Once it fully sank in that he wouldn’t be facing another life-or-death situation, at least for a little while, Tora could finally relax. No more peeping eyes or flashing cameras, no more decidedly unfriendly G-men on his back, no more far-flung enemy magic, and no deadly bullets. If another ambush had been in the cards, the best time to pull it off would have been while the cargobob remained airborne and the whole crew downed with just a few well-placed missiles, and this hideout seemed refreshingly boring. The Nopon could just sit himself down in a cushioned office chair that neither rattled nor shook, and instead of a chorus of growly engines, the whiny clatter of a subway train across the rails, or the headache-inducing thrum of helicopter rotors, he could enjoy the soft and cheerful music playing from a stereo in the background as the discussion got underway.

Naturally, Poppi appreciated the change as well, not least because it allowed her to replenish her spent ether at a leisurely pace without the need of overclocking, but she didn’t relax quite as much as her Masterpon. Just an hour had passed since her intrepid band of heroes set foot in the Dystopiascape, fresh from the frying pan and into the fire; so much had already happened that her memory banks were just about fried trying to categorize and collate it all. A dozen questions sprang to mind. Just who were these people who’d evidently taken great pains to help the Seekers? What were the G-men really, who did they work for, and why did they seem to be after her team? The advent of the Consuls had made it clear to her that the nature of her mission had changed. No longer were they simply on a classic quest to find and slay a few specific monsters. They now had an enemy, and anything at all on the road set before them could be due to the machinations of their new foes. So despite everything she wanted to know, Poppi kept quiet alongside Tora at the meeting table, sorting through her own thoughts so that when her turn came she wouldn’t just be asking any old questions, but the right ones.

Roxas took the Seekers’ new friends up on their offers first, recovered enough from his stunt with Benedict to burn with curiosity. Tora had completely forgotten that, six days ago, the Master of Masters used a keyblade in order to free a girl from Galeem without a friend heart. Of course, that sequence of events transpired mere minutes after he ‘came to’ himself, and pretty much everything that first day ended up being a blur. Well, everything except Cooking Mama’s dinner in Peach’s Castle. Tora wondered when he’d be able to pay that angelic lady another visit, but if that map in Alcamoth represented the continent with any degree of truth, the Mushroom Kingdom now lay half a World of Light away. Poppi, meanwhile, never saw that event to begin with. She just counted herself happy to see that Roxas would be okay.

After an uneasy moment of silence Giovanna spoke up to reply, scratching her head in a less-than-comfortable manner. “If one grabs you, you appear in some sort of dark room. Everything’s pitch black except one window, and you can see their shadows in front of it. Once you’re in there, they grill you with questions, whatever they want to know when they take you in. There’s this…heavy pressure in there. It hurts, and the longer you’re in there the more damage you take. If they can’t be sure you know anything they’ll turn you loose pretty fast, but if they know you do they’ll keep you in there as long as it takes for you to crack. So…you know. Don’t get caught.”

“Think of them as having an alert level,” Jessica advised. “The more suspicious stuff you do with them knowing, the higher it’ll be, and the more insistent they’ll be with the questioning. Get to full alert, and they’ll probably let you die before they let you go. So be careful if they’re around. There’s a flipside, though. If you get caught at low alert, you might learn more from their questions than they learn from you before they give up and spit you out. It’s a risky gamble, but if you’re out of clues, who knows.”

When Roxas asked his second question, Goldlewis snapped his fingers, suddenly pepped up. “Now that ya mention it, son, I have! On the way back from Al Mamoon, an uninvited guest showed up in our chopper. Spooked us somethin’ fierce, but she said she didn’t mean any harm, and I saw she had the same coat as that burger-lovin’ gal we met at dinner.” He glanced at Tora and Poppi for confirmation, and the two nodded. The sight of Ram snatched by Goldlewis from the shadows when she took the diners by surprise wasn’t something either would forget. “So I figured it didn’t hurt to at least hear her out,” the cryptid hunter continued, “This new lady said her name was, uh, Zato I think, which makes two Zatos I know of, funny enough. Said she’s been keepin’ an eye on Midgar tryin’ to figure out where the Guardian is, but she can’t go in ‘cause the feds can track her through Psynet.” He shrugged helplessly as if to say of course. “Knowin’ how far they’re goin’ to monitor folks, I reckon she’s tellin’ the truth, too. She said she’d be layin’ low in the forest outside the city, but in the meantime, we oughta ‘look for the source’. Hopefully that makes more sense for you folks than it does for me.”

Next, Geralt posed his question, and sure enough the quick-witted Witcher got straight to the heart of the matter. “Where to begin?” Dr. N began with a wry smile. “As the name implies, the Ever Crisis is the biggest ongoing problem the city faces. It’s a…strange war, to put it simply, that’s been raging as long as Midgar has been here. We have been under continuous siege from three distinct enemy ’kinds’.”

While he spoke, his twin hooked his laptop up to the meeting table’s projector, and once N turned on the screen on one wall it displayed an informational readout of the three different groups. “First are the Machines,” N told everyone. “These robots are manufactured en masse from hidden factories out in the Valley of Ruins and attack in droves. Though straightforward compared to the other factions, they possess the weaponry, numbers, and the intelligence to pose a serious threat. Over time they have continued to develop better ways of waging war, and the energy siphoned from living things by their beetle drones fuel their never-ending crusade.”

“Next are the Others.” The doctor drew everyone’s attention to a handful of unsettling creatures, alien in appearance despite being composite of familiar things. “Precious little is known about them, but they appear from the Extinction Belt in the sky.” Outside the window, the oily-looking atmosphere continued to fluctuate with subtle colors. “We can more or less predict when their attacks will come with weather forecasting, but they are extremely vicious monsters. They ravenously seek to devour human brains.”

N then pointed out a single humanoid enemy. “Last but not least: the Chimeras. They originate from the Astral Plane, another dimension outside our own. While not as numerous as the other two forces, they are the most dangerous. Ruptures can appear almost anywhere and at any time, and worse still, all Chimeras are invisible to the naked eye. Furthermore, their very presence seemingly infects their surroundings with Red Matter. This effect slowly worsens in living things, leading to the sickness known as Redshift. Which is a massive can of worms in and of itself.” His expression grave, N moved to exchange places with his brother. “That makes them the Ever Crisis’ greatest, and hardest to deal with, threat.”

Goldlewis stroked his whiskers, his brows furrowed. “Keep in mind, the enemies of all three kinds come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with different weapons and abilities. If you’re gonna be fightin’ ‘em, and ya probably will, you’re gonna have to be smart and flexible.”

“Fortunately, humanity has a few cards up its own sleeve in its fight for survival,” M began, nodding at Pit as he took the stage. “And not just a militia, no. Midgar has an army, divided into three parts to mirror the Ever Crisis itself.” When N put up a new display, it featured three different symbols, one much larger than the other two. “The biggest is Psych-OSF. Often called the Scarlet Guardians by the press. It’s a massive military organization of psionics who weaponize the human brain and fight with a variety of powers thanks to the SAS. Their Septentrions are as much celebrities as they are super-soldiers. They can take on all three kinds, but they work best against the Others.”

“Number two is Desporhado Enforcement. It is by far the most powerful private military company in Midgar, and is contracted with the government. Enlisting has been a last resort for many who have no other way to make ends meet, or nowhere else to go in society. It specializes in cyborg and android soldiers, spearheading the technological arms race against the Machines.”

“Last is Neuron. It’s the smallest of the three armies, and it mostly functions as an auxiliary police force to cover the ground that the Public Security Division can’t or won’t. Its officers are also held in better regard, but they still ultimately answer to the government and do cooperate with the General Affairs Division. Notably, thanks to some semi-recent clandestine developments, they’re also the best-equipped to take on Chimeras.”

After the conclusion of the twins’ high-level rundown of players in the Ever Crisis, Pit brought up a different organization. Jessica nodded. “Bridges, yes. We’re lucky to count them among our few allies. It’s ostensibly a delivery service that works for the government, a sort of federal express, but their lack of perceived importance also grants them enough autonomy to do what they really want: making connections.” She adjusted her glasses. “Although, the gentleman you mentioned, Deadman. He is a doctor who works for Bridges, not its leader. That duty falls to Die-Hardman.”

Blazermate’s question, however, took her and the twins by surprise. “Japan…?”

“It’s been like that,” Giovanna said bluntly. “Destroyed by Justice the day she declared war on humanity. Well, in my world, at least. If it’s not that, none of us have any idea.” She shrugged, then raised an eyebrow at the secondary question. “Like you? Dunno. There’s lots of stuff in Midgar. I guess if you’re looking for a type of robot, you might have better luck in Sector 4 Lower.” She glanced at Blazermate, nonplussed. “Are Medabots important for the mission or something?”

Jessica took it upon herself to reply to Susie. “There are more corporations in Midgar than any of us can count. But the Shinra Electric Power Company is practically synonymous with the government at this point.”

When Bede asked about Pokemon, Giovanna tried to answer. “Yeah, I don’t know any ‘Pokemon’, but I’m guessing they’re creatures of some kind. Are those important for finding the Guardian, too? Well, Midgar isn’t exactly a nature preserve. But I’m sure you can find all sorts of animals if you look hard enough, especially around the reservoir beneath Sectors 1 and 2.”

“One thing am wondering,” Tora piped up. “This city much bigger than any Tora ever see, or even imagine. Where it power come from, meh?”

“Midgar runs on Mako energy,” Jessica told him. “It’s extracted from the ground and refined in the city’s eight Mako reactors. They are the crux of Shinra Electric Power Company’s dominion, but there’s no alternative for a city of this scale.”

Then Karin greeted Goldlewis, and the conversation turned back from personal interests to the bigger picture. She asked a number of pertinent questions about the city’s governance, and the former Secretary of Defense did his best to answer. “Well, on the box it’s a democracy. People vote for president, and all eight plates have two councilors to represent ‘em. In practice, though, it boils down to corporatocracy, with Shinra and his board of directors on top. The climate is…well, I reckon ‘tense’ is undersellin’ it some. What with the Ever Crisis and all, things’re tumultuous even in the best of times. Between the General Affairs Division on the prowl, the police, the all-important military, and good old-fashioned info control, the Administration has all the power. Meanwhile, ordinary people are just tryin’ to make it through the day.”

He considered alternatives to the Administration. “Desporhado is its own thing, but without needin’ to be accountable to the public, they’re even shadier. There are countless other PMCs and groups of varyin’ legitimacy, all the way down to crime syndicates. So even if most people ain’t happy with how things are, even inside the government, ya gotta think real hard about who ya trust. Sure, there’s fringe groups, but even the ones that ain’t just terrorists got their own agenda. We’ve been reluctant to jump in bed with any of ‘em, and if it comes down to workin’ with one, we’d better watch our backs while we’re at it.” Goldlewis removed his glasses to rub his eyes with his palms. “‘Til we figure out who to trust, it’s just us and Bridges. And if the Shinra group decides you’re a threat, it won’t just be the Turks and their G-men after ya. Psych-OSF, Neuron, the works.”

“And when he says ‘just us and Bridges’ he means it,” Giovanna added. “When Vernon resigned, it wasn’t exactly a political schism. All he got were a couple old friends and loyal dogs.” She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, leaning back so far that her chair creaked beneath her. “There aren’t any other official factions or parties in the government. Just those loyal to the Administration, and those who aren’t. Luckily, there’s no shortage of places to hide in Midgar.”

Frowning, Jessica peered at Sakura. “That’s an extremely broad question. Fighting any of the three kinds would be doing everyone in Midgar a service, but I’m sure you figured that out already. I’m sure the Administration would appreciate it if you took down some insurrectionists for them, but of course the Administration isn’t squeaky-clean as well. But outside of fighting monsters, brute force won’t get you very far. Everything is complicated; if things were black and white, this region would probably be called the Utopiascape.”

Next, Midna asked more details about Midgar’s military. Having given an introduction to all three branches, M proceeded to delve a little deeper. “While the three branches are large, Psych-OSF in particular, internal security mostly falls to Neuron and the Turks -that is, the General Affairs Division- and naturally they can’t be everywhere at once. So, it shouldn’t be too difficult to move around undetected, especially if you travel by sky rail.”

“Y’all might not need to worry that much though,” Goldlewis told the group after the subject of disguises came up. “Capturin’ that Turk without gettin’ caught yourselves was a real stroke of luck. G-men are strong, but they ain’t the sharpest tools in the shed, and without concrete details or a commandin’ officer they won’t be any use when it comes to profilin’ ya. So for now, you’re home free. Might not even bat an eye if ya tried enlistin’ in one o’ the branches.”

“Speaking of.” Peach stood up and approached Benedict. “Sir. I’m sorry for the rough treatment earlier. We were all in a tight spot, and had to make quick decisions. We don’t know you nor your principles, but please know that our mission is for the sake of everyone, not just in Midgar, but all the worlds. We don’t mean to cause chaos or dismantle the government. Just to find a monster called the Guardian and destroy it, so that we’re one step closer to stopping Galeem, and ending its cruel dominion. You don’t have to help or even agree with us, but I hope you understand.”

In the silence that followed, M held up his finger. “Oh, and as for their bases of operation. The headquarters of Psych-OSF is the Otherlobe, in Sector 3 Plate, Suoh. Desporhado’s is the Bunker, in Sector 8 Lower, Detroit. Neuron’s headquarters is in Veles, the Plate for Sector 4. The first two use a military command structure, while Neuron has a typical police organization. The General Affairs Division is headquartered at the Shinra building in the very center of Midgar.”

When Midna asked about rebels, Jessica answered him. “Very well then. There are a number of covert rebel groups that the Administration calls ‘insurrectionist’. But their goals and ideals are all different, including whether or not they actually mean to overthrow the government, and facts are scarce. Here is what we know.”

The twins helped provide visuals for her rundown. “First is Avalanche, a group of well-armed eco-terrorists who despair the use of mako energy, claiming that it harms the planet. They’re condemned by the government for their violent methods, their lack of proposed alternatives, and the resurgence of nature around the city that supposedly disproves their claims. However, they seem determined to soldier on.”

“The Hermits. They’re a rebellious gang who steal and horde weapons and technology for unknown purposes, ostensibly to protect their homes and neighborhoods, although they do commit various crimes. They hide in the city slums where the police seldom visit.”

“The most dangerous group is Reunion. They are an extremist paramilitary organization whose personnel are all Redshifting. Their stated mission is to end all descrimination against and oppression of the infected, which includes overthrowing the Administration. Widely feared, they conduct sorties into the city but reside in the wilderness outside Midgar, attacking any soldiers or kinds they run into like wild animals.”

“And that’s just those few groups bold enough to give themselves names.” Jessica closed her laptop with a shake of her head. “There are many dissatisfied with the state of Midgar, even discounting the Ever Crisis, on both sides of the law. Dissidents in Seiran for instance. They’re understandably hard to find, and harder still to deal with.”

Goldlewis replaced his spectacles with a grunt. “All that said, with y’all here we might be able to make some real progress. Find folks who wanna set things right, give ‘em some hope and courage, and bring ‘em into the fold.”

At Midna’s final question, Goldlewis gave a dry chuckle. “Boy howdy, we could use that optimism of yours, missie. War with Midgar is Impossible. They got every advantage there is, from numbers to resources to powers. All we got is our wits and the fact they don’t know what we’re up to yet. Much as I hate to say it, we’re like bugs crawlin’ ‘round in the dark, and they got a whole army’s worth of boots to squash us.”

“Hah,” Giovanna laughed. “He sure doesn’t beat around the bush, huh? At the very least, he and I are pretty sweet fighters, if I do say so myself. One-on-one, we could give probably even give Septentrions a run for their money.” She wore a casual yet confident smile. “As for powers, I guess I’m just fast and skillful. Got some gadgets in this suit, and Rei here fights alongside me.” She stroked her wolf spirit’s ears, much to Rei’s delight.

“I can swing this coffin around pretty good.” Goldlewis nodded at his unconventional armament. “The cryptid I got in there helps me out, too. Got all sorts of doodads it gives me to use. Say howdy, U.M.A.” The coffin door slid open to give a brief peek at a cosmological abyss within. An almost gelatinous arm, much longer than a human’s, appeared from inside to deposit an origami flower on the table before withdrawing. Unfazed, Goldlewis then looked around at the group. “Feel free to tell us what y’all got cookin’ in the power department, too. We ain’t got SAS, but I’m sure it’ll help.”



“Hmm~” Nadia murmured as she pored over the map. “Decisions, decisions, huh?” She made sure that everyone else who wanted to got a chance to look at the map. Out of all the paths that branched off from the Ruins, though, she kept her eyes on a vertical route that lay directly underneath it. “Check this out,” she said, drawing the others' attention to it. “‘The Basement’. Based on the map, it looks like the way down is hidden beneath a treasure chest just down this way!” She turned her seafoam-green peepers down the lower eastward tunnel, where traces of wood began to crop up among the walls of purple stone and fossilized shell, then nudged Therion. “‘Course, us cat burglars purr-obably woulda popped open any chests we got our eyes on and found the secret passage anyway, but now we know for sure. If I were a bad guy wantin’ to keep my super-important masks outta the heroes’ hands, I’d hide the way in behind a trap door. It’d be in our best in-chests to check it out!”

Before anyone could commit to a decision, the Adventurer made his descent. So far the feral didn’t really know what to make of him; since meeting him on the way down he mostly kept to himself, and after the fall through the Chasm he didn’t seem like he was ‘all there’. While he appeared to be following along for now, did he even know about Galeem? Well, if he wanted exposition he could go find Kamek or somebody. Nadia had a job to do. Like her the Adventurer made no small amount of commotion on his way down, but unlike her he happened to bring a few ornery Gruzzer flies with him, and where he killed them made all the difference. Their deaths aroused the rancor of a much larger fly, who pushed through a crevasse from a neighboring chamber to buzz the newcomers’ way, ponderous and filled with ill intent.

As the Gruz Mother went on the offensive, slamming its fat body between the floor and the platforms above like a giant pinball, the Adventurer fought back. Still lacking personal storage space, Nadia stuffed the map into her hoodie pocket and hurried back the way she’d come. She watched the Adventurer land a couple good hits as she closed the distance, but the Gruz Mother’s brutally simple assault and a couple hazardous Gruzzers nearby left him at a disadvantage. Luckily, help came his way long before Nadia got in range to join the fight. Ganondorf suddenly appeared from above, having descended through the spacious crossroads cavity with such alacrity that not even Nadia noticed him coming, and once on the ground he dealt the foul family a savage sneak attack. The big bugs wheeled around to engage him, but Ganondorf held his ground and timed it right to cave the Gruz Mother’s face in with an explosive fistful of dark magic.

The Gruz Mother hit the ground with a tremendous PLOP, and as the sound echoed through the crossroads its flabby body sagged to the ground. Nadia came to a stop nearby, a little disappointed by the warlord’s decisive victory. Tearing into that overgrown pest would have been cathartic, but now it lay dead on the floor. Dead, and…quivering? The fly-related quip on the tip of Nadia’s tongue went unused as the sudden contortion of the Gruz Mother’s body made her realize that the fight wasn’t over just yet. After a moment the bloated insect’s belly burst open in a shower of viscous goo that rained down over the Adventurer and Ganondorf, allowing a bunch of newborn Gruzzers to escape, still shiny and wet from their dead mother’s womb..

