Maybe it was just the desperation of trying to find their friend, but the trek through the Astral Plane had been more stressful than Pit expected. Traversing unstable terrain where the laws of physics didn't always apply while being attacked by random enemies was actually something that Pit had experience with, and it hadn't been a pleasant experience then either. Every minute they spent trying to get around this place was a minute that Goldlewis could be in deep trouble.

And not only that - there was this weird feeling that the angel was getting. He caught himself unconsciously rubbing his wings together more than once, trying to wipe off some invisible, grimy, corrosive substance that he wasn't sure was even really there. If being in the Astral Plane was effecting him like this, he was worried about how it was effecting the humans with him. They needed to find Goldlewis as soon as possible and escape.

As they came upon the final stretch of the weird, winding path their goal came into view.

"I see him!" he exclaimed at the same time as the rest of the Seekers would have been laying their eyes on the man as well. It wasn't just Goldlewis though, there was a huge monster facing off against him. It looked like some sort of angry red alien jet engine, with two floating fists and a pair of cannons on each shoulder. Basically a classic monster brute, maybe even a little uglier.

Unafraid, Pit sprinted to Goldlewis' defense. The others wasted no time in going on the offensive, but Pit kept his orbitars equipped off a hunch that Enceladus might try and finish off its kidnappee before attempting to engage four new opponents at once. He'd made the right choice when a large volley of fire bolts streaked toward them. The Guardian Orbitars' projected an equally large energy shield, enough to stop the bolts completely. When both the shield and the attack faded, Pit looked back at Midgar's former secretary of defense.

"Sorry we didn't bring your alien," he said, not remembering it was supposed to be a secret in the first place. "Like Midna said, you can take cover until we beat this thing!"

With that the orbitars gave way to the Palutena Bow once more, and Pit began his own assault. Roxas' theory made total sense, so he focused his arrows on whatever body part the other boy was attacking. Most of the time it was an arm, and the angel was especially aggressive with his firing whenever it looked like one of said arms were going to shoot something at one of his team mates. Whether it was bolts or lasers, they hand firing them would be knocked off balance even if only a little, giving the other Seekers an easier time avoiding the attacks.

It was when those attacks were turned on him that things got dicey for Pit. The explosive aftermath of Enceladus' moves kept the angel moving even after he dodged a direct attack, and though the heat and debris didn't do much damage it would pile up eventually. That, and ranged weaponry wasn't the only thing Enceladus had going for it. Counting its torso, the Chimera had three battering rams with which to mow the heroes down. It sent one of its arms flying like a rocket, and though the punch missed Pit the force of its impact splintered the ground, sending several pieces off into the abyss - including the one Pit had been standing on.

With alarm he started to jump between pieces of debris to make it back to solid ground, or more solid ground anyway. It made him easy pickings for a couple of lasers, but he'd much rather suffer some wounds than be lost adrift in an alternate dimension forever. He tumbled back onto the main platform, picked himself back up and rejoined the fight.

He lent his bow to follow up shots, continuing to hammer away at Enceladus. Another punch soared toward him, but Pit met it with a quick strike from the Upperdash Arm. It softened the blow but he still ended up getting thrown back, and his entire arm stung from the burden. Okay, not gonna try that again, he thought.

He did have one more strategy that he was eager to employ. Pit kept an eye on those cannons, whenever it looked like they might fire he would be ready. If he had to run to an ally so be it, but it would be all the better if they turned on him. The was positive that the orbitars' reflect could send the Chimera's cannon fire right back at it, if only he could time it correctly. It was a good thing he'd had a lot of practice with that too, so when things finally lined up he could return the monster's attack to sender.

For the unlucky staff that operated on Ganondorf, they were in for a surprise when the King of Evil jolted awake just as they were about begin treatment. The Gerudo proved... most difficult. The last thing he remembered was all the fighting down in the Womb, and he was still very much in that combat mode mindset. This combined with his size and raw strength made it almost impossible for him to be restrained, since he would just easily break out of anything they tried to strap him down with.

"I am the great Lord Ganondorf!" he roared at what he could only assume were his would-be "captors". He even took a swing at one poor fellow which sent him crashing into the nearby wall and collapsing in a heap, "You will never hold me cap... capt... you will never..." his voice trailed off and his vision blurred. At some point someone managed to sneak up on him with a needle prick, and the King of Evil collapsed into unconsciousness yet again. This time under medical sedation.

The next time he awoke, he found himself in a room that didn't look like any dungeon he'd ever seen. It was too clean, and the bed was too cushioned. But even more importantly than all that, Ganondorf felt... normal? No coughs, no rashes from plague, no... anything. He'd been... healed? Nearby he saw his two swords leaning against the wall. That settled it. If he still had possession of his weapons then he couldn't possibly be a prisoner. So with that in mind, it led him to his next question, "What is this place, exactly?" he pushed himself out of the bed and grabbed the weapons.

Eventually, the groggy Gerudo had wandered into a lobby of some kind where he spotted Nadia looking like she'd seen a castle full of ghosts, "Are we... still in the Womb?" he asked, still not aware that the group had long since left that wretched place. He listened to whatever explanations he was offered and almost appeared to sigh in relief for a brief moment. It took a lot for something to get to him, but that place certainly was beginning to after spending what felt like an eternity down there.

One-by-one, the Seekers eventually were gathered in the lobby of this Sanitarium place. Apparently this was where the group was directed to after leaving the Basement. Speaking of directions, there appeared a man Ganondorf did not recognize. He was unconscious before and so this was his first time seeing the man in the red suit. Despite appearances, the man looked like a reasonably capable fighter, so what was someone like that doing in a place like this? Oh well, it mattered not. Eventually Ganondorf realized his hair had become untied during his treatment and exasperatedly tied it back again.

"Blast it all!" the Gerudo muttered, "If we are indeed in a town of some kind, then the first thing I'm going to do is find someone who can do something about this." he said in reference to his hair. In a matter of moments he was exiting the Sanitarium and out into the Home of Tears itself.

---

Finding his away around wasn't too difficult. After crossing a fountain courtyard, Ganondorf found himself among a marketplace. Perfect, if there was anyone who could cut hair in this town than this was surely where they could be found. After looking around for a few minutes, a sign reading "Killer Cuts" caught the Gerudo's eye. Walking up to the door, the King of Evil pushed it open and entered the establishment.

"Ah, welcome!" said the proprietor as soon as he heard the door open. He was certainly a... ghoulish looking fellow, with his red eyes and gaunt face with green skin. And yet, despite that he was also quite dapper and well dressed - wearing dark blue formal attire with a matching wide-brimmed hat, "Are you perchance interested in a styling, Milord? I offer only the finest styles here at Todd's Killer Cuts." he then brandished his literal scissor-hands in a sort of flourish.

"...Indeed." grunted Ganondorf, eyeing the scissor-hands with no small amount of suspicion.

The barber - Todd - picked up on this and immediately offered a more reassuring tone, "Ah, I assure there's nothing to be alarmed of, Milord. These hands were the unfortunate result of a cursed pair of scissors. Only way to break the curse is if I use them to create six-hundred and sixty-six hairstyles. So naturally your patronage would be of great help to me in reaching that goal."

Ganondorf merely shrugged, "Then, by all means." he said before he was then directed to sit in the barber chair.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" exclaimed Todd, "Now, what style can I create for you today, Milord?"

"Just something short and presentable will do, I grow tired of this lion's mane on my head." said the King of Evil, then he added, "A soldier's cut will be fine. And trim this beard a bit while you're at it. I'd rather not walk about town looking like a wild animal."

"Very well then..." said the barber who then flourished his scissors around Ganondorf's head. In fact the style of the Gerudo's hair and beard were changed almost instantly as if by magic rather than by physical cutting, "How does that fair, Milord? I trust it is to your liking?"

Ganondorf turned his head side to side as he examined himself in the mirror, "Hmm, yes, much better." he stood up from the chair and turned to face the barber, "Now what fee do I owe you for your services?"

"Why, none at all, Milord!" replied Todd. This elicited a raised eyebrow from Ganondorf, "As I explained earlier, my curse can only be lifted by creating enough hairstyles. Simply allowing me some amount of progress toward that goal is payment enough. Good day to you, Milord. Do consider enlisting my services again should you fancy another style, won't you?"

"Hmm, perhaps." and with that, Ganondorf exited the store and went back out into the marketplace.

Unfortunately, he was currently lacking in funds. But still... perhaps a bit of exploration wouldn't hurt. If nothing else, Ganondorf would do well to get the lay of the land. And fortunately, this place seemed infinitely more pleasant and preferable to that dreadful Basement.

Well, there went a bit of time to relax. Guess thats what happens when turks clash and their G men want to get some of that action. blazermate, having had none of the pizza was up and ready for a scrap, joining Tora and Poppi with dealing with the G men as Benedict and Geralt handled the hostile turk and his summon. Susie joined those outside shortly after, but spent a bit of time cleaning her face with a napkin before pulling out her remote to call her business suit.

Blazermate, like she started all of her combats, latched onto Tora to buff the tankypon with lots of extra HP, with her new healing drones hovering around Poppi. Being able to heal two people at once was pretty awesome, although she was only gaining uber and shield form Tora. Shame she had already used her engineer spirit to 'fake eat', with Dell only making a single level one sentry before poofing out of existence. Still, at least she could heal, and heal well as long as Tora protected her. And knowing Tora, that wouldn't be too much of an ask.

Susie meanwhile dealt with the werewolf looking G men she had seen before. Considering the two frost looking G men, a bit of fire would be great here, and hopefully Poppi would oblige. But at least right now Susie's business suit let her handle Loup-Garou with its mechanical strength and durability, Both sides grabbing each other's attack and pushing against each other before Susie blasted the G men in the face with her blaster, breaking the two of them up and putting them back in a neutral position.

Karin followed behind the others, using her grappling hook and jumps. When they encountered the massive creature battling Goldlewis, she narrowed her eyes. Three massive floating body parts. Roxas presented a good theory, and Karin was eager to test it.

Karin dashed and tried to avoid lasers and bullets heading her way. She had to get closer. Close enough to hit one of these floating parts with her bare hands.

One of the lasers swept past her, and she dashed to take advantage, only for the explosions that erupted from the ground to sweep her up into the air, spinning. ”Wh-what?!” She was already low on defensive ki, she couldn’t afford to take many more hits!

More giant balls of energy came her way, so she attached a grapple hook to the wall to pull herself away. Unfortunately, a passing bolt of energy severed the cord and left Karin to fall on a predictable bath towards the ground, grunting as she passed through a bolt on the way. She landed face down, roughly, and took a full second to get up. As she got to her hands and knees a massive metal gauntlet smashed her against the stone. Karin wheezed and her face twisted with pain. The ground cracked and reddened and exploded beneath her, damaging her heavily and crushing her against the metal hand. There was a tremendous yellow spark as Karin’s ki rebelled against being turned into red paste.

The monstrous hand retracted, leaving Karin in a crater. Karin stirred, pushed herself up to her hands and knees, wavered, and then collapsed back down into the cracked stone beneath her. With a frustrated sigh, the heiress closed her eyes against the dust, losing consciousness.

Dangerous as a boss battle in these circumstances might be, the Seekers weren’t about to let their new friend bite the dust. They joined the battle, with Roxas taking point. Giant enemies were nothing new, and despite their strength and impressive bulk, their speed and weight could be used against them. When Enceladus discarded its battered former opponent to face the newcomers, it opened fire with sweeping lasers and explosive energy blasts, but Roxas withstood the projectile onslaught and returned some magic of his own. A well-timed counter led into a flurry of attacks that made for a solid opening to the fight, but rather than push too hard the dual-wielder made sure to keep an eye on his allies, starting with Goldlewis. The man badly needed another burst of healing, and once he received it he could breathe a lot easier, even if he couldn’t do much to help the team out unarmed.

Karin's brave attempt did not fare quite so well. This inhuman opponent, massive and packing a small army’s worth of projectiles, was unlike anything the heiress had ever faced. And however skilled one might be, sometimes lady luck was simply not on one’s side. Even worse, Roxas couldn’t help her back up after she went down thanks to his mana expenditure for Goldlewis’ sake, so Karin would be out of commission for a while. That also meant that Enceladus could finish her off at any time if it decided to, but Goldlewis wasn’t about to let that happen. Fighting a chimera barehanded might be beyond him, but protecting someone in need he could do. He hustled over to scoop the young woman up in his arms, cradling her like an infant. No stray shots would be snuffing her out on his watch.

That left the fighting to the other three, but the Seekers were pulling out all the stops. A hefty slab of red matter flew in to smash against Enceladus’ body. It crumbled on impact, but did a chunk of damage, leaving part of the monster’s torso cracked with the same fiery orange that eked out of its eyes and mouth. Angry, Enceladus turned its shoulder cannons in the direction the cube came from and bombarded the area, happily pulverizing any outcroppings between it and its targets. Midna felt some of her strikers’ pain, but they disappeared before too much damage could be dealt, and she could take solace in the knowledge she gave a lot worse than she got. A barrage from Enceladus soon flushed her out, but those Dragon Dances meant her volcanic weapons would pack a serious punch.

