Before the newly-reunited crew set off for the next step of their "Stop Midgar From Imploding" plot, Raz borrowed some spirits off of Midna. He was so focused on clearing out the Other that he forgot to snag any himself, and with the way things were shaping up, his brand of endearing acrobatics and psy-abilities might end up falling short. There were these ones that exploded, and Raz was pretty sure that could be a fastpass to the fabled head explosion power!

For, you know, safety.

As he held the spirit in his hands, ready to fuse with it, his head jerked to the side. "Whuh!" It happened again, then again, and on the fourth time, the source of it revealed itself: the head of Ford Cruller. He popped out the side of Raz's head. "Hold it, now jus' hold it!" Ford shouted, needing to shake himself to get reoriented.

"Ford?!"

"Yeah I know, been a while since we seen each other. Maybe if yer head wasn't so empty I'd be gettin' out here faster!"

"Heeey!... that's not nice."

"Razputin, whatever idea you had that you were about t'do, it was a really, really bad one." The disembodied head of Ford gestured towards the spirit in Raz's hands. "That thing's givin' out some major mental juju. The kind y'wanna avoid, you see."

Raz looked down at the spirit, a little dejected. "Aww man, was really hoping it was something cool and, uh, not bad." No point in letting it got to waste tho. Raz stashed it. "Say, Agent Cruller, since you're here and all we should really touch base. Brief and debrief. There's been a lot going on here, I even met this world's version of the Psychonauts, and- hang on, where are you exactly?"

Ford didn't say anything for a moment, staring off into the distance, before springing back to life. "Ope, sorry there, Razputin, but this was more a don't-blow-yerself-up check. Gotta be gettin' back to, uhh, important psychic stuff, old man mumblin'. As much of a distant hope this is, don't be doin' anything stupid while I'm gone!" And just as quick as he showed up, Ford pulled himself back into Raz's head before Raz could even utter half a word.

"Huh. Kinda weird." Putting that into a folder for later, Raz fell in line with the rest as the crew headed out once more.

...and soon enough (relatively speaking) everyone managed their way into Sector Six. Seeing that they teleported into a restroom, Raz piped up, "oh, uh, gimme a sec," before ducking into one of the stalls. Back when he made the excuse of using the restroom to sneak out of Psych-OSF that morning, he actually really had to go, but things just got too out of hand after that to really... go.

With it taken care of Raz stepped out into the city proper, once again in awe at the sight of the world. "Geez, and all of this isn't Visions? Pretty impressive." He fell in with the others discussing how to get across the water, watching Sakura go ahead with her own, bold, simple plan. "If it's any help I do have my Oarsman patch," Raz offered, "so if we managed to get a boat I can sail everyone across. Iiii'd really rather not swim if I can help it."

Once a lull formed, Raz cleared his throat, hoping to get everyone's attention. "So... there's a company called Cyberlife here, right? That sounds an awful lot like Supernatural Life, the place that..." He glanced around and lowered his voice. "That those soldiers who took Peach use as a hideout. And so far this place doesn't seem to have a lot of coincidences. Do you think they'd be related somehow? If we can find where Supernatural Life is, maybe we can trace it back to wherever they took her and the other Others?" Raz balled up his fists close to his chest. "I know that if I can get close to her again I can help change her back! Some... way."

---

Before any plans were made, any consensus was reached, or any future rendezvous point was established the Seekers once again went their separate ways. Primrose watched them all filter out, some with incredible haste and others casual but quick. She dropped her chin into her palm as the lastest Seeker left the cafe, leaving only herself and Therion remaining at the table. It was a little funny; at first glance she wouldn't have pegged some of these people as the flighty types, and yet off they all went.

Therion took one of the vacated seats. There was a crease in his brow when he said, "Is it just me, or did nothing actually get decided?"

Primrose let out an amused puff of breath. "Seems like we'll be staying in the city for a little longer, but as for after that, who knows?"

The thief slumped in his chair and crossed his arms, his tail sticking out of the back and thumping against the floor. He was keen to get out of the rainy area and onto finishing their mission so they could ultimately return to the surface. They didn't need this mask finding fetch quest to drag on any longer than it had to. Maybe next time the group could put the decision to a vote before splitting, or draw lots for the winner to decide where to go.

"Guess I'll find something to do," Therion sighed. The request boards that dotted the city held no interest to him. He could be practical and stock up on food for the road, or go find the missing Seekers... or he could catch up with the group heading to the auction house and see what valuables were up for sale. Not that I'd be buying anything, he thought to himself. Even though he had a nice chunk of change between the money recovered from Consul P's room, that treasure he'd found in the waterway, and the various other gems he'd sold off, he had other ways to procure something he wanted. An auction heist would be a classic caper to flex his skills in. While turning the thought over in his head, Therion glanced at the dancer across from him. "What about you?"

"Hmm~" Primrose adjusted her posture and considered her plan for the rest of the evening. She had no pressing matters to attend to, personal or otherwise. She could return to her room and rest, maybe do some self care. Soaking in a warm bath would be nice after being rained on all day and night. However, something she'd been thinking about since long before they'd come to the Under pushed to the forefront of her mind once more. Something that would be beneficial for her and the rest of the group.

"A bit of shopping maybe," she replied after a few moments. She didn't need to look at Therion to know he probably had a curious look in his eye. "You remember Panther and the other Phantom Thieves, yes?"

There was a noncommittal noise from Therion. Primrose went on. "They had this... device. It was for communicating. It fit in their ear, and they were able to speak and listen over a distance. That fox... er, Fox had one too. I remember how useful it was, even though I didn't know how it worked. I assumed at first it was some sort of magic, but..." She struggled to explain it with her limited scope of technology, but her friend got the gist. "Anyway. I'd like to find something like that."

"That kind of thing would be useful," Therion agreed. "Then we wouldn't have to try and catch people by chance to meet back up. Can't help but notice no one picked a new time or place to gather. Again."

From the disorganization among just the Purple Team, he couldn't imagine the larger "Seeker" alliance. There were other groups out there too, or at least one more - the others they'd met at Twilight Town. "Kind of a miracle a group like this can even function without some kind of communication, huh?"

"Having a base of operations to return to helps," Primrose said, catching onto what he meant. "But since we don't have one down here, and given how easy it seems to be to get lost in these tunnels..."

The dancer trailed off, but her decision was made. She was definitely going to search out an item that would help them all stay in contact with the rest of her time in the city. She stood up and smoothed out her dress, preparing for another walk through the rain. "If you've nothing better to do, care to join me?"

"Why not?" Therion's umbrella was already half open before they even got to the door.

Together they ventured to the merchant shops of the city. The people they spoke with helped point them in the right direction when the two tried their best to explain what it was they were looking for. It was a learning experience, but soon enough they had all kinds of vocabulary to help their search. "Communicator," "codec," "earphones," "ear pieces," "wireless," "phone," "radio." However despite being armed with new information, actualy locating something like that was easier said then done. Few stores carried anything even remotely similar, and those that did had limited range. The last shopkeeper they spoke with mentioned the only people that could be seen using that type of magitech were the Mermaid Corps.

Primrose and Therion stopped under one of the city's rain shelters, considering their options.

"So this plan is a bust," Therion started off with, still holding his umbrella up even under the canopy. "Unless..."

"Unless..." Primrose repeated, raising an elegant eyebrow. She was fairly sure she knew where his train of thought was going. "...we take the communicators from the town guard?"

"Sure. Think about it. We took care of the dictator and his cronies, killed a lot of huge monsters nearby, what else has this place got to worry about? Plus we're leaving soon anyway."

He had a point. It was something Primrose wouldn't have considered on her own, but now that she was... well, there was no better person to have plan a theft than the man next to her. "That's true... and I'd say we need it more, even. Saving the world trumps protecting one city, surely?"

"Exactly." The thief smirked. They chatted quietly, coming up with a few plans of action.

The first part would be information gathering, which meant finding a guard. Normally that was something that should have been a little easier considering what they were used to with large cities, though it seemed the law enforcement was sparse down here. They set out from under the cover of the shelter.

"Look." Therion jerked his chin to indicate a member of the city's Mermaid Corps a little farther ahead of them. The mermaid was at attention in the canal, and sure enough a hand was pressed to her ear while the look on her face said she was clearly listening in on something.

They put step one into action. Primrose did a quick appearance check and then plastered a kind, somewhat naive smile on her as she approached the mermaid. She planned to make some small talk and casually bring up the device, but if needed she could usually seduce women just as well as men. She didn't expect trouble.

"Excuse me," she said, shy and sweet. The guard turned to her sharply, only just noticing Primrose. Her eyes studied the dancer briefly before narrowing, and then her gaze searched the vicinity until they landed on Therion. The man stiffened in surprise, which made the mermaid's expression harden. There's no way we're caught out that quick, he thought.

"Is this human troubling you, sir?"

"...huh?"

"Er..."

The mermaid held a hand up to Primrose and swam closer to Therion, rising out of the water with the aid of some air-flotation device. Therion's ears were standing straight up and his tail bristled out. He glanced at Primrose, who was a little red faced about being so rudely ignored, and saw the dancer miming the cat ears on his head with her hands. ...right, right. They probably think I'm a beastman or something. Jeez...

"No, she's... uh, helping me," he said. He cleared his throat, smoothing over his prior alarm. Thinking fast he spoke the first lie that came to mind. "We're trying to find the Mermaid Corps' main office and having some trouble."

In the corner of his eye he could see Primrose shoot him a questioning look, and he aggressively thought "what did you expect me to do, I'm on the spot" in her direction.

"Why?" the mermaid asked. She glanced over her shoulder at Primrose and leaned in a little, whispering, "If there's something you need to report, you can tell any guard, anytime."

She seemed earnest, even if she was barking up the wrong tree. Therion was nearly at a loss on how to handle this. Maybe just go with it? He took a deep breath and whispered back, "it's okay, it's not... serious. Wouldn't want to disturb your post. We're going to sort it out, if you could point us in the right direction..."

When the mermaid gave him a look of sympathy he had to clench his jaw in order not to give the game away. She dutifully gave him some directions. He thanked her and hurried away with Primrose in tow, slightly mortified by the whole experience.

"Well. What a role reversal. You played damsel in distress well for an amateur."

"Cut it out."

After that encounter, Primrose pursed her lips. She knew that the Home of Tears was a monster city for the most part, but she hadn't actually encountered any problems so far for being a human. Not to mention the city's elite seemed to be humans themselves; that mage, the Agarthans, maybe even the late Consul though it was hard to tell. Perhaps that was the problem, the common folk were scared to cross a human for fear it would be the wrong one, while the city guard had no such qualms.

"Things may go better if I had a disguise." The Koopa Prince had mentioned some kind of "tape" that recorded monsters and could transform the user into them temporarily. Maybe she should give it a try? Though where she would find the actual "tape player" she didn't know. Then maybe a small fusion enough to give her some non-human traits? She'd have to chose her target carefully...

"...you look like you're considering murder," Therion said to her, voice low but blunt. Primrose glanced at him and smiled briefly. She had been doing just that. The two travelers were heading in the direction the guard pointed them, and if they were really thinking about doing this then they needed to get rid of any disadvantages they could. Therion pulled the fake horns off of his head and offered them to Primrose.

"Here, I dunno how much it will help but if you hide the band with your hair it might look like natural horns."

"Thank you." The dancer pushed her own head piece back farther on her scalp and fitted the Loki's Horns into place. Thankfully since they were solid black and simple, they didn't clash with her outfit. "It will be better than nothing."

They continued on, and though yet to complete step one the plan hadn't really changed. Thankfully the next guard they met was a friendlier one. She stood on her tail, stationed in front of a watertight sphere above a body of water and a bold sign that declared "MERMAID CORPS."

"Greetings! Do yoü need assistänce?" she asked. She had a strange way of speaking, but she smiled kindly when she spoke. Primrose returned her smile.

"Just some questions, if you have the time."

"Of cöurse! Möst öf the ötter guards äre oüt dealing with flukes, since I was left behind I häve been so böred... whät questiöns do yoü have?"

Honestly Primrose didn't think this mermaid would have to be fooled out of the information, she seemed happy to chat. Without further ado Primrose motioned to her own ear and asked, "Actually we were wondering about the thing the mermaids use to communicate. We've been curious about it for a while and have hardly seen anything like it."

"Oh!" The guardswoman reached up and, to both Primrose and Therion's surprise, took what looked like a pearl earring from the inner most part of her head fin and showed it to them. "The Linkpearl, yes?"

It wasn't anything like Primrose expected. Was it as simple as enchanted earrings? Who could sustain such magic? "Yes. How does it work?" she questioned. The mermaid giggled sheepishly.

"I dön't really knöw. It ist cönnected to a Linkshell thät the captäin has, büt besides thät?" She shrugged.

Even though the guardswoman claimed not to know much, what she had told them was a lot more than the travelers had before. They were on the right track too by coming here, if the main part of the device was with the captain it stood to reason that the captain was here at the headquarters.

"Speaking of, we were also hoping to meet with the captain," Therion chimed in, completely winging the next part of their plan. This time Primrose didn't question it, especially when the mermaid in front of them gestured to the sphere beside her.

"I'll escört yoü! Büt she might be büsy, so yoü may have tö wait."

The three of them stepped into the diving bell, and after the door closed it plunged into the water. The mermaid introduced herself as Irenes, chatting casually with Primrose as the bell descended. Therion had his arms crossed, ears flat, and eyes closed for the majority of the short trip. Long before they came to a stop the station could be seen through the glass.

"Wäit here," Irenes told them when the bell's doors opened into the lobby. Even here the guards' presence was minimal. In fact they saw only one other mermaid that hardly sparred them a glance as she went by. Being underwater they must not worry about security here at their headquarters - a fact that would work out just fine with thief and accomplice.

"So what's the plan now?" Primrose said quietly. She recalled that ever since getting to really know Therion in Orsterra, she'd kind of wanted to tag along on one of his jobs. He never let any of the other seven come along unless it was absolutely necessary, and most of the time it wasn't. Now, she was decidedly less excited about it. They were underwater, in the town guard's station, about to meet their captain. In order to steal their "Linkshell," that they didn't know what it looked like. Then they had to leave with it.

"Get the thing and get out," Therion replied. Primrose looked at him, frowning. "You can't be serious."

"Things have been going good so far, right?" he countered. "When luck's on your side for once, don't question it. Just go with it."

"...this explains a lot about the situations you've found yourself in," Primrose sighed. The thief bristled, the manacle on his wrist clinking against his hidden weapons when he turned in order to refute her.

"NGAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I will defeat you!!"

The sudden shout silenced the two of them. It sounded like it came from somewhere down the hall. Following it was the murmur of some voices, the scrape of furniture. Another, more muffled yell of frustration. The sound of a door slamming open. It was a couple minutes later that a tall, blue skinned, red haired fish woman with an eye patch stormed through the lobby. She was holding two halves a pencil between her fingers, and she didn't so much as notice the station's guests as she went from one hall to another. She was flanked by a frog-like girl who held a stack of papers.

"I'm taking a break!" Undyne announced while on her way, sending the paperwork in the frog's grasp a scathing look. "Round two soon to come! And I WON'T LOSE! But right now I need to fight something ELSE!"

She was already gone when Irenes trailed back into the room, her voice echoing throughout the station. Irenes beckoned the travelers over, giving them an apologetic smile.

"Captäin Undyne will see yoü when she retürns. This wäy."

Primrose reassured the mermaid that it was fine, letting her take them down the hallway.

"Don't question it, just got with it," Therion repeated, hissing the words through his teeth as they were led to the captain's office.

The interior was much like a normal room. There was an oaken desk, a small bookshelf, and a filing cabinet. It was not one of the completely glass domes they'd seen from outside, giving the captain some privacy. Behind the desk mounted on the wall was a sword, and besides a few chairs the only other feature was a small spinet against one wall, its keyboard cover open.

"I am süre she will be bäck soön," Irenes said, though she didn't sound too confident in her statement. "I am göing bäck to my post, büt I will leave the diving bell döwn here for yoür return. Mäke sure to say hellö on yoür way öut, okäy?"

"Of course," Primrose promised. "Thank you, Irenes."

Once left to their own, Primrose and Therion gave it a few seconds before they looked at each other.

"Much too easy," the dancer said, keep her voice soft on the off chance someone, somewhere, could hear them. They'd just happened to find who had to be the friendliest member of the Mermaid Corps on a day that many of the Corps was away on a mission, and now their captain indisposed? Primrose could laugh at the absurdity of it. "This doesn't bode well for the future."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Now come on, let's see what we can find."

It did not take long at all to find what they were looking for. The Linkshell was just as its name implied. It looked like it could be a cross between a conch and a scallop, and it was the only object of its kind in the room. Furthermore when Primrose gingerly picked it up and turned it over, she found a Linkpearl of the same kind Irenes had inside of it. She picked up the small earring, and in its place another grew inside the shell.

"Amazing." Primrose removed one of her earrings and fit the Linkpearl in its place. She touched two fingertips gently to the pearl and focused, a grin growing on her face when she could hear the discussion of Mermaid Corps members.

"This is it," she confirmed with Therion. The man nodded, and as tempted as he was to rifle through the rest of the small space he was already heading towards the door. Primrose followed with the shell tucked in her bag. Mission accomplished.

She didn't realize she'd still had her hand pressed to her ear until she heard a confused voice asking, "What's it?"

"Huh?"

"What is it?"

"Someone said 'This is it.'"

"Who?"

"Not me."

"Stop clogging up the Linkshell and focus!"

Oh dear. Primrose hurriedly removed the earring and shoved in her bag next to its shell. She'd have to figure out how to disconnect the Mermaid Corps "frequency" (another term one of the shopkeeps had taught her) or find someone who could. She spurred Therion to walk a little faster, and though he didn't know what got her worried he didn't need much convincing, just as eager to get out of the town guard's home turf. Within minutes they were back in the bell and rising to the surface in order to bid Irenes good bye and, hopefully, make a clean getaway.

If there was one thing new new arrivals could agree on, it was that the City of Glass certainly looked incredible, for better or worse. Whether that spoke to the marvels of human ingenuity or the extent of human avarice was matter left up to personal interpretation. Goldlewis didn’t think too much about it. To him, iniquity came part and parcel with human nature. There was no easy solution; the system was something far greater than any one man, no matter how powerful. After all this time, Goldlewis knew that fact all too well. All he could do was his best, each and every day until his last, trying to make the world a better place. Of course, compared to the social, economic, and political landscape of Midgar, hewn as it was from countless worlds, he almost found himself missing the American government. And that was really saying something.

