"I'm sorry friend, can't say I reckon I do..." he scratched at the scruff on his chin with one hand while he stood on the soapbox beneath his slacks.

The merchant couldn't help but think what a curious bunch that little critter and his company what followed were when they passed by but if they were looking to help and needed help maybe he could find a few folk with the means to get them what they needed. Partitio lightly adjusted his hat, cracked his neck and rolled up his sleeves "Now those are some brave folk, and if their helping out..." his forearms were well toned from work and labor, a bit hairy but not wild as he crossed them together and smiled.

Slipping the overcoat over his broad shoulders, the merchant called after the Seekers with a shrill whistle.

Charging after the group, while holding the hat on his head to make sure it didn't go flying as he ran after the folk. "Hold your horses there friends," Partitio hollered at the Seekers, as he caught up he dug his slacks into the dirt as he slid to a halt "Lemme' offer ya'll a hand, least I can do if you folk are really trying to help out round here." the merchant moseyed up to the small rotund critter that came to him before and knelt, offering the Nopon a rough hand. "Name's Partitio, Partitio Yellowil and I'm on a journey myself." he introduced himself with a charming smile and a tip of his nice looking hat.

Raz had an uneventful sleep, the excitement of the day and what was to follow not keeping him up. Well, not much at least. There was a good minute or so of laying in bed, staring up at the bunk above him with anxiousness. The reality of things were starting to settle on him now that the action was done with. He was a spy. Maybe not in an official sort of sense, but he was inside the Psych-OSF as a kind of double agent, or interloper, whatever the right word was. In a way he was being an actual Psychonaut, against the Psychonauts!

In a way at least.

Raz woke up before he even realized he fell asleep. It almost felt like he didn't, instead the day changed over and he was less exhausted. Weird feeling.

Meeting up with the other two in the cafeteria, Raz was a little surprised they hadn't run into each other at the outfitter, since they had all opted to change before heading over here. "Hey guys!" Raz hurried across the room to Peach and Sakura. His new uniform was a touch more practical than either of theirs, or at least it wasn't as impractical; a gray peacoat that reached his knees, under which he wore a black tactical turtleneck and a similar pair of some sorta cargo pants with kneepads. He swapped out his dress shoes for some boots, a dull red that matched his new gloves and messenger bag. He still kept his trusty helmet, though.

"Guess we all had the same idea, huh? I'm not great at picking out clothes for myself, but I think I did an... okay? Job." He looked over himself, giving his new duds a few tugs to fit right. "Kinda surprised they had things in my size! Well, my size-ish."

The three met up with Luka, were introduced to two of their other platoon members, and then Luka revealed that he would round the group out as the leader. A part of Raz had hoped that his experience in the old Psychonauts meant he could be the leader, but he set that disappointment aside for now. "I'm Razputin, but everyone calls me Raz. You guys ready for today? Operation... Scour, was it? Do we know a lot about it yet? We only just got recruited yesterday and didn't get much time for a briefing, eheh."

When everyone left to get their breakfast Raz sent a short psychic message to Peach and Sakura, bypassing the platoon's Brain Speak with his own psychic capabilities. "Before things kick off I'm going to sneak out. Get all the Psych-OSF info we have to the others... somehow." Hopefully Giovanna and her organization planned for an information relay with them!

Dipping away from the group when their focus was drawn to the breakfast line Raz made for the exit. The Otherlobe had a near identical layout to the Motherlobe, so it wouldn't be hard for him to find his way, but the tricky part would be leaving without being seen. Luckily, the familiar psychic training seemed to have knocked something loose in his mind...



Ducking behind a potted plant in the atrium Raz popped his newly recovered ability, disappearing from view entirely. Time was of the essence now; he made a break for the Otherlobe's exit hatch, slipping down the tube and through the lobby as quick and quietly as he could, while also avoiding the bodies of staff and soldiers milling around.

Without much time left to spare Raz rushed from the Otherlobe, racing as far away from it as he could in the last remaining moments of invisibility, before finally leaping sideways into an abandoned alleyway between some surrounding buildings. He popped back into visible form, flat against the wall. "Hoo boy. I really need to train on that one..." He muttered, sidling sideways to make sure he was out of view a bit more.

"Okay." Raz surveyed the area. "If I was a secret informant wanting information on the goings-on of a military organization on the cusp of serious business, where would I hide...?"

---

Even with their little morning jog, the royals were one of the firsts up and firsts to arrive. Having a royal disposition made them punctual at the very least, or at least, stopped them from sleeping in as much as some of the others. Although considering the absolute barrage of puns Nadia was letting loose, it was probably best that some people had came in late, instead of enduring the excessive amount of puns. Sectonia could only sigh at the puns she put out for Teemo and especially Rubick, the former being a new addition Bowser's group had picked up. The puns continued until Omori came back from his morning jog having some sort of... creepy balloon thing following him. Something about it didn't feel right at all, but Sectonia couldn't put her finger on it.

Still, with the arrival of everyone else, a discussion about the whole flame clocks, lifelight, and the Consulers was had. Sectonia had already heard this from the koopa family, so this wasn't new information to her. But it was decided that these Consulers had to go, as they were in the way. Sectonia wasn't bothered with removing these cretins if they were going to be in the way of her plans, and from the sound of things, she could easily take over their hordes of followers considering it sounded like many people just downright hated them. Either way, with a vague goal of seeing this IGV guy, the party was off.

---------------------------------------------

The collection, a section of the city that held the Soul Sanctum, looked not nearly as pleasant as the city itself. Much like the rest of this world, it was a mish mash of ideas that were vaguely themed together. and not a crystal in sight. Still, it didn't take long to find the Soul Sanctum. Sectonia was immediately suspicious of the place when it was cordoned and sealed off with only a small entrance to the place available. Considering the size of herself and Bowser, Nadia having gone first would get a decent amount in until Sectonia could enter. Using her red antillions, which were quite large now thanks to that item she had found in the basement, she opened up the passage to move through with the antillions moving ahead of the group.

The place held a bit of a creepy atmosphere, with the voices of what Sectonia could only guess as the damned whispering and never quite settling down in this vacant building. And soon her metaphor became reality as various blobs of... something, came out of the walls, floors, and other places and glided or slithered towards whoever was closest, starved of souls. Sectonia, having had her fire antillions lead, commanded them to clean up this rabble, which they did using their flamethrowers. While numerous, these ghost blobs were not that durable nor fast, so the red antillions kept them at bay fairly well. Sectonia summoning some extra antillions to help some of the others when she got the space to do so. While the green ones were more keen to bash heads with their maces, the blue ones spat out cold just like the reds spat out fire.

"Such pathetic creatures. My antillions can keep them at bay." Sectonia said, giving a haughty chuckle as fire and ice was flung, popping husk after husk.

It wouldn't take long to notice that these were endless hordes, so while Sectonia used her antillions to keep them suppressed so they wouldn't bother her or the others, she moved along the soul sanctum. It didn't take long for the next horde of enemies to appear, bulbous weird abominations with medical equipment and tentacles, which they used to attack. Due to Sectonia needing to have her antillions suppress the little ones, she had to deal with these abominations herself. That being said, she did have that cactus bird striker she hadn't used yet, which she summoned and watched as it started to blast these creatures with rays of concentrated sunlight. Sectonia herself not having as much time as she'd like to just blast them away and being forced to attack them with her swords.

With introductions made everyone in the newly-minted Luka Platoon could chat together over a hearty breakfast, though naturally given the day’s events official Psych-OSF matters were never far from their minds. When Raz asked for more details about the operation, Luka was only too happy to disseminate them–such was his duty, as this group’s leader. Getting the impression that this would be important, Peach laid her spoon to rest in her bowl of sugary strawberry-laden cereal. After a brief look through the cafeteria’s red-tinted window, her attention drawn by the increasing noise of rain against the glass, she gave her squad leader her full focus.

“Of course,” Luka began as he pulled up the memo he’d received as a Vision for himself to make sure he didn’t skimp out on any details. “Just to recap, Operation Scour is a joint endeavor by over two dozen Psych-OSF squads to exterminate a horde of Others that have taken up residence underground in close proximity to the city. Sasha, Camilla, Seto, Kyoka, and Morceau Platoons are all involved, so as you can see it’s a pretty big deal. In fact, this is an initiative of vital importance coming down not just from Chief Head Zanotto, but from Secretary of Defense Konoe and in all likelihood President Shinra as well, so all hands are on deck. As for the specifics, the area we’re most concerned with is the abandoned subway network that directly borders the Sector 05 and 06 undercities, Seiran and Deep-Paris. Officially, this is in response to reports of recent Other emergences there at unsustainable rate.” He gave a wry smile. “This was announced only a couple days ago, so we’ve been having to move fast, but the basic plan is to split up by platoon and sweep through the tunnels, exterminating every Other we find on the way, though platoons can support one another if need be. We’ll also have radio support from another team’s Psych-OSF telepath, since we don’t have our own yet. Some scout teams will be going down before us to help blaze a trail, and at operation start, we’ll be sent down by mass Transport powers in order to catch the Others off guard and give them as little time to escape as possible. It’ll be tough, but as long as we stick and work together, we should be able to pull through.”

“That many people…? Wow, I feel bad for Crenshaw and whoever else.” A surprisingly simple plan for such a massive operation, but Peach remembered that she, Sakura, and Raz weren’t the only ones who needed to know about it. Luckily, Raz came up with a plan to make sure that Luka’s briefing reached the right ears. He sent the other two a private message saying that he would sneak out in order to contact the other Seekers. Peach nodded, as much to the young Psychonaut as to Luka. ”Right. Good luck, and make sure you’re back in time,” she replied through Brain Talk.

Using Invisibility, Raz was able to escape the Otherlobe without raising any alarms or anything, but two odd things did happen. At one point, just after leaving the cafeteria, he suddenly bumped into something even though nothing was there. It moved when he struck him, and Raz heard a slight grunt. “Whoops, excuse me~” he heard an easygoing male voice say, although he couldn’t identify the source. Nothing else came of that, but about a minute later, while making his way down a hallway, Raz passed by a particular Scarlet Guardian. Nothing about the dark-haired girl seemed particularly special compared to anyone else, but when Raz approached her, her gaze followed him despite being invisible. She looked befuddled, and continued to stare in his direction for another couple moments, but she neither said or did anything, and soon went on her way.

A few minutes more and Raz reached the street. Despite the rain, Suoh was every bit as lively -and visually busy- as it had been yesterday afternoon, if not even more so. He looked around, trying to figure out how he could get in touch with the Seekers. After some exploring he located a man in yellow and black attire, his face hidden, who caught his interest because of the familiar word inscribed on the cap he wore atop his helmet: Bridges. He remembered the name being mentioned before as that of a potential allied organization in Midgar. It was as good an option as any.

“Who am I?” the archivist asked when questioned. “I am nobody. I am but shadow, and I am but air. Yet air can carry sound, and shadows portray a looming intent. Who knows how far the winds can blow, or how long a shadow might be cast…?”

Despite the obfuscation, Satori the Archivist consented to ‘buying’ a bundle of data from Raz with the intent to ‘sell’ it elsewhere, specifically through the chiral network to the terminal just now being set up in the Seekers’ new Seiran base. Of course, that took time, and when it was done Raz needed to hurry. The time was almost nigh.

---

When the orange light faded away, Peach saw that, sure enough, she’d appeared in a completely different place. Sakura, Raz, Sina, Dexio, and Luka all made it alongside her, as if the whole team simply stepped in an elevator and set foot in a new locale. In this case, her platoon had reached what looked like a flooded subway station, overgrown with roots, moss, and algae, and festooned by garbage. With the water risen to about the second level, the tops of long-abandoned trains, booth roofs, and cross-platform walkways offered ways to get around without getting wet, which would suit Peach just fine. The water smelled rank. There were also plenty of pillar supports, although some of them had collapsed at some point, and with them part of the station’s roof. Rain showered down through the hole to patter against the surface of the water. Looking up through the opening, Peach could see skyscrapers holding up a plate. So we must be just outside Seiran’s reservoir, she realized. That would explain this flooding. For a moment she wondered if the other Seekers might be somewhere on one of those buildings, staring down at the reservoir and wondering where the infiltrators might be. Then she focused on the task at hand.

Peach and the others stood atop a second-story metal-frame platform overhang shelter, under which passengers here might have once waited for their trains to arrive. Red paint had been spattered here, presumably by the scouts, to mark out the zone the platoon would be warped to, but from here on out the team would be mostly on their own. Despite there being no enemies in sight, Luka had already hefted his heavy-looking Weight Hammer, ready to swat anything that jumped out at the team. Dexio’s weapons of choice were big, heavy blue iron cestus with flat heads like ball-peen hammers, but with three metal spikes apiece in a triangle on the fronts. Sina, meanwhile, wielded a Refrigerant Coil on her right forearm, which in conjunction with her Cryokinesis essentially let her use her arm as a cannon. Before anyone could use their equipment, however, they needed to cross the flooded station, and Luka had a suggestion.

“Let’s all use my Teleportation to get over there,” the team leader suggested, pointing out a dark tunnel on the far side. “Once you activate it, you just need to ‘dash’ to where you want to go and the power will kick in. But please be very careful whenever you use it. You must teleport to completely unoccupied space.”

Peach’s eyes widened. “Oh dear, could we teleport inside something?”

“Yes,” he replied, his tone tentative. “But the main issue is, since two things can’t exist in the same place at the same time, teleporting inside something will cause a reaction comparable to…well, a nuclear explosion.”

“I’m not going to teleport,” Peach decided that instant. Instead she jumped, double jumped, and floated to her destination with her parasol. Luka followed her in a blink, and after a moment of mental preparation both Dexio and Sina did the same without incident. Once everyone was together, they proceeded into the tunnel.

After going a short way, Luka called the team’s attention to something. “We’re on the right track. Look.” He pointed out a cluster of red plants growing from an island of dirty in the water next to the subway tracks, which Peach saw grew thicker the further the tunnel went. “These pinecone flowers grow in places inhabited by others,” Luka explained. “Brace yourselves for a fight.



Sure enough, after balancing along the tracks or splashing through the water beside them for just another minute, the Scarlet Guardians reached an open area where the gray light of an overcast day, together with the rain, poured through cracks in the ceiling down to fall upon a bunch of Others. The seven Kitchen Rummies, crowned by umbrellas and coral, more or less resembled the Rummies seen before but sparkled with electricity. However, the three Rat Ruts were completely new, featuring thick metal shells that protected a squishy papaya interior, all atop a rotating eel wheel. One other strange organism rolled around the tunnel, a one-wheeled, baby-faced bruiser whose slow-charging lightbulb could emit a paralyzing flash: an Exonerator.

Luka’s eyes narrowed, and he reached out to the others through Brain Talk. “Ruts attack predictably, but they hit like trucks, and their shells take a lot of punishment, so focus on blunt force. They’ll also shoot bolts of oil at you from those spouts on top.” He looked between the different Others, then at the terrain. “We’re lucky these Others don’t have much synergy, but don’t stand in water where those Rummies can zap you. Let’s take them out.”

He teleported forward to set the example, and with her Scatterboom in hand Peach ran in behind him. Though faced with new and unknown opponents, she went to battle with a smile on her face. Maybe it was just her new spirit fusion, or maybe Nadia had rubbed off on her during their time in the Deep Blue Seaside, but she was feeling fired up and ready to show her worth.

As the group collected itself, Teemo looked at the green pipe with some suspicion. "After you." He'd mumble to nobody in particular. The intent with it was clear to him, but its not like he was going to trust it right off the bat. He'd gone through similar things on the summoner's rift, but similar wasn't the same. Still, one by the party descended down it and eventually with an exasperated sigh he stood on the precipice over the tube's black abyss that seemed to be so much closer than that of any other bottomless pit. Still standing on the green edge, he turned and with a salute announced: "Bombs away!" before with a slight twist of his heels fell backwards and head first into the hole. Much to his personal annoyance, the physics defying nature ensured that rather than a graceful downwards glide his bulbous form simply spun through the void until he came out the other end.

When coming out the other end, the plunge into water was certainly unpleasant. While he could stomach getting his fur so thoroughly soaked, Teemo wasn't lying when he commented on his nautical skills before. Briefly bobbing up and down out of the water in a vain effort to keep his head above it and not drown, he knew cries for help would probably take a while to materialize any support. Thus it was that he took a little yordlish magic to blow into his pipe so that his breath coming out of it would propel him through the water like a jet stream. He wasn't anything resembling a caster, but all yorldes could do a little bit of magic and he could muster enough to not die here like a toddler left alone in a pool.

He did eventually make his way out, and in this new city he did find some solace. It was civilization experienced for the first time since Teemo had been forced into this world. Unfortunately, he had little in the way of money to spend herein. Still, he passed the time until the party once more rendezvous'd by going aroudn any shops with books and going through them as stealthily as he could to read the contents of whatever histories he could find without a shopkeep shooing him out at broom-point; a serious threat for any bookish yordle. Snacks were found in small bits of vermin that to Teemo were just delectable morsels, particularly when contrasted with stuff like dead worms he might have had to eat in the wilds on missions. Though the nature of his new life still confused the ancient furball, the many books his eyes touched at least gave him a better idea of what to be confused about. Progress! His ignorance was given direction, rather than being outright ignorance. Topped with Browser's impromptu if quite painful lesson, he felt eventually he'd really get the hang of it all and be a great hero of this place. Maybe, just maybe, he could even make his way home after all this. His cold heart was loathe to admit it, but he was feeling home sick. It was one thing to be hundreds of kilometres from bandle city. It was another in entirety to be not just in another universe, but in this place that was both a jail and a crossroads of universes. Truth be told, the fact this place broke a fourth wall didn't make Teemo feel any better as he slowly came to understand it. He wondered if somehow he would manage to make it back home, if things could in any way return to normalcy with all his knowledge and experiences received in the world of light. Probably not he reckoned. But a bunch of old guys (at least, for humans) with really big beards that did a lot of meditation told him change could be good. Besides, normal was always changing. He'd be alright the Captain told himself, even if a feeling gnawed at the back of his mind that he was just assuring himself now that he felt uncertain for the first time in his existence.

At last reunited with his new friends, their assembly as a party lead Teemo to encounter a lady that having petted him on the head crossed what was taboo for many yordles. Still, not exactly being in a position of privilege Teemo decided not rage like Kled or one of his other hyper-violent cousins might have. Instead he simply frowned deeply, and then even deeper when he was disappointed in his furry face failing to provide a truly negative expression. "Captain Teemo." he grumbled, introducing himself as curtly as he could.

With Nadia taking the lead, Teemo found that this place couldn't stop fascinating. While the personalities were all modulations on some sort of multiversal archetype he had already encountered in his home-setting, the vistas were truly something new. Even when crusty, musty and dusty they were still quite interesting (admittedly thanks in no small part to their visual styles being completely different to anything he had experienced before).