“Ugh!” Nadia groaned, repulsed by the smell as much as the sight. Suddenly she didn’t really want to touch them anymore, even to kill them, but as the flies spread out she knew that she needed to do something. The feral spotted the remains of a wrought-iron fence that the Gruz Mother destroyed while slamming around and got an idea. She scampered over and seized two of the metal posts to brandish like swords, then ran around the room’s raised central dias to kill as many of the bugs as she could. She batted at them like piñatas, taking only a couple good whacks to crumple the oversized flies like soda cans, or pierced them straight through with her metal spikes and then hurled them off. Whether or not the others joined in the slaughter, the new generation did not last long. “Aaalrighty then!” Nadia dropped her gunked-up makeshift weapons with a double clang and dusted her hands. “Can’t unsee that, but we did the next best thing, huh?”

Sectonia, who unabashedly abstained from the fight, wasted no time asking Nadia to help her with her loot. She brought out a monstrous trunk for her to use, saying a number of things that left a sour taste in Nadia’s mouth. “I do not care to,” she told Sectonia, turning up her nose at the freaky Symbol of Avarice. Even from a purely practical standpoint she stood to gain little given her limited proficiencies and overall light equip load, but Nadia wasn’t one to ignore her feelings. “I like my life force right where it is, gracias. Fightin’ together once doesn’t make ya my boss, so why dontcha give your new ‘minions’ the ‘privilege’?” She cast a dubious look at the monsters that Sectonia enslaved, then turned to go. While not egotistical, Nadia Fortune liked being condescended to by snooty royals as much as the next girl–which was to say, not at all. It’d take more than an aristocratic ego and expectant self-declaration to make this feral acknowledge a leader, so Sectonia could hang out in the same sphere of influence as Bowser until she could actually follow in Peach’s footsteps.

“C’mon!” After checking her map, Nadia made her way eastward. The path took her through a series of mining caves festooned with wooden platforms and supports for her to sink her claws into. After a minute or two of jumping, climbing, and skirting around trash can-sized mites, she emerged into a larger mineral cave that still harbored a handful of calcified laborers using staffs to drill for ore among the different tiers. Open seeing them move Nadia shrank back into a hiding spot, but when she tossed a few pebbles near them to probe for a reaction they did not respond, so she consulted Cornifer’s map again. According to it, the chest that led to the Basement lay in the very center. A boxy shack about halfway up the room’s counter-clockwise slope looked promising. No problem. She stashed her map and took off on all fours, brazenly passing by the oblivious miners. Just a few meters away from the shack, however, she heard a weird noise from above, and looked up just in time to see a swarm of threads flying her way. “Whoa!” Nadia stopped short in a spray of dust and pebbles and flipped backward into a handspring to avoid the razor-sharp shower, but they curved midair to follow her. She landed on her feet and blasted upward as the threads hit the stone behind her, landing with another backflip on another shack opposite her goal.

That vantage point gave her a good look at her assailant, though she instantly regretted it ever meeting her eyes. The hideous pest stood taller than a man, and possessed bizarrely human limbs arranged in two rows beneath its stooped-over carapace, like a nightmarish centipede. It possessed beetle jaws and a conical head like a priest’s stole, as well as a polearm that appeared to be carved from shell or bone. As Nadia stared, appalled, the Kindred of Rot reeled back to unleash another volley of threads. They hurtled toward her, forcing her to block as she built up blood pressure for a pounce. The chip damage stung, but when the barrage finished Nadia burst forth. More threads flew at her, but she double-jumped to change her trajectory to come down with a Shock and Paw into Claws for Alarm combo. Upon landing she went for the pest’s spindly legs with a sweep, and when it connected she stabbed upward with her anchors into the falling fiend, propping it up. Its tiny arms thrashed around wildly, grabbing at and scratching her, but Nadia held on to her marbles long enough to deliver a drop kick that knocked the monster back. Taking a page from Massachusetts’ book, she then yanked on the chains to rip her anchors back out, tearing open the pest’s chest as it fell from the roof of the shack to the mines below. “Hah! Yes!”

Then the threads that she dodged before looped around to pierce straight through her back, out her front, and into the wood beneath her. “AGH!” she cried, doubling over in a spray of blood. She clamped her hands to her new wounds as her regeneration went to work, her teeth gritted. “My poor…hoodie.” She staggered to the edge of the shock and looked down. If the others were following her, maybe they could finish the freak off.

Instead, she saw another Kindred of Rot, disturbed by the fall of its wounded comrade. It looked up to see Nadia, and her ears fell flat. “Uh oh.” As more threads sailed her way she hightailed it off the roof and into the shack itself, where she found the chest she sought. “Well, Fortune favors the bold,” she said, throwing it open and jumping inside.

She fell for a moment through complete darkness, just long enough for her to think about the extent of her mistake, then landed in a rectangular room. It featured a dirt floor, clay walls, an assortment of rocks and jars, and three exits. And it smelled. Bad. One door seemed to be blocked by a door with a suspiciously key-shaped hole in it, but a quick look into the other two confirmed a handful of monsters in both, all grotesque in their own special ways. Nadia exhaled. “Hooh, okay. Just gotta fight our way through these guys, find a key, and get ourselves a mask. Pierce of cake.” And yet somehow, she believed herself even less this time.





The atmosphere of the quiet shade weighed heavily on Primrose as she took her first steps into its disquieting stillness, but at least she didn’t need to bear the burden alone. Rubick joined her from the tunnel, ready for trouble, and in here even the vivid green glow of his eyes gave way to stark white. Bowser’s noisy cohort appeared shortly after, delayed by Kamek’s lengthy explanation to Ganondorf before the two villains parted ways. Their presence helped to alleviate the fear and stress that gnawed at the two forerunners, like the unseen insects that the dancer imagined to be responsible for that continuous low roar of static. Six strong and secure in one another’s company, the Seekers began to extend their feelers through the mist, scouring the fog for whatever dangers it might hold.

Rika’s scout planes buzzed bravely across old bark, but before they could disappear into the haze they met trouble. Though neither they nor their operator could spot anything in their way, they kept clipping some sort of unseen obstacle, throwing them off until they either splatted flat as if against a surface or snapped to a sudden stop, bouncing back and forth like the plucked string of a violin. No matter where they flew, though, the vapors seemed to dance around them. Kamek’s wisps met with no such opposition, although their passage left subtle ripples of electricity behind them at seemingly random times. Primrose sent Makami to follow up, watching her ghostly hunting hound slither off into the gloom.

Up ahead roughly halfway between the two ends of the great forested cavern, lay a giant, dark building. Silhouetted against the fog above it, which seemed to grow thicker farther up from the ground, was a giant sign with letters larger than Bowser, identifying the structure as a hotel. By now, the ambient noise sounded noticeably louder, loud enough to mask the swish of grass around the newcomers’ feet. No enemies had appeared, but the Seekers found themselves more and more on edge, all the same. In their peripheral vision, the shadows seemed to move slightly, whether along the ground, in the underbrush, or up above. Scattered noises bid them look here or there, but anything not silhouetted against the mist was effectively invisible in the inky blackness. Still, those sounds were not so subtle that the heroes could dismiss them as figments of their imagination.

The noise grew louder, until finally a long, eerie howl sounded out from within the ancient glade. With their skin crawling, the Seekers found themselves drawn to the hotel in front of them, for a black shape was rising atop its roof. Nearly impossible to discern, it got bigger until the heroes could identity legs, many legs, then spiky hairs on those legs, until the protrusion of tree-like limbs made them all but sure that they were looking at a giant spider.

”...Ŵ̶͔͕h̵̡͕̓ę̴̞̏ṙ̸͍ę̴͚̅ ̷̡̹̉̊i̸̙̹̐͝s̶͔̒ ̵̛̠̖̄ẗ̸͎͕h̶̪̄ĕ̷̤̪ ̸̟́q̴̣͒͘u̸̯͛͠e̴̹̓ȩ̵̩̔̚n̶̻͂…”

The surface of the trees began to move, and the sound of innumerable skittering legs became a cacophony. Swarms of spiders the size of dinner plates raced through the air, suspended on the spider webs veiled by the mist as they closed in on the intruders who wandered into their midst.



While Lucia struggled to follow the particulars of the conversion, Big Band listened carefully as Frisk introduced herself. As Ace rightfully pointed out, the presence of someone else freed from Galeem’s influence was no small matter. In this world, freedom didn’t just happen; every ounce of it came from somewhere. Unfortunately, the names Frisk did provide did not ring a bell for him, which served as a reminder that he still knew far too little about his fellow Seekers and their history in the World of Light so far. His new acquaintance did, however, drop a few intriguing details. A friend of hers -a female friend, at that- had gone missing several days prior following the escalation of some sort of curse. It sounded like the progression of that curse meant an involuntary turn to violence, as well. Band did not like the sound of that. Not one bit.

“Lucky runnin’ into ya like this, miss,” he told her. “Somethin’ tells me we got a lot to talk about when the show’s over. ‘Til then, though…” He stomped over to assist Sierra and Ace with the van. “Let’s make ourselves useful.”

In short order, everything had been unpacked and set up. Among the equipment were normal hoops, hoops that stood vertically atop floats, hoops that could be attached to surfaces, stand-up and attachable targets, a few different kinds of balls, bowling pins, a ramp, a miniature half-pipe, and a few other toys. Sierra then gathered the troops and gave them their instructions. “Okay, Ace, Frisk. I’d like you both to be the trainers, while I’m going to take the role of announcer and showrunner. My Spheals are trained to do tricks with all of these props, so all you need to do is take turns encouraging them and then rewarding them with a fish right after they finish. You can and will have to help move them from trick to trick, but when it’s time to perform don’t help them. It’s their time to shine. Make sure you take turns, both between yourselves and with each Spheal. Make sure you mix up what tricks they do, or at least do the same ones in a sort of sequence so there’s a flow to it.” Sierra laughed, looking embarrassed. “I know it’s a little hackneyed. If we had you around for longer we’d have more time to work out and rehearse a full routine.” She looked around the snowy square, noting the increase in citizens. “We’ve got about fifteen minutes ‘til the show starts, so I want you both to practice with them. Sync up, get to know one another, et cetera. Firm, but gentle, you know? Once you understand one another, you and the Spheals will be a well-oiled machine. Oh, and could you please put on these All Round Spheal Scarves?” She passed out the special apparel. “They show you’re a member of the team!”

Band nodded. “That gives Red, Lucia, and myself a few minutes to case the joint, so to speak. Take a look around the place for anywhere a couple bozos might be hidin’.” He narrowed his eyes at the Wonderful One. “There’s somethin’ we gotta show Lucia too, before anythin’s got a chance to get hairy.”

“Huh?” His fellow detective looked between her two new acquaintances, one very tall and one rather short, not imagining what they might have in store. “Suah, I’m all eahs. We need a quiet spot oah somethin’?”

“Mhm. Follow me,” Band told her.

---

Fifteen minutes later, the spectacular All Round Spheal Show was ready. In front of the fountain stood a big, eager crowd. People of all shapes and sizes had gathered both in the plaza itself and at the windows and balconies of the buildings that overlooked it. All the props were where they needed to be, the stars seemed happy with their new handlers, and both brand-new trainers had as good an idea of what they needed to do as they could get. Red and a blue-eyed, stony-faced Lucia stood to either side of the fountain corners to keep an eye on the crowd, while Band towered behind the audience, standing where he could see everyone. Finally, it was time to begin.

“Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the one, the only, All Round!” Sierra sang. She stood on the back of her own personal pokemon Avalugg, a living iceberg decked out in Spheal-themed regalia, and wielded a loudspeaker. “For this week’s ultimate performance, brought to you as always by the amazing Aether Foundation, we’re coming to you from Harmony Square! Bringing you the softest, squishiest, and silliest Spheals the world has to offer! Please welcome my assistants: the fabulous Frisk! And the awe-inspiring Ace!” She paused for a moment to give her helpers a chance to wave, bow or otherwise endear themselves to her audience. The city folk cheered them on, but everyone knew what they really wanted to see.

“And now,” Sierra continued, pumping her fist into the air. “Please join me in extending another warm Edinburgh welcome to the stars of the show. They’re flubbery! They’re chubbery! They’re happier than clams, cuter than buttons, and best of all, All Round! Iiiiiiiit’s Glenn, Dumpy, Happy, and Sadie!” The four Spheals appeared at the top of the fountain to thunderous applause and wild cheers, then slid down and splashed into the water. They shot to the surface like volleyballs held beneath the surface and popped into the air for a group pose, landed in the water, and began bobbing back and forth to the music playing over the van’s loudspeakers while they waited for directions.

---

---

Raiden was one of the very few members of the group that waited a moment or two before fully entering the room, performing a quick bout of maintenance on himself to ensure nothing had become damaged or maimed on his metallic exterior. Once he had assured himself that there was no external damage to himself, he quickly found himself following the others who had already begun resting or bombarding their mysterious new guides with questions relating to personal interest. There were new faces amongst the crowd of travelers, ones that he could care less about as he would always prefer to do work on his lonesome, but he was happy they were receiving more proper help, even if some of the new group didn't seem fit for fighting. Especially the princess that rode with them. He decided it would be best if he got introductions out of the way later.

The cyborg was glad to see many faces he did recognize before, even if some of the original group was now missing. Especially happy Tora had survived the ambush, he nodded in the tiny hairball's direction across the tight meeting room. He still had yet to get that upgrade programmed and installed into him and seeing Tora only reminded him of that surely after lending a helping hand in the dire situation on the highway, he was positive persuading the short, stocky fellow couldn't be too tricky.

Really, Raiden didn't have a whole lot to add about the situation at hand. Raiden was more of a self-bound solution type of guy and politics didn't really play into his forte. He always served better alongside a politician as a bodyguard rather than a diplomatic speaker. He was all ears to the current situation but had nothing to add, nor to ask, as all the pressing questions he had were already answered prior. He was beginning to see as well, that both Giovanna, Goldlewis, N, and M were all in a way attempting to convince them to help them with their efforts before seeing that they give them any information worth significance. Raiden, whether this assumption was true or not, heard their struggle and was all in for providing help.

That was until the name "Desperado" was mentioned, and was named in a very specific context. Feeling mixed emotions of confusion and concern, Raiden quickly inserted himself into the conversation, attempting to keep a calm and level head. "You said Desperado..." He was now standing, his voice clear yet quiet as he pondered the situation for a moment.

It was entirely possible that this new world Raiden was in was plucked specifically from a time before he had single-handedly dismantled Desperado Enforcement, or maybe it is possible it was a completely different group using the same name. Raiden doubted that. The fact the government that protected the land Raiden was currently presiding in was supporting them drew many red flags. "Do you know about any of the officials leading that branch?" Raiden wanted nothing more but to immediately claim ignorance at the group for setting foot into Midgar now that there was a threat. "I have a long list of names and could describe the people I'm looking for, but it'd be easier if I just showed this."

Raiden plucked the HF Murasama's sheath off of his side, the magnetic bond between his hip and the sheath severing. He'd set the weapon down softly on the table, the black and red color scheme iconic to Desperado's troops and weaponry. "There a chance there's been a Brazillian swordsman carrying a sword similar to this or had 'misplaced' it?" Raiden now seemed concerned with the release of more information about the groups. After hearing the words "private military" and "cyborg" Raiden was certain. Desperado was very well still intact and having heard a name he recognizes, he now took a special interest in the new information. He latched his sword back to his side, cautiously slid it through the armrest's hole, then sat back down.

It was revealed to the group that the location of Desperado's HQ was in a special sector of the mechanical city, specifically the bunker, to which Raiden made a mental note. Of course, the group's primary objective of defeating the guardian was the most important, but Raiden needed to know what this world's Desperado was capable of and more importantly, what they were planning to do. "Desperado is shady, and should be treated as a threat not only to Midgar but the world as well. I don't know what their objective is here, but back in my world, they planned on creating war worldwide to boost the war economy." The cyborg paused for a few moments to let the group absorb the information he just fed them. "They're terrorists." He added simply as he crossed his arms.

"I don't plan on going in killing or maiming, but I think it'd be worth our efforts to check out the bunker of this city to see what Desperado's goal's here are." He glared threateningly at M specifically. "And I'm not taking no as an answer, so I'd like to know how the hell to get to that part of the city."

---

---

---

---

Bored. That's all the Prisoner could think. How bored he was, that is. For the past near day now, The Prisoner has done nothing but sit in an uncomfortable leather satchel for the past few hours. He would have appreciated it if the bag was see-through, but it was leather. So the entire time he sat idly, he had to numb out the squeaking of leather on leather as he jangled and bounced in Frisk's leather pouch. He got lucky Frisk decided to take part in something that'd keep her distracted for the next while, as he grew ever so tired of squeaking. He could kill a giant rat right about now just to vent his anger out on anything that squeaks. He was thankful Frisk was willing to carry his head around, but goddamn did he wish the squeaking would stop.

The Prisoner watched as Frisk and their new companion Ace playfully lead the Spheals in a playful arrangement. He watched for a moment, blissfully ignorant of everything except for the exciting performance, which he paid close attention to. His excitement was once again short-lived once he again realized there was nothing to do besides sit and watch like a friendly little blob. There was slowly becoming a realization that he may not return to a humanoid form for quite some time unless he did something about it. And in all honesty, he was in no condition to do anything about it.

He was stuck.

---

---

Sectonia hadn't paid as much attention as she should've. Having dismissed the sleeping Grubz Mother as something not worth her time, she didn't pay attention to the Adventurer, Ganondorf, and eventually Nadia who all dealt with it and its spawn that erupted from it upon death in a shower of... Well thankfully Sectonia didn't see what it actually did but she did see the aftermath. And everyone came out of it mostly well, so that was a plus. Well, physically well. But appearance wise? She'd need to clean them up when she had the chance.

Surprisingly Nadia denied Sectonia's request of the Symbol of Avarice. Perhaps she figured the drop in life force was permanent? "The loss is temporary, as if you got damaged. But I suppose I'll find someone else..." Sectonia was a bit deflated but undeterred. Nadia hadn't seen what this thing could do, so it did make sense that she wasn't jumping for joy at the possiblity to see what strange and wonderful things she would find.

"Still, when we have the chance. I need to get you, the adventurer there, and even our 'king of evil' cleaned and proper. Being covered in... that... can't be comfortable." Sectonia said, her tone of voice dropping a notable octave when she mentioned Ganondorf, her sense of beauty even outweighing her distrust of the man if for a moment.

Wanting to get a move on, and with Sectonia's little group in agreement, Bowser's group having gone somewhere else. Sectonia rolled her eyes, "Of course the oaf got himself lost..." Sectonia thought as she told a couple of her antillions to go and find the koopa king and her other minions that were missing, pointing them in the direction of the strange forest that they had gone. She gave the same orders to the monsters she had 'adopted' through mind control as well. If this place was going to be gross and horrible, it would be best to stay gathered together. With that done, she headed after Nadia as the cat girl made her way to the basement as well.

And considering what happened next with Nadia jumping headlong into a 'chest' that lead to the basement according to her map, this was a much better idea than Sectonia was going to give herself credit for. Having gone ahead on her own again, Nadia found herself being ambushed yet again and needing to take whatever path she could find for an escape, jumping into that chest as a result. Sectonia could only sigh at the cat girls proclivity to find danger, or perhaps, eagerness. The creatures that chased her into said chest were quite the sights, and not for good reasons. Did everything down here have to be sickeningly awful?