Sighing, he returned his attention to the City of Glass. For all its magnificence, its beauty was an austere one, distant and cold. Neither he nor the other Seekers felt welcome here, and with an important event just a few hours away the Seekers couldn’t let their focus wander from the task at hand. After the new arrivals’ initial amazement wore off, and they expressed all their admirations and criticisms a suitable distance from the nearest camera clusters, everyone tackled the current problem: getting to the Dendenmille Showcase Theater on the Vandelay Campus. Goldlewis could pretty much guarantee that renting a vehicle to make use of the well-kept roads here was impossible for outsiders, if rental services existed at all, and public transport meant extra scrutiny, so there wasn’t an easy answer. Everyone put their heads together, though, and quickly churned out a few ideas.

Midna offered to repeat the teleportation trick they used to enter Sector 06 in the first place. The sheer difference in terms of scale made things different, however, and instead of going with a group of eight that could look out for one another the Twilight Princess would have to go alone deep into the heart of unfamiliar territory. Could those teleporters even be moved once built? Goldlewis had no idea. “Seein’ as we’re strangers ‘round these parts, I’d prefer that we stick together,” he said. “I reckon we ain’t even scratched the surface of the security this place’s got. I like your thinkin’, miss, but we oughta work as a team.” His brow furrowed as Midna made more suggestions. “A…disguise? With all due respect, this ain’t the doggone Loony Tunes. Unless you’re some kind o’ shapeshifter and even better at fakin’ IDs than Mr. H, they’ll suss you out in a heartbeat.” Her final idea left him scratching his neck, his lips pursed “With how much these boats cost, I’d be mighty surprised if one of the rich folks ‘round here’d give a ride to Shinra himself. A has-been like me’s got about as much clout as Delaware in the House of Representatives.”

Zenkichi pointed out that an actual operative like himself or Benedict might have more luck in the lawful seizure department, but even that possibility was shaky, and as he himself pointed out, risky. If the former Turks started throwing names or departments around, it would make things a lot easier for anyone looking for them. When Geralt casually mentioned mind controlling someone, Goldlewis shared Zenkichi’s astonishment. “Hell of an ace to keep up your sleeve, partner,” the big man remarked. From the way the Witcher described it, his Axii sign sounded just about perfect for the job. Being able to bypass negotiation and subterfuge altogether would keep things simple and clean, and if the target would leave with no concrete memories of the incident, this approach was also attractively discreet. There was just one problem. “Sounds like it’d work well,” he admitted, narrowing his eyes as he mulled the idea over. “But…ethically speakin’, I dunno. It don’t feel right. We are workin’ to save everyone, sure, and sometimes sacrifices need to be made, but still...” It was a classic case of ‘does the end justify the means’. Even with the mother of all ends on the table, he didn’t want to leave a bad taste in his mouth. At the same time, they weren’t planning to kill or rob anyone. The Seekers’ mission concerned the fate of all worlds, and only God knew what it would take to see it through. He knew, possibly better than anyone here, that being in charge meant making hard decisions.

“We don’t wanna hurt anyone, fellas But think for a second about what’s at stake,” he told Partitio and Benedict, who seemed firmly against anything that might be considered morally or legally dubious. “The big picture. Savin’ every soul from all the worlds Galeem brought low. All this crap…” He looked around at the awe-inspiring City of Glass, its skyline and its inland sea, with all its people and all their stuff. “It ain’t real. ‘When the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.’ We’re workin’ to put everythin’ back how it should be. Petty li’l things ain’t more important than that.”

Pit made an innocent and well-intentioned suggestion, and Goldlewis wished he could say he approved. “Simple as it sounds, sometimes askin’ opens up a can o’ worms just by itself. If we ask the wrong person, or say the wrong thing, we could arouse suspicion.” His warning about solicitations went unheeded, however, as Sakura went to do exactly that. Goldlewis laughed wryly and heaved himself up from the bench where he’d seated himself. “Bless your heart.”

He hustled off to go see her, and while most of the group trailed behind, Raz piped up with an interesting observation that Giovanna took a moment to consider. “Might just be a coincidence,” she pointed out after a moment, more or less ignoring what he said about there being no coincidences. “With stuff from every world, there’s bound to be some overlap, ‘specially since it seems like we all speak the same language?” Out of all the coincidences she’d seen in the World of Light, that one was a doozy. Unless there was something smoothing things out behind the scenes? Tabling that thought for later, she pointed out, “Cyberlife is a gigantic, legitimate corporation. Well, legitimate as they get, I mean. But I haven’t even heard of Supernatural Life, and I’ve gotten around.” She shrugged. “Sounds like some weird, shady stuff that Hojo would be into.” The poor little guy seemed pretty upset by the ordeal with Peach, and understandably so. When it came to words of comfort, though, Giovanna wasn’t an expert. So rather than say something that might come across as insensitive, she didn’t even try.

With Geralt’s plan in his back pocket, and most of the group hanging back by the entrance to the docks, Goldlewis went with Tora -who’d floated the idea of using a boat in the first place- to accompany Sakura on her mission to find a selfless millionaire. The first person she spoke to glanced at her for a moment, knitted her brows together in confusion, and then went away without saying anything. Some humored her with a response, while others refused with varying levels of politeness; one just laughed at her. A couple pointed out the bridges spanning the river between the metropolitan coastlines on both sides of the plate, not realizing that she actually wanted to go to the very end of the river to reach the Vandelay Campus rather than across it.

After over a half-dozen tries, however, she met a very particular man. His short brown hair was neatly combed, he wore thick-rimmed, rectangular glasses, and he flaunted unusual but expensive-looking attire that looked somewhere between a suit and a robe, tastefully off-white. He stood there with his hands on his hips, and before she could say anything to him, she spoke. “Young lady, I’ve never seen you before.”

Sakura's mouth was already open to speak when he pre-interrupted her. "Um. Okay! Well, pleased to meet you, then!" She said. She did her bow as she had done to everyone else.

He nodded in return. "I am Wallace Cambridge Limestein. I am the 25th head of the Limestein family. Pleasure to make your acquaintance!"

She peered up at him. "My name's Kasugano Sakura, uh, first child-”

“Good!" Wallace cut in. "I'd say we're now fairly acquainted. Remember, if you ever need someone in the City of Glass to get something done, just come to me.” He gave her a curt, matter-of-fact nod. “By the way, if you find anything or anyone interesting, let me know too. Life is all about having fun! Money is no issue, curiosity fuels me.” Sighing deeply, he looked around Regatta Bay. “Ahh, what a fine day it is... Is there anything that you want to know?”

Sakura nodded back eagerly, already liking Wallace. "Yeah, okay! I will, and... I will!" She exclaimed. "Yes there is! I- I was wondering if you had a boat we could use, we need to get across that river." She pointed across the way. "Or if not, you could point us in the direction of a ferry?" She asked. "And by 'we' I mean me and that group of weirdos over there!" She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the Seekers, smiling with wide eyes.

"Hmm..." Wallace frowned, thinking. He looked over at Sakura's group of weirdos, then back at her. "You all seem rather...hm, well-traveled. Well, perhaps we could make a deal. I wasn't actually planning to go anywhere in particular today. I wouldn't object to a quick trip. But you must do something for me in return."

Sakura grinned, wiggling her fists a bit, excited that she got someone. "Okay! What is it?" She asked.

“Well, then I'll just get to the point. As you know, when you're well-off to a certain degree, simple material possessions aren't as stimulating anymore. I need to fill the void in my life by other means.” He crossed his arms, shaking his head. “What is there in life that is worth pursuing? For a very long time, I've been asking myself this question. And then one day, the answer came to me when I was meditating alone.” He nodded decisively. “That's right. The thing I am looking for is a friend. I, Wallace Cambridge Limestein, have never had a true friend in my life. And that must be changed!” More clinically than wistfully, he glanced out at the pedestrians walking along the waterfront, then back at Sakura. “I would pay anything to acquire this thing they call a ‘friend’.”

By the look on her face, Sakura didn't expect him to say that! "Well, yeah! Everybody needs a friend, Mr. Limestein!" She proclaimed genuinely. "B-but, you don't get true friends by paying money. You get friends by...um..." She trailed off. "Uhh..." Her mind was going blank here. "Well, it's not by giving them money. It's not that." She said.

"Well, that makes sense..." Wallace mused. "If 'friends' were things, then I could just buy them with money. What I need is a way to make friends. I've thought about it, and with my reputation, I will be degrading myself if I just ask anyone on the street to be my friend. So I had a great idea: photos. My strategy is to capture my most glamorous moments in photos so that any passerby will be wowed and want to become my friends. Young lady, please answer me honestly: how are your photography skills?”

Sakura made a face at his idea but didn't want to shoot it down right away, because she had just come up with an answer she was fine with. "I'm- okay!" She answered, voice breaking a bit. She had taken quite a few pictures in her world travels, be it of places or Ryu.

"And that idea might work, because the best way to make friends is to just be yourself and see who likes you!" She nodded.

Pleased, Wallace nodded. "That will do. With my charisma and photogenic face, the photo will come out great even if the photographer is not an expert. Well, there's no time like the present. Let's start now. Come aboard and take pictures of me, we'll start on my yacht's upper deck lounge. Be sure to get my priceless relics in the background. Depending on how the photos turn out, I may want some on my other boat as well."

The two stepped aboard and proceeded into the boat’s interior. Goldlewis just stood there as if struck by a flashbang, taken utterly aback by this remarkably pretentious man. Still, the fact that Sakura was getting along with him was all that mattered. He looked back the way he came, caught Geralt’s gaze, and gestured toward the boat with his head before climbing aboard.

Meanwhile, Susie’s efforts to turn up information on the city’s leading corporations bore fruit. Just a little exposure to information media quickly left her inundated with news stories, articles, and even podcasts. The dealings of the sector’s top companies, and the coming and goings of their top players, seemed to be the subject of much public interest. Headlines like ‘Massive Merger Shakes Midgar Tech Market!’, ‘Things Looking Shaky for Detroit’, ‘Meet the Future of Midgar’s War on the Machines’, “Night City CEOs Assure Investors There’s No Need to Fear’, ‘Vandelay Technologies CEO Kale Vandelay Speaks Out About CyberLife Acquisition’, ‘Shinra Investing in Vandelay’s Future’, ‘Vandelay Financial Department Reports Record Earnings!’, ‘Is DespoRHado on the Way Out?’, ‘Memorize: the Company Everyone’s Forgotten’, ’Is This the End for the Gears?’ and ‘Everything You Need to Know about Project Armstrong’ all jumped out at her. She quickly managed to assemble an idea of current events in the tech world, along with a couple revelations. At some point CyberLife and Vandelay Technologies had been different companies, but now they were one and the same under Kale Vandelay. Just about everywhere Susie looked she saw his face, and as if Lady Luck weren’t smiling on the man enough already, the Administration seemed to be pretty happy with the direction of his company as well, even if the merger seemed to cast a dark shadow on the future of Detroit’s robotics industry and the PMC intrinsically tied to it. All of a sudden, the dynamics at play in Midgar were beginning to click.



As ever, the waters lapped gently at shell and stone, moved not by wind but by the wakes of paper sailboats as they cruised ceaselessly along the canals. Some windows blazed with light and warmth; others peered down, their gaze glassy and dead-eyed at the city from towers like silent sentinels, streaked with tears. And the deluge poured down on bugs and beasts alike. Everything looked the same, felt the same, and yet things were very different. Behind the scenes there had been a huge shift, not just for the Home of Tears, but the World of Light itself, and the lone figure who stood in Fountain Central beneath the pouring rain regretted that he hadn’t seen it.

“So, they actually did it?” The little fellow crossed his arms, staring up at the huge statue that stood atop the fountain’s central plinth. Though similar-looking at first blush to the Consul depicted there, especially with their shared taste in futuristic suits, there were a few key differences. He was taller, skinnier, and naturally, still alive. As he watched, green vines emerged from the ground at the statue’s feet and snaked across its body. “Looks like I really missed out. I’ll have to ‘thank’ that Organization brat later…” He shrugged dismissively. “How long’s it been since any heroes actually took down a Moebius? Course…out of all of us, it had to be you, P. Sniveling, snot-nosed, literal…IDIOT!” With an annoyed grunt the boy closed his fist. The vines wrapped around the statue squeezed tight, shattering the whole thing into a couple dozen pieces. As the dust settled, the boy teleported up in a purple flash, planted his boot against the fallen statue’s head, and kicked it into the water. “Still. Guess I’ve gotta hand it to ol’ long-ears. These heroes might be the real deal after all. Which means…”

He turned his face upward. His mask, shaped like a smiling sunflower, streamed with rain. A glowing red lemniscate appeared in his right eye, casting light up into the dripping dark. Over the City of Tears, the massive symbol blazed upon the cavern ceiling.

“...This is gonna be fun.”

---

In quick succession Nadia, Rubick, Artorias, and Jesse burst from the entrance to King’s Station, all running, warping, plodding, or floating as best they could. Thoroughly waterlogged and more tired than ever thanks to their eye-opening run-in with the unearthly denizens of the derelict railway depot, they only came to a stop at the edge of the stone wharf that jutted out into the city’s lake, where they waited for another paper boat to make its rounds.

Once in the clear, Nadia doubled over at the waterfront, panting and grateful for the pure downpour that washed the cold sweat from her skin and cleared her head. When she swiveled her head back around to look, she was relieved to see no eldritch abominations crawling their way out of the flooded ruin behind her. As scary as their very sudden encounter with the Nowhere Monarch had been, it looked like the unlikely quartet had gotten away scott-free. Nadia still felt bad for inadvertently getting the others into all this trouble, especially Rubick and Jesse since they got nothing to show for it, but if they didn’t seem inclined to give her a hard time she certainly wasn’t going to. Life was too short and full of surprises for beating herself up. Once a paper boat arrived, the Seekers piled on, and the slow ride back into the Home of Tears began.

“I might be more catlike than be-fur, but boy am I dog-tired,” Nadia chuckled after a minute or so. She lay flat-out on the boat’s surface, not even caring if the rain soaked her right to the bone. “Starvin’, too. What I wouldn’t give for a good stirfry right now…” While laying there with her eyes closed, thinking of the places in town where she could get a nice hot meal before hitting the hay for real, she suddenly became aware of a red glow on her eyelids. She blinked them open and sat up, her mouth slightly agape as she beheld a massive glowing infinity sign. After a moment she exchanged a look with Rubick. Having fought alongside her yesterday morning against the scallywags of the Sea of Serendipity, he knew that symbol as well as she did. “That sign…a Consul!” No matter which way you sliced it, this was a beacon, seemingly projected from the beating heart of the city: Fountain Central. But who was doing this? Was it S again? Had P somehow survived after all? Or was it someone else?

She didn’t like the looks of this one bit, and in fact she wanted nothing more than to ignore the spotlight in favor of her own creature comforts, but as a Seeker Nadia knew she couldn’t turn a blind eye. The actual heroes amongst the Seekers sure wouldn’t, at any rate. If her teammates planned to investigate, she couldn’t abandon them. “I hate to say it, but we’ve gotta check it out. Right?” Even if the other three went to disembark, Nadia resolved to stay the course as the paper boat’s route brought it closer and closer to the city center.

When it finally reached the Fountain Central docks, Nadia jumped from the boat to the pier, landing even more effortlessly than usual. Weird as they were, these new legs made her feel more limber than ever. After a full night’s sleep, I’ll be unstoppable, she mused. No time for introspection now, though; she hurried up the stairs to the raised circular plaza. Right away she noticed that a few other Seekers were already here, having noticed the giant lemniscate in the ‘sky’ while out and about and made tracks to this location. That included the Knight and Barnabee, who nodded to the new arrivals. “Well met, lass. But afore we engage in pleasantries, turn thy gaze yonder!”

Following his direction, Nadia spotted something strange where the statue once stood atop the fountain: a big pink ball covered in layers of junk collected from around the plaza, including the pieces of the statue itself. Atop it stood a diminutive figure in an all-too-familiar uniform. She recognized his helmet in an instant–she’d seen it sneering down at her from above in the moment when the Seekers’ descent into the Chasm became a terrifying freefall. “You!”

“Me.” The Consul tittered. “I’m sure you’re just itching to get some revenge, but as I told the others, I’m not here to fight. In fact, I promise not to harm a single hair on any of you heroes’ heads. All I wanna do…is talk. And I’ll teleport away if you refuse~ So let’s wait until everyone’s here, ‘kay? I know just how exhausting it is to repeat stuff, believe you me!”

Nadia didn’t know if she could fight another Consul in this state, especially one with powers comparable to P’s. Dimly she remembered Kamek describing some strange phenomenon this flower-faced Consul used against him, but the specifics escaped her. Saying nothing for a change, she crouched down and waited the minute or two it took everyone to arrive.

Soon enough, the Consul began to speak. “Well. That’s pretty much all of you, right? A couple fresh faces, too! Gotta say, you’ve been busy. Kicking butt, taking names, making friends. And even killing off a Consul, whew!” He gave an impressed whistle. “Boy howdy, that is NOT something that happens every day, friends! Sure, P was an embarrassment of a Consul, a total moron, and the weakest one by, like, A LOT.” He spread his arms as wide as his eyes to show just how much ‘a lot’ was. “...Buuut that’s neither here nor there. All I’m trying to say, thank you. Not just for doing me a favor, but for being you. For being different! Hehehehe…” As he laughed, his eye began to glow, the lemniscate within clear to see. “And now I know you’re different, I’m gonna be watching real closely. I’m gonna enjoy watching you…squirm.”

Suddenly, Nadia noticed movement. Something was approaching Fountain Central via all four bridges. At first they looked like big, solid, dark masses. All she could see through the rainy darkness were vividly glowing motes of red light. As it drew closer, she realized that they were crowds. Monsters were packed shoulder to shoulder like sardines as they walked across the bridges, four convergent parades. Some of them seemed agitated, or spoke a word, but they all shared two common features. Firstly, whether left or right, all of them possessed a single glowing red eye, just like the Consul’s albeit without the infinity symbol. Lastly, they were armed to the teeth, each and everyone one of them.

“As for me? Well. For starters, my name is F.” The consul grinned. “But you can call me the big bad boss. Boo!”

