across the roof to the back of the truck, catching the edge and sliding down the rear doors until his feet touched the very thin edge of the trailer's skirt.

Pressing up against the metal walls Raz sidled sideways, inching along the side of the truck, getting between two of them. "Don't look down, don't look down, don't think about looking down," he muttered to himself. He kept his eyes up, feeling his way around the truck as he got into position beneath Trumpeter, who hovered over the gap - and now, over Raz.

"Okaaaay, I really hope this works." Raz had felt a tingling in his mind for a while now, and he tried to grab hold of it...


In an instant, a dotted line formed between Raz and the Trumpeter, framing the latter in a glowing purple thought bubble. Then Raz was yanked upwards, pulled towards the larger demon with the speed of a flying bullet. His helmeted head rammed into Trumpeter's underside, knocking him off balance, though Raz did more than just slam into him. "I'll take that," he shouted, grabbing the demon's trumpet, using both the momentum of his pull and Trumpeter's loss of stability to yank it clear out of its bony hands as he soared further past it. The demon was now open and defenseless for Midna's assault!

With the demon's (presumed) source of power in hand, Raz materialized his bubble, holding onto it with his free hand only for a moment, stalling in the air just long enough so the convoy didn't leave him behind. No, instead Raz had his sights on the schoolbus still tailing them, landing on its roof, closer to the rear, behind Benedict. "Hey, you!" He called over the din. "I dunno who you are, but you're messing with some really dangerous stuff, using these G-Men or, fake G-Men, whatever! You're asking about our intentions? What about yours, ordering these monsters around and trying to kill us?"

Raz lifted the stolen trumpet to his lips. "Let's see how you like a taste of it!" And with that, he blew, tooting the apocalyptic instrument with all his might! And, when nothing even happened, he looked at it bashfully. "I, uh, thought that would work. Uhh..." So as a Plan B, Raz lifted the trumpet with his TK and merely flung it, hard, at Benedict. "Take that!...?"

---

Blazermate had been spending her time at the start of the battle making sure her, Susie, and her striker were overhealed before doing anything else. It would generate quite a bit of shield, and with a couple other allies healed or overhealed she could start to go on the offensive. If she could turn one of these demons into her undead minions, even better. Especially since a few of them seemed to be more ranged than melee fighters. Susie meanwhile had been firing rockets at the toilet demon, being disgusted at its design and... sounds... it made.

This was before well, one of the demons made its way to the back lines and cast some kind of spell on the two bots, putting both girls and the striker to sleep. This was followed by a large blast that injured all 3 and nearly destroyed the sentry the engineer had started upgrading to level 2. If it wasn't for Blazermate's overheal, her striker would be dead and both girls would be in a much worse situation than they were in. Blazermate more than Susie since Susie's business suit took a good bit of the blast for her. At least that damage woke them up, but that didn't do much to help Blazermate's mood at the situation. "OK, that is NOT a fair combo! That one has to go, like, now." Blazermate said as she healed herself, Susie, and the engineer up again. At least this got her a charge of projectile shield, but she was not a happy medabot.

And her team also didn't like what had happened, as a few of them were piling on the guy who had let loose that blast that had damaged the girls. Blazermate made sure to mark the weak points of every demon there as she got ready to go on the offensive. Susie meanwhile just stood back and fired missiles as the engineer got back to work upgrading his buildings. Blazermate making her way to the injured Midna and getting to heal her up, having her projectile shield (And suffering shield) ready to make any approaching demon's life hell. Susie continued to fire her missiles from her business suit and cow mangler at the toilet demon meanwhile. It seemed no one had an element to give her, so they were just the basic explosives, or... whatever the cow mangler was shooting. Some kind of exploding radiation missile?

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



With her little entourage of new 'serfs' (Seeing at they weren't willingly loyal like her minions/allies, or magical constructs made of her own power.) Sectonia flew deeper in the ruins with the rest of the group who were all looking upon a strong jawed, somewhat regal looking man. Sure, that regalia screamed 'evil lord', but unlike Bowser who just said he was evil, this guy looked it. Sectonia was a bit surprised someone who actually dressed somewhat reasonably well was down in this underground area.

Ganondorf as Bowser blurted out, Sectonia hearing the big koopa's bluster while she was making her way there, was this man's name. And yeah, he wasn't even hiding that he had his own goals. Sectonia knew someone like him would not be loyal, and would be some incredible trouble later down the line. But he made an offer that, well, interesting to say the least. At least they wouldn't be down here very long with said offer; He would guide the group to some sub guardians that were keeping the guardian of this area locked behind a wall of fairly impressive magic seals from the looks of it. Almost if those seals were made to hold the power of a god or something... Hm.... Sectonia had already seen two of these Guardians and they held some strong powers themselves. But the chance of one being something she would be interested in were slim. If it was at least somewhat beautiful, its power could make up for the lack of perfection... potentially.

"Hm... If the dark warrior wizard that stands before us doesn't do something as foolish as try to stand against us and instead works with us, his information would be useful." Sectonia said, affirming her thoughts on the matter. After all, if he did try to betray them, he'd have many, many to contend with here, and his power would be put to use on one of the group. Hopefully for him, his agenda didn't go against theirs or interfere in any way. If it was something as simple as just wanting more power, Sectonia could at least work with that.

Bede volunteered to distract to distract the people coming in while the rest of the seekers got away. “It’s called Ponyta.” Bede answered smugly, while sending her out of her ball. “Isn’t she cute? I bet you’ve never seen a specimen like her in your life!” The man asked who he was, and Bede proudly answered in his usual way. “I am Bede. One of the best Pokémon Trainers in the Galar region! Fairy and Psychic type extraordinaire!”

But clearly this Benedict person was not here to listen about Bede bragging about himself. He wanted to know where the owner was. The two of them pretended to be customers shopping for Pokémon Food. This would definitely be helpful later. As soon as they didn’t hear any more noise from the back, Geralt fired an attack at Benedict, grabbed Bede, and hightailed it after. Bede would have complained about being grabbed so roughly, but he didn’t have time.

Once they got to the backroom, Bede jumped on Ponyta’s back and galloped out of there. “Ponyta, go! Now!”

The unicorn like Pokémon whinnied, and galloped as fast as her legs could take her.

They managed to dodge more G-Men along the way. When they arrived at the Trade Depot, Bede returned Ponyta to her ball, and Bede had to be hoisted up the wall like a ragdoll. Bede was less than amused, but kept it to himself.

They reunited with the others, but the reunion did not last long. They had to hitch a ride on one of the waiting trucks. Bede got on the roof of one of them, and for a moment, everything was calm. He had a discussion about Pokémon. Something Bede was more than happy to do. Bede was the one doing most of the talking though.

The peace was short lived, as they were pursued by Benedict, and more G-Men. Lovely. Geralt drew his bow, and fought them off while Bede assisted. By assisting, Bede sent out his new Alcremie. “Alcremie, use Decorate!” he pointed to Geralt. The cream Pokémon eyes went wide as she excitedly decorated Geralt with fruits, and dollops of colorful frosting. He now looked like a fruitcake, but his attacks would be stronger. Bede couldn’t help giggling at the sight of him.

Then the trumpeter attacked, and Bede sent out Ponyta, and jumped on her back once more. “Alcremie, use Aromatherapy for anyone that might need it. Ponyta, use Fairy Wind on that thing now!”

The Ponyta jumped in the air with Bede on top of her, and fired a pink wind attack from her mouth aimed at the Trumpeter.

Admittedly, Omori was slower in fleeing further into the ruins than his smaller companion. Not only did the last fight against Puzz not do anything to help with his soreness, but at the weaker monsters' words he felt a sense of remorse trying to crawl it's way back to surface. Stay calm. Ignore them. The boy lagged behind to make sure everyone else left the room, not willing to fight the small army, no matter how strong they were.

But even then, it was as if the Knight knew their way around the place. A sense of familiarity guiding them to their intended destination. The small creature appeared in the temple just as Ganondorf explained what he knew about the black egg. Soon as the dark king finished talking, they quietly walked up to Ganondorf. Though they seemed a little hesitant in being near the white sword he held. They just knew the blasted thing belonged to the light. They stared up at him. Thinking.

And here was yet another pair of eyes staring at him. A small little warrior, carrying a simple blade and clad entirely in a black cloak. His gaze looked rather empty with the way his white helmet was designed, with it's black hollowed-out holes for eyes. For most people this would probably seem unnerving. For the King of Evil, the little creature reminded him of the Stalchildren that haunted the lands of Hyrule Field after sundown, or of the ghostly Poes that haunted Kakariko Graveyard.

Other than the hesitance they showed around the white sword, Ganondorf could sense no fear in this individual, "Are you not frightened?" he asked them, plainy. The Gerudo crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes into a scrutinizing gaze, "You seem to possess a great deal of courage for one so small as you." the more the King of Evil looked this little warrior over, the more they reminded him of the boy who opened the Door of Time. That boy who similarly gazed at Ganondorf with no fear in his eyes, even having the courage to draw his pathetic excuse for a sword against him.

"So what is it, then?" Ganondorf asked, finally getting to the point. The little knight must have had a reason for showing such interest in him.

But why would the Knight be afraid, when their goals seemed to align? With the knowledge the king had perhaps, at the very least, the two could work together as well. They turned their attention towards the Black Egg, walking closer to inspect it.

...How irritating. So they really were back to square one. The knight's gaze moved between the masks that sealed the door.

Lurien the Watcher,

Herrah the Beast,

Monomon the Teacher,

They've all been put back to sleep. Their work was undone. The Knight's small form trembled in frustration, and they swung their nail against the Egg. They looked back to Ganondorf, and pointed to the masks, trying to covey that the two could help guide the rest to where the dreamers lay resting. Hopefully they could regain their strength before they faced what awaited inside.

Omori didn't stop the Knight from talking with Ganondorf. They seemed to know more than he did, so he stuck close by the others for now.

"I see." said the Gerudo. This little knight was very well acquainted with the Black Egg, possibly moreso than Ganondorf himself was, "It seems you have you have your own mission to deal with this egg. You're offering aid to us, then?" well he couldn't blame the knight for approaching Ganondorf over anyone else. Ganondorf was the only one present with any amount of knowledge about the Egg. Well he certainly had his own motivation for drawing out the sleeping Guardian. Perhaps nothing quite as noble as this knight, but they didn't necessarily need to know that.

"Yes, given that the masks are scattered, it may become necessary for this group to split up to cover more ground. In such a case having a second guide would certainly be of help." he rubbed his rugged chin thoughtfully, "I see no reason to deny you your request. Very well, we shall both guide this group through the Under." Ganondorf finally said with a nod of agreement. The Knight bowed their head in return.

"Answer me one thing, if you will. What knowledge have you about the Consul? The impudent child who claims this as his domain?"

The insect rested a hand under their chin, regretfully shaking their head after thinking for a moment. Their knowledge was limited, it seems.

"Regrettable." replied Ganondorf.

"I don't think any of us know enough about the Consuls yet." Omori finally spoke up. "We've only ran into three so far, including the kid you're refering to. They've all attempted to ambush us one way or another, and they all wear similar suits of armor and masks." The monochrome boy glanced aside in distain. "Junior and I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting S up close. Eugh."

This new speaker was a boy who had remained quiet for some time until now. He did not appear to be much of a warrior, but looks could often be deceiving, "It's of no consequence. The child I refer to is just that, a child. He never once had the courage to come see me up close. Instead he kept his distance, and sent his little minions to pester me instead. Quite the coward, I say."

"Sounds annoying." Omori agreed. "Should we get going, then?"

Ganondorf crossed his arms and nodded, "Yes. As soon as you gather all of your people, we shall leave immediately."