As Nadia lead them inside of the building, Teemo remarked "Fuck, I think that's bad guy music!" the first word bleeping itself out just like any other swear from the yordle before the syllable was finished. As they went inside, Teemo wasn't exactly happy with the first wave of enemies they got. They were small and ethereal making them difficult targets for marksmanship while Teemo's darts were not infinite. Or were they? Well, it didn't matter. These things weren't threatening enough to shoot and while a quite poor combatant in melee, he was confident enough in his companions that he simply bonked the little wisps on the face with his blowpipe when they got too close.

As they engage the patients, Teemo started to find himself getting annoyed at the puns. But, it also wasn't the time to start sorting out relations. Anyway, these new enemies were at last worthy of shooting. Thus he loaded of his blowpipe and aiming at their malformed heads let loose the projectiles. Much like Nadia he ran when he couldn't kill them on time. Unlike her however, he had the luxury that if his kiting brought him to a dead end where he couldn't escape them he could simply stand still and turn invisible to get rid of the aggro. It was in one such stealthy moment he witnessed the interaction with the horrible dog-like think to his astoundment, and in his invisibility he turned to watch the proceedings with fascination wondering what would come of it.

Most of the machine-talk went over Roxas's head, but he managed to get a vague notion of what they were looking for. It effectively amounted to looking for the toughest-looking people they could find - as they would likely be the kind of salvage crew they were looking for. That part he understood well enough. Seemed like the Slum had no shortage of scrappy-looking people. But unfortunately Roxas couldn't really tell who would be the most likely people to as for help. Eventually they figured that the person they really needed to look for was someone named Isaac Clark. Well, that would narrow the search down at least.

That was about when Roxas heard Tora mention sightseeing. Roxas couldn't imagine what would be worth sightseeing in a place like this, but he tried looking over at where the little mechanic had been staring. There... didn't seem to be anything particularly nice over there. But it wasn't long before Roxas spotted a familiar head of spikey-hair, "Is that really...? I've gotta find out!" Roxas blurted out as he suddenly took off in the direction of the building that the spikey-haired mercenary disappeared into.

Roxas picked up the pace, going into a full sprint in time to burst through the doors of the Beginner's Hall. He looked around - panting and out of breath, "Come on... where'd you go...?" He glanced around and eventually spotted who he was looking for.

"Cloud! Tifa!" Roxas called out to them. He jogged over and looked up at them. And it was only then that he realized that these two never actually officially met him before. In fact he only knew of them thanks to having been in Sora's Heart for a portion of the latter's interactions with them, "You've... never met me face-to-face before, but... I'm Roxas." He told them, but got little in the way of a reaction. "Um... Sora's Nobody?" He finally said after an awkward pause, maybe hoping Sora's name would ring some bells. And suddenly he was beginning to feel really foolish right now.

All too soon it became clear that she couldn’t stay here any longer. That terrible symphony of destruction, orchestrated from impassioned voices, the relentless percussion of well-made instruments, and reverbs that shook the building itself, was getting too close for comfort. Revolver clenched in one hand and long-range radio in the other, she gritted her teeth and dashed out into the flickering lights of the hallway, headed still further away from the chaos. An especially loud rumble rattled the entire superstructure, nearly throwing her to the ground as the floor tilted beneath her feet. It wouldn’t be long now. “Bloody ash,” she growled through gritted teeth, her accent pronouncedly Scottish. She half-stumbled, half-sprinted along until she reached the end of the hallway. A dead end, although it did have a window, though it had been shattered. The wind whistled through the jagged gap, disturbing the bloodstained ashes that lay on the floor here. A shadow passed over the window, and with a gasp the girl darted inside the room opened with her precursor’s last breath. She dared to give one last furtive glance over her shoulder, then slammed the door closed.

This was the vehicle bay, she realized. Of course, that name rang hollow without any vehicles to deploy. It had been of no use to the defenders, and she couldn’t see how it would be of any use to her. She took a shaky breath, then furrowed her brows and turned on the radio. “I’m in the damn room, and there’s nothing here!” she barked. “Where the spark are you? They’ll be here any second!”

“I’m here.” The voice echoed through the empty darkness of the room. Though normally calm, it sounded a bit strained, as if in pain.

“About bloody time.” The girl gave a gasping laugh, her relief palpable. “But what the spark are you playin’ at? Those bastards of yours took shots at me! Dyin’ with the rest of ‘em wasn’t part of my plan!”

“They’re not mine. This was not my intention.” The man approached through the dark, allowing the girl a better view. In person she could really get a sense for how tall he was; she might be short for her age, but he positively loomed over her, nearly half again as tall. Still, he was rather spindly, and he looked too anguished to be imposing. “Tis the blasted fiends. I did not consider that they might take such drastic action so soon.”

Throwing her hands up, the glowering girl swung her arms as she shouted at him. “I don’t give a spark about the particulars! Are you gonna get me outta here or not?”

Her contact seemed to switch gears, his face tightening. “I will. But first, you must do something else for me. I cannot allow everyone here to be lost. The consequences would be far too dire.” The man offered the girl a list of names, many of them familiar to her. “You need to find them. Tell them you found an emergency escape route, and bring them here. When you do, this teleporter will be online.” Stepping aside, he pointed out a device hidden in a corner of the hangar. “Once you’re through, destroy it behind you.”

“The spark?!” the girl shrieked. “Haven’t I done enough for you!? Chances are I’ll get shot to death before makin’ it out!”

The man did not flinch. “Spare me your outrage. You are a traitor, lowest of the low, and traitors always get their comeuppance in the end. So consider it a test of your worthiness to keep on living.

After a brief moment, her face twisted into a mask of rage, the girl snatched the list. “Damn you! You’d better come through for me.” She pushed open the door, and raced back the way she came.

---

“BUSTER WOLF!”

Even over the din of battle, the mighty cry rang out across the wartorn atrium. A massive, point-black blasts of earth energy crumpled the MAX unit’s heavy armor plating and blew him clean off his feet. He flew a couple dozen meters before crashing through a row of burning foliage and carving a furrow through the earth in a spray of dirt and grass. The victor stood there for a moment, panting with his fist held out. Sweat trickled down his face, and blood seeped from the bullet wounds in his musclebound torso. Around him lay the disintegrating bodies of a half-dozen friends and who knew how many foes. But he’d done it. He’d won.

Then a noise from above drew his attention, and he looked up to see yet another drop pod violently crash through one of the few remaining glass panes of the domed atrium roof. He gritted his teeth, putting on a grim smile. More reinforcements. It hurtled directly at him, and in his condition he could barely move. Instead of throwing himself to the ground to buy himself just a couple more seconds, he clenched his fist and pulled back his arm, the flex of his muscles only just contained by his skin. “Power…” As the drop pod descended, he unleashed his fist into the ground, his jaw stretched wide and his veins popped with the sheer force of his exertion. “GEYSEEEEEER!”

Yet another giant explosion shook the park, sending metal shrapnel far and wide and blowing some of the last few remaining leaves from the trees not yet mowed down by gunfire. When the smoke cleared and he risked a peek above the barricade, Vandham saw nothing that resembled a hero among the debris. “Dammit…” he breathed. He then ducked as a volley of bullets clanged off the barrier, fired by the enemy soldiers. Even here, with all the fighters still standing, pulled back to the high ground at the very top of the staircases in Alcamoth’s atrium near the Great Hall, the enemy pushed in relentlessly. They’d proved themselves to be a deadly military force, their different classes of troops from light assault to engineer to medic fully kitted out and working together. The ones in red specialized in massive output both in terms of quantity and speed, while the ones in purple employed futuristic weapons that ignored all sorts of hindrances from reloading to bullet drop. While they commanded no superpowers, they possessed the power of real bullets, enough to kill an ordinary person in just a couple well-aimed shots. They arrived in handfuls of drop pods, or appeared from inside the bulky Galaxy dropships parked in defensible areas around the atrium park and Alcamoth in general. No matter the positional disadvantage, or the losses incurred against Smash City’s generally superior fighters, the combined forces enemy just kept on coming.

“Oohoohoo, and there he goes! Finally, after a whopping eighty-one confirmed kills, Terry Bogard the Legendary Wolf goes down! That one’s gotta sting for our brave heroes, how many more losses can they take!?” The snide, gleeful voice rang out across the battlefield from on high, drawing Vandham’s bitter gaze. Floating in the air outside Alcamoth were two gigantic airborne carriers. Standing on the edge of the purple-colored one were two unfamiliar figures in cherry-red armor, one a woman and the other a man. Their arrival over Eryth Sea, flying in together from the north and northwest, had heralded the beginning of the end. Once deployed, their troopers and vehicles laid waste to everything and anything in their paths as they made for the engineering sector beneath the Great Hall, and when a number of fighters rallied to protect it the enemy branched out throughout the city to cull both pockets of resistance and support systems. Since the moment he arrived that absolute asshole had been using some sort of speaker system to project his voice over the chaos like some demented sports announcer. He sometimes called out targets for his troops, but mostly taunted Alcamoth’s defenders. On top of all the carnage wrought already, his sadistic showmanship was unbearable.

Grenades flew over the barricade to explode among the defenders, forcing them to scatter. A fresh wave of enemies then surged to the top of the stairs, opening fire the second they caught a glimpse of the defenders. “RAAAGH!” Vandham roared as he charged, his Blade partner Roc flying right behind him. He whirled his hand scythes in a storm of wind ether, deflecting enough bullets to let him get close. Once near enough, Vandham then launched a gust of air with a mighty revolution, blowing a handful of troopers right off the balcony to fall to their deaths, just as he planned when he cut the railings earlier. A Light Assault turned on her jetpack to fly back up, but the big man had already moved on to her squadmates. His weapons felled soldier after soldier with two strokes apiece, and when he reached the last one he slammed together the butts of his kamas together to make the a double-bladed polearm, which launched the Heavy Assault into the air and then slammed him back down, pinned by a blade through the torso into the ground. Behind him, the Light Assault took aim at his head, but Roc descended upon her. His first flying crescent kick knocked the rifle from her hands, and his second slashed through the straps of her jetpack. A final flap of his wings knocked the soldier off again, never to rise.

The others had taken out the wave as well. Dante and Cerberus’ return fire blew through the shooters, while Sol crushed anyone foolish enough to get too close, supported by Jack-O’s servants. A handful of other surviving Mercenaries and civilians helped out as best they could, like King Dedede and Sora with their weapons, Max Howard with his invisible Axe Legion, and Mona with her hydro magic, while Caesar’s furious barking kept everyone’s blood pumping. There weren’t a lot of them left, but those who were wouldn’t be going down any time soon if they could help it. Together both Driver and Blade hurried back toward cover, but as before they reached it Vandham heard the dreadfully familiar whir of an alien engine. He looked up at another Scythe fighter moving in, perfectly timed to catch him off guard with its nose-mounted Maelstrom Turbo Laser. He’d already seen what those guns could do against Wii Fit Trainer and Ghalt. End of the line…

Or at least it would’ve been. All of a sudden, the Scythe fighter became coated with a bluish outline of sorts: the telltale sign of a psychic hold. The vessel was too heavy to be thrown outright, but it could be moved in a jerking motion. That motion threw off the Laser’s aim resulting in a near-miss. Immediately after, the purple and white figure of Mewtwo teleported into view, positioning himself between the enemy vessel and Vandham. <Go!> He told Vandham, telepathically. Then he cupped his three-fingered hands together behind and began to charge up a Shadow Ball. <I’ve got this one.>

Well obviously the Scythe fighter wasn’t going to just sit there and let Mewtwo blast them. And so it locked on and fired its Turbo Laser. But before the shot could hit the mark, the Pokemon suddenly vanished with a small flash. A moment later, Mewtwo reappeared directly above the craft’s cockpit shield and hurled the now fully charged Shadow Ball directly down onto it. The shielding and reinforced glass absorbed most of the blast, but the window now had cracks forming where it was impacted. And that was when Mewtwo used Psychic to grip the now-damaged cockpit glass and ripped it clean off, exposing the pilot within.

They attempted to eject, but their seat was also caught by Mewtwo’s psychic grasp before it could fly too far. The Pokemon coldly stared at the now-helpless pilot before flinging him straight down where he would have much less time to deploy a parachute, resulting in a harder landing. They’d live, but they probably wouldn’t be able to walk for a while. The Pokemon used teleport to quickly position himself back above the out-of-control fighter and used Psychic to grab onto it. With some exertion, he was able to halt its forward momentum, which allowed him to then drop it straight down. That at least would prevent it from crashing into any buildings. After that Mewtwo teleported himself to Vandham’s bastion before the Great Hall.

<How many of us are there left?>

“Not enough,” the hulking Aussie replied bitterly. “Those guns are the real deal, and there’s just no bloody end to them.”

“Projectiles are bullshit!” Sol chimed in.

He watched as a pair of Heavy Assault Troopers opened fire at Dante and Cerberus. The triple demon scattered, but with her superhuman durability Dante withstood the gunshots long enough to hurl Round Trip at them. One soldier rolled away, but the other got caught in the blades vortex. Switching to Trickster, Dante teleported above her foe and came down with a Meteor from her Balrog gauntlets, then caught the spinning blade and launched the soldier with High Time, splitting him in half. A charged shot struck the other soldier, staggering him long enough for Dante to pierce his body armor with Stinger, then hurl his corpse down the stairs as she retreated toward cover in a storm of gunfire. While she fought, an Infiltrator had used her cloaking field to sneak past, and she almost reached the Great Hall before Cerberus sniffed her out and put a quick stop to that.

“I could do this all day,” Dante called cheerfully. “But I’m not everyone, and I can’t be everywhere at once. Sooner or later, they’re gonna break through, or find another way in.”

As it turned out, ‘sooner’ might be more accurate. Vandham spotted Prowler main battle tanks on the move through Alcamoth park. Right now they couldn’t get a bead on the mercenaries’ bulwark, but if allowed to roll up Melfica Road to them things would go sour fast.

“Help!” a female voice called out. “I’m pinned down!”

As if things could get any worse, Vandham spotted a young woman with pigtails and camo carb a ways off, hiding behind a broken statue. “Shania!?” Vandham wheezed. A handful of Vanu troopers were advancing on her position, and with just her handgun for self-defense she wouldn’t last long. He glanced at the others. “Can anyone help her?”

<I can.> Mewtwo said, telepathically - vanishing before he received any reply.

The Pokemon reappeared in front of the statue that Shania was hiding, hands outstretched. He used Psychic and telekinetically grabbed a hold of the Vanu troopers and crashed them into one another. Then Mewtwo reached behind him and telekinetically pulled Shania closer to him. <Grab hold of me!> He told her through telepathy. The girl jumped and grabbed onto his shoulders, wrapping her arms around his neck. As soon as she did he teleported them both back to Vandham. But he didn’t stay long, as Mewtwo immediately used Teleport and vanished once again.

When he appeared again, Mewtwo was floating just above the Prowler. Using Psychic, the Pokemon used his telekinesis to grab the double-barreled cannon and was able to rip it right off the vehicle with enough exertion and then flung it hard into the cannons of another nearby tank.

“Mewtwo’s running rampant!” the Consul exclaimed over his megaphone “You’re not gonna let him do that to you guys, are you? Get that bitch!”

The troopers riddled Mewtwo with bullets as he attempted to take the fight to the entire battalion on his own. Other tanks opened fire, but though Mewtwo was quick on the draw with his Teleport, the Prowlers were surprisingly fast and the Shadow Balls Mewtwo did get off weren’t enough to stem the tide. Stopping long enough to rip off more cannons would be fatal. Though very powerful in his own right, the Pokemon could only do so much against an onslaught, essentially providing a distraction while Shania reunited with the other fighters.

Her disappearance when her allies needed her would have rightfully been cause for reproach, but Vandham said nothing of the sort. “Good to see you’re still alive, lass,” he told Shania, clapping a massive hand on her shoulder.

“Y-yeah,” she panted, her cloudy expression tinged by guilt. Her eyes quickly roved around the survivors as she ticked off a mental checklist. Good enough. “Listen. I found an emergency escape route in the vehicle bay. Some engineer must’ve set it up, but got shot through the window before makin’ it back to all of ya’s. This battle’s hopeless. We need to get movin’ now!”

Vandham pursed his lips, his expression grim as he glanced around the battlefield. “Much as I hate to admit it…you’re right, lass. I’m going to order a retreat.”

Nearby, Zelda furrowed her brows, her teeth clenched. “Who are you to make that call? We’re the only thing between them and the engineering sector. If they make it in, they’ll drop the entire city into the Eryth Sea. Everyone hiding around the city will die.”

“Don’t you see we can’t win here?” Vandham questioned her, his voice curt with pain. “They’ll drop it sooner or later. It’s just a matter of time. How many more of us have to die before we make a run for it? By that time there might not be anyone left.” He took another peek and saw that Mewtwo had been forced to retreat, too low on health to risk more fighting, and on his tail came another platoon of soldiers. “I en’t afraid to die a hero, but only if it ensures that others live on. We can’t waste this chance.”

“Well, then,” Dante swept by breezily. “You’d better get a move on. If we’re gonna split, and you’re making a break for it, I think I’ll take a crack at cutting off the snake’s head.” She looked up through the smoke, flame, and shattered glass to the carrier ships, and the Consuls who stood atop them. “If all their troops are down here, who’s protecting them up there?” Summoning her Devil Sword Dante, she plunged it into her chest and transformed in an infernal flare into her fearsome Sin Devil Trigger form, ready to take wing.

Cerberus jumped on her, two of them clinging to her arms and the last hitching a piggy-back ride. “We’ll come with you!”

Coming to a consensus, Sol and Jack-O stepped up as well, the latter enlarging her pumpkin-hobble to ride it up into the air. “I ain’t gonna let you have all the fun,” Sol growled. “Those bastards have earned themselves one hell of a beatdown.”

Jack-O glanced at Mewtwo, who her Servants had been helping to patch up with one of the survivors’ last medkits. “You should come too. We could use your help.”

<Very well.> He pushed himself to his feet and used his powers to fly up after them.

With the enemy almost here and no time to waste, Dante, Mewtwo, and Jack-O took off, with Sol hanging from the pumpkin’s chain. As they sped through the atrium toward the carriers, the remaining fighters abandoned their position, running like bats out of hell toward the vehicle bay with Shania at the front and Vandham bringing up the rear. Their fortifications blew apart behind them as the Prowlers unloaded their cannons.

“What’s this?” the Consul’s voice rang out. “Our so-called heroes are making a break for it! Light ‘em up, mooks!”

The enemy troopers quickly caught on to their targets’ retreat, and bullets whizzed across the battlefield. A Mii Gunner went down while trying to return fire, and when Heavy Assault troopers pulled out their rocket launchers to wreak havoc, Zelda teleported in front of her allies to reflect the explosives with Nayru’s Love. After a couple repetitions, however, a sniper bullet hit its mark at the exact moment her reflector went down, and the princess stumbled, clutching her shoulder. Before hitting the ground, she teleported away..

“Sniper! Keep your heads-!” Val, the team’s own medic sniper, took a headshot in the middle of her callout. Falco avoided a similar fate in the nick of time with his own reflector, but an explosive shell from one of the Prowlers as it pulled into view sent him flying into a nearby wall. Immediately, Steve began laying down cobblestone walls to protect the team as they ran, and Max Howard pulled up a bubble shield using his Axe Legion, but the tanks destroyed their barriers as quickly as they made them.