The crowds spilled from the bridges onto the corners of the fountain plaza, where they stopped, and a few individuals stepped forward. From the Royal Quarter came a towering robotic butler, a one-wheeled machine with a microphone, a wizened sorcerer in crimson robes, and the illustrious Iguana Gallo Valetto. From Downtown came a hopping vampire, a guitar-wielding punk zombie, an undead king, and a squat skeletal blacksmith holding his hammer. From the Collection came the Mermaid Corps Captain in full battle attire, a green-furred witch wielding a gnarled wand, the amorphous monstrosity Endogeny, and a tired woman with a huge grenade launcher. Finally, from the Amusement Park came an evil-looking skeleton clown, a white-bearded centaur archer, and a dynamic duo of brotherly butchers. After another moment a gigantic tentacled pirate burst up from the water to complete the contingent from the Amusement Park, octobombs at the ready. Nadia gulped, her heart sinking.

“Enemy…” the people of the Home of Tears chanted. “Enemy. Enemy. ENEMY!”

For all his typical bravado, Barnabee was quaking. “What…what manner of devilry is this!?”

“I promised I wouldn’t hurt you…” the Consul reiterated. “But I sure didn’t say anything about them! I’ll see you at the end of your journey, so try not to die! And remember: in this world, it’s kill…or be killed!” F teleported away, and all at once the sixteen combatants attacked.



What followed was chaos. Nadia and the others instantly found themselves beset on all sides. Grenades, and arrows filled the air, energy spears erupted from the ground, bombs and spiked bombs rained down from above, and bruisers charged through the fray. The second Nadia dodged a bull rush from Chad and Gram, Igos du Ikana took a swing at her, and when she leaped above the brawl she ran into Hsien-ko walking on the air to smash her back down with a giant claw slash. Ottomo fought like a dancer, his immense limbs whirling around with unexpected style and force. Gallo strove to catch his foes in the time-stopping rays of his Clock Lancet. Sophie hurled magic potions. In their blind rush to kill the Seekers the cityfolk hurt one another as much as if not more than their targets, leading to swathes of in-fighting.

“This is really bad!” Nadia screeched as she pulled an arrow from her thigh, panicking. Not far away, the Knight blasted a few monsters into the drink with Vengeful Spirit, and Barnabee reluctantly wielded his blazing sword against his fellow bugs. The Seekers were in no condition to fight this, and even if they were, these people were obviously being controlled against their will somehow. She’d just seen those two zombies on a date at the Terminal. And how could she bring herself to hurt Bob? “We’ve gotta get the hell outta here!”

Bowser came to the rescue. ”Alright listen up, I’m in charge here, I’ve got seniority, and what we’re gonna do is this!” Bowser shouted, taking charge of the situation, primarily by ordering the people he know he could rely on and hoping that would give enough momentum to follow suit ”Rika, make a whale, Jr, heal Rika, Kamek, make the whale really big because we are sailing out of here!” That got him a chorus of “on it”’s from his kin, and in swift succession an oversized Moby Dick had splashed down into the water on the side that led to Crumble Cavern, onto which Bower leaped with a vitality draining Rika in one arm and an enlargement spell channeling Kamek in the others. Jr flew close behind, raising up his paintbrush and setting to work using his restorative magics to fix Rika right back up. ”All aboard, and make it snappy!” Bowser roared an order at the others. ”Because we are blowing this joint!”

Hope reignited, Barnabee joined the charge. “Huzzzzzzzah!” he bellowed.

Nadia followed suit, running and leaping from the pandemonium onto the Koopa Troop’s whale. She immediately slid down its slippery side and into the water, or more accurately, onto it. After all, she was still part Shipgirl. Immediately the crowd of enemies, elites included, all turned their focus on the whale. Projectiles, explosives, and magic rained down, while hordes of small-time undead, beasts, and demons tried to jump onto the whale itself. Even Barbary began smashing through one of the bridges in order to get to it. The heroes had no choice but to flee at top speed, hoping that everyone could catch a ride or escape under their own power. Teeth gritted, Nadia skated in toward a purple dinosaur hacking at the whale’s tail, grabbed her by the hair, and hurled her into the water. As the Seekers got moving their foes did not relent, either shooting from afar, flying after them, or even jumping in the water to swim. When the paper boats on this side got close enough, dozens of monsters piled on at once and set sail in pursuit.

As fast as it could, the whale bore the Seekers to the entrance of Crumble Cavern, where they disembarked and ran inside, leaving the Home of Tears behind. In front of them lay a huge network of caves made almost entirely of cheese, full of precarious tilting platforms, spiked wedges, giant cheese wheels, and other obstacles, not to mention a whole host of cheese or mouse-themed monsters from Skritt and Ratlings atop Ratslugs to cheese slimes and gabaghouls. At the very end of the caverns lay the entrance to a great stone tower, sitting snugly atop a giant hill of gouda and built up into the cave roof itself. Behind her, Nadia could hear the sounds of the enemy army in pursuit. With the last of their energy, the Seekers needed to lose their pursuers and make it to the shelter of that distant tower.



First, Band felt the jostling. For reasons he couldn’t explain, he found himself subjected to continuous, herky-jerky shaking, bumped and bounced around rather uncomfortably on a hard surface. Then he became aware of the rumble, the grinding sound of crude wheels on hard ground, undercut by a constant and inexplicable meowing. Then his eyes opened, his vision going from black to white in an instant. He blinked up at the cloudy winter sky, the crisp arctic wind fresh on his cheeks. His surroundings were in motion; tall buildings meandered their way steadily downward. At least, they did for a couple seconds. Just when the detective was beginning to get his senses back and acclimatize to this very abrupt shift in circumstances, the Felyne Rescue Squad upended their cart and dumped him on the ground.

“Aaaaagh, nuts,” he grumbled, picking himself off his stomach with the aid of mechanical arms. With a bemused look raised he watched the team rush off and abruptly poof out of existence, prompting him to shake his head. He sat up and looked around, quickly identifying where he’d ended up. Just a few feet away lay the front door of Grammeowster’s Kitchen, just as he and the others left it that morning. Speaking of–Red and Mewtwo were also here, lying on the sidewalk around him. As Band took in his surroundings, the door to the restaurant swung open, revealing an unlikely quartet: Frisk, Lucia, Albedo, and somehow, Ace. Consul N, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen, and the Aether Resort was far away. Too far for him to turn up his foes’ whereabouts with a quick search.

Band breathed a sigh of relief. The memories of what happened were fresh on his mind. He didn’t understand how it happened -a frustratingly common occurrence as of late- but everyone was safe, without even a scratch to share amongst them, and he wasn’t about to question that. It was a victory snatched from the very jaws of defeat.

“Can you stand?” Albedo asked simply, his tone sharp and concise.

“...Yeah. I feel fine.” Band stood, then helped Mewtwo and Red up if they needed it.

The alchemist took a deep breath. “I’m glad to see you’re all okay. The Ace Cadet informed me that you were defeated by Edinburgh’s Consul N.”

Band chuckled wryly. “Rub it in, why doncha.” He looked out over the city in the direction of its massive central structure. North of it lay the Aether Resort and N, no doubt frustrated that his foes had somehow managed to slip through his fingers at the last possible moment. “But I don’t see it that way. Long as we’re still standin’, we can learn from our mistakes, and come back stronger. C’mon y’all, let’s duck inside before someone spots us.” With wary glances over their shoulders, the Seekers returned to the safety of the restaurant interior.

Once back in the upstairs room of the building, each with a cup of revitalizing tea in hand courtesy of the kindly old Grammeowster herself, the Seekers spread out around the main table. Those left out of the supposed reconnaissance mission were itching to know more, and in a professional fashion Band relayed everything he’d seen and experienced: L’s arrival, her speech, their happenstance meeting with Mewtwo, their decision to storm the Aether Resort, and everything that followed. His account of what the team found inside L’s mansion chilled everyone who heard it. Even the inexpressive Albedo looked rather grim when Band described the massive collection of Pokemon -and humans- frozen on display. Much to his chagrin the detective couldn’t accurately recall every last detail the two Consuls gave, but nothing carried as much immediate importance as the monologue that Red goaded N into giving them in the moments where his victory seemed assured. Of course, between the man’s vagaries and self-aggrandizing exaggerations it was almost impossible to parse out just what he meant, but Band did his best, and Albedo soaked in every last detail.

When he finished, Lucia rubbed her neck, a conflicted look on her face. “Aw, man. I feel awful I wasn’t theah ta help, but at the same time, I got no clue what I even coulda done.” She gave a helpless shrug. “Whatevah that Latency powah is, it sounds freakin’ unbeatable.”

“Sure felt that way in the moment,” Band supplied glumly. “It was all too much goin’ on at once. All these years a detective, and I couldn’t figure out a damn thing.”

Albedo, however, crossed his arms. “I don’t think it’s unbeatable. Certainly, the power to ‘obliterate time’, as N described it, is incredibly powerful. Yet that power does seemingly have its limitations, as well as one fatal flaw.” At this, Band raised a bushy eyebrow, and Albedo soon continued. “Think about it. It doesn’t sound like he stopped time, because when the ten seconds you mentioned were up, you were all in different places. Red’s sword…and Mewtwo’s orb. Even your arms.” He nodded at Band. “It was like your actions played out, but you weren’t aware of them. Yet according to your story, N said that ‘he alone could act’ in the time he erased. But if he could do that, why did he shoot you afterward, and not during?”

Band sipped his tea. “Hmm…that’s a good point. He had us right in the palm of his hands. Think he can’t attack during the time he erases?”

“That’s just a hypothesis. It could just as easily be that he chose not to for the sake of toying with you. Which brings me to my second point.” Albedo looked around at the whole group. “You described him using his power a little throughout the fight, just to nudge things in his favor. But you still managed to hit him a few times. That leaves one fatal flaw in his ability: the wielder. Which is to say, human error.” As he spoke he wrote in his notebook, keeping track of every tidbit of relevant information. “Power is only as strong as one who wields it. You managed to catch him off guard several times, or exploit his egotistical, sadistic, showboating behavior. There are few weaknesses as disastrous as overconfidence.” He snapped his book shut. “When you meet again, it may not be possible to overcome the magic. But you may be able to overcome the man.”

After a moment, Band smiled. “I like your attitude, kid. If brute force ain’t an option, we can analyze our foe and turn his own flaws against him. After all that smirkin’, I’m itchin’ for a rematch already.” With his health fully restored by the process of being carted, he felt physically up to it, and with a few extra allies at his back another showdown looked a lot more palatable. Still…Latency was a terrifying power. It would take all the Seekers’ wits to push the scales back in their favor.

“Fighting the Consuls may indeed be inevitable,” Albedo surmised. “The destruction of Alcamoth is no doubt only the latest in the long list of evils they should be made to answer for. Moreover…after thinking about what L said on the boat ride to Alcamoth, I believe that Edinburgh’s Consuls are the only ones who know the weakness of the Guardian of the Frozen Highlands.”

Band’s eyebrows went up, and he whistled. “Even better.”

“On the othah hand, based on whatcha told us, it sounds like L escaped,” Lucia pointed out. “If they got a way ta heal back up, takin’ ‘em down’s gonna be a helluva lot hahdah.”

“Yeah…L said somethin’ about a Flame Clock. You know anythin’ that fits that description?” the detective asked.

The policewoman removed her cap to scratch her head. “Clock…? Edinburgh’s got a whole loada clock towahs. If it’s real impoahtant, though…maybe it’s the big one way up at the top o’ the pumpkin’s hat?” She went over to and looked out the window. From here, all anyone could see of Edinburgh’s absurdly huge central structure were the pumpkin itself and the underside of its hat’s gear-shaped brim. “Ya gotta go way fah out from the city centah to see it, but it burns bright yellow at night. Don’t even tell the time, just fills up like the miles pah houah gauge on a dashboahd.”

“No way in hell we’re makin’ it up there in time,” Band grumbled.

“If I may, I do have a suggestion,” Albedo began. “I think we should focus all our efforts on finding Linkle. If she could fight N on even footing, we will be at a considerable advantage if we manage to join back up with her.”

The Skullgirl. A pit formed in Band’s stomach, but after a moment he swallowed and nodded his head. “I agree. Tonight after dark, we’ll find her.” Until then, however, the Seekers would need to bide their time. By Band’s best guess it was about three o’ clock. Five hours until the hunt begins.

Hungry from the horrible auction house ordeal, Sectonia stopped at a local eatery to grab some fruits and honey. One good thing about being in a primarily bug town, they had food for a queen bee such as herself in many many places. As she was munching on her snack, much like the others, she saw the icon in the sky. Unlike a few others though, she wasn't sure what it meant, but it would be best to investigate.

Her other allies had the same idea, as a great many of them gathered in the fountain square to see the other Consul of this area, Consul F, being the originator of this mark. Much like what she saw before, this Consul was quite sadistic and... frustrating would be the proper word. Spouting expository about how he was so much stronger than Consul P, and other useless stuff. Although Sectonia did notice a running theme with these Consuls, they all seemed to 'play' rather than actually do anything worthwhile with their 'power'.

And to showcase this power, he did 'something' to turn the entire town against Sectonia and her allies. Sectonia could only guess this was related to that 'clock' that was mentioned earlier, but now wasn't the time to ponder on that as this was quite a really bad situation. Bowser had an idea for an escape route, toting his 'experience' in this matter; something that Sectonia doubted he noticed made him look really bad to boast about. Still, it came in useful now as he had Rika make a water transport for everyone so they could escape easier.

"First that petulant child, then that horrid auction house, now this while we are weary from sleep..." Sectonia said, extremely annoyed at the emergence of Consul F. Every time this one has shown up, its always when the team was compromised. And whats worse, he was trying to turn her new annexed kingdom against her! If this wasn't such an awful situation, she would teach this consul some manners like she did the last one. And as she was going to rule this kingdom, killing all of its inhabitants would make for a poor ruler, so there wasn't much to it.

"I suppose its best to flee." Sectonia said, summoning her full entourage of antillions to offer some sort of distraction for all the mind controlled townspeople, looking to subdue rather than hurt. (With any that spawn nearby Consul F to 'accidentally' hit him with their attacks.) She then cast her Slow on what townspeople she could, knowing a few of them would be trouble if they caught up too fast, before making her way with the rest of the group on this 'whale'. At least she didn't take up any space as she was a flyer, but that also made her another large target. She could at least shield their getaway shipgirl with a Chaos Shield, as that seemed to be where most of the attacks were going to. She could keep attempting to Slow any of the townspeople that got close, making them unable to catch up and making their escape faster.

And while the whale was the main target, Sectonia made herself out to be another target for a few of them, including a one IGV they had helped not half a day earlier with his plans. Sectonia knew to keep out of the range of his time sells, but that didn't mean he didn't have long range magic he could throw at her. Him and a few of the other magic users, seeing an easy target of Sectonia, hurled their damaging spells at her. Thanks to her pipe of insight though, she had a vast amount of magic resistance so she could take this punishment, but it wasn't very enjoyable.

Being a flyer who could debuff their pursuers though, Sectonia assisted many of the others to get down the river into the next part of the under, the Crumble Caverns. A food inspired place that might be either good or bad.... either way a weird smell permeated the area regardless.

The troop had wanted to head to bed, but the second brat of the underground apparently had other ideas, first getting all their attention, and then decided to sick the whole city on them somehow. Another bit of safety, ripped away, the promise that the whole world might turn against you if you made the wrong move that the galeeming masses had always held, finally being fulfilled.

”Gah! Stop it doctor!” Bower roared at Natasha, as he blocked an explosive shot from her grenade launcher she had fired right at him with his energy buckler. Then he saw a rifle being raised and aimed in his peripheral vision and moved faster than he ever had in his life to grab the gauntlet it was attached to and jerk i upwards, causing the spray of bullets it unleashed to fly over the crowd rather than end the life of a whole bunch of kid’s favorite person.

”Rika! Don’t shoot the nice orphanage lady!” He demanded of her, to which she respond with a momentary confused look, then a shrug, and proceeded to start to aim her other gauntlet at someone else, only for Kamek to catch this one and add ”Or anyone else, young mistress, if it can be avoided”

”But they’re trying to kill us?” the ship girl rightly pointed out, before asking ”What else are we meant to do, stand here and die?” with a tone that made it far more of a question than it really should have been, as if she might well have done just that if told it was what they were supposed to do.

It was that, as much as anything, that jolted Bowser’s mind to their exit strategy, the king calling out commands and having his team assemble a blubbery escape vessel onto which they leapt.

After waiting for a few moments for others to board, the monster of a whale set off, the strange mechanical whale propelling itself not by a great finned tail (for in place of one of those it had an anchor) but via jet propulsion from gill like protrusions on its side, which made for a much smoother ride than might be expected from a monstrous mount.

It was not, unfortunately, the only monster who was most at home in water

“Mermaid guard!” came a bellowing cry from the leader of the city’s defenders “AFTER THEM!”

The watery wardens where, of course, already on it, but a command from their leader induced a bout of order to the blind murderous haze, as ranks of mermaids pushed through the crowds that had stalled at the water’s edge and then leapt into it to give chase at a speed which finally demonstrated exactly why the half drowned city’s police force where aquatic in nature.

half a dozen diferant kinds of mermaid surged through the water, putting the speed they normally put into rapidly responding to crimes into a high speed police chase across the city

Ironically, their leader did not join them, as her armor weighed her down too heavily to swim in the water. Instead she joined those pursuing on foot. It would be a long and for many fruitless chase to do so, as the whale sped away, and so only the most determined of pursuers would keep going the whole way.

Of course, among those that followed, none were more determined than Undyne, and her steel steps added a constant percussion to the chase, ever hot on the heroes’ heels.

---

Through the canal the troop’s mighty white whale did sail and onto its protruding spine, they did cling. On the beast’s long trailing anchor tipped tail came the mermaid guard, armed with tridents and swords, and at their rear was Officer Tethys who conjured frozen lances to hurl at the heroes, and if they could not withstand those, they stood no chance against her captain.

”Can I shoot these ones?” Rika asked as she ducked a spear.

”No!” Bowser told her again, before readjusting ”Not if you don’t have to. Just. Kick them off or something, we just need to get away!” before he deployed his own guns, but rather than unleashing death he started blasting water, creating a rather ironic situation where the aquatic cops who tried to grab onto and board the great whale where being blasted off by high pressure water cannons.

In response Tethys called out for the guards to “Stop trying to get on and get stabbing! Slow them down!” which like a school of sharks they began to do, blades and forks beginning to be slammed into the whale, often from below where there could be no retaliation.

Jr did his best to heal their steed, but it slowed ever so surely as its oily blood filled the water, which worst of all slowed its speed, allowing more mermaids to catch up.

”This is bad. Uh, um” he stammered as he tried to come up with a plan. Then it clicked ”Mimi! Copycat Kamek and take over keeping the whale big! And then Kamek, uh, do magic stuff!”