---

Jesse glanced at Nadia and glared, good-naturedly. “Just don’t try to devour anybody and we’re square.” She rolled her shoulder and glanced around the cavern.

...Bad side, huh. It’d be funny if I was giving off sinister vibes. I mean what was I gonna do, bake the man-eating monster a birthday cake?

Then some little guys came in. Just a couple of little guys. They shot a bunch of little pellets out, decrying the deaths of their demonstrably monstrous ‘friends’. Jesse suppressed a sympathy laugh.

They’re gonna pick on us? She asked, raising her eyebrows.

Obviously they weren’t a threat. Curiously, Jesse turned her upper body and raised her arm, letting one hit her side. Basically nothing. They were so powerless, it was funny. Poor little guys.

Sectonia immediately mind controlled them with that annoying Natash-whatever person that they killed a few days back. That earned a shrug from Jesse. If it works, right?

“Pick better friends.” Jesse advised them, and then continued onward.

Lagging behind a little bit to observe the scenery and checking for teleporting interlopers, she nonetheless caught most of the early information and all of the important stuff. It seemed they had once again run into a new ally. He seemed vaguely ominous, but, then again, so did Jesse, apparently. He also reminded her of the Gerudos in Gerudo Town.

“Alright, so. Three magic doodads into the magic key slots. Thanks…you.” She gave Ganondorf a thumbs up, not knowing his name. But given Nadia’s general demeanor and that she had met him first, she assumed everything was kosher. Also, the Knight seemed to be down, which was a good sign. Besides, where else would a giant monster be except behind a magically locked seal? Giant Black Egg. That’s where a giant monster would be.

“Hey, you know what’d be funny?” Jesse unholstered her Tool Gun and pointed it at the Black Egg. “If I just No Collide this egg, we can-” Polaris shimmered with warning, causing Jesse to point her Tool Gun up and away.

“Mmm. Mm–mm. Nope.” Jesse shook her head. “Polaris says no. I figured that’d be too easy, but we should really do this the right way.” Polaris shimmered around the edges of her vision again, imploring her to take the path to the Masks. “Let’s find what we need to find.” Jesse was prepared to go about this quest with somewhat of a detached approach. That she was just going to protect the Seekers. But with Polaris’ go-ahead, she was convinced the path suggested was the right one.

Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully you can show me what we need to know or do first. Polaris shimmered in agreement. Jesse wasn’t quite sure how Polaris perceived the world, but she knew at the very least, how to ward off corruptive Resonances.

“So, where to first?” Jesse said, looking to pick a direction and go. Whatever way they hadn’t gone yet. “If there’s Three Masks…well, it’d be nice if they were all in a convenient, straight line. We could grab them up in one go and then bring them back all at once. Guess we’ll just have to see.”

Two hours, and then meet back at that little tavern. As the three men separated, the Ace Cadet gave them a warm send off and then took a few moments to memorize the area around the establishment so that he wouldn't get lost trying to find his way back to it. Although if he really did end up getting lost in the city, he could always rely on the scoutflies to sniff out a path back to Big Band and Wonder Red.

He had set off in a random direction opposite the other two, content to take his time and explore. He didn't feel any particular way about leaving them to investigate while he pretty much just went shopping. Everyone had their own element after all, and he was not in his. Better to leave it to the people who actually were. Besides, having the proper gear was important. As he walked, the breezes that managed to weave themselves between the buildings carried the deep chill through him. Every now and then he had to duck into open establishments and out of the cold in order to warm up some before moving on. It was in doing this that he began to notice certain things about the city.

He probably should have taken note of it earlier, but running around an unfamiliar place trying to transport an unconscious person to a clinic in the least suspicious way possible took some focus away from the metropolis itself. And maybe the modern looking aesthetic disguised it, in a way. It had been staring him in the face this whole time though - in fact it was in the name: Magicapolis.

There were glowing runes inscribed into lampposts, fueling ever-lasting light. Shop signage that floated and rearranged itself, twinkling playfully to attract the attention of passersby. Vehicles with intricate magic circles in place of wheels, rolling along by their own power. Little devices that traveled the sidewalks and glowed hot with inscribed spells, clearing the paths of ice until the next time they frosted over. While at first glance the city seemed technologically inclined, there was undercurrent of magic so prevalent that it must have been commonplace. No one batted an eye at the weird fusion of magic and machine, no one except the Ace Cadet.

"Eegh..." He let out a little noise of discomfort once it really sunk in. Hopefully the guys found some clues that lead out of the city, the Cadet thought to himself. He continued window shopping with his shoulders hunched, avoiding the more obvious magical influence. He passed up shops that he otherwise would have stopped in, like one clothing store advertising robes meant to withstand the cold, but also boasting enchantments woven into them, and another with a felyne-looking shopkeeper that drew him towards it until he realized what kinds of goods they actually sold.

After walking by many different types of places, from dining establishments to boutiques, he ended up pretty far from his starting point. This was taking longer than he'd expected it to. Should he suck it up and just buy something even if it was enchanted? He could tolerate only so much, and the thought of wearing magic clothes made his skin crawl. I'll keep looking a little longer.

Finally, he ducked into what looked to be a general goods store that showcased a more mundane looking winter outfit as part of it's window display. The inside was spacious, and though it's inventory seemed pretty random it was well organized into sections. The temperature inside was much better compared to the street, but it wasn't exactly warm. Perhaps that was because the proprietor was covered in fur. Behind the register was a leporine person, fiddling with something outside of the Cadet's field of vision and grumbling to himself. When the shopkeep noticed a customer he dropped what he was doing by shoving it under the counter.

"Well, come on in! Welcome to Niccolo's! Niccolo will bring smiles to all." The man cupped his hands together, fixing the hunter with a wide smile. "...I am Niccolo, if that wasn't clear."

"Wouldn't have guessed," the Cadet replied with a grin before cutting to the chase. "I need some winter clothes and 'thaw' the coats in the window, figured I'd stop in to see what you have."

"I have whatever you need! My ability to procure items to sell amazes even myself," Niccolo preened. He gave the Ace Cadet a good once over though, his bluster dying down a little as he took in the hunter's get up of steel and scales. "Though... as painful as it would be to turn away a customer, are you sure you aren't needing something from down the street instead?"

The rabbit-like man pointed outside of the store, and curiously the Cadet turned to look. Squinting through the glass window into the shop about a block away, he could see a large suit of armor displayed at the storefront. The hunter swooned over the extravagant equipment, but knew it's price tag would be way too high. He had some money on him but not enough to afford something like that, as much as he would have loved to buy it. He shook his head to refocus on the task at hand.

"Aha... nope, just regular clothes will do. Anything that's warm and not too restrictive."

Niccolo perked up at this, bouncing around the counter and onto the sales floor. He gestured toward a section of the shop that held attire as he spoke. "That's good to hear! Then Niccolo will take care of you. I've got plenty of options to choose from so don't be shy!"

The Cadet was ushered toward the racks of clothes without delay. He made one amendment to his preference to Niccolo, which was just "the most normal clothes you got." That earned him a strange look, but it was worth it to avoid any kind of magical garments. It didn't take him long to pick out a large and very warm coat with an empty metal slot on the front of it. Niccolo informed his customer that it was empty on purpose, intended for anything the wearer wanted to put there - when in reality there was a missing heating component that was previously built into the coat. Naturally the Cadet paid full price, oblivious. It worked out anyway, as he found that the scoutfly cage fit pretty snugly in the slot and made for a dull green lantern at his chest. With a few more pieces purchased his coin purse was much lighter but he didn't feel the cold at all anymore, so it was a fair trade.

"Thanks again!" the Cadet said as he pushed the door open to leave. "Come back anytime!" Was Niccolo's reply.

With shopping finally out of the way the Cadet decided to head back toward the meeting place. By the time he made it there the two hours would probably be over anyway. He shuffled quickly through the street with his hands in his pockets. He'd stowed the ship rigging into the square backpack while he was trying things on, and there they stayed for now, giving the Cadet a much more local look. Despite the appearance he still couldn't navigate like a local though, and ended up relying on his scenting insects after all. The glowing bugs floated out from their new spot and led him back in the direction of his fellow Seekers.



The Travelers didn't worry about dizy much longer, as Jesse came to their rescue using much the same tactic as they had earlier: using another monster against the bigger one. Jesse's version of this strategy was to hurl the entire body of ang at the dizy which resulted in a gory acid bath, but there was no complaint from Primrose nor Therion. If it worked, it worked. The corners of Primrose's mouth twitched up as she held back a laugh at the red head's deadpan humor.

After that, the group of Seekers handily dealt with the remaining monster and started the process of patching up anyone that needed it. The battle and the healing took a toll on Primrose's mana reserves, so once things quieted down she sat herself down on a small boulder to rest. She remained seated there even as the new group of monsters made their way into the area. These ones spoke, bemoaning the loss of their aggressive and frankly bloodthirsty friends. The Travelers did not feel any sympathy for them whatsoever - both were about to go back on the offensive despite how weak the new monsters had showed themselves to be, but Sectonia got to them first.

"That takes care of that," Primrose murmured, dispelling the magic she'd been gathering in her hand. Therion stowed the throwing knives that had suddenly appeared in his hands. Had the alien queen mentioned a mind-controlling minion in her introduction earlier? He couldn't remember, but after seeing it in action he wouldn't forget. Wanting to steer clear of that whole business, the thief went on down the path after Ms. Fortune, Rubick, and Bowser.

While some of the group went on, Primrose stretched out and listened to Sectonia's very brief questioning of the small group of eye monsters. Simple motivations, and simple answers. The name 'Toriel' meant nothing to the dancer, and it seemed the same for the others too. More interesting was that there was another stranger with them now, one that seemed to have fallen in and only just woke up after the battle was over. He was lucky he hadn't been trampled in the chaos. She listened as the young Koopa explained everything to the 'Adventurer,' her chin propped on her palm. She had no notes, it had been thorough and to the point even if filtered through the kid's pointed way of speaking.

With everything more or less wrapped up here, they'd better catch up to the ones that went ahead.

Meanwhile Therion came up just after the action, having kept pace with everyone besides Ms. Fortune. He was tagging along, not racing. When they arrived, there were a few odd exchanges of words.

Did he just say 'unbottled evil?' Therion thought, raising a brow. The man before them definitely looked the part, with his dark clothes and menacing smirk. The broken chains laying at his feet amidst scattered ash painted the rest of the picture for the thief. Still, Therion wasn't about to judge the guy for his morals - he made his living by stealing after all. Plus it seemed Bowser knew the guy even if that wasn't reciprocated. And the man, Ganondorf, was eager to help by repaying a debt to Ms. Fortune - which the Feral quickly cashed in. So if he really was "evil," wasn't it only to the same level that the two feuding royals down here were?

"..." Even so, he'd keep an eye on the man. The same as he did on everyone really, as even though they were working together now one never knew when that might change.

Therion wandered around the area, taking in the sealed door as the remainder of the group arrived in time to hear Ganondorf's thoughts on the location of the next Guardian. It took Primrose by surprise that the Guardian would be sealed up in a similar way to Red Eye. It was less that these beings were guarding something, and more that they were keys being guarded. If the Under's final obstacle was here in front of them though, then it had ended up being quite the lucky fall to end up so close to it. Of course, the hard part was still to come.

"Hmm~" Primrose peered at the temple, the carved faces, and then at the Gerudo King. He offered to be a guide for them, not even bothering to hide the fact that he had an ulterior motive. Oh, this one is trouble, the dancer thought to herself as she appraised the group's newest addition. After years of dealing with all kinds of unsavory, powerful men she could sense that his malice was not directed at the Seekers - not yet, at least. So whatever plan he had in mind, it was not to lead the group into a trap. For now she thought it worthwhile to accept his offer; it was as Bowser Jr. said earlier, they could use help on the team.

