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Pizza Face turned into Pizza Head, and Jesse felt a familiar unpleasant feeling. Now Jesse considered herself an expert in vague unease as an indicator of evilness, considering that was basically all she had dealt with as an FBC Director. But like the King before, this Pizza Head was somehow wrong. How, exactly, Jesse couldn’t tell. Pizza Head looked no more outlandish or evil than anything else she had seen in the World of Light.

If anything, a guy with food for a head is basically mundane. So what’s with him? What classifies them as a different category from everything else? How important could it be to our main objective?

At the moment, such burning questions would have to wait. A whole host of monsters came out of the blue to assist the new freaky weirdo they were trying to kill. Jesse decided to focus down the big bad himself. She had the firepower to do it. Jesse Levitated above all the chaos and tried to pin down Pizza Head. He was a slippery dodger, avoiding attacks, but there was no way he could dodge everyone’s projectiles all at once. Not with some of them traveling at different speeds.

Jesse used Grip and began to put down the fire, its damage consistent and strong at all ranges, with a healthy supply of quickly regenerating bullets to boot.

Rubick was in a magic duel with some kind of eyeball monster that fired exploding eyeballs.

“Weird, but- yoink!” Jesse reached her hand out and snatched one of the projectile out of the air with Launch. Then she Launched it at Pizza Head’s feet, looking to blow him away or even better, up. Rubick would be assisted in his battle by Jesse occasionally snatching one of the eye monster’s eyeballs and flinging it at Pizza Head instead.

All the while laying down the firepower with Grip. Weirdly, the guy didn’t seem too keen on fighting back, just avoiding hits and using his monsters to battle.

Guess he underestimated us. Jesse said, ripping one last eyeball out of the air and flinging it at Pizza Head.

As soon as Pizza Head made his appearance, Ganondorf knew this was the opportunity he was waiting for. Or it would be, if the boss in question wasn't zipping around like some kind of insane child on a sugar rush. Even a wet bar of soap wasn't this slippery. Ganondorf hounded Pizza Head as best as he could. He swung swords wildly as he did so, but to no avail. Pizza Head's gestures and taunts weren't exactly doing much for the Gerudo's temperament either. But Ganondorf wasn't the only one focusing his attention on the main boss. The actions of Sectonia and Jesse not only managed to land a few hits on the annoying being, but it gave Ganondorf a moment to think and devise a strategy.

He temporarily jammed the blade of one his swords into the ground in order to free up a hand. Once this was done, Ganondorf snapped his fingers and summoned Blastocyst. The blob of flesh appeared overhead and was poised to drop down directly on where Pizza Head was currently taunting one of the other Seekers. Even if he dodged the initial drop, he may not necessarily be fast enough to avoid the projectiles that Blastocyst would shoot out upon impact. But Ganondorf wasn't taking any chances. Immediately after summoning Blastocyst, he snapped his fingers again and summoned a second striker: the Duke of Flies. The husk of flesh was disgusting to look at, but had proved his usefulness. For his attack he summoned a single large attack fly that began speeding through the air and homed in on Pizza Head. He could dodge it all he wanted, but the fly would keep coming until it hit.

Then he pulled out the sword stabbed into the ground and Ganondorf charged forward. All of this happened within mere moments, and he was banking on Pizza Head being too distracted by his Strikers to avoid what Ganondorf did next. He quickly jammed the two swords into the ground and swiftly rose up with Dark energy charging in his hand, "Dodge THIS!" the King of Evil roared as he crashed down onto the floor and let loose a Dark Explosion he'd been building up since the fight first began. Pizza Head could try to move away, but he couldn't possibly be fast enough to get out of the blast zone, as it were.

It wasn't much of a surprise that Pizza Face went down so quickly. The Seekers had many powerful people gathered in one place, with the current singular goal of defeating it so they could grab its mask fragment and move on. Maybe the universe in its infinite wisdom thought it was even a little too easy, because moments after Pizza Face fell to the ground it opened up as if on a hinge, revealing a pizza headed man inside. On the outside he seemed rather silly, but no one was under the illusion that he didn't have something nefarious up his sleeve. The area itself started to morph and change once he stepped out of his machine, and a mysterious phenomenon conjured eight images over everyone in the arena, including the boss of the tower himself.

Above Therion was two rows of identical daggers, and above Primrose eight paper fans tied with ribbon. Both of them were immediately on edge, especially after the Koopa Prince's panicked shout about what he thought the eight images meant. If he was right, then even despite their firepower they were in a dangerous situation.

Primrose took a step forward while considering a dance - defense probably wouldn't be of use, so maybe additional speed? Her intentions immediately changed when Pizza Head pulled a large ugly creature from nowhere and introduced it to the battle. It wasn't the only one he pulled out, but the first one caught Primrose's attention from the bright orange pustules on its body. That was the "Infection" that Barnabee had warned them about, wasn't it? In that case, the monster should be cleansed in fire.

The Brooding Mawlek began to spit up orange blobs as soon as it got its bearings, and the dancer met them with casts of her Fire Orb. It melted the infection before it could splatter onto any Seekers. Primrose and Mawlek didn't continue throwing blobs and magic overhead above the arena for very long. When an opening presented itself the dancer dropped to one knee and conjuring the Black Serpent to twist over the ground towards the Mawlek. Before it struck the monster leaped into the air, smashing down onto Primrose's location. Driven back by the impact Primrose happened to catch that the images above her had decreased to seven. It didn't bode well.

The Mawlek reared back and then lashed out with its arms, only slicing through the air where the dancer was a moment before. "Not so fast~" she said, reappearing behind the creature with Ravaging Confession and slashing her dagger across its body. On the second pass she noted that its body lit up briefly, and if the icons above its own head were anything to go by her follow up hadn't dealt it any damage.

A dangerous situation indeed, she thought. but not one she couldn't handle.

Meanwhile, Therion had started toward Pizza Head. He was of similar thought to Primrose in that he suspected his debuffing wouldn't be effective, so his target was the boss himself. Of course he wasn't the only Seeker with that plan either. Artorias and Ganondorf practically forced their way through the arena, though the former was impeded along the way, while Sectonia and Jesse took a different approach. Throwing daggers wouldn't be enough this time, seeing as Pizza Head was not only fast, but whenever he was momentarily staggered by someone else's strike he blinked and didn't take any damage for a few seconds afterward - making capitalizing on his allies' hits impossible for the thief. Getting real sick of this, Therion thought as he weaved through the battlefield, careful to avoid any stray attacks from other people's fights.

Eventually he'd made a full loop around the arena and broke off from the those chasing Pizza Head, rejoining his fellow Orsterran where she danced in and out of her opponent's range. Her gaze flickered to him briefly as he got closer, tagging her to donate some of his mana towards her reserves.

"Need a hand?"

"No," she answered honestly, a smirk curling her lips. "But since you're here anyway."

The images above her head showed six, while above the Mawlek was four. It backed up to put some space between the Travelers and lurched into vomiting out a whole group of infectious blobs at once. Primrose summoned the Flame Fan and used a battle boost to increase its size enough to swipe the globs in fire while Therion dashed in and stabbed the Mawlek. He darted to one side to avoid its claw and as soon as its body stopped flashing he stabbed it again.

The Mawlek rumbled while trying to skitter away. Primrose twirled into its path, flourishing the Flame Fan to burn its body. The final hit was struck with Therion's Wildfire, lighting up the dreary orange space with a blast of fire magic. The monster flailed and crumbled, one less obstacle on the battlefield.

Though a high-speed ride on the Flight Units through Vandelay’s skies could really get one’s heart rate up, it sure did get the Seekers from A to B. In no time they closed in on their destination, and they found it about as Sandalphon described. A mechanical bridge connected the rear of the towering Vandelay Building to what looked like a relatively new facility, judging by all the construction work that left much of its lower front a jumbled, slapdash mess. On top of that the bridge had been retracted, leaving nothing but a series of cranes, scaffolds, and rails between the two structures. That didn’t seem to be stopping a certain someone, though. Leaping and ninja running through the tangle of platforms and walls was a cyborg in pale green armor with just one mechanical arm, a katana at his hip in a high-tech scabbard, his dark hair done up in a ponytail, and his stubbly face plastered with a casual grin. He navigated the construction site as if it was child’s play, then with a final leap landed on the square walled-in arena on the retracted bridge’s far side.

“No use running,” he called breezily, crossing his arms. “How about we get this over with, Kale?”

On the other side of the arena, a tall businessman stopped onto a circular elevator surrounded by red glass. Then he turned, his lip curled in annoyance. Clad in a dapper black suit plus coat with red highlights, accessorized with gold, and boasting a marvelous head full of platinum-blonde hair, he looked every inch the high-profile corporate CEO. “I don’t have time for this,” he snapped.

The elevator doors closed, and as he began to rise three elite Vandelay robots dropped down in front of the elevator. Storm Owl, Overdrive Ostrich, and Burn Rooster ran forward and slid to a stop as a quartet of ES units flashed in, ready to brawl. At the same time, 9S and 2B swooped down to hover at the front of the arena so their passengers could get off. Then both switched their Flight Units to combat mode, their fearsome ink-black mechs looming over the battlefield like harbingers of death.

Sakura dropped down, happy to be back on solid ground. She stood up from her three point landing and pumped her fists, eyeing everyone on the field and ready for a fight.

Roxas followed suit immediately after. ”...” The hooded Keybearer glanced in Raz’s direction and his gloved hand tapped a finger on the side of his head to tell them both to listen to his thoughts. Try reading their minds. Something tells me they aren’t going to be very talkative.

Sam looked over his shoulder, stroking his goatee. He didn’t seem all that bothered. “Well. Looks like the cavalry’s here..”

Raz looked from Sam to Roxas real quick, giving the teen a nod. He’d do his best, at least, no telling how easy he could manage when the heat started. For now, Raz focused his telepathic waves towards Sam, able to concentrate during the calm before the storm.

Sandalphon quickly contacted the Seekers. “Whatever you do, don’t engage him here. Help him against these robots. You’ll have to ride up to reach Kale, and that’ll be your best chance to figure out where he stands.” Then she altered her broadcast, her voice ringing out across the arena as she addressed the swordsman directly.. “Jetstream Sam. We’re here to assist you with the takedown of Kale Vandelay.”

“No faith in me, eh?” He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Roxas flourished his Keyblades in a flash of black and white respectively. So far his thunder magic seemed pretty effective against all the robotic enemies, so he was ready to cast more of those if needed, ”Just think of us as… insurance.”

Sakura’s gung-ho energy skidded to a stop. They all looked super tough. She thought they were just going to throw down! Now she stood there, eyes wide, wondering if Jetstream Sam really bought that these three were his reinforcements.

”Think of us like a snowplow,” he said as he hurried past Sam to face Kale’s defense force, totally copping Roxas’s line. ”We’ll clear the way while you… uh, stretch your sword arm.”

The Keybearer didn’t wait around any longer. He sprinted forward, wanting to get himself in the midst of the enemy robots so that he could soften them up a bit with a good Thundaga spell. He needed to have as many of them around him as he could in order to catch as many as possible within the spell’s radius. ”Thundaga!”

Roxas managed to speed into the thick of things to call down a deluge of lightning bolts that struck all three Reploids and their ES entourage. His electric bombardment interrupted the sword-wielders as they went to attack and actually staggered Overdrive Ostrich in a burst of static, revealing some sort of weakness, but the two elites didn’t share that shortcoming. Stopping to cast in melee range put Roxas point-blank as Burn Rooster assaulted him with two heavy kicks wreathed in flame, the Reploid’s fiery crest burning with excitement. At the same time, Storm Owl hopped backward and into the air, taking aim with his arm cannon. Three yellow targeting lasers appeared in a spread pattern, and after a moment three feather projectiles shot out like giant crossbow bolts.

The Nobody couldn’t exactly say he was surprised by this turn of events. He did rush forward in order to get off an encompassing spell, and now he was going to have to deal with the consequences of that action. The heavy nature of Burn Rooster’s kick made them a bit telegraphed and simple enough for Roxas to avoid with a couple of quick dodge rolls. Then came the small volley of feather shots from Storm Owl at nearly the exact same time - delayed ever so slightly by the act of taking aim. Those were quicker but came in the form of a trio of straight shots going in three separate directions. Dodging was a little risker so instead Roxas stayed put and used his Keyblades to deflect the feather that fired directly at him, leaving the other two to miss due to the intended target remaining in one spot.

Once the initial shock wore off the four ES units charged forward to engage the enemy. With a lot more power, durability, and reach than the average SBR, they would punish the Seekers for focusing too much on the Reploids or give said Reploids the chance to attack if their enemies turned their attention on the ES units. One of them, however, made the mistake of going after Sam. The Wind of Destruction had jumped back out of the fray when Roxas fired off his miniature lightning storm so he wouldn’t get hit, but when the ES unit chased him down, Sam avoided its slash with ease. He dodged to the left, then ducked, then to the right as the robot kept swinging, only grinning as his attacker grew more frustrated. After a moment the ES went for a mighty two-handed slam, but that overextension proved to be its last mistake. Sam put his hand on his sword and fired some sort of mechanism in the scabbard, launching the blade into action like a bullet from a rifle in a draw attack that made the typical iaijutsu slash look like a knife through molasses. The halves of the ES parted ways in an instant, including its black box, and the robot practically exploded into ashes the next instant. Sam casually returned his weapon to its sheathe and turned his attention to the newcomers as they fought.

Roxas was quick to retaliate against the two Reploids he was pitted against. He aimed his Keyblade and shot a Blizzaga spell at the flying Storm Owl right as he saw Burn Rooster coming down on him with a drop kick while wrapped in flames. Roxas crossed his weapons and used them to block the brunt of the blow and spun himself into a circular Dual Counter slash. But this meant that Roxas didn’t see Storm Owl swooping down on him. Evidently he had dodged the Blizzaga spell and now the Reploid had grabbed Roxas by the shoulders with his robotic talons and rose up with the intention of slamming the Keybearer back down onto the ground and hard.

Sakura had seen that Roxas was going two on one and had given the ES-Units on her the shake by throwing him into a nearby wall and with an acrobatic flip. Now she quite literally leapt into action, looking to stop Roxas from taking a hit. She jumped high into the air to challenge Storm Owl with a strong punch to the chassis. Performing an air combo, she brought her leg around with a spin kick. ”Shunpukyaku!”

“Agh!” Storm Owl took a tumble, though to his credit he managed to keep a hold on Roxas until both of them hit the ground. The impact forced him to release the boy, and a second later the Reploid flapped to his feet, his hand on his dented shoulder. “Hoo dares!?”

”Me!” Sakura shouted, getting into her fighting stance. ”Always!” She kicked at Storm Owl to force him away from Roxas.

“Roadkill!” Overdrive Ostrich roared. Recovered from his nasty shock, he shot a wave of sonic cutters across the arena to threaten all three Seekers at once, then charged at Sakura like a linebacker. By that time Burn Rooster was back in action too, and he wanted a piece of Roxas badly. As he charged in to deliver a flurry of kicks, Storm Owl prepared to join in the fight against Sakura but settled on Raz instead. He fired out four vacuum vortexes like miniature cyclones from his arm cannon. They hung in the air for a moment before hurtling toward his target.

This was child’s play. Storm Owl chose one of the worst targets he could’ve. The whirlwinds, while fast, had enough of a delay for Raz to dive out of their way before they reached him, and he was able to counter with ranged attacks of his own, powerful Blasts bursting on its large frame. ”Hey Bird Brain! Time to get grounded!” In what was becoming a common tactic for him, Raz closed the distance between them with Mental Connection, pulling himself up to where Storm Owl hovered, and delivering a quick three-strike combo that finished with a psychic palm thrust downwards, tossing the robot to the floor.

Sakura got a taste of her own medicine as the sonic cutter struck her in the back. ”Itai!” She cried out, barely glancing over her shoulder with wide eyes to see Overdrive about to crash into her.

Burn Rooster’s heavy kicks were telegraphed enough to dodge at first, but had a tendency to pick up speed the more he used them consecutively. He also started wrapping his kicks in fire after the first few, making them more dangerous to block in addition to being harder to dodge. But nearby, Roxas heard Sakura’s cry and caught a glimpse of the trouble she was in. He wanted to help but the Keybearer would have to get away from Burn Rooster first. That’s when it struck him and he got an idea.

”Waterga!” he cried, hurling a dense mass of water at the fiery Reploid. Surely that would douse the flames and give Roxas a chance to put some distance between them. He took the risk and made a break for Sakura’s position as fast as his legs would carry him. He skidded to a stop next to Sakura and cast another spell, ”Thunder!” he cried, calling down another miniature lightning storm around himself and Sakura. Roxas had managed to notice earlier that lightning was particularly effective against the Ostrich and so he was banking on the Reploid running right into his Thundaga before he had time to stop himself.

Sakura had uncrossed her arms, the big hit she was anticipating hadn’t come. ”Nice!” She said to Roxas, the Ostrich blown away by the Thunder. She turned and blasted a Hadoken at the Burn Rooster, meeting blue fire with red and putting herself back to back with the Keybearer.

”It’s basically three on three- no problem!” Sakura said confidently. She ran towards Burn Rooster and began exchanging blows. The Reploid was fast, strong, and powerful, but in Sakura’s opinion, predictable. Before it could get started on its blazing offense she powered through with an inky black Focus Attack, crumpling it with a flying knee. After that she began a series of her own spinning kicks that never seemed to stop, and when they did, it was only to provoke a reaction that would lead to me. ”Shunpukyaku! Shunpukyaku! Shunpukyaku!” She yelled as the combos went on.

Overdrive Ostrich, meanwhile, was proving to be a nuisance. When he was stunned by the initial Thundaga, Roxas was able to get at him with a flurry of Keyblade slashes. But once the Reploid was back on his feet he took off in a dead sprint, too fast for Roxas to keep up with him. He’d gotten smart, too, deliberately using his superior running speed to keep himself outside of the Keybearer’s Thundaga range to avoid another mishap. And on top of that, he was throwing occasional cutting spinners at Roxas from his range. Those were fairly easy to see coming and either dodge or reflect. But then the Ostrich changed up his tactics and made a leap into the air and clear over Roxas’s head. While in midair he dropped a group of cutting spinners directly down onto his opponent from above.

Roxas had to dive to the side to avoid the brunt of the attack. But he wasn’t able to avoid it completely. One of those cutting spinners got him across the leg mid dive. It hurt, but it wasn’t a lot of damage. Seemed like Overdrive Ostrich was designed for raw speed over power. So a single spinner wouldn’t deal a lot of damage on his own. But if this kept up he could certainly inflict death by a thousand cuts.

Having been tenderized by Raz, Storm Owl pulled out all the stops. He surrounded himself in a vacuum of wind blades as he flew toward the Psychonaut, then began to belt out barrages of cyclonic vortexes in four directions. After a brief moment, the streams began to rotate as well, forcing the boy to dodge like his life depended on it. He would learn the hard way, however, that Storm Owl wasn’t vulnerable during this attack. The vacuum deflected his projectiles, and when he tried to strike the currents sent him spinning. “My trump card!” Coming to a stop, the Reploid thrust out his hand. Three vortexes span up beneath Raz before erupting into a trio of tornadoes. “You’ll pay for making enemies out of us!”

Sam smirked as he watched this unfold, running his hand along his stubble-lined jaw. “I thought you three were here to help me?” Shaking his head in mock disappointment, he put a hand on his blade’s hilt. “Well, allow me to show you how it’s done.”

His scabbard’s trigger mechanism went off with a bang, and he shot forward through the gale in a dark red blur. Storm Owl scarcely got the chance to process what happened before his cannon arm split in half. “What the-!” Beak clenched, he tightened his fist and threw a weighty hook punch right at Sam’s big, shit-eating grin. The swordsman just slipped backward out of the way, his katana flashing upward as he did, and the next moment Storm Owl’s other forearm hit the floor. With his blade poised above his head, Sam took just a second to grip the hilt with both hands and adjust his aim. His weapon vibrated at a fever pitch, practically singing as it gained a bright orange glow. Then it came down, and the Reploid’s left and right halves fell apart, his dying groans fizzled out into static.
”Whoaaa,” Raz said, having already adopted a kicking-ass pose. ”That was super cool!”

”Oh, how nice of you to finally get off your butt and do something!” Roxas shouted at Sam in a snappy tone. He wasn’t blind to the fact that the guy had spent most of the fight standing there and watching them. But it was better to direct that frustration at his current opponent - who was once again making another leap over Roxas’s head, ”Oh no you don’t!” the Keybearer shouted as he jumped straight up and put himself directly in the Ostrich’s jumping arc, ”Gotcha! he taunted as he called another Thundaga. Ostrich was already midair and it was far too late to avoid it. Sparks and static spewed from the Reploid’s body as he crashed back down onto the ground.

”You’re done!” shouted Roxas, even before he himself could land he changed into an orb of light that streaked down and homed in on the stunned Reploid. As soon as he collided with him, Roxas hit the Ostrich with a powerful Cross Slash technique. And then followed that up with another flurry of Keyblade slashes and slices. Roxas turned out to be speaking the truth; after so much lightning and a healthy serving of blunt-force trauma to boot, Overdrive Ostrich went down, having never really gotten the chance to strut his stuff in the first place.

Sakura shook off a kick to the noggin, the Reploid zooming past her as she dodged his follow up kick. She was less eager to talk poorly to Sam after seeing him decimate the Reploid so easily. In fact, it was a pretty intimidating sight. Oh, man. Sakura thought to Raz. Let’s hope this Sam guy listens to reason. I don’t think the three of us could beat him on our own if he turns that sword on us.

Nah, we’d totally wreck him, Raz replied while doing his own super cool fight stuff, trust me.

Ducking another kick, she interrupted the follow up combo with an EX-Shouoken, blasting the Reploid backwards with a double launching uppercut. “GYAH!” Burn Rooter screeched as he sailed away, though he managed to right himself in the air in order to launch another attack. He shot his crest down at Sakura to whir like a flaming sawblade, then landed against the surface of the red-glass elevator. He kicked off, leaping through the air, and the moment after his crest returned to him he came down with his Overdrive Attack. When his axe kick struck the ground, it let rip an enormous tornado of flame. Then he dashed through the flame, charging toward Sakura and Roxas in a bid to kick them into his raging inferno, one at a time.

Sakura recovered from her uppercut, and unused to opponents who could shake off the strike like that, dashed forward only to catch a flaming crest to her chest. ”Oof!” She landed on the ground with a thud and backflipped to her feet in a second flat, watching Rooster perform his tornado move.

As Burn Rooster charged, Sakura moved forward quickly, meeting his charge with footwork. Her eyes narrows as he went in for a spinning kick. Sakura jumped backwards over the kick, the heat searing beneath her. Flipping over she brought her intertwined fists on the Reploid’s head like an anvil. Landing on her feet she kept her fists intertwined and like a pendulum swing them into the lower part of his head. ”Shouoken!” She exploded upwards with another launching uppercut. This time however, she launched him towards Roxas! That way he wouldn’t be able to recover in time to do a special move mid-air.

Not wanting to consume anymore magic, Roxas responded in the only other way he could. He launched himself forward toward the incoming Burn Rooster. He held both Keyblades inward and sliced them outward while his trajectory was crossing paths with Burn Rooster’s. With all that momentum, it was hard not to slice straight through the Reploid’s body. Though they looked primarily like blunt weapons, they were in fact called Keyblades for a reason.

Sakura flinched, covering her eyes and peeking through her fingers. Her coordinated attack with Roxas had done the trick, and with the Keyblade wielder’s climactic finishing move, Burn Rooster’d fiery rampage came to an abrupt end. Flaming fragments and ash rained down across the battlefield -Roxas had evidently destroyed the Reploid’s black box with that final blow- and his spirit drifted down soon after.

With the last of the robotic enemies dispatched, Sam gave an amused nod. “Not bad, not bad.” He then sauntered toward the elevator. “I appreciate you polishing off the appetizers for me–I had to save room for the main course.” Once on board, he turned around to smirk at the Seekers, beckoning for them to join him. “You haven’t had your fill yet, have you? The best is yet to come.”

”We were sent to help you, weren’t we?” Roxas answered as he knelt down to pick up the spirit left behind by Burn Rooster. Then he jogged over and entered the elevator, ”That means we aren’t done until you are.” He fidgeted with the Spirit a little as he said this. It was the first one he had ever actually picked up himself. He still didn’t fully understand how they worked, even though he knew how to make them fuse with him and other things. But he shuddered a bit. He was iffy about fusing with Spirits, and besides, that was illegal here in Midgar so he obviously couldn’t do that in front of Sam.

He had no idea what the law was regarding Strikers though, so maybe he could do that? Once everyone was inside, Roxas decided to use the last of his magic to cast a quick Curaga on everyone in case it was needed. He figured the elevator ride would give his magic enough time to recharge so that he wouldn’t have to wait for it to do so in the middle of battle.

Sakura let out a breath and ran her hand through her brown hair. ”We won…” She said, relieved. But it was a little too early for a full celebration. Sakura saw Roxas pick up the Burn Rooster’s spirit, and she cast an eye over to Overdrive Ostrich’s little orb. She wasn’t interested in becoming part robot, let alone part ostrich. But maybe he could be convinced to join her as a Striker? Walking over, she scooped up the spirit and considered it. It was time for an awkward elevator ride with a scary face guy. Sakura went on into the elevator and grabbed her elbow behind her back.

”I know fusing is against the law,” She said. ”But what about Strikers? Like getting them to fight on your team and stuff? Is that against the law?” She asked.

“Strikers?” Assuming the question was meant for her, Sandalphon ran a quick query against her mind’s ‘database’. “If you’re referring to the spirit phenomenon known as ‘Assists’, the same rule applies to them, I believe. Forbidden.” Sandalphon paused for a moment, perhaps connecting and saying something to another team. “Of course, it’s much more difficult to detect compared to fusion. Add in the fact that there are plenty of people out there with summoning abilities naturally, and the line is even more blurred. Rendering the law against Assists essentially toothless due to the abundance of false positives.”

”R-right, okay. Thank you, Halo. San.” Sakura said, hiding the spirit behind her back.

With Vandelay’s line of defense thoroughly trashed Raz looked up at the elevator he used to run away. ”Y’think we’re talking into some kinda trap?” Before anyone could answer he waved it away. ”Psht, nothin’ we can’t handle. Let’s go!”

A massive crash the trio of Seekers plowed through the glass front of the Production head office with Goldlewis and his coffin in the lead. He, Roland, and Partitio slid to a stop amidst the shattered glass, leaving behind the jump pad they’d forcibly twisted to point in the right direction from the cooling center’s upper balcony, and looked around. The interior of the Production center’s pinnacle turned out to be quite futuristic, full of hexes and glowing lights around the spot where the Seekers landed. There even seemed to be a technological throne up here, floating off the ground with the help of anti-gravity. When he turned his attention down the stairs, though, the top floor’s design took quite a turn. Most of it appeared to be a big, empty square that this section with the throne looked over, almost like a colosseum arrayed before an emperor’s personal viewing box. Of course, he couldn’t miss the huge woman standing in the way, either, whose back had been turned to the windows until their sudden destruction caused her to whirl around.

This must be Rekka, Goldlewis knew. Though her reputation preceded her, seeing her in person was something else. Her bulging white collared shirt, little round glasses, and loose red-and-yellow striped tie were the only pretenses she bothered making about being an office worker, and even then she wore a sleeveless red longcoat with giant zippers over it. Her ostentatiously-patterned gloves and pants, her lace-up boots with red steel toes, and her giant golden belt harkened to her true calling: wrestling. In her voluminous side-swept hairdo were spiky, colorful streaks in red, yellow, and white, and little fangs visibly poked upward from her lower jaw. Most incredible were her height and brawn, very comparable to Goldlewis himself, but having already removed her gloves he could also see her enormous mechanical forearms. With those added on, she looked even less like a wrestling businesswoman and more like a gargantuan grappler. “HEY!” she exclaimed in a thick Texan accent. “The hell’d you do that for, you lookin’ to throw down, too?”

“Now, hold your horses, ma’am,” Goldlewis told her, holding out his hand. “Couldn’t ya give us a chance to talk things through?”

“Well now, ain’t this somethin’! Another big ol’ southerner!” Down in the middle of the arena stood Sundowner, just as big and bald-headed as the veteran remembered him from last night. He shared his grin between Goldlewis and Rekka. “Welcome to the dance floor, partner. Me an’ this belle were just about to have ourselves a good old-fashioned hoedown, heheh.”

Rekka sneered. “I ain’t one much for dancin’, but if you wanna couple tickets to the gunshow.” She flexed her arms, bursting out of her sleeves. “I’m more’n happy to oblige!”

Goldlewis only gave the two a stern glare in reply. “Southerners we might be, but if even half the stuff I’ve been hearin’ about your companies is true, you brutes ain’t any kinfolk of mine.”

Sundowner laughed. “Hah! You sure you’re up for this, old-timer? Ah, well.” As Goldlewis watched DespoRHado’s leader grabbed and ripped off his enormous trench coat. Beneath lay a hulking cyborg mass of black armor, red lights, and little gray plates almost like scale mail, all overlaid by another coat, this one of sleek white atop gray hexes. His forearms in particular bulged with heavy white braces that glowed with blue light, and when his black mask extended around his mouth, white clasps also closed around his eyes like goggles. Out from behind him unfolded six red-and-black plates on mechanical arms for even more protection, creating an formidable powerhouse somewhere between scourge of the south and titan of the north. Laughing, he drew two gigantic machetes, one in each hand. “The more the merrier!”

“You’d do well to address me as ‘sir’,” Goldlewis snapped at him, hoisting up his coffin. “And this ain’t my first rodeo, hoss.”

“Finally ready to CRUMBLE?” Rekka leaped from the raised section, sailed over Sundowner’s head, and came down on his other side with a superslam. Then she turned and pounded her fists together. BANG_BANG. “Then let’s GET IT ON!”

Without hesitating Goldlewis jumped down. He’d come here expecting a fight, but now this was personal.





Macaron mulled over Sandalphon’s words as the team jogged up through the server room’s spiral staircase. “Huh, so you’re essentially working to reform DespoRHado from the inside?”

“Essentially,” the archangel replied, conversing second-hand with the engineer through the communication glyph still affixed to Midna. “I have no personal or idealistic stake in the PMC itself, nor any connections with its major shareholder, Senator Armstrong. With the exception of Khamsin, who is more of an upjumped grunt, and Samuel Rodriguez, who joined due to his belief that ‘the victor is justified’, the Winds of Destruction form a tight-knit group. The rest of the organization is merely a tool, including myself. I believe they think I am merely a high-functioning machine myself, which is not the case, as my somewhat stoic manner might imply.”

Sandalphon went quiet for a moment, switching to another team’s line to give them some advice before switching back. “Despite my purely functional role in the organization, I recognized that the sheer amount of resources at its disposal means that it could achieve great things for Midgar and its people if it were more intelligently, morally, and efficiently managed. That is why I concocted this scheme to slowly shift the balance of DespoRHado from cyborgs, whose enlistment involves a great deal of cruelty, to androids, as well as to slowly assume more power and authority. Shortcut, on your right.” She paused again to speak with another team, during which time the Seekers used her shortcut to exit the server room and enter one last testing chamber. “I did by working harder and for longer hours until the easiest option for them was to simply give me as much responsibility as they could. I also overemphasized the threat Vandelay posed to DespoRHado, though, hoping for an opportunity just like this to expedite my plans.”

“Pretty smart,” Macaron mused. “Y’know, we’re a lot alike, I think. Both stuck with a job in a terrible company that we know could be so much better. At least you had the wherewithal to take action.”

“It’s never too late to begin,” CNMN pointed out. As the team stopped in front of one of the walls, the robot knocked on it with his fist. “And you can start with this wall, sir. According to the schematics I dug up, Zanzo’s personal laboratory should be just on the other side.”

Macaron nodded, filled with determination. “I’m on it!” He got ready, flexing his fast, and punched. “HM!”

He, Geralt, Midna, Tora, Mayer, her Robotters, and Clara all burst into a big metallic room, warmly lit by the glow of the facility’s power-sustaining magma core behind the glass on the other side. The sudden, tremendous noise and commotion came so unexpectedly that Zanzo, standing in front of the glass, instinctively adopted an exaggerated pose of surprise before course-correcting into a more normal one. ‘Normal’, of course, being relative for a man such as he. Clad in a sleeveless lab coat lined with gold and crowned by an absurd circular collar, he boasted arms and legs of shiny blue metal and a hairdo almost as wild as the look on his face. The cord connected to his head, vibrant green like his mohawk and goatee, thrashed around like spider legs as he gesticulated.

“So you’ve finally found me, DespoRHado dogs!” he exclaimed. “Well, you may have made it here, but here’s where your merry little journey…wait.” He narrowed his eyes. “You’re not the ones who’ve been tearing up my labs!

Tora laughed nervously. “Uh, yes, that not us in slightest, meh…”

“Well then, who in the world are-” Zanzo blinked as he recognized Macaron, even if only just. “...Oh, you! I was meaning to send you an email or something, but this works, too. So listen, even though I pulled money from the employee bonuses to help fund my latest AWESOME idea, it wasn’t enough, so I’m gonna need you to-”

“You did WHAT!?” Macaron clapped both massive hands to his head in dismay, just about falling over.

Zanzo raised an eyebrow. “What’s the matter, you feeling alright? Just so you know, sick days need to be submitted four months in advance. Ah, we’ll talk later. As for you…” He squinted at Mayer, clearly not remembering her in the slightest. “Uhh…keep up the good work with your, uh, ferrets or whatever.”

Mayer crossed her arms, a little offended. “They’re clearly otters, my guy.”

“I said ‘or whatever’, didn’t I?” Zanzo rolled his eyes indignantly, which happened to land on Clara. “Wait, what’re you doing here?”

“Um, I work here?” Clara scratched her head nervously. “A-actually, Mr. Zanzo, I was hoping to talk to you about these things I heard about called ‘child labor laws’...?”

The green-haired inventor groaned. “Ugh, for the last time, you don’t technically work here if I don’t pay you!” He shook his head. “The bottom line is, where’s Mon-”

For the second time Zanzo got interrupted, this time by a giant blue HG-0M unit smashing through a different wall. It slumped down in the debris, offline, and from the hole leading to the AR labs stepped a lone figure. He possessed an almost completely cybernetic body, its exterior black with a slight bluish tinge, painted in DespoRHado red but with glowing green rings on them, three on each bicep and thigh, one on each forearm and calf, and two in an X on his chest. Around his waist hung a belt with two huge sais in the back beneath two sheathed katanas, and on his thighs lay knife racks. His only visible skin was his lower face, since a rounded module with three vertical green lines covered the rest, and a mix of black an white hair spilled out from the back. Part vicious nihilist and part enigmatic swordsman, he climbed down the HG-0M unit and slowly approached the others.

Though surprised once again, Zanzo recovered quickly. “...So you’ve finally found me, DespoRHado dogs!” he exclaimed. “Or…dog!”

“I am Monsoon of the Winds of Destruction,” the newcomer declared, his voice coarse and snakelike. “I learned long ago that this world, and all its people are diseased. And yet I’m always finding greater depths to which they can sink.” He glanced at the Seekers, frowning, then back at his primary target. “Zanzo…feasting on the weak and powerless, feeding them in droves to your machine of development without a shred of remorse. At least you’ll be able to die,” He drew his sais, spinning them slowly in his hands. “With a clear conscience.”

