The pair’s peering upwards and wondering where the end of this race was was interrupted by a flash of light an earth shaking kaboom courtesy of Rika’s explosive catchup method. The Girl in question came into view a few moments later, pining off a sloped ceiling of part of the mines, before being slapped like a volleyball by Minda and then coming sailing down in their direction.

Jr was briefly stuck between two worlds of being amazed by how cool that was and being angry that she had totally stolen their (pit’s) idea before realizing they were in trouble and that they had to ”Dodge!”

The boys moved to dive out of the way of the koopa princess, immediately creating their next problem. With Jr. moving one way and Pit the other, the tether between them pulled taut and stopped both of them in their tracks. Pit scrambled to correct his course, but at that point they only barely avoided the wild projectile that was Rika and Kamek. Their dodge attempt saw them tumbling off of their current platform and back down to one below them. A bit of lost progress, but it could have been worse.

Pit poked his head out over the side to watch the other pair careen farther down. "Think she's gonna do that again? Maybe we should Mimic her instead!" he said, thinking that the same outcome of being bounced around the mine and ultimately falling back down wouldn't befall them. And they wouldn’t even need to use a bucket to get around!

”Maybe? That must have been a massive explosion to fly all the way up here though, I bet she spent ages prepping all that, and is super thirsty as a result” Jr replied, not thinking his sis’s idea was a very good one for all it had cool factor in spades.

Since they didn't want to wait around to see if Rika would make it back up to them, they continued their climb. First step was getting back up to where they'd just fallen from, which didn't take very long. From there the path was practically straight up and down, with footholds so small that a fall was liable to reset their progress yet again. Even so, both of the boys were determined to make a run for first place even with a couple teams still ahead of them.

They moved quickly, almost used to each other's pace by now. Mimi created a path up to the first stone, and from there they leapt together and take hold of the next. They alternated who played the role of anchor first whenever they had to swing, gradually climbing and swinging up higher. They moved to a few more crumbling stone platforms, though the danger of falling from those was still completely mitigated thanks to Mimi. Eventually small wooden platforms were interspersed between the stone, making their trek even easier. The light in the mine was growing brighter, and the temperature colder once more. When they started to see snow and ice here and there, they knew they were about to breach the mines' exit.

"We've gotta be getting close!" Pit said as they ran past a wooden sign that displayed only an arrow pointing diagonally up.

”Finally! Did they have to implement the smell of this place? Because I never want to smell another fish in the world of light again!”

The next section they had to traverse was made up of long tracks for the buckets moving fish. They crossed onto the first one, riding it up until they could jump onto the next rock ledge and continue on a path that would have been a simple straight away save for the empty spaces between rocks where slow moving buckets traveled every now and then. They didn't need to wait for the other elevators to get across these gaps, continuing to rely on the ruby cubes to create their own platforms. They raced forward, stopping only to get the briefest of looks at what was ahead of them before making a short plunge down with a whoop.

Pit took hold of the wall right before another underhang, securing his hold so Jr. could swing up to the next set of boards and then reel him in. Then they bounded up a few more smaller platforms, making short work of this part of the mountain mines. Their drive to win fueled them, but the fun of running what basically amounted to a platforming course was just as strong.

They passed another sign directing them upward and followed it. Now that the elevator tracks were shorter and the ceilings lower, they wouldn't be able to pull off the same trick that had sent them so far up the first section, but the end wasn't that far away. The end of the mines, at least. The next area had a bevy of crumbling rock paths, which was no issue at all for the duo. They raced through it with little issue, their only slip up in trying to avoid the blood slicks that told them they'd followed Therion and Ms. Fortune's path. Once again Pit and Jr. moved in different directions when they noticed the trap, and on the ice it sent them forward spinning. Pit dropped to a knee and stuck the climbing gloves into the icy ground to stop them from sailing off the edge, and after steadying themselves the boys got a move on again.

By the time they bypassed what would be the last elevator (via Mimi making a crude staircase to the next elevated cliff), the light had gotten even brighter and they could feel wind on their skin. There was only one path ahead of them now, one completely covered in sheets of ice.

Pit sucked in a deep breath of the crisp mountain air. Sliding around on ice was a double edged sword. It could be both fun and annoying, and though it sounded like fun right now if it led to a fall he knew that both he and his partner would be frustrated. So he looked at Jr. before they got going.

"Ready?"

”Ready!”

They pushed forward, running, sliding, and then jumping across gaps onto the next frozen stone. And, finally, they emerged from the Fishy Mines into the next leg of the course marked by strong wind.

It seemed that several paths out of the mines merged together here. Ahead of them, a little farther up the course, Bower Jr. and Pit could see Midna, Roxas, and the two feline thieves. Just behind them were Captain Falcon and Roland, who'd made amazing time catching up after their tumble. This meant that... Pit and Jr. were actually pretty close to winning, didn't it?

"We're so close! C'mon, let's beat them up to the top!" Pit exclaimed.

”Yeah, let’s get 'em!”

Things had been going so well for the pair this leg of the race that it really was possible they'd take first place. Or at least second or third! Which, of course, is why right when they moved to get going and claim their place on the podium, disaster struck.

In excitement, Pit had spread his wings wide as he usually did. His third pair of limbs acted as another way to gauge his emotions, moving subconsciously at times. The harsh gust of wind chose that moment to blow, catching in his feathers and making the lightweight into an angelic kite.

"Wha-!?" The rope between the two boys went tight with a cracking noise, which is when they both realized that no, Pit hadn't become a kite, but a parasail.

The force of the wind ripped Pit right from the ground, and the connected Jr. right along with him. And then it deposited them over a gap when it died down, dropping the two boys right back down a mine shaft.

”No no no noooooo!” jr cried out in despair as they got dragged along, flailing for the ground and then having a desperate idea. Iron formed around his hand into the form of a pic-ax. This he hurled towards the wall of the mineshaft, forming links of a chain onto it as it flew and embedded itself in a wall. The chain, then snagged, swinging them towards the wall, and slamming them into it, leaving them dangling from the mineshaft’s wall.

”You, you, you blockhead! You made us lose!” the prince yelled down furiously at Pit, even as Mimi engaged in a more productive action of spawning blocks underneath the prince so he could stand and, potentially, reel in Pit.

Pit's cheeks colored with embarrassment at the same time that his eyebrows knitted together defensively.

"That wasn't my fault!" he argued up at Jr., swiveling in place until he was a little less wrapped up in the rope. "That probably happens to a lot of people! And... and we wouldn't even have gotten this far this fast without me!"

When he was untangled and as steady as he could get while dangling, Pit grabbed onto the rope with the intent to haul himself up. His wings flapped once, indignantly. "Plus we didn't even lose yet! ...I mean, at all. We didn't lose! You're giving up already?!"

Jr’s furious face turned to one of a furrowed brow and then one of determination as he declared ”not on your life!” before starting to haul Pit up the pit to the little platform Mimi had made.

When both of the boys were back on their feet, they could resume the competition. The shaft they'd fallen into wasn't normally meant to be climbed back up, but Jr.'s quick thinking had stopped them from getting too far down it and Mimi's platform-making meant they could just head right back up to where the wind blew over their heads. There had been a time loss but surely they could still make top three.

They got started right away, hopping up onto smaller and more frequent platforms of their own make in order to regain as much ground as they could in the shortest amount of time. Being the baddie he was, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to the koopa prince that his father's sabotage would begin at this crucial moment.

Indeed, it occurred at the worst possible moment of their climbing strategy. Because the cube power only recharged when they were standing on non-cube based ground, jr had been making very precarious platforms out of raw iron that were more or less welded to the wall. They were only a bit of a stop gap, meant to let them hop onto and then off again right away, but it was while they were doing this that the suction began.

”Wow what the heck!” Jr cried out, as their platform wobbled, buckled, and then was ripped away from beneath them.

Lacking any other way to try and stop their latest fall, Pit flailed in an attempt to grab hold of the mine shaft's sides with the climbing gloves. His palms scraped the rock but couldn't keep their grip - since it seemed like they were contending with some kind of cyclone pulling them in!

They ping-ponged against the walls, the platforms below, and each other all while scrambling to get a good enough hold to stop their downward movement.

Jr’s attempts to repeat the grappling trick failed as said grapples were pulled down even faster than them. Worse still was what happened to Mimi, who was unceremoniously pulled from her trainer’s shoulder and went shooting down into the dark without them, leaving them cheating-platformless.

After some time, which was in reality less than ten seconds but sure felt like a lot longer, the hurricane force suction abated. Pit and Jr. landed in a tangled heap on a moving fish bucket, back down in the darker parts of the mine. If there was a saving grace it was that they hadn't fallen all the way down to the bottom, but it was safe to say their chance at placing highly was definitely shot at this point.

Pit shook his head and shimmied out from underneath Jr., glaring down over the side of the platform to see what exactly had happened. Now they could see a giant koopa head below them was responsible for the sudden sabotage.

"Huh? Bowser?!" Pit exclaimed. Then he rolled over to look at Bowser Jr. "It was your dad!"

”What!? No way! He’d never” Jr replied, before peeking down the mineshaft and seeing the very large head of his father, and a tiny little yellow dot on his nose that was probably Mimi (who also seemed to be bonking said nose with her tail stick.

”Dad! What the heck! We were just about to steal the lead!” the prince yelled down at his dad, who initially only managed an ”Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, oops?” in response.

"Aww man..." Pit groaned. They'd been doing so good, and were so close! Even the whole wind thing above hadn't set them back too much. Now they were so far from the summit there was probably no way for them to catch up. It was frustrating, but it was also what they'd all signed up for. Minigames, from what he'd gleaned, were usually like this - with victory snatched away at the last second. The angel sulked for a few seconds, then jumped to his feet. He was definitely going to win the next one, he decided. For this one, though, he gave his partner a helpless shrug.

"What should we do now? Have any schemes to blast us back to the finish line?"

The prince raised a finger, lowered it, raised it, and then snapped them before whipping out his paintbrush and sweeping it across the closest wall several times before stepping back, and revealing an M with two accent marks above it he’d painted on the wall in rainbow ink.

”Ta-da!” the prince intoned, stepping back and gesturing to it. At first it wasn’t clear why he was so pleased with himself. When Pit stepped close to it however, the chaotic colors melted together, and revealed the image of windswept, snow covered cliffs, the exact same ones they had briefly entered before tumbling back down here.

"A painting?" he asked at first, but with the way it looked and sort of "felt," there was no way it was just a regular piece of graffiti. "...oh! A portal? That's a great idea!"

Now they'd be able to get back to where they were in the blink of an eye! We've still got a chance! Pit thought. Then, eager to get back into the running he said, "Let's go through it right now!"

After a slightly rushed countdown the boys jumped together from their platform right into the center of Jr.'s painting. Neither of them doubted that they'd go through and emerge back on the windy mountain top, so it was a shock to both of them when instead they collided with the wall the portal was painted on and fell backward.

Jr for one was absolutely stunned by the impact with the wall. Not because of any jarring, but because of the absolute bamboozle of allowing everything except the portaling bit of the painting to work out, tumbling down without even an attempt at salvaging their third and seemingly final fall. So the boys ended up reuniting with Mimi, their latest plan ending with them landing on the snout of the enlargened Bowser.

Watching the moving platforms as the pair caught their breath, Zenkichi hummed with a bit of concern. The very first platform would require them to swing off it and land on a nearby ledge, continuing upward from there. Below was another platform that was placed to allow any pairs that fell to return to the climb, as well, but it also seemed to require a swinging leap. ”They certainly didn’t make this easy on us, did they? Might as well just keep a steady pace, see how far we can get.”

Once they got moving, the pair made it onto the moving platform without issue, but the timing on the swing was another story. The first attempt was a failure, though it was because Zenkichi had taken too long to start swinging, and thus had too little momentum when the platform started moving back towards the entrance of the mine. This forced him to abandon the attempt, and wait until the platform raised itself once more to line up with the ledge before them.

Primrose would much rather take a few attempts than a fall, so she didn't mind waiting for her partner to be ready. Being the first to swing was already daunting enough. When he did launch himself the dancer jumped right after, maneuvering herself up to the wooden platform affixed to the rock wall and pulling Zenkichi up via the rope.

Naturally, just after she thought she preferred the slow pace to a fall, the next rock they stepped on began to crumble away beneath their feet. Almost by habit Primrose touched her scarf, but it did nothing thanks to Balan's magic and she dropped straight down.

Zenkichi had just landed on the platform when it collapsed, and without time to get back to the wooden platform, he fell right with her, a started yelp escaping his lips as they landed in a heap back where they’d started moments before. ”Well, that sucked. At least it wasn’t as bad a fall this time, but jeeze, this really is like a video game…” He mumbled that last bit, not trying to get into that bit of technology right now, before getting back up. ”Alright, stupid crumbling platform. Round two!”

Looking at the crumbling section that had left them stranded, Zenkichi hummed while the moving platform just above it went up and down. ”Short cycle on that one. That’s a bit of a pain.” Nonetheless, he got right back on the proverbial horse with Primrose and they repeated the swinging that got them there, before taking a moment on the wooden platform to watch the movement of the mobile one. ”We don’t get a lot of time, so we have to move quickly. Get on that crumbling block as it’s about to reach the bottom, then jump right away and land on the moving one. And if only one of us makes the jump, we can just pull the other up.”

The jump back to the platform was a little easier this time around, and all that remained was to put their plan into action. When push came to shove, it was…surprisingly easy, and they were on the rising platform with little issue and a moment or two to spare before the platform they’d left crumbled behind them. ”Guess it’s more the element of surprise on that one, huh…” he commented.

Primrose hummed in agreement. "I suppose that isn't the only fragile foothold either. Imagine if we chose the other direction, and encountered something like that in a much less fortunate place..." As she trailed off, her gaze flickered up around them. "Speaking of..."

There was another element to the mines that was only really apparent now, just a little deeper inside. Besides the dim light, the moving buckets, the crumbling rocks, and the shifting sand hills... there were also a lot of different paths. Before now, the way up had been straightforward. In the mines, they were likely to make things harder for themselves by choosing the wrong path. It was possible they'd get lost somewhere too, if the mines took up the entire inside of the mountain. Combined with the lighting issue, they were in for a rough time.

The elevator that Zenkichi and Primrose were on made a couple of return trips while they got their bearings. Eventually the two decided to make for the nearby moving platform, and after taking the time to make sure they were really ready they hopped from the second crumbling stone path onto the second conveyor. Now, though, they were faced with exactly the same problem: which way should they go?

There was an overhang slightly back the way they'd come that looked like it would bring them directly up. Another with a few "caution" signs hanging around it, and yet another moving platform that continued horizontally like the one they currently rode.

"All of them seem challenging," Primrose said as she observed. Well, save for the other bucket, but who knew where that led.

As the pair rode back and forth, thinking, Zenkichi looked up at the single, small floating platform above them. He’d long since given up any hope of winning, but he still had some pride in him, dammit! ”Straight up.” It would require careful timing to even get there, but the goal was to go up, and going straight up would surely be the fastest way, if not the easiest. ”That little rock right above us. We jump up, grab it, and swing from there. Grab the wall, swing around it, and onto that little platform just off to the side of it. From there, I see another platform moving. Or, the light from one, at least.” It was a bold strategy, and boldness like that had dropped them quite a ways before, but they’d been taking it pretty easy for a while now. They could afford a little effort.

"Ambitious." Primrose followed the path Zenkichi laid out with her eyes. It probably wasn't what she would have chosen, but she had little want to refuse either way. Without the worry of getting hurt, falling risked only progress, and since those ahead of them were way ahead, they weren't likely to catch up even if they took an easier path. She nodded at his choice, and the two of them began to prepare.

That being said, to get the timing right took another couple of passes, but get it they did, clawed gloves digging into the rock. They'd executed the plan exactly as it had been laid out, waiting until almost the limit of their grip's strength to make sure each swing would end up successful. [color=BFBFBF]”[i]Yosh!/i][/color] Zenkichi cheered, slipping into Japanese for a second.

Primrose caught her breath as they huddled on the small ledge they'd made it up to. Once their next destination, another elevator, was within sight they quickly hopped across another crumbling path onto it.