"How fortunate we would find not just one guide, but two," she said, giving the little Knight a nod of her head. "It seems like a fine plan."

"Speaking of Fortune, she mentioned a map-maker was down here," he reminded the group. "We should find him first. If we're going to be running around underground tunnels fetching masks, it'd be a good idea to have a one to go off of."

It was a subtle dig at their proposed guides, given that one was mute and small enough that it would be easy to lose in the dark, and the other was some kind of arrogant warlock that had just been imprisoned - so it was obvious that guy wasn't up and about memorizing the routes around this place. Even putting aside Therion's skepticism about being led by those two, a map or two would just be handy to have in general.

"I really doubt they'll be that easy to find," he finished, replying to Jesse. His tone implied that he had experience with this sort of thing. Wish it would be that easy for once though.


Agathion may have been the smallest and presumably weakest threat out of the bunch the Seekers currently faced, but a win was a win. It was especially nice after his volley of arrows had been sent back at him earlier courtesy of the skull-faced flyer, putting an early end to Pit's first plan. After successfully sending the little demon soaring Pit giddily whirled around to clap his palm against Raz's. The Arm had faded by then, bringing the Palutena Bow back into existence in his other hand. "Woo teamwork!"

Just after that exchange, Princess Peach alighted beside them. "We're fine!" Pit reported first. Second, he considered her strategic proposal. It was a good idea. Most of the Seekers were limited to in their angle of attack, so changing it up would be effective. Raz even had an idea about which angle to strike from already, though the brainstorming was quickly interrupted.

The nuclear light of Mafreidyne blossomed around the chaotic battlefield. The pillar of light that preceded them was all the warning the fighters had to get clear. Pit's protective instinct as an angel kicked in, and he pulled Peach out of epicenter of the attack in order to fling her and give her a boost in escaping. He was relived to see that Raz had managed to dive out of the sphere's range, and as for himself? He quick summoned the Guardian Orbitars in an attempt to reflect the attack. The shields stood rigid in the air in front of him, but Mafreidyne was on another level. It spread fast and bypassed the Orbitars as it was neither a physical attack nor a projectile, searing the angel. Pit jumped when he realized that his plan was once again ineffective against the Trumpeter, throwing himself backward towards the front edge of the truck he was on. He landed on his side, curled up in pain. That had hurt, it was a powerful attack. If there was one saving grace though, it was that facing the nuclear force head on had saved his wings from any harm. He didn't want to think about what would have happened if they had been caught in the sphere.

"I'm g-good, just... give me a sec...!" He wheezed, mostly to himself. Pit was made of sturdier stuff than most, so he knew this wouldn't debilitate him. He took a deep breath and then pushed himself up, steadily recovering enough to stand again. Once he was up he let out the breath.

Okay. Let's get back to it! All of the remaining demons were engaged with the Seekers, so it was a fine time to try offering some supporting fire once again. He avoided the Trumpeter this time just in case, but the winged demon was already swarmed anyway. Pit shot a few arrows at the other enemies, the light constructs zipping through the air to avoid friendly fire. As he did he kept an eye out for openings where he could jump in and get up close.

Rays of nuclear power shone down across the mobile battlefield, and in their wake a handful of uncanny, unnatural explosions -more like sustained energy fields than fiery blasts- wreaked havoc for both trucks and Seekers alike. Tora and Poppi, not recognizing the element at work, made themselves scarce the moment it reared its ugly head. Tora jumped into Poppi’s arms so that both could abandon ship, jetting away from the spot where they bid Sandman farewell to an untouched truck closer to the front.

Of course, that also gave them both a good view of Blazermate and Susie sound asleep the second before Mafreidyne fried them. Their futuristic and cutting-edge technology, bereft of radiation hardening, left both woefully vulnerable to the brutal combo executed by Sandman and Trumpeter together. “Oh no!” Tora cried, reaching out his wing as the machine girls stirred, their circuitry melted and their metal warped by the esoteric blowout. “Friends okay!?”

They might not be okay, but they were still functional, and nobody could patch the two of them up like Blazermate herself. Together the duo fought through the debilitating pain admirably in order to resume their bombardment, although to the Medabot’s continued misfortune a giant pothole in the road jostled her truck so severely that the Engineer’s sentry toppled off its roof to smash to pieces by the wayside. With them doing the best they could, Tora turned his attention -and Poppi her revolvers- to the source of this chaos: the Trumpeter.

After what happened, most of their allies were naturally thinking along the same lines, too. Midna escaped through the darkness, slithering through shadows of stone, tree, and brush to reach a spot up ahead where she could set up a high-caliber ambush. With Trumpeter floating above the rearmost trucks in the convoy it got a heaping portion of lead, and though not weak to Gun the airborne demon did not appreciate her barrage. Before it could retaliate, though, Geralt’s bomb detonated in its skeletal face, prompting a cheer of encouragement from Tora. “Show that boneypon what-for, Geralt!” he cried.

“Hnnngh…” the Trumpeter groaned as it found its magic suppressed by the bluish slivers that now studded its bone and peppered its robes. The Witcher followed with his crossbow, expertly adjusting for the rattle and roll of the truck beneath his feet before firing to add onto his arrow damage from before. Tora and Poppi boosted over to join him in what looked like a good middle-of-the-pack position, the former wielding the Variable Saber in shotgun mode and the latter her two new plus-size revolvers. Even if they landed only one shot in three, their efforts joined with Geralt’s to form a barrage that Trumpeter could not ignore, forcing it to block.

The Witcher’s Yrden trap wouldn’t see much use, however, since the other four demons that remained were facing staunch opposition of their own. Back at the school bus, while Midna gained on it from behind in her appropriated Warthog, Roxas took his scissor-wielding adversary to task. His Firaga missed as Atropos swerved away from it, putting her Dodge Fire skill to good use to avoid her weakness, but soon after the keyblade wielder’s acrobatic prowess brought him into melee range. She went on the defensive without even trying an inelegant cut or stab, with her scissors, but still took a flurry of blows Knocked down to the roof of the bus and forced to hold on for her life, Atropos could only withstand Thundaga as best she could until Benedict intervened.

Once given a little space, however, she pulled back from the fight with Roxas to cast a new spell. “Mediarama,” the twister of fate decreed, and at her incantation all her allies received a burst of healing.

Her support couldn’t have come a moment too soon for Morax, who Karin had been outboxing since the beginning. He exhaled a shuddering breath of relief as the bruises and breaks across his inhuman body mended themselves. Gritting his buffalo teeth in a fearsome scowl, Morax answered the girl’s question with Maragi, then Maragi, then Maragi once again. With his life very much on the line, he poured all his SP into a constant firestorm in an effort to blast Karin into oblivion, going as far as to neglect his footing as he stood at the back of the truck for his all-out offensive.

Poppi clicked her tongue as she saw Trumpeter get healed, and holstered her weapons. With her stock of bullets depleted, there would be no more potshots until her new arms could manufacture another batch of twelve. Tora ceased fire too, knowing (and frustrated by) how little damage the Variable Saber’s shotgun blast of lasers did at this range. If the two meant to make a difference, they’d need to move up, but both of the trucks between them and the rearmost pair harbored a furious fight in progress: Karin versus Morax, and Giovanna versus Ippon-Datara. She also spotted Sakura weaving between the trucks on her motorcycle, and did not envy the brunette’s position. It’d be tough for a brand-new biker to maneuver along a highway at these speeds at all, let alone in circumstances like these. The truck drivers to either side of her didn’t seem too happy about yet another problem for them to deal with, either. “That’s super dangerous!” she yelled down to Sakura over the rushing wind. “If you need help, please don’t hesitate to call Poppi!”

In regards to the one-on-one fights, though, the smith and the secret agent were really going at it. Once forced apart by the fallout of Mafreidyne, the two came together again in explosive fashion. Giovanna dashed in and drove her knee into Ippon-Datara with blistering speed, then launched into a triple side kick while leaning on Rei for support, and finished with a spectacular Sepultra spin kick. Her foe staggered back, but just as quickly hopped forward again on his single leg, undeterred. One Sledgehammer was all it took to blow open Giovanna’s guard, preventing any sort of punishment on her part. “Uh huh.” She dashed back to deftly avoid a follow-up haymaker. “Offense it is, then.” Ippon-Datara rampaged toward her, slamming the ground over and over again like a wind-up toy, and Giovanna chose her moment.

She flipped backward with Sol Nascente to counterhit her foe as he barged in, then dashed in to pummel him with a storm of kicks before he could get started again. He kept trying to mash her with his hammer while getting up, only to be struck down again or trade at best, and just when he finally learned his lesson Giovanna dashed in for a grab instead. She vaulted onto his shoulders and rammed her fists into his head to give him an electrifying Temple Massage with the tasers in her gloves. Enraged, Ippon-Datara grabbed her with his tongs to try and throw her off, and when her leg lock around his neck wouldn’t be dislodged he swung his hammer up to loosen her grip with a concussive blow. He threw Giovanna off the truck, only for Rei to manifest beneath her and give her a boost back up. She tumbled across the roof into a crouch, her face tightened from pain as she held her shoulder. Ippon-Datara charged again, but this time the duo cut him short ahead of time with a low sweep. “Hmph!” Giovanna linked that into Burst Time, striking the ground with a lightning wave followed by a quadruple flaming backflip kick to finish the brute off.

While that happened, Raz pulled off his own gambit. As Tora and Poppi looked on, he used his regained power to daringly snatch Trumpeter’s titular trumpet right out from under its nose-hole. It wouldn’t be much use to the psychonaut except as an impromptu bludgeon, but Trumpeter was none too happy even after its heal. Silenced and disarmed, it could do little more than glower as the Seekers seized their chance. Bede bid his Pokemon attack, and Tora did the same for his partner. “Poppi, now!” he called.

“Going all in!” The artificial blade took the Variable Saber in hand and boosted up past Giovanna to deliver a lightning-fast aerial combination. She finished with a backflip slice into a shotgun blast that propelled her away, only for Tora to fly up after her thanks to a team jump with Peach and spike one of the princess’s Grenaducks into the harbinger’s face. Its blast threw him into Poppi, who caught him so both could land back down on the trucks safely.

Soonafter, however, the dimeritium shards had lost their potency. Despite the theft of its instrument, Trumpeter unleashed Abyssal Surge. Suffocating darkness swaddled the Seekers in a wide range around it, inducing a medium chance of Despair. Crippling mental anguish pierced those afflicted, leaving them unable to act beyond clinging to the trucks. Bede’s Aromatherapy and Blazermate’s status cure wouldn’t just be blessings, but lifesavers, for if allowed to persist too long that despair would leave the afflicted unconscious.

Unfortunately for the heroes, they had more than despair to worry about. A chorus of honking arose from the trucks, prompting their riders to look ahead. Having been going uphill for a few moments, the convoy now neared a series of the dripping black bridges that spanned some of the scrubland’s many canyons, these ones featuring frothing rivers at the bottom. With the bridges in better condition but narrower than the road, the trucks packed in tight to fit, forcing Sakura to pull back, and putting everyone else in close proximity. “Meeh!” Tora cried, holding his partner in a deathgrip as the two nearly fell off. “Poppi,” he begged. “Please to snap out of it!”

“Existence is meaningless,” Poppi deadpanned, her eyes lifeless. “Happiness is fleeting…death is a certainty…”

“Meh meh meh, this bad!” Tora looked up as Trumpeter began to cast, but its focus seemed to be elsewhere. It let loose Mafreidyne behind the convoy, trying to bomb Midna and Sakura. This was his chance! With no other option, Tora whipped out his tools and took Poppi offline for an emergency reboot.