Zanzo posed with one hand covering his face. “Spoken like a true lackey. A measly little footsoldier like you couldn’t possibly understand what it takes to be a genius!”

Monsoon smirked. “Now there’s a pretty meme. Exquisite!”

“Besides,” Zanzo continued, “Who’s to say I’ll be the one biting the dust? I can stand up for myself, you know…” Robotic outlines began to appear around him: a lithe sharpshooter, an airborne medic, a massive obstacle, and a deadly warrior. Tora blinked in surprise at what looked disturbingly like Strikers, wondering if the Seekers didn’t have these two that outnumbered after all. As Zanzo’s shoulders shook with laughter, they formed up around him, striking a dynamic group pose. “So if anyone’s dying,” Zanzo declared, dramatically pointing right at Monsoon. “It’s YOU!”



“Looks like we’re doing this!” Mayer declared cheerfully. Her Robotters tensed up, ready for action, and she raised her Short Circuit. “Good luck everyone~”

“Ohh, man,” Macaron moaned, reluctantly raising his fists. Tora readied his hammer and shield as well, saying nothing. As much as he wished that Poppi was here, he knew he should save the pining for later. For now, it was time to fight.

Monsoon turned up his nose. “The wind blows. The rain falls. And the strong…” He brought his facemask down to cover his lower jaw, his sais held tight. “Prey upon the weak.”





For once, no complications arose to make the Seekers’ commute any more difficult, so they arrived at Security Wing 2 with no issue. The L.I.F.T. came to a safe stop at the platform and the team disembarked promptly. That vehicle would be going no farther, however, as Giovanna could see the wreckage of another L.I.F.T. on the tracks ahead. When she and the others advanced across the station toward the security tower proper, they found the smoldering, smoking wreckage of many Vandelay robots, be they armed combat bots like SBRs or harmless workers like TECs, PGRs, or VA-SERs. The handful of dead cyborgs and androids left no doubt as to what happened here. “Looks like the DespoRHado crew made quite an entrance,’ Giovanna remarked.

As he ran patch the scrap, Chai gave it a good look. “It’s weird not having to do a fight myself for once.” He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching him, though.

“Just get to the door. I’ll hack it open, and we’ll make our way…” When 808 and the others got closer, Peppermint saw that the console had already been smashed and the doors frozen solid, then smashed open wide enough to admit someone -or several someones- inside. “...through.”

Giovanna spotted movement through the opening. Down the hallway, what looked like a figure in a tan trench coat and hat ducked around a corner, disappearing from view. She launched into action and ran after it, barely stopping to squeeze through the gap. “C’mon!”

After a few twists and turns through the halls, encountering no enemies but never quite escaping that sensation of being watched, the Seekers reached the interior of Security Wing 2, emerging onto a semicircular balcony. Within the tower itself lay a massive cylindrical space, dimly lit, with columns of green code flowing up and down the black sections of the walls. If Giovanna had to pick any one detail that she liked the most, though, she had to go with the tower’s rotating central pillar and the utterly absurd number of eye-searingly bright red lasers projected outward from it.



Both Chai and 808 shared an expression of terrified shock, and Giovanna was only marginally better at hiding hers. “You’ve gotta be kidding,” she complained. “This is serious overkill.”

“Korsica’s office is at the very top,” Sandalphon informed everyone, displaying a readout of the tower’s interior. “There’s a way, but you’ll have to contend with those lasers, as well as any resistance on the way up.”

808 locked onto a disc-shaped lift directly ahead of the team. “Well, what about that?” Peppermint asked. When Chai walked over, the cat-orb popped out into the shape of an actual cat, and laid its paw on the control mechanism. “...Looks like it’s still operational.”

“It better be, dude!” A TEC unit that had been sitting out of sight by the door piped up. “Korsica disabled elevator access to keep that weird chick from gettin’ up to her, but she, like, found a way anyway. Just about fried my circuits gettin’ it working again, man.”

Giovanna gave a wry smile. “Wow, is getting somewhere gonna be simple for once?”

As if on cue, the Seekers suddenly became aware of movement on all sides. Over the edge of the balcony clambered at least a dozen strange black robots, their red-eyed pods ringed by three very humanoid arms apiece. There came a sound behind them as the trench-coated figure dropped down behind them on bizarre hand-legs, its head lolling weirdly, before it cast aside its coat to reveal three more Dwarf Gekkos stacked on top of one another. Four others formed up into pairs as the DespoRHado drones spread out to surround the team.

“Aw, man. People really have to stop saying stuff like that,” Chai groaned.

“Everyone, on the lift!” Sandalphon urged them, her tone as imperative as it gets.

The team made a mad dash for the elevator, shooting, slicing, and kicking Dwarf Gekkos on the way. Right after Benedict hobbled aboard, 808 slammed a paw down on the controls, and the floor began to rise. It quickly peeled away from the tower entrance, and though a few pesky Gekkos clung on, most of them got left behind. Gio kicked one of the little UGs off like a soccer ball, and Chai happily took care of the rest in a quick game of whack-a-mole. Their ride carried the Seekers swiftly and safely past the huge laser grids, and in no time the elevator came to rest snugly inside a ring-shaped platform directly in front of a set of locked doors, with just the label that everyone wanted to see. They also saw that a nearby vent, and a needlessly large one at that, had been ripped off its hinges. “Mistral made quite the entrance. That’ll be your ticket in, too.”

This was it, the point of no return. If anyone had preparations to make, they had to make them now, and if anyone couldn’t make the jump over to the vent, they simply wouldn’t make it. Chai downed a small, bright green energy drink and rolled his shoulders. “Alright, everyone ready to rock?”

He grappled to the vent, and Giovanna followed him with a jump, airdash, and triple flying kick to close the gap. Soon she was sprinting after him beneath grates and jumping over pipes. “Remember, we need Korsica’s cooperation,” Peppermint reminded Chai as the team went along. “There’s no other way to get her SPECTRA password.”

Her reminder threatened his composure. “You keep telling me that, but we still don’t have a plan! What am I doing?”

Peppermint’s reply sounded less than confident. “...You’re gonna have to wing it, and…talk to her.”

“Remember the last time I tried to talk it out? Didn’t end well,” Chai muttered.

“What’s all this, now?” Giovanna commented. “You guys wanna try reasoning with a Vandelay boss?”

“Well, Korsica’s pretty reasonable. I don’t think she’s totally bought into what Vandelay’s doing. In fact, I think they’re keeping her in the dark,” Peppermint replied.

Sandalphon put Korsica’s file on display for Gio to see. “Level-headed, hard-working, responsible, no sense of humor. Prizes efficiency. All the qualities of an ideal boss. Compared to the caricatures rounding out Vandelay’s roster of bosses, she seems rather normal. It may be possible to communicate with her if you can keep Mistral from killing her.”

Giovanna pursed her lips. “I’ll keep that in mind.” A moment later, everyone came to a giant hole in the bottom of the vent. The voices of two women could be heard below, one with a Scottish accent, the other mostly French, albeit tinged by something else Gio couldn’t quite place. Without any hesitation Chai dropped down, and Gio followed right after him. They dropped down into a clean white room full of security screens, adjoining offices, and elevated sections, with a large glass circle in the center over machinery and ringed by blue light.

She also spotted the VIPS. Korsica was a tall woman in her early thirties, with poofy spikes of fuchsia hair done up in a ponytail, a red jacket with rolled-up sleeves and a big yellow collar over a white turtleneck, jean shorts, black tights, and white boots. Built into her attire were a number of segments of sleek, blue-accented white armor of an unknown, possible alien material, most notably her shoulder pads, her gauntlets, and the almost beak-like visor she wore like a baseball cap. She looked somewhere between a consummate professional and a graceful destructor. Opposite her stood Mistral in a tight, high tech suit, half black with vivid red DespoRHado branding and half white with bright blue tech lines, though the port-covered apparatus around her neck and back was all black. The vermillion hair that lay over one eye grew straighter and blonder the longer it got, fanning out in the back to reach her waist. Around her danced a pack of Dwarf Gekkos. Though by all accounts a purposeless killer, her appearance also evoked an icy secret agent.

“Great, more intruders,” Korsica groaned. “Like this wasn’t enough of a mess to begin with.”

Mistral smirked. “Our little chat was just about done with, anyway.”

“...Quite.”

“Wait, we’re fighting already!?” Chai exclaimed in dismay.

Both women moved at once. Mistral’s Dwarf Gekkos swarmed her in a massive dogpile, pulling off their own arms to jam them into the ports in her harness. Korsica drew her collapsed batons and leaped into the air to extend them, striking a pose surrounded by lightning. As she landed the Gekko cores rained down around Mistral, their arms both attached to her body and formed into a pole. With a smile the killer plucked a throwing knife from her leg brace and passed around the arms until one in her weapon took it and held it straight, creating a spear. Chai assembled his guitar, assuming a defensive posture, and Rei swirled behind Gio as she prepared to fight.





Moving quickly, the Seekers left the well-decorated overlook behind. At the end of the hallway they emerged into a huge office decked out even more lavishly than the entryway, with fancy light fixtures, enormous framed panels around Japanese text, giant scrolling stock price tickers, and two rows of samurai-themed WA-ES units in display cases. At least, that had been the case before Khamsin arrived to carve a warpath across the room, awakening every single WA-ES in the process. Once inadvertently broken out they fought back against the marauding mech, a couple at a time doing dash-slashes past Khamsin while the rest shot sword waves from a distance. Though much less powerful and durable than the intruder, they made Khamsin work for it, and by the time his enormous axe ground the last one to scrap metal the soldier ended up a little short on breath.

“Looks like you made it,” Sandalphon observed. “Good thing Roquefort had some extra security on hand to slow Khamsin down. Be advised, I don’t have a lot of data on him. Just a general bad reputation. Smart, but short tempered, very money-minded. Described as a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’. I wouldn’t underestimate him.”

“Hah!” Khamsin laughed, stomping through the mess toward the desk on the far side. Blazermate remembered Khamsin’s war machine well from their encounter in Detroit: a an engine of destruction blended with a bovine titan, every bit as imposing as it was enormous. “How’d you like that, little man? Looks like your last line of defense just broke down. Now all you got left is last words!”

The man seated behind the desk in front of him curled his lip. Though short, stout, bearded, and balding, something about the white-haired Roquefort seemed off. Maybe it was how he just sat there as a walking tank with a rocket-propelled chainsaw axe wreaked havoc in his expensive office, or the strange blue glow in his eyes behind Galeem’s glaze of red, or the bright pink tie worn just low enough to expose some chest hair. His slacks and suit vest were an odd mix of purple and peach, with a fancy cape thrown over his shoulder, lending him the semblance of an ominous dandy. “You don’t know who you’re messing with,” he told Khamsin, his voice a grouchy British growl. “It’d be a waste of time telling you, though. And do you know what time is? MONEY! And I’m not about to waste any more of that.”

With a last massive footfall the mech stopped in front of Roquefort’s desk. “I’m gonna waste you,” he declared, revving his axe like a motorcycle.

“Well then. You’ll have to tell me how it feels…” The glorified accountant slowly stood. “To underestimate someone.”

Roquefort jumped on top of his desk and, much to everyone’s surprise, howled. As his voice echoed through the chamber, a third of his personal shields discharged, slamming into Khamsin and inflicting him with paralysis. Then he began to transform. His mechanical body began to open up and reconfigure, his limbs lengthening dramatically as extra armor swiveled and clicked into place. Blue energy claws flared from new digitigrade legs and powerful arms, and as Roquefort smirked, armor closed around his upper body to form the torso of what could only be described as a giant wolf, tail and all. A mass of parts deployed upward and settled into the shape of a head, ears and fangs extending. Plates of purple and gray settled over a mesh of artificial sinew, orange with teal and white wires, and gray armguards plus a matching collar settled into place. Taking control of the exoskeleton, Roquefort turned his face, half-masked in teal plate, upward. An ear-rattling howl resounded from the mechanical intersection of apex predator and unchained berserker.

“That explains that expression I mentioned earlier,” Sandalphon mentioned idly. “This may be somewhat difficult.”

“Shit!” Khamsin yelled as he got his mech under control, stumbling backward. Roquefort now stood as tall as he did, if not taller. He barely brought up his axe in time to block before his opponent swiped him with a massive claw and sent him skidding backward with a chuckle. Inside his cockpit, Khamsin gritted his teeth. “Laugh while you can, freak! I’ll be picking that ugly mug out of my chainsaw’s teeth!”

“Talk is cheap, jarhead,” Roquefort leered at him. “Put your money where your mouth is!”





After Sakura’s question about Strikers, the short ride up to the Signal Tower’s actual entrance grew quiet. The young Seekers weren’t anxious to broach conversation with this dangerous, self-assured stranger. Sandalphon, meanwhile, stood in the safety and privacy of her control center aboard the DespoRHado dropship back at Circuit Royal, with 2B and 9S newly returned from their flight mission for extra protection. In addition to keeping track of the other four missions on top of this one, including both their statuses and any conversations going on in her glyph’s vicinity, she’d continue to provide assistance to DespoRHado itself. The PMC’s cyborgs might not enjoy the archangel hovering over them, so to speak, but the androids still needed her support. Even after withdrawing all the androids she possibly could to the dropship, that meant a lot of balls to keep in the air, even for a juggler of her caliber.

With a moment to breathe at least, she gulped down her newest coffee and set the empty cup by the standing desk alongside the others. While the press arrived a while ago, the authorities appeared alongside them. Both of those posed a huge problem. Regardless of this raid’s outcome, the optics would be bad, but the Winds of Destruction went ahead with it anyway. They probably reasoned that DespoRHado had the power to simply do what it wanted, but Sandalphon didn’t think so. Peace Preservation might be content with the perimeter they set up, but the moment any Scarlet Guardians or Turks arrived, she’d really need to worry. Assuming they hadn’t already. The PMC’s dropship wasn’t exactly subtle, either. Sandalphon sighed, rubbing her temples. After this operation, DespoRHado as Midgar knew it would cease to exist. If she could pick up the pieces like she planned, no trace of the private military company once known as Desperado Enforcement would exist. Only the android element, derived from YoRHa, and whatever Unmanned Gears could be retrofitted with android intelligence. It was all a lot to deal with. Fortunately, there wasn’t anyone better to do it.

After another couple seconds of thought, Sandalphon opened the line to Roxas again. “Come in, Skywatch. I was hoping I could speak directly with Samuel Rodriguez.”

Back on the elevator, the swordsman lifted an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”

Sandalphon’s voice replied from the glyph. “You strike me as somewhat different, so I wanted to ask. For what reason have you chosen to cast your lot in with DespoRHado?”

“Oh my, how intimate. Is this not out of line with your operating procedures, ‘Halo’?” Sam joked, smiling slyly. “Relax, I kid. I don’t mind answering, it’s quite simple, really.” He leaned on the elevator’s wall, his hand rested on his scabbard. “I once waged quite the war. A one-man army, you could see. Dedicated to the pursuit of what I believed to be justice. Killing people who needed to be killed. I never fooled myself into thinking I was a good man, but I hoped that by the time I finally died, I’d have made the world a better place.” Sam scratched his chin. “That changed when I met Armstrong. I finally lost. My life, my mission, were in another man’s hands. And I learned that in the end, only the victor can decide what’s right. The loser dies, his ideals along with him, and the victor goes on to make his ideals manifest. I don’t know what Vandelay wants or believes in, but if he dies by my blade, it’s all for nothing, isn’t it? And if I should fall, DespoRHado made a mistake challenging him.” He glanced around at Raz, Sakura, and Roxas. “Remember that, kids. If your ideals are worth anything, you’d better prove it. You’d better win.”

By that time, the elevator was slowing down, almost to the top. With Sam in earshot, Sandalphon kept quiet, and left the implication of the swordsman’s words implicit: that if he could be beaten, he could be swayed.”

With Sam moving quickly at the forefront, the team entered the Signal Tower. Contrary to the building’s lower levels, which were still under construction as the Seekers had seen, the interior looked pretty close to completion. All done up in dark gray with red highlights, it funnily enough matched DespoRHado’s barding better than Vandelay Technology’s, but at least it matched Kale himself.

“Took you long enough,” he complained to the newcomers, turning around to face them from where he stood by the giant SPECTRA control terminal. “I have to say, a corporate takeover wasn’t on my itinerary for today. Shinra really got you guys feeling insecure, huh?”

Sam shrugged, putting his hand on his sword. “Vandelay, DespoRHado. It was always going to come to this. Town’s not big enough for the two of us, as they say.”

In the ensuing lull in the conversation, Raz took his chance to speak up. "Vandelay! We know about your schemes, working with Konoe and Calvert! We don't want to hurt you, all we want is information. We can protect you from guys like him" He pointed at Sam, who pretended to look indignant. "If you help us back!"

Kale looked surprised. “Kids these days,” he complained. “Always getting into stuff they shouldn’t. Well, let’s get this over with.” With a sigh, he threw off his suit and coat, revealing a sleek dark gray cyborg body with red accents, swathes of light gray and a bright blue reactor in his chest. He raised his hand to shoot a hilt from his wrist, and when he caught it a crossguard extended to protect his hand while a blue beam sword blazed from its end. “Loose lips sink ships, after all.” Then a gray mask assembled on his face, bearing a single blunt horn on his forehead and no other features but a jagged grin, completing the parallels with a peerless swordsman

“Hah! I’ll take this dance!” Narrowing his eyes, Sam drew his katana and dropped into a half-crouched stance, ready for action.





The slugfest with Pizza Head’s latest lackeys kicked off right away, and though action in the corner of her eyes told Nadia that her friends were busy lending a hand, at the moment she couldn’t afford to pay any attention to anyone’s fight but her own. In short order the very average-sized catgirl found herself staring down all three beady-eyed, slavering heads of an obscenely Big Dog all on her lonesome. They all seemed to want a piece of her, and as the monster plodded its ungainly, tumorous mass toward her the metal of its big, digger-like lower jaws jostled against one another to create a hair-raising chorus of loud clangs. Nadia grimaced. “Maybe we could talk about this?” she suggested. “Don’t wanna bark up the wrong three…”

In response Big Dog began to spin, instantly picking up enough speed to become a top-heavy gray and yellow tornado. “Oh boy.” Nadia crouched down to spring, ready if the cyclone stormed her way, but instead the monster let fly out a barrage of slow red projectiles. Though they moved at a leisurely pace, Big Dog belted out six at a time with enough spread to make their paths unpredictable, and they quickly began to pollute the air. The feral quickly backed up to the point where the shots could be dodged more easily, but at this distance, just a foot away from the rooftop arena’s edge, she couldn’t launch any attacks of her own. Well, except one. Nadia closed one eye and took aim with her bait launcher, patiently dodging a couple orbs until she got a clean shot. “Nice to ‘meat’ you!” Grinning, she pulled the trigger and slapped Big Dog right in the kisser with a succulent slab of raw meat. It did no damage, but it did distract the mammoth mutt, which stopped spinning to snap the sneak up. Nadia laughed aloud when its three sets of eyes bugged out at the sight of the burly tiger that manifested in front of it. As her summon savaged the beast with its claws, shattering one of its eight dog-head icons, Nadia dashed across the tower to take the fight to her target.

To her surprise, her tiger vanished sooner than expected, and it left Big Dog behind in much better shape than the feral would’ve hoped. Just how beefy was this thing? Without giving Nadia the courtesy of an answer, Big Dog started doling out missiles instead. It fired off three at a time in rapid succession, forcing Nadia to take evasive action as she made her approach. “Where the hell are these coming from!?” Exploiting the gaps, she managed to close the distance until she opted to cover the final stretch with a jump into blood-propelled airdash. A missile to the shoulder cut her flight short, demolished one of her eight bell icons, and sent her sprawling in a burst of smoke and flame. It also hurt a whole lot, and Nadia’s vision swam as she tried to spring back to her feet. “Ow, ow, jeez,” she groaned, her hand on her shoulder. After blinking she noticed her body flashing still, which baffled and distracted her long enough that she only noticed another missile headed her way in time to block. Unfortunately for her, the chip damage chopped off another eighth of her lift, leaving her with just seventy-five percent left. “Nyaaagh!” she yowled, only barely staying on her feet. Those flashes happened again, but Nadia also realized something that worried her way more: her new wounds weren’t healing.

A chill shot down her spine as her gaze returned to Big Dog, already sending more missiles on their way. Filled with panic, Nadia dodged like her life depended on it, sprinting on all fours in a wide arc around her foe despite how close it put her to another fight. This was bad. Very bad. Her regeneration was everything to her, and if she couldn’t take hits like a champ, this could go south real fast. The Koopas’ brawl with Grovetender ended up cutting her off, forcing her to take her beast head-on. With no other option she charged toward it, narrowly avoiding its missiles, then went low to slide beneath its massive body and out the other side. On the way she dug her claws in, slicing into its belly, though it didn’t seem like the cuts did any damage when the monster’s body started to flash. Pained and confused, Big Dog started up another projectile spin, and a similarly confused Nadia ended up leaping to one of the tower’s decorative pillars to take shelter behind it, her claws embedded into the solid rock above a long fall. Though Big Dog pounded the stone with its artillery, the stone held for now, and the feral tried to calm the manic beating of her heart. “Holy moly,” she gasped. “Wh…why ya gotta treat me so ruff?”

After a few seconds she leaned out from behind her cover and launched another steak, then ducked back into safety. Big Dog naturally tried to fight its vicious assailant the moment it poofed into being, but its jaws found no purchase and its heads took a heavy slash in return. On contact another dog-head icon broke apart, leaving five, but that weird blinking prevented any extra damage. Nadia watched the whole thing, her mind racing. “Those things above our heads…” It appeared to Nadia like that reality-warping Pizza Head cast some sort of spell that redefined the rules of engagement, changing how the bodies of both Seekers and monsters reacted to injury. Now, instead of damage, it seemed to be all about hits. As she processed this, hindered by Big Dog as it resumed its steady destruction of her cover, a smile slowly spread across her face. This wasn’t the end of the world, not in the slightest. Raw damage was never Nadia’s strong suit; meanwhile, landing hits might as well be her speciality.

Newly fortified, she peeked out from behind the pillar and maneuvered her way to the most damaged part of its front. “Hey, ugly!” she yelled. “You got a face only a mutt-er could love!” Big Dog grunted and fired off another trio of missiles, and as Nadia scurried out of the way, they hit the perfect spot to blow enough from the pillar’s foundation to send it crumbling down. It fell toward the wide-eyed monster and smashed down on top of it with a prodigious crash, though that still only amounted to one hit. With a groan Big Dog shook its heads to get the stars out of its eyes, only to see Nadia sprinting its way. As she jumped into the air again more missiles rose up to greet her, but this time the feral used Charge to zip forward as a bolt of lightning, both threading the needle to zap Big Dog before she reformed behind him. “Watts up, dog?” She laughed and sprang into the air as the beast whirled around, landing with a graceful backflip on its shoulders a moment after its heavy jaws smashed the ground.

“Here’s a head-up for ya!” While Big Dog looked around, confused, Nadia extended her arms and looped them around its left and right heads. “No need to thank me, it’s the leashed I can do!” Big Dog bucked like a wild bronco, slammed its head, and even tried spinning, but even that good trick couldn’t dislodge her. “Get along, li’l doggy!” From on top of the beast Nadia could literally ride out its invincibility slashes, then jump up and stomp in its middle head the moment it became vulnerable. Six, seven! On the cusp of her victory, however, Big Dog wised up and shot Nadia in the back with missiles to knock her off, forcing her to retract her arms blearily. “Me-owch. Whoa!” The desperate monster reared up to come down on her with its jaws, and she scrambled to avoid its smashes. On the third smash, however, something occurred. She had way more hits left than Big Dog, so why bother? That very instant she fired off her heaviest Fiber Upper. “Nothing pupper-sonal!” The two blows traded, leaving Nadia at half and Big Dog at nothing. With a roar the monster died, pitching over onto the arena to slowly dissolve into ash. Nadia stood, breathing out a sigh of relief. At least her pain tolerance meant that she could live at half, provided no other nasty surprises came her way.

When she turned her attention to her fellow Seekers, she found the battle all but done. Bowser and his family had felled Grovetender, Artorias carved up the Dark Quartz Ogre, Rubick blindsided the Eyebrute, and the Octopath Travelers put an end to the Mawlek’s brooding. Everyone had survived, though the greater miracle was how none of the bosses’ stray projectiles hit Nadia’s allies in the middle of other fights. Nadia wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, however–she was too busy looking at Pizza Head as Ganondorf finally caught up to him. After Sectonia softened him up and Jesse put a whole lot of work in, the King of Evil cornered Pizza Head with his Strikers before swooping in to send him packing with a withering shadow blast.

“Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Pizza Head wailed as he flew straight up. Right away he slammed into the ceiling of Pizza Tower’s hollow, leaving a crack, and when he peeled off he fell right back down to smash head-first into the tower’s roof, embedding his noisome noggin in the masonry. Instantly the environment reverted to normal and the icons above everyone’s heads disappeared. Nadia gasped in relief as her healing started up again, almost teary-eyed.

Pizza Head did not dissolve, however. He just stayed there, stuck upside down, but from his pockets spilled a handful of goodies. Geo, pizza recipes, a few precious gems like rubies and topaz, and even a few glowing purple ingots. Finally, a porcelain-white mask fragment plopped down neatly on the stack of treasure. Nadia snatched up a few jewels practically before they hit the ground, which promptly disappeared into her pouches. Hitting Pizza Head more didn’t seem to have any effect, so after trying for about thirty seconds, Nadia gave up. “Well, got what we came for!” she beamed.



Once everyone recovered from the ordeal, the team could move on. The operative question was ‘how’. After reuniting with Barnabee, who had evidently gotten dogpiled by cheeseslimes and then fallen off the tower during the boss fight’s first phase, he confirmed that his noble kingdom the Hive and its most glorious Majesty lay waiting beneath the floor of this very cavern. Nadia sat on the edge of the cliff and peered around the Forsaken Lands, wondering how the heck she’d make the descent. At the very bottom of the Forsaken Lands lay what looked like a sprawling ruined city, many parts of it immersed in a dark, dubious-looking substance. “Tis the once-proud Termite Capitol,” Barnabee explained. “Once the largest city in the whole Underground, it has since ceded that title to the Home of Tears, owing to the calamity that befell it.”

By looking upward Nadia eventually figured out that what looked by daylight actually seemed to be coming from a gigantic, incredibly bright root structure that grew from the ceiling, but that wouldn’t help. That incandescence gave rise to dandelions the size of trees that grew around the cavern like weeds, including a few by one side of this cliff. Gentle, three-eyed critters like alien manta rays, the cave angels seemed to like them, and when one happened to brush by a dandelion it sent cottony white tufts the size of umbrellas floating slowly to the cave floor. Nadia also spotted what looked like floating islands in the open air, some of which featured strange structures like a glassy globe pedestal, but there wasn’t anywhere near enough to jump between. More than likely she’d end up scrabbling down the cliff face between the various ledges despite the bloated Booflies that floated around down there, but that looked like a hassle. “Quite the conundrum,” the feral muttered, kicking her legs. To be honest, it was pretty nice just sitting here, relaxing and enjoying the marvelous view.

Earplugs. It felt like it'd been a while since the Ace Cadet had fought with something that could made a sound that loud, so the first thought he had after the dark beast's scream was a self admonishment. Should have made some! Can't believe I'm this rusty after only a few days.

The Cadet rolled to a stop with his feet underneath him, standing up in order to get right back into the action. In such a short amount of time the situation had already started to spiral, with the the Revenant's blasts and Paarl's thrashing destroying the architecture around them. Probably should have seen that coming. The Cadet rushed in to try and get Paarl's attention and mitigate the damage, but he was met with a vicious swipe that sent him hurdling away once more.

He recovered quickly, though not quick enough to even think about preventing the mage's death. He'd looked away before it'd even happened, while the fireball was being cast.

Big Band was right. But they were in the middle of a city, was there any place they could drag the fight to prevent civilians from getting involved? The man seemed determined to find one as he zipped off through the streets. Taking just a moment to collect himself the Cadet chased after Big Band and the detective's undead pursuers. His rigging was extended to its fullest, the crimson blades on the edge of them slicing through skeletons on the route that weren't already crushed underfoot by Paarl. After a couple of turns and many more seconds it was clear the Cadet was no where near fast enough to keep up, so he took to using a higher path. He displaced snow as she slid to a stop and aimed the slinger up. It caught the lip of a roof and hauled the hunter skyward.

He spotted Lucia and Albedo ahead of him once he was moving over the buildings instead of around them, and he dropped down into the area a couple of beats behind them. He took the liberty of healing the team of the wounds they'd gathered so far, throwing a hand into the air and spreading the lifepowder in it over the group.

The arena Band had found was creepy as hell, but perfect for the situation considering. The Cadet took a steadying breath. All the magic and the walking dead were slowly wearing on him mentally, but so long as he focused he could get through it. They had to find Linkle. Plus he would never be able to live it down if he couldn't even do his job and hunt one large monster. The Vaal Hazak is way nastier than this thing, he thought to himself.

He glanced at Big Band and the others and gave them a nod. "To right back where they came from, into the ground!"

Once more he moved to engage Darkbeast Paarl. He separated from his allies and banged obnoxiously on his shield a few times to draw its ire. As he got closer the mini cannon batteries on his rigging swiveled forward to start unloading on the monster. He braced himself for lightning, trusting his shield to withstand its claws so long as he had it raised. His intent was to give his fellow Seekers enough time and space to ready themselves for battle or else deal with the Revenant. And as soon as he had an opening himself, Paarl would be feeling the full force of the Shoryugeki shield uppercut.

”YAAAAaaaa-oh hey, you did it. Good job team” Bowser said, his charging warcry coming to a trailing end when the rest of the heroes, many who had gone straight for their main foe, finished dealing with him.

Well.

Sort of.

”Is he not. Is he just? Stuck there? What?” Jr asked, voicing what was a general feeling of confusion (at least in the Troop) as they approached the body of their fallen foe. And it was his body, which was presently sticking out of the ground, and with his head buried into it.

”Well then. That is disturbing” Kamek put it succinctly, the fact that this absurd foe could simply not be killed being quite the unnerving prospect. Yet he was still defeated, showing no signs of trying to get himself out of the predicament he was in, or much in the way of life. Certainly he did not react when Bowser joined in with Nadia’s 30 seconds of using him as a punching bag to no avail.

”I suggest we get a move on before things get even stranger. We have what we came for after all” the mage suggested, referring to both the mask fragment and the unguarded way forward victory had afforded them.

”What, and leave the treasure? No way” Jr said, having crouched down to inspect the gem pile

”Oh right, there’s spirits too,” Rika realized, adding ”let me just” before turning and using her grappling hook to retrieve the grovetender’s one. ”Do we wanna use the hat on this one too?”

”As soon as feasible then” the mage amended with a sigh as Rika went to acquire the item crushing enhancing hat from Sectonia, before stepping in and preventing Jr from trying to haul off all of the money on his own, and making him settle for just the rubies … and then also the pizza recipes because really, who else was going to take those.

After all, they already had a prize they had a 100% claim on, and what it turned into after being crushed be was a little jar.



”I tried opening it, but it won’t budge on its own” Rika complained when she reported back post hat wearing, re-joining the list of people who needed healed as a result of said hat, much to Jr’s annoyance.

”It does seem magical however” Kamek informed her, before also pointing out ”and there’s a little strap too, so perhaps you need to wear it?”

The ship girl agreed to try it out, and would eventually find out that running or sailing around at high speed would rapidly produce wisps from the pot that would fly off and attack much like ones the grovetender had produced.

After they were all ready to go, the troop set off, only to be immediately stopped due to running out of path to traverse. Instead they were presented with a massive drop down down down into the depths, quite possibly even deeper than they had just ascended up via the tower.

”Long way down huh. Guess I could float and grappling hook” Rika mulled out loud, while Bowser groaned aout ”Claw scratching all the way down. That’s going to be a pain”

”Real lame that we gotta deal with this when my car’s still busted. Sooner we get to this bee kingdom the better” Jr complained, before being interrupted by a polite cough from Kamek, who gestured to a wyvern he was in the midst of conjuring.

”Ohhh, right. Those”

”Yes, those.” Kamek confirmed dryly, before calling over to the others ”And I can do a few more if you feel like there would be difficulty in getting down. Only a few however, I’m not made of mana”

Whether or not he was taken up on the offer, in short order Rika was mounted up on the back of a fire wyverns’s back, with, for efficiency’s sake, Jr sat behind her, one hand on her rigging for support, the other still holding his paintbrush for defence.

Bowser meanwhile was mounted atop a suitably regal looking gold wyvern, with Kamek sat in front of his king and focused on channeling his magic to increase the magical mount’s size such that it could carry the mighty koopa. This channeling was a fairly major part of why there would not be a flight of wyverns available to carry all of them down.

Despite not being able to offer transport for all, the Troop were able to offer protection, particularly Rika, who found that her new spear was filling in an absence she had felt the last time she had used one of Kamek’s flying steeds. The armored ship girl looked like quite the arial knight now, one ready to lance any threats that might try and harass those taking less controlled descents.

As it turned out, Bowser’s own was still going to count as one of those, as his wyvern took to the sky with rather ponderous slowness with a flap of its great wings and kicked up great gusts of air.

With its smaller red escort, the golden wyrven began to slowly descend down the giant chasm and, surprisingly enough, the biggest issue was not hordes of arial baddies or other tricky obsticals.

It was traffic.

”Come on move it already you giant bug! Get outta the road!” the king found himself yelling at various booflies that got in his way. Despite their massive size, the giant bugs were not at all aggressive, but they also did not give a fly’s abdomen about who or what got in their way as they buzzed about. After one terrifying plummet caused by one brushing against the massive gold wyvern’s wing, the fliers had learned to give them their space.

It was that or start destroying them, and Kamek urged caution, given that there was a massive pit’s worth of them, and angering one might well anger all of them. After some convincing the King had agreed, but that didn’t mean he was going to do so quietly, and so plenty of insults were hurled at the oversized flies as they navigated around them.

Floating in the air along with the flies, there were also the mantaray like cave angels, which were polite/sensible enough to get out of the way of the angry king, and a few floating islands which moved for no koopa.

Said islands also sported a large orb like machine filled with smaller orbs, which was odd, and after passing a few the troop agreed to land on one of the islands to take a break from flying and to investigate.

”There’s a kind of pedestal thing here that looks like it's supposed to take something, but I dunno what” Jr reported, him and Rika having landed first and had a chance to look around before the older koopas arrived.

”Perhase it’s a puzzle, and there’s some item or other around here that goes in it?” Kamek suggested from where he had taken a seat on a stone inorder to take a rest and let his mana reserves recharge a bit.

”Or maybe it takes money? It looks kinda like a gumball machine after all” Jr suggested, which perked up Rika’s interest a bit. The prince started to fish around in his duffle bag for some geo, only to notice Bowser was stomping right towards the device with a very angry look on his face.