Up in the air, Dante realized that she’d gained another passenger. She looked down to see Nero hanging from her leg, his wire wound around her ankle. “The hell are you doing?” she called down.

“I’m coming too!” the devil hunter yelled. “I can’t let them get away with this!”

Dante growled. “Nero, go! You’re just dead weight!” Kicking her leg, she sent him flying back down to the ground. He landed with a roll and an anguished shout, but seeing the others in trouble, he ran to help the other survivors evacuate. At this point Mewtwo began charging up a Shadow Ball. That way he would have a fully charged one ready to pop off as soon they reached their destination.

A few at a time, the fighters made it to the hallway, disappearing into the cover provided by the building itself. Caesar led the way beside Shania at a gallop, Wario rode in on his bike, V surfed in atop Shadow, Yennefer used her portals to escape to safety, and Mona surged across the ground as a submerged ripple, leaving taunting phantasms in her wake that helped draw fire from her allies. Leon, Guile, and Ashley escaped, but not without a cost. Dedede sustained heavy wounds, but made sure Luigi and Ness got out alongside him. Nero, Max Howard, and Sora all made it while protecting others, despite the anguish and survivor’s guilt that weighed on their hearts.

“RRRRRAGH!” Jigglypuff fell to Vandham’s right, and Chrom to his left. Bullet holes pockmarked his back. But with a final herculean effort he smashed the control panel to smithereens, irreversibly slamming shut the hallway door behind the last survivors. Panting, he slowly turned around to see several dozen troopers fanned out into a crescent-shaped firing squad, their rifles trained on him and Roc and two Prowlers behind them. “You…” he muttered, his grip on his hand scythes tight. “You all better live…”

Then the troopers opened fire, only to find all their munitions stopped short by a radiant barrier of magic. Vandham blinked in astonishment, lowering the arms he’d thrown up in front of his face, and stared eye-to-eye at the figure who’d appeared beside him as his wounds rapidly closed. “...Who the hell are you?”

---

“I’m sorry…darling.”

With a massive crash, the greatwyrm Brunhilda collapsed to the tarmac. Her flame-red scales covered in dozens of wounds, and poison coursed through her veins. In front of her, the squad of Terran MAX units that flanked Consul H lowered their dual chainguns. L waved her hand dismissively, allowing her summoned Nihilego and Naganadel to relax. Only one opponent still stood before them, after all. Barely a foot in height and clutching an injury in his side, Olimar did not look like much of a threat. He’d been the least imposing of the handful of fighters who rode up here on top of Brunhilda in a desperate attempt to wipe out enemy command, and now nothing but ashes remained of Louis, Shovel Knight, or Athena. With his other hand he grasped the stem of a final red Pikmin and pulled it from the stone, glowering as H fixed him with his helmet’s permanent cocky smile.

“Close, but no cigar,” he grinned, hoisting his golden submachine gun onto his shoulder. “Weeeell, not that close, not at all really, but hey, points for trying!”

L rolled her eyes. “Just finish him off, would you?”

That was when Mewtwo teleported himself onto the top of the carrier. He appeared in between H and Olimar and immediately let his fully charged Shadow Ball fly right toward the grinning Consul. “What the!?” he yelped, throwing up his arms in self-defense. Then Mewtwo tried to use Psychic to grab the pair of Pokemon-like beasts and throw them into L in an attempt to knock them all off the ship.

Though the move was super-effective on both Ultra Beasts, L was fast enough to dodge the blow. Her eyes narrowed at the Legendary that had appeared. “How interesting…”

<Hurry, Dante!> he telepathically communicated. Mewtwo had gotten here first thanks to his Teleport. It’d be another moment or two before the others caught up with him. <I can’t stall them forever!>

Even then he was having to teleport himself and Olimar around to avoid being shot at by H and the MAX units. And naturally, the two beasts were able to prevent themselves and L from being thrown overboard. And now both of them were attacking. The jellyfish-like one spewed a purple and poisonous liquid that Mewtwo recognized as a Venoshock attack. And the second beast charged up and fired a sort of energy shockwave attack that Mewtwo similarly recognized as a Dragon Pulse attack.

The Pokemon teleported himself and Olimar out of the way of the Venoshock, and then he let the Dragon Pulse attack hit him in order to protect Olimar from being further harmed. These beasts, they had to be Pokemon, but they were not like any Pokemon that Mewtwo had ever seen or encountered before. But if they were Pokemon, then that would make L a Pokemon Trainer. Mewtwo had to be especially wary with her, since at any time she could try throwing Poke Balls in an attempt to capture him.

Neither of the Ultra Beasts kept up their assault, however. L dismissed them into wormholes so that Mewtwo couldn’t continue to take advantage of their shared poison typing with his psychic moves, and just as they disappeared the others arrived. Dante shot up over the carrier’s edge with Cerberus still clinging to her. Upon arrival she unleashed The Luce, blanketing the whole area containing both Consuls with a barrage of infernal arrows. When she turned human, all four landed a few meters away from the edge. Right on their heels came Jack-O, and once Sol jumped down the red-haired contortionist descended after him. While the demons descended behind them, Sol charged headfirst into the smoke toward the silhouette of Consul L, but rather than her face his savage fist left a dent in a heavy, solid surface. “Volcanic Viper!” Gritting his teeth, Sol canceled into his trademark uppercut and blew away the smoke, revealing and almost knocking over the Ultra Beast Stakataka.

Several of the MAX units had been destroyed, but the two that remained opened fire on Sol as he descended, unable to halt the momentum from his uppercut. In the nick of time, however, Jack-O saved him with a servant she kicked his way, which blocked the bullets with its shield. One of the MAX units turned its chainguns on Jack-O, but the Cerberus with nunchucks slammed the ground to create a wall of ice for defense, and the next moment the grappling hook from Dante’s Kalina Ann lodged in the MAX’s armor and yanked it off its feet, perfectly positioned for Mewtwo to deal the finishing blow. Without any hesitation, Mewtwo used Psychic to grab the unit and fling them off the side of the ship.

Not wanting to let off of the heat - Mewtwo spun around and shot another Shadow Ball in H’s direction. Rather than take the blow himself, H yanked the last MAX unit by the arm into the way, using him as a human shield. Seemingly surprised, the MAX unit slumped to the ground, reaching a plaintive hand toward H, but H just kicked it aside. A double charged shot from Dante’s pistols then struck him, but they bounced off a thick energy shield, so he just laughed them off. “About time someone with some balls showed up!” he snickered. “And here I thought it’d be a curb-stomp from start to finish.”

“You’ve got a lot to answer for,” Dante told him, her tone much less carefree than usual. “I hope you’re ready to pay up.”

H shrugged. “See, that’s the thing. The others all have crazy superpowers, but me? All I’ve got other than my rugged good lucks is money. But money…” He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Behind him, a Constructor machine began to digistruct a bipedal mech, which H promptly teleported into. “Makes the world go ‘round!”

At the same time, L opened more ultra wormholes, her eyes sneering at Mewtwo. “Given the circumstances, I think we can dispense with the typical handicap, no?” The portals promptly divulged another four Ultra Beasts: Guzzlord, Xurkitree, Celesteela, and Blacephalon, all hand-picked for their lack of a psychic-type weakness. L held out her empty palm, then span it to reveal Kartana between her fingers with sleight-of-hand.

Cerberus quavered, but Dante grinned. “Looks like one hell of a party. Buckle up, you two, ‘cause once we’re done playing with your toys, you’re next!”

Behind them, Brunhilda reared up onto her hind legs. Fighting through her poison, she unleashed a torrent of covering fire at the enemy Consuls, and Alcamoth’s finest charged. Dante and Sol bulled forward at the head of the pack, Jack-O advanced with a mob of servants, Cerberus joined hands to fuse into their monstrous demon form, and even Olimar found a second wind. As for Mewtwo, he was still rightfully wary of L, and the strong likelihood that she had some empty Poke Balls on her person. That in mind - he decided on a slightly different tactic. He teleported directly in front of the Trainer, clearly intending to focus on her rather than her Ultra Beasts.

When confronted over his breakfast-time thievery, Ichiban gave a sheepish look. "It's... free, right? Is there, like, a rule against takin' too much?" He looked down at his plate of half-eaten foods sadly, setting it down on one of the buffet tables, defeated by this supposed rule. He kept the stuff he put in his pockets, though.

"Mornin', Omori!" Ichiban greeted the monochrome kid, chomping on a piece of bacon he retrieved from his forgotten plate. What, he wasn't going to let bacon go to waste, was he? "Hope y'had a nice night. It's been forever since I slept in a place like this. Definitely better than getting rained..." His rambling slowed to a halt as his brain caught up with his eyes, staring wide at the ominous shadow, er, shadowing Omori. For a second he stood there, silent, then let out a sigh of relief as other people commented on it. "Phew, so I'm not going crazy here," he muttered. Omori didn't seem too bothered by it, but Ichiban kept his eye on this whatever-the-hell.

As it happened he was roped into the group's meeting, or at least he wasn't kicked out of it and decided to stick around. Not that it really meant anything to Ichiban. Three masks? Black Egg? Flame clocks? The talk of Consuls was a little more understandable, though Ichiban wasn't as familiar with them as far as them being some dudes in charge of a lot of stuff. And while he figured the talk of "this world" was just a funny manner of speech for these guys, there was enough of a grasp on the general concept for him to kinda follow along.

"So what you're sayin' is," Ichiban butted in, "these Consul guys are forcing all the folks that follow them to keep fighting each other? An endless gang war to keep them from crumblin'?" Ichiban crossed his arms and rubbed his chin. "Damn. If I'dve known what these guys were up to sooner I would've talked to them. That's no way to be runnin' things. The boss needs to look out for the people under him, not just use them for his own gain." Maybe not quite grasping the severity of things, but the sentiment resonated with the team's mission all the same.

Nadia offered to let him tag along. Ichiban chuckled nervously. "Who, me? I mean, sure, if you think I can help. A lotta what you guys were talking about, I honestly didn't understand it. But I'm always willing to lend a hand!"

They got underway, heading off to continue their quest, and on the way to meet IGV Ichiban struck up conversation with some of the other Seekers - namely Bowser's posse and Ganondorf.

"Hey guys," he said, excitement clear on his face. "Those're some great costumes! That Bowser suit looks super realistic, and your hair for Ganondorf, how long did that take to do?" Seemed he was nerding out over the pair, for... some reason.

With a short walk through the marketplace that was the Collection, Ichiban, Nadia, and the others arrived at the meeting spot their mysterious messenger said. A spooky mansion. Not the most comforting place to meet a stranger, though maybe that was the point. It wasn't like folks would be waltzing through and interrupting things in there.

Though just getting to the meeting was difficult on its own. The spooky building was full of weird things!

This is the riveting narration you get with Ichiban, here.

"The hell?!" Ichiban, as simple and down-to-earth as he appeared to be, had never encountered anything close to the spirits that popped up inside - it was a wonder how he was justifying their existence. Whatever the case he was quick to pick up a dusty stool from the ground and hold it up like a weapon.

"You sure this wasn't just a trap to get you guys with?" He asked as the group made their way through the ghosts, Ichiban a lot less flashy than the rest as he merely batted things away when they got too close, decently strong about it. "Like, this IGV guy could be workin' with the Consul?"

He didn't have nearly enough pieces to be speculating with, but Ichiban was a man who followed his gut, and right now his gut was saying how bad of an idea this was. Nobody was willing to just turn back though, so he stuck with them. Eventually they encountered a huge, monstrous mutt-looking creature, and Nadia prepared to do away with her only weapon to get rid of it.

"Whoa whoa, hold on!" Ichiban leapt in front of her, arms raised to get her to hold it. "Here, lemme try somethin'." Turning to face Endogeny Ichiban knelt down onto one knee. "Hey there, boy... or girl... you here all by yourself?" As he talked gently to the dog monster he reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a pair of sausages he swiped from breakfast, looking as clean and hot as when he first stuffed them inside. "Here, how about some food? Nice sausages like these, bet you don't get them often in here, huh?"

---

After making their sales, a few minor purchases, and having a proper breakfast, the troop were all out of time and so headed back to the hotel with their pockets bulging with cash. That was probably for the best, given that the last time the troop had gone out shopping, Jr and Bowser had both ended up flat broke.

Within the hotel they got to confirm that everyone looked to have made it down to the city in one piece, and they’d both apparently picked up some newbies while they were at it.

”Welcome to the winning team, human guy and weird ghost thing. I’m Bowser, the koopa king, your new boss! And these are Kamek, Bowser Junior, and Rika” The king announced, still on the whole being in charge-thing, despite that not really being the case at all.

Arguably, at the moment, it would be Nadia, as far as someone who unleashed groan-inducing barrages of puns could be considered capable of being in charge of anything. At least Rika got a laugh out of it. As for why the argument could be made, well it was because she had the details for them to make their next plan, which was to see someone called IGV.

”Weird name” the king commented, to which his boy replied that it was ”Not quite as weird as the consuls’ one letter deal they got going on”

”At least we know its not one of them, because that would be a strange pseudonym for one of them to use, for sure” Kamek asserted, only for Rika to suggest that ”Maybe its three of them?”

”I. Hmmm. Surely not? I mean they would have put commas in between them if that was so, or at least I should certainly hope so” was Kamek’s retort to that theory, to which he then added ”and if it is, well, I can hardly feel worried about a group who would make such a grammatical error” smugly, not even considering that it might be done intentionally as a joke.

Either way, they talked a bit more, traded some data and a mask fragment count, and then decided on a plan of action, which was to send a small crew to this soul sanctum, while the rest were free to make use of the city for self improvement purposes.

As part of this, the troop split in two halves. Kamek and Bowser had made the wise parental decision to keep the youngsters out of danger, and the incredibly unwise decision of leaving them in a market district with a whole bunch of their spending money.

Well, only partially unwise. The kids had been left with a specific mission, and that was to find Rika some ammo. Said task proved easier said than done, for though there were merchant’s a plenty throughout the book based port, most of them stocked gear and equipment of a pre-industrial or magical bent. Any hope the two had had of maybe picking up some robot parts or other high tech equipment to let Jr tinker with Rika’s weapons, or his own clown car, were right out.

They were about to give up when they ran across across a curious floating fellow who owned a stand that hosted an assortment of strange living projectile weaponry, from a scornful two part gun, to an alien toad held in a robot claw, a roach like blaster and a little bubble blowing buddy. There were also a variety of fluid themed weapons, from a fire extinguisher water gun mix to an, acid slosher, a rifle that fired living slime and finally a striped down looking ink blaster.

What really got their attention however, was not any of those strange weapons, but instead a small stack of inconspicuous looking green boxes stacked up near the back of the shop, which were sitting among a few rolls of duct tape and jars of unidentified liquid.

”oh oh look at those, those are definitely ammo for sure” Rika insisted, hurrying on over to the stall, with a bored jr trailing in her wake while complaining ”You sure? We’ve been looking for aaaages”

”For sure for sure!” she insisted, before waving an un-gauntleted hand at the floating cube person and then saying ”Hi Hi. I’m Rika. Those are ammo crates right? What calibers you got, and how much for them?”

The response was, to her, an incomprehensible alien tongue which threw her for a loop, the ship girl having never encountered such a thing outside of Sakura’s occasional dipping into her native tongue.

”I'm sorry, what?” she asked, only to have her attention directed to a simple sponge sitting on the center of the creature’s stand. ”Oh, um, what about it? You want me to pick it up? Ok then” she said after some more insistent pointing, plucking the cleaning implement from the table and asking ”Now what?” before being surprised as the floating shopkeep was suddenly comprehensible to her.

“Hellooooooo, I’m Professor Goopton, goop scientist and seller of the finest squishy wares in the city!” the excitable creature introduced itself, before giving its sales pitch “Can I interest you in one of my cutting edge weapons? Some make lovely companions as well, while others wield the supreme power of goop!”

”Ah, no sorry, I’ve already got plenty of guns” she said, turning to the side to show off her gauntlets, which were presently strapped to her back, and then pointing down to her two ship turrets attached to her rigging.

“Hmm, so I see, so I see, but. Tell me. Do they shoot goops?” the professor asked, already of course knowing the answer was ”Well, no” but being quite taken by surprise when she informed him that ”But my horns do”, before she demonstrated by dabbing a ginger against the tip of the thicker of her two horns and coming away from it with a glob of green goo.

“Oooo, fascinating. And what does that do?” the professor asked, to which she replied ”It explodes when I spit on it and then ended up demonstrating for him via dabbing it on his counter top, and then spitooned a glob of saliva at it, causing the goo to shift from green to red in hue over a few seconds before it exploded.

”Kind of impossible to pull off with a helmet on, though, so I ain’t been using it much” she explained at the end, referencing the spartan helm hanging from her hip, which the professor thought was a real shame.

Jr then butted in to know what in the world they were saying, and proceeded to get a quick rundown. After that the two youngsters had to both awkwardly hold the translation sponge together in-order to understand the professor at the same time.

The first thing Jr did once he knew the score and could communicate was show off his own goop, namely that produced by his magic paintbrush, which also wowed the professor of all things gooey, and disappointed him when the boy refused to sell the marvelous creation.

”Didn’t you give that short floaty lady like a jar which made those bloopy guys, which could make more though?” Rika reminded him, which prompted a great deal of back and forth haggling over the price of that.

“I’ll make you a deal” the professor offered “Give me one of each of your slime creators, and I’ll help your friend there realize the true potential of her goop. Given what you’ve said, it’s not like it will cost you anything, and you’ll be making a brilliant contribution to science twice over!“

”That does sound cool” Rika began to agree, but jr insisted they get something more out of it ”Give us one of your guns at least! I mean your only really offering to help because you want to anyway, you goop obsessed guy you”

“Ah but you see, in-order to free Rika’s goo, we are going to need one of my weapons anyway” he retorted, before picking up and putting the grizzco blaster in-front of them “and you’ll need a master goo crafter to make it happen”

”You think you're the only one who can work with goo? I made a bear mounted cannon fire flaming goo just the other day” Jr retorted challengingly, only for the prof to show enthusiasm at the prospect rather than intimidated

“Ooooh? A fellow student of the goo are you, not just a wielder? Well why didn’t you say so! We’ll have to make it a collaborative research project then. Together, I’m sure we can make something stupendous! A marvel for all the world to see”

”Ha, you think you can keep up with me! I’d like to see you try” Jr boasted, but was now basically onboard.

With only a bit more back and forth they were in agreement, and the pair set to work.

Jr took Rika’s canon gauntlet off and plopping it on the table, before pulling out his tool box and starting to dismantle it, while the professor began to do the same with the grizzco blaster. Rika still attached to her gauntlet via cable and so unable to really go anywhere while they were at this asked ”So, uh, what can I do to help?” To which the professor responded by pulling off one of the 4 canisters attached to the blaster, tentacling it to her, and then instructing her to “fill it with your mouth goo!”

---

While the youngsters mucked around with slime, their elders were trooping through the halls of the soul sanctum. They were rapidly vindicated by their decision to leave the kids behind, as both agreed they could do without any more creepy experiences.