Unfortunately, he failed to account for one leftover demon, wounded but very much alive. Leering evilly, Belphegor arose to assail the united team. “Grahaha!” he guffawed as he cast Mabufula, capitalizing on the pandemic of despair with a widespread deluge of ice. Tora threw himself over Poppi to shield her with his own body.

After another few moments, the trip across the bridges came to an end, putting the fleet of trucks back on solid ground among the ridges and canyons. Up ahead lay the ground continued to slope upward toward the massive ravine, with Midgar more clearly visible than ever on the opposite side. When Giovanna squinted, however, she made out a welcome sight slowly getting bigger: a beefy Cargpbob twin rotor tandem-engine helicopter, the very one she called in for extraction earlier. It sported an undercarriage-mounted hook perfect for carrying one vehicle, and it cruised her way at a crisp hundred miles an hour, which still wasn’t as fast as Giovanna would have liked. By her best guess, it would reach the convoy about the same time as they reached the ravine, which sounded like a recipe for very brave and stupid ideas.

As it turned out, the group did not have the luxury of choice. For the second time that trip, Giovanna heard the sound of an engine out in the scrubland, although this time it came from in front, and it sounded like more than one. A lot more. She winced as she saw a white truck plow onto the scene up ahead, flying up from a lower valley in a cloud of dust. More trucks drove out behind it, clustered together like herd animals, and just like the first they all lacked drivers. More warning honks resounded from the convoy trucks in reply, coupled with panicked shouts from the Bridges personnel driving them. The motors, swears, horns, and road sounds created a frightful cacophony of noise, but Giovanna didn’t need to ask to know what was happening. “Wild trucks!” she yelled back at the Seekers as the clamor died down, replaced by a focused silence as the drivers white-knuckled their wheels. “Forget fighting, we need to move!” Clenching her teeth, she turned to face the incoming stampede, the ravine beyond, and the incoming Cargobob, then sighed. “Goldlewis is never gonna believe my report,” she said flatly. Rei whined, obliging the secret agent to pat her, before the both of them got underway.





Once Nadia made her request, Ganondorf took a moment to mull it over. The fact that he seemed to be contemplating what to tell her implied that he indeed possessed some pertinent information on the subject to share, so the feral left him to it. His pensiveness also gave a couple other Seekers a chance to trickle into the Temple of the Black Egg, including Rubick. Though the battle back at the flowerbed didn’t go his way, he seemed to be okay, or at the very least less focused on his own condition than on the bejeweled stranger before him. The sorcerer apparently perceived some sort of magic in Ganondorf, and while Nadia didn’t see any energies at work when he staged his breakout a couple moments ago, she didn’t doubt that he possessed some sort of supernatural ability. Despite their paltry size and simplicity, even a pair of handcuffs turned out to be astonishingly hard to break, as Nadia could attest. Luckily, as with most things, she had her own ways around such problems. She could scarcely imagine what strength it took to snap chains like rubber bands. The way the man snapped at Bowser was only a little less impressive.

Ganondorf’s deliberation lasted only a few seconds. Then, he fulfilled his end of the bargain. Since he made the offer in the first place Nadia expected him to, but she did not expect just how valuable his response might be. He informed her, and by extension the other Seekers, that their objective lay tantalizingly close at hand, but just beyond their reach. Nadia looked at the great obsidian globe with newfound appreciation, her eyes resting on the intriguing indentations just above the spot where the prisoner had been bound. Three masks, huh? That made sense! Just like the Qliphoth roots in the Dead Zone, it seemed like the perfect number for important things. “Good grief!” she grinned, fresh excitement flowed through her veins. “That’s purrfect! Egg-zactly what we needed!” It wasn’t like this region’s Guardian had been handed to her team on a silver platter, but already this was a much, much better foundation than the Seekers got in the Deep Blue Seaside. A concrete objective did away with so much uncertainty, after all!

She turned to Bowser and the others, her eyes shining. “Hear that? The start and finish line are one and the same! That means all we gotta do is make one big circuit around the underground, get ourselves a three-course meal of masks, and find our way back here to give the Guardian its just desserts! Piece of cake!” Would it be that easy? No way in hell. But as she’d already learned in her adventures thus far, a paw-sitive attitude went a long way when it came to working in a team.

The good news didn’t stop there, however. Ganondorf proceeded to volunteer for tour guide duty, or something like that. Fantastical folks always tended to mince their words a little, but Nadia got the message loud and clear: he was offering to join them on their campaign, and in so doing would make their subterranean journey all the easier. She spun around, a big smile on her face. “Sounds good to me!” she chirped without a second thought. “The more the merrier, right? Leatherback here made it sound like you’re some kinda bad guy, but if we’ve already got one, what’s one more? Accordin’ to the Consuls we’re all bad guys anyway, seein’ as we’re tryin’ to destroy their world and all.”

One of the other new arrivals, Sectonia, then chimed in too. Nadia wasn’t paying enough attention to realize what happened to the Loox, so she only heard that Sectonia also favored cooperation with Ganondorf, although her phrasing earned her a sideways glance from the feral. “Psst! Hey!” she hissed at Sectonia. “Ya can’t just call people ‘dark’!” The big bug probably didn’t know any better, but right now Nadia didn’t want to risk getting on the newcomer’s bad side; if the Seekers didn’t want to go back to the original plan of languishing in the darkness down here, they needed his guidance.

In the minutes that followed however, the swordsman provided just that. In as few words as possible, he outlined both this area and its immediate surroundings according to the information he’d gleaned during his imprisonment. The Ruins, being directly beneath the Chasm that formed the Under’s primary entrance, served as a sort of crossroads for the whole region. Continuing on east past the Temple of the Black Egg would bring them through a nameless, eerie subterranean forest to Hollow Bough, a biome of petrified wood and dried grass rather than stone and stalagmite, infested by thorny red vines and many-legged carpenters. Back the way the Seekers came, a huge basin-like room provided vertical access through much of the Ruins. Its bottom level offered a westward path to the lush Lawn and an eastward one past an abandoned village, though beyond that Ganondorf couldn’t offer much more than some sort of lake around the roots of the Hollow Bough’s trees. Below the Ruins, they could descend into the Dream Canyon, the Fungal Wastes, or the Basement, but without any other concrete knowledge about those places from Ganondorf the Seekers would have to learn more by venturing there themselves.

Therion mentioned the map-maker, and Nadia nodded. “Yeah, yeah!” she agreed. “I think he might be at the bottom of that big open chamber. If the rest of ya wanna scout around a little, a couple of us can scamper down and find him.” The feral waved as she turned to jog back out of the temple, pitter-pattering through the quiet, misty tunnels as she retraced her steps to the big opening from earlier. After a few moments, she stood at a precipice overlooking the Crossroads Cavity.

Sure enough, Nadia could still see the scraps of paper scattered around the carven balconies on the walls and the platforms suspended on their wrought-iron scaffolding, but now that she took a moment to really get a good look at the place out she could pick out less savory details, too. A great many Gruzzer flies the size of exercise balls bumbled blithely around those heights, carelessly bouncing into anything in their path with their fat, round bodies thanks to their comically undersized wings. After a moment, Nadia also glimpsed a sleepy Gruz Mother closer to the bottom, elephant-sized and with a trunk to match, much to her chagrin. Still, nothing that Nadia wouldn’t see coming.

“Alright, bud,” she said to Therion, flashing him a competitive smile. “Time for a crash course in bein’ a cat. Try and keep up!”

Without further ado she tensed up and jumped down, soaring through the air for a brief moment, to land on the first big platform. It rattled beneath the impact, sending a sudden jolt of panic through her, but that was nothing compared to what she felt when a four-eyed cave cricket climbed up from where it had been hanging off the other side.

“WAAAUGH!” As the huge, freakish bug skittered her way Nadia instinctively veered backward, only to nearly fall off the edge . The cricket jumped at her, but Idea sprang into existence and snatched it out of the air. As Nadia watched, equal parts horrified by the insectoid jump scare and exhilarated by her new assist, Idea flung the cricket up, snatched it with its seven tongues, and slammed it back down into the platform before vanishing. Unfortunately for the feral, her new archenemy did not go splat. It began to get up to attack again, but Nadia gathered herself faster. “Cat Scratch Fever! She charged forward with a series of slashes, carving through one surprisingly tough leg with each to leave her foe immobilized. With half its legs gone, it could only struggle as she pierced its abdomen with the final hit, lifted it into the air, and revved up her arm like a drill to scatter the pest to the four winds with the centripetal force.

Panting, Nadia waited a moment for her racing heart to slow down. “Ohh, man,” she gasped. “I’m gonna have a bad day, I just know it…” Once over the scare, she moved to the edge of her platform, hurriedly gauged the jump to the next, and leaped down. Her three hundred sixty four pounds of effective weight promptly smashed right through it and sent her into freefall among the Gruzzers and cave crickets, her face red with anger and embarrassment. “I HATE IT HEREEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeee…!”



Fresh snowflakes softly flitted down from the pillowy white wintry clouds upon the empty streets as Band plodded his way along the sidewalks. Even with the way free of snow thanks to those magic thingamajigs, his expression was stormy, and his mood quietly furious. Irons. He wouldn’t be forgetting that odious man’s name or face any time soon. As if his sticken glimpse of New Meridian deep beneath the sea in the Black Line’s Rapture Station earlier that day wasn’t enough, his meeting with the Edinburgh police department managed to stir up even more old memories, but nostalgia was the last thing the grizzled detective felt. How nice it would be if he could forget those miserable years, but no matter how far into the past they sank, they could never quite melt away into the haze beyond memory. Instead those memories were like his shadow, following behind him no matter where he went–even the World of Light.

The cruel irony of bad policemen, who served and protected only their own interests and regarded the law as a weapon to be wielded rather than a principle to be upheld, stung Band no matter where it arose. This Chief Irons might represent a different flavor of evil compared to that which Band knew during his own policing days -less ambitious, maybe- but he represented evil nonetheless. That much, Band could smell. Irons reeked of the animal fat that he methodically scraped off the underside of the hides for the taxidermy he loved so dearly, almost certainly so immersed in the craft that he couldn’t even perceive it himself anymore. The same thing could be said of corruption, not just for Irons but for the whole force, since a leader both set the example for his team and birds of a feather flock together. His audacious and brazen treatment of Detective Lucia Morgan galled Band, not just because the poor woman probably suffered unduly under Irons’ whims compared to the men around her, but also because she reminded Band of himself in those bitter, earlier days. He all too keenly recalled that horrible feeling of futility. Of clinging to one’s principles while surrounded by corruption, of being forced to abide by countless violations while struggling in futility to stem the tide. Those feelings of circling the drain that gnawed away the soul itself. Could he even tell himself that Ben Birdland died a man of virtue that fateful day, rather than subsisting long enough to become another maggot in the pile? How many times by then had he looked the other way when his fellow officers did the wrong thing, after all…?

Band exhaled deeply. He seated himself on a bench that looked like it could take his weight and rubbed at the bridge of his nose with the pads of a mechanical arm, thinking. Maybe I’m just projecting, he reasoned. Ultimately, despite the obnoxiously sour feeling that Irons and the force in general left him with, he possessed no evidence of wrongdoing. Only his gut instinct, and no matter how well his intuition might serve him, he could not create any case without proof. Maybe they’re just assholes. Most cops were surly, suspicious, and territorial. It sort of came with the territory, and if not, then it definitely came with experience. For now, he needed to focus on the scant few details he picked up during his chat with the ill-natured Chief of Police. Skeletons at night, he recollected. Don’t like the sound of that one bit. Anyone from his world could probably guess what his first guess had been, but given the sheer amount of worlds seemingly in play here, what were the odds that his fears would turn out to be well-founded?