During another leisurely ride up, Primrose turned to her partner. "I admit we've made it farther than I thought we would," she said. There were certainly worse pairing combos, as demonstrated by those behind them. It had been fun so far though. She only mentioned it now because directly ahead of them, as the platform continued higher, the next part of their chosen path came into view... and she wasn't sure exactly how much farther they'd get from here.

Gone were the floating planks of wood and the larger rocks. Instead, positioned almost entirely vertically, were several tiny stones with telltale fissures running through them. She spotted at least three before there was a glow from another bucket, which was moving much faster than the ones they'd been hitching a ride on so far.

”Yeah, this is gonna be tough…” Zenkichi unhelpfully commented, looking up at the rocks between them and the next moving platform. It was hard to tell, but he could just barely make out another small wooden platform near one of the partially-broken stones that they would have to use as platforms. He wondered if it was a sort of rest spot between the several crumbling sections they’d have to traverse before the next bucket.

”I think we can take a rest on that little spot there.” He tried to point it out in the dim light, but it was hard to see, especially with the movement of their current location. ”Ready when you are.” He added.

Primrose glanced at him, one eyebrow raised. ‘Tough’ was an understatement. But she was up for at least trying, so the pair counted down quickly and made the leap just as their current platform hit its peak.

They hopped to the crumbling stone platform, then quickly looked up and jumped to the next one, grabbing hold of its side due to the height of the required jump. ”I got the swing.” Zenkichi said before letting go, shifting his weight to try and gain momentum. He could see the little wooden platform he had them aim for, but swung to grab the other side of the rock. ”Alright, I’m on. Let go now and swing to the platform!” He called.

Primrose released her hold and swooped down beneath Zenkichi. She looked to be on a good course, but couldn't quite make it in just one swing. She needed a little more momentum. Instead she kicked her feet off the bottom of the platform to gain speed on her back swing. "One moment," she said, conscious of both the time limit of Zenkichi's grip and the rock's chance to vanish. The second time she made it up, bracing herself to hold Zenkichi's weight and reel him in. "Alright."

The former turk was right, they could take a breather here. But with two grown adults, the space was tight. It was definitely the smallest platform so far, and the two of them had to stick pretty close in order to keep both of their feet on solid ground.

Primrose had caught her partner's earlier implication that he was a widower, and though so far he didn't seem to be the type he had fully admitted to being 'rotten,' so she couldn’t help but tease him, saying almost idly, "I trust you aren't getting any ideas."

Zenkichi shook his head at the implication, almost bringing his hands up on instinct to physically ward off any perception of himself as a creep, before realizing that doing so would knock her right off. ”N-No ma’am! Nothing like that! Boy, we are awfully close, aren’t we?!” Nervousness was coming off him in waves that somehow Akane-or Sandalphon- would find out and get the wrong ideas. He looked all around them, desperate for an escape from the awkwardness, before registering her tone and blinking. ”You’re…messing with me, aren’t you?”

Well, didn’t he just look the fool? Chuckling nervously, Zenkichi scratched the back of his neck. Two of those crumbling platforms before another moving bucket, he noticed, trying to move on from that moment.

Amused by his reaction, Primrose turned her head away to futilely mask a chuckle. Though she did confirm or deny either way. Instead, once she was through having a laugh she nodded towards the next set of jumps.

They tried for the same careful timing in order to jump from one crumbling stone to the other, and then onto the moving platform above them. Their rhythm was not completely in sync at first, likely due to the joke Primrose had played on Zenkichi, but after narrowly avoiding a fall they made it to the fish bucket and could stand a regular distance apart while they judged their next move. Ahead of them looked like the toughest section yet, with a short underhang, another very small wooden foothold, and a speedy vertical elevator. If Primrose was reading it right, they'd have to jump from their current platform, grab the protruding stone, swing onto the tiny plank, and then swing from that onto the next elevator...

”Alright…” Zenkichi muttered, still a little distant from Primrose. ”Shouldn’t be too bad. It’s basically a repeat of what we did just before, actually, though I’m pretty sure that little wood platform is smaller than the last one. As long as we don’t mess up that swing, we’ll be fine.” Taking a deep breath to re-center himself, Zenkichi’s demeanor loosened up and he stretched his arms. ”Ready when you are.”

Primrose figured she was as prepared as she could be, and let him know as much. "I'm ready."

As Zenkichi said, this was basically a repeat of last time, a little further down below. The main difference was how narrow the platform they were trying to land on from the swing was, but with Zenkichi holding the wall while Primrose started swinging, they were in good shape. Once Zenkichi felt the rope go slack to signal that his partner had landed, he let go. Hanging from the rope while she pulled him up, Zenkichi caught a glimpse of Geralt and his partner not far below them. She was pulling Ganondorf up onto the little wooden platform below them.

He decided not to call out to them, to avoid messing up their concentration, and once he was up, looked at the bucket ahead of them, moving up and down on its rail. ”I’m good to keep swinging.” He confirmed, keeping them in their usual jobs as he jumped off the platform to start building momentum. The dancer held firm, content to let Zenkichi swing as many times as he thought he needed to in order for them both to clear the jump. with the light in the mine gradually brightening as they went up, the exit must not have been too far above them, she thought. After a couple of rounds of swinging, he called ”Go!” as he swung by, Primrose leaping from the wooden platform to the elevating bucket, both landing just as it reached the bottom of its path.

The arcs of their jumps had been perfect, and their timing spot on. So it was unfortunate that at that moment, just after touching down, a hurricane force vacuum began to pull everyone and everything not nailed down toward the bottom of the mine. Primrose felt her feet had scarcely touched ground when she felt the force suction her, Zenkichi, and most of the fish in the bucket they'd been about to land on straight down the way they'd come, and then some.

Zenkichi groaned as he felt the gale-force winds pressing down on him, and try as he might, he couldn’t catch hold of the bucket, so the pair found themselves being pulled down with everything that wasn’t nailed (or magically affixed) in place. They crashed into another bucket below them, still being dragged by the force of suction, then fell even further down to crash into a solid section of floor, where Zenkichi could finally dig his clawed gloves into the ground to keep them in place, as he yelled out, ”This is so unfair, you know!” at the Universe, not realizing that it was another Seeker that was causing the wind force.

If not for the enchantment preventing damage, the two of them would probably have a few bruises the next morning with how they'd crashed down. While Zenkichi clung to the wall of the mine shaft they'd been forced down into, Primrose attempted to climb up the tether and add her grip strength to his. As it was, she was hanging half off the side of the platform they'd landed on. She couldn't pull herself back up while the vacuum was happening, so she just hung on as tightly as she could. Several seconds went by, and just when the two of them were about to lose their holds, the force subsided.

The dancer quickly lifted herself up with a huff. She doubted anyone expected that. How many others had gotten caught in that pull? After a few moments to catch her breath and regroup, she stood. Then she looked down to where the winds had come from.

She and Zenkichi had gotten pulled farther down than she thought, but not as far as some people. Below, she could just barely make out a whole group of people. The Koopa Troop, their partners, Ganondorf and his... she immediately noted that Therion, Ms. Fortune, Midna, and her partner Roxas didn't appear to be among them, nor did Sectonia or Captain Falcon or Goldlewis' teams. So they were either much farther ahead, or even farther behind.

"I see..." she murmured, motioning for Zenkichi to take a look as well. "Unfair indeed. Seems like everyone has tried their hand a cheating by now."

”To be fair, we did both use magic to make ourselves go a lot faster…” Zenkichi muttered, a little frown on his face. That probably counted, too. ”Oh, hey, Geralt got sucked down there, too. Ouch. We got lucky, managing to grab on here. Not much higher up, but still.” He sighed, looking around a bit more. ”Wanna keep going, or what? I’m up for whatever, but that kinda sucked a lot of the fun out of the whole thing.” He admitted, shrugging.

Primrose didn't answer immediately. Did she want to keep going? She had pride, but at least in some things she knew when to quit. And it was likely that she'd had all the enjoyment she was going to have during this game. She glanced at Zenkichi, then back down to the people below.

"I've had enough fun for now," she said. "What say you to meeting up with the rest of them down there?"

”Sounds good to me. Hey, at least we got to confirm that both our spells work to speed us up. If we’re ever on a team again and we gotta run from some kinda giant monster, that’ll be good to remember.” Zenkichi commented, gesturing his head towards the others as he started his way back. ”Maybe we can even let some of them hitch a ride, hah.” He joked.

Unfortunately Ganondorf and Geralt weren’t making very good time in the mine. These blasted moving platforms were making Ganondorf’s jumps even harder than they already were. But they were at least beginning to make a headway when the warlord heard faint shouting coming from above. In fact the shouting sounded like it was rapidly getting closer. And in moments he saw the flailing forms of Roland and Captain Falcon drop down right by the platform he and Geralt were standing on. Evidently they must’ve missed some jump further up ahead and now suffered the consequences of it.

This made him grumble a bit, "Why do I have a sinking feeling that is going to be us in a few minutes?" He asked with a shake of his head before changing the subject, "This supposed to be a mine of some sort, yes?" He inquired and then added, "What do you suppose they were mining for? Iron? Or copper, perhaps?" It wasn’t the most thrilling topic of conversation, but at least it was helping to keep him from having to think about the more frustrating aspects of this minigame.

Geralt watched Roland and Captain Falcon fall right past them, frowning a little. “Might very well be, especially if it gets more complicated the further up we go.” She had a feeling that’d be the case, as the moving platforms represented a paradigm shift, which she doubted would end there. When he asked about the mine itself, however, Geralt wasn’t so sure. “Could be a number of things. Metals, precious gems, clay, salt. They might even get a few different things from here.” Without seeing any carts or wagons of spoils, she simply couldn’t tell just from the way the mine was built. She knew many things, but this was not one of them.

The most concerning part, Geralt thought as they moved ever upwards, were the strange crumbling sections of rock that seemed to magically regenerate after a few moments. Of course, if they didn’t come back it would render the game nigh-impossible for all but the first pair to advance past them, but it was still so strange to see. “Seen magic used for a lot of things, but this place might be the strangest.” She admitted. Even if these platforms were moved by technology, the dimensional travel, protections, and restrictions placed on them reeked of magic. Her medallion was gently humming against her chest, and had been since they got here.

Ganondorf himself would have also reeked with magic, especially his Triforce of Power, being the divine artifact of power that it was. At any rate, the pair continued their slow ascent through the mines. When the crumbling blocks began to appear they indicated to Ganondorf that not even the platforms themselves were going to be entirely safe to stand on at all times like they had been up to this point. "Lovely." He commented upon first seeing them.

"What shall be next?" He wondered, "Platforms that spring to life and attack us, mayhaps?"

“Please don’t say that.” Geralt mumbled. If things got that annoying, she had no idea what she’d do. “This is all bad enough as it is.” She had little concern for trying to beat any other teams at this point, but any more than this would be too much like Witcher training all over again. There wasn’t much to it except to keep going, though when they found a section of numerous extremely small crumbling platforms above them as they stood atop a moving one, she sighed. “No room for error, at all.” She sighed. “Let me know when you’re ready, because there’s no stopping once we’re off this platform.”

”Hmm…” Ganondorf hesitated slightly, mostly to get his bearings and to prepare himself for what was almost certainly going to be a near-disaster. But in the end he nodded and said, ”...Now!” And then he jumped. It went well up until one particular jump in which they didn’t quite make it all the way. But they did manage to cling to the side of the block much like they had done for the overhangs in previous sections. And it was here that they discovered that the blocks would only crumble when someone was standing on top of them. But clinging to the side like this? They didn’t seem to show any sign of crumbling down.

”So that is the trick, is it?” Ganondorf inquired. This seemed to indicate that the optimal course of action was to stay on the sides as long as they were able to in order to delay when the blocks would start to crumble. And it was then he spotted a moving platform and was finally able to make out the objects it was carrying along its tracked path. ”Fish?” He asked suddenly. ”The mine is for… fish?”

“What.” Was all Geralt’s deadpan voice returned with. How…did one mine for fish?! Were there underground lakes that they fished from? She decided, as she often did in the World of Light, not to dwell on this strange facet of this world. What was important was figuring out what to do next. “We need to move.” Geralt followed up with, well aware of the limitations of their current situation. Staying here forever would result in falling. “I’ll swing, just hold on.” She said, letting go and trusting Ganondorf to hang on as she swung back and forth a couple of times, before her momentum carried her high enough for her to twist and grab the other side of the rock.

“Now!” She called out to Ganondorf, to signal him to let go and swing.

The Warlord did just that. Between the momentum and his own imposing strength, they were often able to make impressively long jumps this way. And this wasn’t all that different. It certainly made reaching those precariously placed crumbling blocks much more doable than if he was trying to do this alone. Alone… he supposed that was the entire point of this little game - teamwork. It wasn’t exactly something he had a lot of experience in. Although he had been getting a bit more practice at it since joining the Seekers. Though he had still yet to call any of them his friend. Of course, that sentiment was pretty often echoed, especially by the other royals. The truth was, Ganondorf was simply given little in the way of actual chances to really bond with anyone. And he wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about that, either.

As Ganondorf grabbed the other side of the rock, Geralt felt the rope slacken, signaling her to let go of her side and swing. She saw their next goal, a small wooden platform to which she could swing, and swing she did. One more pass gave her the momentum she needed to go up and onto the platform, from which she called back to Ganondorf, “I can pull you up from here.”

Once the Gerudo King was up with her, Geralt turned her attention further above them. “Couple of quick jumps, then we have to make sure we time it right, or we’re going way back down.” Should she have spoken that possibility into existence? Probably not, but they needed to be prepared. No half-assing this next series of jumps. If they screwed it up, they’d be losing quite a bit of progress if they didn’t manage to luckily land on one of the platforms just below them.

The first jump went smoothly, with no time pressure to make them falter. The second required a moment of thought, after which the pair leapt, experience giving them an idea of what timing worked best for the pair. The third jump, however, with the moving platform sliding rapidly closer to them, would be the moment of triumph or failure. Geralt jumped as the platform neared the end of its path, but barely mistimed just how long it would stay at the end, and felt gravity take hold of her a moment later.

Ganondorf, on the other hand, didn’t fare quite as badly. His taller form gave him a longer reach to grab the edge of the moving platform before it was too late. But of course, now he was just hanging there with Geralt dangling just below. The Gerudo King was thankfully not lacking in strength, so he was certain his grip wouldn’t loosen anytime soon. But he still wanted to get out of this position as soon as possible. And so he began the process of pulling his heavy body up onto the platform. It was by no means quick, but he still pulled himself up in the end. Then he anchored down and began to pull the rope tethering him to Geralt in order to pull her up as well.

“Thanks.” Geralt calmly stated as she got to her feet on the moving platform. It had taken them a bit to get up, during which she noticed Zenkichi and one of the girls from Yellow Team up above them. “Huh, expected them to be further up. Must’ve taken a nasty fall at some point and not noticed them.” She commented, before looking for their path forward. They’d have to jump from the fractured stone block to the wall, then swing around it, and from there swing onto the wooden platform before they’d be able to stop. And from there, it was just another swing to another moving platform, this one going vertically.

“Just have to get the timing right…” Geralt mumbled, mentally drawing the path as the platform they were on slid back and forth on its track, taking a stance. “Ready when you are.” She confirmed, legs bending in preparation of the jump.

The Warlord bent his own knees and said, ”Jump!” when he thought the timing looked good enough. They swung around the wall with success. And by all accounts even the swing to the wooden platform went well. At least it should have. Midway there they both felt something like wind pulling them downward. And whatever this was it was enough to make them miss grabbing onto the wooden platform and resulted in them plummeting down. It was a pretty far fall too. Once Ganondorf had finally gotten back to his feet he was able to spot the source of the sudden wind that had messed them up, and he gave an angry scowl.

”Curse that blasted, overgrown lizard!” Ganondorf barked in reference to Bowser, ”What doth he even have to gain from this? He is as far behind as the rest of us!” The Gerudo King had half a mind to start making his way toward the Koopa and wipe whatever grin he was no doubt sporting off of his face.