Surprisingly said chest that lead to the basement was incredibly large, so much so that even Sectonia or Bowser looked like they could fit through it without much issue. The miners seemed to ignore the queen bee, but the things that assaulted Nadia did not. Having left one injured, Sectonia decided it would be best to clean up after the feral and make the way down for her other minions or even the others easier. Plus more spirits to loot wouldn't hurt. Sectonia made her move, summoning her Chaos shield before blinking next to the pair of Kindred of Rot and zapping them both with dark lightning blasts as one was helping the other wounded one to its feet. Sectonia didn't stay for very long herself either, blasting the wounded one until it turned to dust even as the other one smacked her with its polearm and its threads. What Sectonia didn't expect was a third that struck her with its threads from range, very angry at the bee queen attaching its friend. Thankfully Sectonia had most of the damage being absorbed by the chaos shield, but with two attacking at full force and a third attacking her at half strength, they got through that Chaos Shield and started damaging the queen proper. She didn't take too much of that punishment though before she turned the weakened Kindred of Rot to dust, grabbed its spirit, and blinked her way into the chest. Still, she could see why Nadia ran, they were disgusting and damaging at the same time.

She soon found that flying down through the chest was a bit of a strange thing, the whole area being a darkness not even she could see through as she flew down for a few moments. Eventually she found herself in the same crusty, smelly room Nadia found herself in. Sectonia could only wretch at the smell coming from this place, saying. "Why am I not surprised this place is disgusting as well? You would think it wouldn't smell this bad but..." Nadia or anyone who had followed right behind the Queen could see this actually phased her, the Queen holding her nose until she could get 'used' to the smell, even if she hated it.

"Its rare I regret a decision, but this is one of those rare moments... I hate it here." Sectonia said, grumbling about how they were heading down this way of all places. Still, much like Nadia said, they had to go through, kill everything, and make their way through the floor. Looking at the map Nadia had, Sectonia decided to see what was awaiting them in a bit of a test run, making her way left. Glancing in the nearby room, Sectonia saw a trio of Strange crying blobs of... something that began to spit out black flies and run away from the Queen as she approached. That was the group of monsters, with the source of some of the smell being seen as a large pile of feces was sitting alongside one of the wall with various rocks sitting about the room. With the size of the room being what it was, Sectonia could still fly over these obstacles, but this was indeed unsightly.

Looking at the things running away from the queen and spitting out flies that flew towards her, Sectonia decided to expend some of her rage on the thing. Letting loose her rings of light that flew around the room, Sectonia made quick work of the slow moving flies and the creature, which upon its death exploded into a group of flies, one of which shot a blood globule at Sectonia before she could dispatch it with her attacks. Not wanting to get hit by something so gross, she blinked out of the way. One of the other Mulligans died to Sectonia's barrage of off target light rings, but this time not summoning anything but normal flies. The final mulligain, seeing it was the last one alive and terrified of Sectonia approaching it, decided to self destruct, releasing all the attack flies inside it which the queen dispatched with her swords. When the room was cleared, half a beating heart appeared in the middle of the room with the door to the south being opened. "Hm... That was a bit too easy...." Sectonia thought, poking the half heart out of curiosity. Just by merely touching it, she collected it, which healed her a little bit. A weird kind of healing item, but not unwelcome. Sectonia grabbed the three creature spirits and made her way to the next room.

She then progressed south into a more bare room that had a few sparse rocks littered about it with headless creatures that jumped around alongside white worm creatures that popped up and spit spiraling blood globules that eventually dissipated. Even more strange, but seeing as what she had seen in the previous room, she got to work attacking these things. As the headless creatures leaped near her, Sectonia pulled out her swords and struck at them, finding the creatures died in only a few swipes. Sectonia did find that these creatures required mobility to deal with, as she found when one jumped on her that mere contact hurt, and the pain was a bit odd for how light the impact was. Thankfully unlike the other creature she had fought in the previous room, these did not explode into attack flies. She didn't want to approach the worms shooting blood globules after having touched one of the hoppers, so she just struck them with lightning whenever the surfaced, making short work of them. Much like the other room before, an item spawned in the center of the room, this time being a cartoonish looking bomb which Sectonia picked up.

Seeing as there were no more connected rooms, Sectonia grabbed the 3 hopper and 2 worm spirits and made her way back to where Nadia was. "Left side is clear. This place is disgusting, ladies like us shouldn't stay in such a place for long. At least the creatures here are slow and easy to defeat. Just be wary of touching them. Not only are they gross, they do disproportionate amounts of damage. At least clearing a room seems to reward you with items in this dungeon, even if some are unsightly." Sectonia said. She still had spirits to crush, so the Queen crushed half of the spirits of the creatures she had grabbed. If Nadia or anyone was still around that knew of her Symbol of Avarice, they could see that she didn't wear it when she did this. Anyone who saw the item however could note that the helmet was, frankly, too small for the Queen to wear.

Overall she crushed a mulligain, 2 hopper, and a round worm spirit to see what she would get herself, while waiting for another one of her allies to come down and try crushing the remaining spirits with the symbol to see what it would give them. She also spent her time trying to remove the foul odor in this room, waiting for the others to clear the rooms ahead, curious as to what they would find. She'd keep up with the party, but she shouldn't be the only one to deal with these vile creatures, even if she wanted to destroy them all. The others should at least learn what they were dealing with after all.

Thinking back to Nadia's map, there were many rooms with creatures in them, but some with symbols. What could the symbols mean?

”Hey! Did ask specifically how bad it was gonna be, give me some credit” Midna retorted when she was accused of being optimistic about taking on the whole city. It wasn’t like she wanted that to happen after all. That said ”If it's any cold comfort, it is that if a consul is around to brand them as a public enemy, then it's not like we’re alone in that department. With how bad this threefold crisis and internal conflict is, I’ll be amazed if they have much left to spare to send after us if it comes to that. So we’re bugs in the dark, hiding front he boots, but there's way bigger things for the boots to worry about than a bunch of bugs scurrying around this town, and that’s something”

She also took that moment to fill them in on what she could do ”When it comes to gear, I’m good with close combat weapons, have guns but no real training with them, lots of experience riding and some in driving. Then I have some lighting, sand, dragon, shadow, summoning and giant hand magic. Pretty much the works. So I’m pretty versatile, in no small part thanks to all the spirits I’ve fused with”

”But what’s probably the most unique is that I can do this” she waved a hand and summoned a stack of crates out of the twilight realm, the boxes all neatly stacking up in an instant right next to her ”which is to say, I can store objects in the twilight realm, with some pretty big upper limits too. No people though, they turn into beasts, and even animals get warped a bit, though I can also set up portals that can let us travel long distances safely. Once we’re settled, I’ll probably set one up, which would let me link back up with base via a … pretty convoluted rout I admit”

She’d have to jump to the virgin victory just outside Garudo town, then through the metro to twilight town, then through warp graffiti back to smash city, to be exact.

”and I need to be there to bring people with me so it’s somewhat limited in usage, but I could make a trip to get mercenary reinforcements if we need them... Anyway, point is, if you need stuff stashed, I’m your princess” she asserted, before she started tapping each box to banish them crates home again.

”Princess Midna, to be exact” she added, realizing she hadn’t actually introduced herself ”nice to meet you all”

Then, once she’d tidied up, she had a think about all the info they’d gotten, the princess borrowing a chair and lounging in it, legs crossed at the ankles hanging over one arm rest while she folded her hands behind her head and had a ponder about what they should do.

Three big threats, three big forces opposing them, and any one of them or the government themselves could be harboring the guardian. It was interesting to see that the same robots from the desert were also here, but in far greater numbers. Or perhaps they had just skimmed the edge of their territory down there and gotten lucky. Something to inform home base about, she thought.

Still, she left any follow up about that to Geralt, as it was, sort of, now his purview given he was the one who had asked.

So she kept her talk and commentary to the rebel groups, at least initially.

”Can’t say any of those rebels are any more reliable sounding than the one back in the desert” she had to admit, but she did give each their own time, talking as much to herself as she was with the Twins.

”The goals of the first group, this Avalanche, are just irrelevant, seeing as, if we win, then this false tapestry of a world won’t exist anymore in a week or two. So who cares if it harms a planet that soon won’t exit, unless we are close to some kind of breaking point” she said, somewhat unkindly, even if she could see how such a thing would be worth fighting for otherwise. Which was a plus ”Still, as objectives go, saving the planet sounds like a noble one, so I’d guess the people in it might be just and principled, to an extent, so if we remove Galeem’s blinding light from their eyes and point them at the true threat maybe we could co-opt them for our own cause pretty easily”

”Second, the hermits… are just an endemic failure of the government made manifest. I’ve read about this kind of stuff, where the people don’t feel safe, they form their own, inevitably corrupt and crime ridden, militias and gangs to protect themselves. If we free them, they’ll still mostly care about their own communities, which is kinda fair, but basically just makes them not worth pursuing as direct allies” Midna said, basing all this on her royal education rather than any real world experience. The thought of using them to acquire some of that hoarded gear at blackmarket rates did not even cross her mind.

”As for the third, this ‘reunion’? I’d fold them in as part of the Chimeras crisis. A symptom that we need to fight the disease to resolve” Minda said simply. Did she feel bad about these effective plague victims? Yes. But that did not mean they should not be treated as such, even if she imagined the regime was likely far more heavy handed than it needed to be.

The other, smaller groups or individuals were not exactly worth considering seeking out, other than, perhaps, as people who could be attracted into the fold of whatever organization they ended up being a part of.

So, if it came to groups to join, and who’s resources to use, that left the government agencies, which apparently they could likely sign up with without worrying about being arrested the moment they tried. The requirements for becoming members of Psych-OSF and Neuron sounded pretty specific to her, psychic powers and seeing the unseen, so that left just Desperado Enforcement as the easy option.

For them, however, the newly caught up Riden added some more details that shot down that possibility in her mind, namely by shoving them from the ‘helpful’ column into the ‘problem to be dealt with’ column.

”Huh, and I was just about to suggest shacking up with them would be a good idea. Never mind then” she said, and in hindsight, the whole recruiting of those who have nowhere else to go sounded very shady.

”In that case, I have … three suggestions” The princess said after a bit more ruminating, before she stood up and found a suitable location to address the rest of the party.

”First is co-opting Avalanches, if we can find them. We get them onside, and we get access to a well armed force and, hopefully, whatever dirt or information they have on the city, which might let us work out if the regime is hiding anything Guardian shaped” she explained, before jumping straight into the potential downsides that that plan might have ”Course, problem with that is if we get found working with them, or them for us rather, then doing anything with the government gets next to impossible, and even just fighting the crises with them is itself hard, because any time they show up we risk it becoming a three way fight”

”Basically, I think they’d be good long term, once we’re out of the city, but in it, might be more trouble than they are worth. Depends what we can get them to bring to the table” she summarized

”Second is we try and get into Neuron, assuming we can get magic or machines from them that let us see these invisible foes and we aren't barred from joining because we can’t do that on our own. They are fighting the biggest danger, might have some principles, while also having some regime connections. If we’re going to join one of the government groups, I’d go for them” the princess explained, before adding ”Again, if we even can”

”Lastly, and I think this is my preference, we go our own way. Kinda. We make our own mercenary company, we make a name for ourselves by going on the offensive against the robots, because they are the only ones whose origins we actually know and can attack directly at the moment. Plus, some of us have experience fighting them from when we met some of them in the desert south of here. Assuming we can pull something off, we use the clout from that success to get government funding, and maybe muscle in on Desperado’s own funding and importance in the process to try and break that threat as well, or at least weaken them. Maybe absorb some of the other smaller ones if they have any potential or principles while we’re at it. Go from being just a bunch of roaches to an actual force for good in the city”

”Those are my ideas anyway” the princess conclude, before saying ”ok, floors open again, thanks for listening” and returning to her chair to wait and see what people thought, and what other ideas they might have come up with.

”-and that’s why I said it was like tv static” Bowser concluded, having explained the concept to his young son.

”ooooh, ok, I get it” Jr replied, nodding earnestly, before glancing over at the other two troop members and saying ”Isn’t that cool!”

”hmmm? Oh. yes. very” Kamek lied, clearly distracted by something. What that something was was something Rika cleared up when she was, unlike the old mage, entirely honest about having tuned out the royal’s conversation: ”Sorry what was that? I’ve been kinda distracted by my planes being weird”

”Wow. Rude” Jr harrumphed, looking mighty upset that the shipgirl hadn’t listened to his papa’s words of wisdom

”Eh, it’s fine” Bowser insisted in-order to placate the boy, before asking ”So what’s up with your planes then?”

To answer that, Kamek pointed one out, the scout plane flailing around senselessly in the air as it tried to push past some invisible obstacle.

”Oh huh yeah that is weird” Jr agreed, easily distracted

”Indeed”

”Also neither of the other two got stuck, which is super unfair!” Rika complained, and indeed, if they were to peer into the woods the royals could see the striker and wisps happily ignoring whatever had trapped the plane. Both the planes. The other one was just stuck much deeper in the woods than the one that had first been pointed out.

”I mean, if there’s something invisible there, then I have a way to sort that” Jr said before carefully rolling his clown car forwards on go-kart wheels, heeding his elders’ requests for him to be careful as he cautiously approaching the plane.

While still a fair bit away from the trapped remote control aircraft, the prince pulled out his paintbrush and gave it a few flicks, launching splats of goop forth. The ink-like slime splashed onto and around the plane, and painted into visibility what had been unseen: a massive spider’s web, one who’s strands had been invisible to the naked eye.

The tapestry hung there for a moment, glistening in the mist, before the goop began to rapidly eat through the silk, causing the web to disintegrate, freeing the plane from its grasp. It dropped, caught itself with its thrusters, did a little loop de loop to clear the goop off of it … and then almost immediately flew into another web.

”Well I never… is the entire wood just filled with these webs?” Kamek asked, the magikoopa having carefully followed after Jr’s trail to join up with him.

”Yeah, definitely” Bowser, who had not done as his wise advisor had done, agreed as he tugged an arm to try and free it from an invisible grip. He grunted in frustration, and then opened his maw, flames licking his lips as he prepared to deal with the problem, only for Kamek to interject ”Wait! Sire, careful, we don’t want to risk burning down the woods while we are in them”

The king gave a frustrated sigh, but he nonetheless waited for jr to clear the webbing using splashes of goop. With him free, the plane re-freed, and the mystery solved, the troop wandered back to join Primrose and Rubick and actually addressed the former’s question about what they should be doing, and whether they should look any further.

”This place seems like it’ll be really annoying” Bowser summarized ”Not being able to go 3 steps without getting web stuck on you? No thanks”

”Boring too” Jr added, not appreciating the region’s aesthetic ”I mean, who’d get rid of all the color? Seems real lame to me”

”Reminds me of that whole situation with the black paint, which was just groan worthy” Bowser said, and when asked for more details, declared it not even worth talking about

”Well, anyway, I for one do not particularly want to find out where the spiders who made the webs went” Kamek added after that. Both options of either they were hiding, or that they had been eaten by something even worse, were bad in his mind.

Things seemed pretty conclusive on their front, until Rika coughed awkwardly and then asked ”Could we, uh, maybe go and get my plane before we leave though?” before pointing her bayonet towards the trapped aircraft jerking about in the mist, its luck at having narrowly avoided an unknown number of webs to get all the way out there into the mist having now turned around into a curse.

The answer to that question was obvious for the rest of the Troop, and that was how they ended up heading deeper into the woods, with or without the two heroes.

Jr led the way, splashing the area ahead of them with goop to detect and destroy the webs, which resulted in a path of sorts forming, one made of a layer of magical slime coating the forest floor. Bowser’s boots tramped atop this, while Rika gilded above its surface, and Kamek hovered low at the back, occasionally popping a torch on a passing tree as he went to fully cement the pathway.

As they trekked through the mist, the sound of static grew subtly louder and louder, the intruders being submerged in a sound like frogs being boiled, such that they would not notice consciously how much it had increased in volume till it was too late.

Add to this the subtle sights of things just beyond their vision, and safe to say, they were not having a good time.

”Almost there, almost there, almost there” Jr muttered to himself as they went, all of them getting more and more unnerved until, at last ”We’re here!”

The prince’s goop splashing hit the web holding the second plane, freeing it up and allowing it to hover back over to its owner, the little aircraft snuggly slotting itself away in the unoccupied gauntlet hanger it had deployed from.

”Thanks guys! Now uh, lets go, this place is way to spooky” Rika said, but Jr just had to ask ”Do we need to go find the wisps or-” only to be interrupted by their timely return as they teleported into the midst of the group. Something neither royal would admit being startled by, but which defiantly did.

”Ah good, your back, did you find anything of note” Kamek asked after he’d recovered from the surprise, to which the wisps responded by forming an arrow and pointing off towards the center of the forested cavern. The troop all peered into the mist and vaguely spied the out of place hotel and its neon sign … right before the howl rang out and the massive spider pulled itself atop this newly spotted landmark, and screamed something about a queen at them.

That was about when the forest around them went mad, a wave of skittering sounds rolling out as the hiding spiders revealed themselves at last, with sound if not sight. Their bodies were still invisible in the mist, even if it was now obvious they were out there. Somewhere, and getting closer every second.

An immediate response of panicked blind shooting resulted from this from all but one member of the troop, with Rika opening up with her assault rifle and canons, Bowser with shoulder cannons and a shower of shell spikes joining in, and Jr with his crank operated Mulcher machine gun offering a baseline of noise, all of them firing into the mist at the approaching sound, guns roaring in defiance.

”Stop, stop, you aren't hitting anything!” Kamek called over the din ”We need to fall back!”

His strategy fell on (literally) deaf ears until he physically grabbed Jr and got him to stop, then got the boy to get his father’s attention with ease, while the mage halted the ship girl’s own fire.

”We need to go!” Kamek reasserted after they’d wasted valuable time

”No we don’t, we just need to fight smarter!” Jr retorted, before clarifying that they should ”use attacks that hit lots of stuff!”

”Dad, use those sonic attacks you have!” he commanded, while pulling out a pokeball and deploying his Popplio to ride next to him in his car, ordering his pokemon to attack as well with ”Dazzle, hit everything out there with your icy wind”

They did just that, Bowser deploying his shoulder cannons again, but switching them from shell fire to conal screams of super sonic sound that he could sweep through the mist: sowing confusion amidst the spider hordes without needing to be aimed at any one target. Dazzle meanwhile deployed and popped a string of bubbles, unleashing wide gusts of bitingly cold air that, importantly, also reduced the speed of everything they hit.

”Kamek give us, uh… oh, i know, make more of me! And then we’ll all make a big mess of these woods!” Jr snapped his fingers as he came up with a plan to let them hold their ground

”oh? Ah, yes! At once young master!!” the mage agreed, opening up a series of portal and summon shadow juniors who, along with the original, unleashed a flood of goop all around them using their paint brushes, their ink dissolving away at any nearby webs, and splattering ground and trees in a radius around them with ink which would slow down the spiders if they tried to come at them over land after their silky pathways where gone.

”What about me! Shooting stuff was all I had!” Rika called out, to which jr replied ”then shoot the big one!”

”Oh… duh” Rika responded, and then turned her firepower on the target they could see, the ship girl instinctively angling her guns up just a bit so that her shots would fly in an arc and rain down on the somewhat distant titanic spider, where they might have fallen short had she aimed right at it due to bullet (or rather shell) drop.

Geralt listened to the explanations of the Ever Crisis and the situation around the city of Midgar with rapt attention. This megacity was vaguely reminding him of one of the many places Ciri had found herself in during her travels through different worlds, and frankly, in a place so large, with so many people? It wasn't hard to imagine her being somewhere among them. Finding her, as ever, remained in his mind. Though, now that they had more allies, perhaps he could press on them the importance of finding a woman who was a direct conduit of immense magical power.