Band stared up at the sky, feeling the gentle bite of the cold subarctic breeze on his skin. No man could be that unlucky. Not even him. Surely?

He still had some time left on the clock before his rendezvous with Ace and Red, so he sat there for a while, kept too sharply focused by occasional frigid gusts to grow comfortable. While there he considered the options available to him. Grilling every last random civilian he ran into would be an immense hassle for less-than-tangible benefits; the average MagicaPolis citizen probably knew nothing of the greater picture here. If the law enforcement here wouldn’t work with him, he could attempt to elicit the aid of some other authority figure, a mayor perhaps. The higher up the pecking order he got, however, the closer he would probably get to a Consul. Band still possessed frustratingly little information on them, but even the vaguest notion suggested that those encountered by his allies so far represented some form of organized syndicate with remarkable power, reach, and most worryingly, interest in the Seekers. If one could mobilize the entire feline populace of the Metro into a fighting force at the drop of a hat in time for his group’s arrival, it would behoove him and the others to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves. Hopefully he hadn’t done too much already.

In the midst of the detective’s ruminations, he became aware of the sound of footsteps. He glanced to his left, a handful of snow accumulated on the brim of his fedora, to see someone following in his footsteps along the side of the road at a brisk pace. The heavy, wooly white coat he didn’t recognize, but he couldn’t fail to have noticed those distinctive yellow-striped blue leggings. “Hm.” He turned to look the newcomer’s way as she approached his bench, smiling when she continued to jog in place to keep her blood flowing even after she stopped moving forward. “I wondered if they’d send someone,” he began, “But I did not expect you, Detective. You must be cold.”

“You got NO idea, mistah,” Lucia told him, her haggard breath a constant stream of mist in the cold air. “On both accounts, I mean. ‘Cause while I might be the fahst one to come after ya’s, theah’s moah comin’, and they sure as hell ain’t friendly.”

Band gave a slight, inquisitive tilt of his head. “And here I thought Chief Irons wasn’t gonna roll me out the welcome wagon,” he said drily.

Though shaking all over, Lucia shook her head in particular. “His welcome’s gonna be a whole lot wahmah than yah bahgainin’ fah, believe me. Speakin’ of…” She motioned with her head toward her legs. “I can tell ya moah, but I was kinda in a hurry gettin’ outta theah, so if ya know anywhere we can go I’d shoah appreciate it.”

Her fellow detective rose to his feet. “I know just the place. Follow me.”.

“Lead the way, mistah,” Lucia replied, her expression grateful. “And while we’ah on the way, we oughta stop by Hello Wahk. ‘Cause aftah this, I’m definitely out of a job.”

---

Some time later, the door to the pub designated as the Seeker trio’s rendezvous point swung open not only to admit Big Band, but a yellow-haired stranger behind him. After being greeted with a warm front from inside and stepping into the toasty interior, the unknown woman breathed a sigh of relief; her skin had turned almost as blue as her uniform. “God, I could go foah a pint right now,” she groaned, but she dutifully followed her escort to the booth where Ace and Red sat waiting.

“Afternoon, y’all,” Band greeted the others. For someone of his size, sitting anywhere in a bar meant for normal humans ended up being a laborious process, but he found a way. “This is Detective Lucia Morgan,” he said, introducing his guest. “Met her at the local police department.”

“Foahmah detective,” the lady replied, although she didn’t look too glum about it. “Chief didn’t take too kindly to poor Band heah,” she said, using the nickname she picked up while eavesdropping. “Right aftah he left, he rounded up the Three Stooges to keep an eye on ya. But I seen what happens to people he puts his eyes on, and…well, I just got this gut feelin’, ya know? Couldn’t take it any longah. So I said to myself, it ain’t gonna happen this time.”

Band furrowed his brow. “Not that I don’t appreciate you doin’ all this for us, ‘specially outta the blue, but I gotta ask. It seems like you’re puttin’ yourself in awful danger for someone ya don’t know.”

“Psh.” Lucia waved her hand. “I had it up to heah with that guy, anyway. Always givin’ me crap, starin’ at me weahd. Gives me the creeps. You ain’t catchin’ me stuffed and mounted in his office, no way no how.” She slid the drink menu over and scanned it for whatever looked the cheapest and strongest. “Besides,” she continued. “I could tell you weren’t havin’ any of it. You were hidin’ it, shoah, but I saw it in yah eyes. Like ya couldn’t stand lookin’ at mockery of the luah.” After nodding and tapping one of the options in the menu as if to confirm her choice, she looked his way with grim smile. “I know it, ‘cause I’m just the same.”

A brief moment later, Band smiled. “I’m glad. Welcome to the team then, Miss Morgan.” He glanced at the others. “So, before we get into the welcome wagon, you two learn anythin’ while out on the town? Any ideas for places to go? Don’t matter how small it might seem, gimme all ya got.”

The keyblade wielder, while obviously skilled with his strange weapon, was also the easiest to anticipate. The boy fought without strategy, blindly swinging at Benedict only to be halted by Atropos who stepped forward to shield the Turk. Instead of repositioning himself, Benedict stayed behind the demon ignoring the boys questioning.

Benedict took a second to assess the situation, two fights were taking place; on the school bus and the convoy, if they could somehow separate the trucks the enemy would be scattered the question was, how? Benedict used his skills as a strategist help his demonic bodyguard see the inconsistency in their foes strategy, boosting her ability to handle the martial aspect of the situation as she was toppled to the side, clinging to the bus.

The convoy was dealing with the Trumpeter, at least that was until said instrument came hurtling towards him. The enemy could learn a thing or two about calling out after an attack or during to sow confusion as Benedict simply sidestepped the projectile just as it was thrown "I am doing my job, nothing more." he kicked the trumpet aside, to the rocky road and turned slightly to face the weird looking child if the boy was a child.

Benedict's gaze was as emotionless as his tone except for a glimmer of red behind his spectacles. The Turk kicked Raz in the chest toppling him and retreating a step backward holding the point of his sword up to the sprawled out Seeker "I do what I must, no matter the cost. Only the results matter."

Roxas saw his friend Raz be kicked away. While he was certain the Psychonaut was probably fine, he still felt compelled to help his new friend back on their feet. Hearing the Turk explain his reasoning, it reminded Roxas of someone. A person who held very similar beliefs once upon a time, so much so that he had no qualms about making people disappear just because it helped him reach his goal. He thought back to him, DiZ in his red robes and the secret lab he occupied underneath the Twilight Town Mansion.



"Just tell me why!" Roxas shouted at the man demanding that he disappear, "I need to know! I DESERVE to know!" and of course DiZ's words had burned themselves into Roxas' memory of that time. He could recall them even now.

"A Nobody doesn't have the right to know, nor does it even have the right to BE."

"...I hate you SO much!" Roxas had said to him, unable to attack him as the man was actually just a digitized version of himself.

"You should share some of that hatred with Sora," DiZ said coldly, "He's much too nice for his own good."

"NO!" Roxas shouted, "My heart belongs to ME!"

"So that's it?" Roxas asked after he returned from his thoughts of the past, "The ends justify the means, huh?" he glared at Benedict, but did so as if he were seeing someone else standing there in his place, "You're no better than The Organization!" he said, raising his voice and even pointing a Keyblade in the man's direction. But while he was technically saying these words to the Turk he was currently fighting against, they sounded like words he'd been wanting to say to that other person for some time.

Perhaps this was something that had been buried deep down all this time? And perhaps this had simply been the chance he'd been subconsciously waiting for to get those words off his chest? After all, he never did interact with DiZ again after talking to him in that laboratory. So maybe there were issues there that were in need some closure?

But the visage of the man he had once hated evaporated, and Roxas instead saw the Turk once again. More specifically he saw the faint glow of red coming from behind the man's glasses, "Right, of course." the Keyblade Wielder said, his voice calming and his anger finally appearing to subside, "This is all His doing, isn't it? I'll bet that - deep down - your Heart is crying out to be freed." his gaze became steeled with resolve and determination, "So go ahead and send every demon or G-Man you've got at me! I'll fight them all if I have to, if that's what it takes to free you. And that is my promise!"

However determined he was and however well he would have fared against the entire enemy force, that was all about to become a moot point. Nearby, Giovana warned them all of incoming wild trucks. And once Roxas spotted them, he understood the reason for the warning. They looked like they were coming to crash right into the convoy head-on. Definitely something they didn't want to experience. Perhaps escaping was going to have to become the priority.

"Looks like we're running out of time," he said to Raz if the Psychonaut was still nearby, "any ideas in that brain of yours?"

The convoy blazed past Midna’s little rest stop, but while her fingers itched on the trigger, she held off firing, muttering ”wait for it, wait for it” to herself before her eyes locked onto and then the turret swiveled towards her intended target

”there you are!” she cried out, before pulling the trigger of the gun she had not actually practiced firing yet. The kick of it took her by surprise, and so her first shots hit nothing but sky, but she quickly corrected and then tracked her target while declaring that ”Trumpets blow! When I get home I’m gonna replace the one the royal herald has with a flute. Or a big drum!” a taunt which would likely not be heard over her torrent of bullets messing up the trumpeter.

She kept blazing him till the convoy took a corner. Then she spun around in the turret, so it was facing the other way, did half a backflip, grabbed the back of the driver seat, and pulled herself down into it to complete the (levitation assisted) flip. Butt planted on her booster throne, the princess grabbed the wheel in her hands and then, with a ”Step on the gas!” drove her foot home and gunned the engine of the warthog.

The engine of the warmachine growled to life and she was off, the princess racing to catch up with the trucks and, while they were fast and had more experienced drivers, the light reconnaissance vehicle more than made up for Midna’s driving skills with raw power of its liquid-cooled hydrogen-injected ICE engine.

”Ready or not, here I come!” Midna yelled over the noise as she rounded a corner and found herself hot on the heels of the convoy. Hot on her heels? A howling storm of sand she’d dragged out of her home while catching up, all now ready to act as a reserve of ammunition she could command without letting go of the wheel. Which was good, because without a crew, and with her Initiate strikers on cooldown (the chilfos she knew would have no idea how to use the turret), she didn't actually have anyone to man the free spinning chain gun behind her.

Things as she found them, did not look good, and she couldn't even see the incoming head on collision of yet more trucks. None of the demons were dead, least of all the trumpeter, who was just finishing unleashing a wave of disappear on the crew when she arrived and started pulling up towards the bus.

Then, before she could even begin to try and assess how she could help, that same trumpeter turned his gaze (though not his trumpet, that had vanished at some point apparently) back to her and unleashed yet more nuclear devastation.

Her and the bike riding Sakura had to evade. Sakura had barely managed to draw back this far, the motorcycle rattling beneath her. Clenching the handlebars so tight she was dealing grey damage to herself, Sakura wished Poppi was available to make good on what she said earlier. When the Trumpeter turned its nuclear attention towards her, Sakura’s heart leapt into her throat and she wrenched the motorcycle to the right, closer to Midna’s warthog. Scraping through a pothole, the bike started to wobble.

”I’M GONNA FREAKING DIE!” Sakura yelled in dismay, seconds away from losing control entirely.

Midna wasn’t exactly having the best time either, but the warthog’s intuitive controls and sturdier body were seemingly more reassuring than the flimsy civilian bike. It was definitely more reassuring than the bike, Midna mentally corrected herself and rapidly tried to work out what she could do to stop the streetfighter wiping out.

”Goddesses, um, ah, hold on I can grab you!” she resolved upon, extending out a shadow hand, and trying to effectively do the reverse of what she had done when demonstrating how she might deploy a bike in-order to snatch Sakura and her vehicle from the street before both were reduced to atoms or a smear of blood and oil.

