By the time the Seekers rallied themselves the two swordsmen had traded a good dozen blows total. Sam outmatched Kale in terms of raw skill and speed, and the handful of punishing slashes he landed in melee range forced his opponent to back off and utilize his far greater range of tools. A barrage from Kale’s options kept Sam at bay long enough for him to carve three more hot streaks into the floor and send them out as fire waves. Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh! Sam performed a somersault jump over all three in quick succession, but when he came down with an overhead slash his blade slammed into a newly-formed Snow Globe. The cyborg clicked his tongue as he jumped back, and Kale lifted his beam saber. It gleamed, and when he swung it, the blade extended to cover the entire arena. He performed three such immense horizontal slashes, but after the first one Sam managed to parry the second two, then sheathe his blade and launch forward. When he fired off another iai slash, it carved through Kale’s Snow Globe, destroying it in a single hit. Since he hadn’t broken Kale’s poise, however, the man returned the favor with Slash Dash, blitzing through Sam with a high-speed slice. In terms of overall damage that put the two almost neck-and-neck, with Kale slightly worse for wear.

The last thing Roxas expected was for Kale to make his blade so huge. He managed to hurdle over the first swing, but the ones after were too swift for Roxas to jump over. So instead he slid underneath them. And then he just… hesitated a moment. Sam had thoroughly kicked his tail earlier. And the fact that the cyborg wasn’t even trying all that hard made it sting that much more. But what else could Roxas do? He had no magic at the moment and so whatever Roxas did it was going to have to be in the form of a melee strike.

He decided on a simplified version of a previous strategy. Roxas threw Oathkeeper so that it would fly in a circular arc around Sam’s right side from behind. Then he took off running to try circling around Sam from the opposite side. Last time Roxas did this he recalled the flying blades before Sam could deflect them. This time he kept Oblivion in hand and lunged at Sam. Roxas tried a two-handed thrusting attack from Sam’s left flank. By pointing the blade straight forward he could try to aim around Sam’s blade to avoid making contact with it.

Sakura leapt over the incoming swings like hurdles at the track, a look of worry and concern on her face as Roxas plunged head deep back into the battle. To be honest, she wouldn’t have minded letting these guys soften each other up a bit- after all, the Seekers had just come off a couple battles, too.

She decided to help Roxas engage Sam. As Roxas circled around Sakura dropped into a crouch, running straight for Sam and going to shoot out her leg towards his knee to lock him in place for Roxas’ mix-up to hit. ”Hi!” She said, almost embarrassed.

The two Seekers joined the fight just after Kale landed his Slash Dash, when Jetstream Sam was distracted. His expression tightened as he spotted Oathkeeper in flight. When he turned to face Roxas, he also beheld Sakura making a beeline toward him. Keyblade, keyblade master, and street fighter all converged on Sam more or less at the same time, and even a talented swordmaster couldn’t be everywhere at once, and even if he could block all three, it would leave him at disadvantage. Better to take out whoever he could. With this in mind, his eyes gleamed red and he threw out a heavy slash at Sakura when she sprinted in to kick him. The two traded blows, but it would take more than one hit to interrupt Sam mid-swing. Undeterred, his crimson arc sliced across Sakura’s unguarded head, leaving a cut across her eyebrow, nose, cheek, and shoulder as it flung her back, bleeding. Then Roxas struck him, first with Oblivion and then with Oathkeeper, and the third hit staggered him enough to make him react to the blow and susceptible to an ad hoc combo.

Sakura rolled to a stop and rested on her knees, bringing a shaking, shocked hand to her bloodied face. Her fingers came away red and she felt the red liquid run down the affected areas and down her arm. It was a hard hit, but unfortunately even with all her durability a shallow, superficial cut could still draw blood. ”O-oh, crap.” She said as running blood forced her to squint her right eye. She wiped her face and blinked. Her body was at its limits if her foes were drawing blood on such strikes.

Sakura ran back into the fray to support Roxas, blasting towards Sam with fireballs if only to help her companion. ”Hadoken!”

Though the sight of both interlopers targeting Sam surprised Kale, he wasn’t about to waste the opportunity. He raised his beam saber up, enveloped it in lightning, and plunged it into the floor. Once again a field of electricity surrounded him, and after a moment three pillars of energy dropped directly on top of Sam, as well as anyone unfortunate enough to be near him at that moment. That included Roxas, who heard the crackling of electricity early on, ”Stay back!” he shouted to Sakura, hoping to stop her from getting hit by the attack. After the attack concluded, Kale stood up straight again, smiling.

“You’re making this easy for me,” he taunted the others.

Well thanks to Kale’s attack, Roxas was now more preoccupied with the amount of damage he’d just taken than he was with fighting Sam. He reached a gloved hand into the pocket of his black coat and retrieved something. It was a green bottle, one of the four Potions that the Nobody still had on his person, and he used it on himself by gulping it down. It wasn’t a large heal by any means, but it was better than nothing, ’Sakura, here!” he tossed a green bottle at the Street Fighter. This one wasn’t just a Potion, but it was a Hi-Potion, Roxas’s last one in fact.

”I’ll take anything I can get as long as it isn’t a disease or something.” Sakura joked weakly, catching the mysterious potion out of the air.

He glanced over at Sam, suddenly feeling foolish for having focused so hard on fighting him. And while his first instinct was to shift his focus onto Kale, Roxas realized that that would only leave him and Sakura open to an attack from Sam. He ran to the Street Fighter’s side so he could stand at her back, ”You were right… man I’m such an idiot. We can’t keep bouncing between the two of them. My magic’s just about recharged, if we can hold out a few moments longer then we can use it to hit ‘em with a big attack together.” he said to her in a hushed tone so only she would hear him.

For her part, Sakura wasn’t sure about their chances. But with Roxas looking to team up, Sakura couldn’t turn him down. ”All right, Roxas-kun…we’ll do it together. What is this thing, by the way?” She asked. Assuming Roxas wanted her to drink it, she did, downing the potion.

“Mind if I cut in?” Sam stuck his head between the two of them as they muttered to one another, grinning. Catching them off-guard, he executed a speedy spin slash, his high-frequency blade a crimson ring around him. His rotation continued into a low sweep, hooking both Seekers’ legs out from under them. They fell just in time for a super-extended slash from Kale to breeze overhead all three of them, courtesy of their collective low profile. Then Sam left them behind, charging toward the CEO in an all-out sprint. Kale slashed two more times, but the Wind of Destruction parried both as he ran in, then sheathed his blade. Knowing what was coming, Kale went on defense, whirling his blade in a circle as he did against Sakura. A moment later Sam’s gunshot draw slammed into him with such power that it shattered the beam saber’s hilt and damaged his hand. He slid backward a few feet, kicking up dust, then jumped farther away.

With a big smile, Sam spread apart his hands. “Show me a good time, Vandelay.”

Kale smirked. “Hm.” Suddenly, the giant antennae surrounding the rooftop arena perked up, angling inward. Four panels on his back opened up, and from them extended four robotic arms. “You should see what this body is capable of.” The grabbers on the ends of the limbs spun up and rapidly reconfigured into four devices: two shield arms, a bright blue projector, and a spiked cannon. “Puts your DespoRHado tech to shame.”

“We’ll see about that!” Sam said, readying his blade.

“Oh yes.” Kale put his hands together and drew them apart with a flash, manifesting Excalibur’s Exalted Blade. “We will.”

Sakura pouted on the ground, looking over at Roxas. ”Is it ready yet?”

”I think so,” answered Roxas, tightening his grip on the Keyblades, ”We’re only gonna get one shot, so let’s make it count.”

Sakura nodded, and shot to her feet. ”Let’s go! Kale? Kale!” She shouted, looking to even the score. She began to run forward, gunning towards the arrogant businessman and ready to link up with whatever magic Roxas had in mind.

”Get around him!” She shouted. When the Limit Break began, she jumped forward and began to spin like a top, her leg extended as she balanced on her other foot. Her efforts locked Kale down on defense, forcing him to turn to face her as he blocked with both shield-arms.

”Light!” Roxas suddenly cried out. Suddenly he and Sakura were both enveloped by a warm, golden light. What began as a normal spinning kick soon transformed into something much more. The Street Fighter and the Keybearer suddenly spun around one another in the midst of Sam and Kale, though Sam quickly fled to leave his opposite number to the newcomers. They became like a tornado of kicks and blades, twin dueling tops that circled around each other like some kind of glowing ballet dance. Together they overwhelmed Kale’s defense, leaving him just about helpless.

”Here goes! Roxas shouted as he unexpectedly launched himself up and above Kale - with Sakura doing the same in sync. He pointed both Keyblades down and channeled magic through them, ”Fire!” and they shot forth a pair of enlarged Firaga spells. Nearby, Sakura had cupped her hands and thrust them downward, ”Hadoken!” her fireball rocketed downward and spiraled together with Roxas’s Firagas. They slammed into the ground and created a big, powerful blast of fire that enveloped the area they had jumped up from.

”W-wow!” Sakura landed on one foot and waved her hands to recover her balance. ”We were really in sync there! We’ll name it later!” Sakura took a fighting stance and surveyed the field to see if she needed to defend herself or push the offensive.

The Limit Break worked wonders. As the cyclone of flame and ki energy cleared, Kale stood with his flamethrower and laser lens arms damaged and inoperative. With a grunt of frustration he ejected them, leaving just the shield arms. Sam, walking up behind the Seekers, chuckled at the sight of him. “What a stunning performance! Maybe I can lend my talents…” He dashed between Roxas and Sakura, speeding toward the CEO. “...To the encore!” Kale blocked with his shield arms, raising them directly in front of him, but at the last moment Sam vaulted over and executed a downward crescent slash. He severed the arms supporting the shields, and as they fell to the ground he landed behind Kale and gave him a kick.

In those precious few moments while Sam was busy delivering his attack, Roxas was able to lean over and whisper one more thing to Sakura, ”Let’s try to wear them down and then use Friend Hearts on them. I’ll bet that’ll get them to stop.

Sakura nodded wordlessly and advanced.

“Oh, ow, augh!” Kale grunted as he rolled over. He ended up on his stomach but pulled himself up to one knee, then upright. Though he looked haggard, he also looked angry. “Ugh. I’m really having to work overtime on this one.” Seizing his torn and burnt coat, he cast it aside along with the remains of his shield arms, then held up his blade. Around the rooftop, the antennae adjusted themselves one more time, their tips glowing with a vivid, fiery orange energy. Arcs fired from each of them toward the center, forming an orb, and after another second it struck down on Kale in a massive bolt of orange lightning. “GRAAAAAAGH!”



Roxas circled around while Kale was busy transforming himself. While he was sure Sam would notice him, Roxas would just have to hope they could maintain a silent truce or something. Clearly Kale was the bigger threat right now.

Supercharged, Kale’s cyborg body gleamed with brilliant flame-orange rather than laser-blue. His Exalted Blade reformed with the same power-up, and his options showed up again, primed and ready to fire.. “Your little adventure…ends here.”

The hooded Nobody lunged, going for a back attack against Kale using his Keyblades. The only drawback to using that Limit Break earlier was that Roxas was once again without any MP. He just had to hope he could make it work long enough for his MP to recharge. It was his only option.

Sakura’s jaw dropped at the sight of their opponent's transformation. He got even stronger?! While Roxas snuck up behind, Sakura tried to keep Kale distracted. Fireballs were unwieldy and could be dodged, so her only choice was to walk forward and hope she didn’t have a repeat performance of Sam’s cut across her face. She eyed Sam uneasily, trying to keep him in her view, but ultimately she couldn’t split her attention evenly between both of the powerful fighters, though she didn’t realize it. Sakura swallowed dryly and began working her way towards Kale to try and threaten him with the idea that she might, at any moment, rush forward and begin to attack.

Having Sam on one side and the interlopers on the other worked to Kale’s disadvantage, at least at first. Roxas went for a metaphorical sucker punch, and Sam happily took the chance to attack from the opposite side. Kale buckled down and faced off against both at once. As he thrust, hacked, and parried, he used his footwork to try and make one of them block the other. He also evened the odds in other ways; his options targeted Roxas -flash, flash…fla-flash!- and exactly one second after every attack he made, an orange bolt descended to create a beach ball sized blast of electricity against the ground. Still, he took a handful of swings from both, and even if he landed a few in return, Kale quickly changed tactics. “Thunder!” After holding his blade up, he plunged it into the ground, creating a big field of orange electricity around him that shocked anyone who approached. After a brief moment, enormous lightning bolts fell, four each for each opponent that tracked their positions with a one-second delay.

Next, Kale dashed to one corner of the arena. His Exalted Blade couldn’t extend like his beam saber, but when he slashed the ground it created heatwaves all the same. “Fire!” They shot out one after another, each with the sound of a strident guitar riff. Finally, Kale called upon his Striker Frost. “And…ice!” The warframe stomped his foot, creating a much larger wave of ice spikes in a large cone.

Sakura hadn’t committed to anything. She blocked in anticipation, and for her trouble lightning kept her suppressed. She raised her arms above her head and the bolts forced her to one knee. She rolled out of the way of the next and crossed her arms and brought up her legs for the next two. At least she knew the timing now. Sakura looked up in surprise as the ice spikes came her way. Already her arms were getting tingly, numb, and sore, blocking these attacks took its toll. Sakura bent her knees and opted to jump clean over the entire wave, though the resulting leap left her with quite a bit of air time, her arms and legs pinwheeling. Sakura pushed herself to the ground with her Telekinesis to reduce this vulnerability.

”Ostrich! Do sonic boom- I mean sonic cutters!” She called out. Her new Striker appeared and began to send the projectiles Kale’s way. Hopefully they would give him something to worry about as she ran in to take Roxas’s place as the point person in the melee. She ran forward and leapt towards Kale, looking to bring her fists down on his head with an EX-Otoishi. But she cut it short and used Telekinesis to force herself to the ground stop short, going for a sweep to knock his legs out from under him with her foot.

Good thing she did that too. Roxas hadn’t fared super well against Kale’s barrage of attacks. He was able to dodge roll out of the way of most of them… at first. But Roxas was too close to Kale to simply dodge out of the way of the big thunder blast. And that kept him stunned for the follow up lightning strikes to hit him on top of that. Roxas managed to luck his way out of getting hit by the fire waves, but not so much the Ice spikes.

When the barrage was finally over, all Roxas could do was put some distance between himself and Kale and hopefully try to lick his wounds a bit while Sakura took point. He quickly downed a Potion, leaving him with just two remaining after that. He was still hurting but the Potion at least kept him on his feet. If he could just last a little longer, he’d get his MP back and could maybe give himself and Sakura a much needed Curaga.

As he took a quick break from his elemental battering, Sandalphon rang Roxas up. “I am currently assisting Team Mustang, but it looks like you’re still in quite the bind. I can heal you, so if you need help, just ask.”

For the time being he had to play it safe. While Sakura and - hopefully - Sam were on point in melee, Roxas hung back and decided to attack by throwing both of his Keyblades. Maybe they would hit while he was distracted by Sakura and Sam… or maybe they’d distract Kale and give them an opening to land hits. Either way it was better than just standing there and doing nothing.

He watched as his projectiles approached the scuffle. Sam had reached Kale to challenge him in close quarters before Sakura, but the Cold inflicted by Frost had slowed him down. This time when the two clashed Kale’s Exalted Blade sent Sam’s Murasama spiraling out of his hands. It landed point-first in the roof behind him. Kale might have followed up on that, but the Keyblades clipped him and Sakura arrived right after. When she closed in to take Sam’s place, he shook his head and walked over to retrieve it. The street fighter’s gambit worked, but as her sweep knocked Kale to the ground, he summoned his Lavos Striker to assist him. With all the energy suffusing Kale Lavos could afford to use his ultimate, Catalyze. As he thrust out his hands, nine crescent-shaped Catalyst Probes erupted from him and launched outward, spreading a fiery gel mist in wide lines. With the damage dealt to each target doubled by each element afflicting them, it packed a serious punch, and it also imbued Kale himself with Heat.

Sakura found it very unfair that he could call in someone else to wake up super for him! She vocalized as such. ”No fair!” She took a gamble and jumped into the air, over whatever attack Lavos would try to blast her back with. From his hand motions, she guessed it was either a big blast or a big wall, and she had already seen Kale’s big wall in the form of Snow Globe. After narrowly avoiding quadruple damage, Sakura would try to land practically on top of Kale as he rose, doing a kick in the air that would actually hit him in the back of the head with the knee of her other leg and land her behind him for some follow up punches and kicks before attempting to toss him to the floor. Her initial attack hit him and caused him to stumble a half-step away from the rooftop’s edge. When she landed, she did so at the edge of the rooftop, and when Kale turned he did so with a disjointed slash of the Exalted Blade that sent her into a crush counter spiral toward the precipice. Sakura gasped and stopped her spin with a planting of her foot, preventing herself from going over. Yet if the alternative was getting hit again and getting launched, she made the choice to roll off the edge and use Telekinesis to keep herself from plummeting off the elevator entirely. It wasn’t a lethal drop to the roof but it would hurt and probably take her out of the fight. Sakura took a moment to get some air back in her lungs, hanging onto the underside of the elevator.

Since Kale wasn’t directing any attacks at him, Roxas took that opportunity to use another Potion on himself. He had just one left now, but at least he was in decent shape again. Now it was time to get back into the fray, especially since Sam decided to disengage and leave Sakura fighting alone and got blasted by Catalyze in the process. When he got back into melee range, Roxas’s MP finished recharging. Lucky timing, Roxas just had to hope he didn’t waste it. If Kale was thrown to the floor, Roxas would try to capitalize on that by shooting a Blizzaga at him. Maybe he could pin him down with some ice of his own. In fact he shot three Blizzagas just for good measure.

”You’re! Getting! On! My nerves!” he shouted in between shots.

Walking forward, Kale rotated his exalted blade at high speed to block -and melt- the ice shots as they came in. “And who the hell are you?” He broke into a ninja run, sprinting past Sam toward Roxas with a low profile. After a moment he went into a slide, then suddenly launched forward into a bullet jump. He closed the distance in a second and came down with a two-handed drop slash. “You’re NOBODY!”

The attack was fast but it was telegraphed all the same. Roxas dispelled Oathkeeper out of his left hand and then held up Oblivion to catch the incoming drop slash. With both hands pushing up from opposite ends of the Keyblade, he could block the attack with the greatest efficiency. But he also leaned the weapon at a slight angle so that when it caught the slash he could easily redirect the momentum to his side. Then he instantly retaliated with Dual Counter, resulting in a wide circular slash that struck Kale’s chest.

”You know something? You’re right!” Roxas rebutted once his counterstrike had ended, ”I am a Nobody - in more ways than you realize. But what does that make you?” That’s when Roxas appeared to transform into a streak of light that circled around Kale and then shot at him like a flying bullet. This led into a powerful Cross Slash.

”The guy who’s getting his butt kicked by a ‘Nobody’! That’s who!”

”Yeah! Tell ‘em!” Sakura shouted distantly.

The Cross Slash smashed against the icy surface of a freshly formed Snow Globe. Kale smirked at him. “A heroic little quip.” His hand shot forward like a lunging snake and locked its metallic grip around the nobody’s neck. Kale then pulled Roxas toward him, but while he could pass through the Snow Globe, Roxas could not–resulting in him being crushed face-first against a freezing Cold solid surface. “But this is reality, kid,” Kale told him coldly, raising his Heat-infused blade. “And it looks like you’re out of your…element!”

He slashed the Exalted Blade through the Snow Globe, striking Roxas. When warframe-induced Heat met warframe-induced cold, they combined to form Blast. The resulting explosion sent Roxas flying and inflicted the status ailment Inaccuracy, reducing the accuracy of his ranged attacks by 30% for an incredibly impactful six seconds. Still, the injury the Blast inflicted was not insubstantial.

By that time, Sam had risen. He charged toward the Snow Globe to repeat his earlier feat while Kale’s focus lay elsewhere, and once again shattered the barrier in a single gunshot draw. Once again Kale punished him with a couple slashes, but it was a necessary sacrifice on Sam’s part for the sake of any continued progress at all. With that extra burst of damage, the swordsman really wasn’t doing well. His mostly human body was taking its toll.

Having climbed back onto the elevator. Sakura ran towards Kale full-pelt. She had to interfere before Kale could focus on following up on his attacks. To this end she looked to take him by surprise with a long ranged leap from behind, trying to hammer his head with both her fists. ”Hup!” He swung at her somewhat blindly, and for the second time that morning the two traded blows, though this time his rage-fueled fists left her in no condition to come out on top as she hit the deck a few dozen feet away. ”Oof!”

Roxas lay on the elevator floor for a couple of seconds, ”Ugh… Halo…?” he groaned, before forcing himself back onto his feet. He was getting tired and breathed heavily, ”I think we need that heal right about now.”

“Understood. Moving to assist.” In a flash, Sandalphon appeared, her longcoat billowing in the lofty rooftop’s wind as all seven-foot-four of her stood above Roxas. She lifted up her staff and conjured a right of electronic blue light around her, quickly growing more elaborate as its futuristic lines spread outward. Azure screens orbited rapidly around her. “You have about one second to get within twenty feet,” she called to Sakura, her voice raised slightly.

”One second?!” Sakura had already gotten back to her feet, clutching her ribs in anticipation of Sandalphon’s arrival. But the alarm pushed her to hurry, and as fast ash er legs could carry her she sprinted towards her pair of allies and leapt head first to get in range as fast as possible.

“...Angelic Wings.” When Sandalphon’s divine light bloomed, the Seekers within range were healed for 120% of their maximum health, including Sandalphon, who until that moment appeared to have an abundance of bloody bullet wounds. With the Archangel in Coordination protocol, her allies’ status ailments were cured and their maximum health increased by 20% as well. “A clean bill of health,” she reported matter-of-factly, repositioning her weapon to use the ‘gun’ part of her gunstaff. “

Sakura was surprised she sprinted all the way within one second (she didn’t) but the grin on her face widened as she took in a big breath. Swinging her arms, she took in a deep breath. She felt better than ever! ”Thank you so much, Sandalphon-san!” She exclaimed with a bow. Then she turned to their main opponent.

”What was that you said earlier about assists and picking friends?” Sakura asked Kale, channeling some sass.

Roxas then noticed that even Sam didn’t look to be in good shape, either. But maybe that wasn’t a bad thing…

Roxas quietly conjured a pink Friend Heart in one of his hands. Would it work if he did it now? Sam was currently engaged with Kale so he wasn’t likely to be able to avoid what he might perceive as an attack. The real question was whether Roxas could sneak the Friend Heart without being noticed by Kale. Well… only one way to find out. Roxas pushed his leg muscles and started to run in Sam’s direction.

”Think fast!” Roxas suddenly yelled, attempting to thrust the Friend Heart at Sam from behind. Please, please be hurt enough for this to work. The pink heart slammed into the cyborg’s back before he could react to what Roxas said. He was momentarily enveloped by a flash of pink light that dissipated into pink, heart-shaped bubbles. But in the aftermath stood Samuel Rodriguez - the saturation returned to his colors and his eyes no longer glowing red. He was freed, no longer gleaming. And fully healed, to boot.

”That’s what we came here to do.” he said to the cyborg, ”I’ll answer your questions after we finish things here.”

“No questions from me, kid,” Sam told Roxas, able to recognize a saving grace when he felt one. He lifted up his crimson katana and crouched into a ready stance facing Kale. “Only answers.”

Kale’s shoulders slumped down. The sight of all his hard work erased left him despondent. “...This is seriously cheating,” he groaned.

Sakura clenched her fists, glancing over at Sam, who definitely seemed to be on their side, at least for this fight, now that Roxas had friend-hearted him. ”Alright. Here we go!” Sakura sprinted forward to close the gap on Kale, and then stopped just outside of his sword range to bait out a swing. Then she swung her foot out to slam painfully into his sword arm. She transitioned into a forward roll and rose up with a knee to his chest that would knock him backwards.

Roxas didn’t waste any time. With renewed vigor thanks to Sandalphon, he sprinted into the fray. He was able to use flow motion to vault clear over Sakura’s form so that he could come down on Kale with a drop slash from above, ”You’re the one who repeatedly changes form and supercharges yourself, and you think we’re the cheaters?” After he landed the hit, Sandalphon took her shot, her expertly-aimed ether slug placed right on Kale’s forehead. The heavy blow kept him staggered so Roxas could keep up the pressure.

Roxas attacked again. This time attacked once each with his Keyblades then followed that by performing a x-slash with both at the same time. Then he jumped a few feet back and threw both Keyblades forward. This would leave Sakura some room to get some licks in if she wanted to.

Instead Sam took center stage. He cut in with a series of heavy crimson slashes, deftly weaving past Kale’s fatigued attempts to parry him and avoiding the bolts of orange lightning. When Kale got what looked like an opening, he called upon both Frost and Lavos at once. Sam sheathed his blade and punished the CEO with his gunshot draw, both severing Kale’s left arm at the bicep and blinding his left eye in a blink. With a cry of pain Kale stumbled backward, his Exalted Blade disappearing as he clamped his hand to his face. Sam just snickered and stepped back, his katana on his shoulder.

If Roxas was going to do what he came here to do, then it looked like it was now or never. Roxas made a lunge for the CEO and with both hands thrust the tip of Oathkeeper in his chest, ”Your turn, Kale!” Roxas pushed the weapon forward, causing it to emit a searing white light from Kale’s chest. The man screamed, sounding like there was something else screaming from within. But Roxas didn’t let up. He felt like he was getting the hang of this the more times he did it.