The description of the G-men was...well, frankly, horrifying. He had no desire to get caught by them, even if he was confident that he could lie his way out if they weren't particularly intent on keeping him there. It was the risk of them being that intent that he'd prefer to avoid. Death was unpleasant. He had no desire to keep experiencing it, even if it were so intent on seeking him out. That was the best explanation he had for his experiences: he was dying or coming damn near to it, but something, perhaps some remnant of the unicorn magic that revived him originally, or even the Spirit of the Guardian within him, was pulling him back from the edge.

The Ever Crisis itself...was even more complicated and worrying than he had feared. Three different types of enemies, ranging from the mechanical to the eldritch. The invisible enemies actually might be something he could handle, though Yrden might simply not work on them the same way it did on Spectres from his world. Still, it would be worth bringing up. "As for the matter of the unseeable enemy, I may have a...minor solution. Can't guarantee it would work, and frankly, it wouldn't work as a way to actually combat them on a large scale level, but if we get caught with our pants down, one of my spells is primarily used in my world to hunt and make ghosts and spectres vulnerable to physical harm."

The three branches of the army, each with their own specializations in dealing with aspects of the Ever Crisis, did pique Geralt's interest. Psych-OSF seemed most like the group that matched his own abilities, if they had to work together, though Neuron...seemed secretive. Perhaps it was just in the interest of not losing their edge, but there didn't seem to be much to go off of with them. It was good to know that Bridges were good at making connections and gathering information on account of their profession. Couriers always had their ways.

Some of the politics went over his head, admittedly, but it seemed like this Shinra group was de facto in charge.

Peach's apology to Benedict was something Geralt wasn't sure he agreed with, but he gave his fellow 'old man' a nod when she did. "Take a closer look around you, and think hard on where you're from. Things...aren't right here. And we're trying to make it right." Ugh, he was about to vomit just from saying that.

More politics. Different rebel groups in the city, and he wasn't sure he cared for any of them. Avalanche seemed like either the least or the most harmful, frankly. If they were intent on depriving the city of their main source of energy, how would they keep this city running? Geralt had no idea how they did it as it was, but without their fancy technology, these people would be slaughtered by the outside threat. He said as much. "Avalanche sound like a bunch of morons, frankly. Trying to burn their city because they don't like how it's run. Damaging the planet or not, there's bigger things at stake. Such as not being murdered by invisible beings from another world."

As for the Hermits, Geralt saw what Midna didn't. "Though, the hermits...they wouldn't happen to be open to trading, would they? Some coin for whatever they've got. That's assuming they actually have anything of value, though. As long as it doesn't mess with their safety, they might be open to it."

Geralt didn't bother to give the Reunion his thoughts. Midna was right, cruel as it was, if they were turning into monsters...better to put them down. He wouldn't say that, not in front of the others, especially Sakura, though.

Pretty soon, they got to introducing themselves and what they could do. Taking that as his cue to go into his own abilities, he explained: "I have a few spells, including the one I mentioned earlier. Yrden, which can either produce a field that slows enemies and renders spectres vulnerable to physical harm, or a trap that attacks enemies and projectiles like arrows. I'm not entirely sure it would reveal those Chimera things, but it also makes spectres easier to see, so perhaps...I also have Igni, which is a simple fire spell. It can be as tame as lighting a candle or as strong as to turn steel cherry-red. I can focus it into a small line, or send out a blast of flames to send foes running. There's Aard, which projects telekinetic force. I can use it to snuff out those same candles I lit with Igni, or knock a grown man on his ass. Benedict got a dose of it earlier. Didn't want to risk pissing off your G-men more and ruining the entire shop, but I knew I had to get me and the kid out of there, by the way." He added that last part for the Turk's benefit.

"I also have Axii, a spell that assails the mind. It can be used to issue commands, though more often than not I use it to calm my horse. Or giant murderous bird, on one occasion. I can, however, use it to overwrite a foe's mind in the midst of battle and turn them on their allies, as well. I...try not to do that as often. Cruel. More likely to use it to overwhelm their mind and stun them for a bit, or have them turn tail and run. Finally, I have Quen, which projects a protective field around me. Can take quite a beating, as well. Underneath, I'm still...somewhat human." Looking at his claws, Geralt frowned. "Even before the Spirits I've fused with, I wasn't quite human. I'm a witcher, an alchemically enhanced human with powerful senses, I'm stronger, faster, and much more long-lived than normal people. I can race with wolves, track like a hound, I can take a blow from a troll and keep standing while my body regenerates itself. I'm damn near immune to poison, though this amulet I'm wearing makes that less effective. I'm an expert at swordfighting and fistfighting, though those girls exist on a level I couldn't hope to reach. I have two Spirits inside me, which let me summon a massive gun platform while near or in water, and the Guardian of the Blue. That one...mostly lets me summon lightning. Either around me, or onto my weapons. It also gave me its weapon, though I won't show you that, as it would require me magically ripping it from my own body. Have a few summonable Strikers as well, mostly focusing on offense, though the big ugly one can heal those around it as well."

Nodding as he just about finished, he pulled out Odysseus's Bow as well. "I also have this magical bow, that sends lightning travelling between enemies after a few hits. Rather useful."

Finishing his self-explanation, Geralt looked to their new allies. "I...actually have a favor to ask as well. Don't expect anything to come of it, given how large this place is, but...I'm looking for somebody. My daughter, Ciri. Ashen hair, scar on her left cheek, fair skin. Just under six feet tall. Carries a sword like mine, as well. Figure I'll let our friends and Bridges know as well, but wanted to ask while we're all here."

It's a good thing Raz had experience with maneuvering on top of fast stuff, or else his mad dash across the "wild trucks" would've ended a lot more pancake-ily. Not to say it was easy. Between having to leap from truck to truck, bounding around on his Levball like a hamster rolled down a hill, and needing to keep the Turk in his sights so he didn't splatter on the ground, it was a miracle that Raz managed to reach the copter at all. About halfway one of the trucks jerked upwards and made Raz lose focus. He flailed in midair, landing with a short roll before continuing on foot, his little legs taking him as fast as they could manage. For a second he though he outright dropped Benedict, though when he glanced over his shoulder he saw that the general was actually still in his grasp - his psychic grasp, that is, floating just behind Raz in his TK's hand. "Oh, that makes it way easier!"

What felt like an hour of truck-based platforming passed, a very perilous minute at most, before Raz finally made it to safety. Relatively, anyway. Scrambling up the lowered hook to the copter was a lot more familiar than the daredevil tactics he pulled down below. With Benedict bouncing in the air beside him, Raz made it into their getaway vehicle, and dropped their ex-enemy onto the helicopter's floor.

"Next time we do that, can we be inside the trucks? It'd make things a lot safer."

Much like what Geralt did with Roxas on the train ride earlier, Roxas helped to free Benedict from Galeem's control. Raz still wasn't super sure how you'd do it, and between the monster hunter's big glowy heart thing and Roxas's key whatever-ing it was unclear what was the actual method and what was the person's unique abilities. It'd probably be important to figure out, especially if he ever wanted to find his friends or family out there...

As they approached Midgar, the metropolis's sheer size only grew more and more impressive, and its varied makeup gave it a much more cluttered feel to it all, like a patchwork of playsets that a giant child mashed together to play around in.

Wait, that wasn't what Galeem was actually doing, was it? What would even be the point of all this, the goal of zapping every possible reality into one spot? Maybe it was something only gods understood. Like knowing what the best hot dog stand in a big city is, a secret that you only knew if you were "in". Or maybe it was for no reason, and Galeem was more like a force of nature than a conscious entity.

He'd have to ask Galeem when he met it.

"Hey, what do you guys think that is?" Raz pointed at the huge mass of buildings floating in the sky as they flew further into the city. Though when it turned out nobody could see it, Raz just stared at it harder. "So weird..."

Finally the helicopter touched down on a balcony, and the team was lead inside by their benefactors (that's the word for what Giovana and the twin doctors were, right?) "Oh, hi again Mr. Goldlewis!" Raz greeted his former traveling companion when they all filed into the conference room.

Raz raised his hand when questions were being asked. "Yeah, I was wondering, what's that big blocky thing in the sky? Sorta looks like if you took a buncha buildings and glued them onto a ball. Kinda staticky, too."

From there the group were given a long bit of exposition on the state of Midgar, the various powers at play, both involved in this 'Ever Crisis' thing and tertiary to it all while still being a threat. It made sense that a place this huge would be a hotbed for conflict, though Raz couldn't help but wonder how many of these organizations originated from someplace else or were created after the fact, right in this mishmash world. Then he quietly tucked that thought away, since turning it over again and again would end up driving him a little crazy.

Raz asked another: "So, right, this Ever Crisis sounds like a really big deal. Since we're already going to be looking around the place for the next Guardian, should we be helping with it? I'm not sure how much we should butt in on other places' issues, but what's the point in trying to save everyone if we don't also help them with the less world-threatening things too?"

"Hang on," Raz interjected futher, in the middle of the discussion on the various factions. "Psych-OSF, they're a psychic organization, right? And their HQ is called the... Otherlobe? That sounds way too similar to the Motherlobe from my home to be a coincidence. With the G-Men being part of Midgar's government too... have any of you heard of a group called the Psychonauts? Or, or maybe some of its members someplace else?" Raz was getting riled up, the possibility of finding some familiar faces spurring him on. "Zanotto? Cruller? Mentallis? Nein?? Vodello?!"

As his answers were given, Raz joined in on the powers talk, the third time in the last day he's done so. "I've sorta explained all my things a lot already, so I'll keep it brief; I'm a psychic! I can do psychic stuff, read minds and levitate and pick things up with my brain. I can defend myself pretty well too! And I grew up in my family's circus, so even without my powers I'm pretty capable in a pinch. Not to, heh, toot my own horn," he said as he tooted his own horn.

---

“Oh, you can see it?” Jessica took the question meant for Goldlewis, courtesy of Raz. “You must be psychically sensitive. I can’t myself, but I’ve heard that whatever’s up there is due to a number of defunct Vision projectors. Nothing to worry about.”

Once the SOU personnel said their part, Midna explained her abilities, including her incredible talent for storage. “That’s a very good card to have in our hand,” Jessica remarked. “I could easily see it becoming the cornerstone of a well-laid plan or two.” That opened the floor for the other Seekers to chime in with their own capabilities, including Tora and Poppi. While that amounted to far too much to keep comprehensive track of, the team’s new allies filed away relevant bits of information as it came to them.

Before the former conversation could resume, one of the newer members fixated on a name a twin mentioned earlier. Though it passed everyone else by, that name held special significance to Raiden, so he didn’t plan to sit idly by and let its invocation slide. The others noted his instant change in attitude, like a dog raising its hackles, and just like that the conversation’s shift toward a more genial tone dissolved away.

“Leaders of Desporhado…” Goldlewis leaned forward enough to put his elbows on the table and rest his chin in his hand. “They ain’t public-facin’ like Psych-OSF, so they mostly keep to themselves. Still, whenever big-time Machines show up and the grunts can’t handle it, it’s the same couple o’ elite units that head out to shut ‘em down, and the Crows never turn down a good story.”

M took it from there. “Desporhado withholds the names of its operatives, but the appellations given and popularized by the press work well enough. Khamsin, Mistral, Monsoon, Jetstream, and Sundowner. They’re all elusive, powerful, and like the Septentrions, fused.”

“Wait, fused?” Peach asked, surprised at the mention and almost panicked when Giovanna confirmed it. “As in spirit fusion? There are fusions in Midgar? And how!? We only know because of the Master of Masters!”

Giovanna smiled smugly. “Mhm. You’re looking at one, in fact. I didn’t always look like this, although me and the lady I ended up taking on did have a lot in common.” After flipping her braid, she let her tone grow more serious. “Sorry, but we don’t know where, when, or how the procedure originated, except that it began with the government. Its existence isn’t the best-kept secret, but it’s harshly criminalized. Only the police and military are exempt. It's for the strong, to make them even stronger.” She jokingly flexed her arm and smirked. “Even if it isn’t much of a secret to you guys, I’m still spilling the beans here, so don’t sell me out, ‘kay?”

By that time Raiden had presented his red-bladed sword. He offered a description too vague for those present, who lacked detailed information on the PMC, to identify as one of Desporhado’s seldom-glimpsed elites. After that, though, Raiden offered a little of what he knew alongside his express condemnation, but his thoughts did not seem to make any waves among those present.

“Looking at it from a different perspective,” Jessica observed. “Thanks to the Ever Crisis, Midgar is already embroiled in a constant and bitter war. If what you say is true, maybe Desporhado already has exactly what it wants.”

Raiden proceeded to put forward a suggestion, but what began as a proposition quickly turned into both an announcement and a threat. All eyes fell on Raiden; Giovanna in particular straightened up in her chair, her face stony, and beneath her Rei perked up in response. It was Goldlewis, however, that spoke first.

“Ya better watch your tone, son,” he told the cyborg, rising to his feet with his hands planted on the table. “Ya wouldn’t want anyone gettin’ cross with ya now, do ya? ‘Fore we go any further, lemme tell ya one thing. We’re all on the same team here, ‘cause we share the same goal. That means everyone’s wellbein’ is priority number one. It’d be a shame if any damn fools ran off an’ got ‘emselves killed, but the real problem is gettin’ caught. Just by sittin’ at this here table, ya already done seen an’ heard more than enough to put the lives of everyone here in jeopardy if ya went off alone an’ ran your mouth, or got caught by the G-men. That ain’t a chance I wanna take. So unless you plan on raisin’ hell, I reckon ya got another think comin’.”

Goldlewis took a deep breath and sat back down with a stormy look on his face. Once Raiden better understood the situation he now found himself in, the group discussion could continue. The Twilight Princess went on to share her thoughts on the new information she received. Doing so gave the others a chance to come to their own conclusions as well; even if massive pieces of the puzzle remained missing, a lot of new information was already in play. Her first proposition was to enlist the help of Avalanche, which had both its pros and its cons.

“Not the worst pick,” Giovanna conceded, her guard lowering again bit by bit. “Being in a tight spot nowadays, they’d have a tough time turning down whatever help they can get. Operations with them might stay under the radar enough to escape the government’s notice, too. But because they’re a small group, we might not get much from a partnership. Low risk isn’t worth lower reward.” She cracked a slight smile once she heard Geralt’s opinions on the Hermits. “Right you are. They say the Hermits have the black market cornered wherever they can be found.”

Next, Midna suggested enrollment in Neuron. Jessica adjusted her glasses as she thought about it. “That option crossed our minds as well, although Giovanna and Goldlewis are too well-known. You might be able to join them, however. No psionic abilities needed; Neuron officers are mostly just well-armed policemen. Those spotted fighting Chimeras are just the cream of the crop.”

“It’s worth noting that I did say ‘naked’ eye earlier,” N added. “Other methods of extrasensory perception are able to sense Chimeras too, to some degree. Those with Clairvoyance excel at it, for instance, but most psionics can get a bead on them. Neuron is simply specialized for it.” He nodded at Geralt. “That method of yours might be worth a try. And psychic power is by no means a requirement when it comes to fighting Others.”

Lastly, Midna put forth the idea of creating an official cohort of the Seekers’ own to rival those in Midgar. Goldlewis nodded. “It’s a good idea in theory. Goin’ legit. Strength is somethin’ everyone respects, and you can get real popular by playin’ the press. Buildin’ up renown an’ influence in Midgar, ‘specially by fightin’ the enemy, will do a lot for ya. Thing is…well, it’ll be tough as hell. Takes a whole mountain of time, patience, and money to even get through the bureaucracy it takes to get started, and if you ain’t official you’d be lucky if ya didn’t get branded as terrorists yourselves.” He shrugged, leaned back, and crossed his arms. “But hey, if ya still wanna go your own way, this here Sector ain’t a bad one to start in.”

“That remind me!” Tora piped up. “Sector this, Midgar that. Tora not understand. Where even are we right now? Tora need see big picture for moment!”

Jessica laughed through her nose. “Right, I suppose we glossed over that. Here.” She put up an interactable display of Midgar on the laptop. “I’ll give you all the short version. Midgar is divided into eight sectors. Each one includes both the plate, the upper section, and the lower section, the slums. That makes sixteen distinct city districts, each one with their own…flavor, let’s say.” She proceeded to skim through them one by one.

“Sector 1 is the most fantastical one. The only place in all of Midgar you’ll find magic and magitech. It’s the farthest from the Valley of Ruin and is a different beast compared to the rest of Midgar. Piltover up top is a center for invention and art, while Zaun down below is a polluted alchemical mess.”

“Sector 2 is the quirky one. Spacious but hard to traverse. Hekseville is the city’s aeronautics and space center, a haven for sophisticates and geniuses practically floating in the sky itself, while Lei Legona hangs beneath the plate, the squalid and dangerous Houseboat Fleet.”

“Sector 3 is the home of the brain. In most of Midgar the psycho-sensitive population is around forty to fifty percent, that jumps up to ninety-nine-point-nine percent in this sector. It’s also called Vision Town thanks to the psychic projections that completely blanket it; it’s a completely different world from what ‘duds’ like us see.” Jessica said that word with an ever-so-slight edge. “The Plate is called Suoh. The Otherlobe is there, and Suoh Tower, the source of Psynet. Beneath is Seiran. A waterbound array of skyscrapers all the way up to the plate, it’s seen as ‘holding up’ Suoh.”

“Sector 4 is computer central. Right next to the sector of psychotechnology is the sector of cybernetics and digital media. It’s regarded as the best Sector for the rich, even in Night City, which is the lower portion, but also the worst for the poor, even up above in Veles. Neuron has their hands full.”

“Sector 5 is wildly different. Its lower section, Paris is a colossal heap, ranging from the decrepit tunnels of Deep-Paris all the way up to the grasping towers of Neo-Paris, just below the plate. I forgot to mention it earlier, but that’s where the Errorists are. A radical group against psychic technology. The plate itself is the City of Glass, a beautiful but dangerous surveillance state.” Jessica glanced around. “I mean, there are camera clusters everywhere in the city, and they can all record sound, but it’s the worst in the City of Glass, where the rich and powerful lord over even other plates in their sparkling skyscrapers.”

“Ahem, anyway. Sector 6 is the major commercial district. On top you’ve got the Megafloat with its Golden Saucer, rising up from a gigantic network of markets and malls. Down below is Casino Night, home of gambling and the infamous Wall Market, where you can get or do just about whatever you want for the right price.”

“Sector 7 is where we are. It’s pretty normal, all things considered. More open skies, less weird stuff going on, about as quiet as Sector 2. The plate is simply the District, with lots of residential zoning, and underneath we just have the Slums, with many junkyards and salvage operations.”

“Finally, Sector 8 is a jam-packed urban sector. The plate, Inkopolis, is up there with Suoh in terms of trendiness and approachability. It’s the sports hub, and where most of the city’s nonhumans live. Down below is Detroit, a bustling industrial zone of metal and machines with Desporhado’s Bunker in the middle of it all.”

While Jessica gave her voice a rest, Giovanna answered the Witcher’s last question as best she could. “I’m afraid I don’t know anyone matching that description, but I’ll make sure Bridges knows to keep an eye out for your daughter, mister. They say anything can be found in Midgar, so…hopefully that applies to this Ciri, as well.”