Pit, Midna, and Roxas converged, and a hectic melee ensued. Focusing attacks on a specific arm did not seem any more expedient than attacking it normally, but they could be knocked down like that and forced to return to the body. Enceladus fought with massive strength, causing explosions on the terrain that tended to outstrip its already troublesome range, and it happily attempted to send its enemies spiraling off into the abyss as much as smash them flat, but it had a problem. It was predictable. All three of its challengers were quick on their feet and observant, able to avoid its blows and retaliate with quick, powerful strikes. Meanwhile, the fastest it moved was during its highly-telegraphed charges; otherwise it floated slowly about, and its block was by no means impregnable. Those mighty fists weren’t much good if it couldn’t lay a finger on these people. Enceladus scored some hits, especially when it started belting out loads of fireballs and lasers, but Pit sent its own projectiles right back at it with his Guardian Orbitars again and again. After just a couple minutes, the chimera was in encouragingly bad shape.

It did showcase one tricky new ability, which it tried twice. After clapping its hands together, Enceladus could seal a team member in a dome of red energy that quickly shrank in. Any contact with the dome would lead to injury, and if allowed to close in it might very well crush an unfortunate Seeker inside. Outside it, however, formed three nodes that sustained the field, and destroying them would free the captive. The first time it happened it led to near-disaster, but by the second time someone got trapped the other two broke them out in no time flat. After a bit more back-and-forth, Enceladus fell to the ground with a terrific crash. It tried in vain to reach out for its foes, but after a moment its hand dropped down, and the chimera lay still.

Of course, that wasn’t quite how things worked, but after a long, hectic, and confusing day not all the Seekers might remember that. As Goldlewis joined them with Karin, a final dome suddenly formed around. “What in tarnation!?” the veteran yelled in dismay. “The damn thing ain’t dead yet!” This time, with all of them trapped inside, it was a real problem. Neither their bodies nor weapons nor projectiles could pierce the dome to destroy the nodes. “This is stupid as hell,” Goldlewis growled. “No way our goose gets cooked like this!”

Luckily, the old man was right. In the midst of a sea of red came a streak of blue that shattered one of the nodes in a burst of red matter. Goldlewis whipped around to look in the direction it came from, but the barrier around him made it hard to see. All he could make out were large shapes moving and shooting, connected by chains of bright, ethereal blue. Another moment later and the final node burst apart, dispelling the barrier and saving everyone’s skin.

Hero and monster alike stared back the way the Seekers had come to see a gang of newcomers, five strong. In the center stood a tall, imposing, stern-looking commander, wearing white armor atop a blue uniform and wielding an X-baton in gladius mode. To his right stood a stoic with spectacles and a cap-wearing lady with an easygoing smile, both officers in uniform as well, and on the left were the twins Akira and Hayato, but like the other three they now sported strange semi-triangular devices on their left forearms with blue cores that rattled and whirred. “You alright?” their leader asked.

“Just about,” Goldlewis called back, hefting Karin so that he could wipe his brow with the back of his hand.

Enceladus tightened its fists and pounded the floor, roaring. The commander nodded. “Then let’s finish this.”

The Seekers could join in, or just watch, as the legionarii both new and old went on the attack. Together they charged Enceladus, and as they approached they summoned creatures to fight alongside them. The entities they summoned looked sort of like chimeras themselves, but blue instead of red, clasped in white police armor, and literally chained to their summoners. Alicia led the charge on her wolflike Beast Legion, which pounced on the chimera to bite repeatedly as its rider laid into its head with her blaster. When it flipped off to avoid getting grabbed, the Beast Legion not only lashed Enceladus with its tail, but spat out a final parting shot that exploded on impact. Next went Jin with his burly Arm Legion, a legless floating armor like a miniature version of Enceladus itself, but this one countered its counterpart’s punch with a flurry of blows before seizing the monster’s arm to deal it a mighty wallop with itself. Enceladus rained down hell with its cannons, but Davis’ Lance Legion shielded the barrage before driving a deadly thrust into the cracks in Enceladus’ chest that Midna left earlier. As the monster writhed, the twins joined in, putting their new partners through their paces. Akira’s ghostlike Arrow Legion perforated the chimera with brilliant blue bolds, while the dual blades of Hayato’s Sword Legion carved through its flesh.

With everyone attacking together, Enceladus stood no chance. This time the Seekers made sure it stayed down, and soon all that remained were ashes and its spirit, tinted freakishly red.

“Thanks for the save,” Goldlewis panted, jogging up to the newcomers as they dismissed their Legions.

Davis’ face was stony. “Save it for later,” he told them. “We have to get you out of there.”

With their instruments plus the guidance of a woman’s voice over their radios, the Neuron officers found a nearby exit rift and got everyone out of the Astral Plane. Returning to reality felt like coming up for air from underwater, and Goldlewis didn’t realize just how out of breath he’d been until he could breathe normal air once more. He still felt pretty bad, though. That sense of filthiness on and beneath his skin had yet to cease, and he was beginning to worry.

Before he could say anything, though, the voice reached Davis and the others again. “Those people you found fighting in the Astral Plane. Their data corruption levels are dangerously high. You should take care of it now.”

Goldlewis froze. He’d be so intent on the fight with Enceladus he’d completely forgotten about redshift. After time in the Astral Plane itself, it had to be bad. The only thing that staved off panic was that operator’s phrasing–was there something that these people could do to save his team?

“Right.” Davis beckoned Hayato over. “I know you’re exhausted, but we need you to bring the Sword Legion out again. It can blueshift these people before they aberrate. Quickly now.

The Sword Legion appeared again and visited the Seekers one by one. It laid its hands on Roxas, Midna, Pit, Karin, and Goldlewis for a few seconds at a time, dispelling the redness overtaking them with a wave of blue. All of a sudden it felt like a massive weight was lifted off the veteran’s chest, as if a terrible sickness had gone away at the snap of a doctor’s fingers. He felt much better, although the Sword Legion disappeared from his view the second he did. Had he only been able to see it, and perhaps that chimera, because enough red matter had entered his system to make him ‘like’ them? What a scary thought.

“Really can’t thank you enough,” he told the officers afterward. “For a minute there I was fixin’ to throw in the towel.”

David gave the slightest hint of a reassuring smile. “Nothing to it. We appreciate your desire to help, but please keep in mind just how dangerous and corruptive red matter exposure is. Sad as it is, Neuron can’t be there every time. Just not enough manpower.”

“Those floatin’ things that looked like chimeras, but fought on your side,” Goldlewis asked. “What were they?”

Jin came forward to answer, allowing Davis to step away and handle something else. Judging by the state of the highway, things seemed more or less sorted on this side. No more gates or aberrations could be seen, and the various roadways swarmed with blue-coated officers. “They’re called Legions,” Jin informed him. “Don’t mean to brag, but they’re basically our ace up our sleeves against the Chimeras. The only stuff that works well against ‘em. Fighting fire with fire, you know?”

“Isn’t this all classified or something?” Alicia asked, her hands on her hips. “I mean, not that I care or anything.”

Jin shrugged. “Hey, they say ‘em with their own eyes. Not much of a secret.”

“Can anyone use them Legion things?” Goldlewis asked. “I know this ain’t exactly our business, seein’ as we ain’t Neuron like y’all, but we’re tryin’ to do somethin’ about the Ever Crisis.”

Jin gave a humorless chuckle. “Now wouldn’t that be nice. Well, not everyone. You’d have to be selected for Neuron to even have a shot, but you gotta have an aptitude for it too. What, you wanna go another round with the chimeras? That’d be a first.”

“For now, you all should head home. Take it easy for a bit,” Alicia advised.

Goldlewis looked back down the highway, trying to spot where he’d left the tunnel. It had been back by the tunnel, and he could probably loop around to find another, less chaos-ridden route into Sector 7. “...Right.”

“Here, we can get a chopper to evacuate you,” Davis said as he returned. “They’ll be flying around all night anyway. Might as well get you where you need to go.”

“That’d be great, but…I ain’t gonna leave my hummer behind,” Goldlewis told everyone. “Y’all go ahead, I’m gonna head back and swing it ‘round. Find another way into Sector 7. This ain’t my first rodeo.” Hefting his coffin over his shoulder, the veteran waved farewell.

It wasn’t long before the Seekers, for the second time that day, arrived by air at the S.O.U. headquarters helipad. Five-star hotel or not, they’d be crashing on the sofas here tonight, using the sheets and pillows provided. It had been a long and busy day.







Just from the look of him Tora and Poppi expected Zenkichi to step back and let his minions take the Seekers on. So far Benedict established the precedent of being mostly talk, while the G-men under his thumb provided the action. They did not expect him, when menaced by Geralt, to completely change his appearance in a surge of azure flame, nor to reveal a spectral partner of superhuman size to stand by his side. It struck the two most keenly not because it came completely out of left field, but because they’d seen exactly the same ritual before during their journey through the Sandswept Sky–that sort of spontaneous combustion plus Persona manifestation had been the calling card of their Phantom Thief allies, at least in a metaphorical sense.

“Poppi see that?” Tora exclaimed as the battle began. Poppi didn’t bother answering; of course she had. “Just like friends Joker, Panther, and others that Tora forget! Must be related somehow, meh!” For right now, though, the man wasn’t their friend. He brandished dual revolvers to rival Poppi’s own, though at the moment it looked like it would be the Witcher, not her, taking the detective on. “Ger-Ger be careful not to kill, just in case!”

“Hee-llooo?” came a shout in a cheerful, childish voice. Its owner, Jack Frost, closed in on the leftover Seekers with the other Shadows. “You should be worrying about yourselves, ho!”

Things kicked off quickly. Blazermate and her sentry got the attention of the chrome terror Chemtrail, distracting it for a few moments. With its buzzsaw-like blades and screaming faces, that thing looked like an absolute menace, so Tora knew he and Poppi needed to take out the trash fast. “Let’s go!” As Susie challenged Loup-Garou with her Business Suit, the dynamic duo moved together to take on Apsaras in hopes of dispatching her quickly, but she put up some sort of magical wall, and Jack Frost started pelting the pair with Bufu from afar. As the icicles flew in, Poppi grabbed her Masterpon to dive out of harms’ way, but the glancing blow she took did so little damage that her wariness melted away in an instant.

“Masterpon, you should push in. I’ll take care of that one.” She squeezed off a revolver shot at Jack Frost to keep its head down, then got to her feet with an ukemi and quickly switched to her Fire Core. Trusting his partner completely, Tora bounced off to challenge Apsaras, while Poppi faced a Mabufu hailstorm from the snowman. Wreathed in flame, her Variable Saber’s plasma blade burned through the onslaught, and from within the diamond dust she let loose a fire-infused round at Jack’s feet.

The ensuing explosion launched him upward, and Poppi jetted in for a diagonal leaping slash. “I’ve hee’d my last ho!” he cried as he fell, and the next moment the artificial blade’s brilliant flare cleaved him into halves that quickly burnt to cinders.

At the same time, Tora swung straight through all of Apsaras’ elemental shields and clobbered her in the side of the head with his hammer. She reeled back, grit her teeth, and slung a spell at the Nopon’s feet to freeze him in place with her ice. A vortex of winds built up between her hands as she charged and unleashed a Cycloburst to knock his back, but Tora rolled to his feet none the worse for wear thanks to Blazermate’s overheal. Apsaras cast an icy wave across the ground that erupted underneath her foe, but Tora managed to block in time and just get launched into the air, where he saw an opportunity. “Meh-meh-meh!” he cried, swinging downward the bash off the tip of the iceberg so that he could somersault onto it and slide down the slope. It worked like a charm, and with a whoosh he closed in on Apsaras, riding her own wave back to her. She managed to elegantly cartwheel back out of the way in time to avoid his swing, and with the Nopon overextended at point-blank range she used Bufula to call forth a crag of ice above him to drop on his head.

Instead Poppi smashed through the ice with a blazing red-hot kick and slammed into Apsaras, pinning her into the ground. Variable Saber ignited, Poppi performed a burning backflip to try and slice the shadow bottom-to-top, but despite appearances Apsaras’ weakness was not fire. She survived the fiery strike, and as Poppi landed by her feet she rose, healing herself with diarama. Of course, she couldn’t then do much to stop Poppi as she slashed twice, then used her new anklet to launch into Rolling Thrash, a forward roll heel drop that ended with her on her back and Apsaras bowled forward. With haste Poppi reversed the motion, flipping backward with an upward kick that popped the shadow up. Finally, Tora used her as a springboard to leap into the air and smash Apsaras to the ground with his hammer. Two down, two to go.