Sakura gasped as the shadow hand rescued her from her crash. Even if she was pressed somewhat uncomfortably against the bike in the grip, she was very grateful. ”I- I’m gonna live?!” She shouted, holding on tight and preparing for explosive impact. The one aimed for her struck the ground a few feet to where she had been- but even with a successful dodge the Trumpeter would no doubt have succeeded in causing her to crash.

As for the explosion aimed at Midna, well, once she had Sakura she said ”Step on the breaks” to herself as she did just that, slowing and swerving to dodge the explosion shot to land ahead of her, tires screeching as they burned rubber against the road. She pulled the car straight again, and then, now that she had a bit more space between herself and the herald of the end times, slapped a hand up to tap the wheel of the motorbike. A portal opened on the car itself, and sucked up the bike to pop it into the twilight realm right next to its remaining sibling, leaving Sakura’s legs hanging free, and leaving the princess free to plop her down somewhere.

”Gun or seat!” she called up

”Wha- huh?!” Sakura said, her hair literally frazzled as she swung her legs around without purpose.

”Gun it is, grab on!” Midna said, as she lowered the woman onto the back of the warthog, setting her feet down placing her in front of the chaingun’s handles.

Sakura grabbed onto the handles and planted her feet, happy to be on something close to solid ground. It took her a few moments to process just what the heck she was looking at as the futuristic machine gun rested in front of her. There were two handles with no trigger, and a lower handle with what definitely looked like a trigger. ”U-uh!” The Trumpeter loomed a medium distance away. She glanced over to where she heard the alert to the wild trucks. They had to catch up! Sakura braced herself and aimed the machine gun high into the sky where she knew it wouldn’t hit anyone. She reached down and grabbed the primary trigger with one hand and pulled it, the machine gun spitting hot lead at a lethal rate, causing Sakura to flinch in surprise. But, if started treating it like she would her ship girl guns, even though those skills had left her now, the memories hadn’t. Steadying her nerves, she held down the trigger and watched the stream of bullets. She used that to aim, guiding the bullets like a hose towards the Trumpeter. It rattled her arms and quaked her core as she fired upon the demon.

”Ste-e-e-e-p o-o-o-n i-i-i-t!” She called out, barely audible over the sound of the gun.

”Stepping!” Midna called back as she did so, putting pedal to the metal to try and catch back up with the convoy. Not satisfied with simply driving, Midna initiated the plan she had made to be able to fight while still keeping her hands on the wheel. She pointed two fingers of her steering wheel gripping hands forwards, and sent her sandstorm howling over the top of them. Rather than sweeping it through the party however, she used the looming mass as a source for more direct attacks, using flicks of her fingers to send blasts of sand down at the trumpeter to try and throw off its aim, and doing the same to any other demon that tried to attack them directly.

Mostly, however, she focused on keeping them on the road and unnuked, something likely easier said than done.

Karin narrowed her eyes as Morax's health was restored before her. She readjusted back into her defensive kneel. ”Hmph. Very well. Perhaps you can prove yourself worthy of my-”

Morax began spamming fireballs.

Karin scowled. ”What is this, bronze league?”

He didn’t even change up his timing. Fire, fire, and more fire. A deluge of fire. Useful, if he was looking to scorch a crowd of fleeing peasants! Such an ignoble tyrant. That was what Karin learned. There was on better way to learn about someone than by fighting them.

For the first few blasts she took a single step forward and then blocked, the fire burning around her, thick, blue, dull impacts diverting the fire around her. It was hot, certainly uncomfortable. If he kept this up uninterrupted for forty five more seconds, she’d crumble. He didn’t have forty five seconds. And it’d only ever take her one.

Once she found the pattern, Karin made her move. Dash, sidestep, leap… ”Seppo!” She used her signature dash in the split second between bursts of fire. She dropped into another slide, her hand supporting her as she went feet first…in between Morax’s legs, and off the edge of the truck. She wasn’t going to risk triggering that Counter again- she was going to finish this now.

There she turned and gripped the side with one hand. With the other, she quickly fired a grapple around his torso, the clamp attaching. Crossing one arm over the other, she aimed at Belphegor. ”Be useful for once why don’t you?” She spat at Morax.

Morax turned around, but she had already pulled herself off the edge and jumped over him, causing his purple blast to miss. All he saw was Karin’s boots leaving his peripheral vision.

She landed elegantly behind him. So predictable was his attack pattern that she had time to briefly observe the battlefield- the Belphegor demon on his porcelain throne had returned, causing trouble for her allies. After Trumpeter unleashed its Despair, Karin was unaffected, only getting a passing understanding of the kind of mental anguish it wanted to afflict on her and her allies. Poppi was not so fortunate, and Belphegor was going to take advantage.

As it unleashed its deluge of ice, Karin aimed a grapple right at his center of mass, linking the two demons together. The line between them retracted, yanking them together. Both would clash bodily in mid air and be linked together- and breaking the link would leave Morax to be cast to the desert road rushing by underneath. If that didn’t come to pass, it’d make them both a wide target for ranged allies to target. Either way she would be assisting her teammates and ridding them of Morax.

Karin left herself vulnerable to do this, and received a blast of physical magic from Morax for her trouble. Grunting, she was knocked backward to the far end of the truck but rolled back onto her feet. She then blocked the ice attack, skidding to the back of the truck and scraping against her arms. More chip damage. She cast her eyes to the oncoming herd of…wild trucks?

”Oh, my.” Karin said. Their new ally, who from what Karin had seen, had been fighting rather valiantly, had organized their extraction. ”We must make haste, Seekers!” She called out.

Karin was nothing if not stubborn, however, and would be among the last to retreat. Lacking much ranged capability, she had little means to support her allies once the retreat began. And with her grapple gun giving her high mobility, such a decision only made sense. It was also a matter of pride- a Kanzuki never flees from a battle. This would be her covering a withdrawal. Getting into a defensive stance, she staked her claim on the rearmost truck and prepared for her next move, whatever that may be.

Kamek and Jr caught up with the others just in time to watch Bower’s jaw fall to the floor at the sound rejection of familiarity from the king of evil.

”Huh? Wait we for sure know that guy, he was in the smash thing” Jr commented as platformed over.

”Perhaps Galeem prevents those in its influence from remembering other meetings of worlds?” Kamek, hovering beside the boy, theorized, before they joined the group. Rita scooted over and quickly filled them in on what had happened while Ganondorf was explaining his sword to their copycatting magus. Then they sat or stood while listening to the Gerudo King’s explanation of how this area was going to work: a classic sealed final dungeon strategy which Bowser would for sure have commented on if he hadn’t spent the entire thing standing there gobsmacked.

So while Jr went back to tinkering with his car and Rika took a seat and fished out a candy to snack on, it fell to Kamek to actually engage with this, and the main thing he did was dispel some arrogance.

”I would not underestimate the Counsel who goes by F. I fought him and just barely survived. He can unleash vast amounts of projectiles, produce vines the size of trains, moves incredibly fast over or through terrain and, worst of all, appears to be able to manipulate either time or space, as on two occasions he translocated me back to a place I had already been, once when trying to catch you, and once when i tried to gain distance between us.” the mage warned, wanting to ensure no one else thought it a good idea to challenge the sun helmeted child one on one.

Finally, they got a bit of a description of the surrounding areas from Ganondorf, although given that he had presumably spent most of if not all of his time in the world of light locked up, he was unsurprisingly a bit light on the details.

And with that, it was getting time to set out. Or should have been, but jr was still tinkering with his car, and Bowser was still suffering from the ego damage the other king had inflicted.

”Hey, um, Bowser, are you ok?” Rika asked, waving a gauntleted hand in front of the king’s face. That got a little reaction and, although not directly, an answer … and the answer was no, no he was not ok.

”THERE IS NO WAY YOU DON’T REMEMBER ME! I’M THE KING OF AWESOME, THE BADDEST OF BAD GUYS, THE ORIGINAL EVIL AND ALSO THE BEST!” Bowser suddenly burst into roaring before quieting down only a little to ask ”You're seriously telling me you don’t remember the whole subspace thing? Working for the hand? Taking on all the heroes, stealing big chunks of reality?” getting more and more frustrated as it became clear that he did not, before he finally launched into ”OR THAT YOU STABBED ME IN THE BACK!?”

”No. I don’t.” said the Gerudo King at the start of Bowser’s tirade, his tone dismissing. Some of the things the Koopa King ranted about sounded… familiar? No, no of course not. He brushed it off in his mind, there was not a single thing about this raving reptile that he found familiar. Him? The Great King of Evil? Work for a ‘hand’, whatever that meant? Never. Ganondorf would never in a thousand years be caught dead serving anyone, let alone alongside a childish creature such as this. And then there was that last part. Stabbing him in the back. Well, that sounded a little more like him, but still impossible. This premise that he had worked for or served any being or entity was absolutely absurd.

”...Should I have?” he then asked with a condescending smirk, now growing genuinely annoyed by this creature. At this point Ganondorf may as well have been taunting him.

The koopa king stood there for a moment literally smoking with rage, jaw working to try and find a response. Then, he found one. He took a step forward towards Ganondorf

”Sire, please, calm yourself-” Kamek attempted to step in and stop what was about to happen but his king pushed on , ignoring his advisors advice as he so often did, growling ”Oh, don’t worry. I’m just going to knock some sense into him” as he continued to advance, shooting down Rika’s offer to help with ”No, just me. Gonna feel even better to beat the smug look off of the face of the real thing”

Watching the Koopa’s anger, something about it just made his day, though Ganondorf couldn’t quite put his finger on why. All the same, as soon as the big fool announced his intention to fight, the King of Evil got an idea. Without a word, he silently clenched his right hand into a fist as Bowser traded some words with his followers. In Ganondorf’s fist, a fiery dark heat began to rise. It always took a moment or two for this one to charge up, and so making it do so in secret and without warning was usually the ideal way of using it. While it was a good bet that Bowser wouldn’t notice the fiery dark energy building up in Ganondorf’s fist, one of his servants probably would and attempt to issue a warning. But that was also the exact moment Ganondorf’s punch would come. A sucker punch, admittedly, but oddly satisfying nonetheless. And it wasn’t just any punch, it was an empowered Warlock Fist, releasing the built up dark energy upon impact in only the most explosive manner possible.

”Maybe next time don’t loudly announce your intention to attack, you fool!” Ganondorf said, loosening his fist which now briefly had a bit of smoke wafting off of it from the attack. A few wiggles of his fingers dispelled it and he let the golden triangle on his hand shine briefly with its raw power. Then he did something odd. He removed both swords from his person and stabbed them both into the solid ground at his feet. In fact he did so with enough strength that only he would be able pull them back out again. After all, no reason to risk having someone try to steal from him while he was indisposed. But the message was clear enough. He’d fight with Bowser if the latter wished, but could and would do so without any aid or weapons.

”But if it’s a fight you want, then it’s a fight you shall have!”



The other king, who had indeed taken the sucker punch just as Ganondorf had expected and been sent tumbling back as a result, picked himself off of the floor, his expression having darkened from the vicious if eager grin he had had on his face before it got smacked. Literally darkened, infact. As had the rest of him, the koopa king seemed to be devouring the light as he snapped his fingers, dropped a strange rabbit creature out of thin air into his hand and then used a device on said creature's back to revitalize his smashed in face.

Somewhat, anyway, you didn’t just undo a warlock punch.

”Good” he grunted as he dropped the striker to the ground, and then with a roar, came at the king of evil with a graceless bull charge, fist reeled back far to deliver a punch of his own.