By that time, Poppi had thought of her questions. “Excuse me. Can you tell us more about the Septentrions? Including their names, if you know them.” she asked.

“They are the seven most powerful members of Psych-OSF,” N replied. He glanced at Raz. “You said something earlier that I missed replying to, right? This might answer your question. While Chief Zanotto is in charge, the Septentrions are the public face of the organization, and for many, the Midgar war effort itself. Each commands a platoon of five that stand out over the rank-and-file psy-ops and p-types. Though they don’t all care about the limelight, they’re as much celebrities as they are soldiers, more popular and respected than most politicians, so we do know their names. Major General Karen Travers and Major General Fubuki Spring stand at the top, and the others are Colonel Sasha Nein, Colonel Camilla Vodello, Captain Seto Narukami, Captain Morceau Oleander, and Captain Kyoka Eden.”

No names rang a bell for Poppi, but she did not regret asking, and it sounded like Raz might know a thing or two. “You mentioned sky rails as means to get around,” she said to M. “Is that a form of train?”

“No, no.” If he weren’t such a stoic, the doctor might have chuckled at the misunderstanding. “They are literally metal rails that wind through the sky, connecting buildings and even plates. ‘Sky-line’ is probably the better term. People can use sky-hooks to ride them via magnetism, or grind along the top. They were intended for freight rather than people and are risky, but they’re also free and hard to monitor, barring the odd gang stirring up trouble. As such, they’re also rarer in higher-class areas.”

“What about other means of transportation?” Poppi added.

M put his hands in his pocket. “There are actual trains, as well as countless roads and a large highway network. The trains mostly run between the two levels, carrying workers back and forth. If you want to use public transportation, you’ll need these.” He held up a hand to reveal a sleek wristband. “GridLinks. The government likes people to stay where they belong, so traffic between plates -and especially between levels- is observed and tracked. ‘Links are just fancy IDs, although they include financial standing and a few other choice details. They’re easy to falsify, at least, if you know the right people. But it might be for the best if you got your own cars. The two cars we have in the parking garage next door won’t cut it, even if they weren’t registered to us.”

“And…” Poppi offered her third question. “Since you’re the experts in Midgar, what would you recommend we do?”

As she expected, it wasn’t something that Goldlewis and the others failed to consider. The Secretary of Absolute Defense replied after a moment. “Well, I think Ms. Midna and Raz both brought up good points. If the Guardian’s really here, as the lady in black implied, it ain’t much of a stretch to assume that it’s connected to the Ever Crisis. Might even be the ‘source’ she mentioned. That means in order to get to the bottom of it all without the Administration breathin’ down yer necks all the damn time, the best thing to do would be to join the fight, either with Neuron or the ‘OSF. Strut yer stuff and climb up the ranks, the more public the better. Get in close with the people on the front lines and see what y’all can hear, both about the Ever Crisis and the government. Maybe even turn ‘em to your side. All without stirrin’ up trouble and gettin’ targeted by the government.”

“Jeez, you make it sound easy,” Giovanna laughed. She then addressed the Seekers as well. “You came at a good time. We’re in an election cycle, and the vote’s in just a couple weeks. The big debate’s tomorrow night, and you won’t want to miss it. You’ll be able to get an idea of who’s running things around here, and who might be if the people lean their way.”

“Excuse me.” Quiet for most of the proceedings so far, Peach finally thought of something to ask. “You mentioned forecasting in order to predict Other attacks. What’s the weather like today?”

N pursued his lips as he crossed his arms. “Hmm. Last I checked…cloudy. Scattered showers possible over Sectors 2 and 3 into the evening. The Scarlet Guardians are on patrol.”

Blazermate listened to the questions her friends asked. She really was let down with the fact that no one knew what happened to Japan, or if they even know of any medabots here. It was a big city, so it made sense that they probably didn't know, but still, it was quite the let down. Still, with everyone asking their own questions and getting their replies, discussion who they should go with and everything, Blazermate got to thinking about what she wanted to do and where she wanted to go, but she really wasn't sure.

Susie however had gotten enough information to make her own decision, which ended up being a mix of the various ideas thrown around. Deciding to introduce herself, she gave a polite cough to catch everyone's attention before saying. "I am Susana Haltman, but you can call me Susie. I run my own business called the Haltman Works Company. We use the power of science to make wondrous products, robots, harvest planets, and grant wishes. Unfortunately certain sectors of the company are experiencing complications so production is limited. Still, I'm sure those of the city would appreciate the things currently on offer." Susie said, showing the group her blaster. She would show them her business suit, but the room was a bit too small for that. She then began discussing her own plans.

"If it wasn't for the fact that I suspect that Shinra is involved with the guardian of the zone or those that hide it, I would recommend we skip all of this pretense dealing with these factions and just join and climb the Shinra ladder, do some corporate espionage, and take over the entire city that way. But seeing as that is not an option..." Susie said, thinking. A few various ideas could be heard coming from the pink robot, her mumbling "I could open a branch office for the Haltman Works Company here, but selling resources or robots would be difficult without access to the Access Ark. And if I had that, I could just compete directly with Shinra and push them out of town. Its not like their tiny mako reactors could compete with entire solar systems worth of materials..."

After thinking to herself for a bit more, Susie decided on an idea. "You said this Despirado group had various amounts of robotics and cybernetics? Perhaps I could use some of the tech developed at my company to amplify their power and have us situated at the group that allowed Despirado to eliminate a threat of the city? I can operate on a small scale, at least." Susie said, finishing with a smile on her face. Susie then shrugged. "Otherwise getting contacts in with the Hermits doesn't seem so bad. Perhaps it would be a way to get a proper corporation going in this sector like Midna suggested. I could handle all that paperwork without issue and they could supply us tech to sell. I'm sure they would like a public face to work through."

Blazermate wasn't as gung ho about all of this as Susie was, but she did think of something to input, although it wasn't all that much. "HI I'm Blazermate and uh... I don't really care who we side with. I'm still bummed that Japan is gone..." Blazermate said with a sad expression on her face. Trying to get herself over it though, she slapped both of her cheeks before continuing with a more determined look. "These 'others' seem like they are zombies. Are they zombies or undead, or some kind of alien thing? If they are zombie like, my arm part here can control them. Turning an entire Ever Crisis faction into an ally would be super cool. It'd also make us the biggest bots on the block if we just swooped in and took an entire faction out overnight." Blazermate then thought about her time in the Dead Zone and shook her head. "But I doubt it'd be that easy. I haven't seen much in the way of zombies that I didn't create myself with the Dead Zone getting nuked..."

Having taken the wind out of her own sails, Blazermate then continued, a little bit defeated. "But yeah, power wise I can control and make undead with this shield part of mine. My other arm can heal people or other robots, make them invincible, make their damage super effective, and other medic stuff. I'm also super perceptive and can see enemy and ally health and weakspots, summon a guy who has a super powerful gun and teleporters, and can put up a really damaging energy shield that blocks a lot of things."

Blazermate than sighed, saying. "If i had to pick a faction, I'd say the psy ops people just because I wanna see if this arm can control the Others. Otherwise I don't really care. I would like to see the robots you were talking about though and see if there are any medabots there." Blazermate then paused, thinking about it, and said. "Wait, that machine faction doesn't have any robots that kinda look like me right? Colorful parts, a head like mine, maybe a hatch on their back? Man, I hope we don't run into a God Emperor. Those guys are nasty."

Regarding her with nary a sideways glance, Benedict took a long look out towards the cityscape below his pensive expression reflecting back at him through the glass. He didn't get the sense Peach was deceiving him, although her explanation did parse on being a bit fanciful for the likes of a man such as Benedict.

"Needless to say I consider it enough that I am not dead, though the sentiment is appreciated." the Turk turned his head slightly, expression unchanged as he pressed his spectacles to the bridge of his nose "However noble you or your groups intentions are, I find this idea of a being lording over this world a bit farfetched." perhaps this being was real, perhaps there were these Guardians and maybe there was a better explanation for the world being so different and if he could see the evidence the Turk would give the idea some credence.

The one called Geralt added to what his colleague said about righting the world, while that was all well and good it didn't exactly matter as much as getting the life he once had back. He had a promise to keep, or rather the one he had failed to keep up to this point. Benedict's brows knitted together and a frown crept upon his face "Perhaps you are right," with a deep breath he sighed, turning away from the window to face the Witcher "If that is the case then the position I hold here is meaningless." glancing once more out the window the Turk sounded almost melancholy but it was impossible to tell by the monotone of his voice, remaining quiet for the remainder of the meeting until Geralt mentioned something the struck a chord with him.

Benedict had a child, one he raised since the Saltiron War ended but this child was not his by birth. Her parents and clan were killed by the very house Benedict served, she was hid in a cave but a crying babe. He couldn't allow the child to die, and took her in. Raised her as his own. She was his reminder of regrettable act, one he never told her about but she always suspected. The Turk didn't doubt if she or anyone else were here they would not hesitate to help the Seekers, so maybe Benedict should.

"My field of expertise relies upon my skill as a strategist, and my wits." he said nodding as he finally came to a decision "Perhaps it is in my best interest to aid you and your group," it was better than returning to the facade of his life in Midgar, and if he could help them accomplish their task he would if it brought him closer to finding the rest of House Wolffort "I as a member of this cities security, do have some pull here as one might say." he could get in to contact with the local officials, gather intelligence and maybe useful resources if need be "Allow me to properly introduce myself. Benedict Pascal of Midgar's Public Security Division." the old Turk gave the Seekers a slight bend of his back, less than a bow but still a proper acknowledgement.

Raz's heart swelled hearing those familiar names listed off to him. Some of them he didn't recognize, but it seems that most of the people in charge of Psych-OSF were fellow Psychonauts! Sasha, Milla, Coach, even Zanotto. Ford wasn't one of the names, though since Raz had a direct line to him it wouldn't be hard to find wherever he's at. But if Truman was here, then maybe...

"If we need to get in with one of the organizations, we're totally covered," Raz said to the group. "The Psych-OSF! It's practically being run by the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, I can definitely have everyone join up! In theory, at least." He gestured to the team at large, maybe a bit too large for a batch of new recruits. "Even if we decide to do something else, I... I really need to go to the Mother- sorry, Otherlobe. To make sure everyone's okay..." Raz rubbed his arm and looked to the floor. The fears and anxieties started to bubble up again. It wasn't like he doubted everyone could take care of themselves - he'd read enough Psychic Tales to know that the Psychonauts could handle anything thrown their way - but emotion always got in the way of logical thought. You didn't have to be a mind-reader to know that.

Raz tried to shake the thoughts off. "Plus, we also have a third option: the Midgar government itself. We do have a high-ranking member of their 'Public Security Division', after all. He might put in a good word for some of us to come onboard."

With Benedict as a focus of the conversation now, Raz walked over to the old strategist, looking up with a mix of apprehension and sheepishness. "That is, if you're willing to join us, the Seekers. I'm still pretty new to the team, and I don't really have a lot of authority here or anything, but it is a pretty dangerous job, hunting down these Guardians and freeing the world again. Not to say you couldn't hold your own. My ribs are still bruised from that kick you gave me earlier." Raz rubbed his chest, though he gave a little smile to show it was (mostly) a ribbing.

Pun intended.

"Speaking of which, I think we got off on the wrong foot back then," Raz continued, the pun this time unintended. "Galeem seems to make people act super aggressively, more than they usually are, so back on the trucks you weren't really yourself. No hard feelings from me at least." He offered Benedict a gloved hand, held up for a shake, and smiled wide. "I'm Razputin Aquato. Nice to meet you for real!"

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"That is my secret, Primrose," Rubick said as he turned to her and winked, placing a finger on his mask where his mouth would be. "I'm always expecting trouble." After the Koopa Troop arrived, Rubick was content to let them lead the way. There was plenty of webbing in the path ahead, and he did not want to deal with the hassle of removing it from his robes. Instead, he diverted his focus to observing his surroundings, heightening his senses in an effort to detect any changes. He had previously faced a large spider during the Defense of the Ancients, and the surrounding webbing only brought back unpleasant memories of being chased down by Broodmother and her baby spiderlings. Rubick was quick to notice the slight but steady rise in volume in the ambient audio, and pointed out, "Is it getting louder?"

His worry was quickly justified as the group was set upon by a giant spider and a large cluster of smaller but still terrifyingly large spiders. Rubick would've been the first to run, but with the skittering noise coming from all directions and the group holding their position, he wasn't going anywhere yet. Unlike the others, Rubick held his fire. Without knowing specifically where to aim as well as the lack of a proper aoe ability, Rubick was a sitting duck at this point. However, the Koopa Troop managed to regain their composure and began using more effective attacks on the surrounding enemies. Rubick used his Power Steal on Bowser, copying the ability to unleash that sonic blast, but decided not to use it himself just yet. For now, it seemed the group had it handled, but Rubick would be ready to respond to whatever the spiders decided to throw at them.

The Keyblade Wielder's shoulders slumped ever-so-slightly. This wasn't exactly the answer he was hoping for on either front. It sounded like the bus driver wouldn't be jailed for long, but would still get put through a pretty bad experience anyway. And his question about the coat was given an even less satisfying answer. It sounded like an Organization Member had indeed been here to Midgar, but not one that Roxas knew. And no leads at all on the Master of Masters or any of his friends. Those were all long shots, he knew that, but he still couldn't stop the feeling of disappointment, "Zato, huh? Right... thanks." he tried his best, but Roxas didn't exactly have a good poker face for hiding his disappointment. Still, if the Organization had been here, that meant he was at least still on their trail... even if it was cold.

He just sort of slipped into the background as everyone else started asking their questions. All this talk about Sectors and Factions and Politics, most of it flew right over his head. He just wasn't used to this sort of thing in the slightest. In his experience most problems could be solved by simply wielding one's Keyblade and never losing sight of the Light. But this was going to be a lot more complicated than that, and Roxas even began to wonder just how much good he would be here. Throw him against Heartless, Nobodies, or any denizen of the Darkness, and he would thrive. Here? Not so much.

In fact it was all so much to take in that he felt an overwhelming urge to get out of the room. All the questions and talk of what to do was making him unable to hear himself think. And so he found himself slipping out of the discussion and returning outside to the helipad that they had entered from. He went to the edge of the roof and sat down, letting his legs dangle over the edge. It wasn't the Clock Tower, but at least he could hear himself think at last.

"Jeez, Roxas... what did you go and get yourself into?" It was only now that basically everything he'd been learning was beginning to sink in. And the more it did the more he felt like he was in over his head. Freeing people from Galeem and defeating Guardians in order to weaken him sounded simple enough. But doing so while trying to make sense of this mess of a world he created? Easier said than done. And then there was all the confusing politics of this city to sift through before they could even have a chance of finding a Guardian.

"And who the heck is this Zato person, anyway?" Even Organization XIII - the one thing he was supposed to understand better than anything else - was riddled with questions that he had no answers for. Everyone else on that team still understood their elements very well. Whether it was Raiden recognizing and explaining Desperado or Raz being able to identify half the leaders of the Psych-OSF. And here Roxas was, the one who was supposed to be their expert on Organization XIII, unable to actually explain anything of value to them about the Organization XIII they'd been encountering because of how different it was from the one he remembered.

"Some help I turned out to be." said Roxas, effectively talking to himself at this point. "What a joke." Between getting ambushed in Nyakuza Metro and getting an innocent bystander arrested, he wasn't feeling like he'd been of much help to the Seekers at all. And on top of all that, there was this inescapable feeling he had. That despite being surrounded by these teammates, he still felt... alone, somehow.

Midna sat back and listened for a while after giving her suggestions, giving a nod of agreement/approval to Geralt when he found a use for the hermits she’d missed.

Then came a fresh deluge of info for her to take in:

They got a rundown of all the areas that made up Midgar which was interesting mostly academically at the moment in Midna’s estimation, though she both made a mental note to get an actual map of the place as she commented ”Looks like Galeem had fun stitching this place together, assuming each and every one of those was a city in and of itself … and assuming it even has a concept of fun”

They also learned that getting around it might prove tricky, both due to how big the place was, and with how travel was restricted by the regime. She had a small thing to offer on that front of course: ”Between the two bikes .. that we have left … and the warthog, we can move something between 5 and eh let’s say 8 people vehicle wise. So not enough, but it’s a start. Though, will them not being ‘registered’ to anyone cause a problem?”

Next up, fusion. It was already here, and that was concerning. Had they been told, and if so, by whom, she had to wonder. Or was it simply that, in a city of innumerable souls, it was inevitable that someone would try to do something with the spirits of the fallen, even if just to see what would happen? The latter might be more likely, but it would likely be wise to investigate the former on the side, if they got the chance.

”I suppose, if I were in charge, it’s not exactly something I’d want to encourage. The risks of mental instability and potential to encourage murderous behavior are both… something that would need managed” she had to admit, though she wasn’t sure if she, as princess, would outlaw like Midgar had, but it seemed like a thing that would need regulating. That said, they were in charge, not her, and as such, her present existence was in and of itself a crime.

”So, how harsh are the punishments, how rigidly enforced is the law and how good are they at spotting fusions? Because, well, I have a fair few” the veritable chimera of a woman asked ”and it’d be good to know how low a profile I need to keep as a result”

As for her own ideas, well, they got lightly let down. Avalanche weren't much of a force in the city, so not much use taking them on. Other than poaching their best, she still thought that might be a good idea, depending on what their ranks were like, powerful individual wise.

It also looked like you did need some kind of innate ability to detect the Chimeras, so at least for her, that was a no starter. Though maybe they could get some of the others into that group, such as Geralt.

As for making their own mercenary company? Well, while Susie seemed like she would be a boon if they went that way, it also seemed like it would be a pain in the neck to go through even just the application process. Given that there were now forces directly arrayed against them, they didn’t really have time to sit about waiting for whatever gargantuan bureaucracy needed to run this place to do its thing.

As for the bot’s other ideas, well, ”I’m not sure if giving Despirado more power is the best idea, given that they seem to be bad news. The state the city is in now might be exactly what they want, eternal war wise, but if we solve the crisis, then, well, it sounds like they’ll not be happy about that. Unless you think you can do some kind of successful double-cross if they try something I guess?”

”I’ll be honest, incredibly powerful companies are not something I’m used to dealing with. Lords, ladies, kings and princesses, sure, but a company that can control a city housing nations worth of people? absurd” she had to admit ”But if you think you can come up with a way to get deep into them or Shinra quickly, then go for it. Just keep in mind that we have an enemy that is actively working against us now, so we need to act quickly, before they find us, and initiate whatever their next ploy is”

That was really the rub of it. The clock was ticking till the next Consul action, and they needed to act swiftly and decisively. It was in that mindset that Midna was thinking when two things slotted neatly into place together: Raz’s history with some of Psych-OSF’s Scarlet Guardians, and the answer to Peach’s question about the weather.

She bit her lip, ran it though her mind, then grinned and stood up to make her second attempt at a proposal:

”So. New suggestion. If you” Midna indicated at Raz ”Know the people in OSF, and where part of what it got cobbled together out of then we, or at least you, have a real good in there. Skillset wise, and post freeing them wise” she wasn’t saying anything new here, of course, but she did have something to add.