Right away, though, they saw that Chemtrail would be a problem. When it used Riot Gun, its three mouths took turns firing huge bullets like howitzers. It had already destroyed Blazermate’s turret, and it had taken all the Medabot’s speed to stay one small step ahead of its gunfire after disengaging from Tora. Giovanna succeeded in taking the heat of the healer with a couple kicks, but they barely left a dent in Chemtrail’s metal body, and the secret agent quickly found herself on the run instead. After a missing a number of Riot Guns that left craters in the ground or screamed through the air to inconvenience other parts of the city, the chrome demon belched forth a cloud of Fog Breath. Giovanna, Blazermate, Tora, and Poppi all got enveloped, leaving their offense and agility suppressed even after the haze cleared away. Chemtrail didn’t innately nullify fire like it did the light and dark elements, but after Poppi landed a couple ineffective hits on its engine it might as well have. Knowing that she couldn’t press her luck in this state, she superjumped away before Chemtrail could turn and nail her with a Riot Gun, then hurried to Tora’s side just as the shadow unleashed Shivering Taboo, inflicting a seventy percent chance of bind, panic, sleep, sick, or poison in an area around it. This time, Tora lucked out but Poppi collapsed to the ground where she lay asnooze. Giovanna stumbled, stricken by poison, and Chemtrail aimed its next Riot Gun her way. Though it hurt him to leave Poppi, Tora ran in to earn its aggression by hammering away at its leg. Giovanna might not be able to take those shots, but he could.

At the same time, Loup-Garou recovered from Susie’s headshot and began to make the most of its agility. He dashed around in speedy bursts, avoiding as much damage as he could as he racked up hits on his less-mobile target. That Business Suit would be quite the tough nut to crack, but in a war of attrition the wolfman had a few tricks up his sleeve. First he attacked Susie’s mech with Fang Breaker to lower her attack, and then he softened it up with one Damascus Claw after another. The raking multihits as it darted around kept the pressure on, even if it wasn’t a lot of burst damage, but if Susie lowered her guard for even a moment Loup-Garou would pounce to strike the pilot herself with the brutal electric power of Souffle D'éclair.

This was quite the mess. Between the fights with Zenkichi, Chemtrail, and Loup-Garou, Benedict had his pick of who to back up. But who needed his help the most?



As much as she enjoyed the vitalizing refreshment of pure water and the feeling of rainfall, Nadia knew she’d tire of being drenched eventually. Luckily, the jacket she’d gained from her fusion with Massachusetts was waterproof, as one might expect from shipgirl attire, so by zipping it up and donning the hood Nadia could comfortably withstand the Home of Tears’ ceaseless, characteristic deluge. Sure it smushed her ears down a little, which along with the constant roar of pounding rainfall made it pretty hard to hear, but it beat catching anything that might put the brakes on her convalescence. And her legs would've gotten soaked anyhow as she splashed through the puddles of the dark city streets.

Nadia proceeded at a leisurely pace, despite her hunger, thirst, and fatigue, but she kept a sharp eye out. It would be a bit before her map -consulted semi-frequently beneath overhangs and rain shelters constructed for the express purpose of a moment’s reprieve- brought her to the Royal Quarter, where she planned to commit her burglarize. She was the kind of cat burglar who much preferred to steal from the rich than from the poor, after all. Still, she couldn’t help her eyes constantly roving around as she retraced her steps from the Sanitarium back through Downtown to Fountain Central. Late as it might be to some, the night was still young for Nadia Fortune, and there altogether too many interesting things to see.

She found herself fascinated by the unique features -and inhabitants- of a city built and lived in by non-humans. It struck her as even stranger than the cat-dominated Nyakuza Metro, a weird but wonderful hodgepodge that continuously stoked her curiosity as she made her way along. Whether walking the streets along with her or behind the glass of various stores and restaurants, Nadia observed a huge number of people that in any other circumstance would have just seemed like monsters. She spotted mudmen, mummies, harpies, armors, ghosts, goblins, ghoulies, gorgons (not petrifying, thankfully), dryads, sea horses, land whales, a variety of demons from diminutive imps to fiery fiends, dragons, slimes, and bugs of all kinds. None exhibited any sort of aggression or ill will; they just acted like…well, people. Nadia noticed plenty of beastfolk that would be ferals in her world, and they ran the gamut of beastliness from almost-human like herself to little more than bipedal animals. She happened to glimpse a bunch of skeletons and catfolk at an aptly-named Milk Bar run by -who else?- a milk elemental, but she felt no desire to join them. When she decided that a stiff drink would do her some good, she hadn’t been thinking of dairy. After pausing a moment to let a family of soft-bodied slugcats and a cyclopean frog pass by, Nadia moved on.

After all, interesting and inhuman as the Home of Tears might be, she did not feel at ‘home’, oddly enough. In the end, Nadia knew that for all intents and purposes, she was pretty much a human. Plenty of people in the World of Light had animal ears and/or tails, including some of Limsa’s shipgirls, and nobody batted an eye. Here, she felt like an outlier. In comparison she liked Nyakuza Metro a lot better; it had been cute and fun, leaning wholeheartedly into its gimmick. Limsa Lominscuttle Town spoke to her soul in the same way that Little Innsmouth did, making her hurt for home. In terms of places she’d visited, the undead hellhole known as Redgraccoon City didn’t really count. The couple days she spent trapped there felt like a lifetime. And before that…well, out of all the random spots where the caravan she’d joined stopped during her week-long trek around the base of Split Mountain and through the Sandswept Sky, she only recalled enjoying the night spent in Tostarena Town. It had really been a whirlwind of adventure ever since she left Carnival Town, and she couldn’t even remember how long she spent up there. If not for that caravan, she realized, she might have never run into the Seekers and awakened from Galeem’s stupor. She would’ve never met Ace. The idea of whiling away her days in Carnival Town, happily oblivious to all that had happened, chilled her more than the rain. Nadia shivered, and picked up the pace across the bridges to and from Fountain Central. Those pockets weren’t going to pick themselves.

Eventually Nadia reached the Royal Quarter. Here the streets were spacious, smooth, well-decorated, and bathed in the soft pink glow of ornate streetlights fueled by hydroelectricity. Everything was carefully laid-out and planned, elaborate and aesthetic, and both bugs and beasts adorned themselves with finery. A few of the well-to-do-denizens traversed the tidy avenues beneath umbrellas, but most stuck to carriages, drawn by what Nadia guessed must be less-sentient bugs and beasts. At one point, a particularly fancy carriage rolled by with a Dark Horse pulling it, which elicited a double-take from Nadia. The one she and Sectonia fought early that afternoon had been vicious, but this one seemed tame somehow. “...Huh.”

No stranger to weariness or hunger, Nadia didn’t rush things, but patiently took her time wandering the Home of Tears’ wealthiest districts in search of a target. She’d had enough fighting today. Beneath the glare of Gallo Tower’s clock face she felt like she was always being watched, but security around here seemed relatively light. Did these people generally live in peace and happiness? Well, good for them. Only once did she spy what looked like law enforcement of any kind: a handful of mermaid guards led by a tall, one-eyed knight. Nadia steered clear, and after making her way out of the most active parts of the Royal Quarter, found her mark.

With how late it was, all the fine boutiques on this particular street had closed up shop. Unlike the most upscale shopping center it lacked any awnings stretched overhead to offer shelter from the rain, and no rain shelters happened to be built on it, so there was no reason to linger here in the downpour. Nadia couldn’t see any carriages either, and she didn’t expect anyone indoors around here after closing time. Folks didn’t both live and do business in the same building in parts of town like this, goodness no. The avenue was empty; all she needed to do was take her pick. The feral strolled up the left side of the street, looking in the windows to see what each had in store. A tailor? Probably not. They dealt in pricey but infrequent transactions for services as much as goods, and weren’t likely to have left money on hand. A jeweler? No way. Places like that could be counted on to have extra layers of security, and while she counted herself an exceptional thief, Nadia wanted something easy tonight. A shop with wares that one wouldn’t expect to be particularly valuable, but always turned out to be expensive, especially in upscale areas like this. And one that would see enough transactions throughout the day to leave

A leathercrafter? Bingo.

Nadia stopped and peered inside, scoping the place out with her keen catlike eyes. She could see boots, hats, belts, straps, purses, pouches, wallets, and so forth. The upper class needed things to carry all their money in, as well as reins and harnesses for their carriage-pullers, and guards needed fixtures for their equipment. On the counter by the door lay what looked like a register, but it would have the bare minimum of cash in it, if any. Shopkeepers weren’t so stupid as to leave their stash where any mook brave enough to smash the glass could snatch it. What she wanted was the safe. Of course, she’d need to get in first, and she didn’t plan to use any brute force herself. A cat burglar’s calling card was her silence: getting in and out without a sound, leaving everything just as the owner left it, except for the prize. Luckily, her skillset was bigger than ever.

Nadia looked up. Through the rain that got in her eyes she could see no open second-story windows. Oh well. She jumped up anyway, sinking her claws into the chitinous outer surface of the building. Inside the shop she’d seen a furnace, perfect for casting an inviting glow out on the street, as well as warming up and drying out any waterlogged customers as they perused the leatherworker’s wares. When she reached the roof, Nadia found not a chimney, but a tiny metal pipe just a few inches in diameter. “Purr-fect.” She pulled off her right hand and dropped it in, then drained some blood into it as well. Once satisfied it was enough, she turned and hopped back down to street level, then stood in front of the glass to watch.

After a moment spent feeling around in there, she unlatched and pushed open the furnace from the inside. Earlier remote maneuvers like this had been tricky, but now she’d come to see them as an art, and this time she had a fresh coat of paint to add to the mix. From within the furnace emerged one of her copycats, formed from the blood she’d deposited earlier, with her real hand in place of its own right. Nonchalantly the doppelganger strolled through the store to unlock the door from the inside. It reached up and grabbed the bell to stop it ringing, and Nadia waltzed right in.

She locked the door behind her just in case, then absorbed her copycat (minus the furnace ash) and began to sniff around. During her search for the safe, she happened to spot a display in one corner advertising Wallets with a capital ‘W’. Turning on her Night Light, she read that these magical Wallets could apparently hold limitless funds, and they boasted a price point to prove it. “Hell of an askin’ price,” she murmured to herself. “Good thing I’m gettin’ a discount.” She swiped one not from the display, but from the supply crate in the back. Looking at all the fine leather on display, however, she couldn’t stop there. “Ah, I shouldn’t, but…I’m easily suede.” Nadia took a black belt and looped it through four pouches to emulate the one she’d lost, then put it on. “Feels just right,” she smiled as she tapped on the clasp. “Let’s hope you don’t ‘buckle’ like the last one.” Giggling to herself, she turned to look around. Now, if I were a leatherworker’s safe, where would I ‘hide’...?”

In no time she found it, tucked away in a corner of the supply room. Inside a cabinet laden with transaction records lay the safe, a bulbous strongbox of the same material as many of the cave floors and walls around her, with a keyhole instead of a combination lock. After thinking for a moment Nadia crouched down, lugged the safe out, and turned it around. “Okay. Let’s hope this isn’t any stronger than it looks, or I’ll have to go through the lock.” She put her fingers together, hardened her nails into metal-hard claws, and revved her forearm like a living drill. Holding her bicep with her other hand, she rammed it into the back of the safe, aiming to bore a hole large enough to fit her arm in. After that, it was just a matter of persistence.

A few minutes later, it was done. It didn’t take as long as Nadia expected, in fact. Maybe all this adventuring had made her stronger. When she plundered the inside of the safe, the cat burglar found several days’ worth of unbanked cash stacked there, mostly in the form of high-value Geo widgets. In total it came to a couple thousand. “Nyaow that’s what I’m talkin’ about,” she purred. She sunk it into her new wallet, then stowed it in one of her new pouches. The weight of money in her pockets at last felt good. “Now that’s what I call a waist of money!”

Once she put the safe back, Nadia slipped out the front door, then locked it again behind her with a doppelganger arm she left inside. At her direction it crawled back up to and inside the furnace, then pulled it shut. At that point it fell apart, an insignificant sacrifice hidden in the ash to be torched the next time the fire was lit. The feral sauntered away, fleeing the Royal Quarter at a casual pace. It was past time she got a chance to take it easy.



Few locales in the World of Light could boast a better view of the setting sun than its western shore, and though it made for a beautiful view from just about anywhere along that sandy seaside, Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn liked it best from the highest point in Limsa Lominscuttle Town. From the edge of the lofty airship dock that crowned the seafaring city’s central castle she could gaze out across hundred of miles of glinting water, over Inkwell Isle and the hundreds of colorful little island villages that made up New Horizons Archipelago, all the way to the horizon. The dusk painted the sky with the vivid, warm hues of orange, yellow, red, and pink. Throughout all the horrors of war those sunsets had provided solace for many soldiers, reminding them not just that they’d made it through another day, but of the beauty of the world they’d been fighting for. And now, after all was said and done, the people of this fair port could enjoy the sunsets and the nights that followed them without fear of what tomorrow might bring.

Tonight, though, Merlwyb couldn’t visit her favorite perch. As the townsfolk enjoyed their second evenings in this new season of peacetime, she made haste for the harbor of the Azur Fleet. The sight of their Admiral running was not a rare sight in Limsa, but with the war concluded at long last those who saw her couldn’t help but wonder what concerned her so.