Thus it was up to them to tough out the horror, horror that came about soon enough, first in the form of half melted creatures that swarmed them without end.

”Ok so, shoddy boos, we can handle that” Bowser inside even while he was creeped out by them. At least they weren't the most durable, with Bowser and Kamek both able to pop them with a fireball or two. The problem was that they just kept coming. Still, when it was just them, that was manageable, with the mage and king watching each other's backs as they gradually climbed the sanctum, and both grateful for Sectonia‘s minions who took up most of the chaff cleaning.

The problem arose when they started running into other things. The main bulk of the issue was the patients, which proved to be much more durable, and when accompanied by the unending trickle of mistakes, a complete pain to handle. The sheer durability and relentlessness of them forced some of the more fragile members of their crew to have to kite them in order to survive, inevitably splitting up the team.

Anyone that stuck with Bowser however, would have the king himself to act as a roadblock for the bulbous headed creatures.

”Well this is a wretched place make no mistake” Kamek commented as he conjured up a number of doppelgangers, and made two of them red. As soon as said clones were painted red they started blasting, slapping mistakes out of the air with magic bolts.

Behind him and them Bowser raised his little energy shield to block a patient, who despite its small size left cracks in the buckler with its eldritch strength. He then delivered a rocket powered counter strike that sent the patient flying through the air until it smashed into a heartbeat monitor, before glancing back and asking his advisor ”So you think that new guy was right about this being some kinda trap?”

”I’m not sure. It certainly will make it clandestine once we reach the top, seeing as any spies would also have to get through all this to listen in. So we will have to see” the mage said, admitting he wasn’t sure either way, before he waved his wand and cast ”Sphere of protection!” on his king, wrapping him in a shimmering barrier that rendered the physical attacking patients mostly harmless to the already tough as nails king.

Empowered, Bowser advanced, punching his fist with glee while taking up most of the hallway, a wall of force that slowly but surely smashed its way through any patient or mistake he encountered.

Kamek then handled anything coming from behind, along with clones for fire support, and a toady for spirit collection. It was a good setup, however as he was in the midst of finishing off a patient that had tripped one of the dark energy mines he had been trailing after them, he realized progress had stopped.

”Everything alright there sire?” He asked, only to focus and hear the grunting of exertion before the king replied that ”This. Thing. Won’t. Go. Down”

The thing in question was a half melted mermaid-ish creature with a massive jaw and bulging muscles. It came at the king with biting jaws and flashing orbs from its eyes that cut right through the barrier surrounding him. As it did it babbled incomprehensibly with overlapping words

“Welcome to my special hell” “Do you think I'm pretty?” “I've felt this before” “but nobody came”

The king was forced to physically hold it back, hands pressing into melting flesh and shoving, because his blows seemed to cause it nary a scratch, impact wounds and claw marks melting away as if they had never occurred.

Eventually Bowser responded to its unending determination with some defenestration. With a roar he sunk his claws into its melting flesh, and heaved, lifting it over his head and then hurling it at one of the sanctum’s windows, which shattered and sent the melted creature plummeting down alongside a shower of glass. Amalgamate and shards then splashed down harmlessly into the dockside’s waters.

”Urrrgh, disgusting” the king complained as he tried to shake the liquid determination off his claws, then sighed in relief as Kamek got some white mage clones to start fixing him up, causing king’s mushroomy charm filling up the air with spores that wore down the mistakes without either of them having to do anything about them.

After that they continued as before, now hoping they did not run into any more amalgamates.

---

”Aaaaand, done!” jr declared after about half an hour of tinkering, to which professor Goopton nodded his massive noggin in agreement.

“Now if you could pass me the last tank of spit please?” he said to a very very dry mouthed and parched Rika, who complied wordlessly and tried to resist the temptation to grab and drink down some questionable fluid from the professor’s stock, and instead took in what they had done to her gauntlet.

The arm cannon, which had had the shotgun she had gotten removed from it mere hours after it had been added, had undergone a complete overhaul that involved splicing the grizzco blaster into it. At the back was a large tank containing a shocking ink based swooping stu, who would be endlessly harvested to provide power to the whole weapon.

Said weapon itself was lodged in the core gauntlet to where most of the original mechanisms, other than the triggers, had been stripped out and replaced with the guts of the blaster. From this body, one tube led up to a sucker around the tip of the gauntlet’s horn, while several more tubes lead from this up to the 4 shotgun shell sized canisters. One was filled with her saliva, while the other three contained one of each kind of Jr’s brush’s ink.

The various goos accounted for, they would then all meet in a central chamber, where saliva and Brachydios slime would interact, beginning their detonation countdown, and ink could be introduced to give the goop an elemental flavoring.

Finally, the weapon would draw electrical power from the shocking goop produced in the rear tank, and use that to launch the slimy mix forwards towards the enemy.

That was the plan anyway. The slight snag in it was that the shot would then explode a mere 3 meters in front of Rika’s face. At least the explosion was impressive, as was the once every second fire rate.

”You turned my artillery gun into .. into.. Into a useless flak cannon!” Rika complained after she peeked up from behind the counter she had thrown herself behind in response to the way to close range detonation.

“Ah, but now it is goopy!” the professor pointed out cheerfully, while Jr ”and you won’t run out of ammo seeing as you can produce it yourself. And i can provide the spice”

”I guess … ” Rika said with a sigh, popping off a few more explosions (over the water so as to not goop up the place up) and getting a bit less annoyed as she started to re-orientate how she thought about the weapon. After 3 more shots her brow furrowed for a moment, before inspiration struck and she set about fingering the trigger a 4 more times till she reached her 8th shot. That triggered her all out assault passive, causing the gun to fire 5 triple shots in rapid succession … all of which detonated close to each other, and produced a curved zone of goopy death far more practical than the triple shots of her long ranged shells that had a tendency to fly off all over the place and hit everything but her target.

”You know what … I think I like this new weapon” she said once the salvo ended, grinning a sharp toothed grin back at the two engineers who had taken her place hiding behind the stall from the explosive carnage she could lay down. The two took a moment to recover from the shell shock, and then they cheered, celebrating their glorious contribution to goop science.

Then they got a warning from a mermaid guard about disturbing the peace with said contribution to goop science. They were spared the fine she started writing up, however, when something came crashing down out of a window of the soul sanctum and splashed into the water, causing the mermaid guard to run off to investigate that instead.

After they’d all calmed down, and done a bit of gawking at the tearful if a bit confused reunion between the Amalgamate Bowser had yeeted out the window (who it turned out was named Lemon Bread) and her sister Shyren, the three of them got down to regular business again.

After humming and ha-ing over his inventory, they decided to just go with lots of ammo. At 150 a pop per gun to fill up the ammo stores, it was pretty pricey, but after the conversion of her main gun into a goop filled blaster, Rika only needed 3 instead of 4 to top herself up. One full stock up + a spare box for each put them at a 900 gold charge, which was a lot.

”Worth it though, those other mask holders don’t stand a chance against me now!” The ship girl declared, now firmly back in action after burning though close half the money they’d just gotten that very morning.

”Sooo, now what?” Jr asked ”Do we go buy more stuff or what?”

”Hmmmm” Rika thought, before suggesting ”How about we go test out your new invention on something?” which had Jr nodding in agreement.

”Also a drink” the shipgirl who had been spitting for hal an hour to produce one half of an explosive compound ”because I am thirsty!”

”So I feel like I should apologize for bringing you all here, but I really did not think it would be this bad,” Midna felt compelled to say, as they got closer and closer to the reservoir at the very bottom of the Sector 05 undercity.

She had thought she understood corruption and decay, but apparently the waste products of industrial civilisation produced blight far more foul than she could have possibly imagined. As a result she was very thankful that the mask she was wearing was doing something to filter out the smell, and could only empathize and feel bad for/about how much the others must be suffering.

At least she was able to be helpful, offering a (giant) hand to those not blessed with flight/levitation and using it to create footholds and platforms where none were available, while also having her VIbrava buzz around and pick off parasites before they could get a drop on any of the climbers.

Geralt grunted, nose twitching at the frankly sickening stink of the reservoir. He’d nearly vomited once from the sheer stench, but a few moments of quiet meditation had recentered him for a while.

”Oh I’m good.” Blazermate nonchalantly said, being immune to the rank smell of the brackish water, due to not being able to smell at all. She was a bit concerned Midna had never seen industrial sludge though, did she just want to come here to see what this was? ”So, what are we doing down here again?”

"If I remember correctly," the old tactician answered while he looked upon his surroundings with a frown, he pinched his nose slightly though futile as it was to keep the stench of the reservoir from entering his nostrils "I believe it had something to do with these rather odd glowing apparitions." Benedict motioned towards one of the supposed psyfish as it floated by "Is that correct, Miss Midna?"

”That was the plan, yes” Minda agreed as she around the corner of the building they’d been more or less weaving their way down as part of their descent. The structure itself had gotten more and more rotten and dilapidated as they went down, which was probably not good for the entire thing’s structural integrity, but it was still solid enough to be used as cover to spy on the psyfish.

”So are we going to kill them, talk to them… like what?” Blazermate asked, still a bit confused. Either way, as she did mention something about battling, she began to make sure Benedict, Geralt and Midna were overhealed as it also got her healing resources. She couldn’t do anything about the smell though, only making them feel slightly better when her healing beam was on them.

”They’re menaces to the city, especially those ones that can fly” she pointed out the largest and most purposefully moving of the bunch ”I had a bit of a talk with people while getting a proper breakfast. Turns out this place used to not be, well, this. Those things showed up one day and started terrorizing the population to the point they had to abandon the place”

”So, we’re here to kill them, and the idea was we could use them for psychic fusions, which could get more of us into psy-off if we want to go that way” Midna suggested, though she did not sound the most confident about that now, given the utterly alien appearance of the creatures.

Benedict tugged at his chin, staring down towards the ghastly looking creatures "Hm," they moved about with some purpose though for what he did not know, to his eyes they were unlike anything he had ever seen "I gather that these..things aren't as non-threatening as they look, if your information is correct. Were you able to learn what these creatures are capable of?"

”Oh, well, if they are just sitting there, I could charge up some uber and we just unload with a kritz charge then. Although I don’t think I can get any psychic powers, being a medabot and all.” Blazermate said, shrugging and offering a kritz to anyone who waited for about 30 more seconds.

“Not to mention the Breaching Bastion. It’s slow to turn, but the smaller guns should be more than enough to shoot them down. Not sure I’m willing to risk using the larger shot in this city, though.” Geralt added, a not-so-small part of him somewhat eager to use the Harbor Water Demon’s weapons platform again.

”Sounds like a plan. Expect ranged psychic magic attacks, from what I heard, plus some kind of distracting spells” she explained vaguely, while doing little rotations in the air, purple power flashing as she charged herself up using dragon dances.

Then in the midst of her third rotation she nearly twirled into a wall due the surprise of a gruff voice quietly informing them “Can’t say I’d recommend anything you're planning to do” from inside the building they were using as cover.

“Or the amount of noise you’re making either. Trust me, I’ve got experience in these things” the voice then added.

"Quite strange to offer advice to people you do not know." Benedict replied in a similar tone, skeptical of the strangers advice "Trust is a fickle thing, how can we trust you?" years of service as a royal advisor had trained him to always take words with a grain of salt, this was no different.

“I do when they’re making noise that’s attracting attention to where I was trying to sleep” the voice replied “now if you don’t want advice from someone who knows how to survive down here, I suggest you get lost before the crabs come for you. Odds are there’s some creeping up on you as we speak.”

”What crabs? You mean those ones?.” Blazermate said, her scan ability letting her spot things very easily and marking the approaching crabs with spots of light signifying their weak points. She had been spending her time healing, so everyone was at least overhealed as well, and much tankier.

“Hmmm? Ah, yes those ones” the voice said, apparently IDing them through both the rotten water and the wall he was speaking to them through after only a few moments of searching.

”What ones?” Midna, who could not see through the scum water, asked, as she moved to the edge to the edge of the water to try and work out what in the world they were talking about, an act that caused an inconspicuous bit of floating debris to realize it had been rumbled, and to suddenly surge forwards. The princess shrieked in surprise as the two meter tall Mirlurk burst from the water claws snapping as it went for the short sorceress, and giving her a lesson in the benefits overhealing worked as its razor sharp claws snipped it all away.

The first crab wasn’t alone either, as three other similar crabs clambered up onto the gangways and floating mats of scum surrounding the base of the pillar to assail the heroes in quick succession after the first. Joining them where two less grotesque but no less hulking Ucaclaws, which initiated combat by firing off high speed bursts of fetid water, one from each claw and a third from their mouths, before moving in to use claw attacks of their own.

Veteran or not, his reflexes were not what they used to be. Benedict had only a moment to stumble out of the path the oncoming spray "Asparas!" he called through gritted teeth, teetering as he kept his footing by leaning on the cane in his grasp "Freeze the enemy!" the tactician gave the order, pointing to the larger of the crabs. As mediocre as Bufu was it could possibly freeze the creature in the dirty water it rose from, meanwhile he pulled out the sword hidden in his cane and flourished it, boosting his defense for the moment with a use of Bulwark.

Though the mirelurk cared little for the cold damage itself, the ice and frost which flash froze on its body stiffened its joints, and gave Midna the time and space she needed to fight back. Specifically by adding to the chilly theme.

”Hold it back!” she commanded, summoning her own strikers: A pair of towering frozen undead materialized on either side of her like royal bodyguards, before they drove their icy spears forwards. Frozen tips met chitin and though they bit into it, they did not dig deep enough into the thick armor to find flesh beneath.

As they held back the mirelurk assailing Minda, Benedict’s good deed brought him attention of another, which clattered towards him across the catwalk, claws open wide and ready to snap.

Steel sung as Geralt’s blade found purchase in the crab’s claw, halting less than an inch into the chitinous armor, but directing the creature’s attention away from Benedict. Geralt quickly made the Sign of Quen with his free hand, dancing out of the way of a snip of the mirelurk’s claw and swinging his sword up and along its arm, gouging a line into the chitin. “Things’re tough. Hard to hit the weak spot, too, they’ve got some reach to ‘em.” Geralt mused.

”Well, I’ll just keep healing you guys and we can roast ‘em with the shield.” Blazermate said. The crabs were not smart enough to target her, letting her just heal her teammates who were doing a great job of distracting them. Although unknown to Blazermate she wasn’t as noticeable to the crabs thanks to one of the items she had picked up a while ago.

While healing everyone, Blazermate mused a bit upon seeing Midna make her own undead. ”It's a shame they have such hard shells. They could make for some cool zombies.” It was then she was reminded of something and zoomed over behind Midna’s undead minions and bit them with her shield arm, giving them a mutation and making them stronger. Going back to her healing, she was getting ready to deploy a projectile shield when those things expired.

Oddly enough, the bite did not transform the strikers. Instead it caused Midna start in pain as the effect was transferred to her, mutation boon not taking hold (fortunately) and instead all she got was a fraction of the light nips of teeth on icy armor. Mostly a surprise rather than actual harm.

”Ow, what was that for!” the princess complained, only to curse more when the mirelurk used its claws to slice through the shafts of the icey javelins, freeing itself. Then it charged to two undead, smashing aside the two spear skeletons, cracking icy armor and, sympathetically, Midna’s skin, before both were shoved off the catwalk and plunged into the water where they proceeded to float rather uselessly till they timed out.

Yet despite this undignified final act of their performance, they had left marks behind: two tight puncture holes in the crustation’s armor, ready to be exploited. And with their time up, Blazermate had charged up her shield and zoomed in, deploying her projectile shield and giving a robotic cackle as the electric shield started to fry whatever crab was caught inside it, bypassing their armor thanks to it just being a giant wall of energy and slowing them down as the crabs twitched while being zapped. And with her shield blocking the projectiles from the crabs in the back, the rest of her party were free to advance and crush the crabs she was frying, the crabs trying to slash at the medabot, but her maneuverability making it so their claws just smacked against her energy shield. Although this shield didn’t last long, only 12 seconds, so time was limited.

Geralt stepped in, slashing along the Mirelurk’s exposed belly, drawing the mutated creature’s blood as his steel found purchase against its softer, fleshier bits now that he had more freedom thanks to Blazermate’s shield attack. He stabbed his sword directly into the crab, drawing even more blood and severely wounding it before the thing ineffectually slapped its claw against him, trying to clamp on his armor, but not managing to even compress the steel through the shield Quen provided and the damage it was taking.

Thankful for the Witcher's prior intervention, the old tactician joined the other white haired man using Roaring Beast on him to bolster Geralt's strength. Hopefully it would expedite the killing of the foul crustacean "Bufu!" Asparas appeared once more, her cooldown having ended to once again freeze the remaining Mirelurk's claw to prevent the creature from assaulting Geralt any further.

Midna too joined the fray, a beaten up ax in one hand and an oversized revolver in the other. Gunshots echoed across the waters as bullets punched through, but their thunderclaps were nothing compared to that of the bursts of lightning the princess unleashed from her blunt instrument.

The ladies’ lightshows softened up the crabs considerably, while together the gents scored the first blood of what Midna thought would surely be a clean mop up operation- right up until the man behind the wall reminded them he was there by shouting “Now you’ve gone and done it. The entire reservoir will know we’re here thanks to that performance!”

A heartbeat later a next to invisible hatch on the side of the building and out of it slung a man with a lion’s mane worth of hair on his head. He had once had the body of a soldier, but time living around the reservoir and malnutrition had visibly atrophied his muscles. Literally visibly, because his skin rather than the tawny hue the sun had once given it, his flesh was a translucent blue, leaving his muscles and organs on display.

Some might have tried to hide this otherworldly complexion beneath hoods and baggy clothing, but the man was wearing nothing but ripped shorts as his bare feet landed just above rather than on the surface of a catwalk.

He moved with worn down grace, his body not able to keep up with his training, and his training not suited to his new style of fighting anyway. Hands moved to his waist, taking up a pose that was familiar to some of the, before fightersenergy pooled between them and he then thrust them forwards, completing the echo of a certain street fighting school girl. The motion was where the similarities ended however, as instead of a fireball, the vagabond launched a grenade of psychic power that splashed down among the remaining crustaceans, the mental power piercing their armored shells with ease, staggering and wounding them in equal measure, and reducing one heavily thunderstruck one to ash

“We need to finish this and move before-” he began to say, but it was too late, and they had already kicked the hornet’s nest long before he tried to intervene.

From behind them came a rotten gasp of a roar from desiccated lungs, announcing the arrival of a half dozen ghouls who, by the shapes moving in the dark above and behold, were only the front runners of a mutant horde attracted by the sounds of combat (and one royal shriek that started it all).

With their clawed hands outstretched they came at the heroes from behind, a hammer pinning them against the (admittedly very shoddy at this point) anvil of the 2 remaining mirelurks and Ucaclaws.

“Damn it, damn it” the ethereal skinned man cursed as he pivoted, stumbled, and then thrust out his palms again, launching a mind striking blast that caused one of the ghouls to crumple and fall beneath the feet of the others. Then another was struck in the shoulder by a bullet, and went tumbling off a gangway into the waters below.