”Nghaa! GET! OUT!” Roxas screamed before he forcefully twisted the keyblade to the side as if forcing open a lock. This triggered a blinding flash and explosion of light that knocked Roxas back a couple feet. It almost winded him but the Keybearer was back up in no time. Yep, he was definitely getting better at staying on his feet after using this power… whatever it was. He still had no idea how the Keyblade was able to do this, and at this point he was beginning to think he should make a point to try and learn.

Kale, meanwhile, knelt with his hand still over his bloody face. He looked terrible, but his good eye now appeared to be a dull mint green.“What…did you do to me?” he gasped. Sam just looked on quizzically, wondering why Kale wasn’t dead. Instinctively, Sakura stepped to the side to put herself somewhat between Sam and Kale to let Roxas talk.

Roxas dispelled both his weapons. This had gone on long enough, it was time for the truth. ”I opened your eyes.” Roxas replied, ”Yours too.” he added with a sidelong glance at Sam. ”You’ve been living in a fake world. We all have. And the thing responsible for messing everything up has its influence everywhere and in everyone. You’re gonna start noticing colors looking off on some people, and a red glow in their eyes. That’s the telltale sign of its influence.” Roxas paused, knowing they probably didn’t have time for full explanations until later. Before he continued he directed their attention toward Sandalphon, whom they would both see was still under the influence. ”But as you both just saw, there’s a way to break the influence that all this has on people. That’s ultimately what my friends and I are doing. Breaking its hold on people until we can figure out a way to stop it for good and put everything back where it belongs.”

At this point he knew he’d have to say something to Sandalphon, ”As confusing as this probably is to you, I’m guessing you’re only concerned with the fact that we managed to stop the violence. Right?”

Sandalphon’s face betrayed nothing. “What you told him intrigues me. Is this…influence unique to Kale?” Her pupils turned into question marks. “And if it is not. Could I ask that you do the same for me?”

”The influence is in everyone.” he confirmed, ”I can purge it from you, sure. But the influence will take hold and make you try to resist me, even violently. I’ve seen it happen before.”

Without a word, Sandalphon planted her gunstaff in the ground. She took a couple long strides toward Roxas and knelt down. “Quickly. Before one of them decides to kill someone.” Kale looked on, trying to sort through his thoughts, while Sam debated on whether or not to prove her right.

”Alright, brace yourself.” Roxas said, summoning Oathkeeper and moving to thrust into Sandalphon’s chest just like he did earlier with Sam. He pushed it forward and as before it caused searing light to begin erupting from the point that it made contact. Resistance came in the form of Sandalphon trying to pry the Keyblade out, her pupils turning into crosshairs. The red glow of her eyes intensified as she did this. But despite how much taller she was, Roxas was physically stronger and able to maintain his hold. With all his focus and with both of them letting out a loud cry, Roxas twisted the Keyblade to its side. This of course produced the usual blinding flash of light. And unlike last time, this one didn’t even knock Roxas back. The more he used this purging technique the more he mastered it.

“Hmm…” Sandalphon furrowed her brow, her hand on her chest as the searing pain faded away. Though her lungs felt constricted as she tried to fill them with air, when she finally managed it she found herself breathing more freely than ever before. She inhaled deeply, and turned her gaze toward the sky, her pupils taking the form of plus signs. “Goddess Illyia…have mercy upon me. I have been a fool.”

Sakura looked between Sanalphon and Roxas, a hesitant smile on her face. ”I think you did it..!”

Roxas felt his knees buckle a bit but he caught himself and kept his balance. Doing the keyblade purge twice in a row was a bit more taxing than it first seemed. But nevertheless he shifted his gaze between all three of the people he had just freed, ”Can you see it now?” he asked all of them, ”This fight between Vandelay and DespoRHado, and even this entire election between Armstrong and Shinra. It’s all just a stitched together mismatch of people and places that were never meant to interact in the first place. And the thing at the bottom of it all has a name… Galeem.”

Sakura rushed to Roxas’s side and set her hand on his shoulder, though it seemed like he didn’t need the help by the time she got there, she felt the need to do so anyway.

As Roxas spoke, Sandalphon’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. Not at him, but at the urgent chatter coming through her sigil. “Excuse me. It looks like we have a situation.” She stood and seized her gunstaff, then looked back at the others. “Kale will continue to act out of self-interest with no regard for human life. He deserves to die.” Without further ceremony she disappeared, teleporting back to the DespoRHado situation.

After a moment, Sam removed the sword from his shoulder. “Be that as it may…Sandalphon speaks the truth. If we allow Kale to activate Project Armstrong, everyone outfitted with Vandelay tech will be subjugated to total mind control. And besides.” He grinned, leveling his blade at Kale. “He’s really just asking for it, isn’t he?”

”Project ‘Armstrong’?” Roxas asked with an incredulous tone, ”That name makes it sound like the Senator’s plan, not Kale’s.” he shook his head, getting increasingly exasperated. Despite Kale’s pain, the man couldn’t help but smile. ”But how’s this then? Kale gets this one chance to call off Project Armstrong right now. If he refuses… well… we can’t just let it go can we?”

Sakura was still reeling from the revelation. ”What- what the heck! What is wrong with you!” She pointed at Kale.

”You better cut it out. Seriously.” She said to him. [color=f49ac2]”Tell us where the doomsday machine is so we can destroy it!”[color]

”There’s always a doomsday machine.” She said off-handedly to Roxas.

“Urk…” Kale looked at his arm, then hung his head. “This is just too much work. It’s downstairs, right at the bottom of the elevator.”

”Perfect!”

Sam clicked his tongue. “Not good enough, Kale. If DespoRHado wants you dead, you’re dead.”

”Oh, come on.” Roxas muttered with increasing frustration, ”How can you two still be at it like th—”

“DespoRHado as you know it is about to stop existing,” Kale retorted. “During the fight I got some pretty neat emails. Your buddies Mistral, Monsoon, Khamsin, and Sundowner are all dead.” An explosion in Circuit Royale, where the DespoRHado dropship served as mission control, caught his attention. From the heights of the Signal Tower the Seekers could see conflict down there between Sandalphon’s androids and a huge force, newly arrived. “And it looks like that angel’s next on the bucket list.”

“Dead?” Sam tilted his head. The news stilled his blade. “...Really?“ If the Winds of Destruction were no more, DespoRHado was dead in the water. They had lost, their principles defeated, and allegiance to them rendered worthless.

Sakura ran to the edge of the elevator. ”Isn’t that where— Sandalphon-san is in trouble!” Sakura exclaimed, worried. They were so far up! ”U-um, Halo! Halo, are you there?” She said aloud. But there was no response.

”Ah! That does it!” Roxas lunged for Kale and pressed the tip of Oblivion at his throat, ”I’ve had it with you! Both of you!” he shot a quick and angry glare back at Sam before returning his attention, ”You see where all this got you? Was it worth it? Well was it? Because it doesn’t look very worth it to me!” he tried playing this the nice guy way like Sora would. But if these two pigheaded cyborgs weren’t gonna play ball, then fine!

”Roxas! What are you- we have to-” Sakura glanced back and forth between Sandalphon’s distant problem, the standoff on the elevator, and down over the side to where Project Armstrong was supposed to be. Have to…what?

Rubick followed Sectonia down into the ruins, curious to explore this new location they found themselves in. "Hmm... it is quite curious," Rubick responded to Sectonia's musings. "Still, if they're anything like the beasts I fought before, they are most likely only decorative." He would've liked to take one of their Spirits, but considering the sheer number of these creatures before them, Rubick decided not to antagonize them. Fortunately, the Ferriclaws and Auriclaws seemed to be intimidated by Sectonia, which allowed her and Rubick to pass with ease. As he entered the webbed area, he felt strangely at ease, as if he were at home. Perhaps it was Silitha inside him making him feel that way. Sectonia also took care of any mobs that dared to attack, and Rubick happily Power Stole a copy of the Rings of Light for his own use. Together with Sectonia, they eliminated the Poes as they tried to approach.

They eventually came across a certain character and Rubick was about to blast away, but he noticed Sectonia's hesitation to do so. Curious, he held back just this once, and Sectonia revealed that she in fact knew this "Taranza," though it seemed he did not know her. "Curious..." Rubick said out loud, looking back and forth between them. The scraping of a spear on the ground brought his attention back to his surroundings, and he turned to see more Poe approaching. "Well, whatever you do, let us proceed so we no longer have to deal with these numerous fellows," Rubick said to Sectonia.

In a blink the ominous boundlessness of a stormy sky, its dark clouds rendered iridescently oily by the Extinction Belt, was traded for the cool, dark confines of the DespoRHado troop transport. Sandalphon laid her hand on the back of her chair, trying to steady herself. Her halo cast her cluttered workstation in a soft golden glow, very restive. Right now she wanted nothing more than to sink down into it and sit a while in peaceful, contemplative solitude. After all, she’d just concluded her coordination of five separate missions, each involving both allies and enemies with unknown abilities in wildly different sections of the Vandelay Campus, and all happening simultaneously. Though she planned to intervene personally if need be from the very start, she’d ended up hopping between all five teams to provide assistance, sometimes bringing fresh wounds from one fight right into the next without so much as a moment to breathe in between. Even by her standards, it had been quite the ordeal. And at the conclusion of the final counter, what reward did she receive? Nothing less than the complete and utter annihilation of her current worldview. So very much to deal with, and so very little time.

Rather than sit down, Sandalphon propped her gunstaff up and bent over her desk, rummaging through her coffee cups. Her pupils flashed low-battery signs as she checked each one, able to tell their contents by weight. Empty, empty, empty, and empty but for meager, earthy dregs that would achieve nothing. These cups were sized for the average human, after all. Sandalphon pulled the coffee pot from the machine and held it up to the light. Bingo. It might be the least appetizing shade of brown known to man, but to the angel it was good as gold, and still warm. “Thank Illia.” Her pupils turned into hearts and she lifted the spout to her lips to drink. Two point seventy-three seconds later an explosion shook the room, and though Sandalphon furrowed her brow, she kept on drinking until a huge explosion rocked the entire dropship. The shockwave nearly knocked her off her feet, and as she choked in surprise she accidentally blew coffee out her nose. She gasped, her pupils blinking fire symbols, and she quickly dabbed at her face with the napkin she’d eaten her breakfast burrito over earlier that morning. Her gaze landed on the coffee pot, shattered on the floor, and sighed through her nose. It seemed like she couldn’t delay any longer. She picked up her gunstaff and ran through the dropship until she reached the cargo ramp, from which she could peer out at the crisis unfolding in Circuit Royal.

For the time the authorities remained at the perimeter they set up to assess the situation, but now, with reinforcements arrived and the signal given, they had begun their assault. Both Peace Preservation and General Affairs had turned out in droves, with several squads of Shinra troopers backing up a veritable army of G-men, which was a frankly terrifying sight. At the head of the columns of G-men strode their commanding officers: the curly-haired tigress Swire, the one-horned shieldbearer Hoshiguma, the devilish guardswoman Matoimaru, and the grim, wolf-eared visage of Penance with her golden thorns. Of course, the Turks Sandalphon saw were just the tip of the iceberg; it was the Turks she didn’t see that worried her. And even without them, the situation was worrisome enough. The Administration’s forces were attacking DespoRHado wholesale. One wave at a time, the G-men revealed their true forms and charged forward to fight against the androids and cyborgs holed up around the dropship.

“So you’re making your move, Shinra,” Sandalphon muttered. Reasonably speaking the authorities should be impartial when it came to corporate warfare, but Vandelay was Shinra’s favorite. She watched for a moment as shadows like Loa, Cyak, Troll, and Lillim faced off against her androids in a furious struggle. Quickly she pinpointed the source of the giant explosion as the many-headed great serpent, Ananta, hammered the dropship with another massive blast of Nuclear power. 9S, who had arrived from Production to provide air support with his Flight Unit, ripped into Ananta with his chainguns, prompting Penance to send one of her G-men after him. It erupted into the demonic manta raw Forneous, his wingspan as wide as a jet’s, and flew up to challenge 9S in the air, forcing him to stay mobile. It was a brave effort on the part of the DespoRHado remnants, but with so many G-men, this was impossible. The Winds of Destruction had been destroyed, and its forces depleted by Vandelay’s defenses during the assault. It seemed that the PMC was destined to die here.

That didn’t mean that Sandalphon intended to die here, however. Thanks to Roxas, she could see clearly now. All her hard work, her carefully laid machinations, mattered as much as dust in the wind. She knew the face of her true enemy, as well as the only faction that would lead to this world’s salvation.

“Sandalphon!” The archangel looked down to see Laxi and Mascula, both lightly damaged by elemental attacks. Laxi’s face betrayed no emotions, but Mascula looked distraught as he stepped toward her. “There’s too many of them. What are your orders?”

At this point, it was too late to order a full retreat. DespoRHado was in the heart of enemy territory, surrounded and under siege. They could neither escape on foot nor in the troop transport, which would never get off the ground. Sandalphon made her decision. “It’s time for DespoRHado to collapse. And for us to disappear. You two, with me.”

“Understood.” Laxi and Mascula took off down the ship’s ramp with Sandalphon right behind them, matching their speed with her long strides. Escorting their leader, the two androids carved a path through the chaos of battle toward Production, following the path Team Mustang had taken. Mascula fought with his katana and the power of water, while Laxi wielded katana and knife alight with flame. She shot out phantoms of herself in quick succession to slash from a distance before teleporting above her targets to assassinate them from above as a meteorite of piercing flame. Sandalphon supported them with rifle shots and healing, and together the three cut through to the edge of the battle. Just as they drew near Production, however, two men in black suits appeared to block their path.

“Going somewhere?” Reno grinned, his electro-mag rods at the ready.

His partner Rude said nothing, but raised his fists.

“We’ll hold them off,” Mascula told Sandalphon, brandishing his weapon bravely. “Don’t worry about us. You can escape.”

Sandalphon was quiet for a brief moment. “I order you both to survive this.”

“I aim to please,” Mascula said, a melancholy smile on his face.

Before anyone could attack her, the archangel warped to 2B, appearing suddenly atop the android’s Flight Unit in midair. She stood there with her staff planted, her coat billowing in the wind as she surveyed the scene, before she put in a call to all the Seekers at once. “The Administration is here in force. Far too many to fight. Their goal seems to be the extermination of DespoRHado, but I doubt they’d turn up the chance to squash you as well. We need to rendezvous as soon as possible. What’s your status?”

Goldlewis answered her first. “All accounted for over here in Production. After the fight ended Rekka turned tail, and we ended up followin’ her back down to ground level along some kinda emergency escape route. Sounds like we’re ahead of the curve.”

Giovanna responded last. “We’re a-okay in security. Managed to capture Korsica, and while she woke up after Pit went to open the door for Benedict so he could follow us, we ended up reaching an understanding thanks to our new buddy Chai.” She paused for a moment. “She wants to talk actually.”

“Oi, what’s this magic rubbish? Can anyone hear me?” An unfamiliar woman’s voice with a pronounced Scottish accent could be heard over the comm line. “Uh, one of you said somethin’ about an escape route, didn’tcha? All the department heads got a personal L.I.F.T. that heads straight there. It leads down from the City of Glass right through Deep-Paris. Got it set up just in case we ever needed to disappear, boost pads and everythin’. Since Vandelay’s literally burnin’ down and the Administration’s here to clean shop, that’s your best bet for a clean getaway.”

Sandalphon nodded. “Then that’s what we’ll do. Ms. Korsica, I can give everyone an exact route there if you can provide me with campus schematics.”

“What, like an upload? This magic symbol thing doesn’t exactly have a port.”

“If you have computer access, just display them on screen where Giovanna can see,” Sandalphon instructed her. “I have a photographic memory.” Luckily, the interior of Korsica’s miniature L.I.F.T. came with a computer terminal, and once she obliged the archangel’s request, Sandalphon proved the truth of her words. Each of her Seeker contacts received a heads-up display marking their destination and indicating the way to get there via dotted line. “Hurry, everyone. There’s no time to lose.” She gave 2B her coordinates, and the Flight Unit swooped down to head in the right direction.

---

About twenty minutes later, the teams arrived in a circular open-air courtyard. On one side lay the big reinforced gate that led down into Deep-Paris, and on the other five railways came to an end after emerging from the five tunnels, one for each division. As the mini-L.I.F.T.s came to a stop at each terminus, the Seekers on board piled out. Goldlewis, Roland, and Partitio arrived from Production, having bid farewell to Rekka when their paths diverged. Geralt and Midna arrived from Research and Development without Tora; instead, they brought with them a little girl with white hair and a red coat. She introduced herself and her giant, dangerous-looking robotic companion as Clara and Mr. Svarog, then somewhat bashfully explained that she wanted to get away from Vandelay campus. Pit, Giovanna, and Benedict arrived from Security with not two but three new acquaintances, those being Chai, the black cat-bot 808, and Korsica. Geralt, Karin, and Blazermate arrived from Finance, and lastly came Sakura and Roxas from the Signal Tower, looking very out-of-breath. Of course, Sandalphon, 2B, and 9S arrived before any of them thanks to the Flight Units, which deposited them before soaring away to find Laxi and Mascula, and Susie showed up too. That left everyone accounted for except Tora, whose absence his teammates could explain, and Raz, whose absence his teammates could not.

That is, until a noise only Sakura would really recognize signaled the arrival of a familiar face. It was Luka, the young-looking, hammer-wielding Psych-OSF captain. More specifically, he was the captain of the platoon to which Sakura and Raz had been assigned yesterday morning. He brought the Psychonaut with him in fact, and the first thing he did was bow in apology. “Forgive me for not arriving sooner,” he told them. “I came as soon as I spotted you two on the news. I figured you must be in trouble, and a platoon leader never leaves his soldiers behind.” He put on a wry smile. “Even if his soldiers leave him.”

After a second he held up his hands to placate them. “I, uh, don’t mean to guilt you though. Or to keep you here if you’re in a hurry, so I’ll be brief.” Korsica nodded stiffly, then went over to open the gates for everyone. “Fact is, I was hoping to tell you both something. And maybe get your help. Some weird stuff has been happening around the Otherlobe since yesterday. When they got back, Dexio and Sinah couldn’t stop talking about what they’d seen, trying to recruit people to go back down into the tunnels and find Peach. When I saw them again this morning, they were acting completely different. Pretending that Peach had been killed, and not remembering anything else. So…I linked up with Gemma, Yuito, and Hanabi, and we did some snooping around.” Luka’s frown deepened. “I found this old hospital that’s supposed to be abandoned. But there were people there, up to something. Shipping something somewhere by truck. We kept hearing the phrase ‘Supernatural Life’, and Raz said-”

“That’s where they took Peach!” Raz chimed in excitedly. “I knew you’d want to go, so I told Luka he’d have to ask you, too.”

Goldlewis looked serious. “If y’all got a lead on Peach, that’s some damn fine news. How many of us can ya take with ya, Luka?”

“Aside from these two…” Luka furrowed his brow. “If I share my power, us three can take one more person apiece as we teleport.”

Just then, a strong smell filled Giovanna’s nostrils. “Well, whoever’s going, pick fast. We’re about to have company!”Just then, a mean, green, six-wheeled machine smashed through one of the courtyard walls, sliding to a stop in a shower of dust. Huge, menacing, and as heavily armored as it was armed, it stared down at the crowd of heroes with a head like a medieval helmet. “Oh, GREAT,” she groaned, rolling her eyes. “Shinra’s pursuit robot, Motor Ball.”

“We can take it,” Goldlewis asserted, raising his coffin. He projected a Wall of Light from it to block the robot’s attacks. “There’s, what, twenty of us?”

“If it can find us, so can his army,” Sandalphon pointed out. “Every second we spend here is another they have to close in on us, and we can’t ‘take’ them.”

“Over here!” Korsica called. Thanks to her Vandelay authorization, the reinforced emergency gates were open, revealing a street leading underground at a somewhat sharp angle as far as anyone could see. Lights affixed to the ceiling illuminated it from above, and the buildings of Deep-Paris stood quietly on either side. For their inhabitants, proximity to the surface probably came with certain advantages, both for them and for Vandelay.

Gio divided her gaze between Motor Ball and the downhill road. “Uh, on foot? Not even I’m that fast.”

“Didn’t I mention boost pads?” Korsica stepped onto one and immediately got launched downward, somehow running at blistering superhuman speeds. “See you at the bottom!” her voice echoed back.

Goldlewis’ jaw dropped. “This is ridiculous.” As Motor Ball smashed through his Wall of Light, however, he heard voices in the distance. The emergency gates creaked, beginning to close. “Aw, hell,” With Sandalphon giving covering fire, he ran through the gates, stepped onto a dash pad, and zoomed downhill. “Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!”

Giovanna ran after him, followed shortly by Chai, Svarog (with Clara in his arms), and then Sandalphon herself. It was up to everyone else to either follow suit, stand firm against insurmountable odds, or join the Scarlet Guardians as they teleported away. Out of all the Shinra forces only Motorball got through the gates before they slammed shut, and without delay it began to careen downhill through Deep-Paris, plowing after the Seekers like a runaway truck.





Once everyone gathered in the misty outskirts clearing and the Hive Knight outlined their new mission objective, the Seekers split up, deciding where to explore based on the landmarks they’d spotted on their descent through the immense hollow. Naturally, rather than plan anything out they essentially just picked various directions to go and then went. For once, though, the team’s designated point woman found herself uncharacteristically indecisive about where to look. With her arms up and her hands clasped behind her head, she ambled after the others at a leisurely pace, even after she entered the city limits and strode carefully across a fuzzy Mothfly bridge. As she considered her options she watched her teammates head out in different directions, trying to guess at their reasoning.

Bowser’s stomach led his capricious quartet not any closer to the Hive but to Holograd’s marketplace and restaurants, evidently not satisfied with the smorgasbord of pizzas stowed away in the team’s infinite pizza bag. Sectonia and Rubick happened to share an interest in the ruined city’s residential quarter, and since those derelict homes seemed to house the Termite Capitol’s biggest spider infestation, Nadia happily left them to it. More eager to fight than find a way forward, Artorias wandered off in the direction of the colosseum, while Ganondorf set his eyes on what had been Holograd’s grand castle. Out of all the places, the Arboretum seemed the most promising due to what Barnabee said about roots, but Therion and Primrose were on their way, and Nadia did not want to be a third wheel for the two old friends. Those two made quite the pair. Idly Nadia wondered if they harbored feelings for one another, and she resolved to ask Primrose the next chance she got. Her thoughts drifted toward Ace. Hopefully, wherever he ended up after that train station kerfuffle, he was doing well.

Jesse watched the others split up, and rolled her shoulder, as she tended to do. Everything looked interesting, but Jesse usually opted for what looked the most bizarre. That, or should we go with whoever went by themselves. “Look at everyone go.” She said. “It’s like…it’s like herding cats.” She glanced at Nadia who was nearby. “Eh? What do you think? Right?”

The feral glanced at her with wide eyes. “Hey, that’s racist!” Then she grinned. “Haha, just jokin’. Now I know you like puns though, so you’re in for it now.”

For a moment, Jesse seemed genuinely alarmed, wondering if she had made the same mistake as she had with the rabbit person. “Oh, heh, oh. Okay.”

In the end, Nadia’s mind could only wander so far from her feet, especially with that bizarre song in the distance that dug its hooks into her like an ear worm. It sounded like singing, at least, but she couldn’t make out the words for the life of her, and if those were instruments they sounded unlike any she’d ever heard. Unable to suppress her curiosity, she came up with the plausible justification that any option might benefit the team in some way and made her decision. Tapping the linkpearl in her ear, the feral tried letting everyone else know. “Uh, hello? How the heck’s this thing work, is it on? Uh, well, assumin’ it’s on, I’m gonna go figure out where that weird song’s comin’ from. Guess I’m just mew-sically inclined! If anyone finds a way down to the Hive, ‘bee’ sure to let everyone know, ‘kay?”

Damn, she’s good. Jesse thought to Polaris, before turning her thoughts to the music. “Weird sound waves are basically my entire wheelhouse. I’m tempted to check it out, too. Just in case there’s some creepy shit going on.” Jesse said. “Unless you wanna go it alone.”

“Nah, let’s check it out together! It’s like last night all over again, ‘cept it’s just us gals, huh?”

With that Nadia scampered off on all fours down the twists and turns of Holograd’s cobblestone pathways, jumping over the rubble that had spilled down from the husks of nearby buildings. In a city of rounded, red, domed buildings, the one the music led her towards stuck out like a sore thumb. Big, blocky, and predominantly white, it almost looked like a courthouse to her, but instead of columns or statues it featured the ravages of time, with giant cracks along its walls, smashed windows, tattered advertisements, and collapsed stonework. Nadia could hardly call its atmosphere inviting, but the weird song’s volume confirmed that this was the place. It was loud enough that the feral could just about start to make out the words, but still tantalizingly hard to grasp. She sighed and gave a shrug. “Well, I came this far. Not gonna puss out now.”



Inside the structure lay a wide-open space, not-so-quietly sinking further into ruinous decrepitude along with the rest of the Termite Capitol. It seemed to feature a square center structure with two floors, ringed by a wide walkway with planters and white plastic trees. Many of the tiles in here were smashed and dislocated, exposing the meager dirt beneath, along with a few sprigs of the bone-white plants that seemed to grow in this cavern. Broken glass, rotting wood, and peeling paint could all be found in abundance. Recessed into the walls were a variety of long-neglected storefronts. Parts of the floor featured yawning black crevices with no discernible bottom. Strange masses of darkness with red eyes floated aimlessly about here and there, and what looked like giant animate toys stalked around. The big, pill-shaped, one-armed pink ones with lime-green halos and metal claws unsettled the feral more than they reasonably should have–the Mascotoys themselves looked less alive than the cream-colored stuffing that poked out of them like living tissue. Throughout the place echoed that music from barely-functional loudspeakers, their quality so laughably low that what should have been an ordinary song sounded distorted, wistful, and haunting.