“Sounds like boss is just a sore loser.” Geralt said, rolling her eyes. “Or he figures if he drags the rest of us down to his level, it gives him a better chance to get in the lead.” She looked between Ganondorf, Bowser, and the way back up. “Not the first time I’ve dealt with one of those, and it won’t be the last. Way I see it, we can go try and shove a cork down his throat, or we can wait until he gets bored. We try and go back up, he’s just going to do it again.” Perhaps a pessimistic approach, but Geralt had long since given up any illusions of victory.

"Hmm…" The Gerudo thought for a bit. "Well, I don’t believe we were in a position to win the race." He finally said. "And that being so… perhaps we might as well see what kind of payback we can take from him?" Ganondorf, too, had long since given up on any delusions of actually winning this race. And so the idea of getting back at the big sore loser was seeming more and more appealing to him.

Geralt thought on the idea for a few moments. She, personally, didn’t actually have anything against Bowser aside from his delusions of grandeur. She wasn’t sure that he was entirely serious about how great and evil he was, but she supposed this was fairly ‘mean’, at least. Ruining the experience for the rest of the Seekers because he wanted to do better was definitely not the kind of thing one of the other do-gooders in the Seekers would do, that was for sure. “Might as well. He just wasted all of our time.”

That got a smirk from the Warlord. "Then let us teach him the punishment for interfering with everyone else." And so the two at this point had effectively changed routes and made their way toward where the Koopa King in question was. Since it was obvious no one this far behind was going to win, the two gave up on reaching the end and were now a bit more interested in getting some payback before the game ended.

"There you are!" Ganondorf barked out when he spotted Bowser’s enlarged form. He looked like he was done inhaling for now and was even shrinking back down to his usual size as a result of his adviser halting the spell. Ganondorf lunged for the Koopa with a roar as soon as he and Geralt had gotten close enough and Warlock Punched him as hard as he could… doing absolutely zero damage due to the rules of the minigame. "Do thou hast any idea how much of our time was wasted because of thee?"

Momentum, however, was still a thing, and so the king skidded back just a bit as he kept shrinking. He grunted, shook his head, and then had the audacity to smile and say ”How about you tell me so I know how much I can laugh at your expense” as he put up his dukes for a punchup, with Ganondorf essentially doing the same. The two kings then just traded punch after punch. Naturally, they did no damage to one another, but they didn’t seem to be letting that stop them. This was probably one of the rare times where the two could just take their frustrations out on one another… and of course no one would be hurt.

Just what happened between those two while we were split up? Geralt wondered, while awkwardly trying to reposition and give Ganondorf enough room to fight with.

With several groups now making their way into the next leg of the minigame's course, those seriously vying for first place had to get a move on. If a team wanted to win they had to be fast, but careful. At this point it could be anyone's game, and one mistake would easily cost someone the top spot.

Mindful of the strong intervals of wind (especially because they'd just seen the Pit-Jr. pair get blasted back down into the mines by it), Nadia and Therion raced westward, kicking up snow behind them. It was the only path available, so the thieves endeavored to put as much ground between them and the next group as possible. Very quickly they came upon the next gap participants would have to jump across, one much wider than any before it. Nadia paused on the precipice, teeth gritted as she gauged the distance, wondering how the heck the two of them could make it. Before they could come up with a gameplan, the wind picked up again. Its buffeting threatened to push them out into the open air much sooner than anticipated, forcing them to hunker down against the snow so that their lower profiles would lead to less air pressure. As she crouched on all fours, Nadia looked back down the way she came, and with a jolt of surprise spotted two more competitors racing out of the mines: Roland and the celebrity newcomer, Captain Falcon.

To no one’s surprise it was Falcon racing out first between the two. He paused momentarily to get his bearings and to note the strong winds blowing in this area. In a way it almost reminded him of Death Wind, an F-Zero racetrack that was infamous for also having similarly hazardous windy sections. "C’mon, Roland!" He said to his partner with a follow-me gesture. "My instincts are telling me we’re at the home stretch, that checkered flag can still be ours yet!"

”I hope so, this isn’t that ‘mini’ for a ‘mini’ game.” Roland said, moving with a similar step to Falcon, although with less determination to win, more just wanting to get this done and over with.

“They’re coming!” Nadia hissed to her partner, and he hissed back, "I can see that." When this wind subsided in a couple seconds, it’d be only too easy for their opponents to reach this spot before the next squall. She’d spilled some blood on the path, especially the icy parts, but that wouldn’t hold them for long. The thieves needed a plan right now.

”That girl is using blood to stop us? What the heck? That's dangerous!” Roland said as they came up to where Nadia and Therion were, Roland was not phased by Nadia using her own blood to leave a trap for them, almost like he had seen people like this so often that this wasn’t anything new.

Justa bit behind them, Midna was far less exposed to this sort of thing, saying ”So that’s who’s been leaking everywhere even when no one can get hurt. What an unpleasant ability” to her companion as they finally saw the culprit of the bloody traps.

"Like we’re ones to talk." Roxas said cheekily.

Seeing Midna and Roxas in third place came as something of a shock to Nadia, since it meant that despite their earlier standings, she and Therion had actually been the first to escape from the Fishy Mines. Just what had happened to the frontrunners (not to mention the most blatant cheaters) to put them so far behind? Of course, they probably just fell, and the feral couldn’t afford to waste any more time wondering. If the thieves were in the lead, they needed to keep hold of it, and not allow excessive haste to be their undoing in the process. It was a tricky proposition, but these cat burglars were no strangers to doing the im-paw-sible.

As she waited for the wind to die, her eyes suddenly lit up. “Wait, I got it! We have to use the wind!” She and Therion had instinctively fortified themselves against the strong gust from behind when it threatened to push them into the pit just ahead, but it could also be the tailwind to speed them across.

"Seriously?" Therion seemed dubious to that plan, but with the gale so strong it might actually work. He sighed, getting ready to pounce. "Alright."

“No time to waste! Three two one!” Together the two leaped into the air, and with the wind at their backs they soared across the gap. The next second it petered out, and the two barely grabbed hold of the ledge on the opposite side to haul themselves up. At the same time, though, this stroke of luck meant that the others would need to wait for the next wind to follow in their footsteps–or find their own way up. Nadia sprayed blood from her wrists onto the ledge with a cheeky grin, then turned along with Therion to race up the left side to the second level of the windy heights. “Nothing purr-sonal!”

That of course, meant Cap and Roland had no choice but to get across the gap the old-fashioned way. Thankfully they’d become pretty well practiced by this point. But that spray of blood Nadia left behind was going to be making things hard. Even once they did reach that ledge there was a risk of slipping on it and plummeting back down the mountain. But then, maybe they didn’t necessarily need an intricate plan? "Let’s wait for a second or two." He suggested to Roland when they were preparing to make the last jump. It seemed unheard of for him of all people to want to stop and wait despite being this close to the end. But if his time in the F-Zero Grand Prix had taught him anything, it was that sometimes the optimal strategy really was to hit the brakes.

And Cap was proven right in this instance. In the time they took to reach this point, all it took was a moment of hesitation for them to feel the wind at their backs and so to use it to spring across to the other platform and clear over the blood the cat-thief had left behind.

As Midna and Roxas brought up the rear, the princess kept glancing up at the platforms above that the two teams ahead were already crossing, before coming up with an idea saying ”I think I've got one more trick for this now that we have the space. Follow my lead” to her partner. He nodded in response.

As they touched down on the large bit of land before the first wind assisted jump, the princess grabbed Roxas’s hand and pulled him to a stop at the same time as she opened a portal beneath them. They didn’t fall in however, as up from it rose her darknut, enlarged to great size, with them stood atop its shield. The princess then grabbed its sword just before the wide tip, the titan raising that blade up so that they were within shadow hand grabbing distance of the platforms above. With a grab, heave and reel, they shortcutted past a fair chunk of leaps and bounds, and put themselves mere steps behind Falcon and Roland on a shelf past a slope of ice.

Just above hung a wooden platform, suspended in the air by long ropes from above. With the wind just now dying down, it swung forward with Roland and Falcon atop it, allowing them to jump onto a ledge with an upward sign. Not far ahead of them, Nadia and Therion had just used that same break in the wind for a swing fling to the far side of the next big gap. As they clambered up, Nadia risked a look back, her head turning a full one hundred and eighty degrees to do so. “Gah! They’re gaining on us!”

Therion made it up first, pulling Nadia the rest of the way to her feet and spinning her head back around the right way. "Then let's get a move on!" The thieves crested a small cliff, making for the chunks of ice that would be the next obstacle.

"You can’t outrun us forever!" Falcon called forward. With the way things were going they’d be nipping at their heels in no time. He also spotted the chunks of ice up ahead. "Ice ahead!" he called back to Roland. "Looks like we’re gonna have to start watching our footing!" Roland gave a thumbs up, thinking of a few ways the pair of them could cheat as things got more difficult.

For Roxas and Midna’s part, much of the jumping could easily be circumvented thanks to the Nobody’s virtual cubes. And even the gusts of wind proved to be a nuisance to them more than anything. But as they progressed he began to notice the increased amount of snow and ice. That could wreck their day if they weren’t careful. Sure, he could give them non-icy blocks to step on but he’d have to risk the icy grounds in order to reuse his blocks in other spots. He just hoped he didn’t lose his footing and cost them the race, especially after getting this far. Given that ‘slippery’ had defined Midna’s existence for the past day or two thanks to a mod reducing her friction, she at least had no issue with that part of the problems facing them.

Halfway across the icy stretch, Nadia and Therion felt the wind pick up again. When Nadia tried to hunker down, though, the wind still pushed her backward, sliding her across the ice. In an instant the feral realized her foolishness, panicked, and tried to sprint forward against the wind in a mad dash for the other side–only to fall right on her face. “UGH!” "What the hell are you doing?!"

She and Therion began to pick up speed, headed straight for the pit behind them. Scrabbling on the ice with her teeth gritted, Nadia span around and extended her arms into the previous ledge in order to brace herself. That still left the other half of her, and her partner, bound to plummet over the edge. Therion slapped his hands against the ice, willing the gloves to catch. They weren't quite enough to hold both him and Ms. Fortune, so he dug out one half of the sickles the king of evil had gifted him. Its edge was both block and sharp, enough to at least slow their momentum to a gradual halt, though it had been much too close of a call. With Nadia’s extruded muscles rock-solid, she wouldn’t budge, but much to her chagrin the others could use her as a bridge to get across.

"Now!" Cap called to Roland, seeing the 1st place pair’s mishaps and recognizing it for the opportunity that it was. They sprang across the makeshift bridge -prompting an indignant yowl- and continued their way down the icy stretch on the other side. There they found the eastern mountainside, with a couple of wooden platforms that would allow them to reach the third level and head back to the west.

”Oh no you don’t!” Midna called over to the other team that where still on their feet as she tried to match their pace as best she could, but despite all her fusions, the princess was a mage at her core and simply couldn’t match their raw athleticism. Still, she at least had good grip as they hit the ice, dragon clawed feet digging in, and a shadow hand reaching up to grab the platform above for support and wind resistance.

”Up?” she asked her partner, seeing another vertical shortcut as they came up to the icy jump.

"Up." Roxas agreed with a nod. He gave them a pseudo staircase of virtual cubes to jump between that would ascend them upward.

Now finding themselves in third place, the thieves had to regroup. "Hold still," Therion bid his partner, getting to his feet on the ice and making the leap over her back to more solid ground. He helped haul Nadia up from there so they could make the jump again and do it right this time. They'd lost their lead, but not too much time, so they sprinted after Falcon and Roland once the wind allowed. Moving quickly, they reached the second platform just as the wind picked up, and Nadia made up for her blunder with an excellent swing the launched the two through the air to the next outcrop, where the next pair had just missed the swing. That left them in the somewhat awkward position of waiting for the wind to die together, but before Nadia could kick anyone’s ass for stepping on her, she spotted Roxas and Midna up ahead, along with something else. “Wait, that’s it! Right there!” Nadia yelped, pointing upward. Almost directly above the cheaters’ position was an outcrop with a huge checkered flag on it, visible for the first time. Nadia glanced back down at Roxas and Midna with a snarl on her lips, her heart pumping. “We can’t let ‘em win!”

"Hm?" Falcon paused a moment when he heard Ms. Fortune’s voice and looked up at where she pointed. "The finish line!" He called with some eagerness, definitely ready for this to be over but still feeling pumped regardless. Of course, he also spotted the blatant cheating being done by Roxas and Midna. "That’s how they’ve kept up with us?" It sure seemed pretty low to him. He’d been up against his fair share of overly aggressive or outright dirty competitors in the Grand Prix, but this kind of underhanded racing was the sort of thing only a villain like Black Shadow would do!

Therion couldn't agree more about preventing Midna and Roxas' win. He and Nadia had technically been cheating almost the entire time too, but their way hadn't made the game easier for themselves. And being so close the finish line, not running away with the win would leave a bruise on his ego for at least the rest of the day. "We need a way to drag them down," he said. Would his grappling hook work?

"Anything we can do?" Falcon suddenly asked, having backtracked a small distance in order to talk with this team. "I’ve prided myself on winning my races by the book. But I think I’ve had just about as much as I can stand of blatant cheating like that."

Roland summoned his shotgun from his gloves, but looked a bit awkward using it against what would be an ally. ”Got something I can shoot to slow them down with? I’d rather not actually shoot them. Could use something to get Midna’s hair all tangled, they seem to use that a lot.” Roland offered.

The offer to team up, if Therion was interpreting Falcon's words correctly, came as a surprise. He blinked at the taller man, and then his partner who had pulled out a gun from nowhere. "...I doubt that'd work. But if you've got something like a net, or a way to disable those blocks..."

He was just assuming that it was a spell of some kind, which in normal circumstances he would be able to deal with himself with his mana drain. Unfortunately it relied on dealing damage, so it wouldn't work here even if he wanted to attack the other team. "Whatever we think of, we better think it up fast."

“I’ve got it, here!” Nadia detached her arms, allowing them to fall at her feet. Expelling vital fluid from the stumps, she replaced them with mimicked blood arms, which she used to pick up her real arms and connect them stump-to stump, entangling her muscle fiber. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation, but there was no time to come up with a better idea. “One of you has to help meowt,” she declared, thrusting the improvised bolas at the others. The wind was beginning to peter out; they had to move now. “Whoever’s got the best aim. Once we jump on the swing and the wind takes it, hurl this right at ‘em. I’ll hand-le the rest.” Roland raised his hand, putting his gun away. He could use something like this… probably.

With no time to argue, the two pairs could only jump up onto the platform as it swung back toward them, then ride it out once the wind picked up. From there, with the wind at their back, they had a clear shot at the frontrunners. It was now or never. Roland grabbed the makeshift weapon and threw it when the time was right. While it wasn’t the first time he handled a flesh-like weapon, he still didn’t like the squishy sensation it gave off when used. The bolas hurtled through the air, whirling around to stabilize their flight path.

Once any part of the muscle fiber struck one of the frontrunners, the rest would wrap around them, restricting limbs and crippling mobility. Worse still, Nadia then wrung out her muscles like dirty dishrags, spraying blood all over her opponents. If it got in their eyes or on their hands, all the better. While all this hurt the feral quite a bit, she knew that seeing the cheaters fumble would more than make up for it.

"Ack, gross!" Roxas cried out when a pair of arms seemed to materialize out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around him. He struggled to break free but whoever this was they had a solid grip. And of course there was the matter of this making him lose his footing and start tumbling back down the shortcut they had just ascended from moments ago.

”Goddesses that’s horrid- ack” Midna croaked as the blinding blood prevented her from seeing her partners fall till it was too late. With 7 limbs failing as she fell however, one of them managed to snag a purchase, leaving her hanging from a cliff edge, with Roxas dangling from a rope below her. After a bit of blind scratching and tugging, Nadia’s arms fell away, both giving a cheeky peace sign as they plummeted down out of sight.

Roland watched all of this, and could only say to Nadia ”Are you a fleshwarp or something?” She clearly wasn’t a bloodfiend, so… well, he’d have a few questions for her later. ”Wait, this isn’t the time for this. After.” Roland said. Falcon didn’t say anything to any of that. It was unsettling to be sure, but at least the cheaters were finally brought to justice.

"I guess that’s it for our truce, then." He then grinned and said, "May the best team win!" Before pulling Roland along for what was sure to be the final sprint to the end.

