[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5r7OTIh.png[/img] [b][color=Aquamarine]wordcount:[/color][/b] 2,139 (+3) (+5 from victory) [b][color=Aquamarine]Midna: level 9[/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aquamarine]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color]/////////////////////////////////////// (61/100) [b][color=Aquamarine]Location:[/color][/b] Seiran Underground [color=Aquamarine]Warp Charges:[/color] 2 (+1 from encounter reward) [hider=warp locations] Virgin Victory teleport room Top of the Split mountain Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage Tostarena Town S.O.U. Building Seiran Clinic [/hider] [/center] Midna’s ploy worked like a charm, the little-er princess and her dragonfly wing-pack slipping through the pipes, while the flashing explosive first bumped into them, and then had to navigate around. That gave her the breathing room to take in the fact that the smoke was clearing. Not that that helped much with the blinking light rapidly trying to get back in her face [color=Aquamarine]”Hmmm, Hmmm, ah ha, got it!”[/color] she snapped her fingers, having an idea, and then commanded her Vibrava to [color=Aquamarine]”Dragon breath it!”[/color] The mon obeyed, detaching from her back and firing off a tight beam of distinctive purple dragon energy. The close range light wasn’t fun for the princess, but the unmistakable flesh of color shooting off in a specific direction was just barely enough for her to follow its path towards the source of the blinding flashes. [color=Aquamarine]”Gotcha, you blinking nuisance!”[/color] she declared, as she unleashed a torrent of electricity from her long sword, joining in with her mon’s blasting, the pair slowing the living bomb, and then halting it as current and breath combined to paralyze it completely, halting it entirely for a few moments before death claimed it. [color=Aquamarine]”Serves you right for being so obnoxious[/color] she told the disintegrating Other as she rested her sword over her shoulder, before she glanced down at the fight below. As her vision returned she got her first and last look at the leggy bombs as the last of them splashed against Goldlewls’ staunch bulwark. [color=Aquamarine]”You good down there?”[/color] she checked, and then once that was confirmed she drifted down to rejoin them on terra firma. There she rode around a little bit on her wolfos’ back, flicking open twilight portals to stash away any unclaimed spirits for later, and finally after that left the pipe room and hurried to catch up with the foot sloggers. She found them embattled with some nasty water spraying creatures, ones that Minda arrived just in time to be forced to witness their bizarre reloading method, one that took the Other’s twisted mockery of humanity’s form and concepts an extra uncomfortable step further. [color=Aquamarine]”Well that’s disgusting,”[/color] she commented, before finding herself yelling [color=Aquamarine] get a room!”[/color] at them which got her water blasted at her in retaliation forcing her to steed to leap to the side and back into the cover of the entrance tunnel. There, she had a think, and then prepped some tactics based on what she had observed so far. Namely that they couldn’t move, and, as she saw when she glanced around the corner again, that they didn’t like people getting close. [color=Aquamarine]”Well, how about we ruined your personal space then”[/color] she schemed. Step one was to duck out from cover, and pump 3 revolver shots into the ceiling light above the solo Santa (or well, one into it + two into the ceiling around it). The second was to shadow hop to that now darkened patch of ceiling and perform her shadowy drop maneuver on this other. She was getting a fair bit of mileage out of that one [color=Aquamarine]”Heartbreaker, coming in!”[/color] she yelled, as she snatched out her shadow hand and grabbed the water shooter by the head tentacles to prevent it and its conjoined lover from ducking into the box. As it struggled she raised both hands, summoning forth a sized up wolfos and mecha bear combo on either side of the other. Both beasts lunged in with mighty bites, teeth sinking into the two halves of the Other, which they then proceeded to try and pull them apart. Aiding in this was her third summon, the princess utilizing the regular sized but still towering undead Darknut for the first time, and having it drive its mighty broadsword in an overhead chop right between the other’s two bodies. The monster writhed in pain as it was ripped at the seams, but its otherworldly vitality meant that even this mighty combo was not the single life serving stroke Midna had hoped it would be. Instead it ripped itself out of her grip as her two maxed out summons timed out, and then ducked down into its box. [color=Aquamarine]”Cowards”[/color] she belittled her foe, even as she dropped down to take cover behind her undead knight, already knowing what would come next thanks to Goldlewis’ inevitable experience with them. The undead warrior raised a guard against the incoming defensive attack, but even with this it was still blasted back by the same watery explosion that had knocked Goldlewis away from it a little bit earlier. [color=Aquamarine]”Back up more”[/color] she commanded her knight redundantly as she willed it to move away, putting itself between her and all of the sniping Other’s, its armor and shield bearing the brunt of their assault. That assault only abated because Midna used portal magic to dump some cargo crates in between them and the Others, though not for long, as wood began to splinter under the water blasting. It was long enough however. [color=Aquamarine]”I got you right where I want you, eat explosions sucker”[/color] the princess taunted the octopus tentacled creature that had popped back out to start shooting at her as she tossed a twilight volleybomb blindly over her wooden defense, and at the same time swapped out her darknut for her Vibrava to have it deliver an eruption of earth power from directly below the Other. The explosions met in perfect unison, the giant runic ball of teal magic touching down just as the fissures forming below the Other erupted, the power of earth and twilight creating the mother of all detonations that scoured the other from this plane. [color=Aquamarine]”And the curtains fall on that tragedy”[/color] the princess declared, before being reminded that there was still at least one more act on stage when an explosive blast of water vaporizes the remains of her box wall. She cried out in alarm, shielding herself from the wash of wet splinters and being thankful for her mask keeping them out of her eyes. [color=Aquamarine]”Wait your turn!”