“What did I just say! Stop that” the man demanded, swatting at Midna’s revolver. The princes barked back with ”It’s already too late isn’t it” only for the brewing argument to be interrupted as 3 ghouls dropped down from somewhere above, landing right among the heroes’ ranks

"If you are done your arguing," the tactician spoke through gritted teeth, raising his police riot shield to block a slash from one of the ghouls while also causing an electric shock to stun it "You should be considering a swift retreat." reeling from shock the ghoul found itself get ran through by the old man's sword before he quickly stepped back by the emaciated man and the princess "You," Benedict's steely gaze briefly gave the grotesque man a once over "Lead the way." if the man knew what was good for him he'd see sense in finding a quick exit.

”Huh, guys, I’ve got an idea, I’ll be right back!” Blazermate said, having her drones do a bit of healing as the group dealt with the ghouls for a moment as she flew up to a higher perch that was large enough for the engineer to start building his sentry gun. When she summoned her striker, it did just that, and with that done she flew back down to heal whoever needed healing from the ghoul attacks. From what she could tell with her suffering shield not affecting them, they were some kind of mutant, not undead.

Still, with all the healing she was doing and the pre-healing she did before, she had a use of Kritz up, and asked. ”Which one of you has the most AoE attacks so we can cause some serious deviation?”, Blazermate not having fought with many of her group for a while. At least the Engineer, being out of reach of all the enemies below him, could freely upgrade and build his sentry gun, which began to shoot at the stuff below.

And to the sides.

And above.

After Midna finished ripping a dragon clawed hand through a ghoul’s throat (having chucked her spent gun into a portal to free it up for hand to hand combat) she glanced up and her dark attuned eyes could see shapes moving all across the entire superstructure around them. Then she raised a hand, a massive shadow hand, and said ”I can hit them all, just make sure I have the space so that I don’t hit you too!”

“Then use that to punch through them!” their begrudging guide commanded, pointing though the ghouls and towards the next nearest tower “we can use that one to hide from sight and leave the monsters to fight over this one”

Right on cue for that comment, the waters shifted as more Mirlurk’s approached, and,at the same time, ghouls dropped down among the wounded ones, the mutant humans full body tackling the mutant crustaceans.

“Hurry now, we’re running out of time!” the vagrant urged them, before popping off another mind strike into a ghoul.

”Ok. Go get ‘em then!” Blazermate said as she krtiz charged Midna, whatever she was using to attack crackling with a blue electrical glow.

”Oh. My. Goddesses” Minda breathed, flexing her hands as the power mixed with that from her dragon dances to make some truly ludicrous power. Then, after wasting about two seconds just reveling in it, the princess burst into action.

Crackling blue claws on both her hands swiped, shredding two ghouls as she pushed forwards away from the group but that was only the beginning. What came next was the breakthrough they needed, the imp raising up a massive shadow hand above her head, the bright orange limb engulfed in torrents of blue lightning, and tipped with razor sharp blazing purple points.

Then she started swinging, demanding all before her ”Die! Die! Die!” as she drifted through the air, smiting ghouls with her godly glowing hand and tearing through scum, scaffolding and scrap with little regard for the collateral *damage she was inflicting, at least when it came to physical objects.

Geralt’s eyebrows raised in an impressed stare as he watched the carnage Midna wreaked on the ghouls between them and their goal, the Witcher sheathing his blade and refreshing the shield from Quen, just in case.

In stark contrast, Benedict was less than impressed by the destructive power their ally wrought upon both the enemy and the reservoir itself. Though it did neutralize the current threat, it no doubt had gained them more attention than he would have liked. But all the aged veteran could do was hang onto the wall, summoning the persona that was spirit bound and erect a crackling bubble of electricity around himself and his immediate allies, shoring up their defense against the princesses onslaught of electrical devastation.

Blazermate was a little concerned with how giddy Midna had gotten with a simple krtiz. Yeah, she was devastating everything in front of her, but you would think a princess would have more class or something? She was like what a medafighter would be if they were a medabot! Which was nostalgic in a way…

Six seconds later, and all around her was dust and ash. Including, unfortunately, a lot of the stuff they had intended to use to reach the far building. Despite this, their guide did not complain, wisly deciding not to argue with the super powered lunatic, and instead pointed and directed them to go “round there, we can skim around the destruction, get to the tower, and then you lot can use the mostly intact stairs to get the fuck out of my reservoir!” indicating to a few gangways and skum platforms that would let them still reach their destination..

It was slower than going straight would have, but with the main pack of ghouls absolutely annihilated, they’d have it much easier going, with only the stray survivor or later arrival to deal with.

Benedict kept pace as much as he could, blade now sheathed as he did his best to jump across a gangway, silently thankful of the Medabot's help as Blazermate flew with the vet in her hands. As they made their swift retreat he had scooped up the spirit of the ghoul he had felled, quickly crushing it in his hands without a second thought.

It would better serve him as an item than anything else, he was already hesitant to take the strength of the creatures they had originally came to cull so in the moment he preferred to take what he could get without taking more than one could gamble for.

Blazermate had picked up what spirits she could scoop up as she healed, not really interested in fusing with any of them and probably cushing them later. The engineer’s sentry gun was now level 3 and being a lookout in a limited area with the striker himself having disappeared. If that would come back or not was unknown, but at least that area had some kind of guardian.

A not so subtle frown creased the sides of his mouth, what he held in his hands made the old man shake his head, he knew not what 'Mac and Cheese' was and he didn't particularly care to find out. Tossing the carton aside while being carried. Honestly, if it were a box of tea leaves he might have kept it but that's neither here nor there. Seeing what loot he got Blazermate could only giggle, knowing full well what that was. ”Why did that ghoul turn into mac and cheese? I figured they’d turn into something gross, not a prime American food.” Blazermate commented between fits of laughter.

”Maybe it was their favorite food when they were alive” Midna added with grim humor as she floated through the air, using a blunderbuss to try (emphasis on try, her hit rate was still poor) and pick off stray ghouls before they could reach the heroes. Then she paused to slam a giant orange fist into the water repeatedly to hammer a mirelurk while declaring ”I won’t fall for that again fish food!” until it was dust, and she sent its spirit to the twilight realm with the flick of a wrist, where it joined a few ghouls and the odd parasite she had picked up on the way down.

With their guide being rather bad at his job due to him being able to take routes the ground sloggers could not by walking on the water’s surface, that left Geralt bringing up the rear, with the 2 of the remaining crabs (one of each kind) nipping at his heels.

Quickly turning with a sigh, Geralt held one arm up to guard himself while the other quickly composed the Sign of Aard, blasting the two crab creatures with telekinetic force, sending them stumbling and reeling while he turned tail and sprinted away.

The other two crabs had already perished, one to the sentry gun, the other under the weight of a pile of ghouls. Said ghouls were also in the process being picked off one by one by the auto gun, including a few that tried to drop down onto it, only for them to be comically launched through the air by the turret’s massive knockback.

Its rampage came to an end, however, when three ethereal tendrils reached out through the wall of the skyscraper it had been built next too, and wrapped around it, constricting its movement to prevent it from shooting its attacker effectively, and those shots that did land seemed to be mostly harmless. Said attacker slammed it into the wall to further disable it, before emerging entirely, revealing itself to be one of the hunters they had seen before.

It was a herald of a shoal of psi-fish, which swept in all at once in stark contrast to the beasts that had been assailing them so far. Most of them where the vaguely humanoid crysalids who drifted across the water, targeting down the range capable Ucaclaws first with focused mental firepower, before blasting the hordes of ghouls with shorter ranged psychic explosions.

Among them were a few jellyfish like spawn who fired off shots of their own for the most part, but they also used some strange power to fascinate the Mirelurks attempting to sneak up on the shoal, preventing them from being able to focus enough to attack.

Along with them came a wash of low level psychic power that even the mentally inept could pick up on. It felt like a slight pressure, one that pushed feelings of hunger, anger, curiosity and sadness into the heroes, but most of all it pushed in a gnawing sickness. It was as if the ethereal creature’s feelings were bleeding out of them, and into everything around them.

Even Blazermate was affected (for though she was a machine, she was not mindless) exposing the bot to the fact she could be affected by psionic attacks.

Despite the ferocity of their assault however, their guide had been one step ahead, and his plan to abandon the tower left the hapless monsters in the crossfire, and them almost home free.

Or that was how it seemed, until another 2 hunters phased through that very tower, four meter long bodies looming over the heroes, a pair of lifelight filled orbs gazing down at them. Yet they did not strike at once. Instead the feeling of sorrow and regret intensified to a peak, before starting to gradually die down, as if it was being willfully suppressed

“No no no no. Go eat monsters or something” the vagrant yelled at them, only for them to surprise both him and them by responding.

<Sorrow, to snuff out such unique patterns… But... necessary. Need to spawn. Need to transform. Need to ascend. Escape this campground. Escape this sickness. Escape these rules. Return to nothing. To everything. You took us> the fish thought at them, and that last made the vagrant flinch back, and what followed only made his eyes widen more <Spawned us. Raised us. Killed us. Then released us, yet killed us still. Now you trapped us. Kill us slowly. That makes this… fair. Makes this… retribution.>

Determination surged, sorrow flickered, being smothered, about to be snuffed out in the name of what needed to be done. Do more. A glance to the side would show the others how they had locked down Midna upon their arrival, having prevented her from shooting by captivating her mind with their flickering lights, and doing the same to her Vibrava. Both were unable to move or act till freed, willingly or unwillingly.

Having used a lot of her stuff and needing to charge them again (Although her projectile shield charged fairly quickly.) and yet there was still more to fight, things that really, really annoyed Blazermate by making her feel bad. But having been into a new area, Blazermate remembered something she had gathered, noticing the red cracks in the area. ”Hey, are any of you guys really fast and can see those red cracks? If I touch them, they can really help.” But besides that, Blazermate was on support duty as the others attacked as usual.

Geralt, slowly growing more agitated by the psychic assault, turned on their guide, cold anger in his voice. “So you did this? Dammit, it’s always something like this! Taking something, bringing it somewhere it doesn’t belong, and being surprised when it goes wrong? When it fights back?! Imbeciles…” He turned away from the haggard guide, the wrongness inside him growing, drawing his steel sword and cursing as the monsters moved in.

In all his life, through the fires of war and the burns it left behind. Benedict had experienced true horror, loss and sorrow that came with his service. He already carried a heavy burden on his heart, a secret he had kept a long time from both lord and house.

A twinge in his heart was all he felt, when an invisible wave washed over him "Lower your weapon now Geralt," though he too felt the agitation of being manipulated, Benedict's mind was practiced and trained at keeping a cool head though it often made him out to seem apathetic "That sword is no use against these things. Stand down, now."

No good would come of sitting there in the open, they needed to put distance between themselves and the psyfish. If these were psyfish, they looked different from the others.

The deserter retorted to the accusation with that age-old non-defense: “They ordered us to capture them, but I don’t know what they wanted them for!”

<You did this. You killed us. Generations. Over and over and over. You are guilty. You are to blame. Causer of death and death and death and death> the minds of the hunters resounded as they drew closer until the hermit screamed back at them “You think I don’t know that!? Why do you think I’m down here and not in the army any more? If I’d been a smarter man back then, not just followed orders, so many people would still be alive! My comrades. People here. Even you. I just didn't know!” before he saged, and held his face while reiterating “I didn’t know” miserably.

<You understand the agony of your actions caused us> the minds thought, seeming surprised, before they continued <For them you must be punished/forgiven> only for the two wills that had been in unison of purpose suddenly fracturing apart. The two paused their descent and instead of attacking started blinking flashes of light at each other in what could only be an argument.

Behind the heroes, the rest of the psi-fish shoal was in the midst of mopping up the last of the monsters, while beside them Midna and her beast still stood together, minds captivated by the Hunter’s forms, although little micro movements of both indicated that said effect would not last forever.

Geralt only managed to overcome whatever rage was consuming him when the two fish began arguing, shaking his head with a frustrated sigh and sheathing his sword, while backing away from the other psi-fish. “I…dammit…” One hand came up to rub his forehead, eyes scrunched up in pain. “Let them…let them have this place. We’re not quite as bright as we think we are, it seems.” Too little too late, but the point had been made. This place wasn’t abandoned for lack of care, it was abandoned for lack of feasibility in reclaiming it.

Blazermate wasn’t as psionically affected as everyone else, but she got the jist of the message. They were being psionically told to go away and that's all she got, with the emotions they were emitting being what you basically felt during a robattle with parts on the line. Although she did guess that it might be worse on these guys being psionically attacked.

Rubbing the side of his forehead, Benedict was silently gritting his teeth under the weight of the voices in his head shaking it off as the two entities seemed to turn on each other.

"Geralt is right," the tactician turned to their healer, seemingly unaffected by the psychic attack "We need to retreat." they were simply not equipped for this manner of situation, the psi-fish were more than they had anticipated.

"Fetch the princess, we must leave at once." the seriousness in his tone hinted with a slight urgency, but his face didn't betray worry though he very much was.

”Right right…” Blazermate said, topping off everyone before flying over to the building Midna had found herself in as the two psychics argued with each other. Getting close to them was super, super annoying but all Blazermate had to do was keep her focus on the task at hand and get it over with. It took a little bit for Blazermate to find Midna who had gotten herself way out of position, something she’d have to yell at the princess later for, and picked her up and her little minion thing. Neither particularly reacted to the bot’s grabbing of them, but the fact that both were still hovering in their listless state meant she could drag them along through the air like a tugboat.

With everyone together, the vagrant subtly gestured to point out their escape route: an unlocked door in the side of the skyscraper that sat just off to the side of where the two hunters were debating, one that, as their guide had said, would lead to an intact stairway that would lead them back up towards the service..

All that was left was for them to pick their moment, because odds were the two fish bickering over the heroes’ fate would not entirely approve of the seekers bailing on them before they reached a decision. All while Blazermate regained her resources as they argued by healing her team.

After a few fugitive glances, someone made the first move, and they were off. The heroes darted under the arguing hunters, the front runner booted open the door to the sky scraper and, sure enough, within was a tight spiral staircase leading up and up and up, one that was miraculously intact for the state of decay the reservoir was in. Then there was nothing to do but climb, boots pounding step after step after step.

It would be a relentless climb, but the heroes would not be without motivation, as the pair of hunters, noticing that they had run off after a few moments, phased through the walls at the bottom and gave chase. Or, rather, one did, its mind chanting for <death> while the other attempted to slow it down without harming its kindred.

Benedict, being the slowest member of the group, was the last to ascend the stairs. Blazermate, needing to taxi Midna and her pet, wasn’t much faster but still faster than Benedict who thanks to their relative speeds. Seeing this and the approaching death hunter, Blazermate gave the veteran an Ubercharge, which removed any psionic effects from herself and him, and made him immune to the hunter trying to smack him with its tentacles. This gave the hunter’s compatriot enough time to firmly grab and slow down the death hunter enough for Benedict to get going.

Other than that hindrance, the heroes got another boon when they got far enough away from the fish as Blazermate could cleanse Midna, who stirred awake after a few moments into the climb. She shook herself free and though she seemed to have no idea what was going on, she caught up to the fact that they were running. She sent her still stunned Vibrava home and then slipped into one of the runner’s shadows to prevent herself from being a burden.

The climb lasted for what felt both like days and the blink of an eye, but after several minutes of exertion, the hunters had fallen behind, and as they approached the surface, they one who wished for their end gave up, listing to one side and falling out through the wall, its stick body spent.

<victory> the one which had aided their flight declared, before addressing them directly <Go. Live. Remember what was done to us. Suffer above as we do below.>

After just a few slower, breathless, laps of the staircase later and they reached the end, emerging out into a maintenance room of some kind, one looking out on the reservoir below. Out the window, they could ever so vaguely see the site of their battle with the monsters, and the glowing forms of the psy-fish finishing up their mop up operation. Should any of their gazes linger, they might see the last of the ghouls fall, and then, after the battle was won, see flashes of light, as a number of chrysalids transformed into spawn, and a few spawn ascend to the air as a new hunter, and a single hunter also transform into an as of yet unseen form.

This form moved over to a ghoul that seemed to have been intentionally kept locked down by the fish. A tendril extended, touching it, after which it was released to run around in a panic, until it exploded into ash .. and a newly born chrysalis was left in its place.

Spawn. Transform. Ascend.

Midgar’s plan was a race of poison vs the fish’s cycle of transformation and spawning free from active culling of their most dangerous forms, and only time would tell who would win.

That was a problem for the future, however. The heroes had their own small one, namely getting out. The not winded from running Midna was working on that one, the princess slowly using dragon claw tipped to cut open a maintenance hatch in the roof that seemed to have been sealed from the other side, working it loose so they could return to the civilized world above.

As she did that, the others had a moment to rest and reflect. Their still nameless guide took the moment to slump into a corner, looking like death, his heart, visible through his translucent flesh, still hammering in his chest from the exertion. Despite this he still managed to mutter and curse to himself about what he had learned, and what he had done.

The princess glanced at him a few times, not able to really pick up or understand what he was going on about, before asking the others ”So … what in the goddess’ name did I miss?”

Blazermate shrugged. ”I don’t really know either, it was just some weird psychic jellyfish thing that we’ll have to take out from range. Probably with a nuke.” she said, not really sure of the whole context of what was going on there.

Leaning against the nearest wall, glasses removed and rubbing the bridge of his nose "I fear it is rather far more complicated than we think." the vets head ached from being mentally assaulted, yes he was quite hard to crack but he was still mortal and this entire mess had worn him out "I know not what they were trying to say."

“Midgar is run by fucking morons, is what we learned.” Geralt dismissed the dilemma. “I’m content to let them suffer their idiocy.” Unless he was paid a hefty fee to care, he couldn’t quite find it in himself to do so.

“Well, I got these spirits. I don’t feel like fusing with any of them since they aren’t that cool. So let me just crush them instead.” Blazermate said, looking at the 3 ghoul, 1 mirelurk, and 1 Ucaclaw she had grabbed.



Looking at these items, besides the currency, the others were unusable to her. Seeing a chance for a prank though, she pulled out the Gulper Slurry and floated next to Benedict, holding the can of gulper guts in front of him so he could smell it. ”So… you hated the mac and cheese… Is this more your style? Hm? HM?” Blazermate said before giggling.

Nostrils flared at the horrid stench that invaded his senses "I..Respectfully decline." pushing the can away slightly, Benedict fought the urge to gag at the contents of the can whatever they were. Blazermate let out another giggle before pulling the items away and asking Midna to store the food and disc she got, which the princess paused her cutting for a moment to do

“Huh, so there’s more than one thing you can do with those spirits” their guide, who was fused with at least one psi-fish, noted, eyeing the Kins more than any of the other things that had been created by the process. Then he grunted and slumped back when he realized he wasn’t able to make use of even that any more.

”So uh, I didn’t miss much then I guess?” the princess asked, having no idea how to match that up with the fish who had protected them’s parting words.