“What is this place?” Nadia wondered aloud, baffled.

“It’s like a…fucked up version of a rundown mall.” Jesse said, answering Nadia’s external thoughts. Setting her hands on the railing, Jesse peered through the halls. Her eyes tracked the floating red-eyed shadows. “Though with way more abominations than I’m used to seeing. D’you think they’re friendly? What are the odds?” Jesse asked.

A mall? Nadia blinked, looking around. So that’s what this was. She turned away from Jesse so that the other woman couldn’t see her rapidly-growing mischievous grin. “Surprised ya recognized it so fast. But I guess if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen a mall, right?” Barely able to hold it together long enough to get it out, Nadia doubled over, cracking up. Jesse let out an instinctual ‘ugh’ noise, before Nadia continued: “Pff, hahahahaha…but, uh, no way these things are friendly. That’s your idea of a joke, right? I like a good scrap as much as anyone but I’d be fine not killin’ stuff the second I go somewhere for once.” Putting her hands in her pockets, she began to walk around, giving the lumbering Mascotoys and other critters a wide berth. At least there weren’t that many of them. “So this is somethin’ normal in the world you’re from, Jess? Abominations aside, I mean.”

Jesse shrugged: she didn’t want to fight either, so if those things left them alone, she would leave them alone. “A mall? Yeah.” She answered. There was a brief pause.

“Oh, uh, yeah. A mall. Basically a big marketplace, except it’s just one huge building and everyone puts stores and stuff there. There’s food courts and attractions, movie theaters, some even had roller coasters. And basically their heyday was forty years ago and they’re going out of business. So there’s a lot of malls that see sparse visitors, are occasionally empty, or on rare occasions, entirely abandoned like this one. A place like this used to see thousands of people a day. Now?” Jesse said, wiggling her fingers mysteriously. “...A modern-day ghost town.”

Nadia pursed her lips, reflecting on that. “Huh. Sounds kinda…I dunno, sad. There’s a boardwalk in New Meridian that sounds kinda similar, roller coasters and everythin’, but it’s always jam-packed with people just havin’ a good time. Not just rich folks either, ordinary people havin’ fun in the sun, eatin’ ice cream, ridin’ the ferris wheel. So nice you could almost forget about all the ugliness everywhere else.” She shrugged. “D’you know why the malls ain’t doin’ so hot back where you’re from?”

“Eh,” Jesse said, clearly not feeling too upset about the plight of the American mall. “There’s still amusement parks and boardwalks, like you’ve got. The main appeal of the mall was shopping, and shopping,” Jesse pointed at the ceiling. “Can now be done online.” Jesse explained. Nadia gave her a blank stare.

“Just hop on the computer, click on a few buttons, and the thing you want can be delivered to your door in as much as a week or as little as a day. It’s crazy. So, way less reason to go to the mall.” Jesse concluded. Nadia’s stare somehow grew even blanker. Nothing was going on behind those eyes.

“And, then, I guess, in this case, all the monsters move in. Or wake up. Though, now that I think about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s gonna be a creepy mall full of something Paranatural out there somewhere, someday, back where I’m from.” Jesse mused.

“Yeah, haha.” The feral scratched her head as the two continued to walk around. After a moment of silence, Nadia spoke up. “Y’know, out of everyone in the group, I feel like I know ya the least, Jess. There’s others who don’t talk about ‘emselves a whole lot, like Big Dorf, but I kinda understand his whole deal. You, not so much.” She furrowed her brow slightly, still smiling. “Sorry if this seems…I dunno, mean-spirited or somethin’, but wouldja say you’re ‘normal’ in the world you’re from?”

“Big Dorf.” Jesse replied absent mindedly, before blinking and looking at Nadia. “Oh, me? Hah, um, no.” She said good-naturedly. “Not exactly.”

“Between the powers, the gun, Polaris, the job, and, y’know…how much I hate normalcy. No. I’m not normal. But I can’t imagine many of us can claim that. Whoever could would be the odd one out in our little group, wouldn’t they?” Jesse asked rhetorically. “I don’t mean to come off as enigmatic. But it does make me seem cooler.”

“Hah, that’s true,” Nadia admitted with a chuckle. “On both accounts. I mean, I don’t…think…I’m weird? I mean, what I am is purr-etty unique. Y’know, feral. Three tails. Split apart. But other than how I look, I’m just your average outgoin’, fun-lovin’ gal.” She smiled. “Then again, maybe some of ya think I’m weirdly upbeat.”

“You do seem to have a good head on your shoulders.” Jesse admitted. “Most of the time, anyway. Ba-dum tsst.” She briefly mimed a drum set in front of her.

“It’s just, and maybe I’m wrong, but in my experience most people go away from scary things rather than towards them.” She said.

Nadia smiled. “I guess it’s easy bein’ happy-go-lucky when nothin’ can hurt me.” She shrugged. “At least, not in any way that matters.”

After another couple moments, the sight of something familiar prompted a double take. It was a red ring supporting a white arrow that pointed down, stuck to the wall over a downward staircase. With the memory fresh on her mind, Nadia was able to recall where she’d seen it before. “Hey., isn’t that…didn’t we see that last night?” It had been dark and very rainy, but she’d glimpsed that same symbol hanging over another somewhat ominous abandoned entryway. The feral led the way down the stairs, and when she reached the bottom she found a large room of dark green and beige tiles, with ticket machines, turnstyles, and pitch-black doorways blocked by metal bars. “It’s another station!” she realized, her eyes roving across the room until they found a familiar one-eyed crustacean with a wizard’s hat as a shell. “And another magic crab!”

“The one and only Magikrab,” the critter corrected as the ladies approached. “As the custodian of these railways, I have been blessed by the Stagmer-line to be able to visit any station within this underground land.”

“Oh, uh, hello again.” Jesse said with a wave.

Nadia nodded sagaciously. “That’s magic, alright!” She then glanced at Jesse, her eyebrows raised. “I guess that means there’s more of the stations down here? Maybe we can use ‘em to get around!” In her excitement she ran toward the big barred tunnel, but before she could disassemble herself to slip through she stopped cold, her ears going flat “Urk…I’m gettin’ that feelin’ again, all the way from here,” she winced. “Although…maybe I’m just gettin’ used to it, ‘cause it doesn’t seem quite as bad. That pizza guy gave off the same aura, but aside from that one gimmick, he really wasn’t anythin’ to write home about.” Still, Nadia stepped away from the bars and looked back at Magikrab. “If we go in…would we get attacked another horrible monstrosity?”

“You mean an archangel?” The Magikrab nodded. “Most certainly. The Stagmer-line’s next of kin are many and varied, and each possesses a favorite station.”

Nadia’s disappointment led her to gloss over the implication of what the crustacean said. “Aw, kitty litter. I was hopin’ we could get around easier.”

“Oh, you still can!” Stepping aside, the Magikrab revealed a much smaller passage, about six feet in height, and the bars in front of it slid upward with a grinding sound. “Routes to other Stag Stations, now boarding at Platform B. Now with two connections to the Metro! Just ring the bell.”

A grin spread across the feral’s face. “What an a-track-tive proposition! Whatcha think, Jess? Once we deal with the Hive, this oughta make the boss hunt a helluva lot easier. A tram-endous help, you could say, heehee.”

“Heh, yeah, um.” Jesse said off-handedly, her thoughts elsewhere. She raised her eyebrows and glanced back in the direction of the symbol. “I’m sorry-” She looked at the wizard. “The Once and Future Magikrab- you said archangel? Of the Stagmer-line? Is that secret, or can I ask what that is?” Jesse asked.

The Magikrab thought for a moment. “That’s the name given by the people of New Wirral, where the Stagmer-line last rested. They’re just…beings. Unique and different, no two alike. Given life and form by the collective archetypes of humanity, their thoughts and motivations are a complete mystery. Those that ride the Stagmer-line can be…unfriendly. They’re castaways, after all. Wandering far from home, trapped in the liminal space here. But you don’t need to worry about them if you stick to Platform B. The Last Stag is a little gruff, but he’s nice on the inside.”

Jesse scratched her head, trying to take that in. “Thanks, Magikrab. Sounds like the Stagmer-line is both a magical source and… a literal train line?” Jesse tried to parse through the multiple ways the word Stagmer-line had been used by Magikrab. “And Archangels are somehow related. I guess they don’t have to do with Galeem though, so that’s good. Maybe.”

“Mm-hm.” Nadia didn’t quite get everything Magikrab said, but her discovery of a fast-travel system left her in even higher spirits than usual. “We’ll be seein’ ya again pretty soon then, li’l guy! Wanna head back up and keep lookin’ around, Jess?” The feral gestured back toward the stairway. Even after this amazing find, it felt like Falldown Mall had more for the two to discover.

Jesse was of the opposite mind, a little too focused on weird esoteric lore to fully appreciate how helpful fast travel would be. “Uh, yeah! Sure, Nadia.” She gave Magikrab a grateful wave and then turned back to the stairwell.

“I wonder if any of the attractions still work.” Jesse wondered aloud.

“Alright, mall run round two!” Nadia grinned, jogging toward the stairs with pep in her step. “Let’s see what else is in…store!”

Sakura made the choice. ”Roxas-kun, I’m getting out here! We have to destroy the doomsday device.” She looked at Kale.

”You should leave and never come back. Get a hobby.” Sakura squinted at him, the threat implicit.

Taking the mini-LIFT down, Sakura found the SPECTRE device. She knew it when she saw it. Crackling her knuckles and full of energy from Sandalphon’s healing, she took her fists and feet to the device, cracking its metal shell and shattering glass and buttons. From the wall she ripped down everything she could. Vandelay couldn’t get away with something like that. They would have to tell someone about this plan too to get everything taken away and fixed.

After that, it was a trip to the bottom to reunite with the others.

”...Mind control!” She finished telling everyone else about the SPECTRE machine.

”Oh, Sandalphon-san. I’m glad you’re okay.” Sakura said, both bowing and also leaning over to set her hands on her knees.

”Quite.” Karin said, moving up to Sakura’s side. Sakura said ‘oh’ again and wrapped her arms around her friend in a hug. Karin didn’t reject it, but she did just pat Sakura on the shoulder and then ever so gently push her away.
”Quite.” Karin said. ”It seems our intervention here has gained us no shortage of tagalongs.” She said, regarding the newcomers, amused.

”Greetings. I am Karin Kanzuki. Welcome to your association with the Seekers, however long our paths remain the same.” She took the time to introduce herself with a curtsy.

Sakura was also relieved to see Raz again, hugging him, too, and also, Geralt, and really anyone who got too close. The whole fight was an emotional rollercoaster. And it wasn’t over yet. ”...If there’s a mission to save Peach, I’m in, obviously. Though I’m necessary to the plan, so.” Sakura stood firm, still in her uniform.

”Ohoho. Then I suppose I shall be leaving you again, Miss Sakura.” Karin said as the reinforcements began to bear down on them. ”I wish you the best of luck in rescuing the princess. Farewell!” She began to run.

Sakura was tapping into the SAS, using Luka’s power. ”Okay, okay, this is my first time doing this, Luka-kun, I think, it’s like?” She furrowed her brow. ”Like this!” And she did her best to teleport with the others, taking the hand with whoever was joining her.

Meanwhile, Karin hit the boost pads, not entirely sure how they worked but knowing their new ally demonstrated it quite effectively. ”Oh my!” She looked at her blurring feet in wonder, and then over her shoulder at the Motor Ball. ”Yet another infernal contraption! Each one spikier than the last! Joy!”

"Phew, That was a tough fight." Roland said as he walked to the rest of the group, wiping his brow. "To think that lunatic would send attack helicopters to blow up the building he was in. I knew he had a screw loose, but that...." Roland said, sighing and shaking his head. With everyone grouped up, talk about what people were going to do started, with Roland learning that some of his party was part of PsyOPs and had, from what he could figure out, a friend they had taken? Either way, they were asking for a couple more from the group to help them out. Roland was going to have NONE of that mess though, stating at much. "Look, I'm a man who knows my limits. And I draw those limits at invisible things that can break your mind." He wasn't much of a fan of that whole part of the city.

Blazermate meanwhile was in the same boat, but for a different reason; she knew she wouldn't be of much help considering what she knew about the whole PsyOPs stuff, only saying. "Hey, I hope you guys can find Peach and free her, but there isn't much I can do either. Good luck." Susie had been spending her time gathering information, and why she didn't join the fight was due to her learning that the DespoRHado cyborgs specialized in dealing with her kind of mech robots. With her lack of ability to really defend herself due to the new rules of this world so far, she figured staying back and getting info would be best.

After the people that wanted to help with the peach rescue mission got teleported away, things... started to break down. Attracting the attention of the Public Security Division and their Motor Ball, they all had to make a run for it. Thanks to Sandalphon, and a decision of the group NOT to fight it as it would be too much trouble, it was time to run using an underground tunnel to find an escape tot he plate under this one. Blazermate was fine with running, attaching her medic beam to whoever seemed to be the fastest and matching their speed with her own thanks to the medi beam's ability. So whenever they took a dash pad, so did she in a sense. And thanks to her flight, most of the obstacles that appeared on the way down didn't really bother her much. Susie had a bit more vertical speed than Blazermate with her flying, and could use the dash pads as they were intended, even while using her transporter to fly. Like Blazermate she had an easy time getting around obstacles, but her movement wasn't as free as the medabots.

Roland meanwhile wasn't happy with needing to run on foot, but was at least equipped to deal with it. As he took the first dash pad, he used a small communication device to call up his superior to figure out why Public Security was chasing them. "Tseng, come in Tseng. Why is Public Security ruining my operation here?" Roland would soon get a reply over the device, with a reply of. "Roland? Where have you been. Last I heard you went AWOL after the debate with Shinra." Roland then replied. "Yeah, sorry about that, but I was investigating that moderator that got under President Shinra's skin and had managed to plant bombs under those sectors."

After saying that, the radio went silent for a little bit, with Roland needing to watch his footing a bit as the road got a bit rough soon after hitting another dash pad, as it was in need of some repairs. Then the voice over it came back saying. "I see... And did you find anything?" Roland then thought a bit, saying. "A little bit. It seemed like some parts of DespoRHado went rogue and were attacking Vandelay under orders from that 'moderator'. Apparently he has some kind of mind control powers, and very potent ones. But finding that out got me stuck in the middle of their internal struggles and now I've got this tank chasing me." That last part about the moderator being the one responsible for the fracturing of DespoRHado was a lie, but considering according to these people that woke him up out of his stupor, it would do well to get the whole city looking for him.

There was a pause before Tseng continued, saying. "... So you were at Vandelay which from my reports is on fire right now. What happened." Roland then explained a bit of what happened, and how, continuing with his story, explained how it seemed the senior cyborgs, including the one that lead Armstrong's security detail, were going crazy and attacking Vandelay. He explained that some of them had fused with 'something', and were crazy. They also had glowing eyes that didn't look right, which were in fact their Galeeming as he could see that now, but he used that as an excuse to say that they were mind controlled. He also stated that not all of DespoRHado were controlled that way, and how some tried to defend Vandelay from their rogue elements.

Near the end of the story when Roland was saying he beat Sundowner and saved the head of production, Tseng came back on saying. "Your breaking up. Return to HQ for debriefing." Well, that didn't sound great, but Roland was going underground to the next plate, and this plate didn't have very good communications due to the poor development of Shinra, so it made sense. It was good then that the conversation got cut short, as soon that 'poor development' came into fruition as the first thing that Roland ran into that was a bit of trouble was a large pit in the road with a launch ramp.

Seeing the two flying robots soar over this pit without issue, Roland sighed saying. "Why did Shinra refuse to make these lower plates..." before he ran into the launch jump pad, and found that there.... weren't any problems. It sent him flying right over the pit without issue and onward he went.

Unperturbed by the burbling nonsense and cacophony of animalistic noise that echoed off the crumbling stones in the ruined coliseum, the knight seemed unfazed by what he soon came upon as the metallic clank of Artorias' footsteps came to a stop at the very foot of arena.

Spectators, it seemed lined the stands making loathsome noise as the newest fighter made his entrance. They were covered in some sort of black sludge, insects coming in all shapes and sizes with lifeless hollow eyes.

Suddenly the ground shook as rocks seemed to clack against stone, as the coliseums champion made itself known. The corrupted champion stood tall over the knight, made of stone and a similar black substance to the one covering most of the arena.

It slammed its two great fists upon the ground, the Corrupted Golem bellowing a sickly looking cloud forth at the sight of its newest opponent followed by discordant roar of the crowd as their champion went on the attack immediately forcing Artorias to quickly move to the side as the golem tried to crush the knight between its hands.

Slow to turn it received a few clean swipes from Artorias whose focus was set on the golems lower half staggering it for but a second before the golem seemingly angered by the retaliation came at the knight with its arms spinning. Too strong to block and to wide of an attack to evade, as he attempted to roll away he was tossed by the golems attack landing to the side with a grunt causing the crowd to cheer.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself Artorias held Finstertöter in one hand and the other on the ground before leaping into the air and slamming it into the ground or rather the golem three times.

The booing and jeering of the insects did not faze Artorias in the slightest as the Corrupted Golem staggered and fell with a loud crash upon the floor, disturbing ages worth of dust and likely the bones of many dead gladiators that came before him. Artorias leapt at the golem but was batted away as his opponent was not staggered for long, the crowd roared as he slammed against the wall of the fighting ring.

With only seconds to spare before the golem brought its arms together the injured knight rolled to the side of his opponent putting distance between himself and the Corrupted Golem to down a bit of Estus as it closed in with another deadly clap.

This time he got aggressive in his attacks, the sound of Finstertöter boomed as it hit the golem. Artorias began to see the patterns in the constructs attacks, his intuition anticipated the golem wind up for a spinning attack.

Leaping out of reach early, he came at the golem with two solid strikes toppling the golem and as it fell he leapt into the air with his sword in both hands "Begone you dark relic, return to dust!" he cried landing a blow so hard it almost shattered Finstertöter as the blade struck the Corrupted Golem's core.

With Rubick having helped her deal with and collect more poes, Sectonia found that looking through these ruins for the additional 10 poes was going to be quite a pain, especially if the rest of the group would be done doing their explorations. All for a treasure that may or may not be great? Well, there was a way to speed this up.

"More eyes on the ground would find these poes faster." Sectonia said, summoning a whole horde of antillion and giving them instructions. They would look about the city, and if they found a hovering blue lantern to report back to her so that she could deal with the poe. She would command the antillions to handle the poes themselves, but she figured this would be easier. And with those orders given, the Antillions scattered about the ruins.

"And now we wait." Sectonia said as she watched her antillions fan out through the ruins. While some got trapped by the other spider creatures inhabiting the ruins, others soon returned having found a poe. Much like the royal she was, Sectonia delegated. She would follow one antillion and clear out a poe, while leaving the other to Rubick. The meeting spot would be in front of Jovani's house when they had claimed the poe they were looking for. Having been around the ruins and seen most of the area's tricks, Sectonia didn't have too much of an issue defeating the poes she was lead to with her magic or swords; really whatever she felt like using at the time.

With each poe defeated, it was harder and harder to find more. Occasionally Sectonia had to summon more antillions, but the poes themselves stood no chance when they were challenged by two powerful mages, and eventually they had collected the 20 poe souls in this area. With that done, Sectonia went to go see Jovani and what this 'reward' would be. If it was horrid, she doubted she'd go through with breaking his curse.

Midna found it rather sad, seeing Tora go off on his own, even if she got it. She’d seen him struggle without his partner, and even with the added gear she had lent him (or as it turned out, gifted him, because she found it much too awkward to ask for it back during their farewells), it was clear he couldn’t keep up with the rest of the seekers without her. So it made sense for him to go with the more technical people, and focus on putting his tinkering and engineering skills to use instead.

Still he was now the only one who she’d shared her entire journey with, and indeed, was apparently one of the original group who had started the whole chain of freedom from Galeem off. So even though it made sense, and was on good terms, it still felt like a bigger loss than any of the other departures.

She wished him luck and made sure to insist he not remain a stranger as she gave him a farewell that reflected little of her internal thoughts on the matter. After what he’d been through, Midna thought he deserved a happy farewell.

Yet as one person left the party, another joined. Or two rather. Clara and her invisible friend, Mr. Svarog. The princess was not sure if their dynamic of small person without much combat capability on their own, and powerful robot being who pulled all the weight being rather similar to Tora and Poppy’s was a fel omen or not, but it did leave her with mixed feelings on the matter.

An incident on their trip to regroup with the rest of the party tipped the scales on that feeling.

Having been focused on first saying goodbye, then on retrieving her various bits of ditched arsenal, and finally on the report coming in from their angelic mission control that they needed to get out of dodge, fast, the princess ended up not focusing on a rather important detail.

Namely that she was still carrying around the unconscious body of Zanzo, who, despite being armless, was nowhere close to harmless.

She was given a rather pointed reminder when they were riding down in the L.I.F.T.

As it turned out, bashing someone over the head was not a reliable way to maintain unconsciousness, and so the man proceeded to wake up part way through the ride.

She had been prepared for this, to the extent that she was still armed anyway, and immediately swung the sword she had been holding at his head to knock him out again as soon as she saw him moving, only for the man to tilt his head to the side at just the wrong moment, causing her to smack down on his oversized green mohawk, which cushioned the blow enough for him to remain conscious.

Worse, it stirred him out of the grogginess of waking he had been in, and kicked him right into fight or flight mode. Bereft of legs to run with, all he had was fight.

Bars at the side of the princess’ vision tracking his strikers all emptied at once, as he brought out each and every one of his minions around him. The princess cursed, hurling her own summons at them while bringing back her sword for another strike with its flat, only to be beaten by the punch. Literally.

Svarog flashed into visibility, having been watching the man closely, lest he become a threat to little Clara, and delivered a massive right hook straight into Zanzo’s face the moment he did, which was accompanied by a sickening crunch as the man’s battered cranium gave way. At the same time spears, claws and jaws all ripped into the strikers, compounding a flurry of damage that ended the man’s life. And left him as ash on the floor.

”That. You know what. Maybe for the best” Midna admitted, after apologizing for letting it happen in the first place, and thanking the robot for preventing anyone from getting hurt. Afterwards it turned out that she was, ultimately, the only one who had really cared that he had been killed, and she’d only really kept him alive in the first place because the option had been there. With his cooldowns all gone, the man had been defenseless, and as much as cutting him down to size had been cathartic, killing him had not felt right in the moment.

Still, even as she had felt bad about it, the 6 resulting spirits gave her the dopamine hit that booted her out of any risk of spiraling into negative emotions, and instead let her mind fixate on what she was going to do with them for the rest of the ride.

She was still on it when she arrived at the rendezvous point, whereupon she caught sight of Sandalphon, now free from Galeem’s influence. Upon seeing that she made an incorrect assumption that the woman had almost died doing a medical rescue like the one she had done for her team, which put her in the mind to thank her for that bit of assistance with more than just words.

Specifically she approached, and offered both her appreciation ”Thanks for the healing and striker timing thing, those were both real life savers'' and also an offer of some of her pile of spirits to kickstart her journey on the path to the empowerment, loss of self and clashing aesthetics that spirits represented ”Want any of these? Zanzo just would not stay down, and, well, Mr Svarog was having none of it”

That was how she ended up parting ways with Vigilant, the sniper exo-suit, and while she did sigh about how she’d never learn how to use guns at this rate, she was mostly being facetious in said frustration. Besides, she still had 5 whole spirits left afterwards, and it was quite the haul of powerful ones too.

Having already had time to think about what she was going to do with them before making the offer, she swiftly made use of them before everything could go pear shaped. She went ahead and turned two into strikers (roadblock and skywave) seeing as she had just seen how effective those had been, while Zazo was crushed (who wanted that annoying jerk in their brain or as a summon? Not her that was for sure) producing a pair of impressive looking but rather unwieldy in practice cleavers (that mainly made her miss the two sleek knives she’d had before), which left the other two for carrying on down the path of fusion.

She first took the sword wielding Mursame into herself as a power, which caused her to grow larger once more, the combination of Urbosa, flygon and this new component overruling the smallness of her imp form and the shortness of Orendi, and take on several mechanical attributes. Most notably her skin became somewhat synthetic though it retained all heat and sensation despite this. What she did lose, however, was rather alarming, said alarm occurring when the floating princess dropped out of the air and to the ground, and ended up putting weight on her wounded foot.

”Ow ow ow ow, goddesses that hurt” she complained as she summoned her mecha wolf bear to lean on for support, while using her new Skywave striker to heal the injury up somewhat.

”So fusion can just take stuff? How does that even make sense, a bunch of the other things couldn’t float so why that robot? Am I too heavy or something … huh. I mean I guess I am more me size now” she said to herself, before admiring her own height. You could hardly tell she had been cursed any more, which she found delightful.

”Going to have to un-modify the warthog now though, but that’ll have to wait. Next up, this big thing” she said out loud, before slapping that final spirit into the steed she was using as support. The resulting fusion with the giant mech that was Blodia promptly ruined her ability to do this, causing her to stumble as it shot up to a whopping 30 feet tall.

”Goddesses, I knew it was big but wow” she marveled at her new giant even more robotic bear wolfos dragon thing … and then promptly grew concerned when it showed no sign of individual motion.

”Hello? Move. Walk?” she shouted at it, while also rapping her knuckles against the machine’s leg to no avail.

”Well, that’s disturbing” she observed, fusion having seemingly taken the beast’s mind, while also noting other than pure size and more armor from the physical transformation, it was unclear what had even been gained ability wise.