“Mimi!” the mon called out as it was sent out from its ball, and then took over enbiggenment duty, while Kamek was released from it, replying ”magic stuff coming right up, young master” sardonically before doing just so.

”First, let’s put a stop to all that stabbing shall we”, he said, before raising his wand and surrounding the entire whale in an magical yellow barrier, one that rendered in near impossible to harm beyond what Jr could heal, what with the 80% reduction to all physical damage it provided.

Then he summoned a green clone of himself, one that boosted the whale’s defenses further, before also increasing its speed.

He felt very smug about having countered their foes, right up until Rika called out ”Little boats up front!”. Indeed, just as she warned, up ahead were numerous paper boats that had launched from the shore of the river, and upon them many monsters where arrayed. Parked next to that launch point where a number of monster drawn carriages that had been commandeered by some of the place footsloggers, who had overtaken the whale as it was being slowed by being hacked at, and now launched this surprise ambush from the market.

Along with those hunters, the ships hosted many of the market’s denizens such as Professor Goopton armed with several of his goop based guns, and Seam who was armed with the overused pair of shears Bowser had sold him.

It was because of those two, not any of the other dozens of people in her way, that Rika did not need to be told what to do.

”Diving! We’re going under, so hold on!” she called out in warning before making the whale do just that, the great beast who had been about 60% under the water line sinking lower and lower till only its spine and cannons were above the waterline.

It surged beneath the boats, washing them aside but not crushing them like it would have had she kept it atop the waves.

Unfortunately, this incredibly low waterline left it in a perfect position to be boarded, and so once it rose back up on the other side of the ships, the whale had a fair few more passengers, with shopkeepers and citizens at the front, and a host of guards at the back.

After that, there was nothing to do but brawl as the whale kept racing for the edge of the city.

Jr deployed his car’s boxing gloves and laid into the brain washed folks, while calling out Dazzle the popplio, and having him strike from the water itself, the pokemon launching itself back out of it in mighty penguin leaps to knock people off of the whales back and into the drink.

Bowser used grabs and water blasts to do much the same, seeking to simply throw off their unwelcome gust, and hoping that they could swim, or that the guards already in the drink would prioritize drowners over keeping up the hunt.

Kamek summoned steams of toadies, replacing each one as they fell, and having them grapple the monsters and haul them off of the whales back, while also using castings of magic fist, shifted to be more of a magic shove, to get others off.

Rika was mostly on guard and steering duty to avoid any more paper boats, as no one really trusted her to not do a cold blooded murder of strangers due to not knowing any better. That was until she worked out she could use her grappling hook to disarm people, resulting int the ship girl stealing half a dozen swords, tridents, and other weapons and tossing them all overboard. More often than not this prompted the ones who were armed with these to give up the fight, because they sure as hell weren't going to get through the mountain of scales that was Bowser with their bare fists.

This all came to an abrupt halt when they ran out of river, the whale bursting over the edge of a waterfall, and then crashing down on top of a cliff of cheese, while the water itself drained down into the crack between the city and the cheesy cavern floor.

”Everybody off, abandon whale!” Bowser commanded, leaping off of it, quickly followed by the rest of the troop (minus the pokemon who were recalled to their balls) who all began legging it. The poor whale was left behind as bait, one that had been reduced to nothing once Undyne caught up.

She took one look at the mess, at her exhausted guards and the civilians, and at the heroes rapidly receding into the distance, decided to take drastic action “Tethys, get home base on the line, deploy project S.A.Y.U!”

---

Heading in the opposite direction from everyone else was, and blissfully unaware of the chaos that had overtaken her home, was backpack hero Purse, who was in the midst of doing one last cheese run before calling it a day when she spotted some familiar faces coming the other direction.

She called out “Hi Jr! Hi Rika!” to her former fellow cheese runners, only to be taken aback when they turned towards her with fists at the ready, as if expecting a fight.

“Wow wow what’s the big idea? Did I spook you? Why are you so on edge?” she asked, waving both hands ahead of her and backing away carefully.

”Wait what? You're normal?” Jr asked warily, to which the mouse replied with a confused “Normal? What do you mean normal?”

”We killed P, but then F mind controled and sicked the whole city on us! Gotta run” jr told her, as the troop immediately picked up the pace once more now that they knew she wasn’t a threat.

“You what? He what?” she replied, very confused, before focusing on the one thing she did get, and shouted “Wait, the only way out of here is Pizza tower, and it's super dangerous!”

”Can’t be worse than fighting a whole city!” Jr called back, before the troop leapt up to a higher cliff and vanished from sight, leaving the mouse scratching her head in confusion. Then she looked back to the city, and was even more confused as a team of human kids (disguised as monsters) combined their artistic talents and a great mass of static and pixels rapidly formed into a grand defender (tall as a 3 story building from head to tail tip) for the city.

One that started singing as she swooped forwards, trident in one hand, captain of the guard in the other, and a small host of monstrous fliers flanking her as they spread out across the caverns to hunt down the fleeing seekers. Any they spotted would have to contend with a rain of both spears and oversized pen nibs hailing down on them as they retreated.

Something must've happened.

For some reason or another, Omori wasn't there for Consul P's defeat. That was probably fine, all things concidered. The kid needed a break. Besides that, he still had to keep an eye out for any familiar faces that might have ended up down here too. But something must've happened while his allies were busy.

Why else would he suddenly end up poisoned, among other pain-ridden ailments?

Luckily someone had admitted him to the local clinic _{(There was no way he was going back to that dreadful hospital.)} where he remained until he was well enough to head back out again. He made sure to thank Dr. Natasha beforehand for keeping an eye on him.

...So now what? If he and his team were staying at the Home of Tears for a bit longer, might as well see if he can help with anything. He and Mewo could he seen standing in front of one of the commission boards scattered around town.

The King of Evil's route was still largely aimless. His pace was slow, he would occasionally reach up with a hand to rub his aching head. Was he even still in the Downtown district? He wasn't even sure. But eventually he did catch sight of a familiar monochrome figure. Omori was standing in front of some kind of notice board, appearing to be reading something.

"What are these? Requests of some kind?" he asked when he was close enough to read some of the notices himself. They all looked like rather menial tasks, but they promised payment in exchange for them. Honestly, the only one catching the Gerudo's eye was something from someone who was apparently a witch, "Spells and Elixirs?" he said, pointing to the request for Cnideria toxins, "Looks easy enough, and we might be able to get her to give us some healing potions. I'm getting rather tired of having to rely on those Koopas or that insect to heal me."

"Hopefully." Omori tiredly agreed. Enduring so much injuries was really starting to irritate the boy. He didn't know what these Cnideria things were, but the other job that he'd want to take didn't allow humans. Besides, at least he wouldn't be alone in this if things go screwy.

"Should we head over there then?" He glanced back at Ganondorf.

"Yes, let's." Ganondorf agreed. Directions to the witch's shack were included in the commission and Ganondorf made not of them before beginning to walk, "It shouldn't be difficult to find. The commission board said to find her at her cottage, so a cottage is what we should be keeping an eye out for."

After a few minutes, the Gerudo spotted something that looked like what they were looking for. A shack constructed from a combination of timeworn wooden planks and rough-hewn stones, giving it a rustic and earthy apppearance. The exterior contained patches of moss and lichen here and there, and roof made of a patchwork of mismatched shingles and chimney smoke occasionally wisping upward into the air. The walls were adorned with arched windows with wodden shutters that were currently closed.

Ganondorf approached the door and knocked on it, "Huh? Who's out there? I'm busy, go away!" called out a grumpy feminine voice from within. Ganondorf simply rolled his eyes and spoke up with a reply.

"We're here about your... request... from the commission board?"

"My what? Oh, right! Well what're you waiting for? Come inside!"

With a shrug, Ganondorf opened the door. The door itself was pretty small, fitting for the ramshackle abode, and the King of Evil even had to duck down in order to actually enter through it. Inside, the shack exuded a certain... cozy atmosphere. An armchair was sitting in the main living space nearby a shelf of tomes and a cauldron for brewing potions. Right next to the door was a small little counter where business could be conducted, and standing behind that was the author of the commission, Sophie.

An Ixi with with emerald-green fur and long hair of a darker shade of green. She wore a patched-up-looking brown witch's hat on her head and matching brown dress with a similarly patched up skirt. The witch herself had an impatient look on her face.

"Your request mentioned something called 'Cnideria'. Can you provide any further details about them?" Omori spoke up first, noting the expression on the witch's face.

"Yes, yes, they're slimy, rubbery creatures that look like toadstools with tentacles, and they glow." Sophie supplied. She reached into the wet-looking sack propped up against her counter and withdrew the last of the specimens she collected, which she plopped down on top of what looked like a cutting board. Its tentacles splayed out across the surface limply, and she took grate pains not to touch them with her bear hands. "These things. Every second they're out of the water their drying up, the precious compounds going to waste. Now that you're here, you can take over collection while I handle preparation." Deftly she worked the invertebrate with a sharp carving knife, removing the Cnideria's cap and then slicing up its tentacles to carefully deposit them in her cauldron for dissolution. Every drop of poison spilled on the board or into the wood was wasted. "Take some gloves and some bags and head to the market. Don't let their tentacles touch your skin. Their toxins are incredibly narcotic--knock out a full-grown Skeith in seconds." She looked up from her work with a perplexed expression, as if the pair's continued presence here confused her. "What're you waiting for? Quick, before they're gone!"

Omori nodded, grabbing two bags and pairs of gloves. He slipped one pair on and passed the other to- Wait, would they even fit on Ganondorf's hands? He paused to consider this, before handing the gloves and a bag to him anyways. They'll figure it out.

Ganondorf, well, the gloves were indeed too small for him. And yet he took five pairs of them nevertheless. And also five bags. As if the King of Evil was going to directly perform this task himself. Of course not, that's what subordinates were for. Once they reached the market it was as simple as summoning his five Moblins, and giving them the gloves and bags so they could collect the Cnideria's for him. Let the grunts do the work, it's what they were there for, anyway.



Luckily, the market wasn't far. Against the backdrop of the Home of Tears' forlorn pillar-like towers, the most iconic feature of the Collection stood out like a shining beacon of livelihood and activity. At the market's very center, beneath the perennial cloud of inky airborne letters in the rain, stood an immense archway like an upturned book. In its shelter stood rows of stalls hewn from paper, together making up the all-important seafood market. Right now though, that wasn't the Seekers' main concern; as a result of the Cnideria shower, the marketplace rows surrounding the book featured almost as much marine life, albeit of the distinctly inedible and toxic variety. With how vertical and multi-leveled this part of the Collection was, navigation through it would take some doing, but there were jellyfish practically everywhere the newcomers looked, ruining the merchants' business and wares. There were even a few monsters laying unconscious on the ground, accidentally exposed to the narcotic toxins. Ganondorf and Omori needed to get to work, and fast.

It didn't take the Gerudo long to put his plan into motion. He summoned forth the squad of Moblins and to their confusion tossed the gloves and bags he'd brought with him. "Fill those bags with as many of those jellyfish as you can find and bring them back to me. Don't let the tentacles touch your skin. Go!"

"What a mess." Omori quietly said, moving quickly to start collecting as much of these creatures as he could. As much as cutting their tentacles off was tempting, he didn't think Sophie would like them tampering with the Cnideria. With Ganondorf summoning a small group of minions, maybe this'll be a breeze?

It turned out to be less than a breeze, actually. Oh things went smoothly most of the time, but there were occasional incidents where Ganondorf had to step in and assist due the too-often incompetence of the Moblins. One such incident involved a Moblin jumping in place repeatedly in an attempt to grab a tentacled creature that was up on a high roof until Ganondorf grabbed the minion and literally tossed him up with an exasperated roll of his eyes. In another incident, one of the Cnideria nearly snuck up on an unsuspecting Moblin only for it to be smashed under Ganondorf's boot. That one in particular was especially annoying for the Gerudo, both because of the toxin he had to clean off of his boot and because it wasted a perfectly good Cnideria.

There was the occasional unconscious monster that Omori plucked some Cnideria off before the boy struggled carefully dragged who he could to a safer side of the area. There was also one instance as he was collecting the ones littering the stalls, one of the Moblins had the funny idea of trying to steal his bag while his back was turned. A murderous glare at the minion's direction once he felt something yanking at it was enough to make it take a hint. However that didn't deter Omori from stepping in to help them with harder-to-reach places, or helping pick up the Cnideria that spilled when one Moblin clumsily fell over. The boy gradually made his way upwards, despite his bag's increase in weight.

The Moblin-related incidents didn't stop there. In one case two of the Moblins were fighting over who had found a Cnideria first, but they shut up pretty quickly once they noticed Ganondorf's shadow looming over them and glaring down at them to knock it off. But after several irritating minutes of having to occasionally play the micro-manager, Ganondorf's Moblins did at last manage to fill their bags with Cnideria.

"Hmph, looks like my Moblins are just about done." Ganondorf called over to the monochrome boy, "If you've been faring well yourself then maybe we can head back?"

"Yeah." Omori answered back, making his way back down with his bag hoisted over his shoulder. "I think this is enough."

Eventually the two found themselves back at Sophie's shack, and with quite a nice haul thanks to the extra help from the Moblins - in spite of the many incidents they caused while collecting them. When it came time to receive payment, Ganondorf only had a single request, "If it's all the same to you, I'd like most of my payment in healing potions if you can. I've been sorely lacking in such a resource lately, loathe as I am to admit it." Ganondorf then realized that he still had quite a bit of money left still from his share of the loot from P's stash and quickly added, "In fact before I leave I think I'd like to purchase some extra healing potions from you as well if that's acceptable."

After receiving the bounty of jellyfish and quickly stashing them in a cooler, Sophie went to present her helpers with the rewards. Loathe to prolong any social interaction, the witch had prepared them ahead of time in the form of two small satchels of dark, scratchy hide with a slight but still noticeable musk. Inside were carefully arranged racks of potion vials, eight apiece. After taking a moment to process Ganondorf's request, Sophie popped open the satchels and quickly rearranged their contents, skewing the distribution of restorative elixirs toward Ganondorf. He received two splash potions of healing, two strong instant healing potions,two health over time potions, a jumping potion, and a swiftness potion. That meant Omori received one swiftness potion, one for jumping, two for night vision, two for stamina, and two defense-boosting brews.

After that, however, Sophie turned them loose. "This is my house, not a grocery store," she told them, unwilling to engage in any more trade for now. "I've got lots to do and barely any time to do it, so go on, shoo!"

Ganondorf grumbled as he took the satchel. He'd hoped to buy more but apparently this witch didn't like the idea of being paid money. Well it was her loss, then. He also didn't bother to say anything else to her. If she wanted to be rude, then he'd just be rude right back to her. Golden Rule and all that.

A quick glance over his rewards and a nod in thanks towards the impatient witch, and Omori was out the door.

And luckily, just in time to see something quite dreadful in the sky. The same infinity symbol in the sky S summoned, here, caught his eye. The boy tensed up. "We need to head back. NOW."

Susie thought to herself as she had gathered what info she could. This Kale Vandelay seemed to be trying to take over the tech sector from what she could gather as you would as a mega corporation head. Controlling the media on top of that to put himself in the limelight... it is interesting to think of. Was he trying to become the face of the city then expand outwards, take over the city itself, or was someone using him as a puppet with their hands in even more dark places? Well, all of these were thoughts to keep in mind as she caught up with the others boarding a boat that would take them over the lake, thanks to Sakura being a friendly person. Probably something those in this sector of the city rarely saw. Still, she doubted she'd find anything regarding a connection to the ever crisis or their missing allies and that was the case. She'd have to keep an eye out for these suspected connections in this part of the city. Not even the most careful, paranoid companies could keep their secrets fully hidden if one knew where to look.

Blazermate meanwhile really didn't have too much to add to anything going on at the moment. It was cool to learn that Geralt could mind control people if needed, patting him on the back and saying. "Do what works if it works and helps. Could get us a lot, and I mean a lot of information if used on the right person. Maybe we can find information about Poppi and Peach if used right." With her opinion stated about that whole issue, Blazermate waited for everyone to get on the boat, casualty flying besides it as she got a slightly better view of the lake. Susie was one of the last ones on, preferring to sail instead of fly unlike Blazermate. Seeing as they were on the boat with someone who was part of this section of the city, Susie asked Wallace "So Wallace. What is it you do here? I assume with a lineage as vast as yours, it must be something interesting." Susie said, turning up the charm.

With a mighty sigh the knight sunk into a seat at the center of the paper boat, the vessel noticeably sinking under Artorias' weight. The dirt and debris was washed from his armored shoulders as the slow downpour above fell. The fluffy red ears protruding from the side of his helmet twitched reflexively as rain droplets met them.

He shook his head flicking flecks of water this way and that, before his gaze wandered to the water and his eyes reflected upon the black surface.

'What...Hath become of me?' the knight touched his face, his real face and pale skin slightly exposed beneath his helmet, his face felt no different yet the instinctive swish of the vestigial tail upon his rear and the intermittent twinge of his ears told the Abysswalker otherwise.

Pain and hunger gnawed at his body, joints and stomach in reply to the feral's words, shaking the knight from his malaise. Though he said not a word when he peered down at her he sighed, nodding in silent agreement with Nadia.

He needed to focus on something else, something...He tried his best, looking at the less than scenic view pass them by, close his eyes but all he could see and do was slowly grow more irriated by the rain, the changes and the voice at the back of his mind that was growing in volume.

Did he lose his humanity? Or did he finally become a monster by his own volition? the knight muffled an agitated growl, digging his fingers into the side of the paper boat and biting his tongue hard filling his mouth with the taste of his own blood.

The meaning of the word Consul was lost to a newcomer like the knight but as he peered upwards at the light he sensed the beacon did not bode well for the Seekers. Once their boat reached the docks, unlike Nadia the knight wobbled to his full height as the boat rocked from the feral leaping from the vessel.

After a moment he stumbled onto the dock, accidentally capsizing the boat as he tripped onto the boardwalk. With a grunt, he picked himself up off the ground growling as he became increasingly agitated gripping the handle of Finstertöter tightly as he walked along with the rest of the Seekers.

Their arrival at the cities center was greeted by two others Artorias had yet to become acquainted with but when a boy appeared in the center of the fountains remains where a statue had once stood the knight's mind was far from the need of pleasantries. Immediately holding forth his greatsword in one hand while he held the other next to his chest almost instinctively as a boxer would. Luckily for Artorias he only vaguely followed what F began to prattle on about, more paying attention to the Consul than what he was saying.