Merlwyb sprinted across bridges, down stairs, and even put some of her old seafaring skills to use zipping down ropes to reach her destination all the faster. Only when she reached the end of the dock past the white sea-stone port did she slow down. Before her stood an imposing figure, seldom-seen around here but very recognizable. She stood taller even than Merlwyb, despite the admiral’s rather impressive stature, but this woman also sported a physique that would put the burliest male Roegadyns to shame. Despite the cherry-red armor she wore on top of it, the form-fitting black-and-gray suit she wore advertised her incredible musculature well enough. It wasn’t often that Merlwyb felt small, or out of breath for that matter, but after a deep breath she composed herself to speak as if nothing at all was awry.

“Good evening, Madam Consul,” she began. “And welcome to Limsa Lominscuttle Town. I trust you had a safe voyage?”

A deep sigh echoed from the stranger as she turned around. Vivid green eyes regarded Merlwyb with a piercing luster from within a round, vaguely skull-shaped helmet within a mane of octopus tentacles. Their dangling lengths swung gently in the wind as she moved. “Uneventful. Sadly.”

Merlwyb furrowed her brow. “I see. Forgive me for not receiving you in the Bulwark Hall, I must have missed the forewarning of your arrival. Will you be staying long?”

“It’s fine. I didn’t send any.” The Consul chuckled, crossing her brawny arms. “I’ll be going again soon, as well. I don’t really ‘stay’. But I hear you have good news for me.”

“Certainly. I am happy to be able to announce the conclusion of our long and bloody fight with the Abyssal Fleet. It was a hard-earned victory, and it came at great cost. But the war is over, and we finally have peace.” Merlwyb did not attempt to disguise the pride in her voice. She’d earned it.

“Peace…” The Consul laughed through her nose, then shrugged helplessly, her palms upheld. “There is no such thing.”

Merlwyb blinked. “Beg…your pardon? Do you mean to imply the Abyssal threat remains?”

Tilting her head, the Consul put a hand to her chin. “Well, not exactly. It’s true that plenty of them remain alive. Enough to cause problems if they rallied under a new leader. But…” She shook her head. “They’re played out. Sure, they look interesting, but in truth they’re boring. As one-dimensional as it gets. Wasted potential. So we’re gonna clean ‘em up, Consul A and I. The Abyssals won’t darken your doorstep anymore”

“I…see.” That bit of news was a relief, despite some odd turns of phrase Merlwyb didn’t quite parse, but she had yet to feel at ease. “Then, what is it you speak of? Some new enemy?”

Again the Consul shook her head. Her reply came in an almost jovial tone. “Oh no, no no. An old enemy. The enemy of every living thing. Of life, one might say.” She looked up at Limsa Lominscuttle Town, putting her hands on her hips. “For living things, there is no such thing as peace. Only stagnation.” Her disquieting gaze settled on Merlwyb. “When running water grows still, all that follows is decay and death. Where you see a city, I see a nexus of countless lives burning bright, a grand bonfire stoked by the flames of war. After all, conflict is the crucible through which life is given meaning. But with no more fuel for that fire, what happens next? It’ll burn out, and only ashes will remain. The countdown to your extinction has already begun.” Smirking, she crossed her arms. “And I don’t mean that metaphorically.”

Merlwyb gritted her teeth. “Madam Consul, please be clear with me. What peril is our city in? What can we do?”

“You can fight!” I pointed her finger at the admiral, then pounded her fists together. “Conflict is the crucible, remember? If you mean to stoke your flames, you must claim them from others! Before they claim them from you. Prove that you have the right to live!”

“Haven’t we proven enough?” Merlwyb pleaded.

Consul I threw her hands up. “That’s like saying, have I eaten enough? Maybe for now. But tomorrow you’ll be hungry again. And if you ignore that hunger you -and all these people- will die. Do not fear, however. As a reward for your efforts, I’m making it easy for you. It’s high time for a change. That’s where they come in.”

She half-turned to gesture out to see, where a huge, bulky barge floated in the water. Merlwyb had been wondering what that vessel might be since she first glimpsed it, but with the Consul’s alarming words in mind she gave it a closer look. On its deck rested a large structure, and though it looked like a circus cannon she’d unconsciously dismissed that possibility. No cannon, after all, could be that large. But as she stood there reevaluating her line of thinking, Merlwyb also noticed a plethora of small figures crowding the deck, running and jumping around, fighting, or just facing Limsa Lominscuttle Town.

Merlwyb took a step back, her face aghast. “By the twelve! Do you mean to say you’ve brought yet more foes to attack us? Consul!?”

“Hey, now.” I took a step forward. “I’m doing you a favor, you know. I’m giving you a chance–a chance to burn even brighter. Normally, once a place like Limsa reaches the top, there’s nowhere to go but down. Ripened crops will just rot in their fields, after all, if they’re not harvested. That’s where we come in. We don’t actually give our crops a chance to wither away. Waste not, want not.” She chuckled.

“What in blazes are you talking about? Is that what my people are to you?” Merlwyb wished she had brought her pistols with her. “Are you in some way responsible for these years of warfare? How much death and destruction is on your head, Consul?” She balled her fists with an angry grimace. “Tell me!”

I did not budge a solitary inch. “Careful now. This place will need its Admiral to weather the coming storm. Just remember, Merlwyb.” She slowly reached up and with the press of her button deactivated her helmet. When it disappeared, it left behind a face devoid of fear. She stepped closer, pressing the barrel of Merlwyb’s gun to her head. “I do not challenge you,” she intoned in her unfiltered voice. “I merely bring you the test. The chance to avoid the fate in store for the Abyssals.” With a laugh, she licked her lips. “Fail, and I’ll be back for you.”

Then she disappeared in a purple flash, teleporting onto the cargo ship. At her command all forty Rumblers aboard the vessel warped into the cannon. The voice of an announcer rang out across the bay. “Hi folks, I’m Skip Leggerday, coming to you live from beautiful Limsa Lominscuttle Town! We’ve got a whale of a match coming up, so get ready to rumble! In three! Two! One! Go!”

Forty funny-looking wrestlers full of gumption launched into the air, hurtling through the sky to fall upon Limsa like musclebound meteorites, and get their first high-octane match with the shocked city defenders underway.

It took some work, but they managed to finish Artemis off with Sierra unharmed. Unconscious, but unharmed. Frisk's arms were wrapped around the poor girl, not caring about getting blood on herself, but still appearing concerned. Why was she in that thing, how was she in that thing? Who could've done it?

Her mood only grew more dreary at Big Band's comment. She didn't mean to be a downer, but something was plaguing her at the back of her mind. From the run-in with the Dollmaker to now, it felt like Frisk was just...lagging behind. Clinging onto the coattails of the more experienced, the more powerful, just trying to last as long as they do. She hadn't even felt anything change pertaining to her Level of Violence or Execution Points, but was she really that desperate to resort to that?

No.

Hopefully she can shrug off this feeling of inadequacy soon.

Because the cops arrived.

Frisk's eyes widened when Lucia burst through the doors. God, she had forgotten about her! When Big Band moved out of sight, she tried to follow suit. Unsure of what to do about Sierra, she gently pulled her along with her. So they had thirty seconds to act?

"If we can get them off our backs, we can make a break for the hideout. But what about Sierra?" She asked the others. "We can't leave her like this, can we?" So much for buying a new weapon. Maybe she could steal one if they're forced to fight. They probably wouldn't mind, right?

After they’d given teemo a run down of fusion, and Barnabee the same more or less by accident, they set out along the long long beach. Bowser tramped along though the sand while Kamek floated above with a few copies of himself on guard. The young ones meanwhile found ways to entertain themselves, with Jr go-carted along and occasionally stopping to examine an interesting bit of sea life or collect/swap out a small collection of colorful coral chunks, while Rika skimmed across the shallows of the underground sea, making a game of catching and releasing crabs with her grappling hook.

Just in time before those two got bored of their activities the landscape started to change, and they also got a better, closer, look at the big tree, witnessing its burnt out and severed state. A state which would have made it a dead end if not for the fact that, as Kamek pointed out ”We could always fly up the gap. It would be less of a trip than going to another tree” though there was the caveat that ”I’m not sure I would trust the structural integrity of the tree however, or at least the bits close to the, ah, missing section”

”Musta been one massive fire when that thing burned” Jr noted as they began to head up the ashy sand around the base of the tree, filling the mind’s eye with images of a blaze bright as the sun under ground. What was left however, was the ash and, oddly, some neat rows of flowers around the entrance.

Before any of the troop thought about the implications of that, they had stepped inside and found new sights to take in: an ashen mountain (possibly made up of the remains of the twisting branches they had climbed down in the last one, who’s absence would make Kamek’s ‘just fly up it’ plan a touch trickier) a series of alters and weapons, and finally, the answer to the question about who had been tending the flowers which the troop had not thought to ask.

The man/goat in question seemed to be a king of sorts, but a king of nothing, given his location and dejected appearance.

He was also, and this even Bowser managed to notice without being prompted so rare it was in this world of red glares, free from Glameem’s influence.

”Howdy yourself” Bowser greeted the man, king to king, before getting right to it and pointing out, very simply, that: ”You’re free from Galeem” before misjudging the situation and asking: ”So that means you ran into some other seekers that did that then right?” and then finally demanding to know ”Where’d they go?”

Asgore shook his head, sighing. His attempt at geniality turned to weariness, as if he'd really been hoping the pleasantries would go on a bit longer. "If you're talking about the trance, I was destoried a long way back. 'Fraid I don't know who you mean by 'other seekers'." When he spoke, it bore a very sight southern inflection. The old goat clasped his hands on either side of his watering can.

”Huh what? Well. Uh” Bowser scratched the back of his head as he tried to figure that one out, only for him to give up and just say ”Well that’s a pain, though for sure we were on their trail for a moment there. Guess we’ve just got to keep looking”

”Hold on, are we not going to interrogate that any further?” Kamek tried to ask regarding the bombshell that had just been dropped, but Bowser had already moved on and started talking about something he was actually interested in.

Boss room design

”Real nice set up you’ve got here by the way. Big massive ash hill, extra points because it's like if you made a skull pile back before the whole spirit thing was a thing, and then you’ve got these altars for weapon options I guess? Plus that big ominous timer thing. Not exactly clear what it's counting too but it looks great. Real nice stuff, and the flowers make a great contrast too” he commented, turning slowly to take it all in with the eye of a craftsman admiring another’s handy work

This kind of praise the king in exile did not at all expect, but even if this did err more toward conversation he'd prefer, he could hardly take pride in most the compliments. "Well..." he muttered, struggling to find words appropriate for such a situation as his. "I sure am happy you like the flowers, on account of all the care I take of 'em, but the ashes...aren't mine. Or the weapons, or the Flame Clock." Asgore spoke with his head lowered, his eyes on the dunes of ash.

”Oh. Well. Good job to wherever made it then, and same to you for keeping it, uh, nice” Bowser said, in an attempt to keep the mood up and not let his praise be entirely deflected from the man. Then he looked just a little bit perturbed that he had done so, which gave space for jr to ask ”Wait did you say flame clock? Is this place gonna catch on fire again?” just a tad too excited about the prospect all things considered.

Asgore shook his head, his expression tinged by both bemusement and pity. "Oh no, definitely not. No danger of burning up. Not again at least." He rubbed his goatee, a little uneasy. "Guess you don't about 'em. Not that I blame you. It's a sad story." Lifting his eyes up to the giant gauge on the inside of the hollow, he stared past the turned throne and into its purple glow. "Tell you what, though. I'm mighty glad it's full enough for the time being. Good company's hard to come by." He glanced between the Koopas, putting on a hopeful smile. "Maybe you all'd like some tea? I've got a little stove around the side, wouldn't be a minute."

While jr made a little sound of disappointment that there would be no mega inferno to watch, Bowser shrugged in response to the tea question and said ”Sure, why not. I could take a load off before we try and-” he glanced up ”Uh, climb that?”

”Perhaps. Or fly up it. Or try and figure something else out” Kamek said, considering their next move ”Either way, best ensure we have all our strength and mana before we attempt either going up there, or out over the sea to a more intact tree”

It was at that point that Rika finally poked her nose into the conversation in order to ask the most important question: ”So what kind of tea is it?”

"Ah, wonderful!" Still smiling, Asgore shuffled over toward an small opening in the hollow, hiddenly mostly from view by a large sheet of bark. He pushed it aside to reveal an extremely well-insulated alcove, and with a snap of his fingers he lit the stove there to start boiling a kettle of water. "I've got a couple kinds," he told Rika as he gingerly sifted through a decent collection. "Bough Rose, Lawngrass, Crumble Cheeseweed, Hive Honeysuckle. And naturally, my very own Ash Gorse tea, though I expect it might be poisonous to anyone else. I pick 'em up as I....travel 'round."

”Hmmm. Hmmm. Oh, could you make one of each and then I will taste test them for you all so I can try them all?” Rika asked, always eager to try all the new things she could, which got assent from the others in the troop.