”Now we could try having you apply, but that would have you on your own, and it would probably take forever to climb up the ranks and the rest of us don’t exactly fit in with their whole psychic fighters deal. So. instead. We salvage my whole making a name for ourselves plan vs the robots, and instead go take a walk in the rain and go make a splash”

”Put together our own team of five and see if we can inject ourselves into the limelight right away with some daring heroics. I can already hear the town criers calling out the tale to the people: ‘Mysterious travelers from a far off land have heard the people’s cries, and have come to save the city!’” she put on some airs while giving her predictive announcements, before having the grace to look a little embarrassed about the corniness of it before she cleared her throat and added ”or, something like that”

Then she shrugged and admitted ”I mean it might not work the way I’m envisioning it, could be they’ll just get annoyed at us intruding. But we need to get an idea of what we’re up against sooner or later… and it’ll mean Sakura gets to punch something instead of sitting around kicking her heels”

Then, after a few moments she added one last thing: ”Also, you know, us getting out there will most likely save some lives” not doing so as an afterthought to her other points, but because it was a forest she thought they might need focused back on, as it was one that it was all to easy to lose sight of while scheming about the particulars of what to do about all the individual trees.

"Looks like we all made it back," Wonder Red noted as he joined his compatriots back at their meeting place. "And it's a pleasure to meet you, Detective Lucia Morgan!" Even though he greeted her with his usual forward semi-friendly demeanor, he side-eyed Big Band, which was hard to tell from beneath his mask, though the detective's instincts might have picked up on it in the long-enough pause that followed. "You can call me Wonder Red."

He wasn't keen on the idea of recruiting civilians into their cause, whether or not they wanted to. They couldn't divulge their true goals to those still under Galeem's influence. Wonder Red saw it as taking advantage of their state of mind, unable to truly consent to what they were getting into. Not to mention the method by which they were awakened. To put it simply, it rubbed him the wrong way, but for the time being he bit his tongue and trusted Big Band's judgment.

When time came to share information, Wonder Red cleared his throat. "I've managed to glean some information from local bar patrons, though nothing conclusive. In terms of ways to leave the island that this city is built on, there are canals that lead out into the ocean, with scheduled ferry rides to the mainland. For a faster exit, there was less info. It seems not many people within the city leaves it to explore the surroundings, although there was talk of airships out in the forest we might be able to find.

"And I'm sure that you've found this out through Detective Lucia Morgan and other police members, but I've also heard stories of the dead coming to life at night. Regardless of if it's a usual occurrence for the city, I think we should look into it. It may lead to..." He looked at Lucia. "...finding out more of our goals." Very inconspicuous behavior in front of a police officer.

"Oh, and one other thing." Wonder Red scratched the back of his neck and looked to the side, avoiding eye contact. "When we decide to leave, we might, uhm, have an extra traveling companion. The elderly turtle that offered me this information has been looking for a way to warmer climates, and, well, I possibly offered for him to come with us." He chuckled nervously. "He shouldn't be much trouble. So long as you can listen to his stories..."

Naturally, deciding to stay meant needing something to do with their time. Despite being fresh off a scuffle that got them separated entirely from the rest of their group, none of them were content to laze the daytime away, and took up Lucia's offer to hunt for a quick job. "Oh, demolition. That would prove to be--" Wonder Red began before the excitement of the Spheal show overtook the group. "R-right. Spheals. That's also doable."

Helping run an animal show didn't seem like the best use of their time, but they had plenty to kill, so Red didn't fight against the decision.

When they arrived at the place the board had indicated, Wonder Red lagged slightly behind Ace and Big Band approaching the group. He was never... great with animals. Children could understand, learn, communicate, but animals he had a harder time connecting with. Luckily it seemed the self-proclaimed monster hunter was more than up for the task of handling the Spheals. As well, their choice of job had them meeting with another person freed from Galeem. What a funny coincidence.

"Hello, Frisk, I'm Wonder Red. Seems you've been doing well for yourself out here." He took note of the "sentient orb of pestilence" Frisk had with her. "Is your, uh, friend there, missing a body? There might be something we can do to help."

It wasn't long after meeting each other that the Spheal show was starting. Big Band, Lucia, and himself spent the time before investigating around the fountain area in case any poacher lay in wait, but with the coast clear and the Spheal show beginning, it was time to take Big Band up on his offer. "Yes, over here, Detective," he said to Lucia, leading her a bit out of the way from the show. Hopefully she didn't get too suspicious when he lead her down a quieter, empty side road. When he was certain the coast was clear, he spun on his heel and leapt up, high enough to sock Lucia right in the face - an attack from both sides with Big Band!

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---

The Cyborg grit his teeth, not in anger, but more in frustration with the situation. Goldlewis was right. He was at no terms to snap so bitterly at those who have made themselves allies. He rested back in his chair, breathed, and returned to the situation with a calm mind. "You're right. I shouldn't have said that. I hope you understand my concern hearing that name. They caused more than just business trouble in my home. Desperado, allies with Midgar or not, have a terrible history they won't show to the public, and I do think it'd be worth our time to investigate them ASAP." Raiden's hostility had just as quickly faded as quickly as it rose in the situation. Things were tense as is.

Raiden then pedaled back to his question regarding the operatives of Desperado as his suspicions confirmed true. Many of the Desperado VIPs were not only alive but were spirit fused to one another. The idea was foreign to the mercenary, however, he recalls the Seeker Joker doing something similar with the Guardian of the Sandswept Skies, but besides that his knowledge was limited to what was shared in conversation. Great... can't imagine how many screws they have loose... The cyborg thought to himself. He had his suspicion that Jetstream Sam was the host body, but he kept his comments to himself to avoid any more controversy.

It was the small robotic woman with pink hair, Susie, who gained Raiden's interest next. She posed a decent idea to join the ranks of Desperado in order to offer her assistance fighting the machines. He tagged on to Midna's opinion with his personal experience with the organization with a cross of his arms. "Desperado is a private military. If you wanna infiltrate their ranks in order to help with the machine situation, you're gonna have to either impress them or have an in of some kind, like an inside source or someone to advocate for you on the inside, and seeing as so little is known about this world's Desperado, that leaves you with very few options."

Many others had taken the liberty to introduce themselves to the new group, however many of the faces were familiar. "Raiden. I work for Maverick Security, though that name is probably foreign to you. Let's just say I'm a bodyguard." His secretiveness towards those native to Midgar was intentionally placed, as he hoped to later gain their trust to help his allies with the next guardian. Maybe he could even find Tora now that they had a moment of planning to discuss the mounted blades he purchased from the Gerudo Desert stalls.

He took a moment to assess his position helping the new team and where he'd be of best help. "I have a long history fighting lots of different groups, but I'd probably be best assisting one of the groups that deals with rebels or machines. I'm not one for fighting for the government, but if Midgar is in danger, I'm willing to help in any way possible." He took a brief moment of consideration. "Even if that means assisting Desperado at the end of it. As for the debate tomorrow, I think that it'd be important to use that as an opportunity to collect intel. Who knows, it might even give us a lead on where the hell we need to find the next Guardian."

The conversation began to come to a close as the princess named Peach asked about how the weather predicted attacks from the group of monsters named the "Others". Raiden was not familiar at all with their origins but was interested nonetheless. Perhaps he had something to gain in asking... "The Scarlet Guardians deal with Psychic abilities. That's lingo I know, though I must admit I may not be of help to their struggle if their only recruitment is specializing in mind-fuckery. Kinda shows the difficulty the Others would pose to those who can't keep their distance." Raiden tapered off the conversation after his spoken comments and then finally voiced his own opinion. "Personally, I think dealing with the hermits in a diplomatic way could save us some efforts and gain us some valuable allies. Maybe they'd be open to negotiating with outsiders. Either that or maybe Desperado has plans with the machines attacking we should find out about, whether that be a weapon of some kind or even as simple as a 'shortcut'. Don't get me wrong, the last thing I want to do is help Desperado, but if that's what it takes to get people some fresh-sliced justice, then to hell with it."

---

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Though she was getting used to all of the new technology of the world, Primrose couldn't begin to really understand how they worked. Even so, she didn't think that those little aircraft that Rika sent out were supposed to... be doing that. It was confirmed by Rika herself mentioning that they were acting weird. It looked almost like they were fish caught in a net and trying to pull their way out of it. The sight of it didn't do anything to quell the general feeling of unease, but at least the Makami and the motes had no such troubles.

The reason became apparent when Bowser Jr. coated one of the planes and it's immediate area in paint, showing the crisscrossing webs that were holding the device in it's sticky grasp.

Oh dear, Primrose thought, her calm expression tightening. With the fog and the color drain, it would make seeing these webs completely impossible if not for the child's quick thinking. The possibility that the entire forest around them was coated in these webs seemed much too likely for Primrose's liking. She wasn't afraid of spiders really, though she did find them unpleasant - but she could imagine the size and, given that ever present noise in the trees, number of spiders that created these webs. Getting caught in one alone would spell disaster. She was all too glad that Rubick and the Koopa Troop had followed her in.

They continued in, spurred by the arrow of Kamek's motes. With the knowledge that they were surrounded by spider webs came the fact that they were surrounded by spiders, which would have been apparent even if they weren't seeing their fleeting forms from the corner of their eyes. It was unnerving, knowing they were being watched. Stalked, even, as surely the arachnids were just waiting for one of them to slip up, take one wrong step and become an easy catch tangled in a web.

To prevent that from happening, Primrose stuck close behind the Koopas - the prince leading the way with his paintbrush. Somewhere along the line the dancer had dismissed her pyromancy, but she remained tense and ready to bring it back up should the need arise. It had been doing little to help light their path anyway, so instead she focused on keeping an eye out for any opportunistic monsters.

They came upon a dark hotel, and the sight of it was so absurd that Primrose couldn't keep a small smile from her face in spite of the tension. What patrons would they find here in this dismal forest? More than likely it had long been taken over by nature. There was little time to investigate it, because soon after spotting the building a howl pierced the air.

Makami! The Striker faded after it let loose it's howl, signalling the arrival of a truly huge spider. It was silhouetted in shadow, but the segments of it's spiny legs were easy enough to see. It inspired a feeling of disgust in Primrose, and a primal fear began to make itself known to her. With spiders skittering everywhere around them, even above, and the most massive one right in front of them, the reaction of the other Seekers was understandable if they were feeling the same things as her.

That the large spider seemed capable of some kind of primitive speech didn't make it any less horrifying. Much too late to do anything else but stay and fight or run now that the open fire began, Primrose chose to stay. The Peacock Strut was performed, increasing her allies' magical and elemental attacks. In her hands the flame of pyromancy shined white, but for now it only added a theatrical element to her dance moves as she buffed the party.

---

The spirits hadn't given him a feline's love for rubbing up against others, so Therion leaned away from Ms. Fortune's nudge. He did agree that one or both of them would have found a treasure chest-shaped entrance though, and it was there that the group headed after taking care of of some gruz flies - a throwing knife making quick work of a couple of the newborns that were smart enough to stay out of range of Nadia's 'fencing.'

So the group continued, separate from their comrades higher up. Moving on without at least giving them some sort of heads up might be poor manners, but whatever. Primrose and the others knew where they were headed. One of them probably had enough money to buy their own map as well. Therion wasn't under any illusion that finding any of the masks would be quick, but maybe if the others lucked out they'd meet up again with two out of the three.

The path that this group was currently taking became mining tunnels after only a short walk - and there were even workers cracking at the stone way down here. Compared to the miners at the mouth of the chasm, these were twisted wretches. Probably haven't seen the sun in Gods know how long, Therion thought. Fortunately the men down here, if they could be called that, were also just as oblivious to their hard work being plucked out of the baskets on their back. For now the thief didn't press his luck, only snatching one or two things. He didn't know what they were exactly, but if they were valuable enough to mine they were valuable enough for him.

As the group continued in, their forward scout (that being the eager Ms. Fortune) drew the attention of the mine attendants, whatever they were. As she engaged the centipede-looking thing, Therion took that as his cue to make himself scarce. There were plenty of shadows to duck into, and he did just that. It occurred to him that he should exchange the orange poncho for a darker color as he darted from cover to cover. Before he could get a good angle on the battle it was already over, with Ms. Fortune retreating into the shack. He couldn't really blame her, but she left them with two kindred to deal with.

Sectonia took over, and though it looks like she was going to finish them off she only managed to defeat one before she too retreated. Really? Therion thought. For all her bragging, she sure didn't put in the work when she didn't feel like it. Following the ladies' example Therion slipped into the shack while the kindred of rot were distracted, entering the chest and landing in the Basement.

"..." The room was basically featureless, and a cursory look into the jars confirmed there was nothing in them. There was a pervasive, rotten odor about the area that had Therion bring his shawl up to cover his nose, face scrunched. It would take a while to get used to that, not that he wanted to. To the East and West were monsters of some kind, though they didn't seems to notice as the Seekers filed in one by one. The only other thing of interest was the locked door, and Therion couldn't help but throw a smirk Ms. Fortune's way.

"If you think we'll need a key, I'll have to teach you a thing or two about being a thief."

He went over to the locked door, pulling his picking tools out as he went. Seconds went by as he finagled the keyhole, and then with a soft click the door slid open. Though he didn't look back at the other Seekers, Therion flourished his hands as though to say voilà.

Unfortunately there was not a mask inside. In fact when Therion entered, he only found what seemed to be a clump of meat. Floating meat, right in the center of the room, and little else.

"No mask," he called over his shoulder to the main room, as if anyone expected their search to really be that easy. Therion then went to claim his prize, whatever it was, cautiously reaching a hand out toward it.

He did wonder if it was really a good idea to just touch something like this, right before his hand closed around it.


It disappeared as soon as he grasped it. Immediately he felt a bubbling sensation under his skin, crawling from his palm up his arm. He jerked his hand away from the open air where the mass of cells had been, shoving the fabric of his poncho up to see what exactly was going on. There was a tense pulling, or maybe pushing, on the outside of his forearm where a pulsing red growth began to form.

A trap? Of course, why hadn't he expected that? The very notion of opening a treasure chest and falling through into this basement would count as a trap, so why not more once inside? The growth didn't hurt, but he wasn't going to take the chance of it doing any more to him. Therion swung his arm against the clay of the room's walls, splattering the foreign body in a spray of blood.

When he pulled his arm away from the mess, he found that the growth was crushed but not gone. It heaved as though alive and in pain, the vague form of a face taking shape. Therion's skin crawled, and the fur on his tail puffed out. What the hell was this thing? He discarded the thought of stabbing it in case he injured himself, but the next thought he went with wasn't much better. Wanting to get rid of the thing as soon as possible, Therion closed his other hand around the area and summoned flames. The smell of burning flesh just mingled with the overall unpleasant stench of the place. The fire flared up hard and singing the edges of his shawl and gloves, but it did it's job. When he killed the spell and pulled his hand away all that was left was a bloody smudge and a burn. Painful yes, but nothing he couldn't live with.

The whole experience took only a few moments, but when Therion emerged from the room he was singed and flecked with blood. "I'm fine," he mentioned. Really, he was now just eager to move on.

As he stepped through the door, Therion found that there wasn't much time for the other Seekers to join him before the entrance was closed off, rock slabs sliding in to block the opening. The room inside looked much the same as the previous few, only this time there were "locals" present as well, for lack of a better word. It was hard to say if they were monsters per se - there were a handful of grub-like creatures crawling along the floor, and two humanoids only a little shorter than Therion himself. They were completely hairless, nude as well as bald, with the flab of their stomachs hanging down well over their waist line. The two fatties turned towards the intruders, and though they lacked many facial features their expressions were obviously angry. With withered scowls the began stalking towards the Seekers.

Omori stepped out from behind Therion and opened fire on the larger enemies with the Boltok Pistol. "These must be where that smell is coming from." He commented, using Mock on one of the Fatties. The red hands swarmed the bloody-teared humanoid before stabbing into it.

Though the bullets ripped into their soft flesh the attack stopped them for but a moment. They were back on the move soon after, steps slow and plodding. The red hands sticking into one of them caused a burst of flatulence from the fatty, curling Therion's lip.

"I'd say you're right."

"Revolting."

The stinging dagger appeared in Therion's grasp, and he flipped it over a few times before gripping it tight and diving in to melee combat. He followed up on the fatty that Omori had mocked, his blade carving through it. It's swings were slow and clumsy, unable to catch the cat burglar as he darted in and out of it's range. The second fatty grunted and tried going around for a piece of the action, but finding it's partner getting in the way of it's attempts the fatty instead turned it's attention to the child that had shot at them, lumbering closer with it's arms outstretched.

A grave mistake, honestly.

The monochrome boy was attempting to crush one of the maggot-like-things under his boot when he looked back up to see the other Fatty changing course towards him. He decided to meet it halfway, rushing up to stab it in the head, then fire a bullet through it's mouth.

Brutal and effective, the combo took the fatty down hard. It fell over onto it's back, twitching, with a new hole in the back of it's head. Suffice to say it didn't last much longer after that.

By the time its body melted into ash, its twin was succumbing to Therion's assault. Its movements were even more sluggish as poison coursed through its body and blood ran from its wounds. It was more disgust than anything else that kept Therion from getting close to it for more than the few seconds it took to slash at it in order to really finish it off, resulting in a slow death for the fatty. It collapsed, heaving, and released another burst of gas that drove the grub-like embryos in the room hop away from it. Then it, too, began to disintegrate.

Therion glanced over at Omori. He'd gotten a decent view of the other side of the small room, finding himself surprised at the kid's ferocity. A raised eyebrow showed the thief's surprise, even if it was hard to tell with the other side of his face covered. Around the, the embryos wiggled and jumped, but didn't make a move toward either of them.

Flicking off the blood and dust off his knife, the kid's attention turned from the disintegrated Fatties, to the surprised Therion, then to the Embryos. "Might as well clear the rest of these." The doors hadn't opened back up yet, so this had to be necessary. Without another word he took to clearing out the larvae, stomping on and cutting them when they jumped.

Therion shook his head, not at Omori's suggestion but to clear his own expression from his face. Like any sensible person he'd been skeptical about taking a kid like this into danger, but after seeing him fight up close it was clear enough the Omori could handle himself at least. The thief joined the grub-stomping, and with the rather docile embryos dealt with and the entire room clear of enemies, a small cartoonish pair of hearts appeared in the center and the chamber doors finally opened. Perhaps not learning his lesson, Therion picked up the hearts. Thankfully he only felt the familiar relief of healing, soothing his self-inflicted burn. Of the doors their were only two: the one they'd come from and one ahead, so it wasn't like they had much choice on which way to go. A soft skittering noise filtered out from the room in front of them, and when they moved on it was immediately clear why.

Spiders littered the area, as big as golfballs. Their beady red eyes reflected the room's dim light as they ran every which way, over small piles of rocks and up the walls. They were small and fast, and there were a lot of them, but if this was all they had to contend with in this room then Therion thought it would be piece of cake.

Omori however...

Once he saw the abundance too many of arachnids, he nearly froze up. Luckily he was just visibly tense, an anxious, not yet fearful expression adorned on his face. He reloaded his gun with shaking hands and the intention to just clear this stupid room as fast as possible. He began firing at the spiders, regardless of how he felt at the moment.

They were difficult targets to hit, given their speed and size. When the first spider was mulched by a shot, the rest of them turned their red gaze at the two people by the closed door. At once they zig-zagged over to the pair, much faster than the fatties or embryos.

"Hope you've got good aim," he advised Omori, oblivious for now to the boy's plight. He stepped forward, swapping the dagger for his short sword. The longer reach of this blade cleaved through a pair of arachnids that jumped at him. They began to swarm.

Okay, NOW was the time to panic.

The boy was doing his best to remain composed so his shots would line up more accurately, but the closer the swarm got too close to them, the faster he ran out of ammo. Omori wouldn't have time to reload as spiders began to leap at him, spurring him to run the other direction. At least it'd get some of the heat off Therion.