The incoming punch wasn’t exactly hidden like Ganondorf’s had been. But rather than try to dodge it or even block it, Ganondorf instead decided to take it head on. Maybe he was showing a shred of pity for the Koopa, or maybe he was just so confident that he could take it? Either way the punch came, and similarly threw Ganondorf back a ways and tumbling. To his credit, the King of Evil was at least able to flip himself back onto his feet without losing a beat. He rubbed his chin, feeling a few minor pops in his jaw as if having fix it from being dislocated, and then he spat out a smattering of blood from his mouth and smiled.

”Not bad… for an overgrown lizard.” then Ganondorf sprang into a forward leap, fist poised for what looked like another Warlock Punch. But his opponent would quickly realize that this strike wasn’t directly aimed at him. Instead Ganondorf smashed his charged fist into the ground for a Dark Impact, creating a shockwave attack. This wasn’t necessarily used to harm enemies, so much as disperse them and to keep them at arm’s length from him. But he wasn’t done, Ganondorf immediately lunged forward again, this time with a Wizard Foot kick that sent him gliding forward straight at his quarry.

Bowser’s heavy footing was unsteadied by the shockwave, which left him in a prime position to have his leg taken out from under him by the sliding kick. He stumbled, flailing, only for the center of his shell to pop up and a set of four long crab like legs to pop out in a flash. These and the king’s hand caught him before he could fall face first into the ground, and then swiftly he reversed the fall into a leap, the king landing some way off and then performing two more short hops to cut his momentum, each landing sending out a radial shockwave of fire that hugged the ground as they lashed out. If the others had not cleared out of the area already, they most certainly would do so now.

When the Koopa made his first leap, Ganondorf thought to run in his direction in pursuit, interpreting this as the lizard running scared. He saw the incoming shock wave of flame and hurdled over it, and while he was able to jump quick enough to clear the second one as well, the third one was where he had issues. Each jump gave him less time to react to the next shockwave, and so he missed the timing for the third one and ended up taking the shockwave for his efforts.

”Hah, Mario’d have cleared that no- huh?”

And yet, miraculously, the King of Evil still managed to stand tall. Despite the fire of the third shockwave clearly enveloping him, he was not daunted by it. He looked a bit singed in some places, but otherwise was still in fighting form. His Triforce of Power glowed mightily, having likely been responsible for protecting him from taking too much damage. And instead he restarted his run for Bowser to close the distance.

Once close enough, Ganondorf would reach out his hand glowing from the Triforce and attempt to grab ahold of the Koopa King. If successful, he would lift the considerably larger turtle up with his mighty strength only to chokeslam the Koop back onto the ground while also releasing a small explosion of dark fire right in the other king’s face in the process. His fearsome Flame Choke, another of Ganondorf’s trademark moves alongside the likes of his Warlock Punch.

Bowser had brought up a boxer’s guard in response to the incoming attack, having assumed it was a punch, and though this did prevent his neck from being grabbed, the king still went up and then down into the ground via a grabbed arm. Again, crab like Dreugh legs popped up to right him, but this time instead of back off the koopa king spun on his foe with a round swing of a claw attack, long claws of burning energy extending from his own, before flowing that up with a right hook and then finally a rapid fire set of stabbing strikes with his electrified Dreugh limbs.

Ganondorf brought up a boxer’s guard of his own when the claw attack came. This kept him from taking a serious blow to his head or anything vital, but the claws still got his arms and that was not a pleasant experience. But he didn’t let a pair of bloodied arms slow him. When the right hook came he was able to bat it away with his own right hand. He had to quickly go back into the boxer’s guard for the stabbing strikes. He managed to evade a few of the strikes, but others were able to land glancing blows on his arms and shoulders. Though for one in particular he managed to catch the Dreugh limb with his right hand. The Triforce glowed furiously, as if it was currently the sole source of Ganondorf’s remaining strength and will to keep fighting. The Gerudo King spun his body around to try and fling the Koopa King away from him and toward the big Black Egg.

After this, his arms drooped from the injuries they’d sustained. The Triforce looked like its glow was beginning to flicker. But no matter how battered he may be, the King of Evil remained as tenacious and strong-willed as ever, refusing to let himself show any weakness or fatigue.

The other king slammed into the black egg door, and if being used to toss him hadn’t crippled the Dreugh in question, then slamming into the door certainly did, along with the other four. All of them were pulled back inside as the king picked himself up. While his scales and shell meant he didn’t show any external injuries, besides the lingering blast to the face and the new one on one of his arms, being thrown about was doing a number on his bones and muscles.

Also his head hurt from having his tiny brain rattling around his skull.

Time to put the power he had been building to work. The dark aura that had surrounded him the whole fight dropped away, revealing the red tentacruel orbs in his shell to be glowing brightly where before they had been passive and dull. He pushed himself up just enough to turn his maw, towards the king of evil, light flooding from the orbs into his fire pouch, causing his mouth to glow brilliantly before the king unleashed a flash cannon laser blast at Ganondorf.

Ganondrof tried to close the distance, but just couldn’t. Despite him not openly showing it, he was tiring out. His legs just weren’t pushing him forward as fast they had been earlier. If he hadn’t been so drained or injured, he might have been able to reach the Koopa King for a quick Gerudo Uppercut that might have been enough to forcibly redirect the Flash Cannon’s aim elsewhere. But not so in this instance. All he could really do was put his arms defensively at the last moment as the brilliant laser blast collided with him.

When the dust cleared, Ganondorf was somehow still on his feet… but only for a moment. He heavily dropped to his knees, and then all the way to the ground and slow and heavy thud. His right hand was reached out as he lost consciousness, as if he was still somehow trying to continue fighting. And finally, the Triforce at least was reduced to a faint dim that faded away until no longer visible on the King of Evil’s right hand.

”Hah! Ha ha ha ha ahhhh that did not feel as good as I hoped” Bowser bemoaned, before making a grunt of pain as he straightened.

”You ok papa?” came a call from jr as he poked his head back into the room, and then hurried over once he saw it was all over, with Kamek (carrying the out of it froggit under one arm) and Rika not far behind.

”Sire, that really was … quite foolish”

”Nah, I totally had it in claw all the time-” the king insisted, then giving a contented sigh of ”ahhh thanks junior” as his son patched him up with his healing magics. Then he continued and insisted ”Plus, I’ll be worth it to see his face when he remembers me, right at the same time as he know I beat him fair and square” despite the fact that had, technically, broken the unspoken rule of it being fistycuffs with his last maneuver.

”Soooo, now what?” Rika asked, to which Bowser responded by snapping his fingers and summoning a friend heart, which got the ship girl asking ”Even though he stabbed you in the back”

”Eh, he’s useful … and it just means we have to stab him in the back first this time” he said, tapping his forehead. The king might have been a slow learner, a very slow learner, but he did learn.

That said, he dropped the heart onto the king of evil’s body, and then stood tall above him so that, once the king was done going through the process of coming to and remembering, he would be in prime gloating position.

The color slowly restored itself upon Ganondorf. When it did, the Triforce suddenly and violently erupted with a brilliant glow. The Gerudo King angrily pushed himself to his feet, looking absolutely furious. But not at Bowser. Well, not only at Bowser. He remembered everything alright. Including how it was he came to be down in this goddess-forsaken hole. He clenched his fist and a dark warlock aura enveloped him. Then, all at once he let out a very loud bestial scream. One of pure rage and hatred. As for what he actually said…

“GALEEEEEEEEEEEEEEM!”

This fight was surely chaotic, but it was more due to the trucks themselves than the things they were fighting. Well, for the most part. Blazermate finding she had to spend more time actually dispelling the debuffs of the one demon than anything, needing to Dispel Poppi and a few others of some kind of debuff called 'despair'. Blazermate didn't know what it did, but if it was like its name, it wasn't good. At least her medigun could heal that status, getting those people back into the fight.

Both robots saw their destination, a helicopter that'd bring them out of this chaos. But on top of that, there were 'wild' trucks on the way that were going to collide with the group of trucks they were riding on, their trucks also going a bit crazy but not bothering the two robot ladies as much since they can fly. Well, the bumping trucks did knock off the engineer and his sentry gun, causing the poor guy to get run over and disappear and Susie needing to hop out of her business suit to not get knocked around either. But seeing as there was an 'escape' and the other trucks on the way that would hurt these demons quite a bit if they came in, Susie used her transporter to make her way over to the pickup point.

Blazermate meanwhile stayed with the rest of the team that couldn't fly, healing, cleansing, and shielding them as she could. This built up her medaforce charge and when she had enough, she fired a Medaforce beam at Trumpeteer and his stupid nuke blasts while he was distracted with someone else. The beam would deal quite a bit of damage and heal Blazermate for 100% of the damage dealt if it hit.

This time around while sitting in the pub, the Cadet ordered a plate of food with his drink. Sure it had only been a couple of hours since lunch, but the time between then and now had been stressful what with the manic escape from the Metro and subsequent traipsing through the city. The small meal didn't last though, there one moment and gone the next.

Besides eating, he passed time chatting together with Wonder Red while they waited for the last of their party to arrive. The Cadet inquired at least once about how he could go about getting a suit like the hero's for underneath his armor, because as cozy as he was now in his new duds if he had something durable, thermal, and thin enough to be worn with his plate mail then he wouldn't have to sacrifice defense for warmth.

Big Band did not keep the other two waiting for long. With his size it was impossible to miss him enter, and the Cadet easily returned the man's hello with one of his own. It was a surprise to see that the detective hadn't come alone - beside him was a blonde woman in a blue cap and familiar coat. The monster hunter's eyes quickly flickered from her face to her attire, noting the Yukumo-style patterns expertly sewn into the Lagombi fur. It was silly to feel comfortable with the coat's wearer just from seeing the garment itself given that anyone could just wear a coat, but he felt that way all the same.

"Ice to meet you Lucia," the Ace Cadet said, not able to resist the pun after watching the chill draining out of the poor woman. At least the smile and greeting that he offered her were warm.

So she was a former detective, huh? Her accent was hard to understand at first, different from the common accent of the rest of the citizens, but he managed. And if he was understanding her correctly, the reason she was a "former" detective was because she'd just quit her job at the police department - the corrupt police department, it sounded like. Needless to say, they wouldn't be getting any help from them. At least they'd indirectly assisted with Lucia deciding to leave.

"So, what, there's another group of people after us?" It was a rhetorical question, one asked with a bit of humor. "They'll have to get in line."

The Cadet glanced out of the window, curious to see if he could spot any of the three tails. He didn't exactly know what to look out for, so he quickly turned his attention back to the table.

With Lucia's description of why she'd left the Cadet scrunched his nose in distaste for multiple reasons, not least of which being having to hear about a charade of justice. And that comment about being stuffed and mounted... hopefully that was just hyperbole. He couldn't imagine that if it was true and the guy was some kind of human taxidermist that Big Band would have just walked away. Well, speculating about it was pointless at the moment and at the very least both of the detectives were alright, which was what mattered.

"A local with a Heart of Justice? It'll be good to have you!" the Cadet told Lucia. Band then brought up the reason they'd split up in the first place. The Cadet hadn't found much of anything given his two focuses were to find warm clothes and dodge as many magic spells as he could while doing so. Their actual mission had taken a backseat in his brain, and he was honest about it.

"Sorry fellas," the hunter began, splaying his hands open and empty. "I had a hellblade of a time just getting around, so I don't have anything on our Guardian. Spotted a couple of help wanted signs and job postings here and there, but besides that..." he trailed off with a shrug. "I got nothing."