Therion didn't feel the least bit bad about the blood and limb attack. Now some of the city team could get a little taste of what the under team had to go through in the Basement and beyond. And, he had already been planning to make a break away as soon as they were able to, so Falcon and Roland's sudden dash didn't take him by surprise. In fact, he was right behind them.

Although he was aware that he'd have to compensate for Nadia, given that she was down both arms and it would affect her balance, among more obvious issues. So he had to act as the first anchor, letting her swing and use only her legs to get them up to the next platform. They sailed across the gap and Therion clung to the side of the wall, bracing himself to hold Ms. Fortune's weight. "Go when you're ready. But if you don't do this, we're both going down."

“Guess I’d better do it then!” She was limber and athletic enough to swing like that, though it took a few tries to make it onto the boards, giving Falcon and Roland a bit of a lead on them. Once she was up, all she had to do was hold Therion's weight and he shimmied up the rope himself with practiced speed. The next snowy gale could see them across the gap to another ice patch, and the platform beyond, before she would even really need to put her mimicked blood arms to use.

Falcon and Roland had reached a crevice at this point and were already at work climbing up the wooden platforms that would take them to an overhang they would have to swing around. At this point they’d practically become a well-oiled machine. And what was more the finish line was just up ahead past a large gap they’d have to jump across via a swinging platform. They were so close that Falcon could practically taste it.

Faced with the western mountainside, the thieves had no choice but to quickly scramble up the wooden platforms, jumping the biggest gaps when the wind would let them. When they reached one suspended in the air, Nadia looked up into the crevice that Roland and Falcon were almost finished with. “This’ll be tough with these arms,” Nadia muttered as she waited for the wind. “Even if they’re almost as good as the real thing.” She paused, her eyebrows raised. “...Actually, that goes for just about everything I can mimic…”

Their chances weren't looking great at the moment, but they weren't out just yet. While thinking of how to move faster or otherwise get ahead, Therion glanced at his partner. "Yeah…?" he questioned, picking up that some thoughts were turning the cogs in her brain.

“I have an idea,” Nadia told him quickly. “It’s kinda cheating, but we’re thieves, aren’t we? Only fitting that we steal first place.”

He put on a small grin. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

The feral began to pump out a massive amount of blood, expending eighty percent of her total volume. As her blood began to take shape on the platform alongside her, she got dizzier and dizzier, sagging into Therion’s arms. “S-sorry,” she said, her breath slightly slurred. “You’re gonna…need to…carry me.” After another moment, though, her blood solidified into a huge Hydro Mimic of Bowser, which immediately grabbed Therion and lifted him like a baseball.

It was times like these that Therion really wished that Ms. Fortune would explain what she had in mind, at least so that he could try and refuse. Since he was scooped up he had no say in the matter though, and he did want to win. He had time to suck in a breath, hold it, and clutch Nadia tightly before the false king did his thing.

Without warning the Hydro Mimic hurled the two, throwing them up past the crevice challenge, through the cave opening, and past the ice with the arrow sign up to an isolated ledge, putting them just ahead of Roland and Falcon right as the wind picked up and the swing stretched out above them. Nadia began to recoup her lost blood, but it would still be a few seconds before she recovered from her costly maneuver.

Falcon shook his head, his expression clearly one of disappointment. After all the talk about putting a stop to the cheating, they immediately resort to cheating themselves? And here he thought that they’d finally get to actually enjoy a fair and square race. Clearly these other teams lacked the appreciation for fair play and sportsmanship that Cap possessed. A lesser man might have resorted to using some kind of attack against the other team while one of their members was clearly winded. But Falcon had his principles and he was determined to stand by them even if that meant finishing in second place. A stolen win was no true win at all in his book. Of course that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to still try his damnedest.

Therion looked between the swing and the approaching men. Crap, was he really expected to carry Nadia the rest of the way? Even with her blood literally outside of her body at the moment, decreasing her overall weight and making it just possible for him, he doubted he could make any jumps with her in his arms. It definitely wasn't something he could do for the long term in his current form.

...right, his current form. He could see the flag marking the end of the course clearly, and there were no sections where they would have to use the rope to swing themselves. It was a pure straight away marked only by ice and gaps. If that was the case, he could take on a different form.

Unfortunately he'd be forfeiting the lead again, but he didn't see any other options with Ms. Fortune as laid out as she was. While Falcon and Roland hopped onto the swing, Therion leaned in to tell his partner, "I'm dropping you for just a second, got it? Then hold on tight."

"Let’s go!" Cap called to Roland, "We can still show them that cheaters never prosper!" Roland could only nod, although when Falcon wasn’t looking at him, Roland could only roll his eyes at how crazy this whole thing had been escalating to, yet here it was, him and the new guy, just using good old fashioned teamwork and agility. And maybe a fire kick or two. If there was something the duo had over Nadia and Therion, it was their much greater natural speed.

They had that over Roxas and Midna too, but they at least had cheats in spades. Having clambered out of the drop, and seeing the gap that had been built up, recklessness was the only thing that would catch them up. As such, the darknut was summoned again, but this time, rather than raise them up, the pair stepped onto the end of its blade, before being catapulted forwards after the frontrunners.

It took a precious moment where the other pairs could get even further ahead, but then with a flash a large blue, white, and black furred wild cat stood where Therion had before. He flipped Ms. Fortune onto his back and leapt onto the swing when it next blew close to them, and then soared across the gap when it moved back the other way.

It was his thought that a beast's superior speed, strength, and agility would easily outpace a human's, even with a rider. And where Roland and Captain Falcon would have to contend with the ice, Therion's claws and paw pads afforded him much better traction. He blitzed over the last leg of the race, catching up with the favorites to win, and stretched his arms out as his tiger-like body leapt ahead to try and seize the win, if even only by a claw.

Roland had prepared himself for the ice though, and pulled out his idea to deal with them, although it only made him and Falcon unable to slip off. Summoning his weapons, he summoned a clawed gauntlet to grip things if needed, and a mace to use as a stabilizer as he skated across the ice. Falcon’s blistering sprint was generally enough to carry him across the ice. Of course, braking to a stop would be incredibly hard to do thanks to the slickness, but in his mind he would have reached the finish by that time so it wouldn’t matter at that point. As long as nothing tripped him up before that point, then he should be fine.

Impressed by Therion’s speed and strength in tiger form, Nadia had wanted to settle in for the ride while her blood slowly replenished, but as the thieves closed in on the finish line she saw Falcon and Roland a little too close for comfort. After coming this far, the feral wasn’t going to let her opponents steal back the win now. Holding on with her legs and just one arm, she reached into her belt and pulled out her Bait Launcher. “Sorry, bud…” she mumbled, taking aim. “But the steaks…are too high!”

She pulled the trigger, and sent a slab of meat flying toward her opponents. It wouldn’t deal damage, and neither would the giant, burly tiger it summoned on impact, but it was enough to throw the Fixer and the Captain off for the split second Therion needed. He pounced over the finish line with Nadia on his back, just a second ahead of the competition, and only a moment later Roxas and Midna followed behind. Each finish resulted in the booming blare of a horn, each mighty sound echoing across the mountain to let everyone know that a team had finished. Judging by the short interval between each one, the others could all infer just how close the race had been. But in the end, the cat burglars had won, with the speedy professionals in second, and the twilight tricksters in third.

Of course, Therion’s speed meant that the winners shot off the other end of the peak the next instant and entered freefall, followed by their rivals. At this point, though, Nadia didn’t even care. She yowled, half-cheering and half-screaming, all the way back down to the bottom.

Midna did manage to stop herself from falling off but, after a moment of thought, shrugged with two sets of shoulders and then swan dived into the abyss after them simply for the fun of it.

Sectonia wasn't doing so well much like a lot of the group. There were clear forerunners and losers in something like this, but for Sectonia, she did what she could but it really wasn't going to be anything that let her catch up. Having to heave around a rock was both annoying, and also difficult to do platforming with when she herself was new to platforming in general. And the addition of moving platforms and eventually crumbling platforms made things even more difficult for her. If it wasn't for a few of the others being even less mobile than her, she would probably be doing much, much worse than she was. She wasn't anywhere near the front though.

The crumbling platforms were going to give Sectonia even more trouble than she bargained for, much more as she started them, Bowser had managed to grow big and started to cause a massive wind tunnel in the fishy mines. Something that would affect Sectonia pretty badly as her thrown boulder she used to swing under the platform shifted in the wind tunnel, causing the platform to disintegrate and Sectonia to be in free fall heading towards the source of the wind tunnel, Bowser himself. Of course Bowser would be behind this oddity, but something he'd come to regret pretty quickly as a giant bee the size of his head zoomed at him with her stinger out, being pulled by his vacuum breath. Being quite big and Bowser not paying attention, he'd suck up Sectonia, having his mouth literally full of her bottom half and making him unable to breath. An awkward situation for the both of them, with Sectonia glaring at the koopa king who had to hack and cough to breath again, freeing Sectonia and causing her to drop down with everyone else. If damage had been on, her stinger would've done some serious damage thats for sure.

"You'd better not do that again!" Sectonia said in pure annoyance and a bit of embarrassment. She'd find that at this point trying again would be pointless, and just waited for it to be over with the rest of the people at the bottom of the mines. At least soon afterwards, she had some enjoyment watching Ganondorf and Bowser brawl it out after Bowser tried his inhale trick a second time. Ganondorf was doing her job, so she just let him at it.

After about a minute spent sitting by the penguin’s fire, its radiating warmth balanced against the slow rain of cold flakes against her skin, Sandalphon began to get restless. Of course, she’d only permitted herself to rest in the first place after forcing herself to accept the fact that winning this race really didn’t matter, but the feeling still agitated her. And no matter how much she reasoned that she didn’t need extra rewards from these games, and that they’d be better off in the others’ hands, or that her chances of winning were negligible at this point and only getting worse over time, her fretful nature wouldn’t change. The archangel had lived her whole life not just doing, but overdoing, holding herself to the highest of standards when it came to acts of service. Especially after already allotting herself an exceptionally generous break with Zenkichi today, capitulation at a time like this -game or not- would be nothing short of indolence. As the moments of inaction trickled by, Sandalphon fidgeted more and more, bouncing her leg and drumming her fingers, until she could stomach this slothfulness no longer.

She inhaled sharply, standing. Her sudden movement got the attention of Goldlewis, and he glanced up at his partner. “Well, shall we continue?”

The southerner stroked his whiskers, his lips pursed. “Y’know, I reckon we’re probably dead last. Ain’t a snowball’s chance in hell we overtake any frontrunners, so I don’t mind waitin’ it out right here. Besides, the snow’s mighty relaxin’. Don’t ya think?”

Sandalphon’s pupils turned to inverted triangles. “I am sufficiently rested already. It’s true we’ve encountered many setbacks, due largely to my own regrettable deficiencies. However, I can’t imagine that a man of your strength would be so easily cowed.” The archangel attempted to ply the man’s pride to motivate him, shouldering the blame for their failures at the same time. “Even if we cannot claim victory, let us not wallow in defeat, but put forth an effort we can be proud of.”

“I’m pretty proud we made it this far,” Goldlewis replied evenly. “Though truth be told, I mostly just don’t wanna do any more climbin’. Haulin’ this load around ain’t exactly easy.” He slapped his own belly with a good-natured chuckle. Then, for just a moment, he grew serious. “I don’t mean to say I got no fight left in me, of course. When it comes to doin’ my duty, I ain’t one to hold back, I know you seen that much.”

The veteran shrugged. “But this here mountain ain’t a battlefield–it’s just a game. Sure, there’s rewards for doin’ well, but at the end of the day we’re here to have a good time. If the youngins wanna tire themselves out runnin’ around, that’s their call. Me, I’d rather just sit back and let ‘em.” He leaned back, his palms against the ground to prop himself up. “That’s just how gettin old is. It don’t mean you’re weak–but it means ya gotta ration your strength.” He glanced at Sandalphon, raising an eyebrow. “I dunno how familiar y’are with the process, seein’ as you’re angel an’ all.”

Sandalphon crossed her arms, a thoughtful look on a face punctuated by ellipsis in her eyes. “Although I am several hundred years old, I believe you do have a point. As far as I’m aware, this body does not age.” She tilted her head slightly. “Though we angels can be destroyed, I suppose our lifespans are indefinite. That does mean I cannot truly understand the ‘gravity’ that comes with aging. I can only offer my sympathies. It must weigh heavily upon you.”

Narrowing his eyes, Goldlewis questioned her. “Hey, was that a fat joke?”

Though Sandalphon didn’t flinch, the empty circles that her pupils became said everything. “Not at all, I am quite incapable of humor. I merely meant…”

“Ahh, relax, I was just joshin’ ya,” Goldlewis told her, grinning. Then he let out a sigh. “You’re right, though. It’s scary. As the years pile up, time gets faster and faster. The years mean less. I’m plenty strong -stronger’n most folks my age, that’s for damn sure- but knowin’ I’m gettin’ weaker an’ weaker, ‘til I find I’ve lost my strength some day…it ain’t a cozy feelin’. And then…well, I’m sure I don’t gotta lay out how the story ends.” He looked up at the simulated sky, beyond the fluffy white clouds and violet horizon. “I’m a soldier, though. I looked death in the face many times, and I ain’t scared. But that don’t mean life ain’t worth livin’.” The veteran turned to Sandalphon and offered an apologetic smile. “I don’t mean to get all serious just to avoid gettin’ off my ass. Just mean to say we should enjoy the time we got.”

After another moment, the archangel reached her conclusion. “...I suppose I wouldn’t enjoy pushing forward any more than remaining here.” With elegance she seated herself by the fire once more, crossing her legs. “It would be nonoptimal to finish even lower than this if we happened to fall again, as well.”

Goldlewis nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

Just then, the deep, resounding blow of a horn echoed down across the rocky landscape, prompting both to look up. “Reckon that means someone crossed the finish line?” Goldlewis asked. Without any visual evidence to back up that hypothesis Sandalphon hesitated to offer any conjecture, but a moment later a second noise swept down through the snowy mountainside. Only seconds after that, a third followed it up, but rather than taper off like the first two the third noise grew more intense. All around, the terrain began to warp and fray, first distorting and then collapsing. Everything seemed to squeeze together like a balloon between a child’s hands, and when their reality popped, both Goldlewis and Sandalphon found themselves back on the giant roulette table. All of the other Seekers appeared too, banished from Balan’s wintry wonderworld and returned to the lobby.

“Whoooo!” Nadia cheered breathlessly, her voice more than a little horse. Though seriously worn out, the feral couldn’t look happier. “We did it, we won! I mean, not to gloat or anything, but we killed it!” When Captain Falcon inevitably looked down on her last minute cheating, she waved him off, her grin indelible. “What’s that? I can’t hear you over the sound of WINNING!” Once she settled down, the armless feral went around to collect her lost limbs, which had luckily been deposited in the lobby just like everyone else.

After about a minute, Ballyhoo poofed into existence, floating off to the side with his typical aplomb. “Aaaaand that’s a wrap! Congratulations to our winners! In first place, A and A! In second place, A and A! And in third place, A and A! Here are your WINNINGS!” Doffing his hat like a magician, he rolled it across his shoulders, then snatched it and held it like a party popper. A glittering gold projectile burst from it, then exploded in the air, raining down the correct number of rift tokens on everyone. Nadia gathered hers up, bit one more for show than anything, then stuffed them into her pouches. “And courtesy of our sponsor Vandelay Technologies, here’s a refreshing beverage! ON US!”

With a snap of his fingers he pulled a robotic refrigerator into the lobby, who promptly opened himself to offer everyone revitalizing green energy drinks. “Help yourselves!”

Far beyond questioning any of this by now, Nadia trotted over to accept a drink right away. “Mew-sic to my ears!”

Anyone else who wanted one would have to move quickly, however, because once Balan showed up again, Ballyhoo got the ball rolling–literally. The gamemaster launched another boo ball around the table, and the maestro made it spin. “Aaaaand your second minigame iiiiiiiis…!” Another few moments passed in eager -or perhaps tense- anticipation before the ball made its home in pocket number seven. When she looked to gauge their hosts’ reactions, Nadia was surprised to see Ballyhoo clutching his head with both hands in dismay, while Balan seemed frightened–though he might be just pretending.