The horde of spiders split evenly, part peeling off to chase after Omori. Those that stayed around Therion found a formidable opponent, the swish of his sword easily cutting swathes through their numbers. The spiders that kept low to the ground in order to fit at his legs fared better than their jumping companions, who were cut down before they could make contact. There may have been a lot of them, but individually they were weak enough to be crushed under a boot - and the eradication of them continued on.

With the spider crowd around him more or less dealt with, Therion glanced over to see the progress of thinning out the rest of them.

Omori was busy hacking away wildly at his share of the swarm. A couple of the spiders managed to cling themselves onto him, dealing contact damage. He hissed in pain. "Getoffgetoffgetoff!!!" He haphazardly stabbed at the spiders, practically turning them into a shish-kabob on the blade of his knife.

On the other side, a sharp bite to his side brought Therion's attention back to himself. They spider horde that was nearly depleted had, somehow, grown again to include dozens more of the pests. It was almost like all of the work amounted to nothing if they just kept crawling out of the woodwork.

"Is there no end to them?" he groaned, brushing the spider off of him and pinning the sword into it's squirming body until it turned to ash. If this was how it was going to be, then he didn't want to waste anymore energy on swinging his weapon around. He prepared to cast Wildfire, intending to use it to fend the spiders off and, hoping they reacted like regular spiders to fire, herd them in one easily slash-able pile of bugs. It went as expected, and he splashed the fire around to force the fearful creatures away from himself. As he hastily tried to herd them into a corner, mostly failing, something caught his eye.

There was one spider that looked a little different, larger than the rest by about three times. It was hanging out by the small pile of rocks in the room, ducking away whenever Omori got close to it. It appeared scared, but more importantly - it was spitting out the smaller spiders. So that was why they didn't seem to be making a dent in their numbers.

"Hey!" Therion called to get Omori's attention, jerking his chin toward the baby long legs. "Get that thing!"

The boy's head snapped to the culprit behind the eight-legged abominations. Was that thing afraid of them? If chasing it on foot only prolongs their time here, might was well kill it from afar! Finding an opening to reload, Omori juggled between fending off the spiders and shooting the Baby Long Legs.

Omori found the larger spider to be a much easier target compared to it's brethren. Hunched in it's hiding place as it was, it didn't have much room to get out of the way of the bullets. The first crashed through some of it's legs, sending it tumbling to the ground. It tried to skitter away on it's remaining legs, half-dragging it's body away from the monochrome kid. A few more shots and it crumbled, stopping the spider production.

A flare of orange fire from the other end of the room signaled Therion carrying out his plan and wiping out the spiders around him, after which point he joined in taking care of the group that was still after Omori. He used his sword to kill them one by one, shaking the wrist of the hand he'd cast his fire from to rid himself of the lasting heat.

Not willing to waste any more ammo, Omori took out the remaining spiders with his knife. When the room was finally cleared the boy could finally breath easy, letting his posture slouch as he took some deep breaths. His irises were still whitened. Was that some indication of intense emotion?

"...are you okay?" Therion asked, having picked up the single coin that appeared in the center of the room before turning back to Omori. The spiders hadn't been that dangerous, yet the kid looked pale as a... well, wait, that was how he always looked. But he did seem tense, scared even - which had the thief on edge.

"'Mfine." Omori blinked, his eyes were back to their normal color. "I...really hate spiders...." Was his explanation. He glanced down to the ash covered knife. It was starting to get worn out.

Ah, Therion had heard of that before though he didn't recall the word. He had the inkling that it was a little more than 'hate.' Irrational fear of spiders, though in some cases said fear would probably be pretty rational. He watched Omori calm himself down, remembering that he'd felt the same way earlier when they'd fallen into the Chasm - that gut-churning, bone-chilling feeling.

"We managed to get rid of them all," he said, an awkward attempt at comforting the boy. Indeed, the only thing left of the spiders were ashes and their tiny floating spirits. All that was left to do was put the experience behind them. "And we can see if there are any more in the next room before we go in."

They looked through the newly opened door and found not spiders, but something far more disgusting. "Nope, not going in."

Omori couldn't help siding with him on this one. His face contorted into faint disgust. "Of all things." He looked around the room to see if there were any other ways to move forward-

Then flinched at the sudden reappearance of the Knight. They seemed to have picked up the coin, if the faint glimmer of gold in their hand meant anything. Unfortunately due to the rooms being locked off mid-battle, the small bug wasn't exactly able to help much when it comes to fighting. They glanced down at the coin, then handed it to Omori. He might make more use of it than they could.

"Thanks?" The boy said. The bug nodded, then looked into the next room to see....sentient dung. It didn't look like either Omori or Therion were willing to go in, so that just left the Knight to clear it out. Nothing they couldn't handle, right? The pale bug dashed into the next room, primed to strike.

Therion raised his hands, happy to let someone else tackle the foes in there. The door slid shut without him inside, and locked on the other side all they could do was wait and regroup with the other Seekers.

---

Jesse watched the interaction with the cartographer, arms crossed. When asked for money, she just shrugged. Fortunately, Therion had some. Jesse would have to work on getting some gold on her. As for Sectonia’s offer, Jesse would consider it later. She didn’t need to get injured while she was down here and to be honest, ‘loot’ wasn’t particularly appealing to her. She liked to travel as light as she could, even with all this crap in her pockets.

They encountered some kind of fucking gross ass bug thing. Jesse pumped bullets into it from a far and with one big punch from Ganondorf the thing died. Or at least, went into a perma-coma. Which gave it just enough time to give birth to dozens of awful little creatures. “Dark.” Jesse said, switching her gun to Spin and sweeping streaks of machinegun fire across the field, preventing any from reaching her or the allies near her.

“Pretty hostile for a bunch of newborns.” Jesse said. “At least all the gross things we kill turn to ash right away. Usually gross things are even grosser when they’re dead.”

Afterwards it was just a trek- “Onward and downwards.” Jesse said. “Just like the good old days, right Polaris?”

Polaris shimmered encouragingly as they went deeper into the depths. Whatever secrets Polaris wanted Jesse to uncover, the Director trusted her instincts and wisdom as much as she trusted her own.

As they followed Nadia down, they encountered some pretty gross monsters with threads, which injured Nadia (she’d probably be fine) and Sectonia took care of while Jesse fired at miscellaneous hostile critters.

They dropped down into the basement, where there was a variety of directions to go. Jesse was just gonna guess, but every time someone went ahead of her, the doors slammed shut and she heard fighting inside.

“Uhh. Huh.” She was reluctant to use No Collide, not sure how the rules of this place worked. The doors opened up shortly thereafter and she figured Omori and Therion were pushing ahead, clearing the rooms of monsters.

She made sure to get ahead of the pack once the pace slowed down a bit.

“All right, wait up. I’m going in on this next one, I haven’t gotten into any real fights since the big monsters. I’m fresh. I could probably take the next few rooms alone but if anyone else is itching for a fight and doesn’t need a break they can come with.”

As Jesse volunteered for the next round, Nadia stepped up to accompany her. “Let me join ya,” she requested. “I’m the one who dove headfirst into this place after all, it’s about time I got up off my tail and lent a hand.” That said, the feral couldn’t help but have mixed feelings. After catching up with the frontrunners through the rooms they cleared, that repulsive odor that hung heavy in the stale, musty Basement air didn’t get any better. With the sudden lockdown. the moment any challengers stepped inside, she didn’t get a chance to see what kind of monsters awaited the group either, but she did hear some rather choice sounds with her ears pressed up against the doors. Two at a time seemed practical, but it also meant fewer allies to fall back on if they ran into a troublesome gimmick.

“Fine, I’ll make it three then.” declared the King of Evil as he observed the workings of this Basement. Each room appeared to hide ambushes and other surprises, not unlike the ancient Temples that dotted his home world of Hyrule. If that upstart Hero could conquer dungeons, then so could he!

“Okay!” Though she’d known the burly warrior for only twenty minutes, Nadia felt pretty confident in her assessment of his strength. “Full team ahead then!” Of course, her nose wrinkled at the room directly before theirs. “Ugh…a hero’s ‘duty’ is never done?”



The trio hastened through the malodorous poop room to the new exit and on a count of three, squeezed through the door. With Jesse floating above and Nadia hitching a ride on Ganondorf’s back as he barged in low, they all managed to make it before the door slammed shut. As Nadia dropped down she blinked in brow-raised incredulity at the grotesque monsters that awaited them. Eight floating heads hung motionless in the air around the room, their cheeks slick with ruby-red blood on account of gouged-out eyes and their mouths slack in a nerveless expression of agony. Half as many three-foot humanoids stood in a cluster, and as they turned to face the newcomers Nadia could see tears of blood wept around a creepy smile. The Horfs began to shoot globules of wretched blood across the room, while the Gapers ran toward the trio like children seeking the comfort of mothers’ arms.

“Jesus.” Jesse said, raising an eyebrow as she took in the entities coming towards them. The globules were a type of attack familiar to Jesse, she strafed to the side, avoiding them as they attempted to track her. Figuring her two fighty allies could take care of the Gapers, she focused her attention on the distant floating heads. The good news was, as long as she hit, it couldn’t not be a headshot. She lined them up in her sights and began popping them out of the air with well timed and even-tempo pistol shots. With each shot they popped like balloons made of ash, except for the ones that just kind of wobbled there and stopped shooting. Those, she had to shoot twice. Who knows what anatomy they have going on in there?

”How… grotesque.” was all Ganondorf could really say about the things they encountered in this room. They reminded him of several of the horror stories he had heard about the Well in Kakariko Village, and the atrocities that were said to have been committed in the Shadow Temple. But he had never let a few horrors stop him before, and he wasn’t about to start now. The man’s hand grasped the hilt of the White Sword he carried and he pulled it from its scabbard. While the floating heads remained stationary, the full humanoids instead moved around. As Jesse took her shots at the heads, Ganondorf bounded forward in long strides with his tall legs. With but a few mighty swings of the sword, Ganondorf managed to sweep its blade through a majority of the humanoids, save for a single one that managed to avoid it.

“Yeesh.” Nadia’s instinct to get out of the way at the last moment turned out to be a good one, as her new ally obliterated almost all the Gapers in one go. She watched the last one nearly trip as it stumbled away from the giant slash, then charge toward her. “Almost feel bad for ‘em.” The Gaper jumped at her, but she intercepted it with a five-claw thrust to its oversized head to stop it in its tracks. She steeled her arm to keep the dead weight aloft as it dangled, then brought her other hand around in front of her head. “Sorry chum, maybe necks time.” With one swipe its body hit the floor, and she flung its head away like a beach ball. “Yeugh…”

A blood globule hit her, which really stung, and Nadia turned to glare at it only for Jesse to pop it the next moment, and with that there were no more Horfs. While distracted, however, the feral didn’t notice that the headless body of the Gaper she decapitated stood back up, becoming a Pacer. “Whoa!” she yelled, hopping back as it began to toddle her way. She lashed out with an extended kick to send the little body flying, although touching it with her foot had one other effect. “Ow!? It hurt me just by touchin’ it?” Incensed by the idea of contact damage, she rushed the Pacer down and dispatched it with a downward slash. Meanwhile, two of the Gapers that Ganondorf killed rose again as well, one as a Pacer and the other as a Gusher, a fountain of burning blood exploding from its neck as it staggered the warlord’s way.

”Back for more?” scoffed the Gerudo when two of his fallen enemies rose back up and without their heads. He noticed the blood shooting from one of them as if like a projectile, and some of that blood threatened to splash his way, but instead would hit the Pacer. In a quick moment of decisiveness, Ganondorf had grabbed the nearby Pacer with his right hand and used it to shield himself from the incoming splash of blood. Grabbing the Pacer sent a stinging pain in his hands, but the King of Evil merely gritted his teeth and endured it until the splash ended. Whatever devilry this was would prove no match for the Gerudo’s resilience against it.

With a grunt, Ganondorf put his body weight into hurling the Pacer’s body once the splash ended. He sent it careening into the Gusher, his Triforce of Power giving him the strength to smash both of the creatures into a nearby wall and reducing them both to little more than a bloody smear upon it. He glanced at his slightly singed right hand and clenched it into a fist with defiance, ”Persistent little abominations, aren’t they?”

“If you put both types of them together, you’d get a whole monster.” Jesse said to Ganondorf as she looked around the emptied room.

As the doors both unlocked, there came a flash in the very center of the room. A single coin appeared from nowhere and began to fall toward the ground. “MINE!” Nadia yowled, throwing herself at the money head-first. She caught it in the palms of her extended hands before splatting down on the floor. “Oogh,” she grunted, wincing a little, but the weight of coinage in her hand brought her smile back quickly. The feral stood up, pocketed the coin, and joined the group grinning like she hadn’t just winded herself for a single cent. After seeing that, Jesse made to run over to it. When Nadia secured the coin, she snapped her fingers in defeat.

“Darn. Almost had it.” She said flatly, smiling.

Seeing the way they came, she then made for the exact opposite door from that one. “Not that the piggy-back strat isn’t the best idea we’ve ever had-” She began, cutting herself off. “Nah, it’s fine, it worked. Ready?” Jesse floated into the air and entered the next room.

”Hmph.” was all the Gerudo responded with before walking through the door and into the next room after Jesse.

Once again the three squeezed inside. This room featured two doors, one straight ahead and one to the left, and unlike the last one a number of yawning pitfalls in the floor. Scattered around were twelve Clotties, little more than sacks of flesh the size of stuffed-full trash bags with varying amounts of protruding bone, eyes, and mouths. They sloshed around the room and hopped in place to attack, which sent out blood tears in the four cardinal directions.

Nadia looked displeased, like she’d just found a hair in her food. “Guess this is where hot dogs come from,” she quipped. As projectiles flew her way she stepped side to side to dodge them before drawing out one of her anchors. “Meat your maker!” she cried, and with a big swing she brought what was practically a chain-axe down on a Clotty, her hand detached and extended along with the chain. By doing this she could easily yank the anchor back, then go for another round from a comfortable range.

Jesse touched down and kicked off, making to stay in the air to take advantage of the space said giant holes in the ground provided her. From above she once again fired pistol shots at the Clotties. “They’re giving up so much blood already- I guess we’re just damaging their structural integrity?” She said aloud, briefly pausing her gunshots to line up another hopping target.

Ganondorf rotated his torso to one side to avoid one of the blood shots, ”What next, a walking pile of bone meal?” he scoffed, still not really taking these enemies very seriously. But with projectiles like that and pitfalls to watch out for, remaining at a distance was the ideal strategy here. Well, Ganondorf may not have wielded some fairy bow like certain heroes, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t attack from a distance. It was all just a matter of… sending someone else to do it for him, ”Very well then… appear before me and prove your worth!” he commanded, concentrating a large amount of dark magic in his hands and holding it out before him. This almost appeared to rip open a dimensional hole in front of him, and from it stepped forward… himself? No, it was not him. It was an armored phantom that looked nearly identical to the Gerudo, save for the horned mask it wore on its face and the long spear it carried as a weapon.

”Serve me well, and I may yet forgive your previous failure, now go!” the Gerudo King ordered with a threatening point of his finger. The Phantom he had summoned nodded his head and obeyed its master’s orders. It stepped forward a couple of steps before lifting itself up with some kind of levitation magic. After this it floated around, using its ability to move through the air to easily avoid the shots of blood while occasionally dropping down to skewer Clotties with its wicked spear. As for Ganondorf, he simply stayed back and watched. Sectonia was not the only one capable of commanding minions.

While Ganondorf had his phantom run amuck, Nadia kept practicing with her chain anchors, trying to get used to their weight and balance in order to improve her aim. Using them to deliver solid slashes and slams was tricky, and she missed more than a couple times, but at least these foes didn’t pose much of a threat. After lodging one anchor into a Clotty across a pit she dragged it into the hole, then reeled in the anchor to shake it clean. “Shame it’s not gonna stay this easy,” she predicted. By the time the others wiped the Clotties out she got just one more kill for a grand total of three. Less than average? Maybe. But being a contact fighter, she wanted to be touching these little horrors -and getting their blood near her own- as little as possible.

Rather than choose between the two doors, Nadia readied herself for another coin. Instead a bomb with a weird smirk appeared, already lit. “Whuh!?” Panicked, the feral backpedaled as fast as she could.

“Whuh!” Jesse reached out with Launch and flung the bomb against the wall of the nearest pit. The explosion echoed from the pit, the weird little prank failing. “...I guess that’s not that much weirder than a coin appearing out of mid air, is it? Not sure why I only question it now that it’s something bad.”

Jesse landed on solid ground and looked around at the door. They had a couple options. Once again her instinct was to just keep pushing forward in the opposite direction of where they came, instead of turning now. “Eenie-meenie miney that one?” She pointed at it and floated above so they could do their signature technique, which Jesse found amusing every time.

Once in, she raised her gun and prepared for enemies, only to not see any.

Ganondorf dismissed the Phantom with a wave of his hand and simply decided to follow Jesse’s lead. With this group already split up it was probably best not to split it up even further. He was equally surprised to not see any enemies in the following room, ”Wrong direction, then?” It did, however, have something interesting. Across the room, between two campfires, sat a stony, petrified figure with its head rolled back and its mouth agape. In front of it lay three items, each with an amount scrawled out next to them in chalk. Five cents for a beating metallic heart, five for a normal bomb, and fifteen for a shiny red heart with an arrow through it inscribed with the letters ‘BFF’.

“Oh, I guess it’s a shop?” Recovered from the bomb jump scare, Nadia looked at the merchandise but came away with her ears dejectedly flat. “I don’t have enough money.”

“Aww. It’s like a creepy lemonade stand.” Jesse said, endeared by the little doll that’s been left there. “Hellooo?” She walked up and waved her hand at the doll. “Anyone home?” She waited for a beat. Nothing happened.

“Maybe it works on the honor system?” Jesse asked, smiling at Nadia who had been defeated by the little chalk sign security system.

The feral looked back at her, perturbed by the smile. Was Jesse asking Nadia to try to rob the store? Well, she would, but not because Jesse wanted her to. Unfortunately, when Nadia crouched to grab the bomb her hand went straight through it as if it didn’t exist. “Magic,” she snorted.

”Did you expect anything less?” said the Gerudo with a slight chuckle, ”With all the trickery and devilry in this Basement, an enchanted shop should hardly come as a surprise.”

“I can’t believe you violated the honor system.” Jesse said, shaking her head in shame. Nadia stared at her like she’d been stabbed in the back.

To the left lay an interesting room. It was long and narrow unlike the rectangular ones before it, and featured a number of big, bulky rocks and blazing campfires arranged along its length to interfere with forward movement. Inside, a couple Fatties patrolled it, heaving their naked bulk around while glowering. Even more distasteful were the the pale, blood-soaked Blubbers that wandered aimlessly among the rocks, spewing showers of blood tears, and the equally headless Hoppers that jumped erratically around. Those that happened to jump into a fireplace burst into flame, their hops becoming much farther and faster.