That went the same for her own fusion as well, and though there were benefits to be found, the experimentation to find them would have to wait.



The reason it had to wait was because two things came along to hurry them in short succession. The first was the arrival of Raz and Luka, the pair bringin news on how they had worked out where Peach had been taken. That and the rather concerning fate of a few Psych-OFS operatives who had gone looking for her, who presumably has not been in on either the resistance or the conspiracy’s side of what had happened to the pink princess.

”Poor people. I wonder if it was the regime or the rebels who took their memories. Either way, we’d best be careful we don’t fall for whatever trap they wandered into” she said as she implicitly volunteered. She’d been one of the ones insisting they save her after all, she wasn’t going to back out of that commitment at this hour.

The second issue introduced itself via slamming through one of the walls.

”and that is our cue to leave” she declared, briefly attempting to float closer to the group of psychics, before remembering she couldn’t do that any more and striding over instead, dragon claws biting into the ground to give her the grip to avoid sliding while doing so.

”Do we need to hold hands or something of the like?” the princess asked as she offered one of the four she now had to Sakura ”or is proximity good enough?”

Roxas didn't say much during the elevator ride back down. This was for a number of a reasons, not the least of which being his frustration over how things ended at the top of the tower. He hoped that opening Kale and Sam's eyes would net them some extra allies, but not so. Seemed to be enough for Sandalphon though, so at least it wasn't a total waste. During the ride back down, Roxas examined the spirit he picked up earlier. The rooster reploid was pretty touch opponent, and just as he had been thinking he decided it would probably serve best as a Striker.

"Well..." he whispered to the Spirit in a low voice, "...Look I know I wasn't exactly your friend. But my friend and I really are trying to fix things. You were pretty strong, and that strength could be a great help to us. Plus if we succeed, I'm sure you'll get to go back home where you belong. So what do you say?" he paused a moment, as if waiting for the Spirit to somehow answer him. It of course, didn't, but it still bound itself to the Keybearer nonetheless.



Later on he was finally reunited with the other Seekers. Unfortunately there was not going to be any time for celebration. Namely, Luka from Psych-OSF appeared bearing news. He and a few others did some digging and discovered a hospital that may be holding Peach... or at least what was left of her. He had come to get Raz and Sakura in addition to anyone else who wanted to help with that investigation. As much as the Nobody disliked Psych-OSF and Suoh in general... he couldn't turn away.

"I'll go!" Roxas spoke up, suddenly. Given his feelings and behaviors the other day this probably came as a surprise. But he was serious. "I just have to hold your hand right?" He asked Luka. But before the platoon leader could answer, there was a rumble followed by a crashing sound.

”and that is our cue to leave” He heard Midna say nearby.

"She's right, let's go!" Roxas chimed in and he grabbed Luka's hand without waiting for any other confirmation. Here we go again. He thought to himself. Back into Sector 5, like it or not. We have to at least try to save Peach.

A Kingdom of... Termites? Of course, why not? A basement made of flesh, a city of monsters in constant rainfall, why not a Termite Kingdom on top of that? The Seekers almost immediately split up to explore the place more thoroughly and cover more ground and the Gerudo was no exception. The thing that first caught his eye was the castle in the distance and so Ganondorf decided that would be where he would explore first. There didn't seem to be much in the way of sights along the way. Even the castle itself was clearly in ruin when it came closer in view. So most likely nobody was actually inhabiting it. Ganondorf entered its doors without fear. If there was anything waiting inside he was confident it was no match for him.

But he found the Castle in equal ruin on the inside as he had the outside. Not a soul appeared to be inside, living or otherwise. But the one thing Ganondorf did notice was evidence of fighting, a battle that was fought long ago. The evidence of a former battle was even stronger when the Gerudo entered the throne room. The walls and floors were covered in furrows as if from great sword cleaves. Mighty arrows were lodged in places to tightly to be pulled out. Any looters that came through here were apparently unable to free them without breaking the shafts off. Whatever battle took place here, it was not between armies, that much was certain. It had to have been between two monstrously strong individuals in some great and epic duel.

But it was the throne itself that managed to surprise even Ganondorf. It was severed in two and just in front of it was a pair of peculiar Great Swords, crossed and buried blade-first in the ground like some kind of memorial wrapped in ropes with talismans dangling all over. This was enforced by the presence of an epitaph carved in stone nearby. Ganondorf approached and knelt down in order to read the writing carved into the epitaph:

Here lie the ashes of the evil king who brought doom to this once-great city. May the dead rest well knowing that their vengeance came swift and without clemency, may this tyrant's flames give life to my people, may his like never again walk this earth. Let these blades stand as a reminder that those who walk the path of evil will always be brought to justice.

Ganondorf said nothing. Something about that epitaph gave him an odd feeling. Like there was something important staring him right in the face but that he was unable to recognize it. And then there was the swords. Even at a glance he could tell there was something oddly... familiar about them. He knew Gerudo craftsmanship when he saw it, and that was unmistakable in these blades. In a way it almost gave the King of Evil a certain... nostalgic feeling, reminding him of home in the Gerudo Desert. But rather than do anything with the swords, Ganondorf's eyes caught climpse of another curiosity.

It was fixed on the wall in the back of the throne room. Was it a clock? If it was it wasn't like any Ganondorf had ever seen. It's gray and metallic hand appeared to be counting with a trail of blue flame circling behind it. It looked to be the only thing in this castle that was still functioning in any way. Was it important? He had no idea, maybe one of the others could shed some more light. Besides, Ganondorf found himself distracted by looking back at the twin Great Swords yet again. What was it about these weapons? Why did it almost feel like they were calling to him?

Without thinking Ganondorf reached out a hand to grasp one of the weapons. He felt a crackling sting from the talismans, which he now surmised were there to ward off evil. But the ward they provided was weak compared to himself. He pushed through and was able to break the talismans' ward by his own sheer force of strength and will. That left the weapons open to be taken. He grasped them in his hands and pulled. They were embedded tightly, but the strength granted to Ganondorf by the Triforce of Power allowed him to free the weapons with relative ease. He held the weapons in his hands, turned them over and examined them. He even gave them a few swift swings. They lacked the heavy infusion of his other weapons had, and yet... Somehow these just felt more comfortable. He couldn't explain it. Perhaps their Gerudo craftsmanship lent themselves for being dual-wielded better than the other swords. Or perhaps there was just some deeper connection that Ganondorf was unaware of. Either way, just holding these swords gave the King of Evil the distinct feeling that he was just a bit more... whole... than he was previously.

"...Interesting." He finally said to himself. But just as he felt compelled to take the weapons, something also made him feel compelled to leave something behind in their place. He put away the twin swords and instead drew his first sword from its scabbard. It was the one he previously wielded against Galeem before his imprisonment. He turned it upside down and buried it blade first the same spot he had retrieved the twin swords from. He didn't know why he felt compelled to leave it. Maybe he just felt like he didn't need it anymore. He wasn't sure. But now he had a new objective. He needed to go head and regroup with the Seekers and tell them about that clock thing. Maybe Rubick or Kamek would able to properly identify it, being as knowledgeable in magic and enchantments as they were.

As Geralt and Midna descended the L.I.F.T. elevator with Clara and Svarog, the Witcher looked over the mutilated body of Zanzo with a grimace. He wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do with him, but the more he thought on it, the more he wondered. These people could replace limbs with mechanical replacements, but how well did they replicate the function of natural body parts? Were they inferior mimicries used to get by, or a way to get an edge over others in one field or another?

His ruminations were interrupted by Zanzo waking up, and Svarog’s brutal killing of the Vandelay executive. He nodded, echoing Midna’s sentiment. “Might’ve been. I don’t expect we’ll get a warm welcome once we get outside, so we’d be leaving him at the mercy of whoever got their hands on him. Either they kill him themselves, or make him into our problem again.” He shrugged, watching as Midna collected the Spirits, and looked at the two he’d collected himself. He wasn’t keen to fuse with that miserable bastard Monsoon, and the other one was a mystery. Instead, he spoke low and slow to them. “I told you about making your own meaning. If you’re willing to see my words in action, I’ll give you a chance to hunt the weak a few more times.”
Not much, as far as a speech to a potential ally went, but if he could get them as Strikers, they could prove rather useful. Monsoon was quick and effective in a fight, and he certainly hadn’t been held back by the Spirit he’d fused with.

---

Zenkichi, meanwhile, was quick to point the L.I.F.T. out and get the hell out of dodge with Karin, with barely a moment to spent ‘mourning’ Khamsin. He only sighed and shook his head upon realizing the mech pilot’s fate. Idiot.
Soon, though, the elevator reached the ground floor, and the Seekers all met up not long after that. Geralt gave Sakura a couple of pats on the head as she hugged him, and relayed Tora’s decision to the rest of the Seekers. With any luck, the surviving executive’s decisions to make a deal and having a few more allies on the inside meant that Vandelay sticking around as a business could be turned in their favor in the future.

The arrival and Luka with Raz in tow, however, revealed something disturbing: some of the Psych-OSF were having their memories tampered with. Zenkichi rubbed his forehead in response to that news with a sigh. ”Man, that’s bad news. Yet another reason to take…” Realizing who he was talking to, and unsure of how much Luka was on their side in regards to everything, Zenkichi shut up before mentioning that Konoe was one of their targets. Geralt let out a small breath of relief, which promptly turned to resignation as a massive Shinra machine burst through into the courtyard, which Giovanna identified helpfully. Grunting, Geralt turned and ran, with Zenkichi not far behind.

That gap quickly expanded a bit, however, even with the boosts pads that Korsica, another Vandelay ally that they’d gained, helpfully showed them. Geralt’s enhanced physiology simply outpaced even that of a Phantom Thief, especially the oldest one by far. The Witcher followed after Roland, flying over the pit using the same launch pad, stomach protesting the strange movement, but the feeling ended quickly, and he once more found himself sprinting through the streets of Deep-Paris.

The denizens of the undercity were quick to get out of the way of the Seekers barreling down their roads, but a few unobservant folks managed to get in the way, forcing Geralt to leap over them, landing into a slide that slowed him a bit while the citizens ran in fear at the sight of Motor Ball far behind the Witcher. Zenkichi came a little bit after, Geralt having taken a moment to make sure everybody got the hell out of the way, and he quickly caught up with the Phantom Thief as they hit another boost pad, launching into yet another breakneck sprint.

After another minute or so of running, the pair came upon a construction crew which had blocked off the road they were using for repairs. Oh no… they both thought, crashing through the wooden barricade that had blocked the street off, dodging and side-stepping construction workers and machinery even as they sprinted through the construction zone. Geralt cursed and Zenkichi gave a quick ”Sorry!” to the angry workers as they yelled at the two. It was rough going, and Zenkichi ended up knocking over a toolbox, scattering hardware supplies all across the street, but they made it to the other side intact.

”…I hope they get out of the way of the giant robot…” Zenkichi muttered.

The troop took off once more after the little planning session, intending to look into the broken market they’d spotted from on high and, rather specifically, a surprisingly intact burger joint Bowser had spotted from on high.

Unfortunately, while the trip down had been free of actively aggressive foes, the corrupted city was full of lurking dangers. With their wyvern mounts, however, the troop safely avoided most of them, only to end up drawing the ire of several dark magic corrupted lampyre which buzzed up from an alleyway filled with the black sludge that had warped their bodies.

Their first warning of the ambush was a glow from below as each of the Jr sized coromon’s 4 wings illuminated for a moment, all of them before fired off 4 spear like bolts of electrical energy, one from each wing, up at the troop. Rika swerved her steed to the side to avoid most of these, but the enlarged wyvern carrying Bowser and Kamek lacked the maneuverability to do so, and so several bolts hammered home, punching holes in the greater wyvern’s wings.

As it began to lose altitude as a result, the lampyre ascended, already charging another round of shots.

”Oh no you don’t!” Rika shouted at them as she got in the game, wheeling her wyvern around and charging their attackers head on, spear in hand. The corrupted monsters fired again, but with her eyes on them their projectiles flew slower, giving her a chance to avoid them.

Even still, lighting was fast, and she had to endure shocks on her energy shielding, gauntleted arm, and steed’s own body before she could strike home, lancing one of the bugs with her spear and punching a thin hole in its chest before flicking it away to the side before it could slow her momentum. As she swept past them Jr whipped his paintbrush towards the skewered one, splattering it with burning ink that set it ablaze.

They flew on, wheeling around again to do another pass, but in that time the bugs got a chance to focus on Bower and Kamek, and they were not doing too well. The king had urged his advisor to bring them closer to join in the fight, but the lumbering wyvern was nowhere near as swift as the steed the kids were using, allowing the lampyre to easily dodge out the way of Bowser’s attempt to flame-breathe them.

The two healthy ones buzzed underneath, and began cutting at the defenseless underbelly of the construct with their small but sharp claws, while the heavy wounded third sought revenge on those that had harmed it.

Quad volts lashed out at them as they came charging in again, only for the pair to arc to one side before they got close, swooping around the lampyre while jr summoned a swarm of Flukefey strikers to dive down at it, finishing off the first of their foes as they flew towards the rest.

They didn’t get there in time to stop the larger wyvern’s end however. The accumulated damage to Bowser and Kamek’s steed became too much, and it began to come apart at the seams, careening downwards and smashing into one of the buildings below.

”Papa!” the two kids cried out in alarm, Rika immediately altering course and swooping down to the crash sight rather than stay on the offensive. They paid for that, both them and their own steed being struck by quad volt shots as they flew, forcing them to make a landing as well, lest they crash down too.

The pair rushed into the ruined attic that their elders had smashed through the roof of, and found a badly electrocuted Bowser rubbing his concussed head with one hand while holding a mostly unharmed Kamek safely in another.

Jr rushed to heal his papa, leaving Kamek and Rika to face the two lampryes as they came buzzing in through the hole in the roof. They did not come alone, and were instead accompanied by a distracting swarm of electrical motes that buzzed like far to brightly blinking fireflies. Kamek shot a magical blast through them to little avail, while Rika’s grizzco blaster cleared the air far more effectively.

Still, the swarm distraction had done its job, allowing the bugs to blast them with impunity, adding further harm to Rika and badly injuring the rather frail Kamek, forcing him to retreat. Facing the two bugs alone, Rika pulled out all the stops to take them down. She grappled one of them and pulled it close, using her knight and cloyster strikers to block incoming shots, before driving her chainsaw bayonet into the grappled one’s face.

The poison card attached to the weapon made sure that even though it got away alive, its days were numbered, and not even because of the toxins running through its veins, for its poisoning had empowered the shipgirl thanks to one of the items she had smelted. She lunged forwards bringing her spear down with a chop and cleaving into it with the helbard like spines, before charging the other one.

As she sprinted the little pot at her waist summoned a wisp, one which swooped out and collided with the poisoned lampyre, finishing it off. The other one attempted to back away, but the ship girl used her maneuvering thrusters to gain an extra burst of speed that let her cross the distance and ram the tip of her spear into it. Then she teleported the spear so it was facing the other way around, and fired both rear mounted cannon barrels into it at point blank.

Despite this serious damage, the dark magic infused bug was only badly hurt instead of dead, and so the ship girl proceeded to hammer it with a pair of shots from her grizzco blaster, which finally finished the deal.

”urgh. Those things were nasty. Good work Rika” Bowser praised his daughter as he approached, before giving her a bit of support as the adrenaline left her and the pain from repeated electrical shocks set in.

”I dunno, I think something you fused with doesn’t like lighting, you were way more hurt than I would have thought given how much you were hit”

”Well, crash landing didn’t exactly help either.” Kamek noted, before suggesting ”I recommend we make the rest of the trip on foot, so that we are all combat ready instead of just half of us” to which there were no objections.

This proved to be a fruitful plan as, other than having a brief run in with the claw-like hands in the corruption filled alleyway when collecting the lampyre spirits, the rest of their short trip to DineMite was a relative breeze.

---

”Sire, I know it's a bit late to bring this up, I’m not quite so sure this is the best use of our time. We already have plenty of pizza after all” Kamek felt he had to point out as they approached the eatery, one sporting a large burger shaped sign on its roof, which was what had drawn the king’s attention in the first place.

”I mean yeah, sure, but a burger lunch sounds real nice to mix things up after pizza breakfast” Bowser retorted, while jr added ”besides, you're the one who’s always telling me to get some variety into my diet Kamek” only half jokingly.

”That is if there are any to be found” the mage muttered in response as Rika stepped forwards and pushed the door to the building open with the tip of her spear.

As soon as she did a hopper came, well hopping out of the door and lunged towards her with its wickedly sharp proboscis, eager to fill its empty belly with her vital fluids.



The ship girl was prepared, however, and lashed out with her rigging’s hull blades, slashing down with one of the cleaver like weapons and smashing the bug into the ground. Then she took a step back, giving Kamek and jr both the clearance they needed to blast it with fireballs, the heat from which caused it to explode into a steaming shower of fluids.

”Ewwww. That’s gross” the ship girl complained as she wiped some of the goop off her armor, before adding ”urgh, and there’s probably more of those in there”

”The place is likely infested, yes.” Kamek agreed, before asking his king ”Do you still want to take a look, sire?”

”If there’s stuff living in there, then there’s gotta be stuff to eat, right?” the king suggested, before authoritatively commanding ”Troop, time for some exterminating! On my mark, we bust this joint and sweep it clean!”

His kids weren't exactly convinced one way or the other, but they dutifully formed up behind their one man battering ram of a father, and prepared to breach the building with him. After sighing, the mage did the same.

”Three. two. one. Charge!” the king roared, before shoving open the burger joint’s door much more recklessly than Rika had, and then rushing inside with the others hot on his heels.

As Kamek and Rika had expected, the place was indeed crawling with hoppers. Or rather jumping with them. A dozen or so of the half a jr sized bugs snapped their red eyes towards the intruders, and then started bouncing across the benches, chairs, and tables of the fast food joint’s main room towards them.

”Careful not to bring the building down on top of us. Just because it's still up doesn't mean it's not close to collapse” Kamek warned, as the other three spread out to take on the bugs.

Rika immediately nailed one with a burst of machine gun fire and a second with a grizzco blaster shot of explosive goop, before switching to her spear, twirling it around one gauntlet defensively to bat away a third and fourth before they could get close and bite her.

While she held the right of the entrance, Jr held the left, the prince opening up by using ”stone” to rip out a chunk of the floor and launch it at an incoming hopper, only for that rock to be transformed into a shower of flukes as soon as it started to be launched by the charm he had acquired. The shotgun blast of bugs hammered the hopper to the ground, and then promptly exploded around it, finishing it off. Then he smacked one down with his paint brush, coating it in shocking goop in the process, stunning it long enough for Mimi, who was riding her trainer’s shoulder, to nail it with an electroball’s worth of additional shock damage.

Bowser, standing holding the center of the store, ended up being the one who had the most amount of trouble. Unable to simply roast the incoming bugs for fear of burning down the building, he instead found himself whiffing punches and demolishing furniture while the annoying hoppers bounced around and tried to sink their blood sucking snouts in him,

Fortunately, the king had thick scales, so they achieved little, but it would have only been a matter of time before they slipped past him, had his shell not unfurled and revealed nimbler limbs. Tentacruel tentacles and Land Dreugh limbs all stretched out and began stabbing at or constricting bugs.

Finally, Kamek floated above them all, out of reach of the jumpers, from which he provided fire support, using magical blasts from his wand and summoned magic fist strikes to pick off or soften up several of the hoppers before they even got close to his wards.

In short order, the bugs were dealt with, and barring some goop splatters and destroyed furniture, the building was no worse for wear. Well. except for a hole in the floor Bowser had smashed open when trying to use his kinetic strike module on one of the bugs.

”Before you say something, look I found a thing” Bowser said, pointing a finger down into a small basement the hole had revealed, one containing a cargo container of some kind.

”Has to be some kind of meat locker” he insisted, before gloating ”and you said this wasn’t a good idea” right as the ground started shaking.

A wave of confusion and concern swept through the group, as they quickly pivoted around to the source of the shaking, which was coming in behind them. First the ground shook, then there was the smashing of stalls, and then, moments later a greater hopper came smashing through the ceiling of the restaurant.

”Oh for badness sake! I ask one thing!” Kamek grouched as he dodged falling splinters.

The others were a bit less concerned about the state of the building (jr and bowser just toughed it out, letting it strike their thick shells and skulls, while Rika slowed anything falling towards her just by looking at it, letting her sidestep it with ease) and more about the massive bug. The really massive bug. It stood at twice Bowser’s height, and it was mad.

Hopping mad

”I think we killed its babies” Jr shouted as he leapt to the side as the giant blood drinker launched itself towards him with a great leap, smashing through more of the ceiling in the process and adding a shrapnel shower to its full body attack.

”And now it’s next!” the king roared as he charged forwards and tried to land a punch on the monster, only for it to leap into the air again to avoid him and chase after his spawn for some eye for an eye retribution.

Said chase and its erratic bouncing movements made it entirely unsafe to shoot at, Rika found, as she tried to line up a shot, only for Jr to repeatedly end up in her crosshairs. That or the roof above him, which she’d rather not blow out and rain down on her new brother.

Rather than risk blasting him then, she flicked out her grappling hook, and on the second thwip of the line, caught her target ”Alright how about thiiiⁱⁱⁱ_iiiⁱⁱⁱ_iiiⁱⁱⁱ_iis” which had unfortunate consequences, as she was bounced up and down while being reeled in.

Add to this Bowser also chasing after the bug on foot through the rain of rubble it left behind, and the whole thing made for quite the ridiculous scene, that would have been funny had a child’s life not been on the line. Kamek certainly wasn't laughing as he watched this, instead shaking his head once and then started chanting

”this reached pest is quite a handful
Best we bring it to a standstill
But how to do that, I hear you ask
I tell you now I am perfect for that task
With the knowledge that makes me oh so wise
I’ll cut this problem down to size!”

Before unleashing a blast of magic that flew towards the titanic bug- and then missed the deceptively hard to hit bug, striking a support pillar of the building and shrinking it down to a quarter size- and promptly bringing the rest of the building that hadn’t already fallen down on top of them as a result.

Kamek surrounded himself in a panicked sphere of protection as timber rained down, burying everyone and everything in a layer of debris, and kicking up a cloud of sawdust.

As it cleared, Bowser and his son popped out of their shells and clawed their way out of the debris and into the cave light, finding Kamek still floating in the air, surrounded in a shimmering shield that had deflected most of the debris shower.

Rika had not fared so well, and was out cold, and, worse, still attached to their foe by her grappling hook. Said foe had lost track of them in the cloud of dust, and simply kept bouncing off in one direction, but now it pivoted and went after the first target it saw. This turned out to be Rika, resulting in the jumper chasing its own tail for a few moments before the grip of the ship girl’s grapple was finally shaken off, and she was tossed into a pile of fallen timbers.

Fortunately, the rest of the troop had, mostly, not just been idly watching the absurd sight, and were ready to leap in. Jr had found his paintbrush, and now raised it above his head and cried out ”Benediction” instantly restoring Rika to full health with the long cooldown spell, while Kamek sent toadies in to scoop her up and carry her into the air so that she would not be crushed while she was regaining consciousness.

”Building’s already down! Now let’s blast it!” Bowser roared once the ship girl was out of the way, before deploying his shoulder cannons and unleashing several shots on the hopper. Mimi, who had simply ignored the raining shrapnel via her ghostly intangibility, joined in with an electroball.

The giant hopper suffered from these strikes, but it was big and tough, and it would take more than that to end it. Fully aware, Bowser charged on in to draw its attention, shouting for Kamek to ”Shield me!” before ducking into his shell and sliding the rest of the intervening distance.

The hopper came crashing down, but rather than pulping its prey into a drinkable juice like it usually did, instead it landed on a target protected by a shimmering barrier, that greatly reduced the damage the impact did to Bowser, while doing nothing to reduce the damage Bowser’s spikes did to the Hopper’s underbelly.

Unperturbed, it lept straight up, indeding to strike down with a far more precise jab of its proboscis, only for the spikes that had jabbed it to suddenly shoot up into the air after it. The king’s spike missiles stabbed into the giant hopper again, perforating its gut further, before violently exploding.

They did so right at the top of the arch of its leap, causing it to hang there in the air for just a moment longer, and leaving it as still as it had ever been. Perfect for a bit of clay shooting.

Electroballs, homing fire balls, magic blasts, super scope and sniper shots from strikers, and even some gunfire from the airborne and awake Rika all blasted fourth, hammering into the already wounded hopper, and ensuring that the only part of it that ended up touching the ground was ash and its spirit.

”Yeah! We did it” Jr cheered, joined by a ”Woo!” from on high by Rika and a ”Good job troop” from Bowser as he picked himself up and dusted himself off. Not that it improved the appearance of his, rather wrecked at this point, suit. Said outfit would most certainly do with 3 washes and a fair number of patch jobs.

”mmm, yes, and look what we have to show for it” Kamek added sardonically, referring to the broken remains of the restaurant they had entered perhaps a minute or two ago.

”So while I was up there, I saw some word blinky cylinders sticking out of some of the rubble, maybe those are good?” Rika informed them as she flooded down to the ground, to which Jr added ”Plus there’s all the spirits and that box thing in the basement”

”True. Though we will have to dig those up” Kamek agreed, before pausing for a moment, sighing, and getting ahead of a request he knew was coming ”Or yes alright before you ask, that I’ll have some minions dig up”

A little while, and a whole lot of drybone digging, later and the spirits of the hoopers had been recovered, as had the two cylinders and the way into the basement. Sadly it did not contain any sort of way down to the cavern layers below, but it did contain some food surprisingly enough: a few mite burgers and packs of spicy fries ready to be reheated.