“Ha, if that’s all you got out of it … well you got the right conclusion, Midge is run by idiots. But what you are missing is that we brought those things here. Captured ‘em from … somewhere, and then used them for something. Whatever it was, seems like it killed a bunch of them in the process. Then whatever whackjob thought that was a good idea musta got bored of the whole fish murder circus and then thought it was also a good idea to flush the fish down the toilet into the reservoir. When people were still living there. Well, no one could live there after the fish, so they sealed it off and started dumping waste down there to poison them”

“Fucking morons. And bastards too. I never knew they could talk. I mean not well. But still. Can’t blame ‘em for being mad after being enslaved and then chucked out like trash” he sighed and slumped back after giving his interpretation, clearly depressed by the entire mess.

"Hm, so they are failed experiments of a sort?" Benedict mused to himself, a pensive expression washed over the vets face as he rested against the wall.

"This could be useful information in the right hands, or have rather interesting ramifications if passed to certain parties." whoever had left these creatures here had either seen that it would have consequences for the locale or were too careless to consider the ramifications, the who was likely someone in the government, no civilian would just up and make whatever manner of thing the psi-fish were.

"Let us not linger much longer," there was time to mull over the details later, now they needed to be elsewhere "I do not relish the idea of being ambushed again." if there were no objections Benedict was more than willing to leave if there was nothing else to be done.

”Add it to the list of things wrong with the establishment, because that is messed up” Midna agreed ”... it was probably Psych-OSF, right? Seeing as they do psychic stuff? We could have our infiltrators look into it?”

“Maybe. Maybe some other department. There’s a million of them in Shinra, probably all doing messed up stuff” the man replied.

“Apparently Public Security is letting a machine attack happen to blame DesporHado for it. So there’s that, too.” Geralt added, entirely unhelpfully. To say he was over this excursion would be an understatement.

”Mmmm” Midna agreed, before going ”Ah, got it!” and pulling down the maintenance hatch she’d cut up. A breath of only slightly fresher air from the undercity washed on in, and after the princess poked her head up she could confirm that ”Yeah that’s it, we’re home free”

“Well good luck to you with whatever your doing, but I can’t say I’ll miss you, seeing as you probably massively compromised one of my hideouts, and who knows what you’ve done to the fish” the homeless veteran complained

”Wait, you're really just going to go back down there?” Midna asked, somewhat appalled

“What, you think I can go up there? Looking like this? Fusions illegal for civvies and deserters missy, incase you didn’t realize that”

”And. So? What do you think I always looked like?” the princess asked, before pulling off her helmet to expose her bright red glowing eye, and then turning to flick her tail in his direction.

“I dunno, maybe you were born a freak? I sure don't recognise what you’ve got in you. Where as me? Well? What else am I but part fish?” he replied with a dejected shrug

”Fair. But we can also fix that. Peach can pull spirits out of you, though, uh, she is one of our Psych-Off infiltrators so getting a meet up with her might be tricky” Midna said, as she poked her head out to check if the coast was clear.

“Ok that’s the second time you’ve mentioned infiltrating psych-off. And you can do what? Pull them out of people. And you made them into money and food and stuff as well?” the man began to ask, to which Midna added ”Those ice monsters we summoned here also a spirit thing” which caused him to throw up his hand and demand to know “who the hell are you people?”

To that, Midna replied ”Oh us? We’re the seekers of light, and we’re going to save the world” before drifting closer, reaching out a hand and asking ”want in?”

The man sat there for a few moments, and then shrugged “fuck it, why not?”and clasped her hand and let himself be pulled up by the princess.

”Good. Now there’s just one liiiiiiiitle bit of initiation before we make you a full member” she added, which got her the question “huh, what’s that?”

Then there was a splash of blood, a flash of pink, and a moment of memory, before Taro, undistinguished veteran of the Regular Army, and 3 times POW, joined their ranks for real.

Zenkichi concurred with Tora and Giovanna's suppositions on why Midgar hadn't taken the fight directly to the Machines. "It sucks, but...well, it's not all bastards all the way up and all the way down. They make the decisions they make for reasons, not just to be cartoonishly evil. Well...mostly not to be cartoonishly evil," Zenkichi corrected after remember some of the more corrupt folks he'd had the misfortune of dealing with. "It's almost always a question of logistics. What do we get out of doing this? Is the risk worth the potential reward? And...well, the undercities just get counted less heavily in the equation. Not only is it out of sight, out of mind, but there's not many people with money down here to make people care. If you can invest in a bigshot politician's campaign, or even worse, his opponent's, well, they have to at least hear you out. Or it's their job on the line, and their power." Sighing, Zenkichi shook his head. "Politics..."

He watched on curiously as Tora waddled over to Partitio, and let the man know what they were here to help. Unsurprisingly, they didn't mystically round up a posse to take the fight to the robots because everybody was just waiting for the first person to stand up and say "no more", but they did at least get the attention of the merchant himself. "Huh. Uh, well...we're definitely trying to help out, but, and forgive the bluntness, we're not planning a casual stroll. It's gonna get ugly." He wasn't saying that to try and scare the guy off, but it was better to be safe then sorry.

The Seekers carried on, reaching Stargazer Heights on their way to Scrap Boulevard, and that was where they saw the Rust Crew, along with a couple of folks that Roxas recognized and ran after while Giovanna made her way to Scrap Boulevard to try and get them a ride. Poppi's question, or more specifically, the way she addressed him, caused Zenkichi to tug at his collar, a little embarrassed. "Uh, yeah...that's them. But could you...not call me master? It's...kind of weird." He admitted, vividly remembering a time when he...hadn't handled Aoi's death so well.

Shaking his head, he focused back on the Rust Crew. "But, yes, let's give it a shot." Walking towards the three members of the Rust Crew, he waved and called out, "Hey guys! So, heard you were looking for that Hollow Child yesterday, too. That, uh...well, didn't go so well for us. And turns out PubSec is...less interested in doing the right thing than in trying to save face. I probably shouldn't go into detail, but we're on our way to go try and do what we can to keep things from blowing up too badly in our faces. Not officially, of course. If you're willing, we could use a hand?" Zenkichi decided to go with honesty, hoping that they'd be willing to help, for whatever reasons they so chose. As long as nobody was stabbing anybody in the back, he'd consider it a win.

Despite his hopes that only he could see the entity trailing behind him, that hope quickly died once Jesse pointed Something out. Omori tensed up, his eyes widened as he gauged out how everyone else reacted to its appearance. "You can see it." Was all Omori could say. Whatever this thing was, it seems the two had history. And not the good kind. Most of the other seekers were reasonably unnerved, even Nadia wasn't able to greet him!

Then there was Bowser, who wasn't phased by Something. In fact, he even welcomed it to the team. That managed to snap the boy out of his shock. "You could've atleast been less obvious?" He glared at Something. Surprisingly instead of just sitting there menacingly, the entity shrunk down into a scarf, catching Omori off guard. Okay. Looks like it won't be budging. This is fine. "Unfortunately...or...fortunately, this one can't really do much beside be annoying. It'll just retreat if any of us tried anything." Omori explained. Sure he was leaving out the fact that the wasn't the only Something, but the fact that he hadn't seen the other variants yet was a good sign in his eyes.

Then the meeting started. The main goal was finding more mask shards (The Knight wasn't exactly happy to hear what happened to the Dreamers' masks) and they found 3 in total so far. Then there was something Omori could barely wrap his head around. Lifelight. The flame clock. An endless cycle of fighting and fighting and fighting. The boy was already more than willing to take out the Consuls, and one of them just happened to be nearby.

Then there was the letter Nadia wanted to address, from someone named IGV. The mention of a Soul Sanctum caught the Knight's interest. A group was formed to go investigate, the pale bug included. When it glanced back at Omori, as if asking if he was going to join, he waved it off.
"Go on ahead." He said, perhaps unwilling to get himself beat up once again this time.

But that just left one question for him.

What was he going to do now?

After finishing breakfast Omori and Scarfthing Something headed out the door. He hadn't had the chance to explore the town last night, why not do so now?

---

By the time Nadia had made her rounds of greeting, Jesse was expecting a pun. When she didn’t get one, she stopped leaning on the wall and gave an offended shrug. “Well shit. Good morning to you too, I guess.” She said with faux-passive-aggressiveness.
As for Omori and his new friend, Jesse watched with interest. Was Bowser right and it was a new member of the team? Apparently Omori was annoyed by the thing, but nothing could be done. It didn’t seem aggressive at least.

“Okay. Just…” She looked at the scarf thing. “Stay out of trouble.” She raised a knowing eyebrow at it, and then at Omori.

After that was the info dump about the flame clocks. Jesse shook her head at the scale.

Does it get much eviler than that?

“So. As heroes, our job is to destroy the world. I like the sound of that. Nice reversal.” She made a ‘reversal’ motion with her hand. After that, she went with the others to go meet IGV. As the letter indicated, she was ready for a fight.

Nadia always took the lead, and Jesse was never far behind. What was she going to do, argue with her?

At first, it was easy, with a room of infinite ghosts that could easily be passed through. After that, it got harder, with angry, bloated looking patients swinging the heaviest things they could find at the Seekers. Jesse’s powers activated and she gunned them down, though she had to spend power defensively to Evade away from them when they got too close to her floating form. The last thing she wanted was to get banged on the shins by a roller thingy. Which ended up happening. She landed with a limp and got her health back from all the nearby slain enemies and their health elements.

Even higher was a floor full of weird looking amalgamates. Immediately, Nadia started communicating with them.

“Uhh..?” She said as Nadia threw away one of her weapons. Fortunately they were relatively new, and Jesse knew Nadia could fight without them. She let out an amused laugh at the situation.

“Are we done communing with the beasts yet?” Jesse asked, hearing the encroaching sounds of more monsters. “The patients want more medicine.” She leaned against the wall nearby the front of the group and aimed her gun in that direction to fire upon any oncoming monsters while this whole amalgamation situation was handled.

Playing fetch with it HAS to be faster than fighting it, right? As long as it gets out of our way.

“This is a hell of a job interview. Can’t wait to see the secret shortcut IGV took to the top.” She complained good naturedly. To be honest, at this point all she wanted was the opportunity to strike back at the Consuls. If this led to that, it was worth it.

No recognition glimmered in either Tifa or Cloud’s eyes when Roxas confronted them. If anything they seemed a bit put off by the stranger’s sudden introduction and forwardness, and though Tifa at least put on a friendly face, Cloud looked suspicious. Someone knowing the name of his new acquaintance he could understand since hers was a welcome and familiar face in town, but his? He’d just arrived. While Roxas admitted they wouldn’t know him, the extra information he offered sounded like nonsense, and it didn’t explain why this kid knew his name.

Sensing the mercenary’s guardedness, Tifa tried to smooth things out. “Well hi there, Roxas.” She gave Cloud a smile, part disarming and part reassuring. “Always a friendly face around here.” Then she turned back to Roxas. “We’re a little busy right now, but you can almost always find me behind the counter at Seventh Heaven when we’re open! See you later.” She waved, and without any further awkwardness or embarrassment, headed on her way. Cloud gave Roxas a last narrow look but turned and followed Tifa without a word, choosing to believe that this stranger simply happened to hear his name at some point since his arrival last night. At the very least, Roxas had time to think of a better opening before he got his next chance to see one or both of them at Seventh Heaven later that day.

Back with the rest of the group, Tora was happy to see that rather than try to continue with his rabble-rousing, Partitio joined the Seekers instead. Zenkichi spoke the truth when he said things would probably get rough out there today, but as long as the merchant pledged his strength, Tora was happy to accept him with open wings either way. “Good to hear, meh!” he told Partitio. “Many Nopon end up as merchants, so even though Tora inventor, am very well acquainted with businesspon.” He blinked, scratching his chin with one of his winfingers. “Would like know however, what can friend Partitio do in terms of combat? Plan today not involve much talking, meh.”

With the distraction offered by Partitio, Zenkichi and Poppi ended up paying a visit to the Rust Crew by themselves. The detective greeted them with a call and a wave, drawing their attention. Even if Poppi hadn’t been a particularly important part of their long and arduous day yesterday, they still recognized her when she waved today, especially the robot Cain, who left Zenkichi’s preamble to the others. “Ah, bonjour, mademoiselle,” he greeted her, reaching out his hand. Thinking he wanted to shake, Poppi extended her own, but to her surprise Cain gently took her hand and raised it to his faceplate as if to kiss it despite his lack of lips. Tink. “It does me good to see you in health.”

Poppi blinked, thrown for a complete loop. “O-oh, uh…uh, yes, thank you.”

She gingerly retracted her as she turned her attention to Zenkichi, and Cain evenly followed suit. The detective kept things short and to the point, but even what little he did let slip piqued the squad leader’s interest. “Oh yeah? We almost got her, but things ended up getting…complicated. Still.” He sized Zenkichi and Poppi up with a different frame of reference in mind, his arms crossed. Once he and Big Bo exchanged a glance, he cracked a wry smile. “Well, someone’s gotta get things done around here. Might as well be us. We were fearing the worst when we lost the Hollow Child, but now that we know for sure…”

“We can do somethin’ about it,” Bo finished, nodding as he turned toward the motel room. “I’ll get the goods.”

Cain went to help, and Marshall stepped away for a moment to make a radio call, briefly mentioning reinforcements. He returned at about the same time Tora waddled over, and seeing the Nopon made him grin. “You on mission with us too, little guy?”

“Tora ready to reclaim some scrap!” he proclaimed, using a wing to give the thumbs-up. “Any mechanical issues out there, Scruffypon just leave to Tora!”

“I’ll do that.” As Bo and Cain returned with their equipment in tow, Marshall looked between Zenkichi and Poppi for information. “So what’s your plan?”

“We’re hitching a ride with the salvagers, I think,” Poppi replied.

Marshall nodded. “Better than hijacking a DespoRHado transport, eh Cain?”

“I merely said it would be interesting, monsieur,” the robot off-handedly replied. He flicked his head toward the Salvage Depot as if to say shall we? and without further ado everyone got moving.

The location in question was a lively one, with a number of well-equipped people and formidable six-wheeled trucks rolling around, unloading cargo and loading fuel. Poppi spotted Giovanna in conversation with an ordinary-looking everyman in a futuristic suit with copper-colored armor, presumably the Isaac Clarke she heard about while asking around. When the secret agent saw her entourage headed over through the freight yard, with the Rust Crew trio in tow, she jogged over to meet them halfway. “Good news,” she told them. “Well, in a sense. On one hand, we caught them at a good time. It’s all hands on deck to clear out the current wrecks and caches. On the other hand, that’s because their long-range scanners are detecting movement from the Machines. Like the tide going out before a tsunami. They’ve gotta be quick to pick up the fish.” She put her hands on her hips. “So, we’re probably looking at an attack, just like we thought. Anywhere between three and eight hours from now, if so. They’re gonna raise the alarm once they know for sure, but ‘til then they’re gonna batten down the hatches and take everything not nailed down, which is where we come in.” She raised her eyebrows at the Rust Crew. “Along for the ride?”

“If it means trashing some machines, we’re all aboard,” Bo spoke for them.

“That’s enough for two trucks then. Of course, they don’t take chances with their hardware here. The trucks have their routes locked in for maximum safety, with scheduled pickup and dropoff times. They drive themselves out, wait for the salvagers to load ‘em up, and drive themselves back. No human error.” She winked at Tora. “And of course, I know ‘no human’ who’s good enough with machines to do something crazy like, I dunno, override the program and give us direct control.”

Tora -who’d been trying to find Rex amidst all the salvagers as the depot- gasped, his eyes wide. “That me!”

“Then what’re we waiting for?” Giovanna tossed him a hardhat, which Tora caught mostly with his belly. When he looked up, she was already wearing one. “We’ve got a quota to meet.”

---

Once ready to roll, the two trucks started on their own accord and began to maneuver through Scrap Boulevard, with the ten members of the team split between the first and second trucks. As much as Tora wanted to start meddling straight away, Poppi convinced him to hold off until the team reached the halfway point, that being the designated salvage point. On the far side of Scrap Boulevard, which itself harbored the scars of many a past battle, lay a massive perimeter wall with a massive hole in the center thanks to a dedicated Machine invasion at some point in the past. Some stopgap gates had been erected in the breach by the locals, and they swung open to allow the trucks through, but Poppi knew they wouldn’t hold for long should they come under attack again. Better to not let the Machines reach the undercities in the first place, although Poppi knew as well as anyone the Seekers by themselves couldn’t fight an entire mechanical army. They needed to find some other way to make a difference out there.

Once through the gates, and out under the rainy sky, the trucks rumbled due south. The farther south one went on the continent’s northeastern peninsula here, the lower in elevation it got, turning from temperate and autumnal at the educational northern shore to the river-carved badlands around Midgar itself to the Valley of Ruin to the south, where swampland and overgrowth choked the remains of sprawling cities. Formerly metropolises perhaps even comparable to Midgar in size, albeit far more conventional in appearance, these destroyed cities seemed to go as far as Poppi could see into the distance, nestled between the eastern and western ranges. Abandoned by humanity and reclaimed by nature, the buildings looked almost like mountains themselves, and the Seekers were already rolling into the foothills.

Tora wore a sad expression as he peered out into the distance through the rain. “So much devastation. So many people, long gone. Especially with rain, it…it make Tora feel sad.”

With a slight smile, Poppi patted his head. She couldn’t help but agree.





“You WHAT!?”

Goldlewis stared, mouth agape, at the contingent of Seekers newly returned from the reservoir with the stink and stains to prove it. None of them seemed to be wounded at all, but whether that came as a result of their own performance or of Blazermate’s healing, only they could say. Along with them they brought one hell of a story and a squat, scraggly-haired, part-alien bum wrapped and shivering in a raggedy blanket. Even putting aside the color and translucence of the skin across patches of his body, it didn’t take a genius to tell he wasn’t well. He clammed up the minute the away team brought him in, and just sat in a dark corner where he twitched as if addled by some sort of muscular disorder, muttering things about Suoh, Seiran, psychics, and psifish with varying levels of coherence and consistency. The last of the Bridges renovators spared him a worried look as they left the building, giving the reservoir visitors as wide a berth as they could.

“Lord have mercy, I’m too old for this crap.” Goldlewis gave a groaning sigh. Two men as old or older than himself should have known better than to dive headfirst into that dingy swamp. He removed his glasses and kneaded his wrinkled temples with his palms. “Look, y’all. I don’t mean to be rude or nothin’, but there’s an awful lot ridin’ on us. We can’t afford to run off half-cocked and pick a buncha fights when we don’t know what we’re gettin’ into. I mean, I know I’m new to the Seekers an’ all, but ain’t there gonna be a day y’all kick the wrong hornets’ nest? If those psifish you found were even a smidge more aggressive, they’d’ve popped your noggins like they popped them those doggone ghouls! How d’you know you ain’t got somethin’ in your heads right now? And even putin’ aside all that, we can’t have ya pickin’ up dysentery, parasites, or worse from that stinkin’ bog down there, either.”

He glanced over at the former soldier known as Taro Chalmers, who had yet to drink from the cup of water he’d been given. His face creased itself in pity. “I know y’all wanted to do the right thing, but we ain’t equipped to take care of this poor fella here. He’s hurtin’ somethin’ fierce, both body and mind. All that time spent around psifish musta done a number on him. This man needs a hospital and trained medical professionals. I don’t give a damn whether fusion’s legal or not; the consequences don’t matter if he ain’t alive.” He rubbed his whiskers for a moment, thinking, before he snapped his fingers. “We’ll send him through the portal. Chances are he’ll get better treatment in Sector 7 than here.”