As he selected and prepared the tea, he continued to speak. "I have to wonder though. What do you mean by going 'up'? There's no way I know of, even if you folks can fly. If you're going nowhere in particular, I reckon you'd be better off going down." Half-turning around, he pointed at the floor. "Beneath this lake's a city. Once upon a time I just called it 'Home', but nowadays it's called the Home of Tears 'cause of all the water leaking through the lakebed and falling like rain."

”Down? A city? Oh well now that sounds promising, doesn’t it sire?” Kamek said, before glancing at his king ”If they are to have gone anywhere, then a great big city would be a good bet, or so I suspect”

”Definitely. Easier too” Bowser agreed, having not been looking forward to attempting to climb all the way back up. Then he had another thought, snapped his fingers and said ”Oh. Right. Names: Bowser, Bowser Junior, Rika and Kamek” while indicating to the troop members, while leaving it to their travel companions to introduce themselves.

Taking two mugs in each hand, all four with one of each flavor he named other than the gorse, the big goat returned to where the others waited. "Fine names. I'm Asgore. Pleased to meet you." He'd happily provide tea to any of the others if asked as well. Barnabee had been prepared to decline, but when offered Hive Honeysuckle he reconsidered his stance.

Rika meanwhile began an impromptu tea review, conveniently distracting the troop in the process as they settled down for a break, and leaving plenty of space for others to air their curiosities.

Benedict only had enough time to roll out of Zenkichi's line of fire to avoid getting shot before brandishing the CCE shield that he had at his side. Bullets, incendiary missiles and all sorts of nasty projectile whizzed by. Benedict could only sigh exasperatedly as he wondered if they could have one moment in this city without somehow causing more property damage than they already have.

Those grievances would need to wait, as the tactician peered out from behind cover while the cloud of dust and smoke cleared around him; Benedict didn't need to put two and two together to see that things were quickly becoming messy for the Seekers. Chemtrails' gas seemed to have enfeebled them, and the sudden use of the shadows ability put a couple out of commission.

Zenkichi was locked in combat with the Witcher for the moment, Geralt was capable of standing on his own against the detective. So it was a simple enough decision to go to the Blade Poppi's aid, her master went to where Giovanna fell over succumbing to her affliction.

"Robot, now is not the time to be sleeping." the tactician shook the artificial Blade, hopefully rousing her enough to stand on her own. He held his shield between himself and Chemtrail as he roused Poppi, though it would most likely prove ineffective against the shadow "Regain your strength and fight." his words although seemingly just a rally to the Blade made her feel like her attacks would once again be effective.

Using his ability to buff the Blades attack for the time being, now his problem was being a sitting duck along with Poppi if they didn't reposition themselves.

Teemo nodded his head as alternate paths that didn't take the group through water were discussed. It wasn't really surprising they did not want to go for a swim either. While some of them did in fact have shells, he suspected they would not be able to swim like a turtle at all. Watching the antics of the Koopa-Troop Teemo simultaneously found himself both dumbfounded and also gradually realizing just what sort of a place this was both in the absolute sense and in the abstract.

As the mechanics of the World of Light began to be demonstrated to him, he perked up somewhat. This was not too dissimilar to how itemization worked in the summoner's rift. He reckoned he'd be adapting to it all pretty darn quick. "No, they didn't show me." he replied to Primrose. "But it makes sense. Kind of." Turning his head then to Rubick who demonstrated his own take upon this, Teemo thought he had sufficient demonstration.

"Alright, alright, I got it!" he announced proudly. Like a soldier on parade he held his blowpipe in reversed arms and marched over to a pretty if noneetheless mundane piece of coral on the shore. With a kick of a tiny foot the coral was sent airborne and then caught by a gloved hand. Inspecting it Teemo then shouted a triumphant "Hyah!" as he smashed it over his knee. For a brief moment he stayed in his tableau of pride, only to open a single eye after he got a suspicion that nothing really happened. "Hmmm. Oh, I see now!" the yordle exclaimed, now running to what looked like the spine of some long dead megalodon. He stumbled a bit under the weight as he picked it up, his balance heaving him here and there a few times until he finally caught his footing. Again a proud shout emanated as he planted the spine down into the sand like a flag once more expecting some grand effect to be produced. This time he opened both eyes right away, his poncho clad shoulders sagging a little. "Oh." he mumbled with a disappointment, kicking a rock lamely in his frustration as he returned to the party.

"Didn't want any stuff anyway." he finished, following the party silently for the moment. He simply held close to the rest of the gang, until the horned fellow was spotted. In Teemo's personal experience, the guys with horns were the bad ones, and thus he preemptively dove for cover behind the nearest wall and prepared to fire until a friendly Howdy was heard. As quickly as Teemo prepared for violence he emerged from it to politely introduce himself. "Captain Teemo." he stated, before continuing with his selection of tea. "Honeysuckle, if you ain't got black. I'd love some of this ash gorse stuff, if you got spare. Even if I can't drink it, maybe it'll give some nasty a real stomach ache if you catch my drift. Oh, any snacks while you're at it? Shrooms are tastty, but can't form a diet just on them."

While the others began interacting with Asgore, Rubick made his way to the alters, examining each weapon on them. They looked impressive enough, and Rubick had the impression that they were quite powerful. But at the same time, he couldn't be sure. He would have to ask the only other sapient creature about them.

After the others had provided introductions, Rubick responded with his own and a flourish, "And I am Rubick, the Grrrand Magus." Rubick eyed Asgore up and down, trying to gauge the goatman's various characteristics. "Hmm... you carry an air of... regality about you. Are you a king of sorts?" Rubick asked.

Asgore regarded the mage with a far-off stare. "Not anymore, son. Not in any way that matters."

"I see." Rubick said thoughtfully. Truly, this man was full of questions upon questions. It was a topic for another time, however, as there was something more interesting to him at the moment. "Say, what are those weapons over by the alters? Do you mind if we take them?" Rubick asked.

"Fraid I do mind," the big goat told him, his face apologetic but his tone firm. "That said, I don't figure you got the reqs anyhow, so don't feel too bad."

"...What!?" Rubick yelled indignantly. To tell Rubick that there was a magical artifact that he could not wield was an insult to his title as Grand Magus. "I will not stand for this! I will claim the staff there as my own, for I am the Grand Magus!" Rubick declared angrily, and teleported over to the staff alter in a flash of white webs. Picking it up, Rubick grasped it firmly in both hands and began to concentrate. He tried to channel his mana into it and attempted to cast a few spells, but the staff refused to respond to him. "How could this be?" Rubick asked, realizing that Asgore spoke the truth. Distraught, he set the staff back down in its original position and returned to the group, his head down in shame.

Rubick then contemplated his choices of tea that Asgore had provided before settling on Crumbling Cheeseweed simply for how delightful its name sounded, and he began to sip it under his mask. He silently swore that he would return one day to claim the staff.

With Artemis defeated, Wonder Red joined the others in order to look after Sierra. It seemed the fight, at least, hadn't injured her, but nothing to be said about her time inside the angelic demon.

"It seems our movements have been tracked," Red noted. "The Consul in charge of this region caught wind and sent a foe our way. Still, why involve Sierra in this?" As he pondered the development, Red looked to the ashen Artemis, and made the decision to take its spirit before it vanished. If they were to get an edge in this world, he would need to augment his capabilities.

No time to rest, as Officer Lucia ran in with the rest of her more corrupt force stationed outside the library. Detective Band was right; an all-out brawl wouldn't go over well, especially after the fight they just finished and with the unconscious Sierra with them.

"A back way?" Wonder Red looked around, the debris from the attack making it hard to pick out an emergency exit of some sort. "I doubt the city's police force would overlook a possibly exit from here. We may have to take a less conventional path." Still, all the debris around did give Wonder Red an inkling of an idea. His gaze trailed upwards, up to the many, many floors of the Noumenon, precariously suspended above them after Artemis's attack. And also up there: the big, gaping hole the demon tore in the wall on its entrance.

Wonder Red turned to his teammates. "They'll charge the building soon enough. We don't know the city as well as they do so a chase outside would be to our disadvantage. We need to get back to the 27th floor - bring the upper floors down on them as a diversion. If we get there, I can handle the rest!"

The Wonderful One-Double-Oh never minded a little collateral damage, after all.

---

It wasn't until Band finished the demon off and Sierra was free that the Cadet let out a huge sigh of relief. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand, which just ended up smear his forehead in blue. That was the very least of his concern at the moment.

"She's alive!" he said, just to hear someone say it aloud and confirm it. Whatever had been going on with Sierra and Artemis, they'd put a stop to it. Hopefully Sierra was more than just alive and she was alright in both body and mind, but they wouldn't know until she woke up. The Cadet turned his smile on the group. "Good teamwork."

Well now that the situation had been dealt with, they should probably scram. Normally when some kind of monster attacked, the heroes that brought it down would get a lot of thanks and maybe some rewards. In this city they'd probably just get blamed for the whole thing in the first place. Plus they actually needed to figure out what exactly happened and they couldn't do that here. Wonder Red suggested they'd been set up by a Consul, which sounded very plausible. Had they used Sierra as a hostage or something? Ace Cadet agreed with Big Band in that she didn't seem to have been involved before this, monster or no.

Of course at that moment, Lucia came to deliver the news that their were squadrons of police outside of the Noumenon. From the first floor the group could easily hear the accusations shouted at them. I knew it!

He chanced a peek at the officers outside while he listened to Band's logic. "No arguments here," he told the detective. When it came to fighting, the hunter would much rather tackle a giant monster (or two, or three) than a whole crowd of angry people. Luring them away, or as Frisk suggested escaping them altogether sounded good to him. At the woman's question about Sierra though he snapped his head to look at her.

"No way," the Cadet said, his voice steady and expression serious. "There's no telling what'll happen to her if we leave her behind. We'll take her with us."

Carrying around an unconscious person would put a burden on them, but as far as the Cadet could see that was the only option. Frisk's shield should be able to protect them from stray gunfire, though he wasn't opposed to taking on that burden himself if it meant they all escaped including Sierra. Speaking of escape, Red brought up a good point - the entire Noumenon could be surrounded. However, the plan the Wonderful One came up with sounded wild even to his ears.

"Wait, handle the rest how?" he asked, then quickly followed up with, "Nevermind, I'll trust your heart of justice. But dropping the floors? What if it knocks out the entire building?" That would involve way more people than just the ones after them. Civilians in the city, and anyone in the higher floors that hadn't been able to evacuate when Artemis attacked.

The restless noises from outside signaled the Seekers were running out of time. Situations like this needed someone to take the lead, and that someone was not the Ace Cadet. He'd yet to bloom into a real leader either back home or in the World of Light, so he looked between the group as the seconds ticked down. "Whatever we're gonna do, we gotta go it soon!"



They crossed the lake and climbed the soot, only to find a surprising scene inside the other tree. A throne atop a huge pile of ash, a circle of pale fire set into the wood, a circle of weapons like prizes on display, and a man holding a watering can.

As the others spoke with the stranger, Primrose listened in. She gazed at the bed of flowers and ran a hand over some of the gathered weaponry as she collected her thoughts. First, the stranger - Asgore as he went on to introduce himself - most likely hadn't seen their missing members. Initially when they entered the trunk and met someone else without Galeem's glow, Primrose had jumped to the same conclusion as Bowser. However it was as she'd come to realize before: the other Seekers hadn't come this way. That left the question of how Asgore had been freed in the first place, but on this Primrose didn't pry. Second, nothing in this area belonged to Asgore save maybe the flowers themselves, yet he cared if someone disturbed it.

No longer a king, hm? Perhaps appointed a guard post here... But by who was the question. It was all a little suspicious. The goat man was vague and deflecting, but then again Primrose couldn't blame him if he just didn't want to talk about his past. Still, she got the feeling that he was more than just some old goat living in the husk of a burnt out tree for fun. She paused in her wandering when Rubick attempted to take an altar's weapon, turning her attention completely to the magus - however he faced no opposition from Asgore.

Still feeling strange about the whole thing, Primrose trailed behind the others as they congregated around Asgore's little shelter for tea, though she declined from enjoying any. She did introduce herself at least. "My name is Primrose. A pleasure to meet you as well."

She stood off to one side with her arms crossed over her chest, thinking. She'd let the little tea party go on for a bit, but she had some questions of her own that Asgore might have answers for. Things like how he'd ended up here and what it was he was obviously running from she was curious about, but in the grand scheme of things they weren't important. She was more interested in reuniting with their friends and getting to this region's Guardian.

"Excuse me," the dancer said once the pleasantries and tea sampling were winding down. "Could you tell us how to get to the city below?"

Asgore nodded. "Sure thing, miss. If you head back out the hollow and skirt 'round the right side, you'll find a li'l green pipe jutting out of the bank. Too small for me..." He glanced at Bowser apologetically. "And you, most like, but it'll take you down to the Royal Quarter in the city, right by Gallo Tower. It's something of a secret route, though, so be careful down there."