Before anyone could ask what he was doing, Bowser suddenly lept the last few meters between him and the machine, before grabbing on with one claw, and then reeling the other back. With a roar, the king fired up the rockets on his kinetic strike module, sending his fist blazing forwards, smashing into the dome of the device and shattering the ancient machine in an instant, spilling the orb like capsules all over the island.

”Ahhhh, now that’s better” the king said as he dropped down and dusted off his hands, having satisfyingly worked out some of his frustration at the booflies in the strike.

The rest meanwhile stood there in shocked silence before jr broke it with a realization of ”Ohhh yeah. I forgot we could just do stuff like that.” before cheering ”Way to go dad!”

”Yup. And let that be a lesson. Just because we’re doing hero stuff and playing nice, we shouldn't let that get in the way of what we are: bag guys” the king declared, imparting yet more dubious wisdom on Rika in the process, before asking the question none of them had really considered, which was ”So what is this stuff anyway?”

As it turned out, all the orbs contained various Zonai Devices from fans to balloons, lamps, rockets, gliders, wheels and even weapons like cannons and flamethrowers, though those were greatly outnumbered by transportation related equipment. Importantly, there were also a few big batteries that could power all these machines for a time.

Given that the island they had picked was relatively close to the side the seekers had started on, if the others could cimb down to it (and then get a wyvern taxi over), they might well have yet another way to get down the rest of the way. Jr’s GDI Engineer Suitcase was no ancient king’s magic arm, but it could weld stuff together just fine, and was on hand if anyone wanted to if they get their engineering mitts on.

As for the troop, they hung around a bit to make sure no one was going to plummet to their doom after the first hurdle, and tinker around with their prizes a bit. This involved a fair few things with rockets attached blazing upwards into the air unhelpful, and at least one unstably doomed glider plummeting down into the abyss.

Then, once everyone was in the clear, and they were bored/rested, they’d gather up a few of the more interesting devices, before remounting their wyverns and continue to descend down down into the depths.

---

—

Everyone did their part in fighting monsters or dishing out damage. Jesse avoided a few attacks and noticed that when she did get hit, it hurt in an…interesting way, and she flashed like she was in a video game. Weird!

Fortunately, it didn’t matter. If Pizza Head wasn’t dead, well, he was certainly giving up. Jesse couldn’t help but wince and suppress a laugh as Nadia and Bowser quite frankly beat the shit out of him. “Shit, guys. I think you got him.”

“So, yeah, I guess he’s still alive?” Jesse pondered Pizza Head. “It’s not like I haven’t seen a dead body before, but…people turn to ash, here. That’s peculiar. But, hey, we got the Mask Piece.” She gave Nadia a thumbs up.

“Good work everyone. Koopas. Good stuff. Everyone. Yes.” She clapped her hands together and did another pair of thumbs up.

She went to the cliff and set her hands on her hips, staring at the ruined city and massive vista below. Descending had always been exceptionally easy for Jesse since she got her powers. Ideally she would just be able to float down and shoot at anything that got in the way of her flightless teammates.

It was, however, a nice view. “A ruined city. Recently, too? It’s hard to tell if that city is a thousand years old or only a few months old. I suppose technically it’s both.” Jesse mused.

“There’s no culture, no context, for any of this. It’s just a big LEGO set.” Jesse complained. “I would love to see all this amazing stuff in the places they are supposed to be in, with the people who are supposed to live in it. Until then, though…” She kicked a rock off the ledge and watched it plummet. “Not bad. I’ll take what I can get.”

“Ooor I could entertain myself by blowing shit up and making shit up.” Jesse said, squinting over at the Koopa troop. “Is any of that stuff actually useful?” She asked with a laugh. “Maybe?” She watched a glider plummet over the edge. “Not that one.”

Being the strange chaotic monster that he was, It was a bit surpising that Pizza Head went down as fast as he did. Sectonia assumed he had another strange trick up his sleeve. But no, he sat there head in the ground and all of his loot; including the mask shard, falling out of his pockets. In as much disbelief as herself, Bowser and Nadia poked his body for quite awhile, making sure he wouldn't be a problem in the future. "Strange, awful creature." Sectonia said, not joining them in their routine as she refused to touch such a weird thing. Which felt odd in retrospect as a humanoid with food for a head almost felt... normal now which was its own version of strange.

Much like in the City of Tears, now that the koopa clan knew her deal with her symbol of avarice and everything, they came up to use it. Seeing as they have always honored the deal she made, she had no arguments as Rika crushed the boss they had destroyed and gotten an item. Even if he was a brute, which Bowser showcased later by destroying a weird machine that spit out orb like items, he at least kept up on all of the deals he made without any intent to skip out on them. It was, refreshing, even if Bowser was more of a barbarian king. Much less of a worry than Ganondorf, whom hadn't even attempted to make a deal with her yet.

Once everyone had figured what they were going to do, they made their way down to the mist filled ruins below. The place was eerie, but in a more... somber way than terrifying. As if the area cared not if you passed through it, conquered it, or got lost in it. That feeling of indifference was new, at least in this area. "Hm... How many mask fragments do we have left to gather? It feels like we are entering areas that would make those that seek manifest destiny happy." Sectonia said, gesturing to the atmosphere around.

After ending his fight with the Eyebrute, Rubick looked around to see if anyone needed help. However, he realized that everyone else had already finished their fights or was on the verge of doing so. Even Pizza Head had been bombarded with enough attacks to go down. "What is this!?" Rubick cried out indignantly. "How are they all defeated already? I came here to be tested!" He harrumphed, frustrated to be done so quickly, but there was nothing to do now. He eventually sighed and turned to look at his spoils of war: the Spirit of the Eyebrute. He gingerly lifted it up with his palm, wondering what he should do with it. Fusion was out of the question; he had no desire to launch his own eyeballs as projectiles, after all. A Striker might be interesting, but it'd be little more than a meatshield, and while it would be nice, he wanted more out of a Striker than that. That left only one option. Rubick squeezed his hand into a fist, compressing the Eyebrute's Spirit into an item.


He turned the item around in his hand, curious about the item. It was a shame it was a consumable item, as he would've preferred something more permanent. Still, it had a decent effect, so he would save it for an emergency. Storing it away in his robes, he would move on to rejoin the Seekers, next to Jesse. Everyone was currently busy looking for a way down into the mist-filled ruins. "I wonder what secrets they hold..." Rubick wondered out loud to the Seekers nearby. He hoped it would be something magical in nature. Meanwhile, the Koopa Troops were having fun trying out various gadgets. Rubick watched them for a time, also wondering alongside Jesse if any of them work. "Hmm, it seems some of them may have potential- oh. Except for that one."

Once the strange man was defeated and whatever spell had been cast on the Seekers lifted, Primrose wasted no time in using her spell of Warmth to heal herself. An invigorating start to the day I suppose, she thought, glad things turned out fine in the end. Barnabee had been right about the mask fragment, so she made sure it was collected and safe with the other pieces the group had so far. She also portioned out the Geo that had fallen while Nadia and Bowser were taking turns swatting Pizza Head, taking her share and (after a moment's deliberation) the diamond. She left the spirits of the other Seekers to use as they saw fit, and so did Therion - though the latter unabashedly claimed the remaining gems and the Eridium for himself along with his own share of the Geo. With everything tucked in his bag under his poncho he confirmed the pizza boxes were alright before joining the others on the edge of the tower.

Oh boy, another cliff. Hooray. Therion sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, mentally preparing himself for whatever method he'd use to descend. He could rappel down but it would take a long time. Maybe they could wrangle some of those flying creatures? Even the dandelion seeds looked big enough to float down on, but who knew how reliable that would be. He might have asked Primrose, Jesse, or Sectonia to carry him if he could live through the embarrassment. Fortunately Kamek was generous enough to lend some of his magic into making flying steads. Therion figured the wyverns wouldn't endanger themselves even with someone on their backs, and they seemed tame enough... "I'll... take one of those. Thanks." He told the old Koopa.

While flights were being prepared and views admired, Primrose considered Jesse's musing. Her "until then" was pretty optimistic; the dancer suspected there might never be a real chance for the context Jesse was talking about. But perhaps they could learn a little more about the area's history within the world they were in now. She glanced at the Hive Knight. "You mentioned a calamity took place here? Do you know anything more about it?"

Barnabee looked solemn. "Rumor tells that an ancient king of darkness, defeated and sealed away at great cost long ago, lay dormant for an age. Yet while he slumbered, his malignant influence seeped through stone like tar, poisoning yonder land and its people. I know not how it came to pass, but he evidently reawakened. His raw hatred surged through the land like a plague. The warriors of the Termite Capital vied to fight back, but their weapons rotted away in their hands, and the fetid mire that clogged their streets sapped their very lives. Soon, all that remained of that once-proud kingdom is the hollow, silent husk you see today. As for what became of his despot, I cannot say. Let us hope thy paths do not intertwine."

Therion had been listening in, and he clicked his tongue. Sure, let's hope, but knowing us? At least now the Seekers had a little bit of a heads up of what they might find down there, if anything of from the calamity remained. Primrose murmured an agreement with Barnabee.

When it was time for takeoff Therion clung to the borrowed wyvern, letting it slowly follow its kin and otherwise not directing it. He'd make it to the bottom eventually. Primrose chose to float down while landing on a floating isle or two whenever she needed to let the runes of her scarf recharge. During the trek she floated next to Sectonia, answering the queen's query.

"Well there were three indents in that door we encountered early on," Primrose began. "Judging by the size of the pieces we have, they were broken up into thirds or fourths... so we have about a mask and a half to go."

About five or six pieces. So they'd have to find more strong opponents that might be guarding one. The Seekers had some good luck so far with gathering the fragments, hopefully that luck would continue into today's adventure.

For a couple more minutes Nadia sat there on the cliff’s edge. Though she admired the view, listened to Barnabee, and watched some of her more-daring teammates trailblaze a way down the kingdom’s edge, she mostly just spent that time decompressing. Maybe her mornings in Smash City Alcamoth, Limsa Lominscuttle Town, Lumbridge, and -to a lesser extent the Home of Tears yesterday- had spoiled her, but she wasn’t used to fighting tooth and nail just to get breakfast. Even back in New Meridian, where she relied on guile and thievery to win her daily bread, the generosity of friendly Little Innsmouth restaurateurs like Yu-Wan made sure that even on bad days Nadia wouldn’t go hungry. Of course, her adventure in Crust Cove had been a breath of fresh air in a couple ways, but that simulated seaside would never compare to the real thing, and that whole Pizza Time deal meant her time in that level ended on a sour note. Add to that the run-in with Pizza Head, which had been a chaotic scramble even by her standards, and it had been quite the eventful morning already.

Still, Nadia might have relaxed by now if not for the occasional bit of precipitation. Once or twice a minute, a shape silhouetted against the lightroot above would plummet down through the open air, seemingly from the cavern’s vaulted ceiling. Though little more than dark blurs as they hurtled down, they looked rather like bugs to Nadia’s keen eyes, especially when one happened to land on a floating island and promptly burst into chunks of slimy chitin. After seeing Jesse meet with the Koopa Troop on the island with what looked like a giant antique gumball machine before continuing there descent, Nadia exhaled deeply and got to her feet. “Welp, I’m nyaat gettin’ anywhere just sitting here. Better get a mewve on.” Still, the extra break helped center her, and she felt a little better prepared for the challenges ahead.



With another certified Nadia Fortune great idea in mind she turned in the direction of the giant dandelion, but before she got going her ear swiveled toward the sound of footsteps behind her. When she looked over, she spotted Ichiban on his way over. His expression looked uncharacteristically sheepish, so she crossed her arms and greeted him. “Heya, Ich. What’s up?”

“Hey, Ms. Fortune,” he replied, preemptively giving her an instinctive half-bow of apology. “Look, uh, I’m gonna be straight with you. I don’t know if I’m a great fit for the group. I mean, I’ve dealt with some crazy stuff, but that pizza guy? That was a whole ‘nother level.”

Nadia felt like she could intuit where this was going. She gave him a resigned nod of encouragement. “Yeah, I totally getcha. I mean, a guy with a face made of cheese? Un-brie-leavable. Still, we cashed out in the end, so all in all, a pretty gouda time.” The feral giggled to herself. “Best part is, that isn’t even the freakiest muenster I’ve dealt with in the last twenty-four hours. Let alone the last couple days! You’ve gotta be a special kind of crazy to put up with this whole hero business.”

Ichiban winced. “Yeah…I do wanna help out. Maybe even become a real hero. But I’ve gotta…work myself up to it, you know? And besides.” He jabbed a thumb back at the tower behind him. “I’m worried about Omori. Poor kid’s even more out of his element than me! So I was thinking I’d take him back to Home of Tears. The people there must’ve calmed down by now, right? I’ve got some friends there, too.” His face turned to one of determination. “But I know what’s at stake. Once I’m ready, I’ll find you guys and join the team for real. A real hero!”

The irony of someone looking up to her as a hero made Nadia want to laugh. Even as she approached a full week with the Seekers, with one slain Guardian under her belt, she still didn’t feel like one. Nor did she suspect that she ever would be; it just wasn’t who she was. Like many of the others, she suspected, the feral’s plan boiled down to ‘fake it ‘til you make it’. But she didn’t actually want to goad Ichiban into staying, so instead of her true feelings Nadia gave him a big smile and a thumbs up. “Sounds like a plan! You take care of whatever ya need to, Ich. We’ll keep on truckin’.”

Once the two bid farewell, Nadia jogged over to the giant dandelion. She crouched down, pressurized her blood, and launched into the air, not to seize a dandelion sprig to act as a parasol, but to grab hold of the little dangling legs of a Morbula Cave Angel. The alien creature gave a squealing noise like air escaping from a balloon, no doubt thanks to the downside of her Massachusetts Fusion, but despite its cat-eared cargo the living hang glider remained aloft–it just wouldn’t be able to ascend. That worked just fine for Nadia though, and with a huge grin on her face she glided down through the immense cavern, yowling in exhilaration. By tugging on one of the legs she found she could steer the Cave Angel in her desired direction, so she swooped and banked around to her heart’s content, her tails streaming behind her.

On the way down through the Forgotten Lands, she got a good look at the sprawling ruined city far below. Nestled within the rocks at the bottom of the cavern lay what remained of the Termite Capitol, Holograd. Very irregular in layout, its jagged roadways and clustered city blocks sculpted around its stony surroundings, the city boasted a distinctive architectural style of reddish stone, replete with arches and grand domed roofs, no two exactly alike. In its heyday the place would have been a sight to behold, but true to Barnabee’s story of sudden and utter calamity, the Termite Capitol lay in a state of pitiable ruin. Virtually all of the domed roofs had caved in, many buildings had been reduced to rubble, and everything of value had been looted, leaving the place a picked-over corpse. Worst of all, many of the streets and even the buildings themselves lay caked in foul-looking tar, pitch-black but alight with an evil red glow from within. From that sinister morass sprouted tendrils tipped with clawed, inhuman hands, the baleful light of their freaky palm-eyes visible even from up here. Nadia’s lip curled reflexively. That had to be the ‘fetid mire’ Barnabee mentioned.

Still, signs of life remained. Nadia’s keen eyes glimpsed a couple odd, stone-bearing specters both big and small haunting Holograd’s dark recesses. Within toxic purple webs lurked pairs of steely spiders adorned with death masks, sometimes headed by one crowned in bygone glory. Though the crumbling vestiges of forgotten dynasties trundled troops of hunchbacked claymen, the spears that they used to scratch and dig at the dirt tipped with fragments of glinting meteorite. Parasitic Hoppers, their bellies full of stolen fluids, obliviously bounded along the streets with their proboscises swinging. However, the ink-black, mostly-docile mothflies seemed to be the most ubiquitous, sometimes so much so that they formed huge clusters that blocked off a lot of doorways and windows, though they also seemed to form bridges where the originals had fallen into the gloom-filled gorge that ran through the town.

Nadia’s lofty viewpoint also gave her a look at a few points of interest. Most prominent was the destroyed Holograd Castle, surrounded by giant green-tinged shards from what had once been enormous glass windows, possibly the site of the desperate last stand of the city’s royalty against the despot Barnabee mentioned. If anywhere in the Termite Capitol had quality loot to offer the Seekers, it would probably be there, though any leftover traces of that legendary destructor might be, too. Off to one side stood a domed arboretum with a huge tree growing from the holes in its ceiling and roots reaching outward from its front door like twisted fangs. At the city’s opposite edge stood a ruined colosseum, its walls slick with corruption, and for a moment Nadia thought she spotted something big in there. One eatery called ‘DineMite’ seemed relatively intact, even if the bomb shop next to it had evidently exploded at some point, and not far from there, on the other side of a ransacked marketplace, stood the wreckage of an inn with burnt-out neon lights that labeled it the Dome Hotel. Faint, almost completely unintelligible music filtered through the forlorn streets from Falldown Mall.

After that though, Nadia needed to focus on landing. Those who went down before her had congregated at a misty clearing on the city’s outskirts that sat at the very base of the stony Kingdom’s Edge. A river flowed behind it and promptly dropped away in a large waterfall, and when the feral glanced down into the gorge, she found not more gloom but a whole ramshackle shantytown on the walls, built by the survivors who fled their home’s destruction and returned at a later date. With just one hut and no visible enemies, the clearing looked like as good a spot as any, so Nadia steered her Cave Angel there. She swooped down to the clearing and let go of her makeshift hang glider, and after landing amongst her allies she looked up to watch the critter flap its wings and fly away.

Nadia crossed her arms and looked at the others, starting with Sectonia, who asked a question and then followed up with a statement the cat burglar didn’t understand in the slightest. “Huh?” Unbeknownst to her, the group had amassed four mask fragments so far: one from Silitha the Brood Mother, one from It Lives, one from Asgore, and one from Pizza Head. Four down, five to go, according to those who’d been to the Black Egg in person.

“Guess we gotta keep our eyes out for anythin’ that looks like a big, bad boss,” Nadia observed, reusing the memorable words uttered by Consul F last night.

“I can think of neither bigger nor badder than the usurper to Her Majesty Queen Vespa’s throne!” Barnabee exclaimed. “And should thee agree, thy objective is not so far away. Forsooth, it lay beneath thy very feet! Oh, to feel mine homeland within arm’s reach, so near and yet so far! How I’ve longed to taste of its sweet vapors once more…”

Nadia scratched her head. “We’d ‘bee’ able to taste them faster if we knew the way down. Do you remember the route you used to escape in the first place?”

The Hive Knight’s face fell. “Pray forgive me. I know not the exact location. Only that, in my flight from the usurper’s legions, I fled through tunnels of strange, virulent roots wont to regrow with such speed that only this fanged blade of mine could carve a path. I could not tarry long enough to memorize the spot.” He turned to stare at Holograd. “I am certain twas within the city bounds, however. I have no doubt thy heroic company will discover the path erelong.”

With that, the team’s mission was more or less clear: head into the Termite Capitol and explore its points of interest until someone found a way down into the Hive.

Finstertöter hung on the broad shoulders of Artorias the goliath of a man that was the knight had a slow going as he climbed ever downward.

Having sacrificed both gauntlets to the yawning darkness below over the course of the Seekers fight with Pizza Head, one free bare hand bled as it gripped the rocky face of the stone that slowly became cavern walls the further he went below but he ignored the pain focused on keeping a hold as to not fall to an untimely demise.

Last to meet up with the rest of the team the knight only heard the end of Barnabee's speech, Artorias quaffing down a swig of Estus spoke up after wiping his mouth with the back of his hand that healed thanks to the healing draught "The deeper thoust goes methinks the darker thy secrets thou shall find." meaningless though such a comment would seem the knight was in fact speaking from experience both in this world and his own.

"Tis my life to root out the evil in the world and put it to the sword. We shalt find a path or carve one ourselves." the knight said offhandedly to Barnabee, glowing eyes fixated as they caught a glance in the direction of the ruined stonework that might have been a great arena-like building once.

The architecture was nothing like the one he remembered passing through in Oolacile in what seemed ages ago now yet it called to him.

Reminded of his past, so without another word Artorias set off in the ruined coliseums direction his greatsword slung on his left shoulder as his metallic footsteps echoed behind him. He wondered what challenges would await him there, and uncharacteristically it made him giddy inside to find out…

”Ok. So. What in the goddesses’ names is a meme,” Midna found herself asking, once again having not understood half of what was being said, and feeling herself getting a migraine as a result.

What she did get, or decided that she got, was this: Zanzo was a negligent leader who was all baseless ego, while Monsoon was some low life dressing up might makes right in pretty language, and she had absolutely no issue in beating the smug attitudes out of them.

”Best start praying boys, because the strongest are right here, and we’re here to protect the weak from the likes of you,” she announced, before pointing a massive orange glowing finger in the two’s general direction.

As she did this, she popped open a portal and summoned both the volcano fragment and the sun on a stick, which should have left her unwieldy using a two handed weapon in one hand and having no grip on her steed’s fur for support, if she hadn’t thought of a new bit of spellcraft on the ride over.



Lines of power like a mix between runes and circuitry flowed down the back of the princess’s neck and then over her burn scarred chest, before out from beneath each a small replica of her head mounted shadowhand formed. One of these grabbed the scruff of her steed’s neck for support, while the other gripped the base of the volcano fragment’s shaft, letting her properly wield the fire axe at the same time as the fire loving mace it synergised so well with.

Geralt grimaced as Zanzo summoned a quartet of Strikers, because of course these people not only had Strikers, they had a small army of what looked to be genuinely dangerous ones. After having his ears assaulted by the inane driveling of two madmen who thought themselves clever, Geralt drew his steel sword and sighed as his hand made the Sign of Quen in the air. “So, we’re killing them both?” He asked bluntly, his voice flat. “I think I’m okay with that.”

“Either way, baddypons get proper beating!” Tora added.

The attitude on display from Geralt didn’t sit quite right with Macaron. “W-well, we don’t have to kill them…”

“Hah! As if simpletons like you could ever step to a natural genius like me!” As Monsoon ran toward him, he pulled his paired cleavers from their scabbards on his back. The two dual bladers met in a flurry of steel and sparks, but from the outside it became painfully clear that one wildly outclassed the other. Zanzo looked like total amateur, his impractical weapons wielded with the finesse of clubs, and in quick succession he got repeatedly blocked, parried, sliced, stabbed, and finally -after Monsoon caught his cleaver in a sai’s hook-shaped crossguard- disarmed. “What!?” The next instant Monsoon whipped around to sweep Zanzo’s legs out from under him, then descended on him with both blades downward for a dual stab.

Instead the red-armored Murasame appeared to absorb the attack in a guard stance, then pivot and launch upward with Vajra Counter. Though the parry left Monsoon off balance for a split second, he’d been expecting something like this and managed to defend with his sais in time, but the force of the upward slash still carried both him and Murasame into the air. At the height of its arc the follow-through threw Monsoon back, at which point the sniper Vigilant -having manifested behind Zanzo to take aim- nailed him in the chest with a high-speed shot. Monsoon fell, as Zanzo got to his feet, the magician Skywave appeared behind him to drop an AoE heal on him. “That’s more like it!” he said, getting to his feet. “Now where were we?”

Gritting his teeth, Macaron ran toward him and leaped into the air to come down with a might slam. “Paying for your crimes!” Before he could bring the hammer down, an enormous blue rectangle got in his way, and with a shove the massive Roadblock pushed him off. Strong Macaron might be, but against energy shields like this his fists wouldn’t be of much use.

”and learning how a summoner really fights” Midna boasted as she dashed past Macaron, raising her mace and then thrusting it forward commandingly, her darknut at Roadblock, the enlarged giant of a knight sliding across the ground on one knee and clashing shield to shield with the bulky exosuit.

As bulwark met bulwark the princess had her steed leap up onto the lowered flat of her knight titanic blade, and use it as springboard to leap over Zanzo’s first line of defense. Doing so led her to realize that Zanzo had retreated the moment his shield went up, running backward to give himself some distance. Roadblock ran out of time and vanished, but Midna knew it was only a matter of time before it -and the other Strikers- reappeared.

”Is that how it’s going to be? Fine then, if it's a hunt you want, it's a hunt you’ll get!”

Though she led the charge to chase him down, Macaron followed right behind, and to her surprise she spotted Clara in tow. It would be a touch late to balk at fighting alongside children now, but she hadn’t exactly taken the girl for a fighter, so she made sure to check that ”You can handle yourself in a fight, right Cara? If not, you’d be better hanging back”

“I’m not afraid of them!” the girl insisted. “A-and it’s, um, Clara.”

”Ah. Sorry for doubting you Clara” the princess replied, sounding faintly embarrassed by her misspeaking.

As the three of them closed in, Zanzo’s first Striker finished its cooldown and reappeared. The hooded markswoman Vigilant hit the scene with a flourish of her snow-white cape, but rather then open fire with her rifle she unveiled her Frost Lock, hurling an icy cluster right into the middle of the group. It burst in a shower of diamond dust and froze Zanzo’s earthbound assailants to the floor. “Hngh!” Macaron grunted. His brute strength allowed him to break free, but the same couldn’t be said for Clara, her bare feet entombed in ice. “Clara!”

Clara squeezed her teary eyes shut and doubled over, crying out, “Help me, Mr. Svarog!”

The air around and over her shimmered, then burst, sending up clouds of dust as a massive, dark figure uncloaked. At least ten feet tall, clad in dark blue armor and black clothes, the hulking robot crouched around her protectively, but the tranquil fury of his vividly red eye shone on Zanzo. The robot laid one hand on Clara’s head, gently hugging her close, and from the palm of the other shot an orange laser that struck Vigilant -and therefore Zanzo- full in the chest. “Agh!” he gasped, watching Svarog vanish almost as suddenly as his Striker. “You…!”

“Nice shot!” As the ice behind him timed out, Macaron ran toward his target. “Let’s get him, but watch out for a counter!”

”Lets” Minda agreed at his side, having launched herself off of her steed when it got frozen solid inorder to keep moving. With the beast now free, she portaled it in and out of her home realm to bring it back to her, and then surged ahead.

”I’m tired of your running! Initiates! Roots!” she shouted, summoning some of her own strikers. Masked and hooded in purple robes, the cultists rose up and then bowed down, sending psychic energy surging through the ground till it erupted around the scientist in the form of glowing vines that reached out to try and restrain both his mind and his body.

”Now, what will you do?” the princess murmured as her obscured eyes darted to and fro, seeking his counter, so she could make one in kind.

Right away Zanzi recognized both Midna's use of Strikers and what she intended to do with them. As the initiates' psychic roots sprouted around him, he summoned Murasame again, but not for defense. Istead the crimson exosuit dashed forward and raked across the Initiates with a powerful Crescent Moon slash. The sweeping strike instantly redirected their aggro away from Zanzo and toward Murasame itself, though all the Strikers would time out before anything else came of it. Well, except for Midna’s shadow hand darting forward grabbing the sword wielding striker in-order to crush it within her grasp, the princess having anticipated a counter striker summoning, but not quite the speed that this particular one could move at.

That left the playing field even, and both striker summoners wounded by recoil, but Zanzo had more cards up his sleeve, and he needed to use them fast as Macaron charged in.

With Roadblock still on cooldown, Zanzo pulled out Skywave to drop a Graviton Cluster on his incoming foes. Macaron quickly found his approach stymied yet again, but as he pitted his strength against the gravity well an idea came to mind. "Two can play at that game!" He activated a special feature in his mechanical arms and hurled down a thrumming purple orb that burst into a Gravity Well, trapping Zanzo in a vacuum, too.

"I want to help!" A moment after Clara said this, Svarog uncloaked directly in front of Zanzo and slammed him with a downward hook punch before vanishing again.

”Nice hit Clara” Midna praised the girl, from where she had also been sucked into the vortex. From within its confines, she raised up her shadowhand above her head and started inflating a sphere of magic, readying it to be unleashed as soon as the gravity well ended with a cry of ”Now eat this: twilight volleybomb!”

Zanzo watched her bomb build up with wide eyes, his hands clamped to his cheeks as Macaron’s Gravity Well jerked him around. “Gyah! Where in the world is is–aha!” As the glimmering green-black sphere of runic darkness careened his way, he pulled out Roadblock in the nick of time to absorb the blast. Both vortexes came to an end a moment later, but the giant yellow exosuit stayed out, its giant shield deployed. While Macaron initially assumed it could only exist for a moment as it performed a single technique, its continued presence made him realize that this must be more like a guard stance, allowing Roadblock to defend for longer as long as it didn’t take another action. Of course, Zanzo seemed happy to wait behind it, barely clinging to the pretense of wielding his cleavers as he waited for his all-important strikers to return.

“Think fast!” The big man scooped Midna up (”Wait what?”) and hurled her like a baseball, up and over Roadblock’s shield to put the Twilight Princess behind the exosuit’s summoner. If they could pincer this guy, they could stop his cooldown-conscious keepaway.

The princess stopped crying out in surprise about halfway through the toss when her brain caught up with what was going on and she used her levitation to stabilize the head over heels spinning. Focusing on that meant she wasn't able to also rotate herself the 180 degrees needed to face her foe however, as the princess landed facing away from him.

”Spears! Behind me!” she shouted as she started her pivot, summoning 2 of her 4 chilfos facing the correct direction. The frozen undead rose up bearing their icicle spears held first in a princess guarding X cross as Zanzo hurled his cleavers at Midna, before being brought down to stabbing angle as they closed in on their foe.

Though the Seekers’ strategy seemed sound, the now-unarmed Zanzo curled his fingers with one hand in front of his face and the other by his side in a devious pose. As his adversaries converged on him from both sides, he leaped into the air, then called upon Vigilant. Once he grabbed hold of his own Striker, the sniper fired her rifle straight downward, not to hit anyone but to launch both her and Zanzo even higher into the air. At the apex of his leap she vanished, but before he could begin to fall he replaced Vigilant with Skywave. The witchlike exosuit caught Zanzo in a bridal carry and began to slow-fall, allowing Zanzo not just to stall for time out of Macaron’s reach, but seize Skywave’s aether lance to rain down explosive orbs.

“What the…that’s gotta be cheating!” Macaron exclaimed in dismay as he shielded himself with his arms, already very tired of Zanzo’s strategic guile.

”Oh no you don’t!” Minda shouted after him before summoning a scaled up darknut. It raised its shield up to protect itself from the rain of orbs, while crouching down and settling its sword over its shoulder, such that the tip touched the ground behind it. Then in a very Macaron inspired move, the princess stepped onto the end of the sword, and was promptly catapulted into the air after the insufferable scientist by her undead knight with a cry of ”Now get back here!”

Faced with his bombardment, the princess used her levitation and rudder-like flygon tail to adjust her flight path, narrowly weaving around explosive doom. Given the improvised and unpracticed nature of this, however, she wasn’t exactly confident in performing some kind of arial fly by, and instead opted for the much simpler strategy: flying right at Zanzo to headbutt in the gut.

The sight of Midna hurtling toward him put a dampener on the mad scientist’s leisurely descent with Skywave. “Oh my- guh!” Given how his Striker was holding him his attacker struck him more in the side than anything. Still, the force of the blow not only roughed up his ribcage, but also knocked him out of Skywave’s arms, and the exosuit promptly disappeared. “WAAAAAAGH!” Zanzo wailed, flailing wildly as he fell until Murasame appeared. The crimson swordsman grabbed Zanzo around the middle with its sword arm and fired its Strafe Hook into the ceiling, allowing it to lower both to the ground safely. The moment the taskmaster touched down he struck a daring pose with a grin of utter confidence, as if he hadn’t been screaming like a little girl seconds ago.

Of course, Macaron wasn’t about to let him stay on his high horse. He came at Zanzo with massive swings, forcing him to dodge and duck like crazy. After the second near miss Roadblock manifested to cover Zanzo as he retreated, and though he walloped Macaron with a mighty haymaker, the engineer did not lose his head. He shook out the stars and put up his guard to absorb the next two blows. Then Macaron struck back with a full-power slug that actually sent Roadblock flying backward. It vanished just in time to not hit Zanzo, though the look of sheer terror on his face as he covered his head made it clear that wasn’t intentional. “H-hah hah, hah hah hah!” he laughed, semi-convincingly. “Try all you want, you’ll never…” He bent backward until his chest faced the ceiling, his hands held up like claws, to reveal Vigilant taking aim behind him. “REEEEEEEEEACH!”

Like an experienced boxer Macaron dipped out of the way, and Vigilant’s charge shot screamed past him to hit Clara instead. Or it would have, had Svarog not uncloaked in front of her to take the shot with his own shoulder. Then his red eye blazed with pure rage at the attempt on Clara’s life, and he raised his palm. ”This is the plan.” A purple laser blasted forth, and when it hit Zanzo it arced between him and Vigilant, dealing one hundred and fifty percent damage total.

As the humans (and invisible machine) had duked it out down below, Minda had buzzed overhead, propelled by the wings of her vibrava who was holding onto her back, only to release and drop her like a bomb as it passed overhead.

The princess plummeted down, but with more control and planning this time, resulting in her shooting out her shadow hand as she approached her target, slapping him flat onto the ground. ”Finally got you!” The nature of her magic prevented her from concussing herself with Newton’s third law, but the resulting angle still prevented her from catching Zanzo before he slipped out of her attempt to grab him with her shadow hand.

”What are you made of, soap?”

Unfortunately for the scientist, he was still in close range, and low on summons, while the latter the princess most certainly was not. Volcanic fissures cracked on the ground infront of him as he tried to get space, before bursting up with thermal energy as her vibrava swooped down and unleashed its earth power, sending him stumbling back onto the tips of two chilfoss spears.

The undead drove fixed him in place for a second, before smoothly stepping back right in time for the princess’ mechabear to come charging in, delivering a headbutt that knocked Zanzo away. Macaron joined Midna shoulder-to-shoulder as the two gave chase to keep the pain train rolling. When their dazed target hit the ground, they closed in, and as he sat halfway up Zanzo realized he couldn’t afford to hold back any longer.

“Come!” he yelled. “BLODIA!”

His final Striker manifested behind him, looming overhead, for it was massive. Though only its top half had appeared, it still dwarfed everyone in the room, and the shadow its body cast over the Seekers thanks to the molten core behind it brought Zanzo’s imminent beatdown to a screeching halt. Blodia was a titan of vivid red and shining steel, and the fist that it raised to bring down on its foes was as tall as Zanzo himself from pinky to thumb. Momentarily frozen in surprise, Macaron barely cleared the way in time, and Svarog uncloaked to pull Clara to safety himself. The immense punch fell with the weight of a collapsing building, destroying the alloy floor to expose part of the lava lake beneath the room. With a tremendous creaking, Blodia raised its fist, then disappeared to leave Zanzo standing alone. Though by now, everyone knew that the head of R&D never stood alone.

“You’re finally beginning to realize, aren’t you?” he taunted them. “There is but one master of machines, and I am it!”

”Good thing you aren't one, because I am sick of playing your game of cat and mouse!” Minda shouted back, as she ditched her melee weapons, and pulled out what she should have used in the first place: a gun.

Specifically the Therian Viral Rifle she’d stolen back in the subway from one of the cat snipers.

The princess floated in the air, four hands all gripping the long barreled weapon to support it as she raised the scope up a mask-covered eye, and took aim at the head scientist, before squeezing the trigger.

With an ever so soft sound the futuristic air powered rifle launched its biochemical payload at the man.