For all his skill in battle, even Raz wasn't immune to being kicked in the stomach by a grown adult. The force pushed him back, falling onto the roof of the bus. Though he wasn't going to let himself be held up at swordpoint by this guy. He rolled sideways around Benedict as Roxas charged him, sweeping himself back onto his feet in the process.

"Oh yeah, you're SUCH a moral guy right now, kicking a kid in the chest!" Roxas had a better putdown speech than he did, though. And he was right. Galeem was more or less changing how this guy acted, and arguing with him about it wouldn't change his mind. Plus, considering how other Galeem-influenced people got super aggressive, they'd probably be hounded by this guy and his Demon G-Men (hey, that rhymes!) army all throughout Midgar. And that's their home turf.

If they wanted any chance at surviving, they'd need to deal with the Turk in front of them.

Raz looked to his right, at the oncoming barrage of out-of-control trucks and the helicopter coming in beyond. "Well, I do have an idea, just not a good one." With a flick of his arm Raz hopped onto his Levball and pealed out towards the chaos. "Let's cheese it!"

Though that was only step one in his plan. Raz spun around mid-cheese, once he was on the truck ahead of the bus, and grabbed Benedict with Mental Connection. The older tactician was yanked off his feet towards the boy, pulled through the air to where Raz was when he nabbed him, but by then Raz was on the move again. And he kept on doing just that - moving a decent distance, tugging Benedict along before he could get away, trying to keep a good pace in between truck-based platforming and dodging demons.

"Anybody wanna grab this guy?!" Raz called out to the rest of the Seekers as he prepared to jump across the 'wild trucks'. It would be much harder to do this run/pull combo while focusing on reaching the copter past the vehicular stampede.

---

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+1 EXP

So that was that - they'd get some maps, they'd find some masks, and they'd open a spooky egg door and fight some monstrosity. All in a day's work for the Seekers, Primrose thought to herself.

She was planning to stick around this level for a little while more, preferably so she could fully recharge before the group got into anymore trouble. Scouting ahead didn't seem like a bad idea, so the dancer easily agreed to it. Ganondorf mentioned another area just past the temple, which is where Primrose would eventually head.

When Therion didn't move to follow Ms. Fortune back to the area they thought the map-maker could be found, she shot him a curious look. When he merely returned the look she raised a brow, which the thief mirrored. Was he really going to be stubborn like this?

"You brought it up," she pointed out. Therion opened his mouth to retort, but gave up before he even started. He was pretty eager to get a map of this place, he just didn't want to go down yet another godsdamned hole in the ground.

He went back the way they'd come, looking over the cavity with the cat burglar. It was surprisingly well lit, and there were plenty of footholds and platforms to be seen. However, one wrong step and it looked to be a long drop. Screw this, he thought. But before Therion could act on his thoughts about heading back, Ms. Fortune called him out. 'Try and keep up,' she'd said.

"You're on," he replied, pride pushing him to rise up to her challenge. There was no Consul here to cut those chains holding the platforms up either, so the odds of falling again were...

He hesitated at the edge, even though he could clearly see a path down. All these pits really sucked, just dredging up bad memories. Ms. Fortune jumped right in while Therion paused, and when the platform she'd landed on didn't immediately collapse the thief sighed in relief. He followed after her, jumping towards a different platform and catching the chain support, sliding down it until he landed on the flat surface.

He then watched Ms. Fortune's battle with the cricket with some amusement, not finding it a particularly dangerous foe. After she dispatched it she leapt to the next platform, and either she was heavier than she looked or the platforms were weaker than they seemed, because she promptly fell right through. For this mental health Therion chose to believe the former, since he was standing on one of those platforms.

He knelt down and watched her fall, figuring she would be fine considering her whole... condition, or whatever. With one hand held tight to the chain he cupped the other around his mouth and shouted down after the falling feral, "great lesson!"

Welp, he wasn't about to throw himself down there to join her so for the moment he took it slow, picking his way down. I guess now would be a good time to try some things out, he thought to himself as he went. He was a hands on learner, and the down time they had now would be good for running some tests. The first was using the enemy spirits - he'd already went through the fusion process, so the other options were... what had they called it? Itemization or bonding? Therion brought the spirit of the junicorn up to his face, looking passed the shimmery surface to the monster inside. If he thought turning this thing into an item would yield anything valuable he'd do it, but he highly doubted that would be the case. So option two it was. He'd just seen Ms. Fortune's bound monster in action, so the usefulness of doing that with a spirit did not escape him. The only question was, how did the process work?

"...I'm not about to apologize for killing you. You probably don't even care, you're a monster - fighting is fun for you I'm sure. So, uh..." Therion trailed off while talking to the spirit, feeling awkward about the whole thing. Still, it seemed to be provoking some response as the spirit glowed a little brighter at the mention of having fun. He stowed his discomfort and finished up. "So you're fighting on our side now. Got it?"


With that over with, Therion carefully hopped down to the next platform below and from there onto a sturdy looking rock outcropping. He summoned his new striker there, the junicorn poofing into existence and shifting to look at Therion for orders. It was a bit surreal, but surreal was going to be his life for the foreseeable future.

"Let's see what you can do. There's bugs all over, so go... take care of them, I guess."

Therion wasn't sure if it was capable of making any sounds, because after his command the junicorn just turned and seemed to look over the cavity. Then the monster braced itself, taking aim at one of the large cave crickets they could see from there and firing it's lance-like horn. The shot impaled the insect, blasting it to pieces.

Therion was about to praise the striker but it decided to keep on going, immediately regrowing another horn and shifting it's aim. It's repositioning led it to step too close to the ledge they were on, and the rock crumbled beneath it's weight. Therion scampered backward and pressed himself against the wall, but luckily only the very tip of the outcrop fell away. Junicorn tumbled down with it, becoming a living wrecking ball. It plowed through flies that were too slow to get out of the way and smushed different kinds of grubs, ping-ponging off of the platforms and the stone until it's timer ran out just before it crashed into the bottom floor.

Therion had peeked over the ledge he was on, watching the whole thing through his fingers after face-palming. He probably should have guessed that the junicorn was not the most dexterous of monsters. At least it had technically done what he'd asked it to.

Test two Therion was more confident about. After absorbing those spirits earlier, he had felt more than just his new senses. There was an internal shift too, an intuitive change that led him to believe that one of the powers he'd gained from the fusion was transformation. If he really could turn into a more literal cat, then getting down to the bottom would be much easier. And safer, hopefully - he wasn't looking to follow Ms. Fortune's example. The thief flexed his fingers and rolled his shoulders, taking a deep breath before he just... focused really hard on changing his shape.

The process was not a visceral one, in fact it was nearly instantaneous. There was a dim flash, and then Therion was no longer in human form - he was a large cat. Though he couldn't tell, his beast form was slightly smaller than the one the man he'd gained the power from assumed. His new fur coat was white, black, and dull blue just the same as his hair, ears and tail, and lacked the markings that Ranulf had. The cloth wraps around his legs remained, and so did his gloves. The fool's bangle was there too, locked just as tight as usual.

It felt almost natural - almost being the key word. After the initial shock of it actually working, he again took it slow as he leapt down to the next platform. It didn't shake as much as he'd thought it would, his weight distributed evenly by his four legs. Cats land on their feet. Cats land on their feet, he repeated to himself as he moved from platform to platform. It didn't take long for him to get used to the body, moving faster and taking longer jumps. He sliced through any gruzzer flies or shearwigs that attacked with his claws. It was... actually pretty fun.

He found his way to the bottom much more gracefully than Ms. Fortune had, and he was pretty proud of that fact if the smug feline rumbling coming from his beast form was any indication.

---

Up above, before anyone else really got going a fight had erupted between two great forces of evil. Or so it was claimed. Since none of Bowser's little crew moved to stop the battle, neither did Primrose - she simply enjoyed the show. The fight may have started due to the Koopa King's bruised ego, but ultimately freeing the Gerudo from Galeem's influence would be a good thing.

It played out much like a grudge match, which the dancer supposed made sense given Bowser was familiar with the other man. Kamek was likely right, though the casual mention of 'meeting of other worlds' was very strange to hear. She didn't think about how many other 'worlds of light' like this there might have been. By the time the fight was over, Primrose had regained most of her mana. Bowser's son took up healing his father, while a friend heart patched up Ganondorf. Once it's work was done and the light was washed from his person, the Gerudo King got to his feet and let out a primal scream.

"Very dramatic," Primrose chuckled. She approved. It seemed like Ganondorf already knew their shared enemy too - so he really had been part of some other world-colliding event. Or perhaps, he'd fought with Galeem before? Maybe that was why he'd been chained up down here.

Free or not, Primrose's appraisal of the King of Evil being trouble did not change. Still, since he was now officially on the team, he still deserved an actual explanation... that is, if he wasn't already in the know.

"Welcome to the waking world," Primrose said as she approached Ganondorf. She didn't get too close given how angry he was, keeping some space between them she stood with one hand on her hip. "So you're familiar with Galeem. Do let us know if there's anything you don't already know about the nature of this world."

She shifted the onus to him if he needed an explanation or not about the strange things - like the couple of obviously Gleaming members of the party or the corpses crumbling to ash only to leave spirits behind. If he asked, she would oblige before she started to really take a look around the area.

---

Jesse sat back and watched as the two big bads engaged each other in fisticuffs. Bowser, and the bad guy from Zelda? Maybe.

I’ll have to get the research team to find the Bureau’s video game nerd. They should- man they are really going at it. Jesse raised her eyebrows as the two juggernauts slugged it out.

Is this a guy thing? I think this is a guy thing. Maybe it’s a villain thing? The ego of these guys is out of control. I suppose we better just hope Bowser can win the 1v1 otherwise things might get awkward.

Fortunately, he did, and Ganondorf yelled out the name of his new nemesis, much to Primrose and Jesse’s amusement.

Jesse passed Ganondorf and gave him a thumbs up. “Welcome to the party. Party as in adventuring party, not pizza party. Unfortunately.”

They were in pursuit of a mapmaker, and apparently one of the best ways to go was down a giant pit. Jesse thought of herself as a very talented spelunker- she could just kind of…float.

She did blink in surprise when Therion turned into a feline of unusual size. “Cool. Watch out for yarnballs.” She joked lightly. Both Therion and Nadia were intent on getting down there first, and Jesse figured she might as well join them due to her gravity proof technique.

“I might as well come too. I’ll meet you at the bottom, I guess.” Jesse said, stepping off the ledge and into open air, where she began to descend downwards. Motes of light trailed behind her, and a few pebbles and rocks as well, carried with her Levitation. Jesse cast her eyes downwards, gun out, watching out for any bigger bugs than the harmless looking, mostly cute flies bumbling around.

At some point during her descent, Miss Fortune encountered some misfortune. Jesse glanced up and saw her falling, loudly stating her definitely unbiased opinion about the Under. Clicking her tongue against her teeth, the Director rushed into action. Dropping Levitation, she picked it up at the last moment to prevent her fall. Landing, called out “Elastic Ooze!” and her ever faithful lunatic alchemist heeded her command, throwing a bottle of the green stuff into the air. Jesse caught it with Launch, and fired it with precision at where she thought Nadia might land.

It wasn’t terribly big, but it was a sizable enough target. If Nadia landed on it, she would bounce into the air, with enough time to readjust and land on her feet. Or, anywhere that wasn’t her neck.

Once Nadia and Therion were both down safe, Jesse gave the cat Therion an unimpressed look at his smugness. “Nice, Therion.” She said.

She glanced at Nadia. “You alright? Guess it’s true about cats always landing on their feet.” Jesse said. Whether or not this comment was entirely genuine was up to Nadia’s performance in the fall.

“You’ve probably heard that one before. Probably said it even more. Where the hell are we, anyways?” Jesse asked, glancing around for this mythical cartographer.