While Bowser started a small, controlled, fire to warm up the food (using some dug up kitchen equipment), jr had a look at the container crate, and, after a bit of work, worked out that he had to attached the two blinking cylinder, and then after a bit of tinkering using his toolkit the machine dramatically popped open, launching stream of colorful minerals up into the air.

”Woooow”

Which promptly hailed down on the boy, giving him yet more comical head trauma

”Ow ow ow ow! Who thought it was a good idea to build this thing this way!?”

That certainly hadn’t been what they had been expecting to pop out of a restaurant’s storage unit, and neither was the hologram of some rather classy looking outfits that was displayed afterwards.

”What a strange assortment of things to have down here” Kamek commented as he eyed the costume, that was, he assumed (correctly), a bit like the alt costume things they’d seen every now and then, one of which Rika was currently wearing.

”Perhaps it would suit you, sire, considering the, ah, less than perfect condition of your current attire?”

The king looked over with a ”Huh?” having been more focused on cooking than his son’s tinkering, but now approached and gave the outfit a look up and down”Oh. Hmmmmm.” before shrugging and saying ”Sure” and reaching out and claiming the alternate costume.

In a flash it displed his current getup, and replaced it with the Bnabra Set, the king’s body being covered with the tasteful lilac getup, the outfit automatically modifying itself for his large and inhuman body plan, leaving his shell exposed and fabric free, while modifying most of the masculine outfit’s parts to fit him, other than hanging the multi tipped coat tails from the feminine set around his waist.

”Huh not bad” he commented as he examined himself, before suddenly spinning with a call of ”oh no the food”

Fortunately, the distraction had not been long enough to do more than slightly singe some of the fries, and so the troop got to tuck into some elevenses while keeping an ear out for any calls reporting the discovery of a way down to the bee kingdom below.

From what Pit could grasp while on the way to meet up with the other teams, the city's government agents had finally arrived. A whole third faction, but since they were late to the party all the work was already done for them. The Seekers had pretty much dismantled both DespoRHado and Vandelay, so what else was left for the administration to do? Besides swoop in and arrest people. People including the Seekers. Pit sighed as they rode the elevator down, crossing his arms while Giovanna and Korsica sent the map Sandalphon's way.

"It'd be nice if we could be celebrated heroes sometimes," he said, "you know with confetti, and food, and cheering and all that stuff." Since almost the entire world was brainwashed, it was probably asking a lot. But always being on the run was getting tiring. At least after collecting Benedict the old man's healing striker had made the angel physically feel better.

When all of the teams met up again in the courtyard, there were some relieved sighs but not much fanfare. There were also two missing, Raz and Tora. Were they alright? Pit fidgeted, asking after the both of them. Apparently Tora had decided to stay in order to research a way to help Poppi - he was alright. Hopefully he could escape the agents swarming the area so he could actually work on his project. It would be good to have Poppi back as soon as possible. Raz was a different story however, because he had disappeared in the middle of the mission.

...only to reappear again now at the end of it.

"You found Peach?" Pit repeated, hopeful. What a boon it would be if they could rescue her as soon as possible! With some luck maybe Tora would have a break through and the entire group could reunite. He and Peach went way back, sort of, so he'd feel like a jerk if he left her rescue to someone else - he planned to accompany Luka and Raz back even if he was completely out of his element.

At that point a huge tank-looking robot crashed into the area just after Giovanna's warning, spinning its treads and staring down the group. It looked familiar, but Pit didn't dwell on it. As Sandalphon advised, they had to escape as soon as possible lest they get surrounded by the city's forces. Most of the Seekers headed with Korsica to the escape route she'd been mentioning, but Pit turned to the Scarlet Guardians.

"I'll go too!" the angel exclaimed, diving forward to take Raz's hand while Midna took Sakura's, and Roxas took Luka's. He held his other hand out as if they'd form a ring together, regardless if it was needed or not before they teleported.




Therion was the first to the ground out of the two Travelers, dismounting the borrowed wyvern and giving it an awkward pat on its neck. He shuffled away from it and closer to the empty hut while taking in the area. It was incredible that a city of this size was so far down underground, but then again they had just come from the comparable Home of Tears. When Primrose alighted among the group a few moments later, her eyebrows were knitted together in concern. True to Barnabee's word the area was all but destroyed already, and pools of residue from the calamity covered a lot of the surface area. There didn't seem to any people left that they could see from here, only monsters - and not the sentient kind like the city they'd just come from.

Once everyone was together they could decide their plan of action, which turned out to be a simple one. After Barnabee told everyone what he remembered, both of the Travelers glanced in the direction of the arboretum. It was a no brainer considering it was the only place they could see that had visible roots growing around it. They would leave the extra exploration to the other Seekers now that their destination was decided. Therion started toward their destination without a word, only casting curious looks at the other points of interest. Primrose was soon to follow, taking only a few moments to make a comment to the others as everyone dispersed to look around.

"Don't forget to check in if you find anything... or run into trouble," she said, tapping her ear. After that she quickly caught up to her friend due to her longer stride, and together they made a beeline for the abandoned arboretum. They avoided the local wildlife as they walked, finding that most of it avoided them in turn. The black pools of sludge were the exception, as even though the Travelers gave them a wide berth if any of the hands reaching out of it spotted them with the eyes on their palms, the entire tar pit would move in pursuit of them. A blast of Primrose's magic felled many of the limbs, but upon discovering that they seemed to regrow themselves very quickly the Travelers focused on outpacing them instead.

Thick, dry roots blocked the front entrance at the building itself, large enough that they could be seen from afar. There was no doubt they belonged to the massive tree whose branches were stretching out of the broken roof. Thankfully windows lined the entire structure, most of them already broken or missing all of their glass entirely. Therion nimbly climbed through one of them, dry grass crunching under his boots once he dropped inside. He was greeted by a musty, earth-rich smell and distant rustling reached his sensitive ears, but the immediate area was safe.

"It's clear," he called up to the window, signalling Primrose to float inside and land beside him.

At first glance the interior seemed to be a large garden featuring a plethora of plant life, and while technically true it became immediately apparent that the whole area was neglected, dehydrated and left to rot. Entire trees withered where they stood, foliage both large and small drooped toward the ground, and many plants had long ago shed their leaves and petals. Many more were already completely dead and shriveled. It made sense - the caretakers of the arboretum had all either died or fled.

They walked slowly down a path of cracked stone. To say it was overgrown didn't seem right. Maybe it had been in the past, but now the plants that had threatened to overtake it were dried up and gone. The grasses that lined it were brittle and yellow. Crimson vines sometimes stretched across the floor, their thorns like jagged teeth. The Travelers avoided these whenever they came upon them.

"At least that foul looking muck isn't as dense here," Primrose commented. Compared to the city's streets and other buildings, the gloom inside the arboretum was little more than puddles - thankfully without any grasping hands growing out of them.

"Yeah, especially if that stuff about it breaking down weapons is true."

"Didn't Barnabee mention that it 'sapped away their lives,' and you're more worried about your sword?"

"Us non-mages kind of rely on them to fight and kill the things that are trying to kill us, like the hand monsters sapping life in the first place."

"You have claws now, don't you?"

Therion did not dignify her question with a response, just rolling his eyes at her as the two of them continued to pick their way through the area. "Anyway, he said the place we're heading is deeper underground right? So I guess we'll be looking for a staircase or something to go lower."

Once a little deeper into the arboretum, the first signs of actual life began to appear. Among the dead and dying plants seedlings scurried on their tentacle-like roots, chasing or being chased by more dried out plants. Without the original inhabitants here to explain, it was impossible to tell if creatures like these had always been here or if the plants evolved to eat each other when the lack of water and sunlight became too hard to bear. Larger, more dangerous looking plants were present but in much smaller numbers, mostly ambling around a small area if they even moved at all. These monsters weren't interested in trying to go after such large prey, so they left the Travelers alone as they walked on. The two of them agreed that if they were attacked, neither of them should use their fire spells. With how dry it was in here, one stray ember could lead to the entire arboretum being torched.

There was no sign of a stairwell or elevator that would take them down that they could see. At ground level, the huge tree's trunk took up a lot of their view. Plants were everywhere else, and along the walls and floors those red thorny vines stretched. However the inside of the arboretum was huge, much larger than it seemed from outside, so they still had plenty more ground to cover.

"What do you say to splitting up?" Primrose asked, glancing at her companion. If there was a way deeper, they were likely to find it faster that way.

"Sure. I'll go that way and put these claws to use."

Therion took his feline form, knowing it would be better suited to exploring a jungle like this even if it was mostly dried up. Primrose went up, using her scarf to get a higher point of view before the two friends went in opposite directions.

Therion slunk through the brush, checking out anything that might be alternate pathways. He did find a staircase that might have led to a lower level, but it was completely collapsed and seemed to have been buried a long time ago. After leaving it behind he decided Primrose's idea of a higher vantage point was a good one. He spotted a tree that might be able to hold his weight and climbed up, leaping from branch to branch. Not seeing anything yet. If this is really a dead end...

He didn't finish his thought, the branch underneath him snapped. He hadn't been that high up and landed on his feet, his fur standing on end. He landed beside a thorny brute, immobile and camouflaged until Therion had dropped in next to it. It uncurled itself, the light behind its eyes glowing bright as it activated. Ugh, I don't feel like dealing with this!

Meanwhile, Primrose had found her way to an area that looked unusual from above. It was a cluster of what looked like leaves and moss, most of it brown and wilting. When she arrived she found a few groups of little creatures, ball shaped with plants growing from them if they weren't already plants themselves. The korpokkur looked up at her sadly as she walked up to them. The few green ones in their numbers came to meet her and held out their little hands, gesturing to their leaves and the leaves of their dried out friends.

"...I'm sorry, I don't understand," she told them, seeing as they had some intelligence. "Do you want water?"

The word water drew the other korpokkur closer, and they all looked up at her with big, sad, hopeful eyes. All she had on her was her canteen, with no other way to conjure water for them. Then again, she could just refill her canteen at any of the rivers they came to pass. The dancer fished the canteen from her bag and poured a little of it on the nearest brown korpokkur. It wiggled happily and slowly turned green itself. The other brown ones queued up for the same treatment, making Primrose chuckle. She repeated the action, half wondering if there was a way to get an ice or water spell soon.

As she was doing this a furry, four legged shape nearby caught Primrose's eye. It was half hidden in the brush on the opposite pathway, stalking another small group of korpokkur. "...Therion?" the dancer asked, standing to get a better look. The shape stilled and then slowly rose to its own full height as the little seedkin scattered away from it. Its fur was matted, his claws long and sharp, roots covered its back and dug into its skin, and from its head a massive flower bloomed. Primrose stood her ground even as a second, previously unseen monster stood up as well. The pair of beasts loomed taller than the dancer, snarling.

So there weren't just plants here, she thought, though with the flowers on their faces that remained to be seen. The hulking animals lunged, but a moment later the dancer vanished. She reappeared behind one of them with her Ravaging Confession and struck. Dark magic rippled through the wounds left by her dagger, making the beast howl with pain. It turned on her quickly and swiped its claws, missing the dancer by a hair as she moved to the side. Its partner did the same, grazing Primrose's skin as it bounded forward and slammed its claws down at her. She jumped backwards, flipping her hair and raising a hand glowing with magic. When she closed it into a fist the Moonlight Waltz erupted around the injured bear, reducing it to ashes with a drawn out yowl.

Drawn by the sounds of battle another beast burst through a dead thicket, sliding to a halt between Primrose and the grizzly host. Therion barred his fangs and roared at the monster, and in return it raised its claws and roared back. Heavy thumping preceded the arrival of the thorned hollow that had been chasing after the thief, and when it crashed through the foliage it barreled towards all three of them. Primrose and Therion were deft enough to avoid it, leaving only the flowering beast to be trampled. It wailed and sank its fangs into the twisted vines that made up the hollow's body, leading the two monsters to start fighting each other.

The Travelers left them to it, departing the scene during the confusion with an entourage of korpokkur in tow. They moved until they were out of earshot, stopping under a willow that had lost most of its branches where Therion took his human form once more. The brown korpokkur trailed behind, while the green ones ran in circles around the both of them.

"So there were some dangerous things in here. I suppose that's to be expected..." Primrose sighed. There was still no sign of any path that Barnabee might have taken. Some of the green korpokkur started tugging at the hem of her dress, drawing Primrose's attention. At the same time, Therion's tail twitched and he turns his head, his nostrils moving.

"I think I can smell water," he said. But he couldn't tell where it was coming from. It could have been from outside if they were close to that small river in this area of the building. The korpokkur hopped on their little feet at this comment, continuing to tug at Primrose. She patted the closest one on the head.

"Maybe a spring somewhere?" she guessed. Standing up straight she gestured for the seedkin to go on, assuming they wanted to show her something. "These little ones seem to want us to follow them. Maybe they know where the water is."

With no other leads they followed the korpokkur, back tracking a little and weaving around the center tree. The creeping red vines grew thicker in this area, and when they stopped again the korpokkur were pointing right to a large cluster of them. They seemed to be growing through a hole in the ground, but there was nothing else to be seen. Therion frowned at the vines, then at the seedkin.

"Here?" The smell of water was a little stronger, but there wasn't any way to access it. Unless... Therion brandished his sword and swung at the nearest tendril. When the blade struck it barely cut through before the entire plant moved. Much more quickly than anything else in the arboretum the vines pulled together, lashing whatever was in their path with thorns. They tore through dirt and leaves, and their chainsaw-like ripping caught the thief as they retracted away from his weapon. He sucked in a breath and darted backwards as bloody cuts opened on his legs. They were quickly tended to by Primrose's Warmth spell while the vines retreated into the hole. After a few seconds they started to crawl back out, reaching towards the areas they had previously occupied. Some of the korpokkur that had run when the vines moved started to peek out from their hiding places.

"Well, what do you think?" Primrose asked, moving her hands to her hips once Therion was healed. The thief scratched the back of his head, frowning harder.

"The water smell got a long stronger when those vines weren't covering the hole. I think it really is a way down." Keeping his distance this time he threw a knife, and the same thing happened. The vines ripped through the immediate area to pull together for defense, and then unfurled themselves to grow back. "But how to get past these... a controlled burn?"

Primrose wasn't sure if that was the best course of action. The fire would surely destroy part of the vines, but there was too much danger of setting the rest of the garden aflame. "How about digging around them?"

She summoned her striker Hippowdon and commanded it to Dig. The Pokemon snorted and got to work while Therion and the korpokkur looked on curiously. It was surprisingly fast at digging, but at a certain point it struck vines that had burrowed into the earth like roots. They ripped into its thick hide when they pulled away and destabilized the soil where the Travelers stood, pulling the both of them and the group of seedkin down below the floor. Thankfully the drop wasn't very far, and the whole lot of them landed in a canopy of soft leaves. One by one they detangled themselves and hopped to the ground.

The difference between the floor they were on now and the one they'd fallen from was like night and day. For one, this new area was green. The plants here were all alive and growing well. On this level, larger plant creatures could flourish due to the water access, and some seemed only able to grow here in the first place. Rehydrated versions of some of the plants upstairs were spotted, much healthier looking than their counterparts upstairs.

There were even some lingering signs of life, like foliage set up around a table to mimic having a conversation. Another stone pathway wound through the area, and with the korpokkur already getting a head start moving along it Primrose and Therion followed them. It led to a great pool surrounded by well nourished korpokkur and other little creatures. The dehydrated korpokkur from above stumbled forward and hopped in, happily letting the water soak into them. Giant lily pads formed a walk way across the pool, leading up to a small stone temple that had seen better days. The Travelers glanced at each other, coming to the same conclusion. If there was a way to get even lower than this, it would be through that temple. They carefully crossed the lily pad road and went inside.

There wasn't much of interest to either of them inside the building. It almost seemed to have been a magic greenhouse of some sort far in the past. Pots lined the halls in many different sizes, along with soil and seeds. Maybe to another person, the prospect of such rich gardening would be like a treasure. Like the rest of the arboretum plants grew everywhere and vines curled around the walls and ceilings, including the aggressive red vines that had been on the floor above. They had smashed through the temple's roof and climbed up to the higher level before spreading... but they didn't originate here. When Primrose and Therion made it to the center of the building, a wide area greeted them. There were smaller pools of water here, and a lot more thorns. The red creepy vines were growing through another, much larger hole in the ground, suggesting another way forward.

"This has to be the right place," Primrose said. Her voice echoed slightly in the space, triggering movement. She and Therion tensed, spotting something - or someone - on the far side of the room. They were laying in a giant flower pot surrounded by the vines, and slowly rising.

The plant woman stirred, emerging from her pot with an exaggerated yawn. She was larger than the both of them, maybe even twice their size. She stretched her arms up over her head and shook her leaves out, and when she cracked her eyes open only to find two strangers in front of her she startled.

"Huh?! Intruders? Trying to ambush me while I was asleep?"

This is unexpected, Primrose thought. She took a step forward, holding up her palms. "No, we're looking for-"

"I-I won't let you! Hyah!" The siren squeezed her eyes shut and waved her arm. On the ground below the Travelers three seeds sprouted. They both knew better to stay in place - they dashed away from the seeds seconds before they erupted into huge, green vines. The vines punched through the earth and then retracted, and with another wave of the siren's arm the same thing happened, new vines sprouting from the ground where the two Seekers had just been standing.

"We're just looking for a way down!" Therion shouted at her.

"She might be holding a mask piece," Primrose reminded, preparing a spell in her hand. "We may have to take her down."

"Mask? I don't have anything like that!" The siren cried. This time she brought her arms in close to her chest, and when new vines appeared they were much smaller and bound into a humanoid shape. "Protect me!"

The animus of will fired its spear-like appendages, both of them breaking against Primrose's Baldur Shell. The dancer returned fire with her Moonlight Waltz. While the newest plant monster staggered, Therion moved in. Throwing daggers embedded themselves in the animus' chest, neck, and head. It twitched, clearly hurt but not yet defeated. Therion continued on past it regardless, headed for the water lily siren herself.

"Hey! You cheater!" She summoned a trio of giant vines to burst forth from the ground again, narrowly missing the thief as he ducked and weaved out of the way. The vines had been crashing against the stone every time they missed, and this time a chunk of rubble was dislodged. It fell onto the mass of creeper vines, triggering a deadly chain reaction.

The vines tore through the entire temple, whipping past Primrose, the animus, Therion, and the siren. They cut ribbons out of all of them, destroying the injured animus in the process. They cracked and shattered the stand that the siren's pot was sitting on, sending her tumbling to the ground where she was at the mercy of the vines when they started to grow back. They started to curl around her, and she did her very best not to shake in panic lest they retract again.

"Oh no... O-okay, you can have all of the seeds here just... please help me!"

The pair of Seekers were bleeding onto the grass while undergoing another bout of Warmth. Neither one of them seemed inclined to assist the siren, and when she realized that the plant woman's eyes started to fill with tears. "You said you were looking for a path down? I might know it! So, come on... please?"

Primrose sighed. The siren didn't seem malicious - maybe they'd just spooked her when they woke her up. Once she completed her spell she gingerly stepped forward around the vines on the ground. Reluctantly Therion followed her.

"We're going to have to pull you out I think," she told the siren, making the woman's eyes go wide. "It seems like it'll hurt, so just brace yourself. I'll fix it afterward."

The siren nodded, letting Primrose take both of her hands. The dancer looked to Therion next, grimacing. "We'll probably get caught in it again," she warned him. "But if you could cut the vine and make it back off for a moment?"

Therion grumbled something that she didn't hear, but he pulled out his shield, tensed his shoulders and raised his arm. When he struck the vines did as expected, and he blocked the stray whips as they moved. They cut up Primrose and tore through the siren's leaves and body while the dancer used her strength to drag the other woman out of the danger zone for when the zines grew back. Once she was free Therion came over to help, and the three of them moved as far from the vines as they could within the room.

The siren blubbered, big tears falling from her eyes and, strangely, her leaves. Primrose patted the plant woman's head and produced a friend heart from her own chest. As she tended to the siren, Therion gave them some space and pressed a hand to the link pearl in his ear in order to let the other Seekers know what they'd found.

"It's Therion. Primrose and I are under the big building with the tree growing out of it. We might have found the route Barnabee took here. ...just watched out for the vines on your way down."

The instant Goldlewis set foot on the dash pad, he launched downhill like a bullet from a gun, and his heart rate spiked accordingly. His heart raced a mile a minute as he zoomed downhill, his legs a blur moving far faster than should ever be possible. None of this made a lick of sense, from his speed to his heightened reflexes to the forces acting on his body that by all accounts should be tearing him limb from limb. It was cartoon logic, plain and simple, and Goldlewis didn’t just have to accept it–he had to accept it fast, because this wasn’t an open road. Ahead of him, the street leading downward through Deep-Paris featured all kinds of clutter, from slow-moving cargo vehicles on sisyphean treks up the incline to vintage trams to pedestrians, some of them hauling cargo or young family members. Goldlewis quickly joined every Seeker who preceded him in veering left and right to weave past the obstacles, not at all wanting to find out what happened if he slammed into something at these speeds. He found himself racing alongside Giovanna, who to his disbelief seemed to be taking this in stride somehow.

Still, she wasn’t enjoying it as much as Chai, whose constant cheers and exultations told Goldlewis that he was having the time of his life, despite the protests from Peppermint that rang out from 808. Like Gio, he took a more inventive approach with the obstacles in his way, flipping off of them, wall running, swinging from ceiling fixtures with his grapple arm, and even sliding beneath them. He was having fun with this, and despite the dangers ahead and the threat of Motor Ball behind them, Goldlewis couldn’t say he wasn’t feeling a little exhilarated himself. Even Sandalphon raced along with everyone else, her utterly nonplussed blank expression completely at odds with the high-octane absurdity around her. When Roland ran into a pit up ahead -though in reality it was more of a giant underground ravine that happened to intersect the roadway just before a big left turn- the archangel looked for a solution. She spotted a sky-line that had been set up to get people over the rift, then flew off a ramp truck in order to sail over the gorge and land on the rail.

With angelic grace she slid along the top at high speed toward the turn, 2B and 9S following her example. In the wall above the turn, Sandalphon took note of the muted sunlight filtering through a huge turbine that helped vent fresh air into this part of Deep-Paris. Such a machine no doubt required maintenance, and sure enough, she spotted an access hatch she could reach via a different rail. She leaped and changed tracks, lifting her gunstaff to take aim as she slid up toward the hatch. Once her weapon spun up she shot the big red button on the wall to pop open the panel, and without bothering to slow down and dismount the rail the archangel flew off the end, dove forward, and shot through the door. She sailed out over the walkway and away from the sheer face of the earthen sector’s eastern-facing cliff, through the open air above the Sector 07 undercity. After a moment she triggered Heavensent to slow her fall, and with the androids holding onto their pods behind her, the three drifted safely downward toward the ramshackle slums far below.

Back inside, the downhill rush continued for the others. Goldlewis, Giovanna, Chai, Korsica, and Svarog had all jumped the ravine behind Karin, Geralt, and Roland, then slowed down to take the turn before more boost pads sped them on their way. That ravine seemed to mark the end of the ‘upper’ Deep-Paris town that parasitized the underbelly of Vandelay, but there were more settlements in store for the team along this winding underground route. In the middle of another little town they came upon a construction site. The smaller and/or nimbler Seekers could navigate their way around, but when faced with a heavy bulldozer Svarog made a split-second decision. He couldn’t smash through anything with Clara in his arms. He slid to a stop in a cloud of dust, inches away from the big rig. Not far away, Chai hit a section of wet cement, and despite quickly losing speed he forged onward right until he got stuck just a foot or two away from the end. “Oh, crap,” he groaned, tugging at his shoes. Around him the workers not already sent into a panic by the other Seekers began to scatter, yelling, and when Chai turned around he saw why. Repeated collisions with the walls of the downhill tunnel, especially on the turns, had damaged Motor Ball to the point where it was essentially just a flaming, tumbling wreck. And now it was tumbling Chai’s way. “OHHHHH CRAAP!”

Thinking quickly, he grappled to a nearby excavator, pulling him out of the cement with a wet shlorp. He swung over to an alley between a couple houses and ducked in there to hide. Once there, he spotted Goldlewis coming to a stop by Svarog and Clara, his worry writ on his face.. “You okay, missie?” he asked.

“I’m fine!” the little girl looked around, then back at Motor Ball, now only seconds away. “But we have to help all these people.

Svarog’s cyclopean eye took in the situation, his calculations instant. “Understood.” He unleashed a barrage of missiles at Motor Ball, blanketing it in explosions that tenderized its chassis. Then Svarog turned and hunched over to protect Clara with his body. Rather than hide, though, Goldlewis stepped up next. The veteran took a deep breath, his coffin held tight in his hand as he stared up at the large robot. He’d done this once; he could do it again.

Now!

“DOWN THEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!” Goldlewis grit his teeth, the veins on his neck and forehead bulging out as he planted his foot, pledging not to move a single step. As the wreck descended upon him, he thrust his coffin skyward, and unstoppable force met immovable object. “SYSTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEM!” With a colossal crash, Motor Ball bounced off and, as Svarog turned his head up to watch, hurtled into the air. From inside the coffin three Thunderbird drones zipped out. They flew after the wreck, and when Svarog lent more missiles to the cause, the ensuing explosions reduced the mean machine to smithereens. Tiny fragments of hot metal rained down on the terrified civilians, burning a little but nothing more than that, and Goldlewis lowered his coffin, panting. “Reckon that takes care of that,” he announced to nobody in particular.