Once that was taken care of, Goldlewis rounded up the whole group. “Alright, listen up now. While y’all were down there, I got some news from Raz. The Psych-OSF op’s moments away from startin’ and it’s happenin’ down in the subway tunnels next to sectors 5 and 6, not far outside the city. Did any o’ ya see any tunnels while pokin’ around down there?” They had not; scouting had been neither a reason for their descent nor a byproduct of the time spent at the reservoir. Goldlewis shrugged helplessly. “Well, I hope you guys ain’t outta steam from all that fightin’, cause we’ve got a doozy of a day ahead of us. The subway’s s’posed to be crawlin’ with Others. Our goal’s to get in and meet up with Peach, Sakura, and Raz. Clear out any monsters in the way, make sure our buds are fine, and figure out whatever we can about Psych-OSF and the Ever Crisis.” He raised a cautionary finger. “One thing. No matter who we run into, this is our story. We’re part of the Special Operations Unit, sent in by Konoe himself to make sure the operation’s runnin’ smoothly. My name oughta be enough to lend us all the credence we need.” He nodded at Benedict. “But havin’ a Turk along should help shore up any doubts.” He grabbed his coffin, flung the massive object over his shoulder like a fall cardigan, and headed for the door. “Now let’s get a move on. On the double!”

Reaching the city’s edge in Seiran proved to be a lot tougher than in the Sector 07 Slums. Rather than walk there, the Seekers needed to find a roundabout path through the skyscrapers via the network of bridges, rooftops, and cable cars. In the end, with what little time they were allotted, they found just one means by which they could descend to earth at the border between reservoir and the wilderness beyond Midgar: a defunct cable car system repurposed into a dangerous zipline. It meant a sizable detour, since the former fishing village at its base lay closer to the edge of Sector 04 than 06, but there were no better options. Unfortunately for Geralt and Benedict, it seemed like switching teams wouldn’t save them from flying along at lip-flapping speeds suspended beneath a length of metal. Luckily, the cables proved tough enough to hold even Goldlewis’ weight, although he requested that Blazermate help provide a little lift on the way down just in case, anyway. Using the zipline, the heroes made it to earth, far from the area of the reservoir that Midna’s crew disturbed earlier, but not quite free of the mire’s grasp.



Before the reservoir’s decline into hideous stagnation, the Stilt Village might’ve been the perfect old-fashioned callback to seafaring Seiran’s maritime roots, alive with hardy inhabitants and wistful vacationers casting baits and nets to dine of the salty lake in a bid to return to the simple, natural life. Now, though, there were no fish to be found, and the carcasses of abandoned fishing vessels festered in their watery graves. Only troglodytes and dying psifish chrysalises now dwelt in the half-collapsed hovels above the putrid red-tinted surf, their insane scratchings seldom audible over the miserable creak of loose, rickety boards.

Goldlewis watched his step carefully, not eager to put a foot through any of these rotten planks and plummet into the contaminated brine. With how long it’d take the team to even reach the subway, they could afford to get tangled up or bogged down anywhere on the way. The UMA in his coffin helped point the way as he guided the Seekers through the Stilt Village’s decrepit maze, heading southeast. His airdash came in handy during big jumps, but the others could find their own ways to get around. He expressly avoided the packs of roving trogs, ghostly chrysalis drifters, and anything that looked particularly loathsome while still making decent time, according to his well-used wristwatch. Even if there was loot to be had in these hovels, left behind as the previous inhabitants fled from the psifish scourge, he wanted no part of it. Nothing wholesome could come out of a place like this, not anymore.

Eventually he found it. Just outside of Stilt Village lay a wooden train station, and beneath it, a single underground platform. Naturally, this had to connect to the rest of the network Raz mentioned, and sure enough, when the team reached the station they found evidence of Psych-OSF presence. “Looks like some kind o’ rally point,” he told the others, taking note of the supplies and communication equipment left here. “Must be plannin’ to come back out this way once folks in the area get done cleanin’ up the tunnels.” He trooped down the stairs toward the platform, using a comm glyph to dial in his location as he went. “All we gotta do is follow in their footsteps.”



Pretty soon, Goldlewis followed them straight into the site of an Other encounter. The underground tunnel opened up into a small enclosed area, mostly ruined and pierced in a few places by large roots. Odd red plants flourished here, including a kind of red flower he hadn’t seen before. Another thing that caught his eye was the Missin Pound pinned to one of the roots, still weakly eking out smoke from the top of the sacklike organ within its cagelike body. A spar of rebar had been forcibly jammed through the rungs of the cage, the sack, and out the other side before the Other had been left to die. Upon noticing the Seekers, it began to exude more smoke, but without much left in the tank it failed to pose even the most tangential of threats. Still, worth noting in the veteran’s eyes. “We’ll be needin’ your scanner of more of these show up to lay down smokescreens,” he told Blazermate. It looked like the Psych-OSF squad went left from this junction, so Goldlewis turned right. After another minute or so that brought the team to a open room lined with old pipes, and barely did they arrive than a pair of Missin Pounds appeared to fill the room with smoke. “There we go,” Goldlewis grunted, although movement in the shadows told him there was more to this ambush. Through the haze came curtain-flapping, antler-bearing Session Pounds, flashing rapidly as they closed in on the newcomers to violently self-destruct. At the same time, some of the locals appeared with a similar strategy, though their charges ended with a violent explosion of corrosive Root Rot instead.



Just as Nadia pulled her arm back to hurl her box cutter away, Ichiban suddenly -and unexpectedly- interceded. Someone with a lick of sense in his head might have attempted to grab her throwing arm rather than jumping in the way of a very-soon-to-be flying weapon, but his chosen method of stopping her short was brave, foolhardy, and effective; though unable to completely stop herself in time, the moment the frizzy-haired man placed himself in her path, Nadia managed to instinctively detach her own forearm to stop herself going through with the throw. “Hey!?”

Her box cutter blade clattered to the floor along with her arm, and Endogeny went for it. Even if the fetch amounted to only a couple feet, the monster bounded toward Nadia, flecking a strange liquid from its orifice. Seemingly unaware of its massive weight and powerful gelatinous body, it accidentally knocked the feral off her feet as it went to retrieve her sword, although the sudden fall surprised Nadia a lot more than it hurt her. She scooped up and reattached her arm, then got up to see Endogeny offering her the weapon it retrieved, its tails undulating proudly. “Oh,” she muttered, gingerly retrieving her box cutter to make extra sure she didn’t hurt the critter. Despite everything, it still seemed to be a dog, and a good dog at that.

Jesse showed up, and she wasn’t too happy about the halt in forward progress. “No need to waise the woof,” Nadia hissed under her breath. “Just go another way. There was another staircase, right?

Ichiban then revealed his plan, which turned out to be a lot better than Nadia’s. In hindsight, sacrificing her brand-new (and expensive) weapon just to the amalgamate off her back wasn’t one of her brighter schemes. “Ohh, that’s a…a smart idea, yeah.” As Ichiban fed Endogeny delectable sausages from his pocket reserves, which the amalgamate accepted into its unfathomable gullets with gusto, the cat burglar marveled at the foresight it took to make such careful preparations. “Good thinkin’, Ichi. If I lost my sword dealin’ with this dog, it woulda been ‘ruff’.” Despite being in his forties and being kind of a doof, Ichiban had been doing well in the Soul Sanctum so far. He could hold his own against some of the foes the team ran up against, and he did not push his luck against the more powerful horrors that reared their ugly heads. The fact alone that he chose to accompany the crew to such a dangerous and ill-omened place when a handful of their own did not suggested that he might be hero material himself.

When all those shapeless wretches first started showing up, always appearing from odd angles and often attacking either silently or a few at a time, things had been something of a scramble for the Seekers. Of course, things could only be so creepy with Bowser and Sectonia around. The former promptly went on a rampage backed up by a posse of offense-oriented Kamek clones, nearly setting fire to the tower’s dry, dusty interior with their flame in their eagerness to mow down all the spooks. Sectonia, meanwhile, flooded the rooms and halls with her antlions, packing them like sardines to pound any haunts into submission the moment they appeared. Together the royals and their cohorts did a lot to diminish this place’s atmosphere. That said, the patients still posed a threat with their manic, flailing strength, and the farther the group went into the Soul Sanctum the more they got spread out, each forced to contend with their own handful of threats. Unless something ridiculous showed up, though, Nadia figured she’d see the others again at the top.

She turned her attention away from the staircase and the distant noises of combat and back to Endogeny. After happily glutting itself on Ichiban’s food, the amalgamate leaned its dripping, amorphous body on him, twitching affectionately. “Huh. Furrykey as it looks, it’s actually kinda cute.” Not having to kill everything in her path was honestly kind of nice. Though she didn’t want to put away her sword in case something else showed up, Nadia switched it to her off hand, then went over and stroked Endogeny just to try and make sure it was happy. The tarry substance around its gaping pit-face began bubbling up into a happiness froth, and its epidermis quivered with what might have been a contented sigh. Nadia considered giving the monster a tummy rub, but she couldn’t tell exactly where the tummy began or ended. Idly she wondered what could have happened to make this creature like this, or if it just started out this way. Either way, with Endogeny essentially pacified, Ichiban could slowly ease its bulk off his body and join Nadia on their continued ascent through the Soul Sanctum.

Nadia continued to climb with a spring in her step despite the eeriness ambiance and haunted atmosphere, her wellspring of energy topped up by her surprisingly heartwarming encounter with Endogeny. Few of the creatures she met on the way up, however, proved to be as pliable. Her keen senses and reflexes spared her a nasty contusion courtesy of a patient patiently waiting just through a doorway. When it swung its rusted IV pole at her she popped her head off as she went low. She planted one of her feet in the side of its knee, taking its spindly leg out at the load-bearing joint, then drove her box cutter upward straight through its bag-head. Her own slammed down on top of the sack with the help of a blood rocket from her neck, pushing it further onto the blade, and from there Nadia could run up the wall and flip over the patient to carve the bloated bag clean in half. What sludged out onto the floor didn’t bear looking at, and the smell nearly made Nadia convulse, so she popped her head back on and hurried on her way.

After a few more scraps, she reached a strange room near the top. At first she thought the room had been overgrown by a strange leafy plant, but as the fronds moved she realized that they must be hordes of butterflies, and the feral spotted a handful of strange creatures. Pallid, bulbous, and ill-defined, they stood around with empty eyes as if waiting for her to make a move. There were no Mistakes or Follies here, nor patients, just these bizarre humanoids. Nadia swallowed, unsheathed her other box cutter, then began to move forward, one step at a time. She tried to give the Everymen a wide berth, but when she got near any of them they turned their empty sockets on her, and before she made it through one quickly started to plod her way. The cat burglar’s nerves wouldn’t let her stand still. “Fuzz off!” She sliced through it with her blades, cutting through it like butter, but Everyman barely seemed to register her slices. It headbutted her right in the nose, and with a growl she pivoted on her heel and kicked its head clean off.

The monster stumbled back, then without ceremony, grew another head. A chill ran through Nadia’s body as the hair on the back of her neck stood up; around the room, the butterflies took wing. They clustered together on the heads of the Everymen, causing them to writhe and thrash, and make muted cries of pain. The one Nadia hit tottered toward her, butterflies swarming around it, its arms outstretched. “Screw this!” With a yowl the feral ducked under its arms, slammed a Purrge of Vengeance orb into its back to blow it apart in a watery explosion, then ran for the door.

A few moments and a couple staircases later, Nadia’s run finally slowed to a jog, and after another few seconds she came to a stop. The roar of drumming rain sounded a lot louder now, and a peek through a nearby window confirmed that she was pretty high up. This floor looked like a cross=shaped hallway that intersected four rooms, with three staircases leading down and just one leading up. There must be multiple routes through the Soul Sanctum to get here, Nadia realized, but only one way forward. That meant the others might have run into different frights and foes on their way up, and that things could be different for her going back down, too. Like hell I am, I’ll just claw my way down the outside, she resolved. One thing did perturb her: she could see colorful lights beneath one of the hallway doors, and hear various noises coming from within. Curious, she moved closer. It sounded like music, sound effects, and a variety of voices in a language that Nadia didn’t understand. Was someone watching something in there? Nadia didn’t know who would choose to live in a place like this, but IGV’s letter mentioned the top floor, so this couldn’t be him. She rubbed her nose and sat down to wait for the other Seekers.



Once everyone arrived, they proceeded to the top floor. Here, the rain pounded down on the glass windows in the dome ceiling, reinforced with veins of wrought iron like leaves. Except for discarded tablets and a single chair, this floor appeared to be a single wide-open room, with no spooks or surprises beyond the lone figure who stood opposite the stairs, a mage or perhaps a scholar, his back to the Seekers as they climbed up. At the noise he turned, sweeping his fine cloak aside, and regarded the newcomers with a politely interested expression, as if they’d just related an anecdote he was supposed to find amusing. He wore an exquisite blue robe, hemmed with gold, as well as a floppy brown hat atop well-kept shoulder-length black hair, and his sunken eyes were no less dark. In his hand he held a red tome, embossed with gold, and after his brief dramatic movement his cape settled neatly behind him. “Good morning,” he greeted the Seekers, his voice deep, silky, and as refined as his appearance. “Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Iguana Gallo Valletto.

“IGV,” Nadia said aloud, her brain cells audibly rubbing together.

“How adroit,” Gallo purred, glancing coolly around the assembled heroes and villains. “You certainly came in force. I’m glad. I trust the poor creatures down below gave you no trouble?”

Chuckling through her nose, Nadia stabbed her box cutters into the carpet and crossed her arms, her tail flicking behind her. “Ghosts and such don’t spook us. We’re big game haunters by now. What up with those things, though?”

“The pitiful products of vast and varied attempts to harness the power of souls for their own ends,” Gallo explained with a shrug. “Some by their own mistaken hands. Others not so much. Such is the price for meddling in matters beyond one’s own comprehension.” He tilted his head, a thin smile spreading on his lips. “A price that I hope we can help one another exact upon one most deserving.”

Nadia leaned against the wall. “Well, we came to hear you out, so let’s hear it.”

“Very well.” Gallo crossed the room, seated himself in the chair, tented his fingers, and began to speak. “By now you’ve heard of Gallo Tower, I’m sure? It is named after its creator–me. Originally, my tower was a place of artifacts and experiments, an edifice of science and sorcery where my glorious research was once synonymous with the word ‘progress’. Perhaps you may have heard of my famous Relics? The Glass Vizard, the Magic Banger, the Ars Gouda, or the legendary Randomazzo?” Despite the flair with which he said it, Gallo received only blank stares. “...No? Not a one? Argh.” He cleared his throat. “Regardless, those days are long gone. Now, Gallo Tower is merely the sty of that little…pig. Consul P.”

The words dripped with such venom that Nadia couldn’t help but take notice. “Oof, yeah. So you got it out for P-brain, too?”

Her response seemed to please Gallo. “Indeed!” he smiled grimly. “He is cantankerous, capricious, selfish, spoiled rotten, immature, rude, and frankly, stupid. He treats me as no more than a mere manservant–me, Iguana Gallo Valetto!” The man pounded the cover of his tome in anger, accidentally releasing a few tiny Dust Elementals that he quickly brushed away. Clearing his throat again, he continued. “Regrettably, I haven’t the means to oppose him. P’s toadies know I am much aggrieved, and I could do little by myself. But if for whatever reason your organization seeks P’s downfall as well, I can provide all the information you need…to orchestrate his undoing.”

“Purr-etty temptin’...” While she didn’t want to speak for the others, Nadia thought that sounded pretty good. “Well, it couldn’t hurt to tell us at this point, right? We’re already kinda stuck together since either of us could rat the other out to P.”

Gallo nodded. “But of course. There are just three things you need to know. One is that, while powerful, P is a simpleton. He is a woefully unfit ruler, and in fact, does not practice any ‘rulership’ other than shamelessly lording about and doing whatever he pleases. He doesn’t monitor the city, set up patrols, or do anything. If a problem arises, he solves it through brute force alone. This means that he knows neither who or where his enemies are, and that you can confront him directly…once you know my other two details.”

Gallo carefully opened his tome to leaf through its contents. “Two is that he is not completely alone. He leaves all his duties to the cronies I mentioned before, the ‘Agarthans’, better known as ‘Those Who Slither in the Dark.’ They are a troublesome group, none especially remarkable alone, but if allowed to rally together in support of P by a brash attack on his person, their devious tricks might prove...rather difficult to overcome.” The scholar looked up at the Seekers. “That is why I recommend you hunt down and take out their elites before challenging P. Without their leaders, the roaches will soon scurry back into the dark. So listen well.” Person by person, he began to spill the beans. “Solon is their Dark Bishop. He disguises himself as a cleric named Tomas, and works as a teacher in the Home of Tears’ largest school in the western district. Kronya is their Head Assassin. She leads a double life as Monika, a red-haired mage found often in the Amusement Park. Cleobulus is their Grand Sorceress, and she moonlights as Cornelia, the glamorous gala queen of the Royal District’s high society, seldom far from its grandest club. In her case, I urge discretion. Finally, there is Thales.” Gallo pursed his lips. “He is their leader, and he almost never leaves Shambhala, his headquarters. It will be difficult to dispose of him beforehand, unless you infiltrate Shambhala itself. Still, something should be done.”

“The last thing you should understand is that P is, first and foremost, a child. He is woefully immature and prone to fits of emotion. When on the verge of defeat, he will likely flee to his sanctum to hide, which we ‘servants’ masterminded in case of emergency. It is heavily safeguarded and may in fact be impregnable, but if one or two of you go there while the others fight him, you will be able to finish him the moment he arrives. And this is where it is.” Gallo offered the Seekers a diagram, and with that, he was finished.

Partitio shook the critters ear-flap..Or arm-flap? Little guy had some stubby lookin' things on his body and some big ol' ear thingy's to boot. Well either way, the merchant was happier than a pig in mud.

His gloved hand offering the Nopon a firm but not too tight handshake "Well I'll be," a big grin spread across Partitio's face, and his business sense was a tingling when the little guy mentioned something of having a sense for the trade himself, and to boot he said he was somethin' like an inventor.

"You don't mean your one o'them folks who make fancy doohickies?" the man sounded absolutely fascinated by this, Partitio had only ever heard o' things like steam engines what were getting big in the east back home so everything here so far had flabbergasted a simple working man like him.

Before he got something of an answer from the fuzzy little guy, one of the other people in the gang spoke up to warn the merchant that this little expedition they were going on wasn't no walk through the park, and if that shook Partitio he didn't show nothing but an unwavering smile and a good-natured chuckle.

"Ain't no need to pardon the heavy words there mister," regarding Zenkichi with a glint other than the red gleam in them "Now I ain't no highfalutin merchant, I've seen ugly and it's this here whole city." everything from it's shiny uppermost crust to it's dingiest of bottoms, Midgar was ugly to the core and suffering cause of the bigwigs what only cared for themselves.