She missed. Macaron hadn’t expected the summoner-warrior to pull out a gun, but if she meant to take potshots at Zanzo she was going to need cover. Especially since that meant a shootout designed for pinpoint marksmanship. Therefore, despite the threat posed by Blodia, Macaron began to chase down Zanzo once more. He could use another Gravity Well to pull his enemy in, but the constant gyration would make it almost impossible for Midna to shoot him, and Macaron didn’t want to interfere. That meant he needed to make his way into melee range once more. Large size plus desk job meant that his calisthenics really weren’t the best, and after so much exertion already Macaron’s movement speed was suffering. That meant Vigilant showed up with time to spare and zeroed in on Midna. As the sharpshooter’s scope glinted, the Twilight Princess was faced with a split-second decision: take the shot or get the hell out of dodge.

Instead of an enemy marksman, however, the striker found itself narrowing in on a princess who seemed to have just finished angrily hurling her gun at them with her shadow hand. Vigilant’s rifle thundered, but when the muzzle flash died down, Midna had disappeared from her sights.

Meanwhile, the hurled weapon flew over both Macaron and Zanzo’s head, but the sound of it impacting with the ground never came, as instead the princess pulled herself out of the rifle’s shadow, and then caught it before it could hit the deck. She smoothly brought the rifle up again, aimed, pulled the trigger- and completely failed to shoot the scientist in the back. Though she gave him a good scare.

Instead dart whizzed past his ear and then, because no one had taught the princess gun safety, struck the larger target currently charging towards him instead. The syringe embedded itself into Macaron’s arm, and discharged its payload into his bloodstream, the biotechnological substance flooding through his veins, swiftly saturating throughout his entire body.

It left him feeling rejuvenated and re-energised.

Midna never had worked out which glowing green substance was for healing and which was for harming after all.

Of course, that gave him a scare too. “Whuh!? …Oh.” He blinked, realizing what had happened. “Thanks, miss!”

”I mean to do that!”

He swung at Zanzo, who narrowly avoided it but just about stumbled backward into Midna in the process. Realizing he was surrounded, the man threw caution to the wind and started summoning. Murasame appeared to slash at Macaron with a three hit combo, but on the final overhead swing the engineer clapped his palms together and caught the blade in his hands. Skywave manifested behind Zanzo to face Midna, immediately using Optics Jammer to fire off a shockwave and render the Twilight Princess blind. Then he rounded on Clara, who’d just arrived to help. With the effects of Promise, Not Command still active, he couldn’t see her and not try to hit her. Roadblock arrived and let loose its right hook, the gigantic fist careening toward the little girl’s terrified face.

Then it stopped dead, and Svarog uncloaked to reveal he’d caught Roadblock’s slug in his left hand. Pulling the arm closer, he overclocked his other hand and brought it up below the exosuit’s elbow joint to deliver an upward palm strike and break it. Then the purple laser blasted out of his palm and through the arm, a critical hit thanks to the Mark of Counter Roadblock gained by attacking Clara, and blew the arm straight off. A split second later the feedback reached Zanzo himself, and his right robotic arm exploded off at the elbow, punctuated by a shrill cry not of pain, but fear.

He got more feedback a moment later when an oversized wolfos (summoned by a cursing princess who was hunkered down beneath her darknut’s sheild) lunged forwards and snapped its jaws around Skywave, canine teeth digging in while it savaged it like a small bird.

With all three Strikers rendered vulnerable, Macaron had an idea. He pushed Murasame off, causing it to stumble into Zanzo, then jumped up and dropped a Gravity Well on top of the whole gang. Unable to despawn while still being hit, the Strikers and Zanzo bumped against one another until Svarog snapped his fingers. ”Analysis complete.” He unleashed Shrew Bombing, firing a bevy of micro-missiles from his back to deal a boatload of damage to the mad scientist. Only then did the Strikers disappear, their master bearing all their wounds.

Desperate for a way out, Zanzo called on Blodia. The red mech’s giant fist descended on his position, scattering everyone as it cratered the floor. Though the head of R&D had sustained a lot of punishment, it looked like things would be going back to normal until Sandalphon’s voice reached Midna.

“I’ve completed my analysis as well. I’m giving you a heads-up display of the exact status for all of Zanzo’s Assists. In his current mental state, I predict he will use them the second they come off cooldown. Good luck.” Sure enough, little blue bars with Striker icons appeared in the corner of Midna’s vision, lighting up when they filled completely. With that, the scales were tipped even further in her favor. The final round was about to begin.

”Well, those are strange” the princess said, waving a hand over where the icons looked to be as she picked herself up from where she and her knight had been blasted back too. Their appearance having come at just about the same moment as her vision returned had certainly made the experience even more bizarre, the princess briefly worrying something in her eyes had broken until it became clear what they where.

”You two …. Or three?” she wasn’t sure what the robot that kept appearing and disappearing around Clara was, be it summon, tool, or person, ”seeing these?”

Of course, the others weren’t connected to Sandalphon, and even if they were, the concept of a heads-up display would take a lot of explaining to convey to someone like Midna if she couldn’t intuit it based off what the Archangel said. Macaron glanced between her and Zanzo, who this lull in the battle expressly benefited. “What d’you mean?” he asked, cautious about a potential trap he had yet to notice. “If you’re seeing something we’re not, you’ve gotta let us know. He’s on his last legs, we’ve gotta finish this before his helpers get back!”

A moment after he said this, the progress bar marked with a reticle icon filled up and turned green, flashing with the warning text ASSIST OKAY. That very moment, Zanzo summoned Vigilant, and this time she used her Overdrive. She spun her rifle like a staff above her head, then couched it by her side with a vibrant blue flash. When she opened fire, her next three trigger pulls split the room as fully-charged railgun shots. With Promise, Not Command depleted, she expressly avoided firing at Clara, instead landing a brutal bodyshot on Macaron before she aimed the next two at Midna. And all the while, the other four progress bars floating in front of Midna’s head continued to fill.

”Oh goddesses” the princess cursed as she hurled herself out of the way of the first shot, and then scrabbled on all six like some kind of bug to try and avoid the next, only to get caught in the foot and feel like every bone in it broke at once.

”Ffffffff-” she bit down the swear word, as she instead flicked a hand and piled up a load of container crates for cover. Then she hurled her broken interdimensional axe in Zanzo’s general direction via shadow hand as a fake flanking attempt while she instead pulled out and, intentionally this time, shot Macaron with her Therian Viral Rifle.

”I can … see when his summons are about to activate” she explained, not entirely understanding how Sandalphon’s whole thing worked, and having falsely assumed that her talking to them meant she was connected somehow. ”I’ll call them out by weapon. Sword, shield, that kind of thing” she decided as she tried and failed to shoot herself with the healing rifle, and then just gave up on her foot for the rest of the fight.

Healed a little and too big to take cover, Macaron pushed toward Zanzo. “I’m all ears, then!’

Then Midna checked the order their issues were coming in while trying to formulate a plan. With Vigilant back on cooldown, next up would be Skywave in about seven seconds thanks to a shorter cooldown, followed by Murasame in eleven and Roadblock in fourteen.

”How do you feel like going for a drive?”

“A drive?” Having taken cover alongside the Twilight Princess, Clara’s eyes were wide with worry.

In response she snapped her fingers, and portaled in her the warthog, her 4x4 scout jeep complete with mounted minigun turret ”Seeing as you seem to be tired of running, let’s skip that bit and go flat out to get in his face.”

She and Clara jumped into the Warthog, although the little girl was quickly forced to make a concession. “I…can’t drive.” If there had not been holes in the floor that dropped straight to lava, Midna might have tried to give her a crash course as she was, ironically enough, the only one of them who could comfortably use the modifications made to let the imp sized princess use her vehicle (namely a booster seat in all but name and extensions to the pedals).

”Then hold on.”

As Svarog uncloaked behind the vehicle, an orange shot blazed overhead and destroyed the crates to clear the way. He then clamped his metal mitts down on its rear bumper, and gave it a mighty push. The Warthog zoomed forward, its occupants holding tight as their ride bounced along, but it lasted only for a moment; Svarog had calculated the exact strength necessary to make the vehicle stop right next to Macaron. Though initially shocked, the engineer understood what was going on and jumped aboard, plopping down behind the driver’s seat to get the Warthog the rest of the way.

Time was precious, and Zanzo made the most of it. Right when Skywave came off cooldown the airborne exosuit appeared to use her Optics Jammer on Zanzo, healing him with the shockwave. Macaron put the pedal to the metal as fast as he could, planning to ducktail the Warthog to smack Zanzo non-lethally without running him down, but according to Midna’s heads-up display, Murasame would come off cooldown right before the vehicle would make contact.

”Sword incoming!” Midna shouted in warning, before she pulled out all the stops and most of her remaining energy to ward it off. An oversized wolfos and mecha bear were summoned to run alongside the slowing vehicle as physical barriers on either side of the vehicle. At the same time she reached out and warped her shadow hand around the hood of the car as additional armor, before finally summoning her darknut to stand with one foot in each of the front seat’s legroom, shield raised prepared to block a strike from ahead or above.

Just as predicted, Murasame appeared, but not to strike. He flashed into existence already in counter stance, ready and able to take a headlong collision with the Warthog before dishing out a massive strike in return. With the vehicle slowed down and its occupants pivoting to defense themselves, however, Murasame just sat there waiting, its counter never triggered.

“Good call!” Macaron stood up in his seat. Clara threw her arms around his shoulders just as the engineer jumped, forcing Zanzo to dodge backward or be crushed. Unfortunately for him, the former head of R&D was too close for Zanzo to get away. “This one’s for me!” Macaron unleashed Love Top, shmooving forward with a big hook from either side. Midna could see Roadblock’s cooldown poised to end right after her ally’s second blow.

”Shield's incoming” she called out in warning. Too pained to have been able to move herself into the fight, she had instead directed her darknut to step down from the vehicle and approach, leaving it in prime position for her to help. ”Macaron, flank him” she shouted and then, if the big man juked to the side as she hoped, would have the undead knight swing its massive blade at the Zanzo to force him to use his block.

Her plan worked beautifully, as Macaron backed off just as Roadblock appeared, and as Zanzo used his striker to block Midna’s evil-looking summon, the engineer lent his strength. Together their might proved to be the last straw, and Roadblock’s shield shattered the exosuit stumbled then disappeared, leaving just one striker left: Blodia, incoming in two seconds.

”Giant fist! It's all he’s got left!”

When Blodia appeared, both arms raised for a gigantic double punch, the team was ready. Svarog uncloaked, and next to him dropped a huge robotic hand hard enough to dent the floor. It immediately picked itself up and floated off the floor, its fingers twitching open. On the other side, Macaron braced himself. When Blodia struck, both Macaron and Svarog caught the fists in a terrific display of strength, slowing them to a stop and then holding them in place. Blodia tried to pull its arms free, but it couldn’t move, and neither could Zanzo. As if on queue, Sandalphon’s arrival in the other half of the fight led to a huge burst of healing, shoring Midna up more than enough to deal the final blow.

”I want you to know” the princess said as she pulled out a plain longsword and grabbed it with all four hands ”That I don’t really know who you are. Or what you do. Or really why we’re taking you down” she jerked a head, causing her initiate strikers to appear and root the man down, doubly ensuring he wasn’t getting away ”But you're incredibly annoying, so that makes this personal anyway”.

She raised up the blade, and brought it down hard, cleaving into the trapped man’s remaining robotic arm as he tried to protect himself, severing it in the process. Then she did the same for one of the legs, then the other, before finally raising her weapon while standing the now entirely unable to escape man- and then proceeded to smack his head with the flat of the blade several times till she knocked him out cold.

Macaron winced. “Oh, jeez. I mean, I know he’s a real scumbag, better than most people really, but still.” Since he hadn’t been the one to take the reigns, though, he figured Zanzo ought to be grateful that the violent twilight goblin didn’t go all the way. The mad scientist’s defeat put an end to his onslaught of Strikers, though his continued life meant that’d still be a factor in the future. Speaking of which, Macaron didn’t really know what to do next. He rubbed his head. “What now? Sure, revenge felt good and all, but Vandelay Technologies isn’t any different. Even if Zanzo’s gone, Kale will just find another yes-man with big ideas and no conscience.” Clara didn’t say anything, but just held tight to Svarog’s leg as the big robot stood in silence.

”I think we’ve also got people punching Kale as well, so presumably, by right of conquest, we’ll be able to claim the company. Or something. Look I’ll be honest I am here to help Tora get everything he needs to save a friend of ours. Everything else? Well you can ask her” the princess pointed a finger over at their restorative savior, who by that point had long since vanished.

”or. not.”

“That’s…interesting, I suppose. Me, I’d hope we could find Roxanne Vandelay and convince her to come out of retirement, at least for as long as it takes to get the company on the right track again. Kale’s…well, he’s achieved record fame and profit, but it just isn’t right. Or sustainable!”

The princess was mostly thinking about what to do with torsoboy, muttering to herself about how she bet he’d do a Crow if she freed him, but she was paying enough attention to respond with ”I well if you think it’d help, you can fill everyone in on the details once we group up again.”

With that in mind, she remembered, rather late, that they had only been dealing with one half of the problem.

”I hope their guy wasn’t as annoying as ours”

When Monsoon hit the ground, Mayer and her bevy of Robotters turned their attention toward him. “Alright, Meeboos! let’s make sure he stays down!” She jogged toward the fallen Wind of Destruction and sicced a Robotter on him, which ran ahead and jumped at him as he tried to rise. Monsoon, however, recovered unexpectedly quickly, and before the Robotter landed on him he cut its jump short with a sai through its chest. Mayer activated the detonation sequence, causing her minion to spark brighter and louder, but Monsoon recognized what was happening fast enough to twist around and hurl it back in Mayer’s direction. Just before it could smack into the Anaty’s pack and cause a devastating chain reaction, a jolt from her Short Circuit disintegrated it, and its disappearance gave Monsoon a good view of the enraged look on Mayer’s face. “Oh, you’ve done it now!”

Geralt charged at the Wind of Destruction through the smoke cloud left by the small explosion, sword sheathed on his back and claws ready to tear through the nihilist. Figuring that it would be best to match his opponent in the number of weapons they brought to bear, he slashed at Monsoon with a quick combo of attacks, caring more at the moment for getting an idea of Monsoon’s fighting style than dealing any real damage.

Though smaller than his assailant, Monsoon was fast, and his sais moved like a natural extension of his body. He sized Geralt up at a glance, recognizing his greater reach and natural strength, but also identifying his shortcomings. If this man wanted to stow his weapons and play around, he would come to regret it. Very much going for damage, Monsoon swerved and struck like a snake, making the most of weapons his foe clearly knew nothing of. He deflected Geralt’s swipes and swats whenever viable but was not afraid to take a few errant scratches if it meant maintaining advantage or landing a hit on his own. Neither his metal body nor chain mail could be effectively cut, but the latter could certainly be pierced once the easy-to-hit Queen shield went down. Pretty quickly Geralt found himself stabbed in a half-dozen places, and though Monsoon hadn’t targeted anything vital yet, his repeated thrusts to Geralt’s forearms and hands made his plan of methodical disarmament clear.

Before too much could happen, though, the Witcher’s allies joined in the mix. Tora barged in from the side with his Sabo Shield extended to try and knock Monsoon over. The Cambodian vaulted over him cleanly, putting a little distance between himself and Geralt so the man couldn’t immediately capitalize, but right on Tora’s heels came another of Mayer’s Robotters. Monsoon whirled around to impale it send the four-legged bomb back to sender just as he did before, but while everything going on made him a little hasty, Mayer had grown wiser. The young woman yanked on her Robotter’s wire mid-pounce, halting its momentum, and as it it the ground her pet detonated in a rippling electric explosion that caught Monsoon halfway through. “Gragh!” He stumbled away from the blast, electrocuted, smoking, and ripe for Geralt to make a real effort.

Having gotten a better idea of Monsoon’s fighting style, Geralt was more ready to take advantage of Tora and Mayer’s intervention. Quen had taken a good few hits before breaking, though the speedy fighter had managed to break through the magical shield in the end. The giant Witcher charged in, his hand making the Sign of Yrden as he placed an area trap around himself and Monsoon, which slowed the Wind of Destruction down enough for Geralt to savage him with a flurry of claw strikes that came faster than he would have been able to swing his sword.

His efforts dealt good damage, but the fight was just getting started. "Savor it while you can!" Monsoon spat, dashing away. He reached down to his belt and removed a pair of smoke grenades, which he hurled right at Geralt and Tora. They went off noisily and turned the whole area into a gray haze in a matter of seconds. "I could be anywhere!" He cackled, out of sight and about to spring.

"Group up, quick!" Mayer called, moving with her pack to join the others. Behind her, the silhouette of Monsoon appeared for a split second before he leaped in, his sais extended. On hit or block, he'd jump away into the haze again, then strike from another direction until the smoke diffused away.

Geralt sighed as Monsoon threw the smoke grenades their way, shaking his head as he waited about five seconds before drawing the Sign of Aard and slamming his hand into the ground, hoping to use the blast of force to both knock the grenades away and dissipate what smoke they’d spewed out. Regardless of whether his plan was effective, he drew his steel sword and took a defensive stance, ready to lash out and use the weapon’s superior reach against his admittedly more agile opponent.

The Witcher’s sudden expulsion of force didn’t work as well as a blast of air would to clear the area, but it at least removed the sources, scattering the smoke-spewing grenades to the corners of the giant room. As the smokescreen began to clear, the trio spotted Monsoon the moment before he hurled something else at them. Two handfuls of energy kunai zipped through the air, buzzing like angry wasps. Tora raised his shield and Mayer’s Robotters joined her mechanical arms to help create a robotic shield for her to hide behind. That left just Geralt, and Monsoon ran straight for him, picking up speed. The Witcher got only a moment to see that his foe’s hands lay not on the sais now in his belt, but the handles of the katanas on his back. Then Monsoon drew them and shot forward through the group in a blur of orange flame and purple lightning. Strangely the Seekers felt nothing–only when he replaced the swords in their scabbards did a delayed double-elemental hit strike them all. That strike both broke Tora’s poise and knocked down Mayer’s Robotters, and when Monsoon whirled around two more handfuls of kunais whizzed toward his foes.

Geralt was caught off guard by the elemental-dash attack, grunting as the delayed strike landed on him, but when Monsoon hurled another barrage of kunai, he was ready. The Judicator appeared to tank them, reducing the damage to little more than pinpricks to Geralt between the Striker’s bulk and his own tankiness. The team hadn’t taken much damage so far, the last blow notwithstanding, so Geralt directed it to launch its own barrages of energy at Monsoon, in the form of spectral flames as he ran in with his steel to match the nihilistic swordsman’s own, relying on both his enhanced strength and decades of combat experience to overwhelm Monsoon with a flurry of slashes.

More than happy to step up to the challenge, Monsoon met him in kind. He might not have lived as long as Witcher, but his cybernetic body also outstripped the limits of mortal man. Quickly switching from the flashy elemental extravagance of the katanas Onimaru and Jyuzumaru to his sais, Dystopia, he fought with weapons designed specifically to capture and entrap enemy blades, his two against Geralt’s one. They traded blows in a flurry of sparks and steel, landing as many hits on one another as they deflected. Dystopia danced in Monsoon’s hands as he changed his grip style as necessary, almost as happy to pummel with their blunt ends as impale with their points. Though he managed to snare Geralt’s steel sword multiple times with the prongs, the strength of the Witcher made him difficult to contain, and both added kicks to the mix.

While Geralt kept him busy, Mayer circled around with her Robotters, zapping him with her Short Circuit as she looked for an opening, while Tora kept his shield up, not daring to interfere with the melee. Now that he’d seen those Robotters explode, Geralt knew who could put out the highest burst damage in the group. If he could give her a chance, Mayer would make it count.

As Geralt and Monsoon traded blows, with Geralt taking at least twice as many smaller hits but hitting significantly harder, the Witcher took a kick to the side of the knee that let him fake a stumble, goading Monsoon into an attack that he let through his defenses while his free hand made the Sign of Axii. Even if the magic only stunned him for a few seconds, it would be enough for Mayer to send in the Robotters. “Now, I can take the hit!” Geralt urged, even as he raised his arms in front of him and leapt backwards.

Faced with a perceived opening, Monsoon span Dystopia in his hands and brought both down for plunging stab, aimed for the base of Geralt’s neck inside the collarbone. Before he could sink them too deep, axii took effect, and he locked up the moment the insidious magic touched his mind. Tora, already spurred forward by what looked like a vital wound, heard Geralt’s signal loud and clear, charged in and bashed Monsoon with the Sabo Shield. The Cambodian staggered backward drunkenly, his mind still under assault, and Tora bathed him in a torrent of flame. As his flamethrower blazed, Mayer commanded her Robotters forward, and three of them jumped on Monsoon in quick succession. The second took him to the ground, and as the third joined the dogpile, Mayer hit her switch. They detonated in a blast of flame and lightning that the nearby Seekers could feel in their bones, and the pieces of Monsoon scattered across the ground like the parts of a broken action figure.

With Monsoon apparently defeated, Geralt pushed himself to his knees, one hand holding his neck to try and stop some of the blood flow, the other fishing around in his pack and grabbing a potion to try and manage his wound. “Damn…went right for the throat.”

“...A commendable, if futile, effort.”

Tora’s expression turned to horror as his eyes settled on Monsoon’s severed head, still speaking. “You may take pride in your size and strength, but in the end, you’re just a relic of the long-forgotten past. Slow, old. An ape striking rocks together to make fire. Strong, weak. Everyone dies.” Suddenly, a protrusion extended from his circular visor, the cell in its interior crackling with purple electricity. The same charge began to flow through his pieces, causing them to clatter against the floor as they slid toward him. “Phnom Penh and the Khmer Rouge taught me that. I was raised on the Killing Fields, where the instruments of war genocided a third of Cambodia’s population.” His pieces rose and magnetized together, starting with the quarters of his torso. Then his arms and legs socketed together on the green seams, before the limbs themselves reattached. Only his scabbards continued to float, and as he spoke his katanas drew themselves from their sheaths.

“Writhe all you like. Life has no meaning. It is but a flickering flame.” With a wave of his hand, his magnetic power yanked Mayer’s remaining six Robotters from their wires to fly towards him and float in a ring behind them, struggling as he pulled their limbs off. Clenching her teeth in rage, Mayer detonated them in the hopes of hurting Monsoon, but as the blasts went off and the smoke cleared the Cambodian stood there still, wreathed in purple lightning. He raised Dystopia. “And the rains have come.”

“It is so easy to throw away the value of life, pretend that it means nothing, but all you are is a scared child who never learned to make his own life, find his own meaning.” Geralt spoke, the last drops of a dose of Swallow dripping down his lips. “I may be a relic of the past, but you ought to beware of an old man in a profession where men usually die young.” Raising to his full height, Geralt summoned Fizz and Panther as his hand plunged into his gut, ripping out the Hateful Flesh in a spray of gore and viscera, and he leapt at Monsoon with a roar, slamming the weapon over his head to crush the nihilist while his Strikers shot and charged at Monsoon as well.

When Geralt swung at him, Monsoon did not flinch, his smirk hidden by the visor that now shone with magnetic power. As the giant blade drew near, his body cleanly split apart at the lines on his body in a way that the Witcher might’ve found oddly familiar, were he in his right mind. This separation allowed him to almost effortlessly dodge the attack by letting it harmlessly pass between his pieces. More than ready for Geralt’s arrival, he brought his floating katanas down in a splendid orange-and-purple flare of fire and lightning, then jumped backward to put some distance between himself and his melee attackers. Panther landed a handful of blaster shots, and though Monsoon felt them, he focused more on what came next. He lifted his arms and shot his forearms toward Geralt, his sais’ points outward to create flying blades.

Geralt ignored the flying Sais as they grazed past him, spinning the Orphan’s viscera weapon once in a wide sweep before launching it at Monsoon, running towards him and grabbing a handful of flesh grenades when the weapon returned to him via the umbilical cord-like lead it was on. He threw the grenades as he made the Sign of Quen to protect himself, launching into a frenetic frenzy of blows against the DesporHado lieutenant, planning to either get a good few hits in or at least get a better idea of the new trick this frustrating man had up his sleeves.

Monsoon leaped over the giant fleshy sickle as it scraped across the floor, magnetically holding himself in the air for a split second to make sure there was no room for error. He landed as Geralt wrenched out some explosive pustules, and when they flew toward him and brought the katanas around to form a protective X, blocking most of their power even if he took a bit of splash damage. The blades then parted, and he stood firm as the Witcher went wild, separating fast enough to avoid every slash and smash, all accentuated by Monsoon’s derisive laughter. After an especially big overswing from Geralt the Cambodian took his chance to launch upward with a backflip kick to the Quen shield. From midair he launched himself down in a dive kick, bouncing off and then magnetically hurling himself back down to divekick a total of three times. On the third kick he broke the shield and hit the ground, followed shortly by the katanas as they dropped down after him with a double overhead chop to almost -but not quite- cover the divekick’s recovery.

In that moment of tempting vulnerability, Mayer’s voice rang out from behind Geralt. “Look out!” she cried, a hair too late for her ally to avoid a nasty surprise. Twin lances of agonizing pain coursed through Geralt’s system as Dystopia sank into his back, driven by the detached arms of Monsoon as they floated behind him. He yanked them out, and as they flew back toward him as if tugged on threads of electricity, the Cambodian positioned his katanas to either side before closing them on Geralt like a giant pair of scissors.

Before the blades could meet, Tora got in the way. He ran in and jumped up to intercept both katanas with the sides of his Sabo Shield. Immediately the shield itself counterattacked, returning a portion of the swords’ would-be damage with a shotgun blast of cactus spikes. Almost all of them hit Monsoon, and with a frown he hopped backward. With Geralt injured, he produced two more smoke grenades and pulled their pins, but as they flew through the air Mayer slid to a stop next to the Witcher. Her Short Circuit sparked twice, deleting both grenades in rapid succession. She and Tora stood in front of him to give him a moment to recover, though Monsoon didn’t plan to give them that chance. He sent out his forearms to fight with his sais from a distance, wielding them with maximum lethality and minimum vulnerability. Tora clenched his teeth and blocked like his life depended on it.

“Are you okay?” Mayer ventured to ask. Her mechanical arms seemed to be hard at work, building a new Robotter on the fly.

“I’ll live,” Geralt grunted, calling on the Judicator once more to heal him with its self-flagellation, the damage he’d taken forcing him to reconsider his strategy once more. Monsoon had managed to dodge every blow of his, though ultimately it wasn’t terribly shocking that this was the case. The Orphan’s weapon could have managed this fight without Monsoon’s strange separation powers, which reminded him of Nadia now that he had a moment to think on it, but it was too unwieldy to be viable here. As the monstrous weapon dissipated and Geralt drew his steel sword, the Judicator’s flailing having closed some of the wounds the residual healing from Swallow couldn’t handle, he ran in to engage Monsoon. Hopefully he’d be able to get the maniac off of Tora before the Nopon was overwhelmed.

In fact Tora hadn’t been doing great. After a few frantic seconds of all-out defense against Monsoon’s remotely-controlled arms, the cyborg detached his lower half and sent it running at Tora too, his torso just hanging by itself in the air like the body of a puppet. His kicks targeted the sides of the shield to twist it out of alignment and negate the threat of reciprocal spikes, and after a moment he hooked his heel around the edge on Tora’s non-dominant side and wrenched it, opening his guard wide up. Tora took a side kick to the belly the next moment, but that wasn’t anything he couldn’t take, and he reached for his hammer. The blow turned out to be nothing more than a distraction, however as Monsoon’s weapons went for his unprotected face. As durable as Tora was, could the same be said for the Nopon’s eyes? Geralt’s steel sword swung in at just the right time to prevent Monsoon finding out, knocking Dystopia and the attached hands away with a direct hit. The Cambodian reeled in his detached parts, but rather than snap back together he separated everything and rocketed forward as a corkscrew of whirling blades and metal body parts. Rather than hide behind his shield, the startled Nopon steeled himself and swung his hammer, aiming for Monsoon’s head. He missed and smacked one of the cyborg’s shins instead, and though the strike sent the body part into a spin, it quickly magnetized back with the rest as Monsoon passed the two in a barrage of hits.

Geralt sidestepped the corkscrew of blades and body parts, drawing the Sign of Aard and launching a blast of force at Monsoon’s separated body parts to try and knock the attack out of focus. Even held together by blood, Nadia’s individual parts were much easier to manipulate when separated, so he figured the same principle might hold true here. Regardless of whether it worked out the way he hoped, Geralt went for Monsoon’s head, swinging and stabbing quickly while trying to dance around the disembodied limbs that swung for him.

The blast of force pushed the whole storm of parts away, like a school of fish shying away from a prowling shark. Monsoon’s head went with them, but a moment later the metal twister wound toward Geralt again. Even identifying the head among them was difficult, let alone hitting them, and the storm did not linger. After buffeting Geralt and ending up behind him Monsoon turned and came back for one more pass, then socketed back together a little ways off. He glanced down at the fresh dents and grooves left in his armor with veiled displeasure, then looked back at Geralt. “You really don’t know what you’re dealing with.” When he extended his hand, his magnetic power arced to the Witcher’s steel sword to pry it from his grasp.

Geralt smirked, letting go of the sword and drew silver, slashing with a grunt. “Two swords for a reason.” He simply stated, knowing that silver wouldn’t be nearly as easy to manipulate as steel would be, and resumed his attack with gusto and fury, Fizz appearing alongside the PT Imp Pack to swarm him with quicker attacks. Even Tora joined in. “Go for the head!” He commanded them all as his silver sword flashed and sliced through the air and, hopefully, flesh.

In reply, Monsoon shot his head backward, followed shortly by the rest of his segments almost like a giant slinky. Now that Geralt had a pretty good idea of what to target, there was no use trying to hide it. He sent out his arms with Dystopia, his lower half, and finally both katanas, whirling them through the air like elemental boomerangs. By doing that he could fight the whole group at once, but doing so clearly taxed him. His detached hands fought Geralt with far less dexterity than before, and though his katanas cleaved into his Strikers, his lower half found less success against Tora this time around. The little guy wasn’t stupid, after all. Rather than hide behind his shield he fought with his hammer, whacking Monsoon’s legs at least once for every kick he took.

Geralt grunted with each hit the Strikers took, but he pressed onward, doing his best to keep his head on a swivel and his sword in the way of each attack coming for him. It was easier now to do so, with Monsoon focusing on so many targets, and Geralt quickly found himself near Monsoon’s head, which tried to retreat once more, only for a quick pirouette and side-step to bring Geralt closer in a quick burst of speed so that his silver blade to cut across Monsoon’s visor. When he struck it, the magnetic node on the front gave out a burst of energy and retracted, disrupting the connection between all of his parts. They fell to the floor, limp as the limbs of a puppet with its strings cut. The witcher looked down at his seemingly-felled opponent and blinked once, before violently stabbing his sword down into Monsoon’s head, not taking victory for granted against such a…biologically unrestrained foe.

The stab sunk partway into the head, but the unfortunate reality that silver was half as tough as steel -especially against a target armored in even tougher metal- meant that the plunge wasn’t game over. Instead the magnetic node reactivated and Monsoon’s parts hurtled from where they’d fallen to reunite along with his head a couple dozen feet away. The Cambodian put a hand to the gash left in his head, the look of utter spite on his face hidden by his mask. “You’ll rot here!” Rising into the air, he unleashed his magnetic power. Spare parts, loose engineering projects, and even sections of the floor began to rise, lifting up and tearing away to slam together into a mass above Monsoon’s head. It span like a giant sawblade, its teeth the edges of the plates ripped from the floor now dotted with holes leading straight to the lava lake below. “...Left Hand Rule” With that, he hurled the immense projectile at Geralt and Tora.

Geralt’s eyes widened as he watched the giant mass of swirling death forming above them, drawing his crossbow and firing wildly at Monsoon with it. His body blurred and separated rapidly with each shot, and after a few, Geralt stowed his crossbow, realizing that it was useless. Finally, Monsoon launched the massive buzzsaw at them, and Geralt quickly cast Quen before running towards their incoming death, trying to slide under the incoming attack.

It was a tight fit. Maybe even the tightest. As the disc of metal debris advanced it struck and destroyed Geralt’s shield, but against all odds, the Witcher himself managed to slide beneath. He passed within just inches of the metal maelstrom, but after another moment he slid out from the other side, untouched by anything larger than loose wads of scrap metal.

Unfortunately, he then slid right off the edge of the floor and out over one of the pits Monsoon’s magnetic destruction opened up. Right away gravity began to take effect, and with Tora and Mayer both in the background thanks to their evasion attempts, he had only a moment to take action before he plummeted away from the grid of support struts and toward the lava below.

“FUCK!” Geralt shouted as he slid over the edge and into an open pit. He acted as soon as he could, hand forming the Sign of Aard, even if it would hurt to do so mere seconds after casting Quen, and his body was launched backwards by the blast of force and into a support beam, which he clung to desperately as he called on Panther to help pull him up. His body ached from overuse of Signs, the impact, and the fight, but he climbed onto the beam with his Striker’s help, looking to see if he could find a way to climb up. “Can’t believe that almost worked…”

As if he’d been waiting for Geralt to say that, Monsoon slammed an alloy floor panel into Panther’s back with spine-cracking force, which the Witcher felt one terrifying instant later. The power of the blow bowled him over the edge, but the price paid for safety was incredible pain. Monsoon landed on the other side of the lava pit as Geralt writhed, both Tora and Mayer -who’d finished her build and run over to assist- powerless to help him. “You can’t fight nature, old-timer. If you can’t adapt…” He raised his hand, gathering more scrap to form another giant mass of metal. “You will die.”

“You’d be surprised what a Witcher can adapt to.” Geralt gritted out through the pain, trying to call the Judicator forth, but too weak to do so. Even still, he put both hands underneath himself and pushed up, trying despite the agony in his back to get to his feet.

A blue flash went off behind the trio. Tora whipped around to find himself dwarfed by a seven-foot holy woman, clad in spotless white beneath the golden luster of a three-ringed halo. “Do not be afraid,” she proclaimed, her voice calm. It was Sandalphon, the mission’s operator, here in the flesh. In her arms she wielded a strange staff, not like a rod but like a rifle, and as its elaborate head spun up she let fly a blazing bolt of energy that struck Monsoon directly in the node on his head. He gasped in pain and stumbled back beneath a painful shower of debris, his magnetic power temporarily nullified. Then Sandalphon turned her gunstaff in her hands, surrounded by electronic blue light, and planted the shaft in the ground. A ripple of divine blessing rolled outward, instantly healing Geralt, Tora, and Mayer for just over half their maximum health and granting a small regen to boot. “Keep him busy long enough for Mayer to get her creation close, and victory will be yours.”

With the arrival of the team’s guardian angel, both Tora’s mind and body felt way better. When she offered a plan, he gave a determined nod. “Roger, meh!”

“Oh. Now that’s better.” Geralt breathed in a sigh of relief, climbing to his feet and drawing Odysseus’s Bow and wreathing it in Eldritch lightning even as more scrap was pulled toward Monsoon. He released a veritable fusillade of arrows, each imbued with lightning energy, and each fourth arrow imbued even further by the magic of the bow. His crossbow hadn’t managed last time, but this just might do it with the added electrical energy. And if it didn’t…he’d have to find a way to survive.