There was something to F, a familiar lack of something that took the knight a moment too soon to realize; taking a step forward as the petulant Consul disappeared laughing. Artorias cleaved at the air where the Consul had stood, snarling angrily.

The Abysswalker's fury was beginning to flare like a fire, turning just as an arrow sunk into his shoulder illiciting a pained howl from the knight whom found himself surrounded by a sea of unfamiliar faces that droned a mindless phrase.

'The...City folk? How...' his anger was replaced by confusion then pain as another arrow from a certain centaurs bow hit him bouncing off his chest, there was no winning this fight with so many enemies. Artorias ripped the shaft of the arrow protruding from his shoulder with a pained grunt. He had to get away, there wasn't time to linger and so he rushed towards the caves and after the whale along with the rest of the Seekers.

---

When Jesse Faden met up with the others, they unfortunately had to put up with Consul F again. Annoying little shit. As soon as he made his hostile intentions clear Jesse aimed to shut him up with some machine gun fire to chase him away. He talked a big game about how much weaker Consul P was but Consul F didn’t seem very keen to actually engage in combat. All he did was zip around. Of course he loved being annoying, but Jesse was confident that if they put their minds to it the Seekers could overcome anything. Though she had to admit, the way he was talking, he made it sound like there were threats to them other than the Seekers. Or threats to them from before the Seekers?

Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Every bad guy is always undefeated up until the point they get defeated.

But what she couldn’t shoot at was the large amount of civilians, some of which she recognized, heading their way with hostile intent.

Shit. Can they really just do that? Anyone who’s under Galeem’s control? Friend Hearting just got a lot more important. We should have done it to Gallo while we had the chance.

Bowser took the lead for the escape plan, and Jesse was eager to follow. She stayed behind to make it easier for the others to escape, confident in her own ability to defend herself. Though that may have been overconfidence, because she had to re-calculate her strength with the idea that she couldn’t actually shoot back at any of these people. They were all innocent. Killing them was not an option. Unfortunately, Jesse was really only good at that. Her non-lethal options were minimal. She actually felt that she had access to Seize and Charge, but both were lethal abilities. Right now she didn’t want to detonate minds or shoot rocket launchers.

As she absorbed a great amount of projectiles, she felt her Shield weakening quickly. But at least she provided some cover to her allies. As she Evaded to catch up, she realized she was now low on Energy.

Someone threw something at her from the side, and she went to Launch it away from her, but she couldn’t get a grasp on it. “Huh?” It struck her hard in the chest and she grunted, stumbling to a stop.

Only when it bounced and landed did she realize it was a green-skinned human head! Living people couldn’t be grabbed by Launch, but living might have been a strong word here. This green-haired green-skinned zombie girl named Rottytops stared at Jesse with the same lifeless conviction as all the others. Jesse instinctively pointed her gun at the head to blow it away, but she quickly pushed that idea out of her mind. So she went to spring on by. Much to her surprise, the distant zombie body vanished in a cloud of smoke and re-appeared underneath Rottytops’ head, suddenly teleporting her right to Jesse. Jesse turned around with a start as the zombie girl began walloping her with a great wooden mallet the size of a watermelon, smacking Jesse around. Saturnus activated, defending Jesse with a circling ring of debris, but Rottytops took the damage with no sense of self-preservation.

“Ah! Damn it!” Jesse flattened her hand and blasted Rottytops with a short range melee attack, which knocked Rotty backwards. Minimal Health elements from that, which meant Jesse was still pretty beat up. What a day this had been.

Rottytops was relentless. Jesse had to shoot. She looked like a zombie, so Jesse assumed she would be okay. She aimed at Rotty’s leg and blew it off with a single shot. At least it looked that way. But Rotty span forward, her leg somehow now in her hand, and brought it down hard on Jesse’s head with an attack that caused her eyes to ring. Rotty began swinging the leg around. Jesse Evaded backwards to get out of range.

“Shit.” Jesse held her head which was now bleeding, and aimed her gun. That was when some of the other civilians caught up.

A series of tornadoes whipped towards Jesse, and they were razor sharp, cutting into her skin. “Aah!” When she looked at the source, it was some bird kid! Whipping his holographic glaive to create the dangerous whirlwind. To his right was the deer girl from the class at that school she had visited earlier. Berdly and Noelle had magic at their disposal and they intended to use it.

Jesse ran backwards trying to get onto the whale. She thought to reach into her jacket and produce her Tool Gun to think of some way out of this. Rottytops’s head came her way again. Jesse avoided it, and a burst of ice came her way from Noelle, and Berdly began shooting A+ Graded Papers at Jesse. Those, admittedly, didn’t do much, so Berdly went back to creating his deadly wind and trying to close the distance to strike Jesse with his glaive.

But when she dodged Rottytops, the head bounced, and the rest of Rottytops soon followed, ready to wallop Jesse with her own hammer or her leg. If she could just use her gun or her powers…but Jesse wouldn’t do that. She’d just have to figure something else out.

“I’m in trouble over her!” She shouted, but her allies were in no less danger than she was. Not to mention the fact that there were projectiles coming in from all directions that Jesse had to avoid, and the swarm of controlled people meant she couldn’t control where she wanted to go. The cave itself was full of obstacles. Jesse ran to try and navigate the dangerous terrain, but she ended up taking a bad turn and had to run in range of their attacks again to get around. Arrows and bullets pinged the ground next to her.

As Jesse sprinted out of the way of a few more attacks from the middle schoolers, Rottytops prepared to throw her head again. As it sailed midair, Jesse leveled the Tool Gun at it and fired! She hit enough shots, and balloons appeared on Rotty’s head. Much to her shock, her head began to float away! Apparently she couldn’t teleport to it when it wasn’t on the ground, because she began chasing it down in an impressive platforming sequence that nonetheless took her away from Jesse.

That was when she was struck by Ice Shock from Noelle. Jesse felt her limbs slow down, and a deep chill settle in. More tornadoes came her way, but she created a Shield to prevent them from reaching her. She had to spend the 50% of her energy she had gained back to do it, though. She was almost to the whale.

Berdly was in melee range and scraped his glaive against her Shield. Noelle approached and fluttered her hands, and a blue mist went over the shield and settled over Jesse. Jesse wondered what the hell that did, when her eyelids got really heavy. Noelle had cast Sleep Mist, an attack that specialized in pacifying exhausted, sleepy, and or wounded enemies. Jesse was all three.

“Damn, I…Ugh.” Jesse wavered and then her eyes shut. The debris that made up her Shield clattered to the ground, and Jesse fell with them, landing on her side with a thud. Berdly approached, raising his glaive in the air to bring it down on her. It was at that moment when Berdly tried to drop the glaive on Jesse’s head that the grade A student found his weapon held by the hand of Artorias, yet before he could wrench the glaive from the nerds hands the knight was buffeted by a strong gale that pushed Artorias back.



Berdly and Noelle both prepared their magics to deal with the new foe, but Artorias wouldn’t be able to delay long. A short distance away Rottytops grabbed her head and was wrestling with the balloons to get it on her stump, and of course traveling down the cave tunnels was a horde of controlled townspeople all as dangerous as they were innocent.

Noelle cast Ice Shock, sending a very fast moving blast of ice towards Artorias. And as if to force Artorias to tank for her, Berdly sent a tornado towards Jesse, who still lay on the ground.

The knight gritted his teeth, stepping in front of Jesse's unconscious body he used his blade to keep from being carried by the turbulent tempest, Artorias' gaze darted between Jesse and the horde rushing towards him and he had to make a split second decision. So the knight lifted Jesse over his shoulder and prepared to run. With one arm keeping the woman from falling and the other tightly gripping his sword.

Rottytops began throwing her head to catch up with teleports, and Noelle and Berdly fired their spells after Artorias. But without Rotty to intercept, combined with Artorias’s long, quick strides, he was able to elude them!

Outpacing his pursuers, Artorias raced through the caves with the distant sound of the city folk shouting "Enemy, Enemy, Enemy!" echoing against the walls, and the sound of his own heavy breaths as he carried on with Jesse, he too having been separated during the chaos that broke out earlier. Finding the others would have to wait, when they weren't being chased. The knight looked behind them, then ahead out of breath from all the running.

Resting the unconscious woman against the cave wall he knelt a golden flask appearing in his hands that he shakily unstoppered, and lifting Jesse’s chin ever so slightly he poured the draught into her mouth, her wounds would heal in a glow of light as the Estus took effect. And as she came to the knight lifted Jesse to her feet "Come there is no time to linger nor ask questions, let us find the others." he hoisted Jesse now very much not unconscious and carried the grown woman cradled in his one arm with his sword slung on his shoulder in the other, despite whether or not she protested he cared little as he rushed headlong after the whale.

Jesse was pretty disoriented. “Uh-” But Artorias was right. She glanced up to see Berdly and Noelle still chasing them in the distance and was relieved. “Thanks!” She managed to say to Artorias, trying to hold herself steady over his shoulder. Eventually the pair caught up with the whale joining the others in their escape.

Before everyone got ready to ship off to their next bit of hero work, Ichiban decided to stop by the Sanitarium and, well, resign. He hadn't been an official employee or anything but he had picked up the slack when they needed help and it felt wrong not to tell Dr. Hypatia that he wouldn't be around anymore. Hopefully she didn't ask for a reason why...

When he was given the go-ahead to meet with her, though, Dr. Hypatia didn't seem entirely there. "Hey, doc?" Ichiban tried to get her attention but Dr. Hypatia only muttered medical formulae to herself and flitted between diagrams and beakers. So Ichiban, not wanting to interrupt what might be important medical stuff, wrote a pseudo letter of resignation on a loose sheet of paper and put it someplace he thought she'd see it. "It was nice helping you and the folks of this city," he said, "but I've got more people that need me now. Hope y'keep doin' a good job."

As he was leaving the Sanitarium he noticed the giant glowing symbol in the sky. Even though his memory of the fight with P was a little fuzzy still and he didn't place the Moebius connection, a big ominous thing in the sky in the middle of the city was probably not a good sign. Ichiban cracked his neck and took off running for the fountain, his Hero getup appearing in a surge of light.

"Another one?!" Ichiban stumbled to a stop when he reached the fountain, and pointed at F with his bat. "Just how many of these Consul guys are there?"

F did his spiel, one Ichiban was raring to interrupt and get the next beatdown started, but being so new to things he decided to follow everyone else's lead. If P was such a problem to deal with then meeting F on his own terms probably wasn't a good idea. But then F's real reason for gathering all in one spot became clear. The denizens of Home of Tears shambled towards them all like zombies. Ichiban's head swiveled and snapped at everyone - he might've had it in him to throw down with F, but the whole city? And them being mind controlled to do so?

The plan wasn't to fight, though, but to run. Good, running, he could do that. "You got--" Ichiban readied to bolt for the wall, bat over his shoulder, only to be tackled to the ground at his first step. "Heeugh!!" Ichiban was pinned down, left behind as the surge of monster folk chased after the others, the slobbering, drippy form of Endogeny pressing down on him.

"Wh- hey, you're that dog from the spooky house!" Ichiban struggled underneath it. "L-Look, boy, I don't have any more sausages..." Endogeny wasn't there for sausages and Ichiban knew that. The creature loomed over him, its single gaping orifice opening and closing rhythmically. The longer it stared, if it was even staring, the more freaked out Ichiban got. He didn't even know if the thing had teeth or claws, but it was still freaky.

Thanks to its semi-amorphous gooey body Ichiban was able to wrestle his arm free, and used his bat as leverage to heave and turn Endogeny off of him. The whale already began to move by now, so Ichiban had only moments to figure out his next move.

Naturally, he bolted for the amusement park.

Endogeny was quick to chase, and being a dog monster with multiple legs, it was fast. Ichiban tried to juke it out; he made a quick dash sideways into a narrow street, which Endogeny had a tougher time stopping to do, literally tripping over itself to turn, multiple slimy legs knocking into one another. This gave him a decent lead, only for a top-heavy skeleton to block the far end of the street, raising his knuckle bones to duke it out. "Enemy, enemy boyo!"

Ichiban just shoulder charged through him. Skelly clattered into pieces. "Sorry!" he called over his shoulder. Endogeny was still giving chase, its 'mouth' stretching open, an onslaught of backwards-pointing arrows to shoot out. Ichiban ducked, spun, swung his bat to knock them away, though more hit than didn't, peppering his back with stinging welts. "Ow, ow, ow, quit it! Bad dog!" Ichiban took another sharp turns between some alleys, but Endogeny was wising up to it now, so the lead Ichiban had was running out. He had to make it count.

The entrance to the amusement park came into view by now. With everyone having gathered to the fountain and most of them ignoring Ichiban to go after the huge freakin' whale, there wasn't a lot of opposition for him. At the park's gate, though, a circle of light shone on the ground, and in a puff of smoke stood... Skelly. "Ain't gettin' rid'a me that easy, boy-nemy!"

"Wha- alright then!" Not faltering in his charge Ichiban leveled his bat to the ground with both hands, metal and barbed wire scraping along stone and sending up a bit of sparks. With a big karate yell Ichiban swung upwards with a forceful uppercut, sending poor Skelly flying into the air with a Brookyln-y yelp. Ichiban dug his heels into the ground, raised his bat up, and turned to face the approaching Endogeny. "Hey boy... fetch!" With a solid homerun swing Ichiban smashed the falling Skelly into bony pieces again, the various bones flinging off in different directions. Endogeny, still being a canine of sorts, was momentarily distracted by the multiple games of fetch going on, giving Ichiban enough of a window to rush a ferris wheel close to the water.

Even though it felt like it took an hour getting there, the whale was still in reach. Ichiban clambered onto one of the Ferris wheel's cars as it turned, pulling himself onto its roof as it began to rise, and looked to the water. "Alright..." he muttered, catching his breath, "shouldn't be too hard to just... jump... over to it. Right?" The Ferris wheel jerked - like the whole structure - with a metal clang. It almost knocked Ichiban off. "Agh, what now?!" At the base of the ride, a figure had leapt onto the struts, climbing with the speed and nimbleness of a hungry rat. "Shit," Ichiban summed up. It was now or never. Not taking a second longer than he had to Ichiban braced himself and took a running leap off the Ferris wheel, over the water, towards the team's escape whale.

"INCOOOOOOOOMING!" In a move that could only work in a wacky semi-grounded Japanese action RPG, Ichiban hit his mark, though almost missed. The White Whale's blubber meant he didn't pancake on impact, though he did body on of its huge spinal spines. "Uhgh, jeez." Ichiban clung onto the spine, leaning against it for support. Hell of a jog. It wouldn't be that easy of course. The figure followed Ichiban's move, lunging straight from the Ferris wheel through the air and onto the whale.

"It's been too long since I've had my fill," she said, baring sharp claw-like nails, "and I won't let it go!"

Ichiban, sucking in a breath, groaned. "Lady, I dunno who you are, but the only thing you're gettin' from me..." She lunged, going for Ichiban's throat, but he ducked, springing back up to sock her in the chin with his head. "...is what I give ya!"



Ichiban picked himself back up, dusting his jacket as he watched the Crown Killer try and reorient herself in the water, but by the time she did she was left in their dust. Their, uh, water dust. "Thanks for the assist, guys!" Ichiban gave his partners a thumb up and a smile. "Everyone else doin' okay?"

---

Geralt remained stoic in the entirely expected reactions of his allies, though not all were directed at his admittedly morally-dubious idea, and instead at the general thought of stealing transportation or otherwise duping people into helping them. Sometimes he forgot he was working with heroic types. As much as Yennefer might give him flak for his own selfless tendencies despite what he claimed about himself, he certainly wasn't as bright-eyed or bushy-tailed as these do-gooders he'd found himself working with. "This is the other reason." Blazermate's reassurance was...a small thing. But he gave the robot a nod. It was still something they could do if all else failed.

Zenkichi, on the other hand, seemed to remember that he was supposed to be a good guy and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "This is what this city does to you...tears us apart, makes us think in us vs them terms. Even now I'm still letting it get to me." Turning to Sakura and then Partitio, he gave the two a couple of nods while the Street Fighter headed off to enact her plan. "No, you're right. We shouldn't be stooping to those levels to get what we want. Though, technically I don't think Geralt's plan quite counts as stealing, mind controlling people is still...not great." The Witcher let out a sigh and shook his head at that, but followed along after Sakura with Goldlewis.

To the surprise of few, Sakura was rejected and sometimes outright ignored in her requests for transportation. Geralt hung by, close enough to make it plain that this girl was not one to be trifled with (though he knew she could handle herself, her current appearance did not necessarily belie that competence given that she was trying to blend in) though nobody seemed worried. They likely assumed that she was the child of some wealthy folk who lived and worked here, rather than somebody who had managed to sneak past the plate's security.

What did surprise him, however, perhaps less than it ought to have, was the gentlemen who seemed...perhaps too friendly? His eyes narrowed a bit and he slowly meandered closer, enough to hear their conversation rather clearly with his enhanced senses. Sakura, of course, was quick to offer her- and by extension, the Seekers'- help, though the man's request turned out to be...rather sad, actually, in a pitiable sort of way.

He wanted one of the few things gold could not buy- a true friend. Not a follower, a hanger-on, somebody merely pretending to be loyal for favors or scraps of wealth, but a loyal friend. It was perhaps even sadder that in his lack of sociability, he believed showing off himself and his wealth would get him those things. Geralt had no idea what photography really was, though he'd gotten glimpses of people taking pictures here and there, but even a flash-portrait was more a vanity affair than a way to make friends as far as he was aware. Still, he followed Goldlewis and Tora onto the boat after Sakura, casting his gaze about and getting a sense for the vessel. He doubted things would go sideways, given that this Limestein fellow seemed genuine, but it never hurt to have an idea of your surroundings.

Zenkichi, meanwhile, was thinking on what Goldlewis said. "You know, Benedict, something Goldlewis said is kind of bothering me. When all this goes away, who knows what will happen? I don't want to waste too much time on what ifs, but...I think you know as well as I do that experiences change you. If we let our morals slip because it's all for the greater good...no. No, I don't like that at all. And I know you've always been more practically minded, but...there's gotta be a line we don't cross, right?" Chin in his hand, deep in thought, he frowned.

He was certainly glad nobody in this group thought it was acceptable to just go about and kill people to get any little thing they wanted, and even he wasn't terribly concerned with the morals of temporarily stealing a boat and leaving it safely to be retrieved later, but the absolute conviction in Goldlewis' voice left a bad taste in his mouth. He and the Phantom Thieves were supposed to be allies of justice. Not like Konoe, who overrode people's minds, abused their trauma and tried to stamp out individuality to create a peaceful world with no evil in it. He had people's best interests in heart, in a truly twisted way, but what he did to achieve it was too far. He just hoped something similar wasn't happening here.