“Film Those Freaks!?” Ballyhoo made a show of fainting, though the second he hit the ground he popped right back up again. “Is that a chill in the air? No…it’s another thrilling minigame, with a scrumptiously spooky bent! For this one, you’ll be split into teams of four and started off in cheerful sky gardens. It’s up to you to grab your camera, take the diving bell down to the old world, and use your precious ninety seconds of film to record as much scary stuff as you can! Once you’ve captured all those horrific happenings, it’s on you to make it back to the surface, upload your video to SpookTube, and rake in the ad revenue! Whoever gets the most moolah wins! Be careful though, ‘cause you’ve only got five minutes of oxygen, and a set amount of ‘hit points’. Run out of either, and it’s a one-way trip back to the island–lose your camera, and you’re out of luck!”

Nadia blinked, surprised. So these weren’t all going to be sporting events, after all? Maybe that was for the best, given how tough all that mountain climbing had been. Some of what Ballyhoo said went right over her head, but she knew that film and cameras had to do with movies. Having snuck her way into a theater or two, she’d seen the miracle of moving pictures for herself, and even if none of them had been remotely scary they were still pretty cool–not to mention black and white. “So we’re gonna be, like, hunting for cryptids? And making our own movies? Sounds fun!”

Ballyhoo nodded. “If you’re not a SCAREDY CAT, that is! Mr Balan? Take it away!”

---

Just as the gamemaster promised, the Seekers wound up scattered across five different sky islands, separated into teams of four. Each one looked like a big, well-kept backyard garden, with vivid greenery, huge hedges, sunflowers, and apple trees. They also came equipped with one little medical shed apiece, and from the porch of each cozy red house (where the camera and four cheap, low-power flashlights could be found) the Seekers could see both a power station for recharging electronics and the diving bell that would take them down to the Old World, suspended by a crane. Inside its spartan interior the Seekers could find a crank for operating the door, a button to initiate travel, and a screen with the O2 levels and distances of every team member. It also housed a selector with three choices for each team’s destination: the Factory, the Cruise Ship, and the Tunnels. Upon appearing in a garden, the soon-to-be amateur filmmakers would find their winter wear replaced by old-fashioned diving helmets, each fitted to their own heads.

The bright, idyllic scenery, surrounded on all sides by nothing but perfectly blue skies and fluffy white clouds, left Nadia blinking as she tried to adjust. “Agh, that hat guy’s gonna give me whiplash, I swear. Huh?” When she became aware of the weight on her head, she started pulling and prying at her new diving helmet until it slipped off, allowing her to get a better look at it. A sort of dark brass in color, it seemed old-fashioned but very sturdy, and it even featured hollow protuberances on top to accommodate her ears. “Oh, jeez. Are we really going swimming? These clothes are brand new! They don’t deserve to be fashion-derwater!”

Helmet in her hands, she looked around to see who’d ended up on her team this time. Right away she saw her true-blue pal Blazermate, which elicited a friendly smile, but her search also turned up Roxas and Captain Falcon, two of the competitors she’d just gone head-to-head with in the last minigame. “Huh, guess we’re falc-on the same team this time. No hard feelings, eh?” She didn’t really know either of them well enough to pun with them yet, but hopefully this minigame would change that. Her gaze landed on the handheld camcorder, the key to this whole challenge, and she jogged over to scoop it up. The feral held it up like a sandwich, one eyebrow raised as she tried to figure this out. After a moment, mostly spent workshopping jokes rather than actually examining the thing, she gave up and swiveled her head around to the others. “...Anyone know how to use this thing? People are always shilling stuff like this, but franc-ly, I can never make ‘cents’ of it. The dime-ensons just don’t work for me. Guess I’m just not tech-nickle enough.”

One island over, at a safe distance from the barrage of terrible puns, Goldlewis was sizing up his own team. It looked like he’d ended up with Midna, Geralt, and Bowser Junior. In other words, for this video-making contest, this crew was two old farts with barely any grasp on technology (though for very different reasons), one woman from a medieval fantasy world, and one little kid–who out of everyone probably had the firmest grasp on what this minigame was all about. Sighing, Goldlewis shook his head. “Figures it’d be black tech. Even after all this time in Midgar, I’m just about hopeless when it comes to figurin’ that stuff out.” The veteran crouched down to try and address the young koopa on his own level. “Well partner, I hope you know a thing or two about this whole video-makin’ business, ‘cause I reckon the rest of us ain’t got a clue.” At least right now they had some time to go over how things worked, since once everyone piled into that diving bell, they’d be on the clock.

When Sandalphon arrived in her own garden, she took stock of her teammates right away. The first she saw, owing to his remarkable size, appeared to be Ganondorf. While his immediate confrontation with Midna did not lead to the best first impression, and his inherent darkness created a natural contrast to her light, the archangel could not deny that he’d been the more level-headed of the two. Naturally, she planned to treat him with the same professional courtesy that she offered everyone else. The other man present interested her much more, since it happened to be Zenkichi. Just the sight of the grizzled detective, and the subsequent realization that they’d be working together, was enough to turn Sandalphon’s eyes into sparkles for a moment.

“Hello again,” she greeted him, bowing her head with a slight but irrepressible smile on her gray lips. “It appears that we’ve been matched together for this challenge. I look forward to working with you.”

That left the last person, who Sandalphon had uncharacteristically ignored in favor of greeting Zenkichi. Now, though, the archangel offered her undivided attention, for player number four wasn’t a Seeker, but someone entirely new. This stranger was a lithe young woman, her black hair done up in two pink-banded horns and her diagonally-cut bangs laid across mismatched purple-and-green eyes, wearing a very small white crop top that left her dignity to the mercy of black body tape, as well as baggy pants. Her appearance evoked the image of a martial artist with an odd fashion sense. Of course, this fighter was sizing up her teammates as well, and her expression made no bones about how she felt.

The archangel did not take Juri’s feelings into account. “Good afternoon. It looks like we’ll be working together as well.” Sandalphon inferred the reason why this stranger might be here. If Captain Falcon could end up in the Seekers’ lobby, it made sense that others could too, especially given how unevenly a roster of nineteen players could be sorted into teams. “My name is Sandalphon. Though we are not acquaintances, I hope you will enjoy your time with us nonetheless.”

Once introductions were out of the way, the team could focus on the task at hand: the creation of a scary short movie. Though unfamiliar with cameras, she felt confident that she could learn in a short amount of time, as she did with most technologies during her time in Midgar. The art of film-making, however, would be a whole other beast.

---

This, Juri had found, was turning out to be a real pain in the ass. After kicking around the weaklings of Carnival Town, Juri had gotten bored. None of them were tough. All she had done was run around and get whatever she wanted. It was fun for a while but there was nothing actually going on here. It was just a bunch of clowns and stupid shows. She’d probably have to clear out soon, abandoning all the terror she had wrought and reputation she had built up as the baddest bitch in town. But before that, she might as well give the main attraction a try.

Despite it looking like the lamest, corniest thing ever, she had no choice but to actually try out these stupid games. And so far, she has been right about her assumptions. Stuck with loser teammates who did nothing but slow her down and asinine ‘games’ that just had her running around the place like a monkey. Worst of all, no one was even getting hurt. It was a regular Candyland parade. What a joke. At the very least, Juri Han was going to get rewarded for her efforts. She wasn’t going to go through all this just to be left with nothing, that was for sure. She’d get her hands on these spirits or whatever and use them or sell them or whatever was the best idea. It didn’t really matter. Getting out of here empty handed was not an option.

Now, she had been teleported to a place that looked like it had been dShe immediately yanked the dumb helmet off. It totally clashed with her style. It was bad enough she’d rather suffocate to death. If there was a camera, she’d have to be the one filming for that reason alone. Then she looked around at the teammates she was stuck with.

A gloomy ren faire dork, a greasy stiff, and some freaky robot chick. You gotta be kidding me. Weirdly though, they all seemed pretty strong just by looking at them. She didn’t need the Feng Shui engine to tell her that. Of course. The second she tries to enjoy herself, some out-of-town chumps show up to spoil her monopoly. What the Hell was wrong with them, anyway? Were they together?

But none of them looked like they had ever even held a camera in their lives. Well, maybe that one guy, but still. Juri skipped introductions, flat out ignoring Sandalphon, and immediately went to snatch up the camera.

”Yoink,” She said. She tossed the cam into the air and caught it. She dropped her helmet into the grass and peered through the viewfinder. There was the button to turn it on. Only ninety seconds of footage

”Listen up. I got the camera, so that means I’m in charge.” Juri said, jabbing a thumb at herself.

”You two B-movie dorks don’t look you know how to use a camera,” She points at Ganondorf and Sandalphon. ”And you…” She looks at Zenkichi.

”I dunno, I just don’t like you. You look like a cop. Cops and cameras don’t mix.” Juri smiled, and stepped on her helmet, leaning forward to emphasize her next points.

”And we’re uploading this video to some lame-ass website called SpookTube. Well, I’m pretty fuckin’ popular on FooTube. I know what makes that ad revenue cash, and there’s zero chance in Hell any of you can argue with me on that front.” Juri concluded with a few tilts of her head.

”So all that makes me, Juri, the best choice, like always!” Juri exclaimed, swinging her hands out to the side happily. ”Okay, shut up, watch this, I’m gonna film the intro.”

She turned around and held the camera out, making the devils horns sign with her other hand. Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated to a disturbing degree as she stuck out her tongue. She made sure to get everyone else in the group behind her, but she was the main star. ”Ulleeeeeh! Prepare to get scared you frickin’ dorks!” Then she clapped the viewfinder shut. That was valuable context to the video to come.

”You can’t swear when the video starts, otherwise you get demonetized.” She explained. ”Bet none of you guys knew that. See? Isn’t it awesome when I’m your leader? We’re gonna make the scariest video ever. All the other teams will look like fuckin’ pussies, watch. ” Juri leaned down and picked up her helmet. With a casual swing of her arm, she practically dropped it onto her head. She fastened it there to make sure. But it obviously operated on some stupid cartoon logic. No chance she’d suffocate. And no way they were going underwater, despite it being a diving bell.

She was confident she had pretty much established her dominance over these other guys. Juri Han was a people person, after all!

The Seekers had hardly any time to recover between one game and the next. For Therion, the joy of winning Connect Climbing Chaos had swiftly given way to the too familiar, sickening feeling of falling when he and Nadia had gone right over the edge, and so he ended up at the roulette table as a big cat with wide eyes and fur standing all on end. He was glad that the tumble hadn't lasted very long before they were teleported back, at least. When he turned into his human form to accept the prize, the fur on his tail was still puffed out.

And then just like that they were somewhere new. A colorful, brightly lit little patch of grass with a single house and a few other oddities. Primrose found herself with two familiar faces, improving her mood. Zenkichi had been kind, and interesting to chat with, but he was a stranger tied to her. Now everyone was free to move as they wanted, and their familiarity with each other would hopefully both lead to more fun and prevent bad mishaps. And since Primrose, Therion, and Sectonia had all fought through not just the Under, but the Sandswept Sky together, they were pretty familiar with each other by now.

Which left Roland as the odd man out. Primrose offered him a friendly, if neutral smile. Therion only glanced at him. "No hard feelings," he told Roland with a hint of smugness, unknowingly echoing his climbing partner on another island.

”Yeah. That's just life in the city. Although this was much nicer compared to what I’m used to.” Roland said, accepting losing to Therion. Roland wasn’t even mad, it was just a game after all. It wasn’t the stuff he had to deal with on a day to day basis.

Sectonia meanwhile was in a bit of a huff, although none of the ones in this group saw what happened to her during the previous trial, so she didn’t hold it over their heads. ”Hm… So apparently there is supposed to be some horror underneath these clouds?” Sectonia said.

”Apparently. Although I wonder if it's going to be anything actually horrifying. If the goal of the video is to show true horror, I have some ideas if nothing works down below.” Roland said, scratching his forehead as he thought about it. ”Hm… Which one of us is going to hold the camera?” Roland looked at his other party members. Sectonia was out, her hands were too big to handle it. And while normally Roland wouldn’t even care about how Therion and Primrose looked as you could have any style in the City, in the world of light, he had to actually consider how they were dressed. And if he had to guess, those two hadn’t ever seen a camera before.

”... Nevermind, I’ll be the cameraman. Best to not lose it, and I can keep myself safe while we film.” Roland said.

"That is probably wise," Primrose said. She had gotten used to a lot of new things during this adventure and could most likely intuit how the contraption worked, but if Roland was already familiar with it then best just to leave it to him.

Looking around the area, she quickly found the diving bell that Ballyhoo had mentioned. Along with several other little features the island had. There appeared to be some kind of shop ordering screen, a large technologically advanced device, two wooden buildings... being so small, there wasn't much else. Or anything else really.

Primrose picked up a few of the flashlights and offered one to Therion and Sectonia. The former took it and stashed it in his belt. His attention was primarily focused on the diving bell, because his only other experience with one had been in the Home of Tears.

"Don't those things go underwater?" he asked. Is that what the helmets they were all wearing were for? The explanation of this game had gone by quickly, but Therion was pretty sure he caught mention of oxygen levels. Scaling a mountain without the fear of getting hurt was one thing, but being surrounded on all sides by water was another.

”Yeah, but they are old. Like, really old.” Roland said, looking at the diving bell. Sectonia, not needing a flashlight as she could see in the dark, threw hers to Roland. ”I suppose when we get down there, I should use some Antlers and have them investigate. I still don’t know what this ‘scary movie’ should entail.” Sectonia said, being roughly on the same wavelength as Primrose and Therion when it came to this stuff, leaving Roland as the only one who had an idea of what they needed to do.

”Well, before we head down, let's see what this device does…” Roland said as he approached the sponsorship device and examined it.

Therion went to better inspect the bell while the other three looked at the monitor. On the screen were a few offers, which seemed to be various challenges the team had to complete in their homemade video in return for getting an item to use. Some had to do with monsters, such as interviewing or dancing with them. Others just asked the players to use their products in the video and get enough views on it.

Though Primrose understood the words, the context was still hard to grasp. The shopping board also listed items without any description, making the prospect of spending her single token on any of them unappealing.

The dancer disregarded the sponsorships for now. She looked at Roland, one hand on her hip. "Actually, could you give the rest of us an idea of what we should be doing in this game? In layman's terms... Or even simpler."

Roland thought a bit to himself. He didn’t make videos, but he had an idea of how it worked. ”Uh… From what little I gather, we grab a sponsor here from this board and do something in our video with them, then we go down and try to get some scary monster footage, of the monsters doing scary things like attacking people or something? And the more horrifying the better. Although that would mean getting attacked…” Roland said, trying to explain what was going on here.

”Well, I can summon something for these monsters to ‘attack’, so we don’t have to touch those vile things.” Sectonia said, summoning an ice antler for reference.

”Well, that helps. Now to just find a good sponsor.. Sponsors should get us a lot of views themselves.” Roland sorted through the sponsor list, and found one he figured would be easy. ”Hmm… I see one for Wèllcheers soda. ‘Have 20 seconds of Wèllcheers soda shown on screen, and/or being drinken. Use and drink all 3 flavors, flavors will be provided.’ What do you three think? Sound good?” Roland said. Something about this soda seemed…. Vaguely familiar but he couldn’t place it.

”I suppose it doesn’t matter. My antlers can handle all of that, since it seems they will also be the ‘victims’ in this.” Sectonia said, suppressing her sweet tooth for this strange soda.

Though Primrose found Roland's explanation to be a little... lacking, she didn't coax him for more. He seemed to know what he was doing, and this was only a game. For now she'd just roll with it and see what happened. Like the previous game, she didn't expect her team's outcome to be a very good one, but she didn't mind that. As for sponsorships, she didn't have any opinion, so when Roland chose one she shrugged one shoulder.

"No objections," the dancer said. She would be more than happy to let Sectonia's antlers take on any burden the game demanded.

Once the choice was set in stone, a buzzing noise started approaching their little island almost immediately. The drone dropped off a wooden crate filled with a six pack of the mysterious soda and then zoomed off to wherever it had come from. The delivery drew Therion away from the bell, and he met the others in the center of the island.