With no ranged weapons, Tora decided to be brave. He ran along one of the metal support beams over the pit of lava, the path made less perilous by his small stature. He held his shield up as he raced toward Monsoon. Though the assassin and his magnetic module were quickly recovering, Geralt’s voltaic barrage slowed him down long enough for Tora to get too close for comfort. “Gyah! Die already!” He took the fallen katanas in hand and wielded them against the Nopon, but between his spiky shield and natural bulk Tora managed to stay on him, even if Monsoon did maneuver himself to put Tora in Geralt’s line of fire. As Tora desperately bought the team time, Mayer finished her project. A brand-new Robotter was ready to roll, and after clipping one of her patented control wires to it the pair took off, sprinting around the holes in the floor like their lives depended on it.

Geralt watched as Tora ran in, a not insignificant part of him worried for the Nopon’s safety. But still he fired on as quickly as possible, each arrow potentially the one that distracted Monsoon long enough. Once Mayer’s final Robotter was ready and running, though, he changed strategy. Firing one last arrow, he pointed towards Monsoon and called all of his Strikers forth. Judicator roared, firing spectral flames. Panther growled and took shots with his blaster, while the PT Imps and Fizz charged in for a flurry of hit-and-run attacks. He’d had trouble before when overwhelmed by sheer numbers, so now it would hopefully do the trick one last time.

At that point, Monsoon had just gotten the better of Tora. He circled around with a quick roll faster than the Nopon could turn, then launched him with a double upward slash. Tora’s Sabo Shield fell from his grip, and Monsoon kicked it away before preparing to attack Tora as he fell. Instead the Cambodian took a barrage to the back and whirled around to see a whole crew bearing down on him. He leaped backward with a flip, hurling two handfuls of energy kunai at them, then landed a short way off. “Witless fools,” he snarled. As he crossed his katanas, his magnetic module blazed to life. “I won’t go quietly!”

Tora had landed too, and for a moment his eyes lay on his shield as he contemplated making a run for it. When he saw Monsoon, however, he took hold of his hammer with both hands and joined Geralt’s charge.

The assassin launched forward headfirst, piece by piece, and reformed to engage the mob in combat. His blades clashed against Tora, Fizz, and the imps, fighting all of them at once. He landed slash after elemental slash, a flurry of fire and lightning. First Fizz fell, then the imps, but as he raised his blades to cut Tora down a familiar shape sprang up behind him. He turned just in time to stare Mayer’s last Robotter in the face before it exploded. “No!” Monsoon snarled, his magnetism disabled as his body burst apart into pieces.

His head flew into the air, and when Mayer aimed a little pointer at it, the rivet gun on her top-right mechanical arm targeted it. “Comin’ atcha, Big G!” Expertly aimed by subsequent shots, the head bounced once, twice, then flew toward the Witcher, flipping end over end.

Geralt, having grown tired of the nonsense that the Cambodian ninja had been forcing them to deal with, in pain from the hits he and his Strikers had taken, grabbed the head out of the air. “You were tougher than I gave you credit for.” Geralt admitted, before drawing his hunting knife and stabbing the blade through the cracked visor and into Monsoon’s skull.

There was a brief discharge of sparks as the man died instantly. After another moment, the pieces of his body began to disintegrate. He left behind the katanas Onimaru and Jyuzumaru, the sais called Dystopia, and two spirits, both his own and that of the ninja Zero. And one more thing.

A disembodied groan, distorted by radio static, flared up over the sounds of Midna and her team fighting on the other side of the room. ”Kill…or be killed…”

Tora, who’d been just about to sag to the floor in relief, jumped up in sudden panic. “Meh-meh, a ghost!?”

”This…changes nothing. The traces…I will…return. The cycle…sure as the sun…will rise…the slaughter…will continue.”

”The rain falls…the wind blows…the strong…prey, upon the weak…all…is as it should…be-ee-e-e…”

Then the voice fell silent.

Geralt set about collecting the Spirits and weapons of the fallen warrior, looking over to Tora. “Any of this you think you can use? I’m used to carrying a few weapons with me, but there’s not much point in me keeping all of these. Probably hang on to the Spirits, though. Make them Strikers, I think, unless you had an idea for ‘em.” Whether he was perturbed by the staticky voice that had appeared after Monsoon’s death, he didn’t show it.

Tora’s face, meanwhile, showed just how much it perturbed him. It took a moment for Geralt’s question to register with him, and his worried look remained as he tried to distract himself with the spoils. Monsoon’s various blades all looked difficult to use and not at all a good fit for Tora’s fighting style. Not that he’d been fighting any more. “Friend Geralt should keep. Though after strange voice, thought of that man as Striker give Tora heebie-jeebies, meh.” He looked over to see that the other fight had already concluded, with Midna, Clara, and Macaron the victors. Then he glanced at Mayer. “Is Research and Development done for?”

“No way!” Mayer told him, smiling. “With Zanzo out of the way, we’ll be in better shape than ever. I wasn’t around when Macaron headed up R&D, but after working with him for a while I’m excited to see him in charge. Someone with a heart–not to mention some serious skills! I bet things’ll be pretty busy.” She crossed her arms. “If you’ve got a knack for tech, you’re welcome to join us. Fire-forged friends, as they say.”

Tora nodded. With the excitement of battle died down, thoughts of Poppi flooded his mind. “Tora would like that.” He gave Geralt an apologetic look. “Thanks for putting up with. Tell others Tora said ‘meh’, okay?”

Geralt frowned, not the contemplative frown Tora had seen him wear a hundred times before, but a more…real…frown. But after a moment it passed, and Geralt’s face was neutral once more. “Understood. Good luck, Tora. We’ll miss you.” He said simply, gathering the blades and heading over to Midna. “I think we’ve done what we came here to do.” Looking at the maimed Zanzo, Geralt hummed contemplatively. “I’d say I’m not sure which one got the worse fate, but given that most of him seemed to be metal anyway…well, he’s somebody else’s problem now.” After a moment’s pause, he gestured towards Tora. “Tora has chosen to stay here. I think it’s his best shot at fixing Poppi.”

Seeing the opulent spider looking creatures, Sectonia decided to investigate the Holograd residential area. It was still a dump, being a series of ruined buildings, but it was a bit interesting that even then these creatures found bits of opulence about them. "Hmph. I wonder where these things found those masks of gold. Perhaps there are items of greater power around." Sectonia said as she floated towards the purple webbed areas to confront and possibly communicate with these creatures.

Of course these creatures were merely beasts, only attracted to their masks due to their shininess, and not due to any real feeling of opulence or anything, and were not much for communication. Much like feral spiders, they climbed up their webs as the large bee queen approached, hissing at her in a threatening manner, but not doing much else but to protect their territory. Not one to be intimidated, Sectonia merely waved these feral beasts away once she found there was no method of communication, and the area she had approached being quite a large collection of webs.

Ignoring the large group of Ferriclaws and Auriclaws, Sectonia glided down an alternate street to see where they might have found some of their gold, and found herself accosted by a strange clinking lamp with some ghostly voice behind it. Possibly thinking Sectonia was some large beast coming to take its territory, the imp poe attacked the Queen, hitting her with its lantern. This got her attention however, and she was no feral beast unlike the spiders about. While she couldn't see the poe itself except its lantern, being invisible wouldn't save it from a large Ring of Light, which upon hitting the poe knocked it down and dazed it and revealed some red orb above where Sectonia assumed would've been its torso.

While she wasn't sure exactly what this was, from what she could gather it was some kind of magical artifact not too dissimilar from a spirit, and thus she collected it, ripping it mercilessly from the body of the poe and causing it to disappear. Her Ring of Light however didn't stop when it hit the poe, but instead weaves and continued down the street, cutting a few extra cracks in some buildings until it finally came to a stop as it crashed upon a boarded up building, destroying the barrier and revealing a glint of gold. Interested, Sectonia went to investigate.

Upon entering the room, she found that there were quite the amount of riches here, alongside some opulent looking, although strange looking, statue. Before she could start to loot the place though, the statue spoke out to her. "Please, please you've got to help me!" Sectonia paused for a moment, but was going to dismiss the strange statue until it said. "I was tricked! I asked for wealth, and those poes not only gave me this cursed gold, but also turned me and my poor kitty into pure gold!" Upon hearing about the curse, Sectonia examined the gold and yes, it was indeed cursed and useless. She then turned to look at the statue, who continued. "Good, I have your attention. My name is Jovani. You see, there are these ghost like things called Poes all around. If you defeat them and take their souls, perhaps it will weaken the curse upon me. If you can help free me from this curse, I'll reward you handsomely!"

There were a few questions Sectonia had, but one of them was answered when the statue projected a picture of what a poe and its soul looked like in her mind. She then pulled out the blackish orb pulsing with red energy much to the statue's surprise and joy. "Yes, just like that! If you can bring me 19 more of their souls, perhaps the curse will lessen. They are about the district here."

Seeing as this man was a noble of some sort from his culture trying to wriggle his way out of a dark bargin, perhaps there would be something to gain here. If this did weaken the curse upon him and the opulence around him, even if he nagged upon the deal he was making much like many nobles tried to do, there would be something to gain from that as well. "Hmph, I'll keep an eye out for these beasts." Sectonia said, not wanting to give him much more than that. Truth be told, this was the only lead she had at the moment, so she decided perhaps it would be an interesting one to follow for now. Often magic that had its curse broken was powerful, so there could even be something here that even this Jovani didn't realize was at play.

With something to look for at least, even if just to kill some time, Sectonia lazily floated around the town looking for those lanterns. They were surprisingly easy to find within the light fog, almost acting as wayward beacons to lure in prey. But that was a double edged sword, as that also made themselves prey to a much larger and dangerous foe. And as if sensing her intent, the next few poes she had hunted down, one under an auning, one in another back alley, and a third near one of the purple webs, all attacked her on sight. This time however, while one still used its lantern, the other two swung their ghostly scythes at the queen. Being unable to really see these attacks, she could do nothing but take them head on, before counterattacking with her own blast of lightning.

While perhaps they could make a powerful curse as a large group, individually these poes were not much to write about. Their attacks were moderately strong, but they couldn't take much of a hit and their souls were easily collected. Opportunistically the poe resting around a purple web that was the home of a pair consisting of a Ferriclaw and Auriclaw. As her bolt of lightning destroyed their web, they descended and began to spit their poisonous webs at the new intruder as the Queen grabbed the 4th poe soul. Her size made their webs not as effective as they could've been, reducing her ability to evade and slowing down her movements a bit as they did their poison damage, but the Queen attacked back by spitting her fire breath at them, knowing full well spider webs burned relatively easy.

The creatures themselves also seemed to be weak to the fire as well, as they started to burn and even melt a little. Activating her Chaos Shield so that she could deal with their attacks, Sectonia continued to throw her fireball breath at them. Even though they burned and melted, they stood their ground, at least until the fire finally overwhelmed them and they turned into spirits. Even so, they had webbed up the queen a fair amount and much to her annoyance, she had to then burn the webs around her, taking a bit of her own fire damage as the Chaos Shield expired, but cleaning herself of the webs. Poisonous webs, fitting for spiders sure, but annoying. She gathered up their spirits to see what they would give her later, and made her way to the adjacent building.

Upon entering the building, Sectonia saw a sight that threw her for a loop. Inside the building was another poe sure, but this poe was making a deal with someone she knew. Her second in command Taranza. A loyal servant, who seemed to be lying on a bed of webs no doubt made by his own power. He seemed to have some kind of fungal infection about him and kept mentioning something about a "Mora the Spider" Around him were a few of those same spiders Sectonia has just fought, but with a purple haze over their eyes which was no doubt one of his enchantment spells.

"Taranza, Rise and assist your Queen." Sectonia said, but the fancy spider boy only looked up at her weakly, saying. "I serve Mora... Who are you?" It was around this time the poe nearby, who had been talking with Taranza and attempting to make a deal with him, also noticed Sectonia and advanced upon the bee queen. Pulling out her sword as she wanted nothing to do with this creature, having a more important matter, Sectonia slashed it giving it very little mind as she glared at Taranza, saying. "How dare you forget about your Queen." As she grabbed the soul of the poe she had slayed, Sectonia calmed down a little bit, noticing the fungal infection about Taranza. Even with her declarations, he could only say. "I didn't forget about queen Mora. In fact, I need some help. Could a beautiful bug such as yourself help me?" He then laid down again, clearly not well as the spiders he had enchanted started to tend him as best as they could.

Sectonia was furious, but even she could see that... something was wrong here. Perhaps this Mora, or this disease was causing him to act this way. Or even the Galeeming... This was the first time she had met someone she recognized so she wasn't sure how that even worked as well. She could cure that with a friend heart, but considering how weak he was, she doubted she could hold back enough to weaken, but not kill him outright. With a sigh, she said. "I will figure out what has taken your loyalty, yes." Although there wasn't really all that much she could do at the moment but leave, confused and fuming at the same time. Taranza was a strong minion though, he would survive for quite a while.

As Sam explained his philosophy, Sakura crossed her arms and pouted, looking away. She couldn’t quite articulate why, but his words rang hollow to her. That sounded like evil bad guy talk to her. If they got a chance to fight, perhaps that would enlighten things.

Raz spoke about their plan, and Sakura gulped. It was hardly a dramatic betrayal, she just stood there looking at the ‘indignant’ Sam like a doofus while Raz, the youngest of the three Seekers, made the play. They just had to hope this Vandelay guy would help them! The worst part is, he didn’t even concretely agree to teaming up. He just looked ready to throw down.

”Wh-what do we do?!” Sakura asked in a hushed stage whisper, getting into her stance.

”Jig’s up.” Roxas replied to her in a flat tone, ”That means it’s time we do what we really came here to do.” The hooded Nobody walked forward and circled around a bit until he found himself standing in a third position that allowed him to stare down both Sam and Kale. Sandalphon wanted them to stop this attack, but also to gauge Sam’s loyalties.

”You said it yourself, Sam!” Roxas called out, summoning Oblivion and pointing its tip in the cyborg’s direction, ”If you believe in something, you’d better be ready to win to prove it, right? So that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.” but before he could look too much like he was siding with Kale, Roxas suddenly summoned Oathkeeper in his other hand and pivoted to point it in the CEO’s direction, ”I’ll prove it by stopping you BOTH! And then you’ll understand exactly why we came here!”

His resolute declaration left Kale momently speechless, an expression of bewildered surprise on his face that said did he really just say that? but Sam grinned. “Good. I like that!” A mask of his own folded out to cover his nose and mouth, readying the swordsman for a showdown. “Then show me!”

The whole arena suddenly jerked and began to rise with the help of giant mechanical arms arranged around its perimeter, revealing that the floor of the Signal Tower was in truth another elevator. After steadying himself, Kale scoffed. “Such bravado.” He slashed his beam saber along the ground beside him, once to each side and then a horizontal line in front of him. Where the laser touched the metal, it left a miniature wall of fire. “Spare me!” When he flourished his blade the walls flared up and rolled across the ground, growing wider as they traveled. Sam bided his time until the fiery wave just about reached him, then somersaulted over it and sprinted toward Kale.

Sakura hopped over the fire wall, bringing her knees in. ”Alright, Roxas-kun, sounds like a plan!” She said. It was what they came here to do. She watched Sam sprint and followed after. Not at an incredibly fast pace- seemed she wanted to be able to get into melee range, but not interrupt Sam’s attack. Maybe she was trying to gauge Kale and Sam’s strength some more.

Roxas, on the other hand, took a more direct approach. He sprinted forward without any hesitation, jumping the firewall like an olympic runner clearing a hurdle. For Kale he decided to fight fire with fire and lobbed a Firaga in the CEO’s direction. Then in the meantime he twisted around and lunged at Sam, attacking with both his Keyblades in a parallel diagonal slash.

Quickly registering the incoming attack, Sam moved with speed and precision. He stepped back just far enough to reach the perfect distance, then met the double chop with a diagonal slash of his own, albeit upward instead of downward. Swung with one hand at maximum range and the perfect angle, the his longer Muramasa swordblade slid cleanly between the parallel keyblades, and as they fell short Sam landed an upward slice along the boy’s chest. Though shallow, the cut was both somewhat painful and very startling. With just one move, this man demonstrated to Roxas that he possessed an immense amount of skill and combat acumen. While Roxas processed the bodily shock, Sam carried his counterclockwise momentum into a turning thrust kick to knock the boy away with a slam from his metallic heel.

”Oh!” Sakura shouted in alarm as she watched Roxas’ attack get countered. She had wanted to gauge Sam’s strength, and she had, but she was hoping it wouldn’t be on one of her friends!

”Ugh…” the winded Roxas pushed himself to his feet. He wasn’t deterred, though. If he could face threats like Xemnas and Xehanort, then the Keybearer could deal with a single cyborg swordsman. His eyes narrowed into a focused glare underneath his hood that he locked onto Sam. He just needed to think his attacks through and avoid direct strikes. With that in mind Roxas proceeded to throw both of his Keyblades. They flew through the air in opposite arcs that made them appear to miss Sam by wide margins, only to circle back around and threaten to hit him from behind. Roxas suspected Sam was more than able to deflect the Keyblades flying at him, but he’d have to turn his back to do so. And that’s when Roxas shot forward as a streak of light that homed in on the cyborg. Sam was about to learn the hard way that Roxas could instantly recall his weapons back to his hands, because the Nobody did just that in order to unload a powerful Cross Slash.

Sam narrowed his eyes as the weapons flew past him, briefly glancing to either side. Clearly the keyblades would be returning like boomerangs, physics-defying as that might be, but he knew he’d been a fool to take his eyes off the young man masterminding this maneuver. For a brief moment the two shared a stand-off as the spinning blades circled around. Then Sam turned, but as he did he lifted his sword above his head, the blade pointed downward behind him as if poised for a huge overhead chop. That would allow him to slash away the keyblades, but they never arrived. Instead Roxas struck him from behind the next moment, both weapons striking Sam’s own high-frequency blade. The strength of his two-handed grip meant his backward block held firm, and on contact with the keyblades they began to vibrate violently, a high-pitched ringing in the air. Sam grinned and whirled around with a diagonal chop. Hands almost numb from the jarring vibrations, Roxas had just less than a second to react.

Roxas did about the only thing he could do, jumped straight back and just barely managed to avoid getting sliced once again. At the same moment he hurriedly thrust his Keyblades forward and fired off a Dual Shot. Twin orbs shot forward; one light and one dark. At this close range either they would hit Sam successfully, or he’d manage to bat them with the blade of his sword which would of course cause them to explode. Luckily, both projectiles hit him and exploded anyway, giving Sam his first taste of damage. Roxas then released his grip on the Keyblades and both weapons vanished in a flash. He shook his gloved hands in an attempt to get rid of the numbness that had occurred from the earlier contact with the High-Frequency blade. What kind of a sword does that sort of thing anyway? That was a new one on him. But a split moment later and he called the Keyblades to his hand again.

Think, Roxas, think! Clashing blades with him won’t work, so you’ll just have to keep your distance. Roxas proceeded to run a circle around Sam. He was careful not to venture within reach of that Muramasa blade and instead shot a trio of Firaga spells at the cyborg. He knew he’d run out of magic sooner or later but this was the only idea he could think of at the moment.

When Roxas abandoned the swordfight and began to circle around him, Sam reacted with an amused smile and shouldered his blade. That came back to bite him when an unexpected fireball shot his way, and Sam only got his arm up in time to mitigate the damage somewhat. He then moved off the center line to avoid the rest; if Roxas had shot at the ground, the blast might have forced more movement, but shots at Sam directly could be sidestepped without issue. The cyborg did not intend to wait around and find out if his opponent could run out of magic. Instead he sheathed his katana, reaching for his scabbard’s special trigger with a knowing grin at Roxas. Whether or not the boy had seen this technique before made no difference. The question was what he could do about it.

Roxas had in fact seen a similar attack in the past. The Samurai type Nobodies he used to summon and control utilized a similar technique. But at this moment Roxas only had one thing he could really do. He crouched down and firmly pushed the tips of the Keyblades into the floor in front of him, with their blades crossed for extra reinforcement. Hopefully this would blunt most of the incoming blow.

The next second Sam burst forward, his scabbard’s mechanism firing to propel the blade like a bullet from a rifle. A vast crimson arc carved through the air as if bleeding through reality itself, and the high-frequency blade collided with the keyblade wielder’s guard. Had the unbreakable blades been embedded like flag poles they might not have moved, but in their current position the unbreakable weapons led to a singular comparison: the physical strength of Roxas versus that block relied on one singular statistic: the physical strength of Roxas. Instantly the keyblades slammed into his own chest, vibrating at a fever pitch, and Roxas parted ways with his keyblades as he soared through the air. He slammed into the side of the elevator shaft and fell back onto the platform, his keyblades clattered down a few feet in each direction. The disarmament itself didn’t matter since he could recall them, but the bigger issue was holding them; his arms trembled, rendered nerveless by the communicated force of the blow.

After coming to a stop, Sam paused for a brief moment. There was nothing stopping him from doing the same technique again, but for whatever reason, he did not. Instead he relaxed his stance. “Those are some weapons, kid,” he remarked, glancing at his sword for any nicks in the edge. “My blade is designed to cut through steel like a hot knife through butter. They’d serve you well…” He cracked an infuriating grin. “If you knew how to fight.”

While that all happened, Kale stood his ground and took his beam sword in both hands and blocked, the laser blade held in the fireball’s path. On contact the spell split neatly in half and washed to either side, quickly dissipating. Kale brushed an ember off his shoulder, watched Roxas trade blows with Sam, then looked over at Sakura and Raz. “You Scarlet Guardians should mind your own business.” With that, he reached inside his coat and pulled a handful of small black devices. When he tossed them into the air they flashed yellow, then began to float around him, two on each side. Kale raked his sword against the elevator’s floor again to create another flame wave, and as it surged forth to interfere with the fight his drones blinked a bright blue. Flash, flash, fla-flash. Then they fired in that pattern, blasting bright blue lasers across the battlefield.

Sakura hopped over the flame wave and was got in the shoulder by a bright blue blast as a result. It didn’t hurt that much, but she was surprised to feel herself spin backwards to the floor. She was up in a split second and managed to knock aside the next blast. Raising her arms she blocked the follow up strikes, sliding back a bit with blue defensive sparks. Chip damage and leftover damage was starting to build up, and she felt her shoulder start to get pretty sore. The little invisible hairs on her arms were probably burnt off, though if they were ever there after a lifetime of blocking fireballs, she wasn’t sure.

”Th-this isn’t sanctioned by them!” Sakura admitted, hoping to avoid blowback on her military pals.

Kale raised an eyebrow. “Then I guess they won’t miss you.”

”Oh,” Sakura said with a wince.

After a brief pause and it seemed like no more lasers were coming, Sakura charged up a heavy hitting fireball. She fired it at the floating black boxes. If she wanted to fight, she couldn’t have those quick blasts interrupting her. Kale dashed to the left to give her projectile a wide berth, his options following him with about a half-second delay. That cybernetic body of his was no joke–he could really move. And Kale quickly proved it by leaping toward her to come down with a two-handed slash, followed immediately by an upward one on landing.

Sakura noted that the drones would follow Kale and not just float in place. But now it was time to make Ryu proud. Years of training had led to this moment. As Kale jumped over her fireball, Sakura prepared to anti-air. She dropped into a crouch and shot her fist upward, keeping her body safe from damage while her opponent's weight and speed did the work of impaling himself on her fist.

“Hngh!” The street fighter’s uppercut cut Kale’s plunge attack short and sent him flying backwards. On impact with the ground he quick-rose backward with a handspring and dusted off his color, looking irate. His drones blinked again, fla-fla-flash, flash, then fired.

Sakura tilted her head to the side, looking at the drones as they blinked. ”Wait, is that-?” Sakura shifted her side to side, leaning away from each beam, dogd-dogd-dodge, dodge.

”That seems like a pretty obvious design flaw.” Sakura said wryly. She galloped forward, her stride long and fast despite her relatively short stature. If she got close enough, she was going to start kicking! Mostly annoyingly painful calf kicks and the occasional strong kick at his torso.

Hearing his tech criticized got Kale annoyed very fast. “Why don’t you just cool it?” he told her. He curled his lip and called upon his first Striker, Frost. When the bulky, techno-organic, white-cloaked Warframe arrived, it cast Snow Globe, deep-freezing the water vapor in the air to create a protective sphere around Kale. While Sakura closed the distance fast, it came to a hard stop against the shield, which cracked when struck to denote its remaining strength but otherwise resisted attack completely–while Kale could attack through it just fine. He did so by using Radial Javelin, calling forth a ring of spears around him that fired outward the moment he drove his weapon into the ground.

Sakura kicked against the globe and was immediately not looking forward to dealing with it. He had called upon a Striker to summon it. Within the globe, Sakura saw him prepare an attack by striking the ground, which only meant a few things. Either something was going to come up from beneath her feet, or something was going to come out of him in a radius. In either case, the best choice would be to jump backwards! And she did, backflipping high in the air and landing back on the ground a short distance away as the spears went underneath her.

”Ohh...hmph.” As her mind span trying to come up with strategies, Sakura decided to steal an idea from her opponent. She reached to her belt and got out Overdrive Ostrich’s spirit.

”Hey! Uh. Wanna team up? I mean, unless you can tell me with a straight face that you’ve never ever wanted to punch this guy in the face at least once.” She said, and hoped the Ostrich’s spirit responded to her. She also kept an eye out for any more flashes.

Talking wasn’t a free action, and Kale meant to make Sakura pay for it. He couched his laser sword, then swung, and as it blazed in a wide arc the blade extended to cover a huge swath of the battlefield. It struck the girl full-force, but when she picked herself off, she found her efforts rewarded. Overdrive Ostrich had been successfully spiritbound.

”Oof…” Sakura complained, getting back to one knee.”Shoulda done that earlier…at least it worked!”” She said, feeling the knowledge of the Striker within her. Hopefully, she could use Overdrive to help bust down that shield.



When he realized what happened, Kale let out a laugh. “If you choose all your friends that poorly, this is going to be even easier than I thought.” He held out his hand, and his other Striker manifested, a cyclopean bionic alchemist of teal and yellow-green with writhing cables coiled about his limbs. “Allow me to show you what a real Assist looks like.” Lavos thrust out its arms and lashed out with its ‘cables’ in a long-range serpentine strike. Its Ophidian Bite promised to deliver a dose of venom, and when the ability concluded, that same toxicity imbued Kale himself.

Sakura squinted at Kale, like she wasn’t sure how impressed she was supposed to be by his ability to let someone else do the work. That was part of the reason she had waited so long to get a Striker herself, but at this point she was more warrior than fighter so she was going to have to take whatever advantage she could get. But Kale didn’t know everything about the Ostrich- he was poison resistant, and the snakey guy with venom tendrils looked poisoney to Sakura.

”Go for it, Ostrich-san!” She shouted, summoning the buff bird bot to action, pointing at it to Sprint ahead at full speed. Sakura followed afterward, hoping he wouldn’t get dissuaded or knocked out of the way by the tendrils. The street fighter braced for a bit of pain herself as she followed in the Ostrich's wake. If she got close enough, she would follow up his Sprint with an EX-Hadosho, a supercharged punch that hit five times. Like taking a fireball and grabbing hold of it with her fist instead.

The Ophidian Bite struck Overdrive Ostrich point-blank, but just as Sakura hoped, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. Her new Striker managed to power through the toxic double lash with his poison resistance and super armor to ram into Kale’s Snow Globe, and though cracks spread across its translucent icy surface, the Reploid broke first. He reeled back and faded away, but without missing a beat Sakura laid into the barrier with her multi-hit ki strike. To Kale it looked like she was drilling into his shield like a bank robber into a vault, and he didn’t plan on letting her crack it so easily. By the time she got rolling his options had already spooled up fla-flash, fla-flash, but this time he layered his offense by extending his laser sword in a disjointed thrust before they could fire. It interrupted her attack, not striking deep but dishing out some toxicity she didn’t resist. The real kicker was that it led straight into the first pair of drone shots, which in turn kept her in hitstun long enough for him to come down with two quick top-to-bottom diagonal slashes. Then the second pair of drone shots hit home, and Kale finished the combo with bottom-to-top diagonal slashes. Vwom, pew-pew, voom voom, pew-pew, voom voom!

”Ooh, aaha- ugh- oof, aah-ah, agh- bwah!” Sakura’s arms were at her side and her legs straight down as the last two slashes sent her up and away, before she landed on the ground with a thud. She lay there grimacing for a second before she pulled herself to her feet, clutching her midsection with one hand. Dismay was plain on her face as she realized she hadn’t even managed to break through the snow globe despite taking all that punishment for the attempt. She had little to no focus to spare on Jetstream Sam.

Gritting her teeth, she steeled herself and back dashed, and charged up a powerful fireball. She would batter at his snowglobe from a distance to finish the job- it had to be close. ”Hadoooken!” Sakura yelled extra loudly. She took a solid second to charge it up and unleash it, the blazing ball as big as her torso. And any projectiles coming her way would hopefully get blown away. She followed it up with a smaller but much faster and more explosive EX-Hadoken. ”Straight through!” She shouted.

When Sakura started charging, Kale did too. He held his beam sword straight up, and it flared skyward like a lightning bolt. Then, as the super-big Hadoken blazed its way to shatter his Snow Globe into shaved ice, he plunged his saber into the ground. A circular field of electricity formed around him, and the ground around Sakura began to spark as well. Just after she launched her EX-Hadoken, the first of four lightning bolts dropped down on her position, each about a half-second apart. The last of the four bolts coincided with her fireball bursting against Kale, and he staggered for a brief moment before spending another to fix his mussed hair.

The first lightning bolt struck her in the shoulder. Sakura gasped and stepped out of the way of the next lightning bolt, and the third and the fourth, looking up into the sky as she did. Sakura clenched her fists, feeling the potential to activate one of her V-Triggers in her fists. At the very least, she had shattered his snow globe. If Sakura had to gauge her physical state, going by her heavy breathing and general aches, she was probably at about thirty percent after all the fights she had been in.

Things aren’t looking good for me over here, Raz. Sakura thought to her psychic companion. He’s definitely winning.

But Sakura would always try her best, so she began running towards Kale. ”No more snow globe, Kale!” She shouted. She would look to jump, dip, and dive over any warding attacks. Once she was in range, her plan was to spin forward with a powerful, long ranged EX-Tatsu and activate V-Trigger afterwards.

“You know, it’s funny you say that,” Kale told her, taking a few extended swipes at Sakura as she approached. He was tempted to put up another Snow Globe right that instant just to flex on and demoralize her, but did he really want to spend any more Energy on Warframe abilities right now? The elevator hadn’t even reached the top floor yet, and everyone knew that the rooftop was where the most dramatic, high-octane parts of the battle should take place. With all that in store, it’d be almost disappointing if he thrashed this girl here. Then again, it wasn’t much farther to the top…

As Sakura hopped over his last slash and reached him, he put one hand behind his back and blocked with the other by rotating it at high speed, twirling his beam saber so fast it created a bright blue circle. The street fighter’s EX hurricane kick would have left her woefully unsafe on block if not for her cancel into V-Trigger. Though he would’ve liked nothing better than a punish Kale waited when he saw this, biding his time with a bored expression to see what Sakura would do.

”You’re gonna get it, now!” Sakura exclaimed, activating Haru Arashi with a raising of her hand, her fists becoming enveloped in blue flame. Her fireballs were now much stronger, which made them usable up close as pressure tools that left her with advantage even when blocked up close. Sakura dropped into a crouch and shot her foot out into Kale’s knee, hopefully under his spinning blade, and followed up with a ”Hadoken!”

If it hit, it would knock him over, and if he blocked it, she was still attacking! Either way she would try to get close and snatch his wrist and executed a classic over-the-shoulder throw to slam him into the ground.

Kale’s patience paid off as he saw Sakura go low. His reacted in time to drop to one knee and block low, the bottom of his saber spin scraping the ground. The fireball that reached him the next moment burst against the whirling blade, and though Sakura reached him time to grab, she found the CEO more combat-ready than she might have assumed. As she maneuvered him over her shoulder he twisted his limbs and joints with inhuman speed and flexibility to tech the grab, landing beside her. His options blinked again, fla-fla-fla-flash. Afforded only the briefest glimpse at his smirk, the street fighter then took a knee to the ribs strong enough to dislodge her grip, and after Kale jumped back to separate himself his options opened fire. On the fourth shot he leaped Sakura’s way with another two-handed overhead slash.

Sakura groaned into clenched teeth, clutching her ribs and stepping backwards. She brought her hands up and dropped to one knee to defend against the drone blasts. She hadn’t had enough focus to catch the pattern of the drone flashes, so all she could do was defend against all of them. They chipped against her arms. He came in for an attack but she wasn’t sure what kind, so the overhead slash dug into her shoulder. The street fighter cried out, ”Aah!”, and the force of the blow drove her onto one hand to keep herself from falling face first.

Sakura’s hands were still glowing with power, but she was unable to use any of it. Desperate, she tried to put her hands up to fend off any more attacks coming her way. Unfortunately, Kale followed up his overhead slash with a rising backswing, and Sakura could only block it so much. Sakura bared her teeth and took her licks, the blade slicing through her chest with a spray of blood. The street fighter flew into the air and off the elevator to land on a solid surface. Groaning, she propped herself up on an elbow and watched the arena leave her behind. In front of her, the elevator rose up from the shaft and came to a stop at the [url=i.imgur.com/kfjt2Cw.pngSignal Tower rooftop[/url]. Octagonal in shape, it seemed to be ringed by eight strange diamond-shaped devices, their red lights particularly vivid against the dark, cloudy sky made oily and colorful by the Extinction Belt. Along with Kale came Sam and Roxas, a fight which hadn’t been going much better for the Seekers than Sakura’s. The Wind of Destruction paused for a moment to look around, giving Roxas a much-needed breather.

“Impressive!” he remarked, clearly enjoying the stage set up for a climactic showdown. “I like it.”

“Figured we ought to take this outside,” Kale told him nonchalantly.

The cyborg turned to face him completely. “Still dealing with the little miss? I thought you’d be done by now…”

“I could say the same for you, amigo,” Kale sneered. He leveled his beam sword at Sam. “Why don’t we just cut to the chase?”

Sam put his hand on his blade. “Now you’re speaking my language!”

The two shot toward another, one a blur of blue and the other of red. Sam’s Rapid Fire and Kale’s Slash Dash met with a tremendous clash, and they slid past each other. Then they whirled around to begin the real fight.

Sakura clutched her bleeding wound and tried to push herself onto all fours, but failed, collapsing back onto just one elbow. She glanced over at Roxas who had joined her. ”D-damn it…I lost.” Sakura mourned. ”He was too strong…”

”Yeah… My fight didn’t go super well either.” Roxas agreed. His hands were still slightly shaky from that last blow from Sam’s sword, ”That guy’s sword… You can’t even so much as touch it without it leaving you numb and messed up.”

”My guy put down a magic snowglobe! I couldn’t get past it for half the fight.” Sakura coughed and shook her head. Yet something welled up within Sakura, because she seemed determined to get back up and keep fighting, though her hands and knees kept slipping out from under her, she made a bit more progress each time.