The downside of acquiring something by less than legal means was that finding someone to explain how to actually use it was difficult, if not impossible. The regular citizens in the Home of Tears had scarcely seen the Linkshell system up close, and asking a member of the Mermaid Corps was obviously off the table. The only option was trial and error.

The Linkshell itself was a simple looking item. Up close, Primrose thought her comparison of it being a cross between a conch and a scallop shell was an apt one. It was only a little larger than the palm of her hand, with smooth ridges on the top. It wasn't completely hollow, that much she could tell by its weight, but the pearls it produced came from a groove on the inside of it that led deeper in, where she imagined some animal might have made its home... if the shell was not a man-made construct. That she couldn't tell, but she did know that it must work based on some kind of magic given there were little other features to be found.

Primrose was seated with her umbrella's handle trapped between her arm and her side, shielding her from both the rain and any nosy passersby while she fiddled with the item. Therion had taken the pearl created earlier and, with nothing better to do at the moment, was listening in on the town guard's progress with whatever mission they were handling. Something about Flukes, which he'd seen his fair share of in the Royal Waterways.

"Oh."

The thief glanced over, but his line of sight was just as obscured as any random person on the street.

"What?"

"Its color changed."

Primrose hummed lightly, and with a few swipes of her hand the Linkshell's color changed once more. She wasn't quite sure what she'd done to start the process, but now that something had happened she pressed on. The hue cycled until it landed on a pretty, reddish color; and when she generated a pearl, its own color matched.

"...sounds like the connection's dead," Therion said, pulling the original pearl out of his ear. He hadn't been able to hear anything after Primrose changed the shell's color. She handed him the new pearl and he pressed that where the prior one had been. The dancer created her own and did the same.

"Let's see if this worked..." She held her fingers to her ear, watching Therion mirror the gesture. "Testing..."

She could instantly tell that something had happened by the brief look of surprise that passed over her friend's face. He returned the favor, confirming that with the changing of the device's color a new network was established. Very pleased with herself, Primrose let the Linkshell start producing as she tucked it away once more.

She stood, about to suggest to Therion that they try and find some of the others when a sigil lit up the "sky." A twisted red sign, the same that had been on Consul P. Therion turned quickly to see what she was staring at, and after recognition kicked in the travelers glanced at each other. Not a moment later they hurried through the rain drenched streets in the direction the ominous signal was coming from. They arrived at the central fountain, reunited with the other Seekers that had been drawn by the Consul's beacon.

He really was lured in by P's defeat, Primrose thought. Unfortunately most of the group were still fatigued and healing from the battle earlier. They would be hard pressed to try and take on a second Consul so soon after the first, especially if what F said was true about P being the weakest of their number. She was inclined to believe it. And though F said he wasn't interested in hurting them just then, Primrose prepared herself for a fight all the same - but what followed couldn't really be described as a simple fight.

When the Consul's ruse was put into motion Therion lashed out at the Consul with his fire, too little too late. The flames ate up the air F had been occupying and fizzled out. Therion let out a harsh breath, halfway to a snarl. He knew it was pointless to stick around looking for F, not to mention too dangerous, so he abandoned the central fountain with most of the others. He and Primrose made a beeline for the white whale, the latter clearing a path with her dark magic surging. Both of them were singed, cut, and scraped, but they'd made it to the vehicle of their escape.

It seemed the entire city's population was after them, a scene similar to the one in the Metro but worse. Familiar faces were among the pursuers, from Irenes the friendly guard to Primrose's opponents from the Royal Canopy Club. All of them were robbed of their agency, one of their eyes lit up in an angry red glow. Forced to run, the travelers kept who they could at bay, fending off would be boarders while trying to deal with ranged attackers.

Primrose manifested the Makami and commanded it with a call of, "Mafrei!" Her striker howled and cast its magic, forcing a swath of citizens back away from the water's edge. Its master kept her own casting up, countering magic bolts and blasts that sailed the Seekers' way with her shadow. With her flame she ignited the boats in pursuit of them and spurned anyone gathered on the canal's edge looking for an attack of opportunity. The Devout Beads on her back let out a constant glow as they shot enemies and projectiles out of the air. This situation made her style of buff almost impossible, so rather than dance Primrose focused on her magic. The Baldur Shell having long since broken under the hail of attacks.

When he could, Therion lent her some of his mana - as well as ever other caster aboard. He darted around the creature's back playing support and clean up, tagging the magic users to donate his own mana in order to keep them going. He had his shield equipped, steadily blocking knives and arrows that came their way, and any sneaky hanger-ons that grasped to the side of the whale's body found themselves on the wrong end of his daggers.

It was an all out assault, with a desperate defense by the Seekers. If they couldn't hold out it would suck up the last of their energy and probably kill them. Fueled by adrenaline, Therion all but ignored Ichiban's words of thanks and just continued his work - which only got all the harder after the whale resurfaced from its dive.

A shadow passed under the water, and nearby their whale Barbary emerged from the canal. There was a sharp toothed grin on her face as she rose up, almost towering over the Seekers.

"Ye think ye can escape?" She bellowed, her tentacles thrashing beneath her and churning the water. "My bombs're gonna blow ye sky high!"

True to form she conjured a couple of bombs, seeming not to care that there were several of the city's citizens also present on the whale's back. She tossed them up, which refocused the Travelers' attentions. Therion threw a hand up with the intent to intercept them with his Wildfire, only for the spell to sputter and fail. He cursed under his breath. He'd always been bad at managing his own mana, but was he really out or was the stress of the situation affecting his focus?

Primrose stepped in then, hurling a Fire Orb Barbary's way. The fire ball met the bombs in midair, the explosion pushing the octopus woman back and washing the Seekers with hot air, nearly turning the rain to steam. The dancer let out a deep breath, meeting Barbary's annoyed glare.

"Why you..." the pirate growled, raising an arm to conjure another bomb. This time, Therion moved to preempt her. Barbary was close enough that one good dash and jump saw him land on the octopus' body, taking hold of one of her spikes to keep his footing.

"What are ye doing?!" She shrieked, surprised at she herself had been boarded. Her surprise turned to pained outrage when he turned his sword on her. The blade sliced through her sleeve and bit into her arm, making her yank the limb out of the sword's reach. Her tentacles came up all at once, but Therion was ready for them. He used up a Boost, energy glowing around his body as he strengthened himself. He cut through one tentacle, separating a majority of it from the base. Then another, a third, spraying blue blood as the limbs thrashed around.

He hoped that losing parts of her body might make the giant back down, but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

"Grrrrraaaaah!" Barbary slammed her wounded tentacles into the water, making a huge splash. Therion shielded his eyes from the water, and when he looked again all of the limbs were back to normal, if a little fresher looking. Completely regrown, as if his attack hadn't mattered at all.

"You're kidding me," he groaned. He turned back to Barbary's main body, the human-half that he suspected was probably her weak point. He raised his sword to stab her, but a tentacle shot towards him. It intercepted his sword and curled around him, and with a laugh Barbary flung the thief away.

"Therion!" Primrose had been tangling with a few enemies that recently swooped in overhead, but seeing her friend tossed through the air she swatted Zasp into the water and summoned her Makami again, willing it to zip over Therion's way. It wrapped its body around his arm to catch him and floated there in the air to stop his movement. He made an attractive target for many pursuers like that, but the spike of pain from an arrow was better than being cast into the water to drown. Plus he had a good angle on Barbary at the moment, using his Shackle Foe at the same time the Makami cast its Tarunda, the both of them lowering Barbary's attack power. He dropped back down onto the white whale's back once the striker's time was up.

Barbary could feel something happen to her, but she disregarded it entirely. Letting out a roar she lunged for the whale, hooking the claw of her front two tentacles into its body to slow it down.

"I'll be sending ye scallywags straight to the locker!" She raised her arms up, creating a bomb larger than the others. If the Seekers set it off preemptively, its size and proximity would mean the explosion would get to them either way. "Yaharharhar!"

She lobbed it right at the whale. She cackled as she watched the people on board scramble, but she didn't get to watch it explode. Fwip. A well placed knife severed its wick and the bomb landed on the blubber with an anticlimactic plop, taking a least one mind controlled citizen with it as it rolled off the other side. Barbary turned her glare on Therion who'd thwarted her bomb.

Before she could raise one tentacle to smash him, she felt the sting of Primrose's own dagger. It was swathed in dark magic, cutting Barbary's grasp on the whale. In the next moment the dark lance of the Rites of Termination formed and slammed down on the octopus woman. It slashed through her upper body and all but pinned half of her tentacles to the bottom of the canal, spreading magic that would crash into any other underwater pursuers. Barbary hollered more in anger than in pain, but either way she was stuck and the Seekers were free to get on with their escape.

Even after the whale they were riding left the canal and crashed into the cliff face of the Crumble Caverns, the pursuit didn't stop. Aquatic citizens tried to leap the gap themselves, while flying ones crossed right over. It pushed the Seekers into the tunnel, at which point the Travelers split up.

Therion assumed his beast form and shot forward, overtaking the other Seekers to blaze a path forward. He'd heard the brief exchange with Purse, so he knew the ultimate goal was a tower at the end of the cavern. The tunnel's obstacles didn't hinder him much at all, and the rat creatures that didn't flee at the sight of the large wild cat found themselves at the mercy of Therion's blade and claws, mercy which he didn't have much of at the moment.

Primrose took the opposite approach, following the safest path beat by the other Seekers. Although once she confirmed that everyone was inside the cavern, she paused only once to turn back to the way they'd come and summon her other striker.

"Hippowdon, collapse the entrance!" she said, and the Pokémon raised itself up onto its hind legs. She left it there to fulfill its command, and when it slammed its feet back down an Earthquake shook the area. Hopefully it would stop any other pursuers from getting inside the cavern, as there was no telling when F's control would wear off, or if it even would.

Consul F. So the wretch that attacked them first finally decided to reappear. Omori knew better than to try and attack him now, another kid or not. Seemed he'd rather do dialogue anyways, apparently thanking the seekers for taking Consul P out? He wasn't even there for that. But the red, glowing eye hadn't gone unnoticed. Nor did the sudden large gathering of bloodthirsty residents.

Oh. He recognized some of the faces in the crowd.

Oh. They were being controlled. What that implies was definitely not good...

Oh, he was not up to fighting ANY of them!

The dread creeping up his spine only grew once he understood the fact that they had willingly walked into an ambush, personally delivered to them by someone who really should meet the buisness end of the boy's knife. But that'd have to come later. What came next was absolute chaos. Omori could only go on the evasive and hope the resulting Blade Rifts don't leave anyone fatally wounded. He didn't want to fight them! Not even a while ago he had collected Cnideria for the same witch now throwing debilitating splash potions at them, and he did NOT want to be hit by that grenade launcher!

Luckily everyone else seemed to share the same sentiment of we need to get out of here. The Koopa Troop banded together to create an escape whale that Omori immediately booked it to, but of course that wouldn't be enough to deter their enemies. So like what Therion had been doing, he was helping wherever he could, begrudgingly dealing with any of the stragglers that attempted to jump onto the whale. The chaos was almost too much to keep track of. All he could do was just hold them off. Soon as their mighty vessel reached the entrance to a cheesy cave, Omori downed his swiftness potion and ran. He could endure whatever enemy fire he unfortunately gets hit with, but right now, all he was prioritizing was survival.

Sour taste or not, the stubborn merchant scoffed at Goldlewis's words "Sure ain't seem like nothing any this should be dang well possible but it is as real as the air I breath. I will put it to rights the right way" Partitio seemed set in his ways, the former Turk thought errantly before turning his attention to Hasegawa who looked to him for his thoughts on what the big man said.

Benedict looked away for a moment as he carefully mulled over the right words he might offer to the detective, both trailing behind slightly as the merchant hurried to the boat putting aside his differences to firmly shake the hand of the young man Sakura had become quite fast friends with "Mr. Hasegawa..." the older tactician gave his former colleague a sideways glance from behind his spectacles, continuing with measured words as he motioned the detective walk with him.

"The question shouldn't be how far one must go to cross the line but what is necessary to go against one's convictions...Sometimes good people do bad things," a distant look washed over Benedict's face, as he was taken back to the moment that changed him many years ago. He stood with a baby in his arms crying, she had been nestled in a cave hidden by her parents a people he and his soldiers had been commanded to kill in the name of the crown.

He felt regret in his heart, he couldn't make himself kill a child..Not Anna, not after all House Wolffort did to the Jackes.

"To put it plainly Mr. Hasegawa have no certain idea what will come of these experiences we only have our instincts to dictate what we do..It's but a matter of following those instincts." as usual Benedict was anything but plain with his choice of words but from what he was saying it was easy to get that he too was not certain of himself, they could only move forward and act upon their own convictions no matter how varied and different those may be.

”It’s a full body disguise” Midna tried to clarify when her plan for stealing a ship while under guise was shot down, but at that point the conversation had moved on. Specifically all the way to mind control, which was very concerning to her.

”Can’t say I’m the most comfortable with that. We can give back a boat, we can’t give back the sanctity of someone’s mind” she argued, but fortunately, all of their various criminal schemes were rendered unnecessary by Sakura doing the simple thing and just, well, asking.

”I. Well. Don’t we look like a bunch of cynics right now? Guess we should have put more faith into the milk of mortal kindness … or the eccentricities of the idle rich I suppose” she joked to try and diffuse some of the tension/embarrassment resulting from their nefarious scheming being all for naught.

At any rate, Sakura had succeeded in getting them a lift from a man who just wanted some true friends, and thinking about it, she somewhat related with his sad situation, being royalty and all herself. A little. She felt a fair bit more bad that they were more or less using him for his wealth as well (they as in the rest of them, rather than Sakura who at this point she very much expected to genuinely bond with the man over the boat trip), and decided to avoid being part of that whole moral quandary and keep hanging out in shadows instead of introducing herself.

In doing so, she happened to overhear Zenkichi’s thoughtful comment and she had to admit, she was also not particularly fond of Goldlewis’s thoughts on ends justifying the means, or Benedict’s tacit approval of it.

”While I hope that taking down Galeem will give us a way to put everything back to normal, there’s no guarantee that we can just put everything back to the way it was. The dead might stay dead, and other harm might remain too. When time in my reality shattered apart, we had a goddess to put it back together. I’m not sure if we have anything of the sort that can do that for all of space” she offered, before thinking for a moment and gingerly offering a personal anecdote on the topic of ends and means.

”I’ve … been there. In a way. When I was overthrown, I got sent to a different realm, with different people in it, and I didn’t care about them, only saving my own from the monster who took my throne, and was happy to use all other people as tools to that end. It is not, looking back on it, a pleasant way to live. I also wouldn't have succeeded if I hadn’t learned to turn away from that kind of thinking, and care about those people as much as my own” she paused and glanced towards their ship’s captain and then concluding ”because acting like that definitely isn’t going to win you any friends”

After all, she thought, would even half the people who had joined up since they left smash city have done so if they were going around doing whatever they wanted, and damn the morality of their actions?

It wasn't hard to spot the beacon that caught Omori's attention. And according to the boy, it was a signal intended to gather everyone in one spot. So between this and Sophie's earlier rudeness, Ganondorf wasn't going to get a chance to stock up on any more potions just yet. Well, regardless he followed the beacon for now anyway. It didn't seem like something someone would do lightly, so chances were good that something important had come up.

And come up it had. The Gerudo's blood began to boil at the sight of the Consul. Yet another brat pretending to be a ruler, it seemed. Well perhaps they would just have to teach them the same lesson they taught P. It didn't matter to Ganondorf either way. He wasn't interested in F's speech. Personally he preferred to skip the boring pleasantries and cut to the real reason why they were all here. But the Consul revealed he wasn't keen on making it that simple. First they all heard voices murmuring, then numerous familiar figures emerged from the rainy darkness. The townspeople, some of whom Ganondorf had even personally interacted with, had come to act as the Consul's army as it were.

But if the Consul honestly thought that this would be enough to stay the King of Evil's hand, then he was about to be sorely mistaken. Ganondorf had no compunctions whatsoever about doing what needed to be done. Even to these townspeople. If he could have it his way he'd transform and burn them all to ash right here and now. But that option was not in the cards at the moment. And so for now, the Gerudo had little choice but to play the Consul's little game... for now.

The first thing that happened was the familiar form of Riptor leaping through the air and attempting to pounce Ganondorf right from the start. But the towering man was not so easily moved. With his immense strength he was able to stop the mechanical dinosaur from knocking him over and then managed to fling her away from him with only some scratches from her claws for his troubles, "Seems somebody is still sore about losing to me the other day." He gloated as he clenched his fists and readied himself for a fight.

That was when Ganondorf heard the shambling footsteps of a skeleton lunging at him from his flank. He was able to sidestep the attack in the nick of time and now stared down a second opponent in addition to Riptor. The skeletal figure was unfamiliar to the Gerudo, and yet... familiar too, somehow. He looked very much like the stalfos that inhabited Hyrule's graveyards. And yet the stalfos had clothing and weapons that were clearly not of Hyrulean origin. But if he was anything like the stalfos that stalked the lands of Hyrule at night, then this kingly-looking stalfos probably shared their weakness to light. And so the Gerudo's hand went for the hilt of the white sword and he drew it from the scabbard so that he could cross blades with Igos du Ikana, while also staying wary for the inevitable attack that would come from the nearby Riptor.



A few clashes of their swords, and Igos du Ikana was proving to be a decent enough opponent. Of course, the mechanical raptor stalking nearby made things more difficult than they otherwise would be. Ganondorf and Ikana would be trying to take swings at each other only for Riptor to come leaping in with an attempted ambush while Ganondorf was distracted. He definitely would have to do something about this because sooner or later one of them was bound to get a more lethal attack in if he didn't.

The perfect chance came when the massive white whale was summoned in the water. It provided a much needed opportunity for Ganondorf fall back and start putting a little distance between himself and the town. He retreated into Crumble Cavern. A tunnel system would make dealing with multiple opponents a bit easier to do. It wasn't a striking or decisive difference, but Ganondorf would take whatever advantage he could get. But while he saw that both Riptor and Ikana had pursued him into the cave, the Gerudo realized he'd lost track of Riptor. Maybe she'd take another turn somewhere or pursued someone else? Or... maybe she was hiding in the cover of darkness waiting to strike the moment her prey let his guard down.