A pipe? The answer confused her slightly, but she figured the others probably knew what he meant. Plus there was so little greenery around besides the manicured bushes, it should be easy enough to spot. Primrose smiled kindly at the once-king. "Thank you. And if you don't mind another question... You said you travel the area. Do you happen to know anything about that temple with the egg-shaped stone door?"

"The Temple of the Black Egg," the old goat told her. "Something downright awful is sealed inside. Said to be the source of the plague that once ravaged these lands, but I've been helping to keep it in check." He glanced at the weapons again, partially to make sure the one Rubick wanted was still there, then up at the clock. "If only it were enough."

"...what do you mean?"

Knitting his brows together, Asgore tugged at his beard. "I'm a little hazy on what you're asking about, but... despite my best efforts, that bright stuff ekes out bit by bit as time goes on, draining away who-knows-where, and there's only so much one fella can do to stem the tide without getting his hands dirty." His unhappy gaze fell on Primrose. "If I were you all I'd steer clear. Best not go messing with things you don't understand. There's too many folks' dying already."

So he was trying to keep the temple sealed off. Even though he wasn't Gleaming, it was possible that he was still ignorant to Galeem itself, so it might not be that Asgore was malicious obstacle. Even so... inside that temple was their goal, the guardian inside it that needed to be defeated. Wasn't it?

"I suppose you understand it more than most. And you know about those masks that act as keys, I trust...?" the dancer asked slowly, her smile turning hard. "And if someone were to try and open that door..."

The former king looked pensive right up until Primrose mentioned opening the door, which he met with surprise. "Well... that someone would need to know what they're up against and how to beat it. Otherwise the Infection would sweep over the Under, wiping out everything in its path." His face tightened, momentarily losing its geniality. In its absence his gaze was empty, dark, almost terrifying. "Even the Home of Tears, which I've been fighting to keep alive all this time." Laying down his watering can, he crossed his arms. "You sure someone's up to the task?"

Primrose met his stare evenly, and for a long moment she didn't answer him. For now, she was satisfied with the results of her testing. If Asgore turned out later to be an enemy that stood in their way, then she would just have to brush up on her people judging skills. Her expression softened slightly before she spoke.

"Yes. And those someones would appreciate any information you have to give them."

"Hmm..." Asgorge looked around at the group. After a moment, he offered the dancer a thin smile. "Well. Stay a while then, enjoy your tea, and chat with me." He swept across the ash toward the center of the ring of altars, where he lit an old hearth with another snap of his fingers before seating himself with his cup. "Even after everything, I'm still partial to telling stories 'round a fire. If only I could've live my days out in peace like that, happily spinning yarns about the good old days and bouncing grandchildren on my knee. But for me, there were no good old days. Only a fleeting moment of blissful ignorance. Two of them, in fact." He took a deep sip from the sweet pain of his gorse tea.

"And then I woke up," he continued, his tone morose. "And realized. That we exist only to suffer."

Though several of the newcomers seemed in a hurry to be on their way, or didn’t think twice about some of their host’s offhanded words and didn’t care to delve further, Primrose convinced Asgore to share with them whatever knowledge might aid them in their quest. That meant gathering together around the hearth in the hollow’s center, surrounded by legendary weapons at the foot of the mountain of ash, able to crane their necks u; and stare up in wonderment as the turned throne before the violet Flame Clock that blazed on the colossal trunk’s inner wall. Everyone got the chance to take a warm drink in handy, despite most of the provided flavors being so earthy that only a dedicated herbivore might truly savor them, and for Teemo Asgore even managed to rustle up a couple cookies. They weren’t the best, being made of decent ingredients but assembled shoddily, yet Asgore offered them as if they were his personal treasure. Then, with everyone assembled, he started to speak.

“It all began when I was destoried,” he began. “By F.” Despite his overall friendly demeanor, he practically spat out the letter. “I don’t know much about him, even after all this time, but F is easy to understand. He has no soul, and can’t feel love, or sympathy, or much of anythin’ worthwhile. He’s a vicious sadist who gets his kicks tearing folks down, tricking them into ruining themselves, and cruel irony. Kill or be killed, as he says, golly. But this world’s perfect for him. And sadly, for whatever reason, he took an interest in me.”

Asgore set his tea down and massaged his eyes with the palm of his hands as if to knead out the tiredness and pain. “So, he destoried me. At the time, I’d been installed as King for a couple years, ruling over these parts from the Home of Tears. It wasn’t right, but I didn’t know any better. Then I learned about the Clocks.”

Scratching his head, Barnabee raised one brow at his host. “Thou mentioned a ‘Flame Clock’ once before, good fellow. To mine ears it sounded like a term of great import. What is it, pray tell?”

Lifting his head, Asgore glanced up at the gilded gauge on the wall. “That big doohickey over yonder, see it? That’s a Flame Clock. It’s the Home of Tears’ clock, to be precise. But what’s inside it isn’t just fire. It’s life, the life of the cityfolk down below.”

“I’m not sure I follow,” Barnabee confessed.

“Hmm. Well, ask yourself this. All the people in the World of Light, what do they need to stay alive?” Asgore glanced between his guests. “Water? Food? You betcha. But what we need most…is life itself.” He stared into the bonfire. “Every minute of every day, everyone’s burning up time. We’re all made like matches, and we burn out quick. If you’ve been traveling ‘round the world at all, you must’ve seen it. The fighting. The war. Endless conflict, no matter where you go. Taking each other’s lives, with the taken flames becoming yours in turn.” A hollow laugh shook him. “Not you and me, of course. Without the Lifelight in our eyes, we’re free from the clocks. But we aren’t really free, me least of all.”

He closed his eyes. “F told me that it was my punishment. Atonement for my sins. A chance to make things right, for once in my dang life. I…I never wanted to hurt anyone. I’m not a bad person, but…but sometimes, I have to do bad things. F brought me here and told me to feed the Flame Clock. All by myself. Put the lives of the entire city in my hands.” He held up his palms, the white fur stained black by ash. “It meant the cityfolk could live in peace. Never having to hurt or kill anyone to get the lifelight they needed. Maybe I thought I really could atone by taking it all on myself. Do right by my subjects, for once. Not that I had a choice. I had no idea how bad it’d be. So much sacrifice.”

Barnabee’s eyes widened. “By the queen…I’ve seen the Home of Tears in all its glory. It is home to thousands, perhaps tens of thousands! And this F forced thee to gather enough life for every one of them?”

“Mm,” Asgore grunted, his expression cloudy. “I began with the Infection, and everyone it claimed. When the Infection died down to where it’s at now, I had to branch out. Lake monsters. Creepy crawlies Run after run after run of the Basement. Not to mention P, urgh. I try not to speak ill of anyone, but that boy ain’t right. He moseys on up here to drink his fill whenever he feels like it, setting me back who-knows-how-many lives each time. Cleaning out weak li’l critters wasn’t enough; I had to go out and hunt down the big game. Make a name for myself. Became a monster so legendary that kinds of hunters and adventurers started coming to me, for the ExP, the loot, or just the challenge. But none ever returned..” Asgore lifted up a handful of ash and let it drain through his fingers. “All I wanted was to be a good king, but the Consuls made me the grim reaper.”

Barnabee shivered, suddenly glad that they hadn’t picked a fight with the king. “How long hast thou been doing this?”

“Gosh…” Asgore murmured with a miserable shrug. “Too long. After a while I quit counting the years. Sometimes I wonder if the Home of Tears down there’s the same as I remember, but I’ve never gone back. Don’t deserve it. There’s too great a distance between us–between good people and me.” Shaking his head sadly, Asgore seemed to slump further down. “It’s a vicious cycle. The same one this world’s built on. Killing gets you ExP. ExP gets you levels. Levels make it easier to hurt, and harder to be hurt. But they also make you worth more, either as a target for others, or to the Consuls. I got to be so desensitized, I didn’t even notice when I finally plateaued.”

To Barnabee, still in thrall to Galeem, all this seemed especially confusing. “Thine testimony is too much for me,” he confessed. “I am but a simple warrior. To preserve Her Majesty is all I aspire to. But if thy situation is so dire, and thou hast much strength in thy possession, is there not something thou canst do?”

“I wish I could. But I don’t know how. None of these oh-so-legendary weapons can even scratch the Flame Clock. I thought about rebelling, but the clock’s got me there too. The Consuls could drain it dry if they wanted. Whether they know it or not, every poor soul in the City of Tears is a hostage for ‘em. But all that aside…” Asgore averted his gaze “I just don’t have the right kind of strength. The determination.” He scowled in anger at himself. “I’m just a screw-up. Always have been. Stubbornly sticking to the wrong path. Filling this clock…is all I’m good for.”

After a moment Asgore sighed. “Ohh. I’ve moaned long enough. Here.” He pulled something out of his robe and tossed it at the Seekers’ feet. It was a one-third mask fragment. “Both Consuls gave me a job to do, and guarding this thing was P’s. Kid’s as lazy as he is selfish, so when it came to guarding the Egg he just broke up the masks and stuck the pieces with whatever strong monsters he found.” He gave the heroes a rueful smile. “Said he’d kill everyone in town if I didn’t keep it safe, but he doesn’t even check to make sure I still have it when he comes up.” From another pocket he produced a fragment that looked similar to the first, but painstakingly carved from seashell. “Still, I made a fake just in case.”

“So you do intend to resist?” Barnabee asked.

Asgore shook his head. “I got my hands full, sadly. Got to keep the lights on.” He scarcely needed to gesture toward the Flame Clock to show what he meant. “But I wish you all good luck out there. Find all the masks, learn all you can, and take out whatever it is the Consuls’re so keen to keep safe.” He furrowed his brow. “And if F or P show up…don’t let ‘em get away with this.”



With even fewer tense moments to plan than they were led to believe, the team had to think fast. That they’d bring Sierra with them as they fled turned out to be a foregone conclusion. Band had already made it clear that these so-called lawmen weren’t to be trusted, and everyone agreed. Even if they didn’t care one bit about the poor girl’s safety, their best chance at learning the truth behind the demon attack lay with her. That just left one big question: with Irons’ trigger-happiest watchdogs on their way any second now, how were the heroes going to make it out?

Red made a rather dramatic suggestion, formulated a bit too quickly maybe given the circumstances, though he could hardly be blamed for it all things considered. While Red had a point about the possibility of other cops covering the back door and their greater experience with Edinburgh himself, Band couldn’t see the logic behind his plan, especially the wanton destruction. He just didn’t know or trust the superhero well enough yet, and there was no time for Red to explain further. “When the heat’s on, up’s the last place ya wanna go,” the detective said in a hurry, remembering and applying something he knew about firefighting. It sounded like Ace had some doubts too, which made a majority against the idea in his mind, two to one. “The more fuel in the fire, the higher it rises. If we stay here, the whole city’ll be on our asses. We gotta move, but we don’t gotta use any doors.”

Albedo nodded. “That they know where we are is the main issue. We must disappear with all haste.”

“Gimme wheah this hideout is and I can guide us through the streets!” Lucia piped up, looking at Frisk. “Don’t know it like I know Metro City, but I won’t steah ya wrong!”

.Heavy footsteps were on the way; the crew had run out of time for deliberation. With Frisk and Ace undecided and Red probably barking up the wrong tree. Band chose to make the decision for the others. “Pick it up, y’all!” He relieved Frisk of Sierra so that she could run unburdened, gently placing the girl over his shoulder, then took off across the Noumenon like a runaway freight train. After a few moments the rattle of gunfire behind them chased the team behind a row of untouched bookcases, ducking and covering their heads when they could. They reached the back wall with no door in sight, but by their powers combined Big Band and Red punched a new exit through the wall. Then they were back on the snowy roads of Edinburgh MagicaPolis, hounded onward by the sounds of angry voices and sirens in the distance.

Once Frisk painted a rough picture of which direction the group needed to go, Lucia took over. Both streetwise and equipped with an idea of how her fellow officers operated, she led the others on a route full of twists, turns, and unexpected shortcuts, avoiding open spaces and breaking sightlines as often as possible. In a city this big and samey that alone would be enough to evade the average cop, but neither Lucia nor Band doubted that the loose cannons would pick up the trail. “Before we start runnin’ outta breath, let’s hunker down in a spot that’ll play to our strengths,” he advised. “No sense in draggin’ out the chase. Let’s settle up with Irons’ goons right now.”

Not long after, everyone came to a stop in a cluttered, people-devoid street with one of the city bridges in view. As the team slid to a stop in the snow, several of them panting, Band quickly sized the area up. He expected an elite police unit to be packing some firepower, and if the Seekers’ fight against Artemis proved anything it was that they lacked a great deal of ranged options. That meant a corridor wouldn’t suit them well, and their pursuers might very well show up in the midst of their attempts to hide themselves among the debris for an ambush. Band’s eyes landed on a dilapidated supermarket among the apartments, perhaps the site of a fire or some other tragedy. An unpredictable location like that might work to the team’s advantage. “In here!” he called, and with a ‘light nudge’ the door flew from its hinges. It landed with a crash, the last of the shattered glass around its edges reduced to smithereens, and the Seekers hurried inside.