”Heal!” Came Roxas’s voice. He’d finally recalled his Keyblades and used the last bit of his magic to cast a Curaga spell on himself, Sakura, and Raz if he was nearby, ”C’mon,” he told them as he got back to his feet, ”Time for round two. Let’s end this.”

With that, Roxas ran toward the fight. He’d be at a severe disadvantage this time. No magic meant he’d have to clash with Sam’s sword again, at least until he was rejuvenated. But he couldn’t just stand by. He said he was going to do this, and Roxas wasn’t going to back down now.

”Th-thanks, Roxas-kun.” Sakura said, feeling her wounds seal up and some of her strength find her. That and her ability to literally have a second round worth of fighting in her meant she was feeling decent. Though her V-trigger had ended and she had no EX-meter.

”W-wait!” Sakura shouted after Roxas as he ran off. ”You can’t just say ‘let’s end this’ like we didn’t just get our butts kicked! We have to strategize or something!” Sakura sprinted forward.

Roland remembered Sundowner, he was the head of security for Armstrong. And from what little he knew about him, he knew he wasn’t the best person. Goldlewis seemed to have heard the same rumors he had. Rumors that… could possibly be true…? Roland started putting two and two together as he and Rekka talked and got ready to fight. That C character had mentioned something strange, something that made Roland’s skin crawl. So he could only ask a simple question. But that would have to wait until after this fight was over.

Roland wasn’t new to fights like this. Even if both targets were his enemy, it would do well to side with at least one of them, the one he could easily take down. But as for now he held a defensive stance to observe these two fight at least a little bit to get an idea of who would be the bigger pain. From the looks of it, Sundowner was a defensive fighter with slow big hits, while Rekka was a grappler, both very annoying opponents…

He certainly got an eyeful, as neither of the two minced any words. Rekka started out by lifting one arm, flexing, and then throwing herself forward in a shoulder barge reminiscent of a runaway truck. She covered a lot of distance in a blink, but her highly telegraphed attack meant that Sundowner was ready. He brought his six plates together in front of him to form a single wall, like the squares of the world’s spiciest chocolate bar. Rekka slammed into him, and in addition to not budging Sundowner one inch, the man’s shield plates immediately exploded in Rekka’s face. The woman grunted as she stumbled backward, reeling and taken by surprise.

With an ugly chuckle Sundowner folded up his shields and went to work with his machetes, slashing first with the right, then the left. He then brought both blades up for a horizontal cross cut, but Rekka brought up her own metal mitts and caught the swords on her heavy gauntlets. Her muscles bulged, and with a shove she threw both off, allowing her to wind up and deliver a door-buster kick right to Sundowner’s belly. The blow actually sent him sliding back a few feet, but when Rekka wound up for another shoulder barge, her opponent’s shields slammed back into place in front of him. Rekka hesitated, her teeth gritted, but Sundowner simply brought the barrier to her with a charge of his own. In the ensuing blast both separated, quickly returned to neutral.

“Can’t lay a finger on me!” Sundowner hollered.

“Watch me!” Rekka shot back. “These hands are rated E for Everyone!”

With neither of his allies at his back, Goldlewis had been hesitant to throw himself into the thick of things from the get-go, but now that the fireworks had begun he recognized the elephant in the room straight away. Those adaptable shields, clearly capable of exploding again and again whenever struck, would be a real problem for anyone trying to step up to DespoRHado's commander in chief. Then again, Goldlewis had seen a lot of very strong gimmicks in his day. More often than not, figuring out how to get past them meant seizing victory. Sitting back and letting them take each other out might be strategically sound, but it’d leave a bad taste in the veteran’s mouth, especially when he felt obliged to show these slack-jawed yokels what a real southerner looked like. Goldlewis reckoned he could outbox either of these two if he got half a chance, but not both at once.

“Enough sittin’ around!” he told himself as much as the others. “We’re breakin’ this up. Cover me!”

Roland had seen what he needed to see. Had he charged in blindly, he probably would’ve been a victim to Sundowner’s explosive shields. That would be annoying, far more annoying than Rekka’s fairly basic, if strong, punches and shoulder tackles. At least she seemed straightforward, with Sundowner seeming very… tricky at least with those shields.

Seeing his opportunity on Rekka’s next attack, Roland used her distraction of, well, running into Sundowner’s shield to pull out a pair of daggers and with his silent movement, sneak up on Sundowner and strike at the fairly weak looking arms connecting his shields to his body before moving back to wait for another chance to strike. Sundowner could only hear a faint ‘clink’ when Roland’s daggers hit his shield arms, the fixer being silent otherwise. Even then, the big many might not have noticed over the sounds of battle–though the shield arms might be spindly, knives weren’t going to cut through solid metal. But damage was damage, and as he turned in the direction of the disturbance he swung the shield arms on that side like three simultaneous elbow smashes. They did not connect with anything, however, and though Sundowner narrowed his brow, he couldn’t spare any time for further scrutiny. Both Rekka and Goldlewis were closing in.

While watching a good old fashioned fight unfold was all well and good to Partitio it rang home the fact that there were some folk who had more than just a mean punch or a hardy constitution to back them. So when his two companions decided to jump in on the brawl it was the merchant that hesitated to join the fray, even if one of the two they were gonna fight seemed more simple than the other even he knew he was outclassed in strength and power.

With a grunt, Partitio put his back into slamming the office desk on its side "Ya'll sure there ain't no way to settle this over a drink?" he hollered from behind cover in a futile attempt to solve things in a way he was capable of doing "Don’t much feel like dying today friends, what the hell ya'll fightin' for anyways?" knowing better than to stay in one place, Partitio rolled out of cover just in case it would be compromised and stood with his spear in hand.

The others ignored him, as the time for talk had clearly passed. If he wasn’t going to take action, he wouldn’t be on their radar. Instead the three brawlers met in the middle. Sundowner immediately locked his shields together and stood there with a grin, waiting to get hit. Rather than trigger another blast, Rekka directed her tackle into Goldlewis instead, who blocked with his coffin. He then lifted his coffin to slam it down, but Rekka let loose a giant lariat that shrugged off the blow. Her fist whacked Goldlewis in the shoulder and slid off it into his jaw, knocking him sideways. Rekka couldn’t cancel the lariat just yet though, and as she continued to spin Goldlewis recovered enough to reach out, seize her head in a grab, and bean her noggin with a hefty headbutt. The two stumbled apart just as Sundowner got tired of nobody hitting his shield, and as he charged forward to try and ram them, the others both backdashed to let him hurl himself straight between them. Then Rekka advanced with a series of slow, heavy slugs. Goldlewis ate the first one before he could jump, but he blocked the second and third, then rammed his coffin into her shins and performed a gatling into mule kick. Those not-insignificant hits persuaded Rekka to block low when she recovered, only for the veteran to mix her up with an overhead Behemoth Typhoon. By that time Sundowner had turned himself around, and he rushed back in for another go, splitting the two back up again.

Roland watched Sundowner trying to, frankly, haphazardly get into the fight and failing. It seemed he was far more defensive instead of offensive in nature. He didn’t know an opponent who won using only defense. Additionally it seemed everyone had caught onto his little trick, making him even less effective. And with Goldlewis slugging it out with Rekka, getting those two to fight each other again might be tricky.

Roland had an idea. If Sundowner was just essentially a walking mine, perhaps using him like that could make things easy. As Sundowner made his way back into the fray between Goldlewis and Rekka, Roland put his daggers away and pulled out a mace. He moved behind Rekka as she kept an eye on Sundowner, and tried to smack her into the charging cyborg.

He chose an excellent time. Goldlewis had just attempted to take the initiative by jumping and airdashing over Sundowner in order to cross him up, but the big cyborg knew what he was doing. He reconfigured in time to block the cross-up and detonate Goldlewis, launching him. “I’M FUCKIN’ INVINCIBLE!” Sundowner roared. Rekka rushed in and stopped just short as he rounded on her with the same triple-elbow he tried against Roland, but he whiffed and Rekka punished him with a smack before dashing backward. Sundowner locked his shields together and rushed her, but she actually caught him with a grab, clutching and prying apart his shields to expose him. That was when Roland hit her, breaking her focus enough to let Sundowner finish his charge and blast her backward. She landed on Roland and essentially fell on top of him, crushing him beneath her brawny back. “What the!?” With a quick roll she got off him and fixed the unidentifiable man with a baffled stair. “Ain’t nobody who can get away with sucker-punchin’ Rekka!” As a Thunderbird grenade from Goldlewis hit Sundowner in the back off in the distance, Rekka reached down with a massive mitt to grab Roland by the shirt.

'Dang it Partitio you're actin' like a right darn yellow bellied coward.' besides his new allies (or at least one of em') were in a pickle, so it was time to knock some heads rather than hide like a darn coward. Leaping over the desk on its side the riled merchant winded his fist back glowing with a bright blue light as he boosted his attack to max "You're bout to be taught a lesson ma'am. " fist connecting to the woman's jaw, followed by a one-two gut punch, then a wallop to the ribs before finishing with a nasty strike between Rekka’s eyes to hopefully break her nose.

Though little more than a background element until now, Partitio announced his presence with a ferocious flurry of powered-up punches. For the second time in as many minutes Rekka got blindsided by a heaping helping of blunt force, starting off with a sucker punch to the jaw just as she twisted up Roland’s shirt and hauled him off the ground. The blow both stunned and surprised her, allowing Partitio to land a couple more hefty bashes. When he tried to follow up with a punch to the face, however, his fist clanged off one of her huge metal forearms, doing far more damage to his own knuckles than it did to her. Steam practically vented from her nose as she turned a look of pure rage on the man, who would suddenly have to contend with the fact that he’d poked a tiger with a short stick. Rekka tossed Roland aside like a ragdoll and launched a massive hook punch followed by a devastating uppercut.

Roland flew through the air a bit before landing on the ground, doing a roll to reduce the damage he took from the throw. He underestimated Rekka ”Tch. You're faster than you look.” and counter attacked by pulling out his gun and shooting her in the back to get her off of Partitio and start charging him, now that he's got some distance. Aggravated by both enemies and able to choose between them, Rekka growled in pain but did not take her leave of Partitio for now.

The merchant wasn't scared, in fact through his gritted teeth twisted a smile "Heh, ya got a mean punch ma'am." Partitio chuckled weakly with his lip cracked and bleeding, Roland’s gunfire turning the angry woman off him for a moment giving him the opportunity he needed to trigger his latent power from the amount of damage those deadly fists did to him. Pointing a finger at Rekka like a gun, a fully boosted gout of flames burst beneath her feet dealing dangerous amounts of fire damage to her.

“Hah!” The burst of flame knocked Rekka back, and she slid to a stop on one knee, her clothes smoking and the tip of her hair on fire. Though she looked angry, she seemed to be smiling. “Not bad!” She blew her hair out of her face, extinguishing it in the prospect. “For a couple-a SHRIMPS!” With a grunt she leaped into the air, then extended both her legs and shot toward Partitio in a diving dropkick. On impact she left a huge dent in the floor panel, which she proceeded to grip with both hands, tear off, and hurl at Roland like a giant frisbee. Then she reached down to the exposed cables, grabbed the biggest one, and started pulling it apart. “Rekka could use some…”



”JUICE!”

Three stacked rows of cables that surrounded the corners of the room on all four sides began to glow like the ropes of a wrestling ring. Electricity arced across her body as she activated her magnetic gauntlets. Suddenly, Partitio began to slide across the ground toward her, her arms held wide to welcome the merchant into her loving embrace. A battered but thankfully alive (for the time being) Partitio hadn't even gotten to his feet, having only just dove away as the lady landed nearly making a merchant sized pancake of him. He had healed to almost half of his health in that time before he began to be moved by some unseen force towards Rekka.

The merchant half smiled and grimaced "You want a big ole hug then?" instead of waiting for her to pull him to her he leapt with the force that was sliding him towards Rekka with his spear in hand prepared to jab the woman's unguarded chest as he slid towards her.

Roland meanwhile seeing the metal plate heading towards him, decided to pull out his large sword and cleaved the plate in two, before charging in to smack Rekka with the same sword.

Over on the other side of the arena, Goldlewis and Sundowner were really going at it. The veteran managed to catch his opponent blocking high with a low kick (so low that he was practically sitting down) into low dust to knock his foe down. He mistimed a meaty hit and ate a high sidekick into machete slash on incoming, but got out of the follow-up with a backdash and went to punish it with a Behemoth Typhoon, but Sundowner recovered faster than Goldlewis thought and put up his shields, forcing Goldlewis to waste his Tension on a backward-moving purple Roman Cancel to not detonate the shields. The Wind of Destruction happily brought his shields to Goldlewis with a forward charge, but the veteran’s block reduced the blast to chip damage, and not even a double machete overhead broke his guard.

He caught Sundowner with a quick elbow thrust into forward-up-back Behemoth Typhoon, popping his heavy opponent into the air. Its floaty launch gave him enough time to pull out his minigun before Sundowner hit the ground in order to bombard the cyborg with bullets on wakeup, rolling him away from his fallen machetes. He found his footing and rose with his guard up, the electrical turbines in his arms revving up as he hid behind his explosive shields. When the gunfire ended, the shields parted and Sundowner zoomed forward to strike Goldlewis with a mighty lightning clothesline, carrying the veteran for a few feet before bowling him over. Goldlewis grunted in pain, the wind knocked from his lungs, and as he got to one knee he watched Sundowner recover his machetes. Rather than hold one in each hand, however, he attached one to his right forearm, creating what looked like a giant pair of pincers. He then looked at Goldlewis and grinned as he snapped them shut. “The fun’s just gettin’ started!” Tang, tang!

When Partitio aimed his weapon’s point at Rekka, the production manager just grinned. “You want some?” Pulled by her magnetism, the merchant continued to slide toward her until Rekka brought her arms forward for the grab, not to snag Partitio himself, but his spear. Her iron grip clamped down on the weapon with both hands, conducting the electricity that now charged her as she whipped around and flung him with Wedge Catapult. “You can’t handle it!” He flew and bounced off the arena’s ‘ropes’ and sailed back toward Rekka. As her primary target soared her way Rekka spotted Roland coming in to smash her, so rather than stand there and take it, she jumped away from him and toward Partitio. She met him with the two-stage Crimson Punisher, first striking with an arm sweep to spike him downward and then dropping with a titanic belly flop. Then she got up and flexed her arms, essentially letting Partitio go in order to charge her next technique. Lightning sparked around her arms, and after a second she leaped straight up, then brought her fist down, electrocuting the floor of the entire arena. Both Goldlewis and Sundowner got quite the shock right in the middle of their melee as the whole area lit up for a solid two seconds, though after that Rekka doubled over, her arms needed to vent the excess heat.

Thanks to Rekka’s evasive part of her attack, Roland’s sword smashed into the ground, damaging the panels beneath. He then held his sword up to defend himself from her followup attack, the large object offering him some protection from the electric attack that zapped him as Rekka supercharged the floor. Once that attack was over, Roland smoking a bit from all that electricity, he saw his opportunity to attack Rekka and dashed at her with his daggers out, before smacking her from behind with his longsword in a quick flashy display.

Meanwhile a beaten and battered Partitio groaned, ears filled with a shrill whine like they were next to an explosion. The merchant jerkily dragged himself to his feet, and stumbled to whatever nearby cover he could find as he did his best to recover. Roland seemed to be able to keep Rekka busy, and as he quickly got his bearings back as well as his missing health the merchant took note that the big lady seemed to generate more heat than she could handle which got him to thinking…

A sly smile formed on the man's face, fixing his hat on his head Partitio then tugging at his white gloves had himself quite the good old fashioned plan. Chortling to himself, Partitio kept an eye on the two fighting while making sure he was ready to act if Rekka made her move on him or if things went south. He had quite the idea burning in the back of his mind, so to speak. Another blast of heat might just do the trick, so he was ready and riled to give ole' Rekka something to sweat about.

Things wouldn’t be so simple, though. The wrestler’s arena-wide move had gotten the attention of both Goldlewis and Sundowner, and after using his Tesla Blitz to send Goldlewis flying with an unexpected Psycho Crusher, Sundowner charged into the fray. With his explosive shields extended he was just a second away from ramming into both Rekka and Roland at once.

Roland reflexively pulled out a large warhammer to attempt to block the sudden charge from Sundowner in a defensive flourish. Being one of Rolands more defensive weapons, it blocked a fair amount of damage from the exploding shields, but it wasn’t enough and that sent Roland flying back.

As Roland did a roll to get back onto his feet, he did note that now Sundowner and Rekka were together and would be slugging it out for a little while. With some heightened emotions, Roland made his way to Goldlewis to help the old man to his feet. Hopefully the merchant would be smart enough to also retreat and let the two brutes duke it out a little bit while they regrouped and recalculated a plan.

When Roland reached him Goldlewis was already on his feet. He might be old, but he was also tough as nails. Even if the Distortion Mask interfered with his memories of the exact details, he gave the agent an appreciative pat on the shoulder as he hoisted himself up. He then turned his attention to the fight still going. With Partitio withdrawing to an at-the-ready state and her opponent turning his focus to Sundowner, Rekka got a chance to recover, and once the DespoRHado boss dispatched Roland the two faced off. Rekka managed to bash him with a shoulder barge when his shields weren’t up. She then reeled back, winding up for a gigantic downward punch. Sundowner charged up his own electric uppercut, and in an impact powerful enough to send out a shockwave the two titans collided. The trade doubled Sundowner over, but it launched Rekka, and by the time she landed hard in front of him the man had collected himself. He brought his electrified pincer down on top of her for a painful OTG hit, and with a grunt she rolled away.

Rekka got up with her teeth gritted, looking a little less confident and a lot more frazzled. “Hmph! You ain’t gonna make me tap!” She spread her arms wide, and then extended a couple feet in either direction, glowing red. “Just try blockin’ this!” Sundowner clicked his tongue and put his shield up, evidently more than happy to try blocking it, but if he expected a giant clothesline he couldn’t have been more wrong. Rekka bulled forward and caught him in a huge grab, clamping down on the edges of his shield before pulling Sundowner off his feet by the shield. She whirled him around, then tossed him straight upward. After adjusting her hair with a grin, she leaped up after him and snatched his shield arms by their elbows. With each set locked in like a fistful of straws, she pulled Sundowner over her shoulders and began to fall. “HERE IT COMES! …HAH!” When Rekka landed, the force of her buster not only dealt a grip of damage to Sundowner, but pulled his shield arms right out. All the displays in the room lit up with bright lights, the colorful equalizers on the walls turned to maximum. Rekka shrugged Sundowner off onto the ground, casting the shield arms aside to explode around them, then used Gadget Finger to lift him up again with magnetism so she could send him flying with a spectacular cowboy punch.

“Ugggh!” Sundowner tumbled along the floor, his heavy body clanging loudly. He got to one knee and spat. “Hyuck…ptooey! Enough foolin’ around!” Suddenly, a barrage of high-caliber chaingun fire tore through the wall behind him, blasted out from at least three different sources. The fusillade destroyed an entire section of wall, revealing three Hammerhead VTOLs. Standing up, Sundowner grinned. “Time for y’all to DIE!”

“Holy hell!” For a minute there Goldlewis had been more or less content to watch as the two juggernauts just beat the snot out of one another, catching his breath, but the arrival of military hardware took all fun out of the equation real fast. “Come in, Halo!” he hollered into his glyph. “Come in! Sundowner just called in three choppers with Goddamn chainguns to back him up! We need whatever backup you got ASAP, over!”

“Understood, Mustang,” Sandalphon replied calmly, already cognizant of the Seekers’ location. “I have two Flight Units I’m sending to your position, ETA thirty seconds. Until then…” In a blue flash, Sandalphon herself warped it, standing alongside the team with her gunstaff ready for action. “We will stand together.”

Emboldened, Goldlewis gave a grim smile. “Glad to have ya, ma’am.”

As Sundowner strode forward, the Hammerheads began to circle around, unloading their chainguns through the walls and the glass to open the way for their missiles. The cacophony of war filled the air.

”I knew he looked weird, but I didn’t know he was this crazy!” Roland said, pulling out his greatsword as he deflected whatever gunfire came his way. There were a few reasons why guns were rare where he came from. It was expensive to own and operate one, but also anyone with sufficient enough skill could make anything but the biggest guns a non issue. Roland used this skill of his to deflect machine gun fire from one of the helicopter chainguns with a great amount of speed and flourish. He couldn’t cover or protect anyone from the other two chainguns, including himself, so he tried to keep moving to help his comrades to cover until more backup came and out of the sight of those two.

At least their dispatcher seemed like she had some good weapons and augmentations. Roland was surprised she came to help when called for, now he just had to see how effective she was. He could at least help Goldlewis and Partitio get into a place of relative safety, if they could keep the other enemies and copters busy.

When the chainguns roared, Goldlewis clenched his jaw and blocked. Doing so reduced the shots to chip damage, but the chip damage quickly piled up, and though he wanted to find cover as much as Roland, no cover could be found. Not even a great defense would last forever, and that went for the both of them. Quickly getting a grip on the accumulation of damage, Sandalphon thrust the barrel of her gunstaff into the ground, expanding a green ring to encircle her allies. While inside the healing field, their vitality would be partially restored every second. After that, Sandalphon crouched behind Goldlewis; she possessed no protective skills of her own, and with defense like hers these circumstances posed incredible danger. One of the Hammerheads focused on Rekka to great effect, but the other two -and Sundowner- laid into the Seekers. Without his shields, the big cyborg charged at Roland with his machetes electrified.to bust down his defense and open him up.

Roland wasn’t going to have any of this lunatic. And unlike before, Sundowner wasn’t blind sighting Roland as much this time as he had to keep an eye around him to deal with the copters. So as Sundowner charged at Roand with his large electric blade, Roland used this opportunity to use his superior speed to dodge around Sundowner, putting him between Roland and the gunship that was shooting him. ”Kids shouldn’t play with such dangerous toys.” Roland said in a cold mocking tone as he stayed in Sundowner’s blindside and tried to keep the hulking cyborg between himself and the chaingun firing copter.

The aerial Unmanned Gear registered the possibility of friendly fire and stopped shooting. Sundowner cackled as he turned to face Roland, who immediately got lit up by the Hammerhead that had been targeting Rekka from behind. If the man looked over he could see why: Rekka lay on death’s door in a puddle of her own blood, overwhelmed by chaingun fire and left to die. Now all three choppers could focus on the Seekers. “Kids are cruel, boy!” Sundowner gleefully yelled over the cacophony. “And I’m very in touch with my inner child!” Roland attempted to counter this blow, but Sundowner’s attack broke through his counter and connected, dealing a fair amount of damage and shaking Roland’s resolve quite a bit.

Goldlewis wanted to help, but he couldn’t without getting shredded himself, and Partitio -without any way to seriously mitigate incoming damage- was burning through his latent power just to stay alive. The healing field was severely outmatched. Sandalphon remained calm, but she recognized that the situation had already become untenable–but not unsalvageable.

She stood up to her full height, steeling herself against the hail of bullets, and raised her staff. Rings of interconnected tech lines formed in a circle around her, brilliantly azure, and as they expanded four curved screens arose around her, spinning. After a brief moment the whole thing blazed with cool blue light and the screens shot outward. “Angelic Wings.” In that moment, all three of her badly wounded allies were fully restored. Though in Coordination Protocol, Sandalphon couldn’t make use of the skill’s extra effect since nobody happened to have a status ailment at the moment, but this second wind was a huge boon by itself. Not that the Archangel was done. “Angelic Praise.” She brought her staff down and struck the floor, sending out a ripple through the aetherial currents. It provided an extra burst of health as well as healing-over-time, and thanks to Coordination protocol the others also got an attack boost based on Sandalphon’s own attack.

Goldlewis breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re a real miracle worker, ma’am. I owe you big time.” Roland also thanked her for her healing. It worked faster and better than whatever K corp used, he just hoped there weren’t any bad side effects.

“Think nothing of it,” Sandalphon said. Though her face didn’t change, the symbols in her eyes briefly changed to sparkles.

“Huh!? Traitor!” Sundowner fumed, glaring at the Archangel. “Fine, heal ‘em all you like, angel. You can die as slow and painful as you want! And when ya get to the pearly gates after my choppers mulch ya into ground beef, tell ‘em Sundowner sent ya!”

Rather than keep healing, Sandalphon turned her staff over and tucked it beneath her arm to use as a gun. The symbols in her eyes changed into target reticles. “Pride comes before the fall.”

Suddenly, a huge glittering blade of golden light cut one of the choppers in half. It exploded and fell apart in pieces, revealing the Flight Unit hovering behind it just before the futuristic machine reconfigured into combat mode. Whirling around in surprise, Sundowner got a good look at 2B’s dispassionate disapproval before his face tightened in rage. “Don’t just hang there,” he yelled at the other Hammerheads. “Take ‘er down!” When one rounded on 2B, however, two streams of minigun fire ripped into its fuselage and sent it careening into the tower wall, which it messily crashed through to land in the arena as a burning wreck. 9S directed his Flight Unit closer, its weapons smoking, then turned to chase after the last Unmanned Gear as it peeled away.

The android set her Flight Unit to automatic and jumped down onto the arena, Virtuous Contract in hand as her pod floated beside her. “Unit 2B, reporting for clean-up duty.”

Not too far away from her, Rekka gave a grunt and shakily got to her feet. Goldlewis gawked, wondering how she found the strength, but quickly realized two things: that Sandalphon had healed her, and that she’d probably done it intentionally.

“Feeling rejuvenated, Rekka?” Sandalphon inquired.

“Hah…hah…” The wrestler wiped blood from the corner of her mouth. She looked around at the state of her tower, then through the massive holes in its walls and windows at the entirety of Production. As the closest and most accessible part of the Vandelay Campus, it had suffered the brunt of DespoRHado’s attack. Many of its facilities were burning or falling apart, their bad design and lack of safety measures leading to a chain reaction that threatened to bring all of Production to a standstill. “We’re finished,” she groaned. “Everythin’ I worked so hard for…” She glared at Sundowner. “I done some things I ain’t proud of to get this far, but this sumbitch makes me look like a spring chicken! Just look at what he’s done!” She narrowed her eyes at Goldlewis, Sandalphon, Roland, and Partitio. “Look, I don’t know what y’all want, but it’s yours, long as I get me some revenge!” Roland wasn’t against the idea, but he wasn’t sure if the others would be.

Sandalphon made her calculations instantly. “All we require is your surrender. If that is acceptable, we will cooperate.” She, the three Seekers, 2B, and Rekka spread out to surround the Wind of Destruction. “Sundowner. As Chief Communications Officer and the head of DespoRHado division YoRHa, I hereby relieve you of duty, and for your many crimes sentence you to death.”

“Well then,” Sundowner rumbled. Electricity flooded through his arms, and as his armor reconfigured, his limbs transformed into giant, three-pronged lightning cannons. Looking far more machine than man, he rose into the air. “Come and get-!”

Sandalphon immediately shot him in the head, shutting him up, and the others charged. Roland took this opportunity to dash in. Insulted at being ‘shut up’ by Sandalphon, Sundowner aimed his cannons at her, but Roland intercepted the attack, deflecting the lighting bolts with his large sword before dashing in to smack Sundowner with it. ”I don’t think so ‘pardner’.” Roland said as he advanced on Sundowner, using his sword to land a large overhead smash on the Cyborg, before swapping to his longsword to slash him with another attack.

“Well struck,” Sandalphon commented, the glyph by her head blinking. “But I must go.” With that she disappeared in a flash.

Roland’s professionally executed string of attacks made for an effective combo, and it took only that long for 2B to approach. “Engaging.” She attacked with a quick couple slices, then let go of her pristine white blade to let it spin vertically in place like a floating sawblade. Sundowner let out a bellow as he whirled around with a giant swing, but just before his weapon made contact 2B split into four holograms sliding outward in a plus sign. She then vanished completely as a golden, spherical field expanded outward from her pod, and from the mirage a handful of phantom slashes carved through Sundowner before she reappeared above him for a falling attack. As she landed she twisted around and finished with a line of holographic spears that shot up from the ground beneath him.

With Sundowner momentarily skewered, Goldlewis jumped into the mix. He landed a shoulder charge that he proceeded to gatling into backhand, then back-down-forward Behemoth Typhoon to launch Sundowner toward Rekka, whose guard he bounced off like a wall. Goldlewis spent a bar of Tension on Burn It Down, activating the targeting laser in his glasses, then caught his opponent and extended the combo with the odd backwards Behemoth Typhoon that popped Sundowner behind him. Of course, the next moment another Behemoth Typhoon smashed him down into the ground, but as Sundowner rolled away an orbital laser blasted down through the ceiling to catch him and carry him back toward Goldlewis again. At that point, the veteran just smacked him with his coffin.

He'd have been riddled with bullets, cut to ribbons and maybe even beaten to a pulp but with a little bit of his own grit and the divine intervention of the angel Sandalphon the merchant was hale and hardy as ever.

Partitio might have been a simple man without any astounding strength but he was a tough son of a bitch, his mind and eyes set on the task at hand "You've really got my goat now." the merchant folded up his coat, rolling the sleeves of his shirt to the wrist and went into a sprint towards the fighting again. "Got some gumption I'll give you that sir but you ain't fighting the right fight." his beating earlier had been driven by his determination but now as he stood in front of Sundowner a bright light burst around him as he aimed a finger at him"Cause you picked the wrong one." suddenly flames so hot they singed the floor burst from beneath Sundowner as Ember took effect boosted to the maximum effect.

The heavily-damaged cyborg ended up near Rekka. Grinning, the wrestler jumped up and sent him flying with a bombastic dropkick. Goldlewis put up his guard and Sundowner bounced off him like a wall this time, right back toward Rekka, who jumped up to meet him. With gusto she pulled off the same Crimson Punisher that she almost flattened Partitio with earlier, and when the two came down, Sundowner’s body buckled beneath hers. His self-destruct protocol went off immediately, and with a final explosion the Wind of Destruction was no more.

Or so it seemed. A moment later, the now-bodiless Sundowner spoke in a voice twisted by pain and static, seemingly from Sandalphon’s glyph and other remote communication devices in the vicinity. “Sonuva…bitch…you got me!”

“What is this?” Goldlewis demanded, weirded out. “You ain’t dead?”

“Urgh…guess it’s up…to you now…Sam…”

With that the voice faded, Sundowner was gone, and the fight was over. 2B turned and ran back to her Flight Unit without a word, evidently needed elsewhere. That left Roland, Goldlewis, Partitio, and one of the two bosses they’d come here to fight. The veteran eyed Rekka uneasily. “We square?”

“...Yeah. I won’t trouble you folks no more.” Despite her size, Rekka looked deflated as she gazed out over Production again. “Once Kale sees this, I’m outta a job. If y’all ever see me again, I’ll probably be herdin’ hogs or somethin’.”

Goldlewis stroked his whiskers, exhaling as he let the adrenaline of battle ebb away. “Not to say I know best or nothin’, but you ever thought o’ bein’ an actual wrestler, ma’am? Might suit you better than…whatever it is you’ve been up to ‘round these parts.”

Rekka blinked, then lit up. “Say…now there’s an idea!” Excited, she pounded her fists together. “No more corporate ladders and production deadlines. Just me, my opponent, and the ring! Won’t be anyone’s captive, never again!” With a grin she winked at Goldlewis, then turned and took off running, waving as she went. “Thanks for the second chance, y’all!”

She left via an elevator with a panel that read ‘emergency escape route’, the sight of which stirred Goldlewis from his ruminations on Rekka’s wink. “Guess we oughta get movin’,” he told the others. As if on queue, the whole tower creaked dangerously. “...I get the feelin’ we don’t wanna hang around.”

”Yeah. Best to not be around before this place collapses.” Roland said, giving a bit of a sigh as the fight was over it seemed. ”I got a feeling that guy was even more bonkers than we knew. Which is saying a lot considering.” Roland said, looking at the spirits of Sundowner and Nikolai Dmitri Bulygin. That was something that perplexed Roland. Why did this cyborg man turn into a rainbow orb or something? Was this related to the ‘monster’ under the city?
”Hey pops. Is that thing safe to touch?” Roland asked, pointing at the spirits.

“Yeah, uh, I’ll explain later.” Not wanting to accidentally fuse with either of them, Goldlewis opened his coffin slightly. “Throw ‘em in here.” Once Roland obliged, the two grabbed Partitio and followed in Rekka’s footsteps.

The Seekers' ultimate objective here was to get a leg up in Midgar, either by convincing the major players involved here to cooperate... or crippling them entirely. It would be nice if they could make more allies, but Pit knew it wasn't always possible - and was never easy. With Galeem's light in their eyes it would be impossible once it came down to a fight, and it looked like the group had arrived just a little late to prevent that in the first place.

The opposing forces of Vandelay and DespoRHado began to circle each other slowly, paying little heed to the three newest intruders. Then the air crackled, Korsica shifted her stance, and Mistral's eye glowed a bright ominous red.

Pit dashed forward, sliding between the two women as they lunged toward the other each with deadly intent. The angel barely skid to a halt before throwing his arms up on either side of him with his palms open, the Guardian Orbitars following suit and zipping into place on his left and right. In a flash they projected a pair of opalescent winged shields, putting an immediate stop to the thrust of Mistral's polearm and Korsica's batons. He held his stance and kept the energy shields up even as they gradually began to shrink.

"Wait a minute! Don't you wanna hear us out first?" he asked. Sandalphon mentioned that at least one of them might be open to that, and Chai’s buddy mentioned they needed to talk with Korsica for something. So step one was keeping the women from killing each other.

Both combatants’ opening strikes met with Orbitars’ shining barriers and bounced back, halting the fight before it could really get started. Faced with a new problem, Korsica immediately jumped back to take stock of the situation, conducting a lightning-fast risk assessment on the newcomers. Mistral, meanwhile, saw that Pit’s shield shrank when struck, and instead of retreating she redoubled her efforts. She wielded her polearm like a quarterstaff to bash the glinting surface with both ends in rapid succession, making the boy wince with every strike that threatened to break his block.

At that point Gio stepped in to help her new ally before his defenses could be compromised. After quickly gauging the distance she launched her flying dropkick Trovão, which Mistral saw coming out of the corner of her eyes. She ceased her assault and crouched to defend herself with a wall of arms, but Giovanna’s well-spaced technique finished before she made contact, and she landed with a slide. Mistral threw wide her arms like a shoulder cape to perform a thrust to center mass, but Gio leaped and airdashed overhead. The moment she crossed over her prospective opponent she used her Burst. A forceful golden blast of concentrated vital energy struck Mistral in the back, doing no damage whatsoever but sending her flying away from Pit. Thanks to the circumstances of its use, the Gold Burst also completely filled Giovanna’s meter, and in response she began to glow all over, from more vividly red hair to white eyes to the green static that danced across her skin. Her help meant that she and Pit both now stood right in the middle of the conflict, ready for action.

“Hear you out? Hmm.” Sounding incredulous, Korsica narrowed her eyes. “You all broke into my office! Destroyed my security!”

Chai joined the others, putting himself in between the security chief and Pit. “To... peacefully resolve this.”

“Wow, do you even listen to what you say?” Korsica raised her batons.

Mistral rose to her feet, seemingly in agreement. “Unless I am to hear your surrender, save your breath!”

Shields faded by now, Pit let the Orbitars disappear completely and bid his bow back into his hand.

"To be fair it was already mostly destroyed before we got here!" He told Korsica.

Chai added his own critique. “Hey, they attacked us first, anyway! I was down to hang with those chill tech guys. Even helped them fix some stuff! You’re welcome, by the way.”

“What kind of policy is kill-on-sight for robots, anyway?” Giovanna wondered aloud.

Pit’s attention flickered between Korsica and Mistral, the latter more than a little unnerving with those undulating arms attached to her. The surrender of either one of them didn’t seem likely. "Guess we're gonna have to knock some sense into them," he said, assuming his own fighting stance.

Gio shrugged casually. “That’s usually how this goes.”

Out of the two, Korsica hesitated a moment, perhaps forced to consider the newcomers’ points. Mistral did not hesitate, but sprang forward into a forward barrel roll, spinning with her polearm extended like a vertical sawblade. “Whoa!” Gio braced herself and blocked, spending some of her meter on Faultless Defense to try and cut down on the hits, as Mistral buzzed her twice before buzzing off, her final spin bringing her back to neutral. Then her polearm extended, flexing like a whip, and thrashed around in a series of sweeping strikes. Gio switched from defense to offense to make her way in.

The sudden attack took Pit by surprise. She really wasn't messing around. He decided he had to lend Giovanna a hand - but before joining her on the offensive against Mistral he looked back at Chai and, briefly, Korsica standing beyond the young man. She definitely seemed less battle thirsty than the DespoRHado agent, so maybe they really could get away with talking some things out. "She seems like a handful! But we'll keep her busy," he said, indicating Mistral with a nod of his head, "So, um, good luck with whatever you needed to talk with Korsica about!"

Chai mistimed the last rhythm parry in Korsica’s attack sequence and got bonked on the head by her baton. As his opponent hopped back to circle around him, he shot Pit a slightly woozy smile and a thumbs-up. “Yyyou got it, pal!”

With that Pit dashed around to flank the Wind of Destruction. He knew at this distance his arrows would be too close and too slow to get through the barrage Mistral was letting loose, so he'd have to force his way past the whip-like spear with his blade. His bow flashed and spun as he dove in. He could feel the bow's sharp edge slice into the synthetic flesh of the arms making up Mistral's weapon about as often as he felt the sting of the knife cutting him when his parry wasn't fast enough. What the heck is this made of? He wondered, and more importantly was it possible to just chop part of it off? He swung the sword-bow wide, putting some force behind it and aiming for the polearm.

The strong slash, though not enough to carve through the material, proved sufficient to finally bounce it away. Rather than try to whip it around again, Mistral retracted her weapon into spear form in order to deal with the secret agent who’d just dashed up into her face. Her momentum slid her across the ground and into point-blank range to land a knee strike right to Mistral’s gut, which led cleanly into a triple side-kick leaning on Rei for support. From there she could gatling into a series of flying kicks to bash Mistral over and over, but she moved too fast and the combo dropped. Gio found her third kick intercepted by a wall of arms that grappled her leg like the tentacles of an octopus, and with a grin Mistral whirled her around and then into the floor for a ground bounce. Gripping her polearm like a baseball bat, she swung for the fences.

Her attack was once more intercepted by Pit. Not wasting an opportunity to get in close while Giovanna was going at it, he sprinted forward and caught the spear with the edge of his bow. Due to her figure he misjudged just how much strength the cyborg possessed, and though he tried to dig his heels in he was overpowered due to the mistake. Pit twisted the bow in his hand, spinning its reversed blades to force the polearm down toward the ground before he was flung away.

Pit's intervention allowed Gio to flip out of the short combo before she took its ender, and the next moment she landed on her own two feet. Not one to try and force the matter in terms of brute strength, which she didn't conceive of as her strong suit despite her mechanical arms' power, Mistral stopped pushing the moment she found her blade pinned. She withdrew, spun around, and sent a flurry of jabs Pit's way. He'd landed in a crouch, hastily throwing an arm up to barely defend against the first strike with a bracer. The bow twirled forward again with his other hand to fight off the rest.

Gio keeping her distance led Mistral to drop her guard against her, not expecting Seismic Hammer to cause a burst of force beneath her and interrupt her attack after a couple thrusts.

Given the moment of respite, Pit shifted gears and let the casing of the Upperdash Arm envelop his own. He thought he must be near enough to land a blow with it. Dashing in closer with a "hyah!" and without hesitation he swung the divine weapon into an uppercut. The disc-shaped cestus made contact explosively, and Mistral staggered, lifted off her feet by the angel’s gut punch. He was in the midst of a follow up attack as the Arm faded and gave way to the bow once more, one half of it in each hand. He pushed off the ground and whipped the blades toward the cyborg, twisting with each move into a triple slash. After his technique completed, Mistral regained her poise and leaped backward just as Gio flipped over Pit’s head to try and finish his string off with Sol Poente. She whiffed and landed in front of him, then dashed forward to try and keep their opponent from gaining any momentum.

As she aimed a skip-up roundhouse kick Mistral swung her polearm, and the two collided, deadlocked in terms of strength. Of course, only Giovanna felt the pain of the impact, and from that she knew she’d falter. Rather than press on she folded her kicking leg to let the arm-spear continue on, bending her planted leg as she did. Then she sprang off it and pivoted around to extend a side kick into Mistral’s ribcage, but though the blow connected, the cyborg was better prepared than she thought. Her extra arms grabbed Gio’s leg and gave her a whirl, flinging her up in a wild lateral twist. Disoriented, Giovanna could do nothing to stop the rigid thwack that followed and knocked her away, though she’d had worse.

"Gio-whoooah!"

Rather than try to follow up, Mistral turned her attention to Pit. In the recovery of her swing she turned her polearm slack, then whipped it down toward Pit’s ankle. The hand at its extremity grabbed hold and the angel suddenly got yanked off his feet, hanging upside-down like a fish from a rod. As Gio picked herself up a couple dozen feet away, Mistral giggled at her captive audience. Her Snow Spikes began to move for the first time, coiling behind her as they charged up for a deadly thrust.

"This isn't funny!" Pit cried as he bent to chop at the limb that'd caught hold of him. His wings flapped uselessly as without any wind or momentum he couldn't use them to get upright. After flailing around he came to realize he probably couldn't escape before Mistral threw whatever she had planned at him, but that didn't mean he was out of options. He braced himself to reflect with another summon of his Orbitars.

Surrounded in raw cold, the Snow Spikes thrust toward Pit in a line, lunging like a frigid metal cobra, but when they smashed into his Orbitars the chain burst apart and rained down on the floor before drifting back to Mistral, who glowered at the angel in annoyance. “What an annoying power. Isn’t there anything else you can do, boy?” She sent out her Snow Spikes once more to orbit around Pit in a ring, all briefly charging up to fire piercing icicles at him from all sides.

"Of course I can! Just -argh!- wait 'til I -graah!- get out of this and you'll see!" His bravado might as well have been a bluff, spoken as he redoubled his efforts to escape before he could be skewered.

With a snarl, Rei leaped upward toward the chain of Dwarf Gekko arms and snapped her jaws shut, crushing the artificial limb between her teeth. As Pit fell, Giovanna leaped up and caught him in her arms, then stalled their aerial momentum with an orange glyph. Rei landed the next second, and when Gio airdashed off her glyph she and Pit landed on the green wolf’s back, the angel with a soft oof.

"Thanks," he told the both of them, patting Rei's head. He swallowed the feelings of embarrassment from getting caught in that predicament in the first place in order to keep focused.

Curling her lip, Mistral separated her extra arms, forming them into three polearms she hurled at the trio like javelins. Then she vaulted up onto the raised walkway behind them, where a squad of Dwarf Gekkos were waiting. She wasted no time pulling off their arms to replenish her own and hurling their cores down toward the Seekers like basketball-sized grenades. “A present... from me!”

Unwilling to be blown up or stabbed, Rei got moving - and being tucked in front of Giovanna gave Pit room to counter Mistral's bombardment. While Rei carried them forward, deftly zigzagging around the spears, the first of the Dwarf Gekko cores were shot down before they got too close. It was like target shooting, but a lot more dangerous. Light arrows streamed forward, piercing to disable or prematurely detonate the cores and lessening Mistral's volley with one of Pit's own. Cores that slipped by were too fast to be caught by a twist of an arrow, but Rei herself avoided the worst of it by leaping away from the explosions with her charges on her back.

As they closed in on Mistral, Pit charged the next shot. The arrow grew brighter and more powerful, and when released it ignited a ball of fire that spiraled around it. It sailed forward and crashed through the core she'd just thrown to strike the cyborg directly. In order to take advantage of the short window of opportunity, Pit patted Rei again and prepared to jump. "This is my stop!"

The angel sprang up above the raised platform with a push of his wings. He fell towards Mistral, the Palutena Bow in front of him in a spinning cycle. The blades were locked together and slashing like a windmill, cutting into her until Pit landed, and he continued to press with a wide horizontal slash.

His quick combo opened a couple fresh cuts and pushed Mistral back into the wall behind her. She bounced off it and almost fell forward, doubling over as if in pain–when in reality she was using her extra arms to hide her reaching for the knives on her thigh band. Suddenly the cyborg straightened up again, hurling the blades into Pit, before she pirouetted forward. Her polearm curved as she whirled around in a crimson triple slash, striking with both ends to push Pit into the railing behind him in turn while he deflected the deadly points of her weapon with his own, face pulled into a pained grimace. Then she leaped backward into a wall cling, and with her L’Etranger bent like a magnet shot both sides down to either side of Pit to grab the rail. Her weapon then snapped together like a rubber band, yanking Mistral down on top of him with a super-strong divekick to bring both back down to ground level. With hardly any time to think let alone summon his shields, Pit crossed his arms in front of himself to soften the blow even a little. He hit the floor hard.

“Pit!” Having jumped up to the raised walkway to help, Giovanna jumped back down. She launched a series of kicks at Mistral, who ducked away from the first and blocked the second only for Gio to kick her polearm out of her hands with the third. Mistral cartwheeled away to catch her weapon as it fell, while the secret agent stood over Pit. “You okay, kid?”

"Yep, I'm-" his words were cut off by a wince as he got up and pulled the knives out of him. Pain was clear on his face and he suffered cuts of varying depths all over his body, besides the feathered limbs he took special care to avoid damaging, but otherwise the angel seemed ready to continue fighting on. "Gonna take a lot more than this to keep me down!"

Smiling slyly, Mistral activated her Snow Spikes. They whirled around her in a chain like a ribbon, then floated behind her back in a hexagonal formation like a snowflake. Gio dashed toward her, but when the cyborg lunged forward to meet her she did so with a flying knee extended further with a prong of ice. The heavy counterhit staggered Gio long enough for Mistral to grab her and launch her with another knee, and as she got popped up the Snow Spikes orbited around her. Mistral turned her back and posed, triggering blades of ice that slashed Giovanna downward together. ”Augh!” With a wince of pain, Gio rolled backward after landing. “Just a scratch...”

“Ready to slice off some more?” Mistral laughed.

Giovanna gritted her teeth. So far she and Pit had been doing alright by bailing one another out, but that didn’t exactly count as working together. If they managed to actually coordinate, they might be able to better deal with this multifaceted opponent. But whether looking to prove himself worthy for his spot with the Seekers or just used to handling missions on the front lines solo, unfortunately Pit wasn't on the same page just yet.

Not to mention Mistral didn’t plan to give them time to communicate. She attached her Snow Spikes to her feet and zoomed forward like an ice skater. Gio evaded just in time as her foe plunged her polearm into the floor. Holding on with one hand, Mistral spun around her L’Etranger on a ring of ice, her Snow Spikes arrayed in a ring of ice blades to whirl and slice like a twisted merry-go-round.

Pit leapt away, chancing an actual weapon swap. His bow vanished and the Upperdash Arm formed once more, solidly locked around his right arm. He held the divine construct straight out and fired its projectiles, relying on the heavier rings it shot to shatter Mistral's ice. Once enough of them were broken Pit went into melee range wielding the Arm like a club. It was slower than his swords, trading speed for more power, and he hoped to change the flow of battle with it - especially if he could get a clear shot to use its more devastating moves.

His methodical approach brought an end to Mistral’s icy tornado, but as she recovered from the ring barrage she recalled her Snow Spikes. She locked them together in a flash and hurled them like a chakram, but this time the cyborg was a step behind. Pit ducked underneath them on the way in and unleashed his forward dash attack, leaving Mistral with no other option than to try and block with L’etranger, but the polearm wasn’t well suited for defense–especially against the Upperdash Arm. Its blunt force ripped the flexible spear out of her arms before flooring Mistral herself. At that point Gio dashed in to lend a hand, sending Mistral higher with a Sol Nascente flip kick. She then jumped up after her foe, and the moment Mistral recovered midair she got air-thrown back down toward Pit.

The angel couldn't help but grin as Mistral was caught between them, though it might have been a bit premature to feel triumphant. He followed up with a kick of his own, hopping into an anti-air stretch kick. After connecting her swung his other leg around to land another, and upon landing he was already revving the disc of the Arm for a back-dash that would fling Mistral right back.

His final blow knocked the cyborg down, and she skidded across the floor for a couple yards before rolling to her feet. With a huff, she brushed the large bang covering her left eye up to slick it back along with the rest of her hair, then brought her Snow Spikes behind her. Ice blades formed, and as she skated forward they rotated in a corkscrew in front of her like a huge drill. After dashing up, Giovanna replied with Ex Burning Kick, using its invincibility to somersault into Mistral’s drill and blast it apart with a fiery heel. She recovered from the blow and jumped to avoid the follow-up Trovão, but Gio herself recovered in time to block the ice corkscrew that fell on top of her. Mistral pirouetted atop her ring of spikes, drilling into Gio’s guard and building up RISC, then flipped her hair as the final hit extended the spikes downward to physically trap her opponent in ice. It would only hold for a moment, but it allowed her to focus on Pit, and Mistral wasted no time jumping toward him with a flying kick.

The Upperdash Arm came up to crash against her leg, though without the mighty power behind it that a lead in dash would have granted. Pit had raised his own leg for balance as it rose to the apex of its upward arc, and with a stomp he reversed its momentum to bring it down on top of Mistral like a bludgeon. She found her kick interrupted, and in the disorienting reversal of fortune that followed she hit the ground, then struggled against Pit as he tried to hold her in place. Chiefly that took the form of her Snow Spikes levitating in a ring around him, icicles forming and about to fire.

His eyes darted between the spikes, Giovanna, and their opponent as he tried to decide whether he should commit to pinning her. He decided he probably couldn't withstand being skewered, and the moment he shifted to dodge or block Mistral pushed him off of her by drawing her legs up and performing a spin kick. He was caught with a heel in the side, letting out a pained cough while he raised the Arm up to fire at her. He was met with a look of indignation from Mistral.

"Don't fuck with me, boy!"

The icicles that had been circling all shot forward at once to knock the disc from the air, and yet more formed to chase after him.

The cyborg spun in place once she was back on her feet, ice-producing nanomachines circling quickly around her to fend off any opportunistic attacks while she regrouped. At that point Giovanna had freed herself and sprinted towards her, right through a group of Dwarf Gekkos that began gathering to replenish the limbs on Mistral's back. Her Sepultura met the swirl of cold and broke its formation a beat too late.

The Snow Spikes whirled around, following the flow of Mistral's arms. She lashed out by swiping her hand toward Giovanna, claw-like, and the spikes responded by sailing forward like a twisting serpent. They smashed against her block over and over until Mistral crouched in order to swipe upwards. The ice spikes responded in kind, exploding out of the ground beneath Giovanna and forcing her to back off again. Then she twirled with the spikes in tow once more to start the same combo on Pit, who was predictably jumping back into battle as well.

The first strike caught him completely open. Gone was the Upperdash Arm, the trusty Palutena Bow back in the angel's hands, which left him with less bulk. The spike slashed a stripe across his shoulder and chest, but on the second go around he deflected them with the broad sides of his blade. The icicles slammed against his weapon, some splintering apart and sending shards cutting across his skin before rapidly reforming but ultimately not getting through his parrying. Mistral pulled back, raised one of her long legs with another Snow Spike attached, and lashed out with a vicious kick.

"This ends now!"

"Yeah, for you!"

Pit met her attack with a two handed slash. The bow and ice collided, neither overpowering the other. Mistral didn't back down, unleashing a flurry of spike tipped kicks that continued to crash into the bow as Pit swung and spun it in a flurry of his own. The noise of it reverberated throughout the room until it ended with a sharp crack. The repeated abuse of the icicle eventually led to it shattering, Mistral stumbling, and the bladed part of the bow slicing into her. Pit shoved her away with the bow then, panting to catch his breath as Mistral went sprawling to the ground.

He’d gained the upper hand, and Mistral lay on the floor clutching her stomach, seemingly unable to rise. For a brief moment she just sprawled there, gasping, but even with all the damage she’d taken so far her enhancements meant that Pit hadn’t inflicted a fatal wound. Her Snow Spikes were still in play, and in near-silence they rose up behind the angel to stab him in the back. Then Giovanna grabbed her, hauling her off the ground with a cold expression. “Don’t look,” she told Pit, her voice deadly serious. Startled by her tone and too tired to argue about being treated like a kid, Pit obeyed and squeezed his eyes shut. He winced when there was a spine-chilling snap, and then Mistral slumped to the ground again, dead. Her dissolution came slowly, and though a feeling of finality hung heavy in the air, things weren’t quite over yet.

On the other side of the office, things had really heated up for Chai. He dialed in his parry timing as the fight with Korsica went on, but she showed off new techniques even faster. The Head of Security had combined her batons into a staff and begun to whip up whirlwinds, throwing Airbursts when she wasn’t throwing her staff or using Tailwind, herself. Chai had to weather a storm striking him from every angle, and he by no means got through unscathed, but the dude managed to parry more than he missed. Steadily the reflected damage wore Korsica down, until finally she’d had enough.

She whirled her staff overhead, using the ultimate ability gained from her fusion with the warframe Zephyr. Three huge tornadoes arose in front of her, and when she struck them with her staff they gained Impact damage and swept forward. Giovanna and Pit ran up to stand alongside Chai as the cyclones bore down on him. “Need a hand?” the secret agent asked casually, nonplussed by what she’d just done.

“Eh, couldn’t hurt!” Chai grinned, his spirit emboldened as he brought his guitar up for the mother of all parries.

Chai's expression brought a bit of a smile back to Pit's face. He separated his bow into two and spun both halves to the underlying rhythm of the place. The whirling wind surged towards them, and each of the three claimed the cyclone closest to them. Pit raised his swords in an X-shape to "catch" one of the tornadoes, and then with a cross slash scattered the winds apart. Giovanna defended alongside him with Faultless Defense, sacrificing some meter to negate the chip damage as she took the tornado head-on.

Chai, meanwhile, protected himself with a furious flurry of parries. When the tornadoes dissipated, they revealed Korsica floating in the air thanks to her Tail Wind. She dove down at them, giving it everything she had as the wind screamed around her. Chai bit his tongue, held his ground, and at the last second, parried.

BWOOSH! Korsica got hurled back in a burst of air, her weapons flying from her hands as her consciousness faded. Chai dropped his bludgeon and ran forward, sliding on his knees to catch the security chief in his arms as she fell. She plopped down safe and sound, the last remnants of her strength spent on the most annoyed look she could muster. “Stupid… robot… musical… powers…”

Chai breathed a sigh of relief and stood, turning to face the others with a shaky grin and a whole lot of bruises. “And that’s a wrap.”

"Another win for the good guys," Pit sighed. He rolled his injured shoulder to test just how hurt it was, finding it was manageable; meaning there was no danger of his entire arm falling off. He glanced at Chai, who was looking a little goofy at the moment.

"Are you okay? You look pretty beat up!" he asked with a laugh, despite being littered with wounds himself. He kind of wished that they hadn't lost Benedict along the way since his healing striker would have come in handy, including right about now. Then again the man probably wouldn't have been able to keep up with the fast paced, high stakes battle they'd just been part of. Either way, now that both of their targets were neutralized this part in the overall mission was complete.

Chai shrugged as best he could with two armfuls of Korsica, laying on the bravado. “Eh, I’m fine. All in a day’s work!”

"How's that, Halo?" Pit asked, looking to Giovanna to whom she was connected.

Sandalphon replied after a moment. “Ah, sorry for the delay. I just got back from assisting team Skywatch. I see that you’ve captured Korsica.” She went quiet for a moment as she remotely observed the slain Wind of Destruction, just now disintegrating into the spirits of Mistral and Sasha Ivanoff. “...And defeated Mistral. Well done. Unfortunately, it looks like we have a new problem. Begin extraction immediately. I’ll fill everyone in momentarily.”

Giovanna jabbed her thumb at an elevator on one side of the room that said ‘Security Chief Personal L.I.F.T.’, where Rei was whining. “Let’s get going then.”

"Right back to the action, huh?" Pit said, though he didn't seem bothered by it.

“You’d better go with them, Chai,” Peppermint told him through 808. “That should be the fastest way out, and we don’t have a lot of time. Hopefully Korsica will listen to reason once she wakes up.”

He carried the security chief with him to the L.I.F.T., met there shortly after by Pit and Giovanna after they'd collected the fallen spirits. Once everyone was on Gio pressed the button that would take them out of there.

”Ah, gentlemen.” Karin tsked, walking into the room ahead of Zenkichi and Blazermate, hips swaying. ”The winds of fortune are changing. The meddler before you is Karin Kanzuki.” She bowed confidently. As she saw the size of one of the enemies, she focused on the shape of her ki and changed into a V-ISM combat style.

Roquefort glanced her way, curious, but if her words even reached Khamsin he ignored them. Instead his mech rushed at the giant wolf in a burst of speed, power building in his axe’s thrusters for a rocket-assisted cleave. Roquefort dropped down onto all fours and sprang backward using his arms. Khamsin’s axe missed by a mile, and as he struggled to halt his weapon’s momentum, Roquefort took the chance while crouching to thrash his tail to the left, then to the right, then spin around to send two blue energy tornados whirling toward his foe.

”If you both would be so kind as to cease this frankly ridiculous toy comparison contest and refrain from participating in the failure of statecraft that is warfare, I would be ever so grateful.” She said, and going by the smirk on her face, she was expecting them to continue to rip everything in this building apart.

"Well that’s not what I expected." Zenkichi admitted, frowning as the two giant cyborgs started duking it out. ”So, who are we helping out here? I feel like neither of these guys is exactly…respectable in any way, frankly.”

”I don’t know. Khamsin is a bit of a wild card, but he loves the common person. And I don’t know the other guy, he's nobody to me right now.” Blazermate said, flying into the room last as she had been making sure she

At that, Roquefort’s ears pricked up. “Not respectable!?” he barked, an expression of disbelief on his metallic, lupine face. He managed to contain his surprise long enough to leap over a shockwave Khamsin sent his way and come down on the mech with a double claw slash that doubled him over. As his tornados beat against the mech, locking Khamsin down, he bared his teeth at Zenkichi and Karin. “I’ll have you know I worked my bloody arse off to get this far! From death’s door to the top of the world, best in the business! If that’s not respectable…” When the tornados petered out and Khamsin began to rise, Roquefort hooked his massive claws beneath the mech’s undercarriage and heaved. “I don’t know what is!” With surprising strength he threw Khamsin into the air. Naturally the metal titan didn’t get much air time, but when he hit the ground he slid across the polished floor toward the Seekers, Khamsin yelling the whole time. As soon as possible he began to right his mech, which involved firing all thrusters in an almost breakdance-like spin to pick himself up, and right in the newcomers’ vicinity to boot.

”Yeah, I mean as a human being. Morally. Not as some heartless corporate cog.” Zenkichi rebutted, calling back after leaping out of the way of Khamsin's wildly flailing arms. ”Hey, be more careful where you swing those! You’ll bring this whole damn room down on top of us, you lunatic!” He chastised Khamsin, shaking his head. ”I know keeping your cool was never your strong suit, but gimme a break…”

“Buzz off, pipsqueaks!” the soldier roared.

Karin watched him spin from a safe distance, and as soon was he was done, she rushed in to punish the recovery, treating it like one of Sakura’s reversal uppercuts. She dashed forward and looked to drive her palms into the metal machine. ”Eeyah!” She was trying to gauge its durability. Bong! Karin might be strong, but this armor was designed to withstand tank shells. It would be easier to demolish a building by hand if she went at it this way.

Karin blinked in surprise. ”No, impossible!” She said, denying the thought outright. She began scanning the ugly mech for weakpoints. His big exposed human face was a good place to start.

Blazermate, being as cautious as she was with a big titanic battle like this, stayed out of the way of Khamsin's attack. ”Well… Make some arguments between you two on who is better. We’re just here to stop the fighting for now as there is a bigger issue around.” Blazermate said. Either way, she was showing her bias for Khamsin as she had healed him before and gave him a smile, well, what accounted for a smile on a robot with only eyes as their eyes for their facial expressions.

”I mean, honestly, I don’t care for either of them.” Zenkichi casually admitted, leaning on his sword as the two fought one another, even as Karin tested the DesporHado mech’s durability, frowning. ”Oh, okay. Uh…guess we’re fighting him, then? Or both? Both works for me.” Zenkichi said, hefting his greatsword and taking a fighting stance. ”But I think Roquefort is probably the bigger threat, what with the not being a rampaging psychopath with an insatiable bloodlust thing.” With that, he ran in towards the Vandelay Financier and started swinging.

”Both, of course!” Karin shouted back, affronted by the notion of anything otherwise.

Roquefort’s monocled eyes had been on Khamsin as he picked his mech up from where the giant wolf flung it, but before the mech could mount another attack, the CFO spotted a different kind of wolf charge his way. When Zenkichi struck him, Roquefort dashed away, his metal lips curled. His agility clearly put Khamsin’s to shame, but by the same token it cast a shadow of doubt on his own durability. “You’d bare your fangs at ME?” he growled. “You’ll pay the price!” He dashed about twenty-five feet at a time, twice in a zigzag pattern before leaping up to come down on Zenkichi in a giant slam. He reared back to let out a howl, then planted one forearm to take a gigantic swipe at the man the next second.

”Damn, he’s strong!” Zenkichi grunted as he barely blocked Roquefort’s slam, his bones nonetheless shaking from the force of the impact, and only half-dodged the follow-up, though he was able to recover from the stumble in time to call out for Valjean to attack, knowing he’d need some heavier firepower to deal with this baddie.



”One-Shot Kill!” Came the cry, as Valjean’s spectral chains rose and lashed out violently at Roquefort. ”Blaze, I think I could use a hand. And I’ve got an idea.”

“Grragh! That’ll cost you!” Roquefort snarled as he reflexively clutched his chest. The armor held against Valjean’s spectral gunshort, but it dealt a grip of damage, and Roquefort clearly wasn’t happy about it. He backed up and hunkered down on all fours, his tail thrashing from side to side.

Blazermate meanwhile had been finding a good spot to summon her engineer spirit who got to work making his nest. While the big mechs played, his sentry could do quite a bit of damage. She then moved over to Zenkichi when she called him, with a plan ready to go.

Her lack of attention paid -and perhaps inherent bias- to Khamsin came back to bite her at just that moment. Annoyed by the sentry’s gunfire, the wannabe Wind of Destruction drove his mech across the room toward Roquefort with a tremendous racket, threatening to sandwich Blazermate and Zenkichi between the two titans as he left Karin behind. Rather than plow through, though, he released one hand’s grip on his axe and snatched Blazermate from behind. “I SAID,” he yelled, slamming her down into the floor. “Quit BUZZING AROUND!” He then fired his lateral thrusters in opposing directions, causing him to spin in place with the medabot pinned between hand and ground. Sparks flew, and a terrible grinding noise filled the air.

The move provoked a sneer from Roquefort at Zenkichi. “You’d best not get between us, small fry!’ He then whipped around to send two energy tornados the detective’s way.

Karin grit her teeth as her opponent escaped her, and was completely outraged as he targeted Blazermate. She yanked herself forward with her grappling hook to break out into a sprint. She flung herself feet first like a torpedo into the side of the mech’s knee, avoiding his spinning attack against Blazermate to slip past. Though the impact with a heavy moving metal object hurt her, the blow destabilized the joint enough to force Khamsin to slow his spin lest he lose control. Then she backflipped off and got right back to her feet, this time targeting his knee. She would stay until she got hit if she had too, she had to start causing enough damage to get him to release Blazermate!

Grunting as Roquefort’s tornados forced him to dodge away from Blazermate, Karin, and Khamsin, Zenkichi shook his head. ”You said not to underestimate you before. How about you take your own advice!” Drawing his revolvers, Zenkichi unloaded them into the robotic werewolf, calling for Valjean to unleash a Megido blast before grabbing his greatsword again and rushing in on the attack. He couldn’t ignore Roquefort, so he’d have to trust Karin to get Blazermate out of harm’s way for now.

“Oof, augh!” With such a big target, Zenkichi’s projectiles and spells were difficult to miss. Roquefort dodged out of the Megido blast as soon as possible.

Blazermate meanwhile, was not having a great time. Khamsin in his attack had managed to not only knock away all of Blazermate’s overheal, but was doing some good damage as her paint got scraped away from all the sparks and grinding on the floor. She had activated her projectiles shield, but she could barely really get a good look at Khamsin with it to do much to him, but the edge of the shield was clipping his arm, hoping that this would help her break free, or she could build uber fast enough to use it before her arm part got disabled. Seeing her get hurt, her companions also did what they could to break her free. Apparently Khamsin wasn’t all that bright, considering now he had lost some potential allies for no reason.

Much to Khamsin’s continued aggravation, Karin just wouldn’t let him grind Blazermate into steel wool in peace. The flurry of blows she dealt to his right leg’s joint, despite how much that must be hurting her in return, threatened his stability enough that any more thrust might bring him down instead. As he slid to a stop, he glanced down at the aristocrat from his cockpit with his jaw clenched and veins popping in anger. “I’ll kill you!” With one arm he raised his massive axe and brought it down pommel-first to try and crush her beneath it. In his mech’s other hand he still held Blazermate tight, increasingly tight in fact as he tried to crumple her torso in its giant red claws.

”You’ll try!” Karin shouted, eyeing his other hand out of the corner of her eye. She had to stop her barrage for a moment to avoid the petty little pommel crush.

Toward the other side of the room, the old dog unveiled a new trick. After circling around Zenkichi with a string of dashed he extended a fist, activating the gauntlet around his wrist. A Rip Line launched from it with a hook the size of an axe head, threatening to skewer his target. In the likely event that it missed, however, it went on to lodge into the wall behind Zenkichi, and Roquefort proceeded to pull. A smaller, lighter grappler might have shot toward the hook, but Roquefort instead tore out a chunk of his office wall that flew toward him from behind.

Zenkichi did indeed dodge the Rip Line that Roquefort shot toward him, but he frowned for a moment when the giant robot wolf did not drag himself in for an attack. It was the sound of the wall being torn free that caused the Phantom thief’s eyes to widen as he leapt for his life, diving to the ground with little regard for whatever situation he wound up in after, so long as he avoided the chunk of office that was being yoinked directly at him. He managed to narrowly avoid the giant slab, which promptly sailed toward Roquefort instead. The big bad wolf brought his other hand around to smash it to smithereens, then gathered himself and pounced at Zenkichi for another big slam.

”GYAH, get me out of this thing!”” Blazermate said, not doing so well with her only course of action to keep her healing beam and healing drone on herself as Khamsin’s mech kept her pinned and tried to crush her. This was doing damage to all of her parts in quite a rapid fashion, and that was not good.

With his spin coming to a stop and Blazermate requesting aid, Karin decided to take more direct action. She dashed away and then hopped up, curling into a ball before landing on Khamsin’s hand. She grabbed onto it and began slamming her fist into the wrist joint over and over, punching her knuckles raw to get Blazermate out of the vice grip. ”I have you!”

“You don’t got shit!” Khamsin barked at her. With both ladies on one arm, he lifted it up, adjusted his aim, then slammed it down right on top of what he correctly identified as a medical drone. Karin’s efforts had worn down his arm’s grip strength, but the hefty impact with the floor did the same for her, and when Khamsin tossed Blazermate into the air Karin went with her. He brought his axe back as they went up, then blasted its rockets as they fell, hoping to turn both to paste with one gigantic -but very off balance- swing.

Zenkichi, meanwhile, was doing his best to fight off Roquefort. His opponent had size, some speed, and power on his side, but Zenkichi had quite a lot of staying power for a guy his age. He sidestepped Roquefort’s slam, though it left him in a poor position to counterattack, and called on Valjean to hit Khamsin with a Triple Down as he tried fighting off his own foe. Roquefort howled and reared his arm back for another large swipe, but this time Zenkichi got the memo, barreling forward instead of trying to dodge, and he brought his greatsword down in an overhead swing to capitalize on the opening. The heavy slash to the inside of Roquefort’s arm elicited a grunt of pain, and he instinctively stepped back. Never one to settle for less, he turned his backstep into a retreating revolution and lashed out with a huge tail slap, making the most of his speed and range. Then Roquefort spooled up his arms and a moment later sent them into overdrive, advancing with a flurry of sixteen light claw slashes in the span of two seconds, fast enough to become a blur of blue energy. His attack rush ended with a wind up into another big swipe.

As Karin dropped in what felt like slow motion into the massive swing, several options ran through her mind. It would be easy enough, she thought, to use a grapple hook and pull herself in any other direction other than right into the axe. But that would leave Blazermate exposed, assuming the Medabot was too frazzled from her damage to swing. Blazermate needed protection. Karin fired her grappling hook at Blazermate and wrapped her into a hug, turning them around so Karin would be the first to get hit by the chainsaw axe. Then she pushed the bot out of the way with her feet and braced for impact.

Not wanting to be hit by that next attack and having gotten a lot of charge from the constant, and panicked, healing of herself, Blazermate activated her ubercharge, giving the same benefit to Karin who had managed to free her, even if this was a bit more of a follow up attack from Khamsin. The mighty axe swing, even if a bit haphazard, hit the duo, but did absolutely nothing but knock them to the floor, an impact that also did absolutely nothing. In fact, the recoil from the negated impact sent a shock through Khamsin’s mech, and with a terrific noise it slammed to the ground, its limbs slack. “What!? How!?” the soldier yelled, tugging at the controls to no avail as his systems struggled to reboot themselves.

Karin opened her eyes, glancing down at her own body to find it not only completely unharmed, but glowing with powerful energy. She pushed herself into a sitting position, looking to her Blazermate. ”A-ah, I see!” Karin got to her feet and began sprinting at the slackened mech, thankful her glowing body was hiding her somewhat embarrassed blush. ”Well done, Miss Blazermate!” She called out.

Karin leapt upon the damaged mech, grabbing the top of the cockpit with her hands and using her her momentum and strength to knee Khamsin solidly in the chest with both her legs. ”Hiyah!” The double knee smash drove the air from Khamsin’s lungs. Gasping, he brought his arms -still strapped with the controls for his mech, up in a block to protect his head. At the same time, the mech’s arms feebly attempted to mirror his action, their systems rapidly coming back online.

”Thickheaded brute! Your nature can’t be hidden by anything, not even this unwieldy machine.” Karin berated. She held onto the lip of the cockpit with one hand and fired her fist into the blocking Khamsin with the other. Turning around, she saw her uber fade and the mech began to come off line. So she finished off with a throw, grabbing both of Khamsin’s arms and pushing them to the side, before again kicking him in the chest and pushing herself away with an elegant backflip before landing on the ground.

Zenkichi managed to block the massive tailswipe coming his way with his sword, though it left him rattled and reeling when Roquefort started his whirlwind of slashes. As the first blows landed, Zenkichi managed to grit out to Valjean ”D-Deathbound!!”, which caused a swarm of shadowy hands to emerge from the ground beneath them, aiming to pummel the robot werewolf. Roquefort could either tank the hits and punish Zenkichi, or abandon the attack with the hopes of also dodging the swarm of limbs. Either way, the Phantom Thief, stubborn and strong as he was, was clearly not having a great time on his side of the fight.

”Help him!” Karin shouted to her medabot ally, pointing at Zenkichi. ”I can handle this one myself!” Ideally such a boast would bait Khamsin into focusing on her more. It was also just a good tactical move, because Karin was at full-health and overhealed after the ubercharge was focused on her.

Blazermate was mad, but she agreed. Either way, Khamsin had all of his weakpoints now highlighted as Blazermate registered him as an emmy, much like Roquefort. Although for Khamsin his weak point was the most obvious, his organic body.

Zenkichi clearly needed the help, too–Roquefort had not relented his assault even as the wraithlike hands of darkness gouged his metal frame from below. Once the flurry assault softened him up, the final hit sent him spinning to the ground with flesh stab wounds. Then Roquefort jumped clear of Deathbound’s shadowy miasma, shaken but not compromised. “Money…is power!” What should’ve been a moment of respite left him frustrated as Blazermate’s sentry targeted him, riddling him with bullets. With a growl he raised his arm, took aim at the stationary turret, and then shot it with a Rip-Line. Just the giant hook slamming into the machine was enough to disable it, but Roquefort yanked on the line anyway to rip the sentry apart into a shower of nuts, bolts, and springs. The damage he’d taken up to this point was nothing to shake a stick at, and he wasn’t keen to take any more.

Blazermate made her way to Zenkichi and started to heal him. She had used her shield and uber to get out of Khamsin’s grasp. She also called back her healing drone, as Khamsin’s attack had damaged it quite a bit. She’d need to save it for later. Perhaps while healing Zenkichi she could get some ubersaw hits in, but his opponent was quite fast.

During this time, Khamsin rose from where his mech had slumped down, the axe hefted in his hands as he heaved himself forward with one massive, loud step after another. “You little fuck!” he spat at Karin. He lowered his weapon’s head to the floor so that its teeth scraped against the floor, then slid forward and swung at the woman in a spray of sparks. “Ooooo-RAH!”

Karin concentrated intensely as the mechanical warrior carved through the floor to get to her. She didn’t want to underestimate his maneuverability or intelligence, though he had thus far proven to not have much in either. Karin walked at a brisk pace towards the charge to throw off his timing and then side-stepped the charge when she thought he had committed to it. Though she preemptively jumped over any sudden swings coming her way. With Blazermate exposing his weaknesses, Karin’s plan was to exploit his eagerness to kill her and punish his attacks. If all her evasion was successful, she plucked herself out of the air with her grapple hook and flung herself to the ground between Khamsin’s legs, looking to target that already weakened knee joint. Her fists were as strong as any steel and packed full of ki, and she put them to work with precise, strong strikes. And just like that she was out, dashing with one arm behind her and the other across her as his foot slammed down where she’d been the second before. Karin tried to put herself in an awkward space for Khamsin- just out of arm’s reach for his mech, but closer than the edge of his weapon.

Practically seething, Khamsin forced his mech to dash backward, then burst forward again. As he slid across the ground, he fired opposing thrusters, causing the huge machine to rotate. It whirled like a black steel cyclone, wreathed in crimson as his giant axe dragged along the ground, but with the damage to his leg he could only sustain it for a moment. When it ended, however, he let go of his axe to unleash a gigantic palm strike with the mech’s left hand.

Karin jumped back to avoid the cyclone strike. As she finished her backflip she flinched, closing her eyes a split second before getting slammed by a hunk of metal shaped like a hand. ”Ukh!” She strained, launched back across the room. She landed with a tumble, dispersing the impact and popping back to her feet, sliding back a short distance further. ”Simple.” She said, maintaining her composure. That was a heavy hit, but street fighters let no fatigue show. Let alone a Kanzuki. She began to advance again, showing no signs of weakness. Having tasted blood, Khamsin came to her. He lifted his axe onto his shoulder with a loud clang, then slid forward and reached out for the heiress with an unblockable grab.

Karin knew getting grabbed was unacceptable. She would have to hope he would commit to it. She walked forward and jumped over the grab, looking to land on his head. She attached herself with a grapple hook to make her harder to dislodge.

”Just keep me alive.” Zenkichi told Blazermate as he pulled out a handy device he’d picked up from one of the Machine Spirits he’d crushed in the Valley: an EMP grenade. Activating the weapon and tossing it at Roquefort, he then howled, activating Fury, and rushed forward, his attacks now launching small shockwaves of magic energy with each swing of his blade.

“OWWWWW!” the financier howled, his mechanical body crippled by the EMP blast. He crumpled to the ground, leaving just one Wolf standing and free to whale on him until the last of his body’s current stamina had been depleted. On the final hit, Roquefort reeled backward, his wolflife features collapsing and contracting until nothing remained but the man he’d originally been, leaning on his cane. Though he breathed heavily, his eyes smoldered with anger, and the other cyan elements on his body glowed with the same fervor as he glared at Blazermate and Zenkichi.

”Stay down. You’re beat.” Zenkichi said, once his rather cathartic pummeling session ended, Fury no longer active. He held his greatsword in a ready stance, threatening to pop it over his shoulder and cleave Roquefort down the center, even as the other man was clearly powering something up. ”I’m serious. I can keep going a lot longer. You can’t. Just surrender. You’ve lost!”

Blazermate meanwhile wasn’t as merciful. ”Zenkichi, without a friend heart, hes just going to fight til he dies.”

“I’m only just getting started!” Roquefort scowled and raised his cane, flashing yellow. Zenkichi sighed and popped his shoulder up, swinging with his arms as his greatsword came down directly onto Roquefort’s cane, stopping only once it had carved a solid inch into the cyborg, Zenkichi staring directly into his face. ”You said they-!”

But things hadn’t gone quite as he expected. The Roquefort that Zenkichi struck was a rough approximation formed from murky, purple crystal that welled up in the man’s wake as he stepped backward through the blow. Then the scapegoat crumpled into a pair of floating bombs, spiked like jacks. Completely untouched thanks to EX Amnesia, Roquefort turned to run as the dark magic bombs stuck to Zenkichi like glue to blow up in quick succession a second later. “Know your place!” After reaching a safe distance, Roquefort snapped his fingers, using Departure. The air cracked and became a dark void above him, and as soon as possible he then thrust his cane into the ground, giving rise to a geyser of dark crystal spikes beneath Blazermate.

Blazermate wasn’t really in a mood to deal with all of this after having her heart broken, almost literally, by Khamsin. She’d continued to heal Zenkichi in his fight with Roquefort using her only free hand before he teleported away leaving a duplicate in his wake and bombs on Zenkichi. Due to all the self damage he had been taking, giving him overheal wasn’t the easiest thing to do, and on top of that she had to deal with a spraying geyser of the same dark crystals he had started to use on Zenkichi.

Blazermate did an evasive roll in the air, using her shield to take the brunt of what she didn’t dodge. She was really sick of this fight though, and urged Zenkichi to close in on Roquefort so she could teach that man a lesson, keeping him healed like she had been as she was worried about him dipping from the bombs.

”Did not expect that…” Zenkichi muttered as he recovered from the explosion of the bombs that had replaced Roquefort. He charged back in, greatsword at the fore, and let off a series of mighty swings while calling for Valjean to unleash a Megido blast on the man.

A hefty counterhit put an end to his assault as a crystal spike burst from the void Roquefort set up earlier as a defensive measure. With a grunt of approval, the accountant thrust his hand forward to conjure a clone of dark purple energy, which surged forward at a low angle to deal Zenkichi a parting shot as he landed. By then, though, Valjean’ Megido was falling. If Roquefort set up another Departure he might have been able to escape, but going for an extra bit of damage meant he couldn’t do anything else but try to block, and the Almighty explosion proved to be too much. “Argh!” Smoke wafted off the new burns and rips in his fine suit vest as he skidded to a halt, thoroughly roughed up by all the chip damage. With a growl he snapped his fingers, and another cracked void appeared a dozen feet in front of him.

Meanwhile, Khamsin was trying to get Karin off the top of his mech. While his initial grab missed, he reached for her again after the woman anchored herself to his armored roof, blindly grasping for her. Due to the orientation his the titan’s arms, they could only reach from the front, but after a fruitless moment he changed tactics. Rather than try to grab her he plopped the arm down on one side of the mech’s top, then forcefully swept it across the other side like a giant window wiper.

Karin braced herself to jump when the arm dropped onto the roof, and it slid underneath her, dislodging her grapple hook. ”Hup!” She landed back on the roof and rolled forward, going to once again grab the lip of the cockpit and swing her legs under. This time instead of going for Khamsin himself, she targeted his wrists independently with both her legs. Then she did the splits, looking to pin his arms against the wall. Essentially doing the splits. She learned on her last little visit the mech arms mimicked his physical body’s actions. After that she attempted to fire her grapple hook into the palm of his right hand and then attach it to the interior of the space, while hopefully keeping his left arm pinned with her foot.

The speed with which she arrived and restrained Khamsin’s arms left the soldier with no recourse. He struggled against her strength, the arms of his mech split apart to match his own, but could neither free nor even defend himself. “Shit, shit!” he yelled, spittle flying as he tried in vain to fight back against Karin. “Psycho! Get the hell offa me!”

”Ohohahaha!” Karin laughed at his insult and struggle, not exactly disproving Khamsin’s notion. With one of his arms trapped by her fired wire, she used her hook to latch onto the lip of the ceiling and brought her other fist back, still doing the splits, and began punching him hard in the face repeatedly with her free hand. She would do this a few times before clocking him up in the jaw and chopping his exposed neck.

Khamsin yelled in pain. Still in control of the mech’s lower half, he fired off its boosters and directed it forward. The machine quickly picked up speed and shot toward the hallway leading away from Roquefort’s office. Its arms, spread wide struck the sides of the corridor upon entry. They smashed through the walls to an extend, but eventually the arms failed and snapped off, even as Khamsin kept going. He grit his bloody teeth, crammed his eyes shut, and forged ahead. After a couple seconds, the mech burst from the hallway and zoomed toward the balcony edge overlooking the Atrium with its monolithic statue of Kale. The soldier dug in the pitons on the mech’s feet, and its momentum caused it to pitch forward as it continued to carve furrows through the floor. Some part of his delirious mind meant to fling Karin off into the void, but with how things were going it seemed more likely the whole mech would be going.

For a moment Karin gasped, failing to take the legs into account. She kept punching, but was distracted, peering over her shoulder. When the arms failed and snapped off, there was no reason for her to keep pinning his arms against the sides of the interior with her legs, so she drew them in to give herself more balance and control. Thankfully she was still attached via her grappling hook. Karin pushed off and up, and let air resistance take her over the top of the roof so she was still on top of it, her free hand and legs trailing behind her. With a jolt she was nearly flung back over the roof of the mech as it dug into the ground, but she grabbed onto the underside of the roof with her free hand.

Was the whole thing about to go over the balcony? It pitched forward, Karin feeling her core get pulled off the mech. Karin steeled herself and kicked herself up, her feet going high in the air as she did a handstand stand on the edge of the mechs roof. Then she swung her legs down and under, slamming them into the mech and leaning back as far as she could, pulling back on the grappling hook with both hands in order to secure its free fall over the edge. Though with her underneath it she would need to act fast afterwards, should her plan work.

”Hiiiyah!” Karin felt gravity shift in her stomach as she strained backwards, her hair ringlets hanging beneath her. Then wind resistance took them and her as the mech plummeted head first over the balcony. Detaching the grappling hook, she kicked off and away, and fired her hook blindly up into the wall behind and above. She bounced against the wall with a thud and peered down to observe the fate of Khamsin’s mech.

With her assistance, the already dangerously fast machine lost control completely, and with nothing but a flimsy glass railing to bar the way, Khamsin went over. In an instant his anger and desperation evaporated, replaced by pure, raw terror. As he fell, his screams echoed through the Atrium. “Oh God, oh God, oh GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD…!”

Karin let out a breath. ”Goodness…” Swallowing dryly, she was reminded of her time helping in killing Sephiroth while still under Galeem’s control.”My victory was assured, but your death could have been avoided. Still, this wasn’t my first time smiting an evildoer, and it shan’t be the last.” She said, and began to climb her way back up using her grapple hook.

Back in the office, Zenkichi had rolled with the latest hit, digging his heels in as he slid to a stop and desperately dove away from the follow-up Roquefort clone, drawing one of his revolvers and quickly sliding a single bullet into its chamber to blow the clone to smithereens before standing and reloading in earnest. His attack didn’t have any effect on the glorified projectile, but at least it seemed extremely one-dimensional in its movement. ”Alright, stay away from the crystal stuff. I can manage that.” Zenkichi muttered as he snapped the cylinders of his revolvers shut and took aim once again, firing a test shot at the void between them. His shot did nothing to the void, but after another second of inactivity the tear in reality spat out a crystal spike on its own, its two or three feet of length nowhere near enough to reach him. Almost instantly the spike broke and the void vanished, and after throwing a low clone at Zenkichi Roquefort went to snap his fingers to place another void near him for safety.

Now that he realized what the voids did and what Roquefort was going for, Zenkichi tanked a hit from the clone, before taking aim at the Finance Executive and unloading with one revolver as he tried to circle around the void that he’d placed to protect himself.

His round connected with enough force to knock Roquefort over backward, and as he took damage the void he’d placed in the air mended itself. With a growl the financier pulled himself up on one knee. There was still plenty of fight in him. “You know, you’re only making me angrier!” His position might look like one of vulnerability, but it also allowed him to tense his legs like a trackstarter, and the next moment he sprang forward. As he ran toward Zenkichi he changed forms again, quickly growing as he reconfigured back into wolf mode. With deceptive speed and reach Roquefort snatched his opponent and ran with him to the vault door on the far wall to smack and pin him against it. “Let’s take this somewhere more secure,” he rumbled, his metal lips and teeth inches away from Zenkichi’s ear. “So we don’t disturb the neighbors…”

With a mighty shoulder barge he bashed through the unexpectedly fragile vault door, and huge chunks of it went flying across a second room almost as big as Roquefort’s office, lined with columns of safety deposit boxes separated by floor-to-ceiling equalizer lights and sporting a glass wall on the far side. The wolf tossed Zenkichi onto the floor, and phase two began.

Blazermate followed Zenkichi, keeping him healed as Roquefort’s charge pushed him through the vault door. Since she had been healing the guy this whole time, she had another projectile shield, and as round two started, Blazermate activated said shield and tried to keep Roquefort in contact with it.

The twin-tailed annoyance quickly found herself turned upon. Roquefort let out an ear-splitting howl using Valkyr’s Warcry. The enormous buff boosted his armor strength by 45% and melee speed by 30% while also slowing down everyone within twenty-two meters by 25%, all for the next twelve seconds. While the slows from the projectile shield and Warcry balanced each other out, that still left the melee speed boost, so when Roquefort attacked Blazermate with the slash flurry he used earlier, he could get out a whopping eleven strikes per second for total of twenty-two rather than sixteen by the time he went for the final slam.

Zenkichi, a little bruised from the dragging charge, turned to Blazermate as Roquefort started unleashing a furious combo on her and gave her a quick defense boost with Rakukaja, before drawing his greatsword and rushing in to take advantage of not being targeted for once. He genuinely had expected Roquefort to be on his last legs, but he still had plenty of fight left in him thanks to Blazermate’s healing. He might as well return the favor.

Blazermate used a combination of her energy shield and her own shield to try to block the flurry of attacks heading for her. Due to the chaotic frenzy of the attacks, Blazermate couldn’t easily predict what distance to project the energy shield to block some of his attacks, so while a couple clashed against the projectile shield, most plowed through at which point she had to try to block them as best as she could. Either way, while she was taking damage, so was this guy as the energy shield zapped him, albeit lessened by his armor boost.

As Blazermate took the last hit of Roquefort’s attack rush and flew away, Zenkichi closed in and landed a good string of attacks. The giant wolf dashed away after he finished, quickly moving to the other side of the room by the glass wall. There, he let out another resounding howl, a yellow flash appearing behind him with big bold text that said BIG BAD WOLF, then began to breathe in. After sucking in vast quantities of air, he leaned forward onto all fours with his claws dug into the floor. A moment later, a cyclone funnel as tall as a bus blasted toward Zenkichi.

As Roquefort started sucking in air, Zenkichi’s eyes went wide as he recognized what was about to happen. Not specifically, but he knew a heavy attack when he saw it coming. ”Valjean, quick! One-Shot Kill!” He cried as he hefted his greatsword, using it to block what he expected would be a furious dash attack, instead finding himself flung backwards by the cyclone and slammed hard into the wall behind him.

As the whirlwind took hold of Zenkichi, his Persona’s magical bullet hit Roquefort in the forearm. He expelled the last of the air he’d taken in as a distorted yelp and rose, shaking his clawed hand like he’d just burned it on the stove. Of course, he got out of the exchange much better than his opponent, and the CFO gave a grim smile. “Just had to stick your noses in, didn’t you? But you ended up getting a lot more than you bargained for.” He turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Blazermate. “It’s not too late to run away. Or are you ready to bet your bottom dollar?”

Grunting and forcing himself to stand, Zenkichi took a deep breath before drawing his one loaded revolver and firing every round in the cylinder at Roquefort before calling for Valjean again to hit Roquefort with Megido and drawing his greatsword. ”I’m not going anywhere, man. You don’t hit as hard as Japanese cops do.” He taunted, semi-serious. The beating he got in custody wasn’t all that bad compared to what happened to Joker, but getting your head slammed into a metal interrogation room table hurt like hell. He could handle this, even though he ached like hell right now.

When Zenkichi opened fire, Roquefort put up his guard to mitigate the damage, but he kept a monocled eye out. When Valjean manifested, the financier knew that one of just a couple abilities must be in store, and he wanted neither to hit him. As Megido descended he mostly dodged it, only getting his tail clipped by the explosion, though that still damaged its tornado generator enough to disable that move. Roquefort bared his teeth and dashed in, closing the distance in a heartbeat to face off against Zenkichi’s greatsword with energy claw slashes, always with half an eye on Blazermate. Several times now the Medabot had acted with utter impunity, as if she never expected to be hit. If she tried to interfere again, he would prove her very wrong.

Well right now Blazermate was on the defensive more than the offensive, after having been hit so many times this combat. She had to spend a fair amount of time healing herself due to all the focus on her, but at least for now she wasn’t going to attack Roquefort right now. Either way, with all the healing, she’d have another kritz here soon.

Zenkichi did his damndest to match Roquefort blow for blow, but he certainly wasn’t fast enough to do any kind of fancy parrying or blocking like Geralt had when they fought. Where he shone, however, was his ability to soak damage. Only Ryuji, or some of Joker’s more defensively-oriented Personas, could rival him in that regard.

And Ryuji didn’t have Rakukaja back up. Giving himself the defense boost this time to buy time for Blazermate to heal herself while his life leech kept him going, Zenkichi roared in defiance with each swing of his greatsword, even as he and Valjean started to flag. They could do this. They could do this!

“Hmph!” After the storm of blows subsided, Roquefort dashed backward again. He’d left Zenkichi seriously hurting as Blazermate attended to herself, but the detective had given as good as he’d gotten. Fresh damage to Roquefort’s arms, head, and torso could be seen all over. “Not bad. But your mouth is writing checks your arse can’t cash!” He howled, unleashing what remained of his shields. The wave rippled across the room just far enough to reach Zenkichi and afflict him with paralysis. Then Roquefort reeled back to use Big Bad Wolf again, inhaling deeply. If he couldn’t evade or contest the unblockable wind funnel, the man would be blown away.

Unfortunately for Roquefort, Blazermate was one of a few who could clear status conditions and upon seeing Zenkichi get afflicted with paralysis, was on point to quickly give him a surge of healing energy, clearing the status condition almost as fast as he had gotten it. This also gave him a little bit of healing, but probably not enough to really make too much of a difference, depending on how long Roquefort was charging his attack.

”We’ll see who's ass can’t cash checks!” Zenkichi replied, before frowning. That was horrible. He barely registered the paralysis, so quick was Blazermate’s healing. He ran in and capitalized on Roquefort’s charging time with a howl, stabbing his greatsword directly at his torso, then brought it around for a series of powerful slashes, getting ready to try and dodge to the side if he didn’t manage to keep Roquefort from charging this attack up. No repeats of last time here.

Zenkichi’s rushdown brought him beneath Roquefort’s head just before the gale winds ripped forth behind him, so they did little more than dramatically billowing his longcoat as the detective went on the offensive. His attack rush against the wolf mech’s armored torso dealt enough damage to trigger the armor case’s emergency shutdown mode, and as Roquefort staggered backward, he shrank back down into his short, squat self. “Augh! Lay off!” With no time to run or prepare, he could only hold tight to his cane as he went to defend himself.

Blazermate, seeing an opening, decided to see if she could get some more uber from this fellow as she pulled out her ubersaw and tried to hit him a couple times. She had healed herself up a bit, but both her and Zenkichi needed more of it. Still, if this guy was weak now, more uber would be helpful in case he pulled out another whacky power.

Zenkichi planned to take full advantage of Roquefort’s reduced size and speed and whale on him just as hard as he had been before, each blow given reinvigorating him just a little bit. What part of him might have felt bad for beating on this old man had been wiped out by the vicious beating he himself had received. Unfortunately for him, things went south almost instantly. Roquefort had bit his tongue while Blazermate poked at him with her doohickey, but the minute Zenkichi tried to punish him he whipped out Old Reliable. EX Amnesia completely nullified the detective’s first strike and stuck him with two floating crystal bombs. “They never learn,” Roquefort declared, psycho power welling up into an orb in his free hand. By crushing it in his palm he unleashed his pent-up super meter on Lovushka, creating four voids around his enemies, two at knee level and two above their heads. “Do enjoy this.” Then he just sat back and blocked to stop a possible hit from canceling out his projectiles, and watched the show. One after another, clones shot from each void in turn, the order being low in front, high behind, low behind, and low in front, with the Amnesia bombs going off in sequence somewhere in the middle.

As the crystal bombs appeared, Zenkichi cursed and redirected the swing of his greatsword, though the heavy weapon carried too much momentum for him to get out of the way in time. ”Ah, damn!” He grunted as he was hit in quick succession by the clones before the bombs went off in his face, though he managed to get out of the way of the last clone with a lucky dodge as he stumbled from the third clone’s hit. Breathing heavily, Zenkichi let the tip of his greatsword hit the ground, looking back up at Roquefort.”Man, I’m…used to having a lot more healing than this. No..no offense, just. Hoo boy.” Zenkichi complained. Joker typically kept at least one Persona that could give a heal, and almost all of the other Thieves had something they could top him up with. Blazermate was just one medabot, though.

”Perhaps you’ve come to rely too much on abundant healing then, Mister Zenkichi.” Karin said coolly, landing at his side from a grapple hook swing into the room. She took her fighting stance at Zenkichi’s side, trying to size up her new opponent. While she, of course, rated Zenkichi’s skills as lower than herself, with Blazermate’s help, the only way Roquefort should still be fighting on even terms was if he was exceptionally talented. No doubt boosted by the wicked rules of the world they inhabited (otherwise Karin would be at the top of the pyramid of power where she belonged).

With victory seemingly in his grasp, Roquefort took one look at the newly-arrived heiress and decided she needed to be dealt with straight away. He snapped his finger to set up a Departure in front of him for defense, then raised his cane and shot out a Psycho Power clone at her, its hand outstretched.

”Yeah, well if I could use Medigolaon or Agneyastra we wouldn’t be talking here…” Zenkichi muttered, frustrated at the block keeping him from accessing Valjean’s most powerful abilities, but he shook his head and did his best to keep in a good stance, sidestepping the attack that was not aimed at him.

”Well sorry, I'm not a Neutranurse. But you don’t want one of those anyway. All they can do is heal, and they crumple under any sort of pressure.” Blazermate said, moving back and getting ready to deploy her next super buff, giving everyone some healing as Roquefort was in more of a defensive stance now, with his damage output plummeting. Once he was open though, some Kritz would show him what for.

Karin opted out of the quips, her eyes widening in confusion as the violet shadow streaked towards her. ”Psycho power?!” She exclaimed, baffled. She crossed her arms in front of her to block the projectile. Roquefort’s Embrace promptly snatched her in an unexpected command grab, and as the financier raised his hand into the air, so too did the clone lift Karin. “Away!” He closed his fist and the clone exploded, knocking Karin down. His Departure went off a moment later, though way too far away to actually extend the Embrace into a combo, and Roquefort began to set up another, this time directly over Blazermate.

Karin compressed her lips, angrily dusting herself off as she rose into a standing position. ”Simple.” She said, intent on never falling for an attack as simple as that again. Karin dashed in, going low as she saw the object appear over Blazermate, assuming it was some kind of attack. She went to crack his leg with a balanced crouching kick. Roquefort responded by blocking low, though when it came to melee combat in his human form he wasn’t as fit as he could be. Karin’s kick dealt a little more chip damage and left him in a little more blockstun than normal.

Karin noted this, and dashed in to do a repetitive series of palm strikes, expecting Roquefort to block most of them. It wasn’t a true offense, Roquefort could interrupt at any time, but Karin looked to suppress this instinct by following up with a wickedly fist downwards backhand that would shove Roquefort out of danger if blocked but would crush him if he attempted to interrupt.

”Let me know when one of you wants a kritz to finish this guy off. I don’t think that defense will handle that very well at all.” Blazermate said, ready for this fight to be over and done with.

”More than happen to put this guy on his ass.” Zenkichi grumbled, moving in to assist with the pummeling with an overhead slash before shoulder-checking Roquefort and launching a slow, heavy follow-up slash from his hip to his shoulder. He finished the short combo with a call to Valjean, ”Triple Down!”

When Roquefort saw Zenkichi’s big swing, he seized his opportunity. Once again he used Amnesia, planning to catch the man mid-swing, but the detective held it for way longer than he expected, and Amnesia failed. “...Oh dear.”

The Triple Down blasted him backward, smashing him through the glass wall. He sailed out over a gigantic hoard of gold coins covering the vault’s entire floor, dozens of feet deep. While common sense would dictate that he’d splatter against the top of the coins like a bug against a windshield, Roquefort disappeared into the pile as if it had the consistency of sand, only a splash of coins heralding his impact.

”Uh….now that’s some cartoon logic right there.” Zenkichi simply stated, blinking.

“Hmph!” After a moment, some of the coins began to shift. Roquefort’s head poked up from the hoard as he calmly climbed out, adjusting his tie as the money jingled noisily. “I put my stock in futures.” With a frown he delicately pulled off his monocle and slipped it inside his vest. “...But not yours.”

With that he quickly transformed again, regaining his giant wolf mode. “The funny thing is, you all think you can win, heheheh,” he chuckled, his deep voice filling the vault chamber. He sounded tired, but pissed. “But my Rage Drive fuels me. As long as you keep making me mad, I’m not going anywhere.”

”You’ve gotta be kidding me…” Zenkichi muttered, shaking his head. ”So, what, do we just…not hit him? Let him just kind of tucker himself out? Or what, just keep hitting him until he’s too tired to keep going? This is getting ridiculous…” Nonetheless, he jumped once more into the fray, rolling his shoulder and hefting his greatsword after he landed. ”I’m good to keep going.”

”Well, I doubt he can survive a Kritz. I gave one to Bowser once, and he killed an immortal lich girl with an army of undead that took over an entire sector .Robo wolf can’t be nearly that strong.” Blazermate said, pointing out that he can’t last forever. ”If he was that strong he would’ve taken over the city, beaten the ever crisis, and expanded anyway.”

”Everybody’s got a limit,” Zenkichi agreed. ”Alright, lay it on me.” And with that, Blazermate gave him the crackling blue energy of a krtiz boost, with her own arms glowing with the same energy, as Zenkichi’s weapons also glowed with the same energy.

Thrumming with kritz energy, Zenkichi charged forward, intent on ending this fight. He roared as he clashed with Roquefort, putting as much as he could behind each attack he let off. Blazermate holding the Kritzkrieg’s beam on him would keep him standing, hopefully, while he overpowered this False Wolf in front of him. He swung, and swung, and swung furiously at Roquefort, an overhead swing followed by a horizontal slash, which was then followed by an overhead swing. He finished the combo by kicking off the ground with one foot, spinning in the air, and hefting his sword with him in a near-360 degree overhead swing from where the last landed, using both his body weight and the momentum of his swing to maximize the damage he dealt.

More than able to hear what Blazermate said about the ‘kritz’ and see what Zenkichi looked like in possession of them, Roquefort pulled out all the stops. He reared back, but rather than howl, he screamed. The blue light in his body turned from blue to a searing yellow, extending his claws into vicious talons. With Valkyr’s Hysteria online, he charged across the dunes of coins to fight Zenkichi to wolf-to-wolf. He fought with savage, reckless abandon, not even trying to defend himself as he scored hit after grievous hit. And the reason why quickly became abundantly clear:

Roquefort wasn’t taking any damage.

He laughed as he fought, shrugging off every hit with minimal effort. “Are you beginning to understand?” After a few seconds more Zenkichi’s kritz ran out, and Roquefort leaped into the air, somersaulting rapidly. “Money. Is. Power!” When he came down, he did so with a titanic slam that sent a wave of coins through the entire hoard. The detective dodged the deadly blow, but a moment later, Roquefort ran out of Energy. Hysteria deactivated, and as it did thirty percent of the damage Roquefort took while using it radiated outward within five meters as Impact damage, practically pulverizing all the gold in his immediate vicinity.

Zenkichi groaned as Roquefort’s explosion vaporized a huge amount of gold. ”Gotta be kidding me..” He muttered as Valjean manifested behind him. He was tired, sore even with all the healing he’d been getting, and frustrated. This guy seemed to just keep going. Whatever that Rage Drive crap he was talking about was, Zenkichi couldn’t be sure. Some sort of software in that robot body of his? Did it absorb his adrenaline and use it to power his werewolf form?

This was out of his wheelhouse. ”Blazermate, got any ideas to keep him from transforming back if we can pound him back down?” He asked as he moved back in to fight.

Karin watched all that from a safe distance as soon as Zenkichi took over. She jumped back to the side of her allies. ”The Rage seems to be over, now, yes?” She pondered. ”He baited out the use of our most powerful move by using his. But he was losing the battle before, and he is still losing now.” Karin said.

“You wish!” Roquefort told her halfheartedly.

”Are you alright?” She asked Zenkichi, standing in front of him and eyeing Roquefort down. She was preparing for an all out assault from the frenzied wolf, and was ready to try and counter any moves he threw her way with a dodge and a punish.

She eyed Roquefort, though, and hoped to extend the lull in the battle to give her friend some time to heal. And maybe something good would come out of it. ”Even if you win this battle, your company is in shambles and will soon be under new leadership. You’re smart enough to understand there are more types of power than money, yes?” She said, eyeing the preposterous amount of gold coins all around them. The financier grunted resentfully.

”And my goodness, sir, have you ever heard of a bank?” She asked.

Roquefort huffed. “Those DespoRHado fools aren’t trying to take us over. They’re trying to take us out. They’ve done some damage, sure, but they won’t win. And we’ll bounce back, like always. As long as we have the capitol, anything’s possible.” Though still ‘in the fight’ he was using the lull to recover his stamina and shields too, but as his heartrate slowed his anger was slowly subsiding. “Speaking of, perhaps I could pay you to piss off. Killing you in here would make a fine mess, and laundering money is illegal, you know.”

”Ah, too true, on all counts.” Karin said with a little laugh. ”Still, I know a bad investment when I see it, and a private security company being invaded isn’t a good look for investors, though it hardly reflects much better on DespoRHado. Speaking of which, you know we’re not with them. We’re here to change things. For the better.” She turned over her shoulder at her two allies with a raise of her eyebrows, like she was a little surprised she had actually gotten into a conversation with him at all.

“You attacked me first!” Roquefort protested.

”Well, we also defeated your other attacker, so maybe we’ll just call it even?” Karin offered cheekily. ”There is one more type of power, the one most potent: knowledge.”

Blazermate let out a mechanical sigh. ”I suppose loot is loot at the end of the day. We’ve got important things to do and I suppose we were here to break up the fighting here at the end of the day. ” She said, annoyed with the fight but healing her own wounds back up as everyone else was also taking some time to rest. Pulling out a friend heart, she said. ”We can talk civilly.” and with her flight speed, got in range to smack him with it as he was also recovering.

“Augh!”

Zenkichi let out a long breath, stowing his greatsword and lifting his hands above his head to breathe a little easier. ”Yeah, I’ll live.” He confirmed to Karin before taking a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds, and letting it out before shaking a little weariness out of his bones. ”Finally, change of heart done with!” He cheered half-heartedly, looking around. ”Man, what I wouldn’t give to have this much cash stashed under my mattress.” He joked, locking his fingers behind his head as he looked around.

“Urgh…” Roquefort put a hand to his head as he shifted back into human form, leaning on his cane knee-deep in gold coins. “Let’s just…call it even, then. You’re right about that DespoRHado goon, after all.” He gave a mirthless chuckle at Zenkichi’s joke. “Heh…heh heh…if only this were all mine. Still, email me your routing number, and I can approve an expense from Accounts Payable.” He pulled out a business card and with an expert hand tossed it to Karin like a frisbee. “Somethin’ tells me our pool of liquid assets is about to get a lot shallower…ugh, damn it.” He winced, glancing at the Seekers. “Off with you then.”

Karin caught the card between her fingers. ”A reasonable conclusion. I’d give you mine but…I didn’t bring my butler with me.” Karin said. She made a mental note to back and retrieve her assistant. She’d gone too long without one.

”... Does, does anyone have a banking account here? I think only Susie does, right?” Blazermate said, looking a bit dumbfounded and frankly, confused since this didn’t involve anything a medabot ever dealt with.

”I literally live here…” Zenkichi reminded her, scratching the back of his head. ”You guys beat me up and did that to me, like…two days ago.”

”Oh… right. I forgot. I’ve been like, in so many different weird places it’s hard to keep track of every little detail.” Blazermate said, lightly bonking herself on her head. If she had a tongue, she would be sticking it out.

Shaking his head, Zenkichi chuckled a little. ”Nah, I get it. It’s…a lot. And yeah, I’ll probably take you up on that, sir. And uh…I guess it’s time to go?” He shrugged.

”We must reunite with the others as soon as possible. I doubt everyone will be as open to diplomacy. Khamsin certainly wasn’t. I doubt he still lives.” Karin said, moving to leave the vault.