That would have to be dealt with later. For now, Ganondorf had to focus on Igos du Ikana. He'd chased the King of Evil into the cavernous tunnels, keen to finish the battle with Ganondorf. The two crossed swords as Ganondorf fell back deeper into Crumble Cavern. The more narrow passages made it a bit harder for both combatants to swing their weapons given their size. But it seemed like Ikana had the rougher time of it, since he was also carrying his big square shield in addition to his blade. Ganondorf at least had the option to switch the white sword between hands whenever the terrain called for it. But Ikana wasn't without his tricks. When it became apparent that his sword alone wouldn't be enough, he appeared to take a deep breath and then exhaled a gout of purple flames in the Gerudo's direction.

Ganondorf had no real way to block an attack like this. Instead his only option was lunge backwards and keep out of the flame's range. That brief pause gave the King of Evil a good opportunity to summon his Moblin squad. They were spear wielders, who could thrust their weapons down the passage and attempt to keep Ikana from getting close. And it was good thing the Gerudo did this, because moments after he was set upon by the cyborg raptor pouncing him from the shadows of the cavern. This time Riptor was more successful in catching Ganondorf flatfooted and briefly had him pinned to the ground. She repeatedly tried biting at his face and throat, only to be held back by the Gerudo King's free arm. Thankfully Ikana was preoccupied with the moblins, otherwise Ganondorf would have been in serious trouble. Calling on the strength of the Triforce, the King of Evil managed to wrestle the raptor of him and drive her back into the shadows which she struck at him from.

With Riptor repelled for the time being, Ganondorf could return his focus to Ikana who had already taken down three of the moblin spearmen. Instead of charging in, Ganondorf fell back. It wouldn't take long for Ikana to finish off the last Moblins, but Ganondorf could use that time for a short reprieve and to summon some additional reinforcements. The Gerudo found himself in a more open chamber and decided this would be a good spot to continue things. He could already hear the footsteps of the approaching stalfos and immediately set about summoning Phantom Ganon.



As soon as Ikana entered the open chamber room he was set upon by Phantom Ganon crashing down on him from above with his three-pronged spear. And that gave Ganondorf himself a chance to lunge in with the white sword. The gambit resulted in Ganondorf landing a solid strike on the stalfos. The holy light of the white sword seared the bones of Ikana causing him stagger back with a shudder. Down in here the darkness of the Under, he hadn't expected to encounter such a light. The holy nature of the white sword had clearly caught him off guard.

But just like any proper annoyance, Riptor came screaming back into the fray. She attempted to leap down onto Ganondorf from an elevated tunnel entrance that she had been hiding in. But this time, it was Phantom Ganon whom caught her attack. He began to try and fight off the mechanical predator so that Ganondorf could continue focusing on Ikana. And that's what he did. Ganondorf lunged forward with a warlock punch that ended up crashing into the stalfos's shield. But the raw might of Ganondorf was still a strong enough impact to send Ikana slamming into the cavern wall. He followed that up by lunging forth and plunging the white sword into the stalfo's body and practically pinning him to the wall. He was stopped from doing anything further when Riptor came pouncing on him from the side. She'd apparently managed to defeat the phantom and once again had her sights set on the man himself.

And so while Igos du Ikana writhed in pain against the wall, Ganondorf once again found himself struggling to keep the mechanical dinosaur from ripping his face off. After several attempted bites and a few successful claw attacks, Ganondorf finally managed to grab the dinosaur's mouth with both hands and with his own immense strength hold her back and then wrestle himself free of being pinned down. When his legs were freed he gave the dinosaur a good kick to momentarily keep her at bay. And that was when something latched onto his shoulder and bit down. It was Ikana, or more specifically, Ikana's head. The stalfos's body was still pinned to the wall by the white sword but his head had apparently popped right off and flew over to attack Ganondorf while the latter had been occupied with Riptor. But it was only a simple head, and so Ganondorf had little trouble pulling it off his shoulder and neck with his strength. Then he used it as an improvised weapon to hit Riptor with as she attempted to lunge at him again, managing to slam the skull of Ikana into the raptor's own head to momentarily disorient her.

Ganondorf then threw the skull against the cavern wall and turned for the pinned body of the stalfos. But rather than go for the sword, he left stabbed into the thing's body while he instead ripped the shield off the stalfos's arm and put it on just in time to use it to block an incoming pounce attack from Riptor. Now that he had a physical shield, Ganondorf could more easily keep his footing against the charging raptor and then proceeded to bash her head with the shield's edges. This was particularly effective due to the shield's square shape and extra sharpened corners. Finally it looked like Ganondorf was making some progress in taking down this mechanical monstrosity. That was when he realized that Ikana's head had returned to its body and once it did the stalfos tried to spew another gout of purple flame at the Gerudo. Ganondorf simply lifted the shield and let it protect him from the flames.

As for Riptor. She was back on her feet, but noticeably not in good shape. Some of those earlier shield bashes managed to get her in her head area and so she was still a bit disoriented from that. But she attacked again nevertheless, but at this point all three combatants were beginning to lose steam. With the shield, Ganondorf was able to block her attack and throw her aside. Then he turned around and used the shield to push forward through another breath attack from Ikana and inched his way closer. Once within reach, Ganondorf stretched out his hand and grabbed the hilt of Ikana's weapon. While he could have grabbed the white sword, the Gerudo figured it was better to leave the stalfos pinned to the wall. He then whirled around in time for Riptor to once more crash into the shield and be shoved aside onto the cave floor. But now that Ganondorf was armed he was quick to launch a counterattack and thrust the blade deep into the raptor's side before she could get back on her feet. It was highly unlikely she would be getting back up from this.

Then Ganondorf had to block yet another breath attack from Ikana, although this one was noticeably shorter than the previous ones. He too was running out of steam it would appear. Then the Gerudo dropped the sword he took from Ikana and let it clang on the ground. He then reached out and grabbed the hilt of the white sword. With a mighty pull he freed it from the cavern wall as well as Ikana's body and then proceeded to lay into the stalfos. All that time pinned to a wall by a holy weapon had not done the skeleton any favors and he could do little to stop the King of Evil's onslaught. And finally, after several strikes on Ikana and literally having to bash Riptor's skull in... both of the Gerudo's pursuers were defeated and... well dead, unfortunately.

Ganondorf breathed heavily as he returned the white sword to its scabbard. The next moment he realized that both Igos du Ikana and Riptor had now become Spirits. Knowing that these two were particularly tough opponents, Ganondorf was quick to pick up and claim them. They'd make for strong additions to his growing power. After that he drank one of the Health Over Time Potions he'd received earlier from Sophie. That would gradually heal some of the injuries he'd been inflicted with. After that he drank the Swiftness Potion so that he could use the newfound speed boost to run through the Crumble Caverns and catch up to the other seekers.

By the time the Gerudo had finally caught up with the rest of the Seekers at the great stone tower, the effects of both potions had worn off. The health potion had taken care of some of Ganondorf's wounds, but a few scratches and bruises remained. He was also noticeably in possession of a square-shield that he did not have previously. It was the shield he snatched from Ikana during the fight, Ganondorf having decided to keep it in case he wanted to switch to a more defensive fighting style. It also might have served as a visual indicator of what he ended up having do during the escape from Home of Tears.

The troop kept running. Climbing. Ascending. Towards the pizza tower. It was a silly sounding place, and surly, even with Purse’s warning, how bad could it be, they thought.

Well, the gabaghouls floating through the air as they got closer certainly were an early warning sign, the possessed pizza mass swooping down to try and impale them with sharpened protruding ribs or fangs. While not the most deadly of foes they, along with the other unfriendly denizens of the caverns, were slowing the troop down, and with the grinding pace they were already taking, that in and of itself might prove lethal.

It was Bowser of all people who was the main thing holding them back. Weighed down by all the extra bits and bobs fusion had shoved in his shell, the late night gauntlet after an already exhausting day had finally caused the king’s stamina to falter. His limbs burned with lactic acid, his breathing was heavy, and his pace was labored. He soldiered on, a relentless stomp stomp stomp, but it was barely above walking pace.

Kamek was only doing a little better, as both his general age and use of the enlargement spell had taken their toll atop the day’s fatigue. Had Mimi not taken over the duty of keeping their former transport enlarged, he too, would have been entirely out of it. As it was he hovered alongside his king, offering the exhausted koopa what assistance and words of encouragement would be accepted by the stubborn royal.

Meanwhile the energy of youth was keeping the two royal scions going, that and a combination of magical and mechanical assistance, with jr’s flying machine and Rika’s levitation rune letting them make the platforming a breeze, but it also left them as the ones running around smacking down the local hostels when they came to try and pick off the haggard heroes.

At least, thanks to Purse, they knew the locals were not under any kind of spell, and so there was little remorse to be had for those who attacked them of their own free will, resulting in several packs of vengeful rattling bandits and cheese slime revolutionaries falling to gunfire and good old fashioned grit.

”Urrgh, what I’d give to have the Koopa Chase right now” The king gasped, after summiting a crumbling hill of cheddar, before groaning as he looked onward towards the final climb leading to the tower, one still oh so painfully far away.

”Keep going, sire, it's not that far, and once inside, I’m sure we can barricade the entrance. Then we can rest, and presumably eat all the pizza we can manage” Kamek hovered up to his side to tell him encouragingly.

”and if we don’t keep moving we’re gonna get sunk and turned into fish food!” Rika added as she landed next to them and before she pushed forwards and leaping up into the air once more. Once at the top of her arch she fired her grappling hook down behind a pile of cheese wheels and smashing down among a series of ambushers who had been hiding behind it, filling the air with the shrieking of death delivered at the tip of her chainsaw bayonet.

While she could deal with foes ahead, none of them wanted to deal with the one behind. Unfortunately, the giant flying idol that was SAYU, and the captain of the guard, Undyne, who she was carrying in her free hand had other ideas. While up until now the pair had been spreading out their fire, bombarding heroes whenever one of them did a particularly tricky bit of platforming, they now caught onto the weakness of the troop, and began to rapidly close in on their position.

”More rain incoming!” Jr called out in warning, as he was first to track the new vector, and sure enough, as the aquatic duo proceeded to give the troop one last taste of rain, courtesy of the home of tears.

“In the name of love, we’ll punish you!” the flying idol cried out, before stabbing her usb symbol styled trident skywards, launching a beam of light into the air. What came down in stead was a flurry of bright red 2d fountain pen nibs with triangle fish tails the size of human torsos showered down like rain of arrows

“In the name of Justice, you mean!” Undyne called out, before jabbing her spear skywards in a similar motion, one that caused a shower of bright blue spears neatly contrasting the red pens to strike down as well.

”Here we go again” Jr groaned, readying his staff and starting to weave to and fro to avoid the red and green rainfall. Rika had basically no issue in avoiding the rain, the mere act of looking at projectiles heading her way slowing said shots enough for her to block them, or grappled, or boost away. Kamek’s flight meant he too could mostly avoid the shots just as well as Jr could.

The problem, ultimately, was Bowser. The king was a big slow target, and had to stick to the ground for the most part, meaning he took the brunt of the shots, which jr had to heal back up. They’d managed to endure previous probing barrages, but this time was different.

“First we’ll deal with you, then the rest! So Stop running and fight me so I can move on already!” Undyne called out, putting words to the sinking feeling in Jr’s gutt, before he found himself groaning at SAYU’s addition of “I can sea that you’re tired. Wouldn’t it be just fin to stop running and sleep with the fishes instead?”

Once over the pun the prince had a thought however, and a look at his papa’s pained and embarrassed face confirmed it: that Bowser wight well turn and fight if it meant he wouldn’t be slowing be slowing the rest of them down any more. Jr mulled this over, for but a second, and then saw the only way to stop that.

He had to do it first.

”Keep going, I’ll hold them off!” Jr called out, and then turned his flying machine around, taking to the skies.

”Wait, young master!” Kamek called out, while Bowser took one look back, and then kept going, trusting that they’d both be ok.

”I’ve got this Kamek, you don’t need to babysit me for it” the prince insisted as he rose up to the same altitude as their pursuers.

”We have this, young master” the mage retorted, as he flew at the prince’s side, the two becoming a pair of dots daring storm and titan both.

“Finally one of you shows some guts!” Undyne cheered, before beckoning them closer with her spear and commanded them to “now, come at me, if you dare!” before tilting the flow of the spear storm 90 degrees so that the pair were flying into it rather than through it, transforming the game of dodging falling rocks into a true bullet hell.



”Then look out, because here we come!” Jr called back, before putting pedal to the metal, and sending his clown car charging forward, weaving between the flying spears as he closed in.

“Wait, don’t come too close though! No tapping on the glass!” SAYU added in quite the opposite desire of Undyne, and as she was the one with control over their movements, the absurd sight of the titanic mermaid fleeing the comparatively minuscule prince graced all those who deigned to look up.

She did not do so passively however, and instead thrust her fork forwards, not to physically jab at the prince, but to instead blasted an energy beam forwards, one that the prince narrowly managed to veer to the side to avoid.

”You’ll have to do better than that to keep me away!” Jr shouted, delighted that all he had to do was fly at her to get their foe to give up ground.

“Stop running away! Fly me closer so I can hit him with my spear!” Undyne demanded

“I wasn’t made for physical interaction! ” SAYU replied, before contouring with “Besides, we’re reeling them in towards the city!”

”She’s right Jr, don’t get too far away!” Kamek called, having himself fallen behind the daring prince.

”Gahhh, fine!” jr called back in frustration, seeing the logic, and reversing his pace and falling back away, flying with the flow of the rain of arrows. He was determined to not leave empty handed however, and so left a parting gift, deploying his splatter blaster from his car and firing off a short burst of shocking goop right as SAYU switched to pursuing them again, causing her to fly straight into it.

“Ewwww! He-ey-ey-ey! Rud-u-u-u-de!” the giant mermaid complained as the electrical sparks buzzed at her lower torso, and her voice seemed to glitch out in response to the shock. She did not seem to actually be hurt though, but the prince would take her being deliberated.

He got to take that for about five seconds, before SAYU, who had failed to shake off the goop, declared “let the sea’s of change wash this away” before spinning around glowing with light that dissipated after a few moments, revealing the mermaid now wearing armor mimicking that of some of the guards, but done up with pastel hues of pink white and blue, and love heart decals “With a whole new look!”

With the shocking goop cleared away by the costume change, and Jr on the retreat again, SAYU went back on the offensive (as did Undyne, once she recovered from the nausea of being spun around).

“In this fight I’m the cute face and you're the ugly eel, so let's give you some company!” She called out as a shoal of blocky electric eels launched out from behind her and raced ahead of the prince, where they started swimming too and fro in his path of retreat, creating shocking barriers that he had to dodge around while also avoiding the other projectiles.

To make things worse, she also started summoning fish shaped pen nibs around him in a ring that would follow him for a few moments and then jab them at him all at once.

”Hey, that’s not fair, you can’t just make stuff next to me!” Jr complained before diving down to avoid being skewered from all sides, getting away with a cut on the cheek and one cat ear, as well as a trimmed ponytail

“Oooooh, are my oceanic strikes making you salty?” she retorted with a giggling laugh

”That is quite enough banter from you young lady” Kamek called back, before adding ”Now dodge this!” before he started sending a slow stream of his multicolored shape shots at the flying titan.

“You’re dougongna have to try harder than that” the mermaid replied as she effortlessly weaved from side to side to avoid the projectiles, though it did lower her focus on attacking to do so, much as Kamek had intended.

“No, he had a point, stop playing around and hold them still so I can finish them off” Undyn told her, to which SAYU replied with a huffy “Awww, but that attack’s so not on theme yet. We need to reskin it to be squids or something”

“Do it!”

“Fine fine” she conceded, before pointing one of her fingers at the prince (while still holding the trident with the rest) and thinking a moment before going “oh!” and calling out “time to get caught on the net!”

For a moment nothing happened, and then jr suddenly lurched to a halt as something grabbed his clown car. He looked over the side as he started to get hammered by spears, and found a 2d white gloved hand holding on tight.

”Hey! Get off!” he shouted at it, swatting at it with his paintbrush and knocking it away, only for it to turn into an arrow as it flow away, and then quickly shifting to a distinctive pointing finger when it caught its own flight, and started coming in to try and grab him again.

”Wait, what the heck, is that a mouse cursor?” Jr shouted in confusion as he tried to swat the thing, only for Kamek to nail it instead with a magic blast that went much faster than the ones he was using to ward off SAYU.

The prince called out thanks, and then, after a moment's thought, came upon a realization: ”Wait. The way she sorta got made out of thin air at the start. The glitching out. The whole artsy pen theme that just does not fit. The mouse. How she keeps getting like, design changes …. she’s not real!”

That prompted a little hurt gasp and a retort of “But I am real! As real as Undyne and Alphey’s love for each other” from SAYU, who looked genuinely offended rather than, well confused at the accusation, which was in and of itself telling.

“Hey! No telling the criminals about my love life you lot!” Undyne retaliated, which got a gleeful “I knew it!” from SAYU

”I’m not sure what you mean by all this, young master?” Kamek asked, while jr pressed on, now entirely convinced.

”She’s like a VTuber” he tried to explain, taking the entirely wrong angle when it came to clarification, and earning himself an ”A what?” from Kamek and a “Hey, I am way more sophisticated than one of those!” from the mermaid in question

Jr groaned at his out of touch caretaker, and then put it in words the old koopa would understand ”It means she’s not a real person. She’s a puppet, like one of your magic minions, which means …”

”Ahhh, which means we can destroy her without consequence!” the mage replied, finally catching on to where this was going.

“Wait what?” SAYU started, and then cried out in alarm as what had been warning shots turned into targeted strikes, though ones pointedly aimed at not striking down her real living monster passenger.

Jr opened fire with his Flaming Balloon cannon, before deploying and cranking the handle of his mulcher machine gun, while Kamek gave the mermaid a taste of her own medicine by summoning spinning card suit shapes right around her, and hammering her with massive blue magic fists as well.

“Ouch. Hey. Stop that!” she demanded as the shots chipped away at her exterior, and revealed her digital nature in full, particularly as damage started to accumulate and she began glitching out more, both in voice and in movement, actions repeating and beckoning much more jerky “That’s i-i-i-it. I’m fed-ed-ed-ed up! This isn’t a per-form-orm-orm-mance any more! Enou-gh-gh of you”

“Hold it together you lot!” Undyne demanded, but it was no use, it looked like she was going to fall apart at the seams.

Until she didn’t.

Bright light engulfed her once more, but instead of a costume change this time her entire body started to warp, shift, invert, until the koopas where left facing the fully revitalized horrors of a reverse mermaid

”Gah! What the heck did they do to the cute mermaid idol!” Jr called out with genuine horror as to what they had done.