"Are you all set?" he asked. He figured there must be some kind of time limit for this minigame, but there didn't seem to be a way to tell if getting a head start would benefit them. Them being the other three, because... "I don't really want to go underwater, so I'll... I dunno, coordinate from up here." If such a thing was even possible.

Primrose regarded him curiously. "Tired out from just one win?" she teased. The thief shrugged.

”Well, from what it looks like, we don’t need someone up here monitoring everything. And it would be safer to go as a group than someone being alone. I don’t know if being alone would make things come up and gobble you up.” Roland said with a tinge of dark humor to his voice.

Therion raised an eyebrow and gestured to the small, colorful, general area. "Up here? I think I'll take my chances."

"I doubt we're actually going to spend the whole time down there submerged," Primrose said. She tapped the side of her helmet, the same one they all wore. It was hardly watertight. "If it takes underwater, it will most likely bring us to some cave or sunken building, with a pocket of air."

Her fellow Orsterran still didn't look convinced enough, but used her words as a segue to get off of the topic. "Speaking of, inside there are three places listed inside that thing: factory, cruise ship, tunnels."

”If my experience means anything, either the factory or the tunnels should have the ‘scariest’ things. Cruise ships probably just have sharks or jellyfish or octopi.” Roland said, voicing his opinion. Sectonia didn’t really have much of an opinion herself, as no matter what they were going to see down there, it was going to be ugly no matter what.

"I would veto the 'tunnels'," Primrose said, sure she wasn't alone in the opinion that most of them had seen enough tunnels for a long while.

"Which leaves the factory."

With their course of action figured out and everyone agreed, the filed into the diving bell (with some great reluctance from Therion), sponsorship item in hand and started to head down.

”Oh thank baddness we have our movement related abilities for this one” was the first thing Kamek said, as he sat on his broom and floated up into the air inorder to reach head height with two out of three of the other members of the team.

”Ah, hello again Sire, Rika and Pit I believe it was?” the mage said to the others

"Yep, the one and only Pit!" the angel replied. He could give Kamek a pass for the name thing, since the koopa was old.

Rika first nodded, and then said ”Nice to meet you” to Pit, offering him a very big hand to shake. Her mitts dwarfed his, but Pit happily took her hand and shook it up and down. Then she asked ”So what are we doing? I hardly understood any of what he was talking about”

”Making a scary film, which should be easy, because I’m gonna be the scariest thing in whatever joint we end up in!” Bowser declared in answer.

"I'm pretty sure we're supposed to record spooky stuff, like ghosts or zombies or Ornes or Reapers," Pit pointed out, without arguing Bowser's comment. He'd always thought Mario's arch-rival was a little scary. And he was quickly getting over the king's sabotage of the previous game, what with how fast they'd been tossed into another.

He looked around at the cozy, colorful environment. There was a tall white screen standing nearby with some words on it that he ignored in favor of the items on the house's porch: four flashlights and a camcorder. Pit picked up one of the lights, clicking it on and off a couple times. "I dunno why we need the helmets though."

”Perhaps it is a flooded landscape down there? Full of underwater horrors” Kamek said, then, releasing what he’d said, visibly shuddered along with the other two troop members.

The diving bell they were going to use certainly didn’t help with the flashbacks to the Maw they were getting, which prompted Kamek to float up, saying he was going to check where and who Jr was with which the other two thought was an entirely sound thing to do.

”Geralt” he confirmed after briefly forgetting what the Witcher looked like now ”He, or rather she, got through the Maw just fine, so the young master’s got someone watching his back incase this goes thataway”

”Good” Bowser replied with a nod, the tension leaving both him and RIka at the news. Turning back to the game at hand, the king before scratched his chin a few times while looking over their equipment before picking up the camera and tossing it to Kamek, saying ”You can be our lakitu” before looking around and wondering if that was all there was to it.

As it turned out, no, it wasn’t as Rika found some kind of shopping terminal that had been sitting just out of view of their spawn point after heading out to take a peek around.

While the crew did a little splitting up, Pit had flitted over to the mechanism that would bring their team below: the diving bell. It looked really old, but sturdy, and though it had a screen inside with something written on it the only other features it had were a single lever, and a single red button. So it was probably pretty simple to use, which was great news.

Completely ignorant to the Troop's experience in the Maw, Pit wondered why they were so worried. This was just a minigame, and it would be pretty weird if they jumped right from being basically invincible in the last one to being able to be hurt in this one. Maybe parents were just like that, even big bad ones. Though they really hadn't spent that much time loitering around the island, soon enough Pit came bounding down the bell's ramp to stir his team into action.

"You guys ready yet? C'mon! What if everyone else gets a head start and finds all the good monsters first?"

The response of the others was drowned out by the sound of a metal pipe produced by Rika, or rather a little device she was holding that she had purchased on complete impulse. This was followed up by several other sound effects from a car skidding, laughter, crickets and a twelve second long news broadcast intro tune as she joined Pit in the diving bell

”I got a thing” she helpfully informed Pit, before taking a look at the three options on the diving bell and saying ”I think maybe we’ve had enough of tunnels after being in them all day yesterday?” an opinion that was shared by the koopas who joined them a moment later (with Bowser shrinking himself down to a less towering size so he could actually fit in the diving bell).

Pit looked up from prodding at the noise maker over Rika's shoulder. "Tunnels...?"

He followed her gaze to the panel inside the bell. 'Tunnels' was one of the words on it? Wait, that actually made sense - if it was the control for the bell, it probably listed locations it had access to! "Oh! Can we go to different places? What else does it say?"

”One is a ’Cruise ship’, which I guess is a cruiser like me, and the other is a factory” she replied, only to be lightly corrected by Kamek who informed her that ”A cruise ship is a very large leisure vessel for transporting tourists”

"Let's pick the factory! Maybe there will be some frankenstein-type monsters," Pit said without much thought, pulling the lever beside the door. As expected it closed the four of them inside, the vessel sealing shut with an automatic turn of the hand-wheel.

Bowser hmmmed, before shrugging and stomping over to hit the appropriate button while Rika asked ”What’s a frankenstein?”

"It's kind of like a cyborg zombie," Pit began to explain as the crane outside moved and the diving bell creaked. There was the distinct feeling of the chamber they were in being picked up, so they could assume it had started its descent. "It's a monster made up of a bunch of different parts slapped together, and then they - the evil scientists that make them - blast it with lightning or something to make it alive! Er, undead!"

”Huh” Rika replied shorty, before inquiring ”But why would they do that?”

"Do what?"

”Slap lots of bits together to make a monster I guess? Seems pretty…” before pausing, thinking, and saying ”Oh. I guess that’s kinda what they did with all the other lesser ships in my fleet after they died and got brought back all jumbled up” looking a little sad about that fact for a moment before shaking her head once to clear the emotion away and saying ”It’s efficient recycling of resources I suppose” just a bit too calmly.

"Uh... yeah I guess," Pit said, scratching his head. It was clear he hadn't put any thought whatsoever into this. "I think it's just what evil scientists do though.

"Right?" He looked at Kamek for confirmation, since the differences between an evil scientist and an evil wizard were semantics, clearly. He didn't give the koopa much time to answer before turning back to Rika. "Your fleet?"

”Oh, right, you weren't there when I was, well when I started existing” she replied, before briefly explaining how she’d once been a member of the abyssal fleet terrorizing the Blue, only for Kamek to free her from both Galeem and the fleet at the same time, before concluding the explanation with ”I basically wasn’t a person before, everything about that time is kinda, well hazy, same with whatever I was before the world of light, so I basically wouldn't exist without it”

Pit listened with interest, bobbing his head in between brief stints of confused tilts of his head. Her tale was a lot of things, least of all kind of incredible. It also raised some philosophical questions that her one angel audience was not well equipped to deal with, or even really identify beyond wondering how personhood could seemingly be bestowed like that. As such, his response was a pretty simple one.

"Wow. I didn't even know something like that was possible," he said. He would be sure to ask Lady Palutena more about it, if he remembered by the time they found her. "...I guess if you just started existing a couple days ago, then happy belated birthday?"

”Thanks?” the ship girl replied, clearly not knowing what those were.

The descent didn't actually take all that long, even though the island they came down from was sitting among clouds. There was a short jolt when the bell touched down in the 'old world.' With no windows or sensors showing what the situation was on the outside of it, the only thing the group could do was open the door. Pit obliged once again, pressing the lever back up to its original position. The door swung open, but no water entered the vessel. They had arrived in a dry place, one nearly completely devoid of color. The landscape, and everything in it from buildings to debris scattered around was in black, white, and gray with a 'scratchy' look to it. The diving bell was the only exception they could see, and its light poured an orange glow out in a small circle around it. Not far away from them was what must be the factory's entrance.

Torches clicked on, producing only a little glow. Indeed a lot of their light came not from those but from the tentacruel orbs on Bowser’s back, which created a little oasis of light and color in the dark gloom. The rest came from the glowing cotton tail like bulb on the abc of Rika’s rigging belt, which didn’t provide her much light, but did let everyone else know where she was, be they friend or foe.

”I see, so we are in the ‘depths’ just not literally” Kamek mused, before suggesting ”I think taking a short recording of us entering would be good for framing purposes? Otherwise it would simply be a disconnected series of monster recordings which might be a bit disorientating?”

"I guess that makes sense!" Pit had been shining the beam of his light all around the outside, though it failed to penetrate very far into the darkness. Now that they were here, this game was starting to feel exciting. This place definitely had a creepy feeling. What made it even better was that since this was a minigame, assuming they wouldn't actually be in danger, it would be a fun way to experience something scary without actually being scared for your life!

"Do you think we should say something? Introduce ourselves?" Pit asked. Then slightly less loudly he admitted, "I've seen movies and TV and stuff before, but not really anything like this, so..."

”I was thinking it would maybe be like a nature documentary, only about the supernatural? Not that we know that much about these ghosts and ghouls, I’m no E. Gadd, but it's the only frame of reference I have that comes close” Kamek suggested

”Yeah, they gotta know who the start of the show is after all! Steve Inamazu ain’t gonna have nothing on me when I wrestle these freakshows into the ground” Bowser declared, and before Kamek could object said ”Now let’s get this show on the road! Roll the tape! Clocks ticking!”

Indeed it was. Five minutes was at once quite a bit of time and none at all, and the koopa king urged them to make the most of it stomping into the doorframe of the factory and, once Kamek had hit the record button started up an introduction.

”Alright! Listen up people of spooktub or whatever it was! I’m Bowser, the Koopa King, the biggest and baddest bad guy there is and today you get the privilege of watching me and my troop dive into this freaky factory to find the weirdos in it so I can punch them in the face!” he roared loudly, needing no boom mic to be heard thanks to his excellent vocal projection that probably alerted each and every thing in the place that they had visitors.

In the background of the recording, in what little was left of the frame that wasn't taken up by Bowser's, Pit had been hopping up and down with his wings spread wide. "Pit here, on the job too! We're gonna make the scariest video ever!" he said, then gestured with one arm and one wing to Rika for her introductory words.

”Hi camera, I’m Rika” the ship girl said, leaning into frame and waving with a very large hand, before adding ”and I don’t really know what we are doing but hopefully it will be fun. Or spooky? Both?” and giving a thumbs up with one hand, and hitting the sound player button at the same time to play a dramatic hit to accompany her motion, which seemed to amuse her.

Finally, the last member of the team introduce himself with ”and I, Kamek, will be your camera Koopa for the day” while continuing to record them rather than turning it to show himself, before saying ”now then, let’s see what we can find” dramatically swooping up, over the group and through the doors, before flicking off the recording.

”And cut!” the mage said as he did so, before turning back to the others and saying ”I think that will make for a good introduction”

”Cut what?” Rika asked, her serrated edged spear flicking from her back to her hand in an instant as she looked around for what needed slicing.

”ah it's an expression. It means ‘cut the tape’ which is what turning off the camera does. So by saying it I let you know I am no longer recording” the mage replied, a little incorrect on how this particular camera worked, but still filling her in and getting an ”Ohhhh” of understanding from the ship girl as the spear blinked back to its over the shoulder storage position.

"That sounded pretty professional! This is gonna be fun."

”Troop’s nothing if not professional, so good job keeping up with us Pit” Bowser replied, before thrusting a finger forwards into the dark of the factory and commanding ”Now let’s get in there and find some freaks to film!” which got a little round of cheers and affirmations before they set out to do just that

”Yeah I do!” Jr replied to the question as to if he knew anything about tech and video making, before saying that ”I watch a whole bunch of stuff on UPipe back home when i get internet time. Stuff like Boyadi Piranha plant, MrDorrie, Chomps Jr. and- ” jr began to list off some of his favorite series and creators before remembering ”aaaaaand you have no idea what those are. Right. Obviously”

”But can you work these- Minda waved a hand at the torches rather than the camera as an added display of her ignorance ”-things to make this ‘movie’ with?”

Rather than reply, Jr instead let out a snort of a laugh, pointed at her head and said ”look at your helmet, it's huge!” before slapping his knee and laughing at her some more. As for what was causing his giggling fit, well, the diving bell had been made big enough to fit the princess’s helmet as well as her head, and with how much the top prongs added to her height, well, it was a touch oversized, something the increasingly dismayed twili found out as she patted it down with four hands.

”how… how bad is it?”

”Here, look” the prince replied, before picking up the camera, turning the device upside down, then turning the display around so she could see both it and, upon it, herself, which sent her groaning into 4 sets of hands. Goldlewis, who had been trying to hold in his mirth, broke down at this point and shook with silent laughter.

“It is rather large.” Geralt bluntly added, before looking at Junior. “So, I take it you’ll handle creating the…recording? While we handle defense and anything else you need us to do.” Geralt was more than okay with Junior taking the lead on this one, given that he was the only one here with any exposure to that sort of thing. Whether Goldlewis’ world had the kind of technology or not, if he had no idea how to use it, he was effectively in the same boat as Midna and herself.

”Can do” the prince replied along with a thumbs up as he turned the camera back around in his other hand and got a bit of a feel for how to get at least slightly decent shots on it.

Putting his hands on his hips, Goldlewis gave an affirmative nod. “Sounds like a plan to me. You’re the boss, li’l man.” Compared to the first minigame, the veteran felt a lot more engaged by this one already. Whereas his previous task amounted to little more than a rigorous physical exercise, this demanded expertise and creativity, and would apparently involve braving the ominously named ‘old world’. And who wouldn’t want to see a monster or two? He assumed that the actual scare factor would be low, given the Big Top’s whimsical aesthetic. Granted, Ballyhoo did say that there would be a hit point system involved, but actually having stakes just made things more exciting.

After grabbing a flashlight, which was black tech even he could handle, the veteran turned his attention to the diving bell that hung at the sky island edge. “Well. If y’all’re ready, I reckon we oughta get started.” On the way over, though, he glanced around the verdant garden, and not just to admire the flowers and fruits. He took note of a simple machine with a monitor and a large slot, some sort of receptacle for the camera judging by the helpful indicator. He suspected that was where the team should deposit the device once they were done. In addition to the power station, he spotted a freestanding touchscreen a good five feet or so in height, equipped with a coin slot. Curious, he moseyed over, and after a quick inspection decided that it must be a point of sale system. “Some sort of item shop,” he reported, running a finger over the coin slot. As the gears turned in his head, he pulled out the consolation token he’d been given after Connected Climbing Chaos, one eyebrow raised. “Huh, we’re s’posed to use these? Takes money to make money, I guess.” He looked through the shop’s offerings with greater interest, wondering what could possibly justify the in-game usage of his reward. For the most part, it looked like light sources or filming gadgets. “Anythin’ tickle your fancy?” he asked Junior.

”hmmmm” the prince mulled over the list as he used a knuckle (rather than a claw tipped finger) to scroll through the list of things commenting ”don’t need any defendy items we’ve got that in spades… I can heal stuff so we are fine there” before assessing that it might be worth getting ”a better torch so that we can see the stuff we’re filming, and one of those boom mics would let us get better sound? Would mean people are gonna have to carry those around instead of weapons though”

”I’ve got arms to spare for that at least” Midna offered, waving two hands while holding her currently removed helmet with the other two.