If Svarog could have blinked in surprise, he would have. “Recalculating capability index.”

“You saved everyone! That was so cool, mister!” Clara hopped down and ran over to Goldlewis, her expression of terror turned to one of excitement.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Chai echoed as he emerged from his hiding place, metaphorically blown away. “You were all- it was like- how’re you so freakin’ strong!?”

Goldlewis rolled his neck. “Aw, it’s nothin’. I don’t mean to show off or anythin’.” He lifted his coffin over his shoulder. “We oughta get movin’. Everyone else probably reached the bottom already.”



With the aid of some more dash pads, the stragglers reached the end of the tunnel before too long. It terminated in a large, roughly circular cavern at ground level, full of tunnels that connected to other parts of Deep-Paris. In the far wall were a set of giant metal doors that opened up to the brick and rusted metal expanse of hovels, markets, and factories that was the Sector 07 slums. Just about everyone else had already arrived, and as Goldlewis, Svarog, and Chai came to a stop, Sandalphon descended from above -the very picture of an angel from heaven- to alight among the Seekers in the clearing outside the doors. 2B and 9S landed right after her, letting go of their pods, and Goldlewis hunched over with a sigh of relief.

“What took you so long?” Gio quipped. She’d already plopped down against Rei, using the wolf spirit as a living(?) cushion, and her chest heaved from exertion.

“Whoooooo-wee!” Goldlewis breathed, ignoring her. “After all that, I reckon we could all use a break.”

Though Sandalphon didn’t look particularly fatigued, sweat glistened on her pale skin. “...Agreed. It would appear that we reached the Sector 07 undercity. While I observed the destruction of Motor Ball through my link with Mr. Dickinson, it would still be prudent to put some more distance between us and our escape route. Unfortunately, the layout of this undercity is poorly documented, so I’m unable to suggest a place to rest.”

“Why not head back to that bar we took a breather at yesterday?” Gio piped up. Partitio, Susie, and Zenkichi would remember the place. “It’s gotta be lunchtime by now, right? And a little day drinking never hurt anyone, either,” she joked.

Sandalphon nodded, then turned to 2B and 9S. “What is the status of your Flight Units?”

“No response,” 9S told her, his tone worried. “Have you…heard anything back from Laxi and Mascula?”

“I’ve lost my link to them. Anything beyond that I cannot ascertain.” Sandalphon kept her tone even. “I would like you two to perform recon in the slums. Make use of whatever facilities are available to you.”

2B nodded. “We should have enough materials and currency from the spirits we collected during the fight to procure and upgrade weapons.”

“Hopefully there’s a weaponsmith around here,” 9S added. The two androids turned and went on their way, 9S chatting about the uniqueness of the human civilization around them and 2B listening in silence.

Chai walked over to the ground, 808 in cat form on his shoulder. “Listen, uh, I just got done talking with Peppermint. I’d like to join you guys, but we’ve gotta take care of Vandelay first. We never reached Kale, and if he gets SPECTRA online, everyone with Vandelay augment’s gonna be in danger.”

“I believe that’s taken care of,” Sandalphon reassured him. “Two of the people who went with Luka, Sakura and Roxas, challenged Kale himself and managed to destroy his SPECTRA machine. The threat should be neutralized for now.”

The wannabe rockstar blinked. “...Oh. Sweet! I guess we can take it easy then, huh, Peppermint?”

“I…guess?” His friend sounded stunned, as if she never planned for anything after she achieved her goal. “Kind of…I dunno, anticlimactic. But hey, the world’s better off. One less crisis, eh?” She paused. “...Though, getting rid of Kale and SPECTRA are really just the beginning. DespoRHado’s gone but Peace Protection’s still here on campus, and we’ve got a huge mess to clean up. Get back up here, will you?”

The news had taken Korsica by surprise, too. “Hard to believe,” she murmured. “But what’s done is done. I should come as well.” She walked over to Chai, then shot the Seekers a grateful look. “Putting out fires is my job, after all. Thank you all, we’ll be sure to repay you in the future.”

After another few moments Chai, 808, and Korsica went off to find the nearest train station, leaving everyone else to take a breather in the slums. Goldlewis, Sandalphon, Karin, Roland, Blazermate, Susie, Geralt, Zenkichi, and Clara all ended up looking at Giovanna. “Lead the way,” the archangel said.

She led the way riding on top of Rei, relying on the giant green wolf to clear a path for the team through the slums’ narrow dirt footpaths. The group drew some odd glances but nobody stopped them or said anything, and before long, the Seekers arrived at Seventh Heaven.



After climbing the steps and stepping inside, the Seekers found the Texan-style bar and restaurant quiet and empty but for a few patrons. Pretty soon it would be noon and more workers would start showing up for their lunch breaks. As luck would have it, Tifa was here to run the place, and the black-haired young lady looked every bit as stunning and composed as ever, happy to serve drinks and fry up some hot meals. While Seventh Heaven didn’t feature the biggest menu, it did offer simple fare, so the team could indulge in a light lunch, snacks, and however much liquor they felt inclined to pay for. Svarog had cloaked himself after arriving in the slums to not scare anyone, but one could trust him to be nearby as Clara entertained herself with the jukebox, darts, and billiards table. While the others settled themselves in, Sandalphon had something else on her mind, and excused herself to the restroom. When she returned after a couple minutes, she looked a little different.



The spirit she requested from Midna augmented her white attire with a little black armor, and she didn’t mind the stylish alterations to her coat, either. Vigilant promised to expand upon her sniping abilities, and Sandalphon had no doubt she’d need them on the road ahead. For now though, the team deserved a break. “We should make sure that everyone’s up to date on the details of the operation,” she suggested, a tall glass of soda in her hand. Without access to coffee, she’d settle for fizzy sugar water. It helped that her time in the Lateran Church had given her something of a sweet tooth. “Including myself. I would appreciate a full briefing on everything there is to know about the mission to counteract Galeem. I intend to provide my full support to your organization going forward, and the more information I have, the better I can do so.”

In the course of the conversation that followed, Clara pulled herself up onto a stool and asked for a glass of water. “What’s it like living out here?” the girl asked Tifa. “I’ve been stuck underground for so long, this place is like a whole new world to me.”

“Aw, you poor thing.” Tifa gave the kid a sympathetic look. “Well, it’s not all sunshine and roses down here, but we do the best we can. The people down here are tough, and we look after one another. We’ve gotta be when the Machines come knocking, and neither DespoRHado nor the government feel like lending a hand.” She nodded at the news playing on the old TV set in the corner. “Though it looks like DespoRHado won’t be doing much of anything anymore. Such insanity…things can’t continue like this.”

“This place under the city reminds me of Belobog. It was just the same there.” Turning sideways, Clara whispered for a moment to nobody in particular, then turned to Tifa again. “Miss? Mr. Svarog wants to know if the people here need someone to look after them. If he can set up shop here, we can definitely help keep people safe!”

Tifa lifted her eyebrows. “Oh? How…nice of Mr. Svarog. He must be very strong and kind. Er, tell him we appreciate the offer, won’t you?”

Clara nodded emphatically. “Oh yes, he really is!” She fell silent for a moment and listened before continuing. “He wants to know if there’s any local group familiar with the area who we can work with!”

Taken a little aback, Tifa smiled at her. “Oh, well. We have a sort of neighborhood watch that’s based near Scrap Boulevard, rest next to the Salvage Depot. I have some friends there. If everyone else is settled here, I can give you the tour if you’d like, little lady.”

“I’d like that very much, thank you!” Clara beamed. With Svarog hidden, Tifa needed at least one more person to ‘chaperone’ Clara on the trip, but if someone filled the role the little squad could take off on the side quest while everyone else hung around.



Using Luka’s borrowed power, the small team made a series of jumps across the City of Glass in order to leave Sector 06. Despite the speed with which they needed to leave the highly dangerous -and highly public- conflict consuming the Vandelay Campus behind, they needed to move with cautious deliberation. Any teleport made too hastily could lead to catastrophe, after all, if the warp happened to cause an overlap between two different instances of matter. Luka’s pair went first, always warping to a spot that everyone could clearly see from the last one so the others could follow suit with more confidence. In this matter the group quickly but carefully left Vandelay Campus behind, moving around the periphery of Midgar’s plates. Not even the sector’s high walls stopped them; they could simply teleport up to one of the guard towers, then use the high vantage point it provided to zip down into Suoh before the security could catch them.

Though primarily a glistening red metropolis, the city known as Suoh wasn’t evenly distributed across the Sector 05 plate. Its densest concentration of big buildings stood much closer to Midgar’s hub, with the vivid red glass of the Otherlobe often cast in the shadow of the monumental Shinra building between sunrise and noon. Toward the far edge of the plate, though, Suoh got less grandiose, with the enormous Visions visible only to psychics far less omnipresent. It was at the far edge of the plate that the team’s destination lay. Right at the edge, overlooking a breathtaking view of the Valley of Ruin, stood Beacon Mental Hospital. The team’s final jump brought them right to its main gates.



Compared to the supermodern brain punk cityscape of Suoh, the hospital looked like a relic of the past. Wrought iron fences, pitched green tile roofs, tall steeples, white pillars, and timeworn masonry gave it an almost gothic appearance, and beneath the stormy reddish-gray sky, it looked foreboding indeed. Everyone quickly jumped the fence and headed not to the front door, but an open window Luka indicated. “This place was shuttered years ago for practices the Suoh council deemed inhumane,” he explained in a low tone. “This part of town is usually very quiet, but it seems like there’s been clandestine activity around here for a while. When I asked around, the citizens were pretty hushed about it. The suspicious people we saw are supposedly here about renovations, or a historical society, or something. But when I asked further, I found out that some of those who live around here have disappeared. ‘Got a little too curious’, that’s what one lady said. After I told the others, we decided to take a look.”

When everyone jumped in, they found a welcoming committee there in the lobby waiting to greet them. Raz recognized Yuito Sumeragi from his encounter with Lili’s squad outside the Sumeragi Tomb two days ago. Though a little plain-faced and somewhat forgettable, the young man wore a warm smile as he recognized Raz in return. Sakura, and to a lesser extent Roxas, meanwhile would better remember the other two from Anistar Gym, especially the tall, brawny Gemma Garrison with his distinctive armor. They hadn’t gotten to know the red-haired Hanabi Ichijo as well, but the staff-wielding girl had been sitting on a threadbare green couch at Yuito’s side. “Ah, speaking of,” Luka began. “These are the friends I mentioned. Guys, these are Sakura and Raz, my new squadmates, plus two new friends.” He gave Pit, Midna, and Roxas a chance to introduce themselves.

“We’ve met,” Gemma replied. “Had a good couple rounds of sparring at the gym…the day before yesterday, wasn’t it?” He crossed his arms, his eyebrow raised at Sakura. “I’m a little surprised to see you in the OSF, though. I thought you weren’t a psychic?” His frown widened as he rubbed his chin. “Maybe Armstrong’s accusations during the debates weren’t as outlanding as they sounded?”

Yuito gave Sakura an apologetic look. “We don’t mean to pry. If you’re here with Luka, that means you’re as concerned about this place as we are, so we’re on the same side.”

“Exactly. We’re all here to find out what’s really going on in Suoh right beneath our own noses.” Hanabi furrowed her brows, her expression one of concern. “What Luka said about your friend turning into an Other…the ‘P-types’, and the weird changes in behavior. We’ve got to get to the bottom of this.”

“We found three spots that warranted further investigation, once we got some backup,” Yuito explained. “Since there’s nine of us, we should split into three teams. And we should link up to use SAS.” He put a hand on his chest. “My power is Psychokinesis. Think of it like Telekinesis, but a bit stronger.”

“I’ve got Pyrokinesis!” Hanabi chipped in with a cheerful smile, creating a spark of psychic flame with a snap of her fingers. “So if you need anything burned, I’ve got you covered.”

Gemma nodded. “You all can borrow my Sclerokinesis. It’ll make you basically invincible, but it goes fast, so make sure you don’t waste it.”

“You all know about my Teleportation already,” Luka mentioned, turning to look at Raz. “And yours is ‘Marksmanship’, right?”

”Uhh…yeah! Psychic laser blasts from my mind and all that!” the Psychonaut replied, just now remembering that psionics were supposed to have only one power.

As everyone connected the necessary SAS cables, they quickly decided on teams. As the ones more familiar with Beacon thanks to their recon, Luka, Gemma, and Yuito would each lead one team, and after Hanabi stuck with Yuito, Raz elected to join them, and the three proceeded down the hospital’s center route. That left the other four to choose between Luka and Gemma in order to comb the place.

Once formed, Luka’s team headed toward the right. That third of Beacon comprised the more residential section of the hospital, its multi-tiered common rooms connected by hallways lined with patients’ rooms. However, something seemed to be wrong with this area. It was filled with a viscous, bubbly white psychoplasm that coagulated and dripped like candle wax, slathered over the walls, floor, and furniture. The team proceeded in quiet caution until they came upon several humanoid figures laying in the wax, cracked and calcified as if molded from plaster. “We decided to wait for backup after seeing these,” Luka whispered. “They may just be here to dissuade intruders, but if they’re enemies laying in wait, we need to destroy them quickly and quietly. There’s no telling what’s lurking in this place.” His suspicions turned out to be well-founded. When anyone got within a certain range, the Albedo would jerk to life and begin to stagger around, muttering in strangled, dry voices as they searched for something to tear apart. Starting in the second common room, a pool of wax began to bubble and froth, and as the team took cover a monstrosity emerged from within. At first it looked like a serpent, with a long body covered in wax that twisted around to look for intruders, but the head on the end appeared to be a melted, jawless human skull of unusual size, with glowing red compound eyes in each socket. If the Watcher spotted anyone its countless hands would emerge from the wax to drag them in, turning the exploration into a heart-pounding stealth mission.

On the other side, Gemma led the way into the hospital’s medical wing, with dark rooms lined with pale green tiles, gurneys and hospital beds everywhere, and an unusual profusion of barred metal gates. It wasn’t long before the team began to find bizarre mannequins in increasing numbers. Assembled like dolls from all kinds of prosthetics, straps, and bandages, the hospital’s ‘patients’ could be found sitting, standing, and prone just about everywhere in a variety of poses. Some had hook arms or peg legs, or heads that were nothing more than masks or wind-up teeth on metal prongs. There were plenty of spare parts, whether hanging on the walls or in boxes, and it was very, very quiet. A gate blocked their way, but Gemma inserted a spare fuse that he found earlier in the fuse box beside it, then cranked the lever to open the gate. A bwaaamp rang out as the door slid open, causing one behind the team to slide shut at the same time. It also made the room’s power grid fluctuate, including the light in the ceiling, and as it did Gemma glanced suddenly at a nearby mannequin. Had that thing just twitched? A moment later the fuse box blew and the overhead light along with it, and in the dark about a sixth of the patients began to totter forward–impervious to damage, deceptively fast at close range, and bent on squeezing the intruders to death within their iron grasp.



Light on her feet as ever, Nadia took the steps two at a time as she left the train station and its eldritch presence behind. Once she crested the top of the staircase and set paw back in the ramshackle emptiness of Falldown Mall, she couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. It might be a far cry from warm sunlight and a refreshing breeze, but she still very much preferred the lightroot rays and cave mists that filtered down through the shattered glass lattice roof to the oppressive atmosphere of the train station. While she hadn’t been lying when she said that aura didn’t feel as bad as it did before, its absence still took a weight off her chest, and she was ready to enjoy more snooping around with Jesse.

While Nadia got the impression that the song that echoed through the building might not have been anything special even if the place’s stereo systems weren’t butchering it, she couldn’t help but like it. Even though the feral’s own world lacked malls, the details Jesse shared gave enough context to help the song characterize this place as something nostalgic. Retro. Somewhere that time forgot. Since her breath of fresh air put some pep in her step, she skipped along to the tune, humming as she did with an easy smile on her face. “Hm-hm-hm-hm-hm, hmm-hm-hm-hm-hmmMMmm-mm~”

She took a left from the stairwell in order to do a counter-clockwise sweep of the mall, assuming that the walkway went around the back of the big central structure. Jesse followed behind her, neither humming nor skipping to the warped tune. To a more pessimistic individual the more serious woman might have seemed like a chaperone, but Nadia liked having her along. At first Jesse seemed sort of aloof, brooding, and detached, not to mention a little scary, but her little jokes and asides ended up making her a lot more human and personable. Besides, anyone who deigned to trade puns with Nadia Fortune couldn’t be all bad. As she passed by an abandoned toy shop, Nadia raised her hands and performed a cartwheel, landing deftly on her footpaws despite the added weight of the blade case that affected her balance. “Still got it,” she grinned, pleased with herself. “I’m still getting used to the changes, but it ends up ‘feline’ weirdly natural. You haven’t fused through, right Jess? I was worried at first, and I’m not totally over it, but it’s been alright so far.” She brushed her hair out of her eyes, only for it to immediately settle back over her left again. Funny that her bangs ended up being the least pleasant of her new features. “Still, I’d like to turn my hair white again, and I wouldn’t shed any tears if I ended up ditchin’ the paws and extra tails.” Hopefully before I meet back up with Ace, she thought, although she didn’t say that part. She felt like she needed to be careful lest this whole fusion business tamper with whatever the Monster Hunter -and by extension, all her new friends- liked about her.

Nadia spotted a jewelry store, and though she didn’t bother getting her hopes up since the whole city looked pretty picked-over, she couldn’t suppress her curiosity and slipped inside for a quick peek. Maybe her instincts as a cat burglar could alert her to something others missed. Upon entering, she found every display smashed and empty, as she predicted. Not even the cushions that the dazzling accessories might have rested upon remained. At the very back, however, she discovered a big, black safe. “Ooh, what do we have here?” It lay on the ground behind the desk, very scratched and banged-up thanks to all the looters who’d tried to open it by force, but still shut tight. She knelt down and ran her hands over it, getting a feel for the hardware. It looked much sturdier than the safe she breached back in the Home of Tears, and she doubted she could bust it open. While not one much for arithmetic, she knew by heart that four places and ten digits meant ten thousand combinations, way too many to brute force. Still, it looked like someone had tried. Scrawled on every inch of the walls were different four-digit codes, evidently ones that some enterprising treasure hunter had tried. Above the safe itself was one code in particular, nine-five-zero-three, which Nadia quickly found out wasn’t the code.

“Hmm…” Standing up, she got a closer look at the big code. When she looked at it just the right way, the five shimmered in the light that managed to filter through the wrecked storefront all the way to the back. “Wonder what that means.” Did that mean the code started with five? She tried five-zero-three-nine, then reversed it to make five-nine-three-zero, but had no luck. Not even five-five-five-five did the trick. “Ugh,” she groaned, standing up. “Guess it takes this one. Safety in numbers and all that.” Nadia went to leave, but on her way out of the shop, she noticed something odd. Among the countless wrong combinations scrawled on the walls, one happened to catch her keen eye with a subtle glint. Curious, she went over for a closer look, climbing on one of the tables. Six-six-nine-one, and the one at the end shimmered like the five. Instantly the wheels in her head began to turn. “Aaah, I get it! Diamonds in the rough.” Nadia tore through the remains of the store like a whirlwind, hunting for the last two combinations. In less than a minute she was crouching by the safe again. “Four five eight one!” The safe clicked, and with a gleeful grin Nadia pulled it open to peruse its contents.



“Catch!” Nadia tossed the gray ring to Jesse, then put then aquamarine one on herself. “This whole treasure-huntin’ business has a nice ‘ring’ to it, eh? Sure looks nice, but I guess we’ll have to get Toni to tell us what they do, if anythin’.” The glint of gold drew her greedy gaze back to the safe, and after a moment of rummaging she pulled out a handful of lustrous coins. “Check this out Jess, we’re rich!” Something caught her eye though, forcing Nadia to furrow her brow. Carefully she peered back the golden foil with her nails, revealing a brown substance beneath. “Ohh…” She sounded heartbroken, her ears drooping down accordingly. “It’s chocolate. Chocolate coins. They musta been here for years.” As she turned to Jesse, her ears perked up. “Want some?”

Munch, munch, munch. Fearing nothing, least of all Jesse’s judgment, Nadia chowed down on the stale sweets as the pair continued on their trek. They continued to avoid the beasts that prowled Falldown Mall until they reached the back of the place, which brought their journey to a screeching halt. In front of them stood a massive crowd of shambling, half-rotted undead. “Zombies!” Nadia just about choked on her chocolate as she reflexively leaped backward, her claws sharpening. She hadn’t heard their groans over the song that permeated the mall, although she hadn’t exactly been paying that much attention, either. In a flash she drew one of her boxcutter hilts, and once she pressed it against her case a blade clicked into place. “And here I thought they all went extinct when the Dead Zone went up in smoke. Just my luck, huh?”

Teeth gritted, Nadia stood with her blade at the ready, waiting for the mob to make the first move. She waited, and waited, and waited some more. Then she finally relaxed her stance, looking as sheepish as she felt. Unlike the Dead Zone zombies, these seemed to be both remarkably slow and oblivious, their muscles as rotted and inoperable as they reasonably ought to be. When one finally noticed the newcomers, it plodded her way like a drunk, waving its arms. Nadia stood her ground, took her boxcutter with both hands, and brought it down on the zombie in the middle of a rather feeble lunge. Its decaying body split apart like butter. Very smelly butter. The feral wrinkled her nose as the monster dissolved. “False alarm, I guess. I honestly thought they’d zom-be a bigger threat. More like the ‘obliving’ dead, right? Haha...uh, guess we’ll go around ‘em.”

With the moans of the meandering mob in the background, the ladies continued their mall run, starting with a visit to a pair of bright red doors nearby that signified a maintenance room. Inside they found a workbench against a wall plastered with blueprints. As Nadia read the labels on them, her eyebrows went higher and higher. “Defiler…paddlesaw…plate launcher? These all seem a little…demented? Wait, laser sword!?” The feral glanced at Jesse in disbelief, since the blueprint simply said to combine gemstones with a flashlight. “No way that works, right?” Her eyes landed on a flashlight laying on a nearby table all on its lonesome, and with wide eyes Nadia withdrew the gems she’d gotten from Pizza Face from her pouch. “I’ve gotta know.”

To Nadia’s complete and utter amazement -not to mention delight- the blueprint worked exactly as instructed. Somehow, the jewels, flashlight, and provided duct tape combined to create a weapon that, when clicked on, worked exactly as advertised. “Holy frijoles!” Nadia flinched away from the humming green laser blade that appeared. She shook her head at Jesse, laughing. “Guess I’ve gotta give Galeem one thing. This world never gets old!”

Forgetting all about the zombies’ distasteful smell, she immediately went to try it out on the nearby horde. Sure enough, the laser sword sliced and diced the walking corpses with ease, cauterizing their wounds as it went. Nadia mowed through the horde for a solid twenty seconds before her new weapon shattered in her hand, leaving the surprised feral surrounded by zombies with her mouth agape. “The hell? That thing sucks!” She pulled out her box cutter and dispatched her attackers before storming off in a huff. “I can’t believe I spent my gems on that, what a rip-off! More like…like…loser sword! Pah!”

Not long after she and Jesse left the zombies behind, the two got a call on their linkpearls. It turned out to be from Primrose, whose escapades with Therion in the Arboretum had borne fruit for the whole team. The two had managed to locate a tunnel that seemed to lead downward into a gigantic underground hive. “Nice goin’, guys!” she told them. “Ya really ‘rose’ to the occasion! The buildin’ with all the trees, right? We’re on our way then. Don’t ‘leaf’ us bee-hind!”

Jesse and Nadia hastened out of Falldown Mall, leaving its mysteries and melodies behind. After making a mental note to tell the others about the train station, the feral navigated through Holograd’s streets, avoiding all the clutter and critters as she headed for the giant domed structure with branches poking out of it. Once inside, which itself demanded a little agility since the front door was blocked by roots, she made quick progress thanks to the efforts from the Octopath Travellers to clear the way. Some mouthy plant monsters could be seen and heard in the desiccated underbrush, but none jumped out at her, and the cute little korpokkur she found just helpfully pointed her in the right direction. The highest level of the arboretum seemed dead and dry, with only cactus still in bloom, but as she descended Nadia found much more verdant gardens below, full of flowers and greenery and sparkling blue pools with lily pads big enough to run across. While she wanted to look around, the cat burglar ignored most of the details to get straight to the temple at the end, carefully darting around the thorny red vines. There she found Primrose, Therion, and their newest acquaintance. While no Harbor Water Demon, the Water Lily Siren still boasted an incredible stature that left Nadia feeling small indeed. Her presence here alongside the Archangel that Magikrab mentioned made her wonder how many more powerful beings were lurking here in the Termite Capitol. Once Barnabee and the others arrived, the Seekers proceeded through the tunnels and onward to the Hive.

If Nadia had wondered how Primrose and Therion knew that this route would lead to their destination, one glimpse at the tunnels dispelled all doubt. Entire swathes of the dark rock gave way to golden honeycombs, and honey dripped down from them in slow-motion waterfalls. Yet these tunnels seemed oddly abandoned. “Oh yeah. Hive gotta good feelin’ about this one.”

“Be on the lookout for any wasps, my friends,” the Hive Knight warned everyone. “They are a barbaric lot, vicious and prideful, and they shall not suffer thee to set foot on their supposed territory.”

Nadia brought out her box cutter again. “Don’t worry Barnie, I’m ready for any funny bees-ness.”