Sooner even than the pessimistic detective anticipated, their pursuers appeared. Stryker, Nightingale, and Byte plus Barq pushed inside with weapons -and arms- at the ready, their flashlights dancing across the supermarket interior. Since its near-destruction the place had seen some looting, with shelves overturned and goods scattered around, as well as too many footprints every which way to tell where their targets had gone. Still, unless they climbed up through the collapsed section of ceiling, the fugitives were here. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way!” Stryker called out, his pistol and flashlight probing the ruined store’s dark corners. “Of course, I don’t mind the hard way. Just makes it more fun.”

Byte’s diminutive companion began zeroing in on the Seekers. “Head signatures detected,” the cop-bot reported, following Barq’s lead.

Nightingale said nothing, but remained closer to the door, a pump shotgun in hand. He planned to bring the big guns on anyone who got flushed out by the others, as well as to cut off their escape.

The song of steel clashing against steel sounded throughout the Plaza, Geralt and Zenkichi's blades flashing in a flurry of blows, though Geralt certainly had the upper hand in initiative. He could easily make two or three swings in the time it took Zenkichi to sweep his blade through the air. This was somewhat balanced out by Zenkichi's Persona-enhanced strength and durability, not to mention the sheer heft of his weapon. Geralt could tell the detective was by no means a master of the blade, as a more accomplished swordsman could certainly swing it faster and more efficiently.

The Witcher lashed out with a kick to the knee, buckling Zenkichi's balance for a moment before following up with a slash across the man's chest, drawing a pained grunt and a reflexive sweep of the heavy blade, forcing Geralt to back off. His Quen shield had broken from an earlier hit, and he wasn't looking forward to another. Zenkichi tried to take the initiative this time, vicious blows coming one after the other, with no attention paid to defense. Geralt had wondered about that, but when the first few hits he'd landed hadn't carved the man like a slab of meat, he figured that there was even more to him than met the eye. Made it a bit tougher to take him down, though he likely wouldn't have to worry about accidentally killing the man and pissing off Poppi and Tora. Why they asked him not to, Geralt wasn't sure, though the man's power did bear a resemblance to that of those kids that he remembered running off with Yellow Team and then leaving on their own way from the subway.

So be it. Carefully dodging or deflecting Zenkichi's blows that came to close, Geralt bided his time for the right moment, and when he saw it, unleashed a blast from Aard to knock him off balance and follow up with his blade. What he didn't expect was for Zenkichi to stumble, slam his blade into the ground, and catch himself while blocking Geralt's strike, sending uncomfortable vibrations up the Witcher's arm from hitting what may as well have been a steel wall while intending to cut through it.

Zenkichi smirked, pulling his sword out with a snarl, and swung, but Geralt was quicker to recover, spinning around and cutting across Zenkichi's stomach. Ending up behind the Persona-wielder, Geralt slammed the pommel of his sword backwards, hitting Zenkichi in the back. Geralt twirled again, only for his swing to be intercepted by the heavier greatsword Zenkichi was wielding, knocking his attack aside and crashing into his armor with immense force. The Witcher was knocked back, but not stopped, and leapt back to the fight, steel clashing with steel once again.

Really wish I hadn't mag-dumped to start this off, Zenkichi mused, desperately wishing he could catch Geralt off guard with a quickdraw shot to the gut, but unable to do so without having to take a few seconds to reload. He had an idea, and with the others ignoring their clash, it might actually work.

Lashing out from a guard and deflecting Geralt's strike, Zenkichi jumped back, thrusting a hand forward and calling out "Valjean!" to summon his Persona. "Megido!" He yelled, a swarm of spheres of energy bursting out from Valjean behind him. The spheres swarmed to the area Geralt was in, forcing the Witcher to dive for cover from the magical explosions while Zenkichi reloaded one of his revolvers, backpedaling away from Geralt and stowing the now-ready weapon when the Witcher was safe. Only managed one, but it was better than nothing. Drawing his blade, he met Geralt's charge, forcing him to step aside from a heavy slash.

Their blades clashed yet again, but Geralt was starting to tire of the dance. He adjusted his grip on his sword, holding it in one hand and dancing around another heavy hit, his free hand taking hold of Zenkichi's wrist while his blade sliced up and along the detective's armpit, drawing a pained hiss and a reflexive elbow, which crashed painfully into Geralt's armor. "Shit!" Zenkichi cursed, realizing that Geralt now had him right where he wanted him.

Geralt, with his free hand, twisted Zenkichi's wrist and ducked under his outstretched arm, knocking the heavy sword out of his opponent's hand with one of his own, and trapping Zenkichi's arm with the crossguard of his sword using the other. Hooking a leg around Zenkichi's foot, the Witcher forced the pair to topple to the ground, Zenkichi awkwardly keeping his skull from slamming into the concrete, but he was thoroughly at the mercy of the taller, older, armored mercenary. "So this is it, huh?" He sighed, looking up at the scarred face above him. As far as last sights went, at least it wasn't the barrel of a gun. A little more personal.

Instead, he heard a gruff "Nope." as he felt something wash over him, his injuries healing themselves and the soreness he'd been feeling as the adrenaline faded vanishing. Geralt stood up, keeping his sword in hand and pointed at Zenkichi. "Give it a minute. It'll start coming back, whatever it is you forgot." He advised, circling to the side so he could get a view of the rest of the fight while not taking an eye off the Persona-user.

"For...got...?" Zenkichi mumbled, looking around. His G-Men, with the exception of Chemtrail, were either already defeated or being made a fool of, while he himself was in a pickle himself, though for some reason he was being spared? Was this their way of saying they really were on the same side, but couldn't...

Oh. Oh. He was remembering...

KONOE?!?!?!?

Oh no. Oh no. Konoe. Akane. He still remembered her, but...they'd made up? Almost? Maybe?

The kids! Nearly bolting upright, only to stop himself when he remembered the sword ready to impale him, Zenkichi looked up at Geralt with panic in his eyes. "You gotta let me go! My daughter...the kids! Konoe!" He was practically babbling incoherently, before he balled his fists up and shook his head. "The...my boss's boss's boss is...oh god. It's Konoe. He's doing it all over again. But...this isn't...and what was...That's what this is, right? He brainwashed me? And...how did you fix it without a Persona? Without forcing a change of heart?"

"What the fuck are you talking about? Who's Konoe?" Geralt replied, eyes narrowing in suspicion. What did Zenkichi mean by him doing it all over again?

"You...you mean you don't know? Oh great, he doesn't know." Zenkichi was clearly beyond done with this situation, but Geralt just shook his head.

"Give it a bit. You've just woken back up. I'll let the others give you the rundown, I always leave something out. But to put it simply, whoever Konoe is, he's not the one who brainwashed you. Whether he's just another pawn in Galeem's game or what, I don't know. But you're not going anywhere, not now. You just passed initiation, like it or not." Geralt smirked down at the detective, who just groaned and dropped his head to the pavement, looking up in shock. He had...so much to do.

Akane, first of all. Whatever happened next, he needed to apologize to her for being a dumbass. And...could they wake her up, too? Make her remember what happened, the Phantom Thieves, everything?

Oh, he was going to have to go into hiding, wasn't he? Could he keep up working for Public Security like this? This wasn't...this wasn't like with Owada. He didn't have Kaburagi here to help him. Sure, he could trust Looker, but...it wasn't the same. Did...did Aoi even die in this world, or did he and Akane just remember her dying here?

Oh god, that was an existential crisis and a half he wasn't ready to try and crack open. Yeah, this...was bad.

Blazermate didn't think this weird mish mash of metal was going to be as big of a threat as it looked. But then she wasn't as good of a medic as she looked so... Well this wasn't the time to think about that as Blazeramte dodged the massively damaging cannon shots aimed at her, this creature very aware of what she was doing to the others. At least it wasn't all that fast... But its shots hurt really bad when it landed one on her shield arm, causing enough damage to cause it to almost shut down entirely. And if it did that to a defensive part on a deflection hit, well... best not to think about that, especially since it had debuff powers on top of that which slowed everyone down, reduced their damage, and even put Poppi to sleep. While Benedict got into position to defend and try to awaken Poppi, Blazermate could use the drone around her to hit her with a revive, cleaning the sleep debuff from her. At least that debuffing attack wouldn't do anything with Blazermate on the job. But even with the thing's weak point glowing for all to see thanks to Blazermate's scan, it seemed it would be a tough nut to crack in general.

Susie wasn't having as much luck either. While her business suit could out muscle Loup, his speed made it annoying to do much other that block his hits. And she could tell the demon was more or less toying with her, waiting for her to make a swing before launching at her in the cockpit which was a bit annoying. But that plan of attack could also be predicted, and since her mech's hands were large enough to obscure her for the most part, Susie had a bit of a plan since from the sound of things, that other G man was giving everyone else trouble.

Blazermate meanwhile thanks to all the rapid damage and debuffs going out from this monstrosity, was gaining her uber and shield relatively fast. That was a huge upside to heavy hitting foes at least, it got her stronger abilities up and running very quickly. And seeing as Geralt had at least more or less won his fight from the looks of things, with his opponent rambling on while he ignored him, all that was left was these G men. And if Susie could deal with hers, it would just be the big metal one left. Using her fully charged projectile shield, Blazermate used Tora distracting it, swapping her drone to him as she moved to aid Susie as she did her trick.

Susie, having enough of this Loup-Garou's jumping around, pulled out the cow mangler she had bought. Calculating his movements, she loaded it up and began to overcharge it, making a sweep with her mech's hands and exposing her cockpit, but in a way that when Loup did his coutnerattack, he'd be jumping right into a charged rocket shot. What Susie didn't expect was Blazemate to be there, her projectile shield clipping into Loup and slowing him down as he leaped at Susie, allowing a much easier and safer rocket hit and sending the demon straight down into the ground at insane force, allowing Blazermate to follow up with a few hits from her ubersaw and a bite from her suffering shield as he got back onto his feet.

The damage to her business suit had started to take its toll though, and thanks to absorbing the splash of that rocket, Susie had to send it away as it being a damaged state like that wouldn't aid them against what was to come. But she still had her blaster and knew how to fight outside her business suit, even if she preferred not to. With a full uber and Susie's opponent being weakened, Blazermate gave her a bit of overheal before flying back to Tora and Poppi, ready to give them that all fun invincibility. Susie having her blaster out to deal with Loup if he still wanted to fight.

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



Sectonia, getting quite tired of the rain of this city after a little while, stopped by an open store to buy an umbrella and unload her 'spoils' from the dungeon they had just been through. She wasn't surprised the masks she found wouldn't sell for much, but she figured that a city full of masked bugs might offer a bit more than another place. Overall after buying her parasol to shield herself from the rain and selling her masks, she gained 50 geo from the transaction. She could've gotten more, but she wasn't going to go around with any old parasol, grabbing a fancy one to befit her status.

It seemed it would take longer than she thought for her allies to get their effects in order from that fight, as it had gotten fairly late all things considered. She had hoped that, while her stress had melted away, that they would enjoy a bit of fun at the amusement park. However all she could find was the Knight, the little bug walking about the city with that blank stare of curiosity it always wore. It seemed the others were predisposed with whatever they were doing, probably resting if she had to guess, so while she'd take any others that she found, she decided to head to the amusement district with the Knight in toe. On the way there, Sectonia, remembering she had taken an item that gave her control over fire, began to play with that power. It became quite clear it was only a fire breath, no conjuring fire form her staffs or anything, but unlike that large bumbling king koopa, she would control something like this with more elegance and grace, soon making fancy fire spirals from her fire breath in small artistic patterns as practice. If this had any power in combat had to be tested however.

A bit of a shame that many of her allies were indisposed all things considered. While she wasn't much one for the cheap thrills of amusement rides; many things paling in comparison to the power of flight and teleportation, nor the scams that were the games, at least she could find enjoyment in the foolishness of clowns and the other carnies that engaged in acts of slapstick. At least unlike the royal district, things here weren't nearly as expensive, including admission, so it didn't cost much at all for Sectonia to pay for herself to view the comedy of the big tent, while the others got a bit of money to do whatever they wanted to do to unwind. There was still the matter of the It Lives spirit that had to be dealt with, but considering what everyone had just gone through, that could wait for the next day.

Sectonia's antillions, having been given an order by their queen, went out through the city to look for the scattered currency they had once looked for at the metro. However unlike the metro with its flowing pons, here, there wasn't much in the way of currency. A few loose bits of geo here or there, but that only totaled up to 15 which Sectonia would find in her wallet upon collection. Meanwhile the rest of the city saw these ant soldier looking creatures moving around almost like mindless bugs, ignoring others staring at them as they looked in in whatever areas they could look in with their larger frames thanks to the item Sectonia had gotten earlier. They seemed weird, but weren't hurting anyone or anything, so besides a few curious looks they were mostly ignored. Some might think they were guards looking for something? Although the actual guards might have an issue with a notion like that.