At the question of being able to offer more than a keen sense of business and a way of words, the merchant laughed heartily "Say there little fella I may look the merchant but I been traveling til the cocks cry in the morning," Partitio flipped a silver coin with his thumb with a tink before deftly catching it in the air with a gloved hand "Back where I'm from they called me the 'Wild Stallion', and if someone is askin' for a fight I'll give em one. With my fists, or a weapon in my mits."

Partitio slipped the coin back into the pocket of his overcoat, adjusting it over his shoulders once more before crossing both his arms and looking down at the Nopon "Now there friend, tell me bout that fancy lookin' metal lady you got dotein' on you." he was of course asking about Poppi, curious if she were some fancy doodad the Nopon made. Making a bit of smalltalk as they moseyed on with the others in the group.

Only heard of a crew working the yards from few and less people back in the slums, Partitio knew there was some money in their work but it was dangerous business however it was also mighty profitable.

"Howdy there friend," the merchant tipped his hat to Marshall as he spoke to Tora "Uh-huh, that we are mister. Where there's commerce to be had you can shake two whiskers and not shake the scent of opportunities what lay ahead o' us." it probably didn't make any sense to the man but the merchant simply chuckled and walked alongside Tora and helped the others get set, he didn't grab a helmet himself out of habit and unfamiliarity with the need for head protection.

But before they departed he made it a habit to barter with the Scrappers to spare some equipment in return for some money and to replace his shoddy bow and spear, the merchant offered the makeshift gear for free and explained he hadn't been in town long but he'd been working as hard as he could with what little he had.

He wasn't really expecting them to take the shoddy equipment and if nit just give them it as scrap to salvage. Seeing as they were salvagers he had a good hunch they'd have maybe a good set of armor or protective clothes laying around or a slightly less shoddy weapon laying around.

If they gave him asking price he said any haul he found he'd not keep for himself as his share and instead offer it back to them if they'd give him a decent bargain on equipment.




Riding in the weird metal contraptions was a bit of a new experience for the merchant having been one to simply use his two good legs to get around.

Moving without walking gave him a bit of vertigo, hanging on to his hat and whatever else he could hold as the vehicles rattled down the dirt road. Along the ride he'd introduced himself to most of the other Seekers, his so far impression of them being good folk trying to do something for the people of Midgar.

Once the trucks rattled to a grinding halt, the sight of the ruined mountains of former buildings that were probably once impressive structures made the merchants heart fall. Crumbling, left to fall apart far from the civilized parts of Midgar this place might have been a bustling and prosperous place. Whatever happened to it, it hadn't been pretty.

The merchant could only shake his head, a sad look in his eyes as rain fell on him. Looking down at the ground, and sighing.

As he exited Vamos' shop, Ganondorf caught sight of a familiar magus: Rubick, "Indeed... Rubick, I believe?" he replied, exchanging greetings with his fellow Seeker. The magus brought up the adventures both groups had experienced in their time separated from one another, "If you consider nearly drowning in a tidal wave of blood to be an 'adventure'..." the Gerudo muttered, not exactly keen to recall that place, "...but unfortunately, the only real stories I have are..." he appeared to hesitate momentarily, careful to choose his wording wisely, "...war stories, as it were. I wouldn't want to bore you with any of those."

By this point the two of them had begun to walk together. And it was here that Ganondorf attempted to change the subject before he could pressed any further about his 'war stories', "Actually, I was thinking of returning to The Thorn to give these new infusions in my weapons a... test drive of sorts." he gestured to his newly upgraded swords, "Perhaps you'd care to try your hand there, yourself? The fights are not to the death, and they keep clerics on standby to treat injuries in between rounds." he offered, in case the magus might be interested in a little amusement, "The money you win is quite good too, of course. I was told you could even bet on matches as a spectator if being a combatant doesn't interest you."

Whether Rubick accompanied Ganondorf or not was obviously up to him. As for Ganondorf, he made his way back to the Amusement Park district and to where he remembered the entrance to The Thorn was. Whether he was alone or if Rubick was in tow, the Gerudo King would be greeted by the familiar figure of the woman who had first beckoned him down into the underground arena.

"Ah, you've returned. Back for more blood are you, Stranger?" Red Lucy asked with her usual seductive tone.

"For a couple of more rounds, yes." The Gerudo answered, indicating his intention to fight, though not quite as much as he had the previous evening. With those greetings done, Ganondorf climbed down into the tunnel that would lead to The Thorn and its infamous Pit.

Midna was in not the best of moods as they set out on their mission.

She was angry about being yelled at by Goldlewis. She was frustrated at having been forced to go against her promise to Taro who was now bound to get into all kinds of trouble when sent to a hospital, if not now then some time down the line. She was offended by his insinuation that she hadn’t known what she was doing going down into the reservoir.

But most of all, she was mad that he was at least half right about everything. Taro did need treatment, and she had 100% not been in control of the situation down there. She could have argued that the mind manipulating psychic abilities were not something she would have expected … if she hadn't had an equally embarrassing run in with them the prior day with the psychic pokemon.

They had at least learned a few things. Someone in the regime had gotten up to shady stuff involving the psi-fish, and not thought/cared about the consequences of flushing them. Said psi-fish where a kidnapped people that might be open to a dialog of some kind, even if they were weird and destructive and definitely a threat to the city. Also: guns were loud and things noticed when you used them.

Still, that hardly made up for the very close call, general grossness of the encounter, and the not immediately useful haul it had produced. Or at least it didn’t feel like it at the moment to the princess.

Suffice to say then that Midna did not make for the best traveling companion, as the princess spent most of the time brooding in one person’s shadow or another’s, at least until after they rode the cable car down into the stilt village.

There, the presence of danger forced her to engage with the party again. Now well forewarned to not take any of the monsters or people down here lightly, she helped out with the sneaking, shadow hopping here and there to chart out a route for them to follow that would take them around any dead ends, and away from any threats Blazermate detected. Once or twice she even adapted the reservoir’s lesson, and caused a disturbance somewhere away from the group to draw particularly large shoals or packs out of their path.

All this helped clear her mind a bit, and so she was only moderately grouchy when she slipped out of the shadows upon reaching the rally point. There she mounted up on the back of her wolfos, one hand gripping the scruff of its neck, the other holding her (very beat up at this point) interdimensional ax, the little hatchet probably on its last legs as best she could judge it. That was unfortunate, because she did not have any other one handed melee weapons on hand.

”It’ll have to do” she told herself as she held it against her chest and filled the blunted blade with lightning.

It took a little while for her to need to use it. First they ran into the aftermath of a psych-OFF squad’s battle, one that she falsely assumed had been some time ago due to the lack of spirits littering the ground. That there was still an Other pinned to the wall however, either contradicted that assumption or simply being a testament to the monster’s durability.

”What is this supposed to be, an example to the rest of them? I don’t know if that’s stupid or mindlessly sadistic” Midna complained through her mask, which was filtering out the small amount of smoke the Other was able to produce, finding the scene entirely distasteful. Enough so that she saw to the finishing off of the Other, though her method the pumping of however many volts of electricity into it via the rod implant it wasn’t particularly tasteful either, and she regretted the method even if it worked out.

Then she crushed its spirit and got a bag of black powder for her efforts.

”Ooooook. Well I have no idea what this is for” she admitted after peering into the little sack. Then she stashed it anyway like the loot gremlin she apparently was.

The Other turned out to have been much more useful in life than it was in death as, after taking a right to avoid the psych-OFF squad, they ran into more of its kind, now forewarned about their smoke spewing trick.

”Seen it already!” Midna taunted them, having already come up with a plan. Having already dismissed her wolfos, and swapped out one handed ax for two handed Longsword in preparation, she slipped into the shadows that now covered the entire room thanks to the smoke, while informing/warning the others that: ”I’ll be on the left one in a flash, stay clear of it!” With this complete freedom of movement she shifted to about till she was right ontop of one of Missin Pound.

Literally, as she moved to the ceiling, and then dropped out of the shadows, turning the smoke cloud into a storm cloud as she swept her sword down to deliver a lighting bolt directly atop of it. The flash of light clarified some of the silhouette in the smoke, though the princess, having had to blink to avoid blinding herself, did not benefit from this.

Instead she went for a wide attack, spreading out her shadow hand into an all mighty downwards slap. Finally, using that blow to feel where the Other was rather than see it, she emptied the remaining electrical charge in her sword to form three rotating pillars of lightning that spun around it, zapping it from all sides and keeping it contained in one spot.

Floating up in the air as she was, she was safe from the wart rots. Not so from the flying session pounds. Particularly problematic was the flashing they were doing, the blinking light that gave them away playing hell on Midna’s dark attuned eyesight such that she could barely take advantage of it.

As soon as one started strobe lighting her, the princess was forced to fall back, summoning her Vibrava, and having it grab and pull her away from the light, relying on its eyes and speed to complement her own. While she took that moment to recharge her blade, the princess dared not try and strike her pursuer with thunder or fist, unable as she was to see where her allies were and so unable to guarantee she would not hit them with her already pretty indiscriminate AOE attacks. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally clip the also aerial Blazermate with lighting or a shadow hand slap.

”Get lost, you blinking thing!” she demanded, before thinking fast, and trying to find and then use the pipes to block its chase, having her and her vibrava’s smaller forms slip through the obstruction, while the flashing thing would get stuck, leaving her the space to breathe and come up with a new plan.

Rubick chuckled at Ganondorf's words. "Oh, but a war story sounds absolutely delightful! I was in the middle of a war myself before all this happened," he said, waving his hand around and gesturing to the general area around him. He even twirled his staff around with a flourish, as if to prove something to the Gerudo King. Then Ganondorf proceeded to drastically change the subject by talking about the Thorn. Already forgetting his interest in Ganondorf's life stories, Rubick tilted his head to the suggestion, "Oh? Is this a stage to test one's might, perhaps?" For Rubick, his choice was clear. "Then I will accept your invitation and enter this 'Thorn' with you!" Rubick announced. "I could use some money as well. I spied some components in a magic emporium not too long ago, but they unfortunately do not take gold as payment."

Following Ganondorf to the Thorn, they eventually came across a female figure who greeted Ganondorf, evidently already familiar with him. Not wanting to be left out, Rubick also chimed in, "And so will I: Rubick, the Grand Magus!" He continued to enter the Thorn shortly after Ganondorf, excited to see what this arena had in store, and how Rubick could test his might against theirs.

—

Sakura nodded along as Luka explained the plan. It was going to be a big operation. Somehow, Sakura had found herself in another war. This time, she would be better prepared for what she might see. She would steel her resolve! At the very least, she doubted she would feel any sympathy for the plight of their enemies, lacking emotion and inner worlds. She doubted Raz would find anything in them if he could put a portal into their minds. These were swarms of monsters attacking the town. Sakura was ready to clear them out. She felt more like a firefighter ready to wade into action than a soldier going into battle.

Raz sent a message and Sakura blinked. Right. Infiltrating. She keeps forgetting that.

”Go for it, Raz-kun!” Sakura encouraged with her mental speak.

Soon the platoon was assembled, and the frontline would be sent down after the scouts had cleared the way. Sakura exhaled. This was it! She was as ready as she’d ever be. Plunging into another fight to the death.

If her father knew where she was right now, he would probably kill her himself! Since when did she get into the habit of doing this type of thing? Probably back when she chased Ryu into a fight against M. Bison. And then again when she chased Ryu into a fight against SIN. It was only a matter of time until she didn’t even need the Ryu excuse anymore. She was already used to it.

—

Magically teleported down below, Sakura wrinkled her nose at the sights and smells of the sewers and subways. It wasn’t supposed to be a sewer, but it was.

”Geez…” Sakura said at the disrepair. This was at the bottom of an actual city? No wonder there were monsters infesting this place.

As the OSF agents prepared their weapons, Sakura made a point to show hers off by simply cracking her knuckles. Yeah. They were pretty cool.

Luka explained the advantages and dangers of short range teleportation. ”A nuclear explosion? Wow, it’s not like that where I’m from.” Sakura said with a concerned expression. She thought about Dhalsim and his frequent teleporting. There was no way him and his ‘Yoga Teleport’ (which doesn’t make any sense by the way) would accidentally create a nuclear explosion.

Sakura followed Peach’s lead, doing some jumping and parkour to get to their destination. At least, she tried too, but eventually she synced up with SAS and with a preparatory wince in case of total annihilation, teleported over a particularly large gap she couldn’t jump across.

”Phew. Not today!” Sakura nodded to herself. She also grinned big, having done her very first teleport. Badass. She could see herself using that in a fight.

With her arms out to either side of the tracks, maintaining balance, Sakura took note of the strange plants. Strange! Why plants?

Finally they reached an underground clearing with rain from the ceiling. There were Others, and of the ones Sakura didn’t recognize, Luka gave a quick run down. ”This is it. Let’s go!” She ran in with the others, looking to close the gap as fast as possible.

Sakura decided to focus on the Rat Ruts. He said blunt damage, and she could do that. One of them fired oil at her while another went to ram into her. They moved fast, and they were at least two feet taller than her five-two frame.

”Woah!” Sakura dodge rolled to the side as one blurred past her. Hopefully the one that just missed her would be taken care of by the others as she advanced at the one shooting oil at her.

Leaping forward she nullified the enemy projectiles with mid-air ”Hadoken!” She landed in front of the Rat Rut and began to hammer it with her fists. All of her technique was put into forming as much power as possible. She interlocked her fingers and smashed into the Other with a series of Pendulum Uppers, and then brought said pendulum back down with a mighty drop.

These... medical abomination brutes were quite... brutish. No grace to their attacks, but getting hit really hurt and they could take quite a bit of punishment. Thanks to her antillions though, it didn't take long for reinforcements to come about in the form of Bowser and Kamek. Being the court mage he was, Kamek used his magic to buff the king koopa to allow him to plow through the area, clearing a path for the others to follow. Seeing as Sectonia didn't want to touch these vile things herself and the big turtle man was the brute he looked to be, Sectonia decided to help him rampage about with a bit of haste, but keeping the Chaos shield for herself.

When grouped up, these abominations were annoying and hurt, but if isolated, they went down fairly quickly as if stabbed fast enough or hit hard enough, they seemed to recoil in pain allowing Sectonia to capitalize on their death. Still, with how durable they were and how little desire she had to stay in this area, she only scooped up two spirits for her efforts, taking a hit or two before deciding to use her Chaos Shield to brute force through them a bit herself.

What lay ahead was both better and worse. White goopy creatures that seemed to vaguely even recognize the presence of the seekers as they moved past. Some wanted to play, in the case of this weird blobby dog looking thing, some were violent and thus thrown out the window, and some were just confused and lashed out randomly as it summoned various amounts of its own head to throw at people. This latter one Sectonia tried to engage, but it was obvious very quickly that it was immune to anything she could do besides move it. And getting an idea from the same koopa king, she decided to follow his lead by summoning her red antillions and have them toss the strange creature out of the window as butterflies flew out of nowhere and attacked the poor bulbous creature. Now there were more than one of these things, and Sectonia wasn't going to stick around and left her red antillions to 'play' with them, or rather, toss them out of the building as best as they could before they got defeated.

Having made her way through the room of... things... the person named IGV showed himself. Sectonia listened to his plans of assassination of Consul P. Considering how annoying Consul F was, she wasn't surprised to hear Consul P was a brat as well. And from the sound of things, he himself was weak, only using his position to surround himself with those with actual strength. A horrid showing, a leader needed to be both strong and beautiful, not weak and piggish.

"Well, it seems I will need to deal with the one in the Royal Quarter. I do not care for the games of nobles, but I know how to handle them." Sectonia said, rolling her eyes at needing to play a game of subtly. "I would prefer to just crush this sorceress, but I suppose subterfuge will work as well. I will have to find some place to figure out what enemies she has and all of that wonderful political maneuvering business..." Sectonia said in a huff. Out of everyone here, she figured she'd be the best suited for handling the Royal quarter. Kamek might be able to aid her as he seemed to understand noble edicate, but Bowser, therion, Jr. Rika didn't seem like they understood nobility speak and she wasn't sure about Omori, Ganondorf, and the new one.

"I assume trying to speak of these plans, you have some idea of where it would be best to collect information without shewing our hand?" Sectonia asked. She also crushed the spirits of the two brutish abominations she had gathered, to see what they may give.

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Having been one of the group who was confused as to why they had even gone to the reservour in the first place, Blazermate couldn't help but agree with Goldlewis. "Well, we did learn they can affect me, but I'm very resistant to their mental effects. And Ubercharge makes you immune to everything psionic they do." Blazermate said, trying to at least trying to help Goldlewis and his stress. She'd also be helping him descent later down a zipline, the guy worried the line would break or something on him. Maybe he was just the paranoid sort?

The tunnel they were going to enter was a bit of a mess, with what was outside it seeming to be the rotting decay of half dead creatures. Not wanting to tarry in this depressing area any longer than she had to, Blazermate made her way to the tunnel and inside what greeted them first was some half dead creature that seemed to puff out smoke, which had Goldlewis remind the bot to mark thugs with her scan, since smoke didn't really bother her. "I always do that! You guys just gotta pay attention to the marks and call outs!" Blazermate had an idea with the poor thing, but Midna beat her to it. Welp, no easy zombie for her, but she doubted it'd be useful anyway.

Further down the tunnel, they ran into these 'Others', which seemed to just be walking bomb boxes or something rushing at the party. "Aw man, I wanted more zombies!" Blazermate said as she was informed that this deadly red shift came from one of the walking exploding bomb bag things, which meant it would be best to keep everything at range. Although unlike the others, her methods of ranged attacks were quite lacklsuter so all she could do was overheal people and hover over the battlefield. It would be nice if her medical drone thing could attack like the sentry gun from the engineer striker...

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Susie had been spending most of her time on the lookout and just observing things, and occasionally making deals on her PDA like she did. She did catch the fact that Roxas had met a group that he was familiar with, but they weren't with him. No doubt a coincidence of the Gleeming thing. And while the girl didn't look all that tough, the man with her looked dangerous, as well as a good amount of eye candy. Oh, if only she could make him a bodyguard... but that'd have to wait. One of the mechanics seemed very interested in Tora, with Tora being someone who never shyed away from expressing his mechanical acumen. Susie wasn't a slouch in that area either, but she preferred the business side of things than the raw mechanical side.

But since she was the other mechanical genius of the group, she took the other truck that Tora and his new friend didn't take. With word that she'd have to eventually hack the other truck, something she would be fine with doing, but doing it before it was time could lead to issues. And her idea of seeing where the scrap went ended up being their plan, although not in the way she was planning it.

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As they drove by a ruined cityscape, Susie asked those that were in her truck, Pit, Roxas, and Giovanna a question. "Do you three think there will be any decent scrap for us at this place, or is it just going to be low quality slag?" Susie said, glancing at the ruined city scape. unlike some of the others in the other truck, this sight didn't bother her much. After all, it just meant an area she could revitalize later for a profit. "If we are going to be fighting a large amount of robots later, it would be best to arm some areas with H.W.C. tech. Even just stationary defense turrets would be better than what we saw at that border town..."