“I can focus on tracking and can try to slow anything down with Yrden if they prove a challenge.” Geralt added, completely lost on the kind of technology they were working with.

“That might come in handy.” Goldlewis shrugged. “As for me, after not doin’ so hot with that mountain climbin’ back there, I only got one Rift Token.” He stroked his whiskers while looking at Midna. “And you got third, but even then you only got three if I remember right. Well, it’s your call I guess. Me, I’m fine with what I got.” He flipped his token, caught it, and pocketed it in one smooth motion. Of course, someone could only look so cool with a big, dopey diving helmet on. “Pretty sure these glasses got a night vision mode anyhow.” He flipped down the tech lenses on his sunglasses to demonstrate, causing the built-in lights to glow red. If this mix of equipment gained from Jack-8 and Hank actually worked, it would be a stroke of good luck, and if it didn’t, well…at least he had that cheap flashlight.

”I can see a lot better in the dark than in bright light anyway, so I can help with spotting” Midna added, before saying ”but given that we only have to avoid coming last to get at least three more tokens, I’m happy to invest one of my winnings into improving all our odds of doing the same”

Following up on her word she opened a little portal on the ground which launched one of her coins up and out of it, before flicking the flying thing with a finger to make it fly perfectly into the slot. Actually buying the item too a little longer as she used the unfamiliar touch screen interface, but in a few moments she had acquired the very long stick with a fuzzy blob on the end

”So how does this-” Midna began to ask as she picked it up by the equivalent of the scruff of the neck and put the fluffy part right up in her face, only for her words to demonstrate how it worked by being a fair bit louder than they otherwise would have been

”I see” she said, before moving her hands down the stick and moving the mic away from her, and then saying, at a normal volume ”So it makes whatever is near the end louder. So we’ll be able to … hear what the monster noises better? Is that a good thing?”

”That- uh” jr began to reply with the information that that was not how microphones were supposed to work, before deciding that ”yeah sure” that was fine.

As for what it is for, he added that ”I mean, it’ll let us pick up anything anyone tussling with a spook says as well. So be sure to say something cool when you punch one. Or act scared? Cuz if we’re filming scary stuff and it's going on ‘spooktube’ then presumably the people watching want to be spooked as well? So we need to sell how spooky the stuff down there is instead of, you know, beating it up” hitting on the conceit of the minigame as he talked.

Goldlewis nodded. “Right, that follows. Guess that means I gotta act the part.” At first he’d wondered how complicated this whole ordeal could possibly be with just ninety seconds of film on the line, but there might be a lot of nuance to it. Regardless, unless Geralt had anything else to add prior to departure, it felt like a good time to head on over to the diving bell and get a move on. “Everyone ready?”

“Think so. So…we should act like these things are scarier than they are? Think I did well enough in that one play…” Geralt mumbled, though acting out a comedic play and acting terrified of something she could likely kill in seconds were two entirely different things.

”Something like that? Or just wary even? Basically let the spooky stuff be the focus rather than kicking its butt which isn’t very spooky” Jr replied, still trying to get the point worked out in his own head as well.

”It wouldn’t be a very good ghost story if the poor soul being haunted suddenly pulled a magic sword out of nowhere and stabbed the monster to death I suppose” Midna pontificate, before agreeing that ”So I think I understand it enough to get started”

Geralt nodded. “Agreed. Don’t kill any of the monsters, try to…show them being scary? I don’t really understand how you’re going to do that, Junior, but I trust you know what you’re doing. And then get back alive. I suppose after we have what we need, we don’t have to worry about holding back, though.” She mused.

With that, Goldlewis gave an officious grunt and turned to head for the diving bell. Even if Junior was technically the boss of this operation by virtue of his technical know-how, the little Koopa would be hard-pressed to keep up with his long stride, or outdo his commanding presence. Still, Goldlewis didn’t get too far ahead. Right now, he felt himself falling into an old pattern: the role of bodyguard. His job would be to protect Junior and make sure he got that footage back here, safe and sound, even if it meant being eliminated in the process. The veteran might not know the ins and outs of filmmaking, but dutiful self-sacrifice was something he was all too familiar with.

Once inside the diving bell, the big man stood by the door to close it and seal it shut once the others entered. While he waited, though, he laid his eyes on the terminal at the vehicle’s back. Its display showed vitals, including hit points and oxygen levels, for all four members of the team, as well as four measures of distance. They decreased as his teammates closed in, indicating their distance from the diving bell itself. Finally, just above the big lever that seemed guaranteed to begin their descent, he saw a selector with three options: the Factory, the Cruise Ship, and the Tunnels. Two of those sounded pretty ominous, but part of him suspected that the second option would be no pleasure cruise. After his last companion climbed inside, he swung the door closed with a squeak and cranked the wheel to lock it in place. “So, where we headin’?”

”A cruise ship? Are those spooky? I kinda wanna know” the prince said as he got up on tippy claws to take a look at the options while Midna shrugged, unsure as to what those were.

Goldlewis crossed his arm. “Why don’t we find out?” Using a knob on the console he selected the destination preemptively, but did not go so far as to pull the lever that would begin the team’s descent just yet.

Geralt hummed. “If it’s a ship, might be old or abandoned, with skeletons around to add to the ambiance. Tunnels are already dark, cramped places, so easy to understand how that might be scary. Not sure what a factory is, though…” She admitted, adding her two cents to the options. She wasn’t particularly attached to any of the three, though, and made no move to pick what she thought would be best, because she was out of her depth.

“It’s a kind of buildin’ where things are made. The same thing I mean, made lots o’ times. Mass produced.” Goldlewis waved his hand. “Don’t matter. If the li’l boss wants to see the ship, we see the ship, eh?” With a grin at the young koopa, Goldlewis reached out and pulled the lever.

---

With nothing to see and not much to hear outside of clunky machinery, Goldlewis and the others could only wait as the diving bell sank further and further down. It was a suspenseful ride, the tension growing each passing moment. The veteran had assumed that the crane would be lowering their vessel from the sky island to the ground, or maybe into the ocean, but from in here he couldn’t tell much of anything. Instead he considered the task ahead, gently stroking his whiskers as he thought.

“I ain’t ever made videos like this before, but I’ve seen my fair share of horror flicks,” he mentioned. “Most of ‘em ended up pretty schlocky. If ya ask me, the most important part of watchin’ somethin’ scary is the build-up. If you cram some critter down folks’ throats, it won’t end up bein’ frightenin’. Same if you keep usin’ jump scares, it gets old real fast. You gotta take it slow. Fleetin’ glimpses. Environmental storytellin’. Maybe somethin’ happens to someone, but you don’t get a good look at it. Then once you got them pins all set up, you can knock ‘em down with a big payoff towards the end.” He chuckled. “‘Course, I hope nothin’ ends up happenin’ to one of us. We could always stage it, though. Guess we’ll have to see how forthcomin’ these monsters are, heh.”

”If we need our own ghosts for the story, I’ve got two of those” Jr said, tapping two pokeballs while Minda offered a ”Skeletal knight on my end”

It wasn’t long after that that the diving bell slowed down. Eventually it stopped completely, but Goldlewis never felt any impact with the ground. Instead the vessel continued to rock back and forth slightly, as if suspended. He swallowed. “Why’d we stop? Is the damn thing broken?” Before messing with the control lever, though, he tentatively moved to the crank on the door. There was no water pressure holding it shut, and when he opened it, he revealed the side of a massive modern-day cruise ship. The diving bell was hanging in front of a huge hole in its side, connected only by its ramp. When he looked down over the edge, off to the side, or even straight up, Goldlewis saw nothing but infinite darkness, even with his goggles flipped down. “Guess we’re here, folks. Careful you don’t fall.”

Rather than test the ramp's integrity, the veteran jumped and airdashed into the hole. He landed in the ship’s interior, in what looked like a cross between a cargo bay and a junkyard, with crates and ruined automobiles stacked all over. Stranger still, everything was gray, completely homogenous in color and texture. It was eerily dark, with only ghostly light balls scattered around for illumination. Before Goldlewis could fully observe his surroundings, however, he spotted movement. With alarm the veteran registered something lurching out from the shadows, its form bulbous but humanoid, its stride slow and ponderous. “Well, that was fast,” he muttered before raising his voice. “We got company!”

A moment later the shape slumped into the light of the diving bell. When Goldlewis got a good look at it, though, he couldn’t help but be a little sheepish about his earlier alarm. It was a snail with arms and legs, exactly the same as the environment in color and texture, and though faster than a real snail it shambled around with such an awkward gait that Goldlewis felt like he could outrun it at a walking pace. Still, it was moving straight toward him, and the immediate encounter made him wonder just what else might already be closing in on his position. Making sure that he had solid ground behind him, he began to back away.

A moment after it came into view of the diving bell, there came the crack of gunpowder from within it and then a thunk as the musket slug slammed into the deck beside the snail man.

”How’d you miss from this range!” Jr exclaimed from behind the, going by the little green light, recording camera, as he pointed at the culprit: a briefly sheepish looking Minda.

That look vanished after a fraction of a moment before she lied ”I Swear I was on target?” to the face of the camera with the skill of a trained politician, before saying that ”Oh no, and now it's coming towards us!” as the snail man turned towards the source of the noise and started coming up the ramp.

”I’ll lead it away!” she insisted, before leaping off of the side of the bridge and into the void, only to land on the back of a summoned Flygon and use it as a platform to jump off of and then onto the ship herself. The slow monster turned to follow her as she led it behind some a stack of ruined cars, something the prince recorded after crossing a bridge of sideways cleaver swords held aloft by his Vespikan striker squad.

Then a moment later she asked ”How was that?” into a too closely held boom mic, causing Jr to whirl around with a little yelp to find Midna back among them again, the princess of twilight having shadow hopped back to them as soon as she led the monster out of sight.

Goldlewis scratched his head. “I dunno. That mighta been…overkill? It wasn’t all that threatenin’.” Just then, though, he spotted the same sort of movement in the shadows behind Junior. “Hold up…it’s back, right there behind ya!” He extended his hand in a dramatic point toward the snailman. When he realized that it approached from the opposite direction, he quickly amended his appraisal. “Wait no, it’s a second one! They got us in a pincer maneuver!” He turned out to be right when the first snailman slouched back into view, plodding toward the four Seekers. Of course, this was by no means a crisis, but Goldlewis was already beginning to see what the others had been on about. All this yelling and making a big, theatrical deal of the situation was actually pretty fun.

”You were saying?” Midna replied, with the kind of ‘I told you so’ tone reserved for when you were now stuck in a bad situation together and there was no positive but the ability to snark about it. She was also doing her best to maneuver the boom mic over whoever was talking to make sure their commentary was nice and clear.

“These things are smarter than they look. Dealt with enough monsters to know that. Even if they’re slow, one moment of distraction could be enough to spell your end.” Geralt gravely warned, definitely hamming it up, but the advice was still solid: Never underestimate your enemy.

Jr, having wildly swung the camera back and forth to get footage of both of them in what was maybe not the best camera-koopa-ship but which did imbue plenty of frantic energy to the footage, now swung it towards the scrap rest of the scrap and called out ”Maybe we can lose them in there?”

“If you got all you need, I got a better idea.” Goldlewis turned toward the snailmen and stood his ground as they waddled his way. “Y’all go on ahead. I’ll clean up.” He waited a moment more, then lunged forward. While the veteran left his coffin outside the scope of these minigames, he still had on the iron fists gained from his Jack-8 fusion. When he drove a mighty left hook into the monster’s ribs, the mechanism fired to add even more oomph to the blow, sending the snailman through the hole in the ship’s hull and out into the void with the sound of a shotgun blast. If these critters were both common and comically inept, the team had no further use for them.

The second snailman marched forward obliviously, and the next moment it met the same fate. With the threat passed, Goldlewis straightened up and dusted off his metal mitts. “There. No sense leavin’ ‘em around to bite us in the ass later.” He glanced at Junior, eyebrows raised. “Uh, pardon my French.”

”But we don’t have a donkey with us?” Jr replied with confusion, before saying ”Also I think I got the camera off before you kicked their butt, but might need to edit it a bit for the stuff you said before. If we can. Must be able to, right? Otherwise knowing when to stop filming and acting is going to be pretty tricky”

”Good idea, making sure we can toss them about though, and that they don’t just take hit points on contact or something cheap”

”Did it feel like you hurt it, or was it more or less the launching it out of here that did the trick?” Midna enquired as she ditched the gun she had indeed flubbed the shooting of into a portal.

Goldlewis scrunched his eyebrows together. “I didn’t feel anything break, to be fair. Like punchin’ a ball o’ dough. Guess I made the right choice aimin’ for the hole, but really I just wanted it outta here.” He crossed his arms as he looked at Junior. “Hey, cowboy. How much film we got left, anyhow?”

”We used just under a third, looks like?” the prince peered down at the camera, while Midna modded in thanks for the information about how to handle the virtual foes, before noting that they had ”about a fifth of our time down here left” after she checked her cheap watch.

“Then we’re makin’ decent progress,” Goldlewis declared. But they needed to do better than a couple of snails.

Though resolved to push further into the bowels of the cruise ship, the team didn’t get far. Barely did they get around a couple twists and turns in the cargo bay then the frontrunners glimpsed a strange shape just close enough to a ghostly light to be seen. Though difficult to make out at a glance, and motionless as its surroundings, its form featured obvious limbs, and other elements of clearly unnatural biology. When someone shone a flashlight on it, its beam revealed a freakish biped with scythe limbs extending from a round body covered in spiky protrusions. Most remarkable were its enormous bulging eyes, and as the light hit them their pupils dilated, shrinking down and then turning the Seekers’ direction.

Geralt’s face scrunched up in a bit of genuine disgust at the creature, which almost vaguely resembled a rotfiend, had one’s eyes ballooned to freakish proportions, and its hands mutated into needle-like stumps. “It’s spotted us!” She warned, stepping forward to put herself between it and Junior. “Ought to run, I don’t think we can fight this one!” Half-turning towards the camera and pointing behind Junior, she waited to make sure the others started moving before she risked turning her back fully on the monster. Ambiguous rules of the game or not, her instincts were fighting her on this the whole time.

With camera and boom mic turned in the monster’s direction, a recording light flickered green, and the show was on.

Blazermate wasn’t sure what to make of the area. She was surprised her helmet was shaped to work with her ponytails, even if she didn’t really need air. Sliding the visor up, she got a look at the area. Something about it was… wrong but considering they were going to find some horrific monsters, that made sense. ”Tell me about it. But he's enthusiastic and that's fun!” Blazermate said, giving her input on Nadia’s observation of Ballyhoo.

And while the sudden addition of a helmet didn’t look so strange for Roxas, for the Captain on the other hand? Well, now Falcon was comically wearing two helmets, since the one from the minigame had formed itself over his F-Zero helmet. So that was certainly a funny thing to look at. Not that the F-Zero Pilot was bothered by it. He was nothing if not able to roll with the punches and take things in stride. "No hard feelings." Cap said in agreement with Nadia’s comment about them now being on the same team. But he did shoot a look between her and Roxas, "But let’s try to play these games fairly from now on, are we clear?"

"Hehe… sorry…" Roxas said sheepishly, knowing good and well that he and Midna were the most disliked team in the previous game due to their frankly underhanded tactics, "But you got it, Captain. Fair and square from now on. I promise."

Pointing at the bell device, Nadia asked how it worked, with Blazermate scratching her head. ”It's a minigame, so it should be pretty simple. I’m more worried about the camera.” Blazermate said, walking over to pick up the camera they had to use. ”Hope this doesn’t get water logged. Uh…. Who wants to be the camera person? I’ll do it if no one else wants it.”

Nadia blinked at the medabot who’d just taken the camera out of her hands, then asked if anyone wanted it. It came across as a rather strange behavior, but the feral brushed it aside; at the end of the day, could a machine really understand what constituted normal or abnormal human behavior? “Looks like you just volunteered,” Nadia told her, crossing her arms. “I oughta be the action star anyway. Whatever these monsters are we’re dealing with, they can’t be scarier than the crap we dealt with in the Dead Zone. Those hordes were so big, I couldn’t zom-believe it.” Between that undead nightmare and Blue Team’s horrible night on Carcass Isle, she didn’t know which was worse. Then again, maybe the Maw had been the worst out of all of them, since she couldn’t fight back. As long as she had a fighting chance, there were no horrors she felt like she couldn’t overcome at this point. Of course, Blazermate had been by her side through all of that, and now they stood united once more.

The cat burglar glanced over at the diving bell. “No time like the purr-esent, right? Last one in’s a rotten egg!” Almost fully recovered, both physically and mentally, from her earlier loss of blood, Nadia took off running toward the vessel that would deliver the team to the darkness. If she noticed the shop board on the way, she gave no sign.

”Hey, but what about this uh, kiosk thing with all these weird deals on it? Don’t you wanna purr-ruse this one?” Blazermate said, trying her attempt at a pun. She hadn’t been around Nadia for a good while nor in a spot to relax, so now was the perfect time to play along. The kiosk Blazermate was pointing at being the sponsor kiosk.

“Huh???” Half-expecting an attempt to sabotage her race results, Nadia glanced over for only a moment, but she did in fact see some sort of standing doohickey. Being from an era long before the information age, she tended to filter stuff like this out, and only after a moment did she realize that yeah, there seemed to be more to that thing than initially met the eye. She slid to a stop in the grass, reasoning that she’d proven herself in one race today already, and trotted over. What she saw didn’t end up exciting her, though, and not just because she couldn’t really intuit what any of the devices were for.. “What, we have to use our rift tokens to get more doodads?” She laughed. “Well, you’ve gotta be doodaddlebrained to think I’d throw ‘em away like that! I earned ‘em fair and square, so I’m gonna get myself some purr-izes.” The feral shrugged, a teasing smirk on her face. “Of course, not everyone’s as slick as I am, so if you wanna shell out, feel free~”

"These, uh, “doodads” look like they could serve as important upgrades for our video equipment." Cap pointed out and then added. ”Then again, there may be something to be said about a deliberately low-quality video too. Could give it a certain vintage horror movie vibe that some viewers might enjoy over all that modern hi-definition gobbledegook."

"I think I get it." Roxas commented. "Twilight Town has something like that I think. It’s an outdoor film venue that shows these old-timey looking films, and people seem to love them."

"Exactly!" Falcon confirmed. "So let’s ask ourselves: Do we want a hyper-realistic modern HD video or a more old-school vintage horror experience?"

Nadia stared at him blankly. His words might as well be TV static–not that she’d know what that was. “...Beats me! Movies were like, invented within my lifetime I’m pretty sure. You guys can fritter your tokens away if you want, I’ll be over here!” She turned with a happy-go-lucky wave and resumed her trek toward the diving bell. “Figure it out quick though. There’s no time to waits!”

Blazermate looked at the stuff the sponsors were offering as she scrolled through the list, seeing a couple already taken. Still, seeing what these sponsors gave and what the rules were, Blazermate got an idea. ”Hey guys, I can fly, and I can keep my hand steady like these drone and tripod upgrades here, so we don’t need them. Seems that these sponsors offer better rewards but you gotta fill a condition. Like this soda company offering extra stuff for showing their product, or this weird one where we gotta dance with the monsters and such? Anyone see anything they wanna do? Otherwise I think we’ll have a leg up. We only have 1 medabot on the team after all.” Blazermate said, making a sound like she was sticking out her tongue, even though she had no mouth.

"Sounds like you can already do most of the things the sponsors are offering." Falcon concurred. "I suppose we can’t really know what style to go for until we actually see what it is we have to work with."

"Yeah, let's at least go have a peek at what it looks like down there." Roxas agreed, "Otherwise we’ll waste too much time overthinking it." Both of them in agreement, they went to join Nadia in the bell.

As they approached, though, they didn’t see the team’s resident thief inside the diving bell. Only once Blazermate, Roxas, and Falcon stepped inside did a noise bring their attention to the crank by the door, where Nadia’s detached arms were spinning the wheel with jets of blood. “Welcome aboard everyone!” The next moment Nadia herself dropped down from above, landing right on the big lever on the terminal at the diving bell’s back. Immediately the whole bell jerked, then began to descend. On the screen, her selected destination flashed: the Factory. “Let’s get this show on the road!” she roared over the rattling tumult.

"Bwah!" Roxas yelped. The last time he’d seen Nadia’s disembodied arms it nearly resulted in a tumble down a mountain, not to mention the grossness of them grabbing onto him. Falcon, on the other hand, was less surprised. But this did give him an idea.

"You know, this could be a great way for us to get some realistic bloody effects in our little movie." Cap suggested thoughtfully.

---

After about forty seconds, during which the excitement from Nadia’s surprise wore off and left her to sheepishly recollect her arms, the diving bell began to slow down. Then it stopped with a sudden jerk, suggesting that the vessel had come to rest. With no windows or portholes of any kind, the passengers could only wonder at what dark depths lay on the other side of that door, their expectations colored by what little they’d heard and inferred about it so far. No sounds whatsoever penetrated the steel hull to reach them from outside.

“Well, I never heard or felt a splash,” Nadia reasoned. “Here’s hoping we’re not underwater. Still, what an ‘immersive’ experience, nyeheh.” She rubbed her hands together, laid them on the crank, and gave it a creaky spin. Then the diving bell’s door swung open, revealing the Old World.

Most of it was pitch-black, a pure void even darker than a starless night sky. Warm light flooded out from within the diving bell, but it only got so far, illuminating a junkyard full of scrap metal strewn all over. Beyond, illuminated only by an inexplicable, dim, stark white glow, the four could see the titular Factory, a huge, dilapidated block of a building. It made for an ominous sight, made all the stranger by the fact that everything, from the smallest cog to the walls of the Factory to the ground itself, appeared to be completely grayscale, cross-hatched in black as if eroded by the darkness itself. For now, though, Nadia couldn’t see any monsters. Just a sprawling ruin, perfectly quiet and perfectly still.



The feral whistled. “Whew, spooky.” Though she’d reflexively flattened her ears in alarm, the big grin on her face suggested an excitement for the thrills ahead. “I can’t wait!”

"Hmm." Falcon hummed thoughtfully as he glanced around at the area, "Dark lighting… pretty good atmosphere…" he commented and then gave a thumbs up. "Perfect, but I wonder what this place’d look like through a grainy black-and-white filter?" he rubbed his chin and then shrugged. "Well, either way we’ve got our set. Now we just need our monsters…"

"Are those monsters supposed to be, like, real or something?" Roxas wondered, "Will we have to actually defend ourselves on film or whatever?"

"Excellent question." Cap replied. "I have no idea. We’ll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it."

“Filter? This place is already black and white, just like the movies I’ve seen. Pretty grainy too…” Though her eyes were keener than most, Nadia couldn’t detect any movement among the assorted odds and ends of the junkyard. Of course, that didn’t mean that nothing lurked in the darkness–just that its denizens were hidden. Or waiting deeper inside. After scanning the area, Nadia focused on the decrepit, boxy structure up ahead. “The creeps in question must be in there. Let’s take a looksie.” With her oxygen already starting to tick down, Nadia couldn’t afford to wait. Still, even if this was just a game, Nadia instinctively kept her voice down and her footsteps light.

”I don’t know… the gray background would make Nadia’s blood pop… that's such a weird sentence to say.” Blazermate said, shaking her head after having said something that made her out to be a psychopath. ”Uh…Right. I’ll keep scanning for some monsters. Maybe we’ll find a good one?”

"If I had to guess…" Cap mused, "...then I’d say our best bet’s going to be the factory itself." he said and then added, "I’ll take point." almost as if instinctively. But after a moment he paused. "Or maybe our resident ‘Action Star’ should…?" he asked with a gesture in Nadia’s direction. After all, if any of them wanted to be attacked by something, it had to be the one most capable of making it look real. And that was the one who could literally pull her own limbs off.

"Maybe we could scout it out first?" Roxas suggested with a shrug of his shoulders, "We do wanna save the bloodsplatter for the filming itself, right?"

"That works, too." Falcon agreed with a thumbs up. "Let’s just head into the factory for now and get a feel for what we’re up against." As such, he stuck with his original instinct to take point and head into the factory entrance first, although Roxas wasn’t far behind him.

The structure itself turned out to be smaller than it first appeared, little more than a big, hollow box, with nothing in it but scraps of rubble and machinery. However, a large square opening lay directly in its center, and within stood a large spiral staircase, each step at least a dozen feet long. The entire party could stand shoulder to shoulder and still descend comfortably, but the staircase went a long way down, leading deep into the true Factory–a labyrinthine underground structure.

As much as she wanted to take the plunge, Nadia instead took off her head and held it by her own hair out over the edge, peering down. “Long drop. Guess we’d better take the safe way down. What’s it they say about ‘stairing’ into the abyss…?”

While the feral spoke, Blazermate’s scanners finally picked up something. A yellowish gelatinous mass shaped somewhat like a tardigrade but as large as a sleeping bag, and moving as fast as a car. However, with no interest in her, it seemed to be zooming toward one of her teammates in particular. It didn’t make much noise, so the others hadn’t noticed it yet thanks to the muffling helmets and Nadia’s chatter. Blazermate found herself with a choice to make.

”Uh… hm….” Blazermate thought to herself as she saw the ooze. Granted she didn’t know how much damage it’d do if it grabbed someone, she was going to get quite the reaction. Flying up, she got a good picture of the ooze sneaking up on one of the party members and getting ready to grab them. If things got bad, she could zoom off and actually help them.

She didn’t have to wait long to get results. Just a couple seconds later, the slime slammed into Captain Falcon. Its gooey body deformed around him, and it got about halfway through before the man got stuck in the living jelly. At that point it shot off like a rocket, zipping down the stairs with such speed that none of the other team members really knew what hit them. The sudden scare made Nadia jump, her hairs standing on end, but the next moment her panicked yowl gave way to helpless laughter. While trapped in the gelatinous beast, Falcon’s voice got distorted in a way that just so happened tickled her funnybone immensely. Of course, she knew that an abduction was no laughing matter, and after taking a moment to compose herself Nadia jumped to bypass the stairs and make up for the slime’s head start.

Cap had gone to punch the gelatinous ooze by pure instinct. Of course, its slimy body made it a poor match for his fist, and the pilot was engulfed in it instead. Remembering that he would be on camera by now, Falcon started flailing his arms and feigning a struggle to escape. At one point he even put his hands on his own neck and gestured as if he was running out of air and on the verge of suffocating, just to ham it up for the video. But when the slime dragged him away and he became certain the camera wasn’t as focused on him, Cap dropped the act somewhat and began to look around for some kind of means to escape.

"Captain, noooo!" Roxas shouted out, also hamming it up a bit for the camera. Although he was quite a bit more genuinely concerned when the slime suddenly zoomed off with the captive Captain in tow. Looked like they were gonna have to pull a rescue while still selling this as a horror video.

Having got a good shot, Blazermate stopped recording and said. ”Ok, we’d better go get Capt.” pointing at which direction he went and zooming off.

“On my way!” Nadia’s voice echoed up from the spiral stairwell below.

Out of the four assembled, the first to take initiative toward their shared goal turned out to be the stranger. Not visibly perturbed by Juri’s lack of manners, Sandalphon observed as the woman sauntered over and procured the camera. The way she handled the device suggested a level of familiarity, which Juri then backed up by claiming leadership over the little group. Though that made for a bold assertion, undermined somewhat by her dismissiveness toward Sandalphon. It was true the archangel didn’t hail from a technological world, but she had learned a great deal during her time in Midgar, definitely enough to form a basic understanding of the task at hand. She chose not to belabor the point, however. Instead she kept quiet to give Juri a chance to prove herself, and the martial artist quickly explained her confidence.

Apparently Juri had found a great deal of success on an analogous social media platform in the past, meaning she had plenty of experience with making quality videos. Without giving the others a chance to interject, she proceeded to demonstrate her know-how by recording a quick but effective introduction for the video to come. When she realized she was being filmed, Sandalphon stiffened up with widened eyes, not at all sure how to act. Of course, it was over just a moment later, and Juri followed up by sharing an important tidbit of information. While Sandalphon didn’t plan to engage in vulgarity regardless, and Juri’s liberal indulgence in it would take a little getting used to, she nodded in sagacious appreciation at the trade secret. Faced with this demonstration, the archangel couldn’t help but be impressed; Juri had shown she meant business and already knocked out an important part of the content process, all while conserving crucial seconds. With her in charge, the team’s chances of doing well in this competition seemed very good.

“In that case, we’ll be in your capable hands. For as long as we cooperate, your wish is my command.” Sandalphon bowed her head in pre-emptive thanks, her effulgent golden-rimmed halo dipping slightly. “We are fortunate to have you, Juri.” The archangel had not missed her newest acquaintance’s name-drop during her self-aggrandizement.

In sharp contrast to Juri, Ganondorf remained stoically silent for the time being. And also in sharp contrast to Sandalphon, he didn’t look as welcoming to the vulgar girl as she was. But he voiced no opinion on the matter either, having little to no grasp on the concept of videos, let alone something as modern as an internet video platform like this “SpookTube”.

Juri kicked the dirt and tilted her head. ”Damn straight, Sandy. That’s what I like to hear!”

Zenkichi shared Sandalphon’s relief at being partnered, both because she was somebody that he recognized, but also because it was her specifically. He gave her a smile, which then greeted the other two members of his team. He wasn’t quite as uneasy around Ganondorf now, but the large man was still somewhat intimidating by merit of size alone. Juri, on the other hand…she had an energy about her that gave Zenkichi pause. She immediately took the reins, and while he was fairly certain neither himself nor Sandalphon had any experience in video-making (beyond some home videos of himself, Aoi, and Akane), part of that rubbed him the wrong way.

Her pegging him for a cop, almost immediately at that, made him hum a bit. There was definitely more to this punk than met the eyes, then. He shrugged as she told them to be quiet while she filmed their intro, and when she was done, had his own reply. ”Alright, I’ll play ball. If any of you guys need it, I can probably spare a defense or speed buff, but not much more. It’s already been a crazy day, and I don’t wanna burn myself out before we’re done.”

”Hey! Don’t forget, this has to be scary. No one’s going to be interested in ‘defense buffs.’ Someone’s gotta get mauled for the camera.” Juri said. As she did, the shop screen caught her attention.

Zenkichi ignored her complete disregard for his offer of assistance, following her attention to the screen.

"Hmph." Ganondorf grunted, crossing his arms over his chest, "How frightening could these so-called “freaks” actually be?" He questioned before gesturing to himself, "And none shall believe an intimidating figure like I could be realistically frightened by whatever is down there." It seemed once again he was going to be at a severe disadvantage. And it was starting to annoy him.

”The hell is all this.” Juri muttered, tapping the screen. ”We can buy shit.” She said. She began scanning through the items, mashing all the buttons with her finger to see as many as possible, often having to double back because she didn’t see enough the first time.

”I mean…I guess a better mic or flashlight would be a good idea. I’ve seen old movies with bad audio quality, and…I dunno, it takes away from the experience when it sounds like they’re a hundred feet away from the camera.” He mused. ”Don’t think any of us are rolling in coins, though…”

Sandalphon shook her head. “I’ve earned only one token so far, though in all honesty, even saying that I ‘earned’ it is something of a stretch.” Juri had scrolled through the items with such a manic energy that she got in her own way and made Sandalphon wonder if it might be a bit performative. Luckily, the archangel had managed to scan everything on offer. The selection led to a little self-reflection on what she could personally offer the team instead. “My halo should provide ample light should we encounter darkness,” she brought up, glancing upward. The radiance of the three rings and their trailing cords tended to be lost in the daytime, but they would shine bright in the gloom. “That could very well increase my likelihood of being targeted, but in a roundabout way even that may benefit our efforts.”

She conjured a divine screen at her fingertips, scanning her teammates. “It would behoove us all to incorporate you both into my network,” the archangel told Ganondorf and Juri. “This would permit us to communicate over long distances, and ensure that the camera can hear all of us, as well.” She nodded at Zenkichi. “The two of us are already connected.”

"As you wish." Ganondorf responded curtly. "Hm, me, working with angels…" He further commented, as the irony of this was indeed not lost on him.

Sandalphon moved in to perform the right, the pupils of