Even before getting through the tunnels, the team started running into wasps. Decked out in metal armor worn atop their black and yellow stripes exoskeletons, wasp warriors brandished their vicious-looking, saw-toothed weapons at troops of ragged worker bees that made and gathered honey at their bee-hest. Further on, the tunnels finally opened up into a jaw-dropping view of the interior of the Hive. The vast open space featured honeycomb walls like brazen hexagonal tiles, tall columns that made it look almost like a grand, gilded cathedral, and ethereal hexes of shimmering golden light that formed and unformed in the air, as fleeting and intangible as dreams. The place formed a sort of town, but paper wasp nests could also be found stuck to the walls of its buildings or hanging from the ceiling, and the wasp invaders clearly enjoyed complete dominion over the local bees with the help of their Bee-Boop drones. Through the air hovered the massive Heavy Drone B-33, on constant looking for any bees slacking in their production while the wasps enjoyed the town’s facilities. The entrance to the throne room seemed to be on the far side.

“Looks like we got our work cut out for us, huh? That’s a lotta wasps…” Nadia glanced at the Hive Knight, who was seething and spoiling for a fight with the invading army. She scratched her head, her eyes narrowed. “But stealth might not bee an option.”



Ace made it alongside Lucia and Albedo, but try as he might, Big Band couldn’t see hide nor hair of either Mewtwo or Wonder Red. Where the hell did they go? he wondered, more than a little angry, and not just at the no-shows. Surely they hadn’t gotten mobbed by skeletons during the mad dash over here, but if they had, the detective knew he’d be responsible. Though to his shame, part of him couldn’t help but think that their demise would prove beyond all shadow the magnitude of the threat the Skullgirl presented, not just to Edinburgh but everything the Seekers held dear. Even if the ‘Seekers’ in this wintry city only amounted to the four standing right here, right now. Either way, taking stock of the situation would have to wait until Darkbeast Paarl and the Revenant were dispatched. And thanks to that lifepowder, he was good to go.

Ace took the initiative against the lightning-wreathed monstrosity, and Albedo quickly moved to join him. As the monster hunter drew Paarl’s attention, the two swordsmen stood together. The alchemist might not be as heavily armored or equipped as his counterpart, but he was no less determined to defeat this nightmare and find his lost friend Linkle. Paarl accepted the challenge and stalked towards the two, its bones creaking awfully as the raggedy tufts of raven-black fur that clung to them fluttered in the piercingly cold midnight breeze. “As I use my skills, my Geo will react with its Electro,” Albedo told Ace as the gaunt horror approached. “Pick up the purple crystals to gain shields. They’ll help immunize you against lightning but are too weak to take physical blows.” He could spare no further time for explanation, as Paarl attacked. It lunged toward Ace, its hideously grinning jaw wide open to crush his flesh between knifelike yellow fangs, but the monster hunter cracked it right in the chin with an upward shield bash. It was well-struck, but Paarl reacted far less than either swordsman would have liked. As Albedo created a Solar Isotoma to send out pulses of Geo energy, the unliving thing reared up and came down with electric claws, its huge slashes deceptively quick and hard to see even in the pale moonlight.

“Two pair, huh? Against a coupla o’ jokers,” Band mumbled. With Albedo and Ace against Paarl, that put him and Lucia on Revenant duty. Together the two former cops turned to face the skeletal bioweapon as it landed on the grim plaza’s tombstone-ringed central monument, standing between the two pillars with the statue at its back, where it trained its Multiple-Launch Missile Batteries on them in turn. While the Revenant looked far less imposing than Paarl, those weapons presented a unique and possibly even more troublesome challenge for a couple melee fighters trying to take it down. Sure enough, the ghoul started the fight off with an uproarious, hollow cackling and a salvo of rockets from its launchers. Band tensed up, his eyes narrowed as he gauged the distance. “Spread!”

“Ya think?!” Lucia took off running, booking it to the right away from her partner in crime prevention. Not as mobile, Band put up his guard and tried to parry. He wanted to seize whatever advantage he could, but the missiles weren’t evenly spaced, so while he deflected a couple he also ate a handful when he mistimed his parries. Leering in satisfaction, the Revenant took aim and fired off a pair of more powerful homing missiles at him. They hurtled toward him and erupted against his guard, pushing him back, though the first thing the monster saw when the smoke cleared was Band’s angry face. Lucia didn’t outrun all the splash damage that came her way herself, but when she slid to a stop she was ready for action. “Hey, bonehead!” A flare to its left drew the Revenant’s attention as Lucia performed Flipper Shot, her burning upward kick creating a fireball that she then kicked up toward the demon like a soccer ball. “Think fast!”

Unfortunately, all the Revenant needed to do was lean back and lift its foot up as if from a splashed puddle. Then it returned fire with homing missiles, and Lucia barely took cover behind a tombstone in time. Even then, she got scraped up and thrown down when the rockets obliterated her hiding spot. Laughing, the monster tilted its head back and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Immediately all the skeletons wandering around in the periphery turned and ran toward the battle, charging through the graveyard to attack Lucia and Band. With no other options, the detective buckled down and got busy. The first skeleton that reached him got popped up by a trombone slide to the face from Band’s knee, then launched even higher with the Air Mail Special so that a follow-up soundblast from the upward-facing saxophone could blast it to pieces. Two skeletons showed up, taking turns to dive at him. Band blocked, then push-blocked the first one, then interrupted the second with Low Rank, splintering out its knees with the downward organ pipes. From there he used Giant Step, crushing the latter’s skull with the stomp that deployed his giant drum pedal, which in turn pulverized the former. It also knocked down the incoming mob of skeletons, but at that point a couple rockets from the Revenant flew in, and by the time Band blocked those the horde was upon him.

Forming up into a curved line around him, the skeletons swiped, punched, and swung at him with everything they had. One even stabbed at him with a bone insect glaive, its accompanying Culldrone cutting into his coat. In the end though, bone could do only so much against iron. Band deployed his huge mechanical arms to seize the glaive, wrench it out of the skeleton’s hands, and snap it in half. From there he swung the halves like drumsticks across the entire arc of skeletons, playing their skulls like a xylophone. The sight of a Typhlosion skeleton brought his jam session to an end as Band threw the drumsticks at it. “Looks like I gotta give ‘em the goods.” From beneath his coat his little arm produced a clay plot aglow with golden runes, which it tossed up for Band to catch in the palm of his big arm and crush in his fist, coating it in holy water. His massive hook punch then wiped out the entire line of skeletons in one mighty blow, giving him enough time to use Brass Knuckle and armor through the Typhlosion’s charge and crack its skull. The undead Pokemon jumped back, wound up, and breathed out a stream of fire. Band hopped back, though for a moment, then leaped over the flamethrower to come down with Jelly Roll into a giant dropkick that blew it away. When he hit the ground, however, vines sprang up around him and bound him in place. He looked up and got a brief glimpse of a skeletal Serperior as it lunged to bite his head. With a grunt he deployed his seldom-used gramophone horn from the machinery behind his head to hold the monster’s jaws off long enough to blast through his restraints with Base Drop. He sprang to his feet just in time to block a double water cannon from a skeletal Blastoise, then found himself beset on three sides.

Meanwhile, Lucia had been dealing with adds of her own. Dry Bones might not be threatening, but they wouldn’t stay down no matter how many times she knocked them, and when a skeletal Blaziken came calling they made things difficult. The undead chicken put her kicking prowess to the test as they traded blows, but before Lucia could prove herself Quaquaval and Chesnaught skeletons showed up to rain on her parade. The featherless duck struck her with Water Pule, and when she tried to shoulder bash the Chesnaught she took damage from its Spiky Shield. She staggered backward into the middle of them, shook her head, and scowled at them. “Alrighty, bustahs You asked foah it.” Quaquaval and Blaziken attacked together with kicks of fire and water, but Lucia ducked and the two clashed in a cloud of steam. Lucia cut through the haze with an EX triple kick. “Toahnado Spinnah!” After decking those two, she rounded on Chesnaught, who went to block again for the second time in a row. Instead Lucia burned through its Spiky Shield with Firecracker, then kicked it in the chest to make it stumble back. Blaziken kicked at her, but this time Lucia caught it against her stomach with a grunt. Then she dropped her elbow on its femur, breaking it, and swept its other leg out from under it. By that time, Quaquaval was back on its feet, and Lucia was tired. BANG, BANG! Her pistol, snatched from its holster on her hip, smoked as her gunshots struck the undead Pokemon in the head. It didn’t go down, but after she dialed in her aim a third shot to the neck sent its skull spinning to the ground. The Chesnaut took five before it went down (two to each leg after missing the first) and Lucia dispatched the Blaziken skeleton before it could rise with her last shot.

Then she zeroed in on the Revenant, all high and mighty on its monument, and had an idea. She took off a Dry Bones’ head with a football kick, then grabbed its shell. “This oughta…” With a yell she hurled it at the cackling ghoul. “Shutcha up!” The shell struck the Revenant, then proceeded to bounce between the pillars around it and the statue behind it, smacking it again and again. Shrieking, the Revenant activated its jetpack and boosted away toward the corner of the plaza, ready to start the keep-away game again.

At the same time, Band had grabbed the Typhlosion and rattled its bones inside his bell, then smashed the skull when it hit the ground. The Serperior ensnared his right arm with vines to get the holy water out of play, but when it went for his head again Band snatched it out of the air with Beat Extend. After getting jangled by the giant tambourine and left in sound stun, the Serperior couldn’t do much as Band grabbed it by the tail and hurled it at the bony Blastoise. As he wrenched his hand free, he saw Lucia’s stunt with the Dry Bones shell, and inspiration hit him. “I like the way ya think, lady,” he said, charging at Blastoise with Brass Knuckle only to cut himself short with Emergency Break and grab it with Take the A Train instead. When he deposited it, the skeleton fell on its front, and Band took hold of it with both hands. “But we gotta think bigger!” With a humongous heave, he sent the giant shell hurtling across the ground. The Revenant didn’t know what hit it; suddenly its legs shot out from under it and it hit the floor. Screeching, it took aim with its rocket launchers, but Lucia closed the gap with Rough Chase. After bashing its head with her three-hit Cyclone Spinner, she went from the spinning backfist into a jumping split kick to knock away its missile batteries. It swiped at her as it rose, but she backflipped away, and beneath her Band came in with Brass Knuckles to make the Revenant see stars. After the holy water-drenched blow, it began to flash orange, and Band went in for the kill. He tore off its missile launchers with his mechanical arms, threw them down, then clapped the ghoul’s head between them to take it out for good.

The two officers panted, their sweat terribly cold in the freezing night. Though a few skeletons still congregated in their vicinity, their focus lay on the fight with Paarl. If Ace and Albedo finished off the Darkbeast, the Seekers were done here.

As it turned out, yes, holding hands was what they did, and so the princess proceeded to fully offer her hand to Sakura as if she was inviting her to dance at a royal ball, despite the urgency involved in needing to flee the giant machine that had just crashed the party. Once it was taken, they were off, waltzing across the city in a series of teleporting leaps.

In doing so they excited the fantastical futuristic city found near the heart of the city and entered a region near the outskirts that was far more mundane. Well, mundane for those who were familiar with the modern world at any rate. To Midna it was still new and interesting architecture, just of a different flavor. More somber, less garish. She felt like she might have liked it if she hadn’t found out it had been used for some sort of vile practices, and they really must have been vile indeed considering some of what the city authorities thought was ok.

”Or I suspect they might have not closed it at all, and simply claimed they did. It seems like a stupid decision to start using it again for new terrible things. Hmm, or very smart cover due to how obvious it is” the princess mused, before shrugging ”we’ll just have to demolish it to be sure it can’t be used a third time. After we get everyone out. Dark deeds tend to linger so it’d be best to get rid of the place if we can”

Speaking of dark deeds, the princess could not stop herself from commenting on the theories on where OSF got more psychics from, despite the fact that she should really have left it to Sakura on if she would elaborate or not, by adding that ”the psyfish part certainly was, at least according to the psyfish themselves” and then leaving them to do with that information what they would.

After that she stepped back to let the psychics do their thing, but made sure to take note of all the abilities whichever one of them she was going to go with would have access too. As it turned out she ended up heading out with Gemma, mostly because she happened to be standing near him when they were sorting out teams.

He ended up leading them into a lovely combination of hospital ward and prison, or at least that was how she interpreted the presence of the metal gates. Kept prisoner within where no people, but rather collections of manikins in various states of disassembly.

”Creepy” she commented, before jokingly telling Hemma ”You’ve really brought us to the nicest place for our first time together, didn’t you”

Midna was slightly concerned that the collection of manikins might hide among their mist some of the Other, like the Rummy type ones who were rather manikins-ish already, but that fear turned out to be misguided. It was the manikins themselves that were to be feared.

It started with the flickering of the lights when they were powering up a gate, a hint of movement that could have just been a trick of the light, and then a full blown attack when the fuse blew and they were plunged into darkness.

Ironically, it was the last gasp of the light that made it hard for Midna to see rather than the dark itself, the flash from the blown fuse momentarily blinding her. Meanwhile, when she turned to face the noise of several approaching somethings from behind them, and her vision returned, the darkness was clearer to the princess of twilight than if it was a brightly lit space.

What she saw was a headless manikin lunging for her, already past practical summoning or shadowhand range. She momentarily wished she had been carrying a weapon in preparation for an ambush, but even as she had that though she felt a thread of connection to her blades she hadn’t before.

She always knew roughly where they were in her otherworldly collection of course, but now it seemed clearer, as if she could reach out and touch them. So she did, the princess reaching down to her side, clasping two left hands around the hilt of her longsword, and in one swift motion drew it into the world of light.

In a soft flash of moonlight she drew the blade from a portal as if it was a scabbard, cleaving the blade into the side of the manikin, sending it stumbling to the side. She flashed a grin behind her mask, and prepared to line up a strike on the next of her foes, only to see out of the corner of her eye the one she had struck was entirely unharmed, not a dent in its clothy gown or wooden looking body.

She only had a moment to process that before she had to deal with the next, backing up a step and bringing her blade down, before swiftly drawing one of Zanzo’s cleavers as she had the long sword to strike a third. The heavy blow smacked it away, but again, no harm was done. A fourth foe was struck by a third drawn blade, but now that they were out, the 2 cumbersome cleavers proved as unwieldy as she had expected.

She took another step back as she clumsily bashed a fifth manikin aside, before having an idea. She lightly tossed the two cleavers to the ground as she guarded with the longsword, letting them fall into portals.

Then she took another step back, and proceeded to quickly draw the cleavers again, bashing two manikins away. Drop, step back, draw, strike, another step back- and she suddenly found herself bumping into the wall, and having made no noticeable dent in her foes.

It took that bump to knock her out of the rhythm she had gotten herself into, one free of thought and focused in action, and to really take in the futility of what she had been doing, but by then it was too late.

The princess was swarmed by the monsters, who reached past the blades that she tried to cut them with and grasped her arms. They pulled her forwards as more hands reached out, crushing grips grabbing her chest and neck, trying to crush the life out of her. She gasped, robbed of air, before dropping her weapons all at once, and then dissolved, slipping through their fingers.

A moment later she reappeared on the opposite end of the darkness cloaked room, having faded into shadows and then hopped from where the horde was upon her to another spot. Momentarily losing their quarry did little to phase the manikins, though what did was an odd disunity that proceeded to occur. The ones the princess had struck with the crescent moon blade drawing strikes moved to cross the room to reach her specifically, while the others went for the closest hero, causing a small traffic problem in the process and at least one manakin stumbling over another and tripping to the floor in the process.

”Interesting” she commented between heavy breaths as she observed this, her mind switching gears from what kind of firepower she could bring out to hurt these things, to something more immediately and observably useful that she could do.

With a wave of a hand she summoned the stocky shield bearing exosuit roadblock whom she had turned into a striker, and commanded him to ”Get their attention for me”

The suit obliged, challengingly beating its shield with a fist, which caused a half dozen or so heads to snap in its direction. While her striker taunted their foes, the princess stepped forwards to strike another manikin with an attention drawing slash, having deliberately dropped her blades into portals before hopping away, adding another member to her growing crowd of manikins who wanted to get their hands on specifically her.

That became the core of her strategy going forwards, the princess taunting the unkillable foes, and then using her ability to shadow hop about the dark environment to lead them in a merry game of cat and mouse which they were unable to win, thereby keeping them off of the others. Her hope, then, was that they would be able to find some way to win or move forwards while she acted as bait, drawing as many of the foes away from them as she could.

Wiping his brow with the cuff of his coat the merchant was all smiles as he followed the others into Sector 7 along the way stopping once or twice to tip his hat to whoever crossed his path "Hoo-wee, ain't this a sight for sore eyes!" Partitio remarked loudly with a chuckle, the merchant tipped his hat to the pretty lady behind the bar.

On the other hand was the old tactician, quiet and almost sullen Benedict took a seat in a lonesome corner of the bar to watch the goings on and think to himself.

Something he saw brought up old memories, watching as Partitio went up to people like he would old friends introducing himself and going out of his way to take their empty glasses and clank them on the bar counter where Tifa regarded the merchant with something of a tired resignation though she couldn't hide a smile through it as she rolled her eyes as she took the empty cups.

From the corner of the bar the faintest of smiles formed on Benedict's face, Partitio was just like someone he knew for many years.

Erador and the merchant would almost definitely get along, possibly to the detriment of Benedict. The thought at first brought a bit of humor to the humorless tactician but then filled Benedict with melancholy reminded that he was far from House Wolffort, and Anna.

"Something got you down there partner?" suddenly out of nowhere Partitio had been standing with his arm leaning on the chair across from Benedict startling him for a moment before regaining his composure "If you must know I was thinking." he replied dismissively to Partitio who was more keen eyed than he let on, the merchant shook his head "I ain't that dumb, ya'll got the look of someone with a nagging thought at the back of his dang mind." he said pulling out the chair he was leaning on to take a seat.

Both men were silent for almost a minute before Partitio kicked his feet up "Ain't gonna force you to spill the beans but I ain't gonna let you sit al-" interrupted by a sighing Benedict who pushed the merchant's shoes off the table Partitio went quiet.

"Fine, if you insist on bothering me I will tell you something…" Benedict crossed his arms, looking at his hands as he carefully picked his words "I was reminded of an old comrade, a loudmouth and brash man I served with when I was a soldier and then as a steward." the merchant smiled, quiet though to let the older man continue "You reminded me of him, as well as many things I am apt to forget about."

Partitio shook his head, snorting like he didn't believe what Benedict was saying "You ain't mean that friend, the past is pretty important and so is the things we did or said we'd do." Benedict opened his mouth to protest but he clamped his mouth shut.

"We ain't got no past here to look back to but we sure as hell can carry on what we set out to do. Sitting around stewing ain't gonna get anything done…" the merchant slid his chair back, standing before giving Benedict one last look "How bout' a drink eh partner?" it took the older man a moment hesitation in his expression to begrudgingly nod his head "Only this once." and the two stood, to grab a drink in honor to the past and the present.

As they went down the whole way down to the underplate, eventually the motorball couldn't keep up as it was. not as nimble as the rest of the group, it eventually turned into a hunk of molten metal. A big ball of it that was coming down to crush the pedestrians below! But there wasn't much her projectile shield could do against something that big, she had tested it and objects of massive size still took damage, but weren't blocked by the shield. That was when Goldlewis showed one of his super skills, using his coffin to smash the machine into much more manageable smaller chunks which Blazermate used her projectile shield to block so that only a small amount even touched those behind her and Goldlewis. Still, seeing as Goldlewis did the hard task of breaking that monster scrap into smaller chunks, Blazermate let him take the adoration of the people, just hovering to the others and healing if necessary.

Wanting a break, Goldlewis suggested some bar that Susie knew about, having been there prior, or at least something similar. Roland had heard of that chain as well, and considering he wasn't the one buying, he was up for it. Sandalphon had appeared as well with her supporting androids and had fused with a few of the spirits Midna had given her. Susie would have to figure out how this whole spirit thing worked, as seeing what kind of strange abomination Midna had become and the changes to Sandalphon made her interested, but also cautious. Roland was just as weirded out by Midna's change, but noticed that Sandalphon hadn't been as a radical change. And Blazermate was fine with everything, although she'd have to find a medabot spirit for Midna to fuse with later so that she didn't look so... weird? It was like she was made of way too many clashing parts!

Roland had heard about the under sectors, how they resembled a safer version of the backstreets back from where he was from, and yeah, they looked it. Dilapidated, rough, but at least the smell of blood and body parts wasn't anywhere to be seen, nor were their sweepers cleaning up at night and eating anything that was unfortunate to be out then. Susie wasn't too impressed with the area herself, this place needed a lot of fixing up and probably didn't have the money to do so. Even then, there wasn't much she could offer this place with how limited her business aspects were at the moment. Finally Blazermate thought it was quaint, being more on Roland's side of things thinking this place wasn't that bad. A little dusty, but rustic. Reminded her of a show she saw regarding a cowboy and his trusty nine iron, and on top of that the bar they entered was even cowboy themed!

"Oooh, I like this place! Its got that country vibe to it! You don't see these very often in Tokyo!" Blazermte said, floating around the place and looking at everything. Roland could only look at the robot looking at everything with a strange nostalgic look combined with puzzlement. He didn't say much of anything though, instead grabbing himself a couple beers and joyfully drinking them. "Ah, thanks for buying them buddy. Nothing like a cold one after a hard day's work!" Seeing Benedict and Partito drinking and rambling on about some of their past co-workers, Roland decided to join them. He was already a bit pink in the cheeks at this point. "Hey whatchya two talking about over here?" and decided to have some casual chit chat with the two.

Not wanting a beer, Susie decided to take a light stroll outside to see if there was anything of interest. Even though this place was dilapidated, that could also be opportunistic as that meant there could be things here that are far, far more valuable than people knew. It didn't take her long before she ran into a Vending machine that spoke in a southern drawl as she approached.

It wasn't like anything she had seen, and it had both an intake for items, and an outake for them. It offered mostly medicine and ammo, most of which she didn't need, but it also had a 'daily special', a shield module, but marked down from its obscene price down to 400. Now, this was something she could use. Even with all of their advancements in technology, Haltmann works couldn't ever miniaturize a shield like this. Yes they had large shields on the access ark, but they were only temporary at best. This boasted that it worked all the time and just needed time to recharge. Now if this was a scam or not, Susie didn't know. But even if it was scrap, if it held some of its former tech that could be extremely useful. Pulling out some of her credits, she bought the thing, and with a 'plunk', it appeared in the slot before her.



And it... worked! It even sized itself down to fit her great, only taking a small slot on her belt. Yeah it ruined her outfit a bit, but she was soon surrounded by a shield that would absorb every 11th bullet aimed at it, and gave her some extra shields to boot. Very nice. Maybe with how annoyingly fast these cyborgs and other creatures were, this would help her a lot. She didn't find much in her little stroll, and soon returned to the bar to chat with the others on what she had found and may be able to replicate in the future.

Blazermate, not being able to partake in any of the festivities, just floated around and made sure no one got too drunk they couldn't do anything. She had ways of getting them back up if they passed out, which it seemed Roland would be close to being after his third bottle, but she'd prefer not to. Or perhaps she would love to do so, but not in a calm way. Oh, she could play out a funny scene for everyone who wasn't drunk to watch, that'd be fun!

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Sectonia, after giving Rubick his requested stickers and putting away the bottle of magic fairy tears, went back to meet up with the rest of the group as she got a call on her linkpearl. During that travel, she inspected the bottle to see if she got ripped off, but no, this was fairly valuable if a bit mundane. It was a bottle of magical glass that seemed like it could hold almost anything that could fit inside it, even incorporeal things like souls. But it could only hold one thing, and the current thing it held was tears of some great fairy that not only boosted her damage, but healed her to full upon drinking it. Sure the bottle was a bit too small for her, but this would be valuable. And if this was just to get him to start moving, perhaps finding the rest of the poes would offer something extremely useful? She'd at least let the others know about them when she joined the group.

Apparently Primrose and Therion had managed to find the place they were looking for, an entrance into the hive. And inside the hive was, well, it was a hive. She'd prefer the area to be full of hexigonal glass and crystals rather than honey, but being a bee herself, she understood what she was looking at and there was a very comforting look of it all either way. What wasn't as comforting were all the wasps bullying about the honey bees, using various mechanical devices to enforce their rule. She had to agree it was smart, but now she had to deal with all of that 'smartness' on the reviving end as there wasn't much opportunity for stealth as they entered the main chamber, with Nadia suggesting the same. As she gave out her bee pun, and looked at the group, Sectonia gestured to herself and Bowser with a look of "Does it look like this group is about stealth?" on her face and got herself ready to start to fight off the wasps and drones hovering in the air. The big drone probably had something really, really good inside of it, considering how it looked much stronger than the rest.

"We should deal with the 'eyes in the sky' as it were. I'm sure that big drone above there has something valuable on it." Sectonia said.

Once the call was put out to summon the other Seekers, all Primrose and Therion had to do was wait for them to arrive. Therion drifted in and out of the temple, looking for anything interesting or valuable while he waited to flag the rest of their group down. Primrose kept the Water Lily Siren company, patiently explaining why "everything felt so different" after the friend heart had worked its magic.

The siren had been grateful that they hadn't left her at the mercy of the creeper vines, and after helping clear some debris from the area to make moving on easier and also promised not to eat any of the Travelers friends. She said it with such genuine emotion, clasping her large hands over Primrose's own, that the dancer instantly believed her. Even after she said, "but if you do find someone you don't like around here, I am kind of hungry after sleeping so long..."

When the rest of the Seekers (or well, most of them) converged on the underground temple beneath the arboretum, it was time to get a move on.

"Come back again if you want to!" The siren waved after them all.

Just inside the tunnel that would take them toward the Hive, as confirmed by Barnabee, Primrose held the spirit of the humanoid vine creature up to her face. She'd grabbed it while awaiting the others, and now she bound the spirit to her will.