Ganondorf wasted no time. It would still be a bit of time before he could summon the Phantom again so for this room he’d have to get his own hands dirty again. He drew out the White Sword and charged forward, setting his sights on the two Fatties. But he was no fool, the King of Evil noted the similar appearance of the Blubbers, and quickly surmised that it was likely the Fatties would resurrect as Blubbers if he did not also destroy the bodies, ”Let’s see you rise from THIS!” he held the weapon straight up and came down on the first Fatty with a mighty leap that put all his momentum into a single, giant slash that vertically cleaved the Fatty into two halves. He quickly locked onto the location of the second Fatty and lunged for it, this time attacking it with a pair of diagonal strikes that would cut it in an X-shape. Of course, that left the head intact. But the Gerudo took no chances, even if merely touching it caused him pain as before, the King of Evil grabbed the dismembered head with his hand and used the strength of the Triforce to crush it into a bloody pulp. He flung some of the blood from his hand, the rest of it being burned away by the glow of the Triforce.

A third Fatty emerged from behind a rock, announcing its presence with a big fart. At the same time a Blubber came at Ganondorf from a different angle, spewing blood.

Ganondorf had to think fast for this one. The best he could do was cover himself with his cape and let it take the bloody spray so that it wouldn’t directly burn him. The moment it was over he flung the cape back behind him and lunged forward, skewering the Blubber all the way through. Hearing the Fatty approach from behind, Ganondorf lifted the Blubber up on the blade and proceeded to bring it all the way and up and over his head and eventually slamming it down on the charging Fatty. The King of Evil’s strength was tremendous, enough that both of the fat opponents burst into bloody stains on the floor upon impact. Just as he predicted, none of his corpulent foes got the chance to return as a Blubber or Half Sack.

Jesse rolled her shoulder and once again took to the air. This time, she picked up one of the big boulders with her mind and Launched it towards one of the Blubbers, crushing it into dust. Next, she took a moment to do away with several of the campfires, scattering the one nearest to the Hoppers with launch since the little guys seemed to like the fire. That was all the Power she could use for now, except for Levitation which was free.

By that time, three of the flaming Hoppers had gotten close. Two of them bounded over the rocks toward Jesse and Nadia, but the third took a different tact. It sprang off one wall and into the other, back and forth in a hard-to-hit zigzag until it came flying at Jesse from the side just as its fellow jumped up in front of her.

Waiting, Jesse anticlimactically blasted them both at the same time with a flashing shock of psychic energy. They landed on the ground in a heap, and Jesse kicked up dust and stone around each of them as she Shattered them with her shotgun Service Weapon.

As the third came for Nadia, she leaned back and lifted her knee, grabbing her ankle at the same time. The middle section of her leg burst out with two blood-jets’ worth of thrust to smack the miscreant mid-leap. “Knee deep!” She then pulled off that same forearm to juggle the monster with a blast of hydro-infused blood. Vaporize occurred, laying on the pain as the critter’s fire went out, and Nadia finished by jumping and bringing her forearm down on the hopper nails-first like a dagger. “MYOW!” Pierced through the middle, it disintegrated, and Nadia shook off the ash as she stuck her hand back on. “Alright, that one was fun!” Three Hoppers down, three to go. She took off running and pounced on one as its jump came to an end.

“Good job, you two.” Jesse encouraged, seeing the melee fighters go to town. Try as they might, Jesse figured the Hoppers weren’t smart enough to take cover, so she predicted where they would land and sprayed the area with Spin, shredding the stone and the undead creature into pieces.

That stone happened to be of a different shade than the rest, slightly darker, and bearing a small scratch mark shaped like a cross. When Jesse broke it, a metallic blue heart fell out, just like the one she saw in the shop earlier. After Nadia finished decimating the last Blubber with her anchors, she looked over. “That the reward?” To her surprise, a tarot card manifested in the center of the room as well. “Aw, shweet. I was just thinkin’ this wasn’t excitin’ enough.” She picked up the card and flipped it over to reveal a grisly illustration. “The Hanged Man.”

”Hmph, what is this, a dungeon or a game?” scoffed the Gerudo.

Nadia shrugged. Just by holding the thing, she felt a strange urge to rip it in half, which made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. “I got no clue what the hell this does, if anythin’. Either of you want it?”

”Very well, I’ll take it. It does not frighten me.” Ganondorf offered, and he was duly given the card. He was no stranger to curses and dark magic. He’d basically grown up around it his entire life.

Jesse studied the metallic blue heart shaped heart. Not like the organ, like the drawing of a heart, thankfully. She didn’t want any curses, but when Polaris didn’t object, she nudged the heart with her shoe and then went to pick it up. Upon touching it she absorbed it, gaining an extra bit of impermanent armor on top of her existing barrier.

The next room was big, easily four times as large as the typical dungeon chamber. Much larger pits lay in the four corners, and one in the center with a little platform in its middle–upon that platform, a glittering dime. In addition to rocks, piles of actual crud festooned the place, and there were at least a dozen flies around. Their round little bodies flashed red whenever anyone got close enough to provoke their pursuit. There seemed to be more Gapers as well, two groups of five, and two Full Flies flew around ready and willing to explode into radial shots on death. Nadia grimaced, her face one of absolute disgust. “Aaaaugh. I knew I shoulda stayed home today.” The nearest Gapers turned at the sound, and hustled on over.

”There goes any element of surprise we might have had.” said Ganondorf as he readied the White Sword, ”Try to destroy them as thoroughly as you can. Otherwise they’ll just rise back up as floating heads or headless enemies.” he advised the other two Seekers, sharing with them the discovery he’d made in the previous room about destroying the bodies before they could resurrect.

He took a step forward, deciding not to charge ahead this time due to the enemies being more clumped together into what could be dangerous groups. Instead he let the Gapers came to him and did not hesitate to slice up the first two that came in his direction, again being careful to slice up the bodies as thoroughly as possible to prevent any resurrections.

“Or!” Nadia footstooled off Ganondorf and blasted her arms down to sink her claws into two more monsters. She executed a front flip that yanked them off the ground and abruptly dunked them into the room’s central pit. “To hell with ‘em!” Before the last one could grab her she jumped and airdashed to the central pillar to grab that shiny dime, leaving that Gaper and the nearby flies to the others.

Jesse kept on Spin and fired many bullets at the flies, so she didn’t need to have enough accuracy to literally shoot the wings off a bug like some kind of cowboy legend. The spray of machine gun fire traveled to the last of the first group of Gapers and shredded it up the middle. Then she refocused on the flies, as when she popped one it exploded into blood. Jesse figured that made her the most qualified to quickly take care of them out of the three Seekers there. She floated into the air to get a better angle and to free her friends of worry of friendly fire, bursting the bugs from above with controlled sprays of bullets.

Meanwhile, Ganondorf had moved forward. He maneuvered around the central pit and then made a charge for the last group of Gapers. When he got close enough he managed to get a surprise attack on one, using his Gerudo Dragon technique to strike it with a dark-magic-infused uppercut that knocked the head clean off and sent it flying upward and splattering onto the ceiling. He then grabbed the headless body and hurled it behind him into the central pit. Two more Gapers moved toward him but were met with by the White Sword and promptly chopped into bloody bits. But the remaining two Gapers had maneuvered around the first pair in such a way that they threatened to attack Ganondorf from his flank. He’d been keeping an eye on them and whirled around with a spin slash that kept them from getting close. Then he used his tremendous strength to kick one of them into the wall and then Warlock Punched the other, exploding it with dark magic.

In a much less impressive turn of events, Nadia was being bitten by flies. “Ow, ow, ow!” she yelped, swiping at the bugs furiously. The air current created by her movements, however, kept brushing the flies just out of her attacks’ way. While Jesse had taken care of plenty of them already, these ones just wouldn’t leave Nadia alone. “Uuuugh! I’ve had it up to here!” She jumped into the air and clapped her hands together. When she drew them apart, a swirling orb of condensed Hydro power formed between them, and once it swelled to ten feet in diameter Nadia hurled it straight down. The orb burst in a watery explosion, killing the rest of the flies outright, and once Jesse gunned down the stragglers the room was clear. A silver key popped into existence on the central spire, and the doors flew open. “How much farther?” Nadia muttered, shaking herself off.

Up next lay another normal room, albeit one stuffed with yet more flies. “Oh, joy,” Nadia groaned. Eight gray-bodied Pooters -so sluggish they did not even deal contact damage- and six bloated Suckers flew slowly over arrays of floor spikes, occasionally shooting shots.

“Just keep on truckin’.” Jesse said, strafing to the side as one of the shots splashed against the wall behind her. She plucked one of the spikes from the distant floor and pulled it towards her, stabbing through one of the Suckers. Lining up a shot, she ripped through two more with the spike. After that, it was machine gun city, Jesse zapping these flies out of the air with a spray of psychic lead.

With the situation almost perfectly suited for her, Nadia and Ganondorf didn’t need to do much but watch Jesse mow the flies down. A red heart appeared in the center of the room, and after she’d hard her breather the feral busied herself navigating around the spikes without stepping on any. Touching the heart replenished some of the blood she’d lost or spent, allowing Nadia to breathe a sigh of relief. What did concern her, however, was the bigger, more menacing door on the left wall, adorned with a skull aglow with red light from inside. “He-hey, maybe this is it!” she declared, perking up after a moment.

Ganondorf was also not against giving himself a breather. In fact, this allowed enough time to pass for him to be able to summon his Phantom again if needed. And perhaps he would need to very soon, judging by the door that waited for them at the end of the room. Ganondorf stared at it almost as if the sight of it were familiar to him. If this Basement were anything like the Temples of his home world, then something much stronger waited for them beyond it, ”Perhaps we should make sure we’re in good form first before blundering into that room? I sense something a little… bigger is waiting for us inside.”

“I think I’m okay,” Nadia ventured. “I guess I could run back to that shop and get somethin’, but I kinda wanna get it over with.”

“Ready when you are.” Jesse said simply.

One final time, the trio pushed through the door. Metal gates slammed down behind them, but all eyes were on the thing up ahead. A bulbous mass floated in the air, larger than a wrecking ball, its stain-riddled flesh sutured together. Instead of eyes it possessed mere craters, alongside a smorgasbord of protruding, eking pustules. Drool leaked out across rotten gums full of missing teeth, and within its cavernous maw buzzed the eponymous swarm of the Duke of Flies.

Nadia blanched. “...Holy hell.”

Jesse whistled appreciatively. “That is revolting, huh?”

“For real. I’m blankin’ on fly puns…” Nadia furrowed her brow. “...And it’s really buggin’ me.”

The Duke began to move diagonally, happy to bounce off the walls. Flies emerged from its mouth both to orbit around it, blocking shots, and to chase its opponents down.

”Then let’s just get straight to the point, then.” Ganondorf temporarily sheathed the White Sword in order to free up both his hands. Like he had done a few rooms ago, he channeled a great deal of dark magic to open another dimensional hole. But unlike before, this time his Phantom came riding in on an equally ghastly steed, ”Obey my command! Help me crush that disgusting abomination!” and obedient as ever, the Phantom Ganon galloped forth on his horse, aiming to attack the Duke of Flies with a full speed charge with his spear. But he did not stop galloping, and instead disappeared into a dimensional hole only to reappear again to charge the Duke from a different direction. And this would be his role for this battle, to repeatedly charge the Duke with straight on or glancing blows while his master fought it alongside the Seekers, while the numerous attack flies whittled down his vitality.

As for the King of Evil, he wasted no time in once again drawing out the White Sword. His Phantom would provide occasional surprise blows to the Duke and could even serve to draw the attention of some of the flies. And that at least allowed Ganondorf to attack the Duke himself. His first attack would be an upward slash of the sword, trying to time it to coincide with an incoming charge of the Phantom.

Jesse watched the magical attack, scratching her head. She wondered if that would be enough to do it. In case it wasn’t, she decided to go on the ever noble task of fly-shooting duty, getting a good angle on them and gunning down their number to clear a path for the party.

While Ganondorf and his doppelganger took the monstrosity head-on, Nadia flanked around to the side with her anchors in hand. It looked like the Duke wasn’t content to sit still and be punished; not only did it move incessantly, but when struck it rebounded the opposite way, evidently not caring where it went as long as it could spew flies and wallop anyone it ran into. Nadia swung her chain like a lasso to deal sweeping slashes from out of fly range while Jesse zapped the bugs, although the feral needed to keep her distance from Ganondorf to make sure he didn’t get a faceful of steel, either. To take blows and bullets like this, this Duke must be pretty chunky. But it had to have a weak spot, and it sure didn’t look like the nightmare’s eyes or mouth.

Torn and bleeding from stabs, slashes, and Service Weapon fire, the Duke blithely kept up the flood of flies, spawning so many that its body just about disappeared in a living veil. From there, larger attack flies flew out to pester the three from different angles. Luckily this problem had an answer Nadia used before. “Right, I’m up,” she declared, moving in. She guarded her head against the flies until she got close enough to cash out her tension on another Purrge of Vengeance. She bumped the Hydro orb upward, them somersaulted after it to spike it down and wipe out all the Duke’s orbital flies in one go. “It’s open!” she called just before the Duke rammed her with its vile mass, flooring her momentarily.

A superheated psychic bullet tore through the Duke and out the other side, leaving a red hot bullet hole in the wall on the other side of the room. Any flies inside the duke and in the path of the bullet would be turned to dust even if they weren’t in the World of Light. Jesse stood at range, Service Weapon shimmering with heat.

After Jesse’s psychic shot finished, Ganondorf took the opportunity to get in a devastating blow of his own. He lunged forward, slicing cleanly through the Duke of Flies just as his Phantom used the last of its vitality to skewer it from a perpendicular angle. Once it vanished, Ganondorf used his right hand to charge up the strongest Warlock Punch he could muster in order to give the grotesque one more final oomph of an attack from him.

Before he could land it, however, the badly-wounded Duke floated out of range across the room, and the Warlock Punch hit nothing but air. As it drifted away, Nadia hopped to her feet, her eyes bright with mischief. “I got a great idea!” She ran toward and around it, predicting its movement, then called upon one of the aces up her sleeve. “I’ll stop it’s movement!” Her ghoulish striker Idea appeared to catch the Duke with its gangly arms, then further ensnare it with over a half-dozen muscular tongues from its array of heads. Nadia pulled out her anchors as she dashed toward the monster, slid underneath it, and jammed both weapons into the sutured flesh on the Duke’s belly. “Hey Muscles. Here!” As Idea faded, she closed in on Ganondorf to toss him the other ends of the chains, but he was only able to catch one of them. One of them floundered unluckily, twisting closer to Jesse. With a flick of her wrist she telekinetically lobbed the chain back towards him, assuming he needed both to execute whatever idea Nadia had- unless the only idea was the pun. Now with both chains in hand, Ganondorf had a feeling he knew what Nadia had in mind. Using the raw strength granted to him by the Triforce, the King of Evil spun himself around, consequently whirling the monster around as well. He put every ounce of his mighty strength into bringing the captured Duke around into a giant slam into the Basement’s floor.

The massive impact squashed the Duke of Flies like a water balloon against the ground, and the stitches in its underside ruptured in a wave of pulpy flies. The gruesome, deflated husk could only moan hideously as the swarm inside it drained away, and after a moment it too crumbled to ash. As its spirit came to rest in the heap the doors flew open, including a previously-unseen hatch in the floor. Just as expected another reward appeared as well, but instead of a mask, it appeared to be an odd floating sigil, like a blend between the lowercase letters ‘t’ and ‘h’.

Breathing a little heavier than she expected, Nadia reeled her chains back into the drum on her waist. “I guess gettin’ the first mask within half an hour woulda been too easy.” She made her way around the sigil, peering at it dubiously, then crouched at the edge of the hole.

”This place is called the Basement, yes?” asked the Gerudo as he knelt down at the newly formed Spirit and proceeded to claim it for himself, ”That suggests to me that this is likely but one of multiple floors. We’ll likely find the mask in whatever the final floor is.” he examined the Spirit for a moment, considering his options for what to do with it. Ultimately he decided simply to hang onto it for the time being. He was told these things would fade away in just a few short hours, but that still at least gave him some amount of time to think it over.

Jesse smiled, satisfied with a job well done. Err, so far, at least. “The good news is, and I don’t wanna jinx us, I doubt we’ll be seeing an amount of flies greater than what we just encountered. Unless there’s like…two giant flesh balls of flies in the next room.” Jesse said.

Jesse went over to the podium and observed the floating sigil. “What do you think this is? Some kind of Object of Power? It’s very…two dimensional.” She walked around it in a circle, trying to observe its properties.

Carefully, she reached out with her parautilitarian abilities and with her hand, too, looking to grab the sigil. It flashed when she touched it, inscribing itself painlessly onto her palm. A faint ring appeared around her a few feet in diameter, softly shining like a distant belt of stardust, then went away.

Karin listened intently to Goldlewis’ rundown. ”I see. So this Shinra has corrupted the democratic process. A corporation in charge of an entire nation-state. How nefarious.”

Sakura squinted at the back of Karin’s head. ”I’ve done a lot of growing since then, Sakura-chan!” The heiress reminded her friend defensively, sensing the look. As for the allies they could trust being limited, Karin nodded.

”I simply suspect we may have to dirty our hands a little if we are to locate this Guardian.” Karin said. ”Favors for favors. We’ll have to act with as much wisdom as can be afforded. We’ll have to meet these groups ourselves in order to learn as much of the truth as possible.”

Sakura shrunk a little, smiling apologetically as she was addressed by the sensible Jessica. Rubbing the back of her head, she bowed. ”R-right. Of course. Sorry, ma’am.” Overall, she was starting to feel a little clammy. Was it getting hot in here? All this morally ambiguous talk about favors and insurrectionists and dirty government was making her uncomfortable. Especially the parts about killing sick people, or people fighting on behalf of sick people. She had no idea what the truth of the situation was, so she kept mostly quiet and just cast her eyes downward. Hopefully when they went there, things would make more sense and a solution would present itself.

Peach apologized on behalf of the Seekers to Benedict, earning an eye roll from Karin. How to look weak, even in victory. Sakura did that all the time and it bugged her to no end.

Sakura gasped in frightened delight as an alien reached out of Goldlewis’s coffin and deposited an origami flower on the table. Amazing! ”Uwah! Thank you, UMA-san.” She reached out and took it, observing it closely. She’d never gotten a gift from a space alien before!

Sakura briefly looked concerned at the idea that there was a weird, invisible thing in the sky she couldn’t see. Holding the flower close, she leaned out the window and squinted extra hard. ”I don’t see anything…darn. Psychic powers are so cool.”

Karin was silent during most of the discussion about Desperado. She had no idea how relevant an institution, group, or even name was in relation to their past in their previous world. Even the idea of a place called ‘Japan’ getting blown up didn’t strike her as troubling other than the evident loss of life. Sakura sweated slightly at hearing all that, but mostly kept her cool under the same thought process. After all…she was from Japan, and didn’t get blown up! But the idea of someone being so strong they could affect the geography of a map was worrying.

As the SOU people listed off the sectors of the city, Karin wished she had someone to take notes for her. Sakura piped up. ”Oh, uh, Inkopolis doesn’t sound so bad. Maybe we could look for clues at the…sports…center?” She trailed off her subtle suggestion, realizing her bias must sound incredibly obvious. At the mention and explanation of sky rails, Sakura’s eyes lit up. ”That sounds awesome.”

Karin nodded at Goldlewis’s and Giovanna’s suggestion. ”Honestly, I’d just be happy to finally have a positive reputation upon entering a town. Hopefully that’ll prevent any more riots or panic forming against us due to misinformation spread by our enemies. Besides, fighting monsters is easy and fun, and this Ever Crisis is helping nobody. And if it is helping somebody then that somebody deserves to be crushed by us anyway.” With a flick of her royal heir hair, Karin made her vote known. Sakura nodded, standing by her friend’s side.