After the retaliation fire ended her ability to bombarded the chimera from afar Midna had moved towards the melee with dancing steps. Each twirling advance slowed her steps in the moment, but increased them greatly over all as the dragon dances empowered her, till the harbinger’s burden had been overcome and she was blazing across the uncanny terrain of the astral plane.

That speed turned out to be invaluable, as it let her move fast enough to get out of the way of the predictable strikes of their hulking foe. Meanwhile the other half of the buff empowered her blows massively, letting her hammer the titan with crushing shadow hand strikes, and made it so that her comparatively puny axe blows were not relying entirely on the lighting they unleashed in conjunction with every strike.

Despite the empowerment it was still a long and hard fought battle, and by the end Midna was bone tired from exertion and stress, her nerves raw from being loaded with draconic energy for too long, her interdimensional ax blunted from repeated hammering against armor, and her body was slick with sweat, dashes of her own blood and that cloying dirty feeling that must have been the realms corruption.

It was to her palpable relief then, that the professionals arrived just in the nick of time to bail them out both the immediate doom of the chimera's final attack, and then also out of being turned into mutants by the realm’s radiation.

The way they did both of those was fascinating to Midna, as the Neuron troopers summoned fourth chimaras of their own, only visible and blue instead of the red of the one they had been fighting. It was like they were using strikers almost, she thought at first, or something in between her own summoning magic and strikers. However they did it, she was really interested to find out, especially if it was some kind of enhanced striker thing.

They did, after all, have a spirit of one of the chimeras in their possession, one with an ominous red hue to it that the princess assumed indicated the dangers using it must entail. Or to be more specific, Midna had it, having snagged it and subsequently bottled it and stashed it in the twilight realm where it would stay till they weren't going to be observed by the authorities.

Not that, unlike the other two groups, she had anything bad to say about Neuron themselves at the moment, given their daring rescue, something she made sure to thank them for.

That and the lift back to the S.O.U. Hideout. There in an exhausted Princess swiftly washed and bandaged herself, before pulling together a regal amount of pillows on a sofa, popping her helmet and the bottled chimera on a coffee table, and then curling up under a blanket.

It had been a long hard day, and there was no doubt that the next would be just as if not more strenuous. They had a plethora of leads to go off of, and yet no sure fire path as to how to handle even one of the crises. The question of what in the world they were going to do next hung in the air and in Midna’s mind till she forcibly dismissed it.

There was no point, she thought, of letting it worry her weary mind, and soon after she was free of those thoughts, she dropped away into sleep, one that exhaustion made blessedly dreamless.

For she knew that what she had seen this day would plague her for the rest of her days.

Karin stirred and stood on the other side of the portal as the Chimera cured the build up of energy she didn’t quite remember having. It was clear from the way she was standing with a hand on her head and eyes bleary that she wasn’t quite sure what was going on. She offered a half-hearted goodbye to Goldlewis, but not a thank you, though perhaps it simply slipped her foggy mind and it’s not like she remembered him saving her.

Eventually though, the fog cleared from her eyes and Karin settled on being sullen. No doubt the monster was dead. She’d never get to face it again. Cheeks red, she remained quiet and kept to herself. Thankfully, all of her teammates made it out alive, despite Karin’s defeat.

She joined Midna at the SOU hideout. She was glad to have a place to bed down, even if it wasn’t up to her usual standards…yes, she had survived in the wilderness. There was nobility in that. And luxury. This was neither noble nor luxurious.

Midna was already fast asleep. Karin sat down on a chair and rubbed her face, thinking of the battles she fought today. Hopefully they had advanced their cause in some way.

Karin sighed. Her thoughts drifted to her summer estate back in Limsa.To Mr. Ishikazi and Mr. Shibasaki. Even Birdie. How were they? Were they all right without her? She also thought about Sakura. With their failure to make much progress, it fell to her, Raz, and Peach to do their best and succeed.

Eventually Karin dipped her head and nodded off to sleep. In the morning she would wake up bright and early and try again, hopefully having learned something. In particular with Sakura at her side once again. Though she may be reluctant to admit it, the plucky girl was her best friend.

Tea time turned out to be very informative, as, much to Kamek’s relief, the others did not share Bowser’s disinterest in examining things more deeply, and asked their host some deep questions and the man, reluctantly at first, agreed to fill them in.

And what a thing to fill them in on. A deep dark truth of the world, a world that had been burning though lives to fuel other lives for who knew how long. It was such a revelation that even Bowser found himself gripped by the tale. But while the rest of the troop where overwhelmed by the cruelty of the system, at the end of the take he simply stood cracked his knuckles and said:

”Kamek? Juice me up. We’ve got a clock to punch”

”I… Sire? Did you not hear what he said? Even these legendary weapons we don’t seem to be able to wield could not scratch it!” Kamek said, shaken out of melancholy by his king’s bold words.

”Legendary weapons? Ha! I’m more legendary than any pointy stick laying around collecting dust!” The King jabbed a thumb at himself, before seeming to give it a moment of consideration and saying ”But you know what, you have something of a point … so let’s give it our all! No half measures!”

”Rubick, you can copy him right? And Jr, you can get Mimi to do that too?” he checked, getting nods in return to his question ”Good. Then let’s break this thing”

”Yeah, if anyone can do it, you can Papa!” ”Go for it Bowser, smash that thing to bits!” the youngsters cheered as the mage and his two copycats prepared to cast, and the koopa king marched into the center of the titanic tree.

”Alright then, here goes nothing” Kamek said, sighing to himself and yet at the same time smiling with just a hint of pride.

Three wands rose, and the mage began to chant

”Hear me flaming clock
Its time to give your last tock
O Digger of the grave
We’ll break your spade
With this move so slick
We’ll end your tick
With the determination of a king
Who’ll make sure you never ring!”

And the king grew. And grew. And grew. The mountain of ash quaked and all was pushed aside as the titan filled up all the space there was to take, forcing everyone outside to the entrance.

”Urg. Cramped” a booming voice complained, followed by cracks as the king rolled his neck and stretched to limber up. Finally, with glacial slowness, a fist was pulled back, fingers were curled into a fist … and the kinetic strike module now hulking in its own right, slammed into the active position.

Asgore blinked. “N-now, hold your horses just a second, that won’t…”

”Eat it!” the king suddenly roared, only for the world to be filled with the sound of fire and fury as the kinetic strike module fired its boosters and with the force of a space shuttle launch the king’s fist blazed from one end of the burnt out tree to the other in a fraction of the time it had taken to wind it back as the kind delivered the mother off all right hooks to the flame clock.

Yet for all that power, the King of Koopas failed to leave a scratch. At least, on the Flame Clock itself. Its surface refused to yield even an inch beneath Bowser’s strength, but the same could not be said for the bark of the hollow itself into which the Clock was placed. One hundred percent of the force carried through the giant artifice and into the tree husk, fracturing the Clock’s housing, and with the support sufficiently damaged the device’s impressive weight did the rest. It bent backward with a tremendous creak, as if earth itself were groaning in protest, and splashed down into the water behind the tree where it began to sink.

Asgore deflated a little, rubbing his face. “...Now it’s going to be way harder to see how much is left.”

”Ak! What! How!” Bowser tossed his arms up in disbelief, before panickedly declaring ”Wait, I can fix this!” in response to his actions making Asgore's life worse. He summoned a giant monster of a striker in his hand, holding it like a cat by the scruff of its neck, then pointed his other hand’s finger after the clock and yelled ”Scylla, fetch!” before tossing the mass of tentacles into the sea after it. Unfortunately, it would take longer than the striker could exist in order to drag the massive, weighty machine back up, but the monster could at least stop its runaway descent down the underwater slope.

This did however give Bowser time to awkwardly step over the ash mountain without disturbing it, and then clambering out of the tree and go after it himself. The titan of a king then proceeds to wade into the water fish around for the clock like someone who had dropped their watch into a river, aided by the fact that Scylla dragged the clock towards his searching hand, and Jr hovering around his dad’s submerged head in his clown car acting as a secondary spotter.

In the end he had to go down into the depths himself, which was fine seeing as he could breath water after the whole pirate ambush debacle, but it did mean that when he burst form the water, flame clock triumphantly in hand, he was left dripping wet and with a drenched suit.

Again.

He stomped back to land, plonked the clock down in the middle of the altars, and then let himself get shrunk back down to normal size outside rather than try and climb back in again. At least jogging around the outside of the tree dried him off somewhat.

While he was at it the others had time to inspect the clock up close and do some more thinking

”Yeesh, not even a dent” Jr noted, tapping a knuckle against it before wondering out loud ”What is this even made of?”

”Who knows, but it looks like dealing with this end of the problem is a bust” Kamek was forced to admit with a sigh, before apologizing ”I’m sorry for the trouble my king has caused you, Asgore but once he gets an idea in his head he is very difficult to dissuade”

Rika, having joined Jr in his prodding of the clock, then came up with an alternative option ”I mean … couldn't we just, I dunno, move it somewhere else? Where no one lives? And then it can't leech off of people anymore?”

”Wait, so, what, like, dump it to the bottom of the actual ocean or something? Huh, I mean, maybe?” jr thought, before asking ”You think that’d work? Or put it somewhere else where you can more easily farm experience or something at least? Like the dead zo- no wait someone blew that up uh…” the child scratch his head as he wondered where else might be ok to get exp from that wasn’t just putting the problem on some other poor group.

“No, no, no!” Asgore insisted, a little too terrified for someone of his stature. “You’ve got it the wrong way around. It doesn’t leech off people. It’s more accurate to say that folks leech off it. The lifelight they need is kept inside it.” He waved his hands, trying to stop the Koopa Troop. “Look, I appreciate you all trying to help, but just forget about it. Unless you can destroy the clock, doing anything fidgety with it’ll only cause more harm than good. I don’t need to be near it to harvest life anyhow, so I’m not stuck here or anything anyway.”

”Aw. I thought I was being clever” Rika bemoaned, but she, along with the rest of the troop, took his advice on the matter in the end. If there were clever solutions to be found, the troop’s fixation on the clock itself was not letting them see them.

As the fight against Enceladus wore on, Roxas couldn't help but start to feel... dragged down in some way. Some invisible weight on his mind or in his heart. Maybe it was just stress and fatigue, but the Keybearer couldn't shake feeling like it had to do with the place they were in. Maybe this was what the redshift felt like? If so, then he couldn't let this be drawn out for much longer. But after having popped a Curaga to get Goldlewis back on his feet, Roxas was effectively on fumes until his MP finished recharging.

As such, he took a slightly more cautious approach. Rather than charge in, he elected to stay with Goldlewis. Both to give himself a safe moment to recharge, but also to help guard the unarmed Goldlewis from being targeted by attacks. With Flowmotion he was almost always quick enough on the draw to swoop in and guard or parry an attack that would have hit more vulnerable Goldlewis. But after a few moments he saw a chance go in for a finisher alongside his allies and took it without a second thought.

It was tough, but the Seekers eventually managed to beat the thing down. Or at least it looked that way, but apparently not. The chimera was back up and seemingly ready for another round. But that was when the officers of Neuron showed up. They could summon powerful looking armored beings to help them fight, which only bolstered their numbers. Roxas was getting exhausted by this point, but his MP did finish recharging. So rather than directly join in for the attack he cast another Curaga so that the other Seekers could get back some strength before joining in on the final assault.

Roxas felt like he was going to conk out at any moment. And the next several minutes were honestly a blur. They were brought out the Astral Plan and back into the city, and Roxas was pretty sure they were being flown at one point. Honestly he was too busy fighting his drowsiness to really register it any of it. That and he was beginning to think of something else.

Throughout the trip back and right up to the point when Roxas finally fell asleep, an idea had begun forming in the Keybearer's mind. Whether this was a good idea or not, he wasn't sure. But at least now he was finally starting to grasp how things worked around here, and maybe this plan of his was the way he could actually help them gain some kind of foothold in this Ever Crisis problem? He'd have to bring it up with the others, but right now he was too tired - and most likely so was everyone else. His idea could wait until morning.

---

Jesse emerged from her doctor’s appointment, sucking on her free lollypop. She paused and looked down at her ankle. Reaching down, she pulled up her pant leg and plucked a leech from her lower leg. “Missed one, doc.” She said, tossing it back into the room.

The doctor said something and she smiled, nodding. “Alright, thanks. I feel like a million bucks! You’re a lifesaver.”

Entering the lobby, she saw her fellow Seekers. The mood was a little sour, and sure Jesse was a little curious just what exactly the nature of her treatment was, but whatever it did, it got results. As long as Polaris was at her side Jesse walked forward with a level of confidence that bordered on faithful.

They re-united with their new friend Ichiban, who Jesse was finding the urge to take into a back alley and shoot him ‘till he was almost dead. Which was a weird thing to think about for the people you liked. She accepted a packet of his unbranded cookies and combined with her lollypop. Jesse Faden was one happy camper.

“Thanks. All square in my book, Ichiban. I think we’re all looking to take it easy for tonight. I’d like to get acquainted with this town, myself. It looks pretty interesting. You a local? If you’re not done dispensing favors you could always show us around.” Jesse said good-naturedly.