Throughout the trek in honeycomb lined tunnel, the only living beings the group encountered were wasps and worker bees. Barnabee had warned them of the former, though he probably didn't have to. Sounds just like normal wasps, Therion thought, though considering these were almost as large as a person they were sure to be much more dangerous. The evidence of their hostile takeover of the bees was everywhere from the drones being forced work, to the paper nests affixed to surfaces, to the robots that surveyed the area.

Despite the occupation, the Hive itself was quite beautiful in an odd way. Rather than the inside of a gigantic bee's nest, it made Primrose feel as though the whole group had shrunk as they walked the path there. It was a strange feeling when mixed with the incredible view. Double so standing next to Barnabee, whose anger at the sight was palpable.

"Well... not for all of us," Primrose said, looking over at Ms. Fortune. "Perhaps a diversion would work to draw most of the wasps' attention."

The dancer tapped her chin, almost reconsidering the idea she'd suggested. It would mean less Seekers available to battle the usurper, assuming they would easily be found, but they'd done fine while split up before - even against a Consul. Of course, there was no guarantee that defeating the wasps' leader meant they would all leave. Thinning the swarm ahead of time might be beneficial. Sectonia's comment not withstanding. "That, or we just fight our way through."

Personally Therion didn't care one way or the other, as he would likely be trying to stay out of a direct fight either way. He offered an unhelpful shrug.




Once all of the teleportation was done, Pit let go of Raz's hand and shook his head briefly. It'd been a while since he'd been transported so many times in quick succession. He was right as rain by the time the small contingent hopped the fence, and he followed Luka through a side window into the building after agreeing with Midna's sentiment about the building. "Totally. There's no telling what kinds of ghosts or monsters would be attracted here. Plus if they're using it for evil experiments twice, what's to stop someone using it a third time? Or more?"

And to think they might be keeping the poor princess in a place like this. Thinking about it practically gave Pit the heebie-jeebies.

Inside there was already a team waiting for them. Introductions were short and sweet, with Pit giving his usual proud spiel about being a body guard captain. The impression that he got from the psychics were that they seemed like good people. If they were putting themselves at risk by looking into their own faction's shady business, they had to be. While they were listing off their psychic powers, Pit wondering if it was alright for the non-psychics to be here - but since Luka had taken them here with no complaints it had to be fine, right? Probably.

Speaking of Luka, Pit ended up with the group led by him as those gathered split up to investigate the building's right hand side. He wrinkled his nose at the state of this area - it definitely looked abandoned by people, but judging from the substance coating the place there was something else around. Then they came upon the calcified people... no, even if they had been humans at one point, they sure weren't now. And what were they made of anyway? Some kind of stone? Pit swapped to the Upperdash Arm, intending to shatter the strange statues per Luka's suggestion rather than attempt to cut or shoot them.

"Quick I can do," he said confidently, his tone dipping only a little when he continued, "and I'll try to be quiet."

As they came upon the statue-like things, Pit fired discuses to crush them in what would normally have been a human's vital spots, that or just smashed them with his weapon wielded like a hammer. The first time one of the albedo shuttered awake it startled Pit into hopping backward away from it. He landed in a puddle of psychoplasm, immediately regretting the action as he found it difficult to step out of it.

"Aw no, it's sticky!" he complained, raising his leg and looking at the plasma stretch as it held firmly to his sandal.

The albedo that had woken up jerked upright until it was standing, took a few stuttering steps toward the angel and then lunged - right into a standing uppercut with the divine weapon. The impact of the monster with the ceiling was dampened due to the psychoplasm still coating its body, but it still cracked apart as it hit the floor again. Pit extricated himself while the other two finished off a couple more, and then all together they could clear the area. Of albedos, at least. The next thing they encountered appeared to be a much different beast.

The group didn't need the shared telepathy via SAS to hear Pit's thoughts, as he voiced them aloud as soon as they came to mind. "Ew, what is that?" he quietly hissed to the others, peeking over a desk to survey it. It looked like it was made of the same stuff that covered the walls and floors, maybe trails left behind as that thing moved around? Pit narrowed his eyes at it, considering what the best way to go about fighting it was if it came down to that. Maybe the stuff its made of is flammable? Oh, or maybe those big glowy eyes are weak points? Wonder if it has an actual body in there or if its just a gross goo monster.

He looked over at Luka. "You could teleport us past it right?"

Zenkichi and Geralt missed the chaos behind them as Goldlewis and the others behind them stopped, with the former Secretary stopping the flaming Motor Ball in its tracks. They pair continued onwards, hitting the boost pads and making solid time downhill. Before long, they had reached Sector 7 with the rest of the Seekers, Sandalphon's crew, and the tagalongs from Vandelay. With Chai, Peppermint and Korsica heading their own way, that left Sandalphon, 2B, 9S, as well as Clara and Svarog as their newest recruits. They'd have to make sure the androids, as well as Clara and her protector were freed of Galeem's influence, but for now, they made their way to the bar Zenkichi had stopped at after the Machine battle, everybody setting off to relax.

For a little bit now, Goldlewis had been contented to sit by himself, cooling down in silence with a glass of ice water. He'd picked a seat that gave him a good view of both everyone else and the door without even thinking about it, hung his suit jacket over the back of his chair, loosened his tie, and scarcely moved from that spot since. At one point he knocked on his coffin, which he'd set up next to his chair, and the entity within cracked open a lid to hold up a mirror so Goldlewis could fix his hair. Other than that, the heavyset giant mostly just enjoyed his well-deserved break, but it wasn't long before he began to grow restless. Feeling like he ought to do something, now that he formed part of a team. He ended up setting his sights on Geralt, since the man happened to be nearby. After clearing his throat, Goldlewis spoke to him.

"Good work back there, hoss," he began. "I reckon you were pretty out of your element back in Vandelay, seein' as the whole place was Black Tech top to bottom. I was a little worried, but it looks like y'all pulled through." His brows knitted together slightly. "N-now, I'm still strugglin' a little with everyone's names. Awful hard to keep track sometimes. You weren't with the group I met back in the desert, and we only really fought together down in the tunnels outside Sector 06. It was..." Goldlewis grimaced. "Guh...Garrett or somethin' of that nature, wasn't it?"

Geralt, having more consciously chosen a spot with fairly good sight of the exit, turned slightly and gave Goldlewis a half-nod to indicate he was paying attention as he started talking. He didn't know what 'hoss' meant, but ignored that particular quirk of speech. "Close. Geralt." Humming a moment as he looked around and took a sip of ale, he continued.

"You might be surprised to hear it, but I had some idea of what was in this world before Galeem brought me here. I mentioned last night that my daughter, Ciri, is a worldhopper. She went to a number of different world trying to escape an army, hunting her to try and use her power. She explained a world with people who had metal in their heads, waged war from a distance with strange, magical weapons, and people had their own personal flying machines. I thought she was joking."

Sighing, Geralt took another sip of ale. "We also have elevators in my world, but they don't look quite the same. Usually no more than some rope, a pulley or two, and a platform for hauling goods up a cliffside. It's not unheard of for a worker to go up with the cargo, but just using them here for going up a tall building...that's what's strange to me. Everything else, I just try and roll with. It isn't always easy, but I don't have to understand how it all works. Just that it does."

"Interestin'," Goldlewis murmured, ruminating on what Geralt said about Ciri and the otherworldly perspective her dimension-trotting exploits provided. Unless the phenomenon encapsulated multiple 'worlds' from Geralt's 'world', it rather flew in the face of one of the veteran's assumptions--that prior to the universal extinction event, there had been no intersection between different worlds. Goldlewis knew of other planets, of course, but never entertained the possibility of other human life coming to be on other planets.

When the Witcher continued, Goldlewis slowly nodded his head. "I use my world's magitech same as everyone else, but I don't got a magic bone in my body. All wizardry to me, an' I mean that literally. That's just how it is everywhere, I reckon. Standin' on the shoulders of giants so we can see an' reach even farther."

Not meaning to was philosophical, the veteran chuckled. "So, ah, it's Geralt. I gotcha." He stroked his whiskers. "Or...maybe I should call you Sir Geralt? You don't exactly strike me as a knight, beggin' your pardon, but I don't mean to assume."

Geralt nodded at Goldlewis' explanation that he was similar. "Ironically, I'm considered fairly adept at wizardry for somebody who isn't a sorcerer in my world. Not as good as some other Witchers I know, but Signs are simple, if intensive, magic. Few unmodified humans can perform magic, though, and only the most basic of Signs. Some are inrinsically attuned to magic, and become sorcerers or sorceresses. Though their numbers, as well as those of Witchers, are on the decline."

When Goldlewis mentioned Knighthood though, he chuckled for a moment. "I am, actually, a knight. For a while it was mostly a title I claimed to sound more official, on the advice of a mentor. Geralt of Rivia. A bout of fortune, ill or not is up for debate, resulted in me and my group coming across the Queen of Rivia as her and her guard were being attacked by Imperial soldiers. We helped her men fight them off, and she knighted me for my assistance."

Taking a sip of his ale, Geralt shook his head. "And then I left despite her orders to remain at her side, and from what I've heard, she's cursed my name since. Though I managed to...somewhat...clear it up with her son."

"Oh, hey, we talking magic?" Zenkichi asked, having been passing by with a beer, taking a seat with the other two men. "Gotta admit, the tech, magic or no, is pretty nuts here. Kind of invasive, too. I don't think I ever liked those stupid ID tags they put on us, but now? I like them even less."

Geralt's recollection of the events surrounding the Queen of Rivia and his knighthood piqued Goldlewis' interest. The seemed like a veteran, not necessarily of the battlefield like him, but of countless quests and misadventures, with a stockpile of stories to match. If so, that'd be something else the two had in common. Right about the same time that Geralt wrapped his anecdote, Zenkichi stopped to join them. While Goldlewis might not be as inclined to indulge in day drinking as the detective, understandable though it'd be given the circumstances, having Zenkichi around felt right. Though from vastly different worlds, and more wildly disparate in age than appearances might suggest, the three were ultimately old career men. It was more than happenstance that brought them together.

"No kiddin'," the former Secretary of Defense agreed. "I've been 'round these parts for years and I still ain't got fully used to it. It's like a whole alternate history, if the Original hadn't discovered magic back in 2010 and things just kept goin' the way they had been. Lookin' at Midgar now, though, I'm grateful. Things weren't all sunshine and roses back home, far from it, but I could still see it over the horizon, like a sunset over the western frontier--America the Beautiful. And as long as I kept that dream alive, I could keep pushin' forward, no matter how bad things got. Here though...it's just plain awful. Not just the Ever Crisis, but how folks treat one another, like human life ain't worth anythin' at all...it's enough to make a man sick." He chuckled mirthlessly.

"Right, I remember you mentioning America. I'm from Japan, myself, if the name didn't give it away." Zenkichi replied. "Though, I've never heard of magic, at least, not outside the Metaverse. It's a sort of...collective consciousness alternate dimension mirroring the real world." He gave in the way of explanation, taking a small sip of his beer. "Inside it, Persona Users like me and the Thieves can summon a companion, a sort of inner self, called a Persona, and use it to fight. We're stronger than normal in the Metaverse, and get crazy weapons like my sword and revolvers. Noir has a grenade launcher for Christ's sake!" Chuckling, he sighed. "Damn I hope those kids are okay. You mentioned that they got separated in the Metro, right?" Geralt nodded in response. "Maybe I'll head out and go looking for them after, or they'll find us after. I owe them. I owe them a lot."

Geralt nodded, thinking on his own search for Ciri. From what it sounded like, they were both missing their respective charges, though he was curious how a man like Zenkichi had wound up with the others. They were barely adults by his reckoning. He was likely a guardian of some sorts, though, and it wasn't like Dandelion was much older in comparison to Geralt, even if he was supposedly a man grown. "For what it's worth, it isn't much better on the Continent, where I'm from. Tensions are only just simmering down after a major war. All sorts of folk, different species, trying to get along together. It's...troublesome. Lot of hate. Folk not appreciating that we're all sapients. Main difference here is the scale, way I see it." Sighing, Geralt took a long draught of his ale. "Your world sounds downright idyllic to me. I'd love to see it."

For Goldlewis, it took a moment for Zenkichi's stated origins to really sink in. Japan? In his world, the island nation had been nothing more than a gigantic hole in the ocean ever since the Gear called Justice obliterated the entire country as her opening salvo in her war on humanity. That had been back in 2074, over a hundred years ago, meaning no man yet lived who could claim Japan as his home. In that calamity's wake, the few Japanese survivors scattered throughout the world had been more or less declared as national treasures, to be protected at all costs. Very briefly Goldlewis considered passing this grim chapter of his world's history, but as far as fun facts went it was pretty lacking in the 'fun' department, so the veteran decided to keep it to himself.

He could comment on the Phantom Thieves, though. "Those kids are tough by themselves, but together they're one hell of a team." He remembered fighting alongside them in Al Mamoon against the so-called Resistance, and the impressive Personas they summoned. "I reckon they'll be just fine."

The idea of his world being idyllic made Goldlewis chuckle. "Well, maybe there's a piece of it in here somewhere." That wasn't how he'd describe it by any means, and few had a better idea for how deep America's flaws ran than the Secretary of Defense. And that didn't include the Gears or anomalies like Happy Chaos. Of course, he couldn't level judgement at the state of Geralt's world himself. Midgar had proved that other realms could be far more screwed-up from a far more fundamental level.

Goldlewis shifted his weight, restlessly drumming his leg on the floor. As his attention shifted back to Zenkichi, he remembered a poignant detail that scrunched his brows together in concern. "Both o' y'all got it awful rough. Riskin' your lives day after day, away from your families, your li'l girls. Never knowin' if you'll make it back, if they'll be okay. Gotta weigh on ya somethin' fierce. Wouldn't blame y'all if ya left this fight to folks with nothin' to lose."

"Yeah, I'm sure they will be. Just gramps being worried..." After a moment's pause, he clarified the title. "That's what they like to call me, on account of my being more than twice their age. Little punks..."

Geralt chuckled, shaking his head. "Can't imagine what that'd make me." If even a piece of Goldlewis's world wound up here, if he could speak of it so fondly, even as an ideal, a dream of what it should be rather than what it was, it sounded like a good thing. When the former Secretary of Defense brought up their particular parental lots in life, Geralt just shook his head. "Couldn't. Having something to lose is all the more reason to stick around." Besides, as much as he hated Yennefer throwing it in his face, as much as he denied it to himself, Geralt did have a habit of sticking his nose in places where his help hadn't been asked for. For better or worse.

"Yeah, no way am I gonna sit back and just let other people solve the world's problems while I have the means to do it myself." not again... Zenkichi added, the last bit with not a small amount of a self-deprecative tone. "Besides, it's personal for me. Konoe...I thought I was done with him. He'd cofessed his crimes, I was right there when we arrested him. No, I'm in this for the long haul."

For his part, Goldlewis nodded and raised his glass. "Well, then, to savin' the world." Zenkichi and Geralt joined him, each raising their own drinks with a soft 'clink'.

”In hindsight, I suppose the place with the trees growing out of it would have root caverns beneath it” Kamek mused as the troop looked up at the foliage bursting from the abandoned arboretum. They’d come here after receiving Therion’s message, but, unbeknownst to them, had ended up coming at the place from a different angle, and thus an entirely different entrance, than the thief and his friend had taken.

Nevertheless, they picked their way through the top layer with relative ease and lack of any notable encounters, until they came across a curious sight. Streaks, or paths, of slime coated the ground in one area, all of which converged upon a singular path down towards the lusher garden below.

They found out this latter fact because Rika had immediately stepped on, or rather above, the still wet slime, the presence of even that thin layer of fluid letting her sail rather than walk, which she much preferred. To follow her, the royals were able to simply walk alongside this trail for a while, but when they found the way down, well, it was entirely coated in the slime

”Are we really going down that way” Jr complained

”It would be best to not make the others wait too long, but I suppose we could take a look for another one?” Kamek said, looking to Bowser to get a final say on that matter.

Before he could give it, however, Rika, who had already been sailing ahead to check out the tunnel, piped up ”I think I hear fighting going on down there? There’s magic pew pews and shouting and stuff going on I think” which settled the matter.

”We’re going to get down there and back up whoever’s gotten themselves into a mess. Koopa troop, charge!” he commanded, before stomping forwards onto the slime and down into the tunnel. Jr groaned and then followed his papa on foot while Kamek floated slime free above.

The tunnel dipped and bent, and then took a steep decline which had some rather unfortunate consequences, namely both royals losing their grip on the ground and instead starting to slide down the slime.

”Wowowowow!” Bowser panicked while his arms pinwheeled to maintain his balance, while jr entirely altered his opinion on the slime trailed path, sliding swiftly past his papa with a cry of ”Woohoo!” as he effortlessly kept his balance while shooting down the rest of the tunnel.

The prince burst out into the lush lower level with Rika at his side (the ship girl having matched his pace, one he caught up with her) a little while later, which sent them both careening into a miniature warzone.

One side, that of the garden, had formed a defensive perimeter centered around a relatively normal looking tree tree, sans for the fact that green energy periodically emanate from the tree to settle upon the hulking form of an Awoken Hollow, both revitalizing it, and seemingly causing it to grow even stronger after each revitalization as more vines sprouted from its shell.

The tree was also host to six of sword armed harpies who swooped down out of its branches to attack, before retreating back to it if harmed inorder to be healed by their roost. The remaining bulk of the garden’s forces meanwhile consisted of a number of what seemed to be the fleshless shells of termites, the capitol’s former residents, reanimated by a mass of vines and moss, and a few harpy skeletons animated in the same way (the living ones did not seem to mind this at all), all of which shambled forwards in zombie like fashion towards their foes.

Such slow speed might have made the termite and harpy manikins easily outmaneuvered by most foes, but as it turned out they were matched for speed by the ones they were facing. The decimators of gardens. The leavers of the slime trail. A horde of snails.

The main mass of the slimy invaders consisted of blamish
snails which crept along the ground, their shells as tall as men, their maws full of surprisingly sharp teeth. Where they and the manikin met, the snails attempted to simply devour the vines animating the undead, while the manikin in turn tore into them with claws of bone or chitin, or attempted to lash the snails with whip like strikes from their vines that seemed to inflict fatigue at the touch.

These ground borne foes where no threat to the harpies, but what was where the milk snails whom while the where where only about half the size of their blamish kin, where able to unleash bolts of blue magical energy from their stain glass patterned shells. It was they who kept the harpies from simply harassing the snail army to death, as each attempted swoop would be met with an AA barrage of magic blasts.

Finally, at the center of the mass, pushing forwards towards the tree and its awoken hollow guardian, and showing no fear for the way it was smashing aside foe after foe, was a single member of a third kind of snail, one smaller than all the rest, that rocked on its shell rather than its slimy body.

Like the groves forces Rika or Jr noticed that final third kind of snail, for they were much too busy careening into the rear ranks of the slimy army. Literally careening in Jr’s case, as, having no real way to slow down, it was all he could do to spin himself around and slam spiky backed shell into one of the blamish snails, punching holes its armor in the process and eliciting a bubbling cry of pain from his impromptu crashmat, and drawing the ire of the other snails in the process.

His victim attempted to bite him with a mouth containing just enough hard parts that it might actually hurt, and got punched in the face for its efforts.

”ew, gross, you got your slime on my fist” jr complained as he pulled said fist back after leaving the snail’s head a ruined pulp, before pushing away from its disintegrating body, and finding himself surrounded by its angry kin.

”What, are you supposed to be scary? Maybe if I was a cabbage” Jr taunted, before twirling his paintbrush and then giving a warcry of ”Lets see how you like the taste of your own goopy medicine!” before slashing with the brush, leaving a streak of burning slime that started to roast a pair of his foes.

As they burned, the prince leapt up onto their backs, clawed feet finding footing on their large shells despite the slime coating them, after which he started leaping from snail to snail, stabbing down with his paintbrush to deliver ironically slimy death to snails after snail.

Rika meanwhile had avoided smashing into the snails, but by virtue of association also became a target, causing several milk snails to pivot around to attempt to blast her with their magical bolts. They achieved little in trying to do this.

Rika’s gaze slowed the snail’s shots, while she continued to take advantage of the slimy snail trail to sail to and fro, thus avoiding the shots with ease while returning fire with her grizzco blaster and lancing any snails that got close with her spear. As she did this, the harpies took advantage of the distraction, swooping down and swiping at the odd snail with their claw held blades, shrinking cries of triumph and thanks as the unintentional intervention from the pair of youngsters seemed to have turned the course of the battle in their favor.

Then the snail traveling on its shell rather than foot got close to the Awoken Hollow. Fooled by its unassuming stature, the construct of vines and purple armor made the mistake of striking at one of the larger blamish snails instead of this small strange one.

It was a fatal mistake.

The snail opened its maw wide. Wider. And then engulfed the entire hollow within, devouring it in a single bite.

The harpies' cries gradually died out as they all came to realize what had occurred, and then ramped right back up into ones of panic as the snail that had devoured the tree’s greatest defender now moved slowly towards it. Vines rose up around the snail at the tree’s command, attempting to esnare it, and manikin shuffled forwards to try and fill the breach, yet in response the other snails crawled forwards with the devourer, consuming vines and letting what might well be their leader keep moving towards the prize.

The harpies tried to swoop in to defend as well, but bolts shot up, swatting one from the sky, and warding the rest away.

The snails swarmed the fallen harpy as she tried to struggle up, and none, not even the young troop members, could get close to help either her or the tree.

Then Bowser came careening out of the same snail slime slick tunnel his kids had shot out of only a little bit ago. He’d gotten stuck in a wall at one point, slowing him down, but now caught up, once again sailing fourth uncontrollably and as a result, where his son had smashed into and been slowed by one snail, the king stopped for no one and nothing.

Shells and slimy bodies were smashed aside as the king unwillingly entered the fray, careening through the slimy army. He flattened several of the snails trying to eat the fallen harpy alive, giving her sisters an opening to swoop down and pull her out of danger, and then careened right past the devourer snail and smacked, rather lightly (most of his momentum having been killed by flattening snails), into the trunk of the tree.

”Urrgh” the king groaned, before looking down at his snail roadkill splattered clothes and groaning ”and I just got these too!”

“Behind you, noble turtle! The devouring abomination comes to eat us whole!”

”Huh?” the king enthroned as a voice spoke from the tree itself, before turning to look back the way he’d come.

”Devourer?” he asked, when he saw nothing worthy of that name

“There, right there, sitting on its shell, its coming!” the voice cried out in fear as the strange slowly rocking on its shell snail came closer and closer, along with several of its taller kin

”I don’t see anything except more snails” the bamused king said, still not seeing the danger.

”Look out papa! Don’t let it get close!” Jr called from where he was balancing atop a sail shell, to which Rika added ”Shoot it shoot it shoot it!”

Bowser looked even more bemused for a moment, before shrugging, deploying his shoulder cannons, and giving the weird snail both barrels. Shell after shell slammed into the snail, which while a terror to plants and medieval monks was no danger to modern firepower, and quickly blew it to smithereens.

”That good?” Bowser asked, as he dusted of his hands and undeployed his cannons

“Ohhhh thank the Pantokrator” the voice sighed in relief, as the remaining snails that Bowser had not flattened while rolling were rapidly finished off by the tree’s remaining forces and the rest of the troop (including a very late arriving Kamek).

”So am I talking to a tree or what?” the king asked as he took a step back and then turned to face it.

“I am no simple tree, I am a Hamadryad and a wise and magical guardian of this here domain” the tree, or rather dryad, spoke, before offering “for your gallant and timely assistance, i offer you my ancient wisdom. Please, ask, and I shall tell”

”Hmmm” Bowser hummed as he scratched his chin, and the harpies cries of “what are you gonna ask!?” drowned out any attempt by Kamek to get a word in, before asking ”You know where the way down is?”

---

After they gathered up the various spirits, or rather had some toadies do it, they were given a harpy as a guide, who brought them to the place where the siren had been freed by the siren, and prevented them from running into any trouble along the way.

There they camped down and tried to wash off some of the snail slime while waiting for the others. Once they were all together, they ended up making a bit of a display of all the spirits they had, from the 3 kinds of snails they had just killed, the Awoken Hollow and a few manikins they had scavenged, and the hoppers and Dark Magic Lampyre they had slain earlier while sorting through them all, leaving a perfect opportunity for anyone who had any interest in any of them to make a request before the troop used them up themselves.

If Ganodorf asked him/filled him in, Kamek would comment that the clock the king of evil had seen was most likely a flame clock, and wonder out loud about the strangeness of it being out in the open in the city’s seat of power, when they had never seen any but the one tucked away above the city of tears before.

After that, they headed down with the others and sure enough, the cave led right down to the bee kingdom as the travelers had predicted. There they saw a few bee-like bots enforcing the wasp’s orders, but interestingly, no actual wasps, even though the paper hives clearly indicated their presence.

”I suspect that once one of those flying things sees us, we’ll kicking the hornet's nest, or well, the wasp’s nest, and the occupiers will come buzzing” Kamek predicted, guessing that the bee-boop drones where as much security cameras as they were security.

Bowser meanwhile agreed with his fellow inhuman royal with: ”Yeah, what do we look like, sneaks and thieves? Lets’ get out there and conquer this kingdom already!”

”Liberate” Kamek lightly reminded him

”Same difference”

”At any rate, perhaps we could, as Primrose suggested, have it both ways? We have a, ah, daring and powerful team go out there and get the wasps' attention, while a more subtle force goes around the disturbance and takes out the queen wasp while her soldiers are distracted?” the mage suggested, expanding on the plan that was somewhat coming together.