“You made us resort to this. Now you're going to pay! Right Undyne?” she cried out before getting a confused look and repeating “Undyne?” and then suddenly realizing the issue. They’d replaced the arm she’d been holding the guard captain with with a stubby fin.

“Down here you dolts!” the fish woman in question called out from where she was hanging from an ankle warmer.

“Oops” she replied, and then “ah! Hey!” as the captain used her impressive strength to haul herself up the leg, fins, and then on top of SAYU in a few seconds, where she grabbed the mermaid’s hair antenna with one hand and used it as a steering control to force the giant fish to surge forwards towards them, the captain declaring “now we do things my way!”

”Ach, what do we do!” Jr called out, as the fish started to rapidly gain on both them and the struggling Bowser, who had just made it to the bottom of the not undaunting climb to hill atop which the base of the pizza tower sat.

”Cover me!” the mage called out, before summoning 4 clones of himself ”Or rather us!” and then starting to charge up a massive energy ball using all of their combined power ”We need to strike her down in one shot!”

”Alright, here goes nothing!” jr replied, as he switched from dodging to blocking, the prince wielding his paintbrush like a tennis racket or bat and using it to swat spears and pen nibs out of the sky, suffering mightily from each missed parry.

The sphere grew bigger, and the fish surged closer until it was big as her and she was right on top of them to have that comparison made plainly clear.

“Swat them from the sky!” Undyne commanded, and so SAYU tried to do just that, swinging a mighty kick forwards to try and give the boot to the mage, only to strike the prince instead as he rushed in to block one more strike.

The prince went sailing off into the distance like a football, while his mentor cried out ”Young master!” in alarm, before slamming the super sized magic right into the idol’s underside.

“Nooooo!” SAYU screamed out, before her final words distorted and then came to a sharp end as she fell from the skies and crashed down onto the dirt, flopping like a grounded fish for a few moments before going still.

Kamek did not wait to guarantee the strike had worked, the mage turning at once and calling out ”Don’t worry young master, I’m coming!” as he flew after the blasted away prince.

Which meant he was not there to see as Undyne pushed a flipper off of her body and slipped down from her fallen steed. Iron boots struck cheesy soil. She breathed deep to steady herself from what she thought had been a near death encounter, and then the chase continued.

---

”No no no, go away! Just leave! Go home!” Rika called down at Undyne, as the guard captain ignored her pleas and stepped a foot upon the bottom of the hill, and began to climb after them step by step, mouth grinning wide “Not gonna happen, I always catch the crook, and you lot aren't gonna be any kind of exception!”

In response to that, the ship girl grit her teeth and then, as the captain raised her spear to unleash another hail, made the same choice Jr had, despise her having seen how that had gone for him ”Keep going dad, I’ll be right behind you”

”Rika wait!” Bowser hoarsely tried to call after her, but it was too late, as the aquatic armored woman started running back down the hill towards the one who was ascending it.



“Finally, a proper fight!” Undyne replied, taking half a moment to appreciate the look of the ship girl storming towards her with the feathered cape trailing behind her, before she opened fire, directing her spear forwards and heralding a flurry of mirrors of the weapon to surge forwards once again.

Yet just as before, as they got close to the ship girl, the shots slowed, as if becoming submerged in water, allowing her to weave between them with relative ease. She came closer, and closer, barreling down the hill with the clear intent to slam into the guard captain like a horseless knight.

Her lack of knowledge of what to her was archaic military tactics prevented her from seeing just how bad of an idea this was to do vs someone armed with a spear.

Coming in with a gauntlet reeled back ready to strike, the ship girl attempted to deliver a slamming punch to her foe, only for Undyne to neatly step to the side and drive her longer weapon forwards, jabbing it straight towards her heart. An electrical sound fizzled, an alarm rang in Rika’s ear, as her energy shield absorbed much of the jab and left the resulting dampened blow merely scraping off her armor.

Undyne’s one eye widened in surprise and then narrowed with resolution in an instant, as in her other hand a second spear formed, which she planted right in the jaw of the gauntlet slamming towards her. With a grunt she resisted the power of the blow, skidding down the cheese hill a half step yet staying on her feet, and halted the strike a foot from her face.

Which left the barrel of Rika’s rifle pointed right at her forehead.

The ship girl hesitated for half a second to pull the trigger, unable to assess if this situation counted as an “unless you have to” moment, and that was far more than Undyn needed to take away the choice. The captain wrenched the spear to one side to pull Rika off balance, and at the same time slammed a kick into her side, sending her sprawling to the side of the hill.

Then she raised a spear to hurl at the ship girl, only for Rika to be suddenly launch into the air as she squeezed the featherfall rune. Undyne reacted quickly, tracking the ship’s accent and hurling the spear up instead, yet again, Rika rapidly changed momentum as she grappled to the ground once again, feet touching down once again.

“Impressive move” Undyne offered in compliment, before letting out a wordless warcry and charging forwards. Rika counter changed, yet lacking the momentum of her downhill run, and with Undyne knowing about her energy shield, there’d be no repeat of their first clash.

With swift strikes Undyne jabbed and probed at the shipgirl’s defenses while dancing just out of punch range, while Rika blocked with her gauntlets and hull blades and tried and failed to knock her foe down. While some might have mentally cursed about the limitation on her arsenal put upon her by the denial of lethal strikes, Rika’s order following mind had no such complaints.

Instead she got increasingly annoyed about new parts of her mind helpfully analyzing the spear fighting technique of her opponent from a rather useless and detached perspective, while also inducing an empty dysphoria feeling about her lack of a weapon to allow her to meet this foe at her same level.

But it was not like she could summon things from nothing to fill that lack, this she knew. Or had thought she knew, because that was, of course, a falsehood.

It was a realization that made her falter for just a moment, stalling her motions enough for Undyne to slip past a guard, and as the shipgirl saw the tip of the spear coming straight for her eyes, and heard the blaring alarm of her shields being down in her ears, she rushed the thought she had to its conclusion.

Pain stabbed her, but not in the head but in the heart, a familiar feeling as she called a belonging of the Pacific Princess into reality. Yet it was not the whale this time but “a spear?”

Undyne blinked as seemingly from nowhere an arched spine caught the point of her spear, halting it an inch from the visor of Rika’s helmet. The captain’s eye also saw the point at one end of that spine, and then traced down to where the heft was awkwardly held by the shipgirl’s gauntleted hand. Then she grunted as Rika slammed a kick into her as repayment, knocking the captain down this time.

She had no jumping trick like Rikas to save herself as she went rolling down the hill, but instead jammed a spear into the cheese to halt her fall, and send a volley of more forwards to ward off a follow up strike from Rika. Then she pulled herself up in time to see the shipgirl spinning the spear around her gauntlet, using a long strap attached to the weapon to keep it from escaping, the rotation battering the barrage of points away.

She also saw one more thing: “Wait, does that thing have a cannon at the base of it?!”



“That is sooooo cool. Like a gun sword out of an anime, only better!” Undyne marveled, before grinning and deciding “I’ll be seizing that as evidence”

Rika planted the barrels of the twin cannons to the ground and tried to give a witty remark in response, only to instead cough up blood that splattered against her visor, a result of her summoning the dead princess’s possessions, a cost that had been undone by Jr a lot of the time, now having to be paid.

Awkwardly, she pulled the helmet off and then tossed it aside.

Now properly mirrored, the two armored helmet-less spear-women faced each other down for a dramatic moment.

And then both rushed in and clashed once more.

This time it was no close range brawl of speed vs power, but a more artful ranged duel, as each spear-wilder jabbed and parried, gave and took ground, seeking either to pierce their foe in Undyne’s case, or bluntly bash them in Rika’s as she used the butt of her own pole-arm.

They went beyond mortal movements however, as Undyne summoned a second spear in and out of existence, switching between one and two handing her magical weapon, while Rika’s own spear flashed from hand to hand, into gauntlet jaws, or flipped orientation to bring point or cannon to the fore for the purpose of blocking or thrusting.

As opposed to the taunting bout between the pop-star and arrogant princess, the two soldiers fought in silence, though by no means a grim one. The shipgirl found herself matching the captain’s daring pointed smile as the two of them showed the world that swords were not the only artful weapon of stylish duels. Not the only weapon of heroes. That the weapon of the common soldier could be so much more than a faceless part of a spear-wall.

Tips grazed off of armor or won thin cuts against dodging faces, butts bludgeoned and left bruises through metal, and sheer fatigue took their toll, yet on they danced the rest of the world forgotten. It was a song, a clash of spear tips, of magic and metal, one no less beautiful than SAYU’s.

It was also a song that was rudely interrupted.

A thunderous blast roared, causing both fighter’s gazes to snap to the side, and for Rika’s to catch and slow the cannonball whizzing towards them. Both spear-women leapt to the side as a gang of Ratlings took that moment to try and both take vengeance for their fallen king and take down the captain of the guards who had been a mighty thorn in their illegal operations.

“We were having a moment there, criminal scum! Now lay down your arms, you’re all under arrest!” Undyne called out as she rushed in, and, in an ironic twist, tried to avoid killing where she could do so, while Rika flipped to the exact opposite.

The captain parried a rapier thrust and then grabbed a ratling before hurling them down the hill, smacked another with the but of her spear, hammered a volley of spears around a third to create a cage of spear shafts around him, and then just booted a fourth in the gutt.

Rika meanwhile used the cannons on her spear base for the first time, hoking the shaft under an armpit for support and then letting lose nailing the cannon fire-er the chest, before flipping the spear around and using its massive reach to skewer a rat bandit through the eye before it could even get close with its sword.

“Hey, stop killing the people I am trying to arrest!” Undyn demanded after the second kill, and was then very confused when Rika offered an ”Oh, sorry” of apology, and switched back to non lethal, bonking her third foe over the head with her spear’s shaft, and then catching several more in a whirlpool of water created by her Cloyster striker, which spun them around till they dizzily bumped together at its center, at which point it dissipated.

A few dozen heartbeats passed, and by the end of them the surviving ratling bandits were all groaning on the ground. Which meant only one thing

“Right, now where were we-” Undyne started to say as she pivoted around to face her main foe again, only for her eye to close half way through the movement and for her to tumble to the ground.

”What?” Rika asked, barely able to hear herself over the sound of her blood pumping in her ears, before the cause revealed itself.

An obsidian scaled wyvern swooped down, and upon its back were a tired looking Kamek and a beat up but smiling Jr holding his paintbrush, the latter having cast Repose upon the guard captain under the cover of the wyvern’s cave camouflage.

”Cool spear, and cool fight” jr complimented her as he slipped before slipping off the wyvern and tossing her a tape, telling Rika to ”Record her while she’s asleep … wow that sounds weird … do it anyway I wanna know if it works. Meanwhile I’m gonna prep a way to get her off our tails”

”I, wah, ok?” the shipgirl replied, much too tired to question any of this, catching the tape, slotting it into her tape player and then crouching down to record the captain's loud snoring while Jr splashed some paint on the ground next to her.

Ten seconds later and both were done and jr unceremoniously used a foot to roll Undyne onto the low detail painting of the city of tears he’d made, causing her to promptly explode into bubbles which raced into said painting, transporting the captain back to her city.

”Oh. Huh. I guess that works” Rika said, before her gaze snapped up the hill as she started to ask ”Is dad ok-” only to meet his eyes and receive an awkward wave from Bowser who still had a bunch of hill climbing to do, having been rather slowed down by being unable to tear his eyes away from the spear fight.

Not that Rika knew that was why. Mainly she was just relieved everyone in the troop was ok. It was a mutual feeling.

”Let’s get moving before these ratfolk get up, shall we?” Kamek suggested, as he stared down at a ratling that promptly shut its eye and went back to pretending to be knocked out.

The others agreed, and set off to catch up with Bowser for the, hopefully, safe from pursuers and full of friends Pizza Tower.

"Well that was... informative," Rubck said as he, Nadia, Artorias, and Jesse emerged from the depths of their most recent adventure. It was somewhat of a pity to not obtain the Flapwoods' Spirit. He would've liked to be able to fly around as freely as it could. Now that the excitement was over, he was also feeling somewhat tired. He had items that restored health, but fatigue was a different story. He would've liked to go back to the hotel and get something delicious to eat, but it seemed fate would play a cruel trick on him today as the glowing red sign appeared. That could only mean one thing: a Consul! Sharing a look with Nadia and nodding, they rushed over to Fountain Central, Rubick's fatigue momentarily forgotten. He still wasn't over missing out on Consul P's appearance; he wasn't going to miss this one if he could help it.

After that relatively short journey, they came face to face with Consul F, who proceeded to unleash a crowd of mind-controlled townsfolk onto them. Rubick chuckled as he readied himself for combat. He knew it was likely that a Consul would pull some shenanigans, and he was glad he was right. The area quickly fell into chaos as projectiles saturated the air and melee combatants flung themselves at the Seekers. Rubick kept his Loch Shield up, which helped mitigate a great deal of the attacks that came his way, particularly the magical ones. As delighted as he was to be thrown into battle like this, though, there was a little too damage heading his way. So he covered himself in glowing white webs, using his Weaver's Warp to teleport himself into the air. There were some who noticed Rubick and proceeded to fire away at him. Rubick eyes darted everywhere, observing everyone who was around. Rubick would use his Power Steal on Gram as the blue-skinned brother leaped into the fray, using the same ability to maneuver himself out of harm's way. He then he used his Telekinesis on one of Sophie's potions, redirecting it into another projectile heading his way and cancelling them out.

By some miracle he hadn't taken a bit of damage in the next few seconds, and he used his Blink Dagger to teleport himself out of danger once more. He was creating a considerable amount of distance, and it wasn't long before he made his way to the giant whale Rika had made. Rubick did his best to help peel off one by one some of the stowaways clinging onto the whale with his Telekinesis, and he hoped the others could do better.

The Seekers did eventually make it to what was apparently the safest location for them now: Crumble Cavern. It seemed like their pursuers weren't going to give up that easily, though. Rubick wondered what was in store for them in this place that was apparently made out of cheese.

Roxas had been awfully quiet during the whole trip to get to this place. The whole thing with Poppi was still weighing on him heavily. But at least by now he took the black coat off and returned to his other attire. He was only wearing that thing earlier because of the rain, but now that rain had was pretty much gone so there was no longer a need for it at this time. That and he recalled someone suggesting that he change clothes and appear a bit less conspicuous.

But it was only now, after all this time, that Roxas realized he hadn't eaten a single thing since that morning. And he missed the drinks and meal at Seventh Heaven so his stomach was pretty rumbly right now. Well there was plenty of eateries to choose from. But it quickly became apparent that even the food in this place was high-class, much like how the citizens themselves were described. Many places were selling things like crepes and gelatos. But Roxas wasn't really finding himself to be in the mood for sweets. That was when a sushi bar caught his eye. Roxas recalled seeing sushi as an option at the restaurant he ate dinner at last night, "May as well give it a shot."

Inside was a very clean and almost sterile looking establishment. A white bar with light wooden countertops surrounding it and black wooden stools to sit on. The establishment was being manned by a knife-wielding sushi chef wearing a white culinary coat and hat. Roxas sat at one of the stools and ordered a simple salmon nigiri dish. The chef went to work, chopping and slicing the fish with speed and precision like she'd been doing this for years. She served Roxas a dish with an oval of rice topped with a thin slice of salmon held together by a thin band of seaweed. On the side was pair of dipping sauces, one soy and the other wasabi. Roxas dipped the nigiri in the soy sauce and took a tentative bite. His face lit up, "It's delicious, thanks!" he told the chef before proceeding to munch down the rest of the nigiri.

With another grateful thank you, Roxas waved the chef goodbye and left the sushi bar. A bit later he found himself on the boat with the rest of the Seekers that he came with. He wasn't super clear on where the boat was going, resulting in Roxas wishing he'd around during the discussion at Seventh Heaven. Oh well, there was nothing for it now. And wherever they were going, it was probably important. It had something to do with that upcoming debate everyone was talking about, Roxas at least knew that much. But beyond that, he may as well have been a tourist.

—

Honestly, Karin couldn’t believe it. Sakura prancing around like she was a princess in a field of flowers, getting rejected over and over again. Even mocked. But when it came to things like this, Sakura simply had no pride. No stake in it. Something like this wouldn’t embarrass her. And then she met this odd man who was clearly spoiled blind my wealth kept talking over her and had no idea how people worked. But Sakura and him hit it off right away. Sakura, Karin found, could make friends with most people. Somehow she had even made friends with Karin. Because the more Karin thought about it, she covered her face and kept quiet. This guy was like looking into a dark mirror, and Karin didn’t need that much of a reality check with her lunch.

When Midna said they all looked like a bunch of cynics, Karin felt obligated to speak up. “Well. It was Tora’s idea, first.” She said, as if to deprive her rival of a win.

Sakura meanwhile was happy to take pictures of Mr. Limestone once he gave her a camera. While it might have been a little higher tech than the polaroids of her world, the basic concept was the same. Point and shoot!

”Teehee. This is kinda fun. I feel like a…what’s the word…a paparazzi!” She said, smiling. ”Except not like, evil, or whatever?”

Karin had find it amusing how Geralt loomed in the distance behind Sakura. She wondered if seeing such an intimidating form behind the plucky teenager influenced anyone’s decision to not do Sakura’s odd request.

Sakura had her eye up against the camera and her other eye shut when Susie asked Wallace a weird question. ”Pfft.” It struck Sakura as a bit glib. But then she remembered they were undercover, and she tried to clam up a bit.

Karin overheard the conversation about morals. She found herself agreeing with Zenkichi and Midna, even if the former might be a bit sentimental about it. Benedict also had a point, but she didn’t like the wishy washy way he said it.

”We must be our best selves at all times. Anything else will result in failure. It is as simple as that.” Karin said.

Sakura meanwhile considered her mission to get Wallace friends as seriously as she could. ”Hmm… paparazzi.” She went down a line of thought related to celebrity culture. ”You don’t want to attract moochers. Now that I think about it, being popular is different from having friends.” She rubbed her chin, deep in thought. If Wallace wasn’t paying attention, she would also happily be talking to herself.

”Besides my best friend Kei who I don’t even remember meeting for hte first time…I made a lot of friends through sharing common interests. Or school. But my common interest is fighting, and you’re not in school...” She looked Wallace up and down.

”I mean, what do I know, you could be a totally awesome fighter already! Are you an awesome fighter? I wonder if this boat is big enough to have a fight on.” Sakura got distracted quick, squinting at Karin and trying to figure out if she could throw a fireball at her from here without destroying the boat.