[/color] she demanded of them as she dived for the cover of one of the left side pillars, which, thanks to her clearing that side’s Other, could now actually be used as mostly reliable protection from the right side’s water blasters. From there, she was able to shadow hop between pillars and harass the Others using volley bombs, musket fire, and Vibrava moves, but she didn’t manage to pull off her drop trick again, the other Others having learned it from the death of their fellow. She could try and grind down the other Others like that, especially if she got the aid of Blazermate’s healing aid which would guarantee that she’d win when it came to any damage trading, but she hoped the other’s would be able to figure out a trick or two of their own to deal with the puzzle box foes. Whatever way the rest of the battle went down, she would claim her kills at the end, and then join up with the others for the next leg of their cleaning run. [color=Aquamarine]”They really weren't kidding, this place is infested”[/color] Midna commented as they came across a pair of weird horse tree things [color=Aquamarine]”I mean what in the world are they even eat ing down here”[/color] she went on, only to pause her commentary as she saw the ash piles [color=Aquamarine]”oh”[/color] That was not a good sign. Nor was the moment where one of them turned invisible. [color=Aquamarine]”Goddesses save me from these hiding cowards”[/color] she cursed as her wolfos steed leapt to the side to avoid being washed away by a torrent of water. [color=Aquamarine]”Where is it, where is it? Come out wherever you are!”[/color] she asked/demanded, trying to spot it as she dashed away from the water sprayer and leapt up onto one of the rusted trains, only for a growling to draw her attention. She glanced in the opposite direction she had been looking, following her steed’s snout and ears and, while she did not see anything in that direction, she had to assume that it was picking up their stealthy foe with its superior senses of smell and hearing. [color=Aquamarine]”Third time’s the charm!”[/color] she declared as she vented sand out of twilight portals around her, and sent a thin cloud of it singing ahead of her steed till it bounced off of the invisible foe. [color=Aquamarine]”There you are”[/color] she declared, sweeping the sand back around to try and re-tag the foe, only for it to not be there. [color=Aquamarine]”Huh?”[/color] she said, confused, only to feel her steed tense and realize that [color=Aquamarine]”It’s on to me!”[/color] The invisible something slammed into the train car, crushing its front as the princess backed up. She blasted it with sand again, but the flash of vague clarity wasn’t enough for her to clearly make out the fist swinging at her till it punched her right off of her mount, sending the princess tumbling across the roof of the train. She coughed blood up against the filter of her mask as she pulled herself up onto her hands and knees. She didn’t need the sand to know that the slippery foe was approaching, the train groaning under its weight as it pulled itself up onto it and started to trot towards her. Her wolfos fled before it, running up to her and crouching down, grabbing her by her clothes and trying to help drag her back onto its back. They weren't going to be fast enough to escape, this she knew, and so instead she acted. Sand swirled forth, outlining the Slippery as it lunged for them in a full body slam, only for it to meet metal instead of splattering soft flesh. In a split decision the princess had summoned a towering darknut on the ground to the side of the train and then in one swift motion the giant whose head scraped the roof had moved its shield in the rampaging other’s path. There was an almighty clang as Other smashed into the bulwark, but said bulwark only lasted a few heartbeats more before it returned to her realm. Enough time both for Midna to be clinging to wolfos back once more, and for the other to recover from its concussion and be ready to come after them. As she started to move, sand dashed across the area behind her, once again giving a glimpse of the other approaching. [color=Aquamarine]”Vines”[/color] she commanded, summoning up her amazonian initiates, the hooded sisters of oblivion appearing on the platform beside the train as if they had been waiting to board it. As she commanded, they bent a knee to place their hands to the ground and unleashed their psionic powers, causing dark purple roots of psychic power to erupt across the train’s top, and for them to blindly grope for their foe. Some found their mark and snapped a few moments later under its pulling force, but their discovery let more and more vines reach up, lashing around the tree headed monster, restricting it, and sapping some of its like like poison ivy around an actual tree. They would not hold it forever. They didn’t need to hold it forever. [color=Aquamarine]”How-”[/color] the princess coughed in the middle of her taunt, and then finished it [color=Aquamarine]”how about a new coat of paint”[/color] as her mecha bear was summoned on the other side of the train from the strikers. It rose to the same height as the train, and its mighty cannon even higher. Energy thrummed as the electrical powered launcher sucked up power from the bear’s systems, and then with a mighty wumf it fired its preloaded payload: an also enlarged swoopin stu, an ammunition type provided courtesy of Bowser Junior. The oversized dumbo octopus looking slime soared forth, and then slapped into the front of the Slipper Other, bursting on contact and splattering the entire front with burning goop, outlining it in red and orange for all to see. [color=Aquamarine]”DOn;t be sad, you look good in red- huh?”[/color] the princess’s elated taunting was interrupted when the mecha bear beside her seemed to sag under its own weight all of a sudden, or rather under the weight of its metal parts, and an electric hum sounded and then swiftly died, signaling that the cyborg had used up the last of its energy stores with that supersized attack. [color=Aquamarine]”Goddesses cures it what’s the matter with you”[/color] the technologically inept princess swore, and then cursed again as the goop covered Other broke free from its vine-y bindings and came after her once more. Rather than stand and fight, raced back towards the others, or rather specifically towards Blazermate to get aid, and to bring the now semi detectable foe into the other’s range so they could take advantage before it figured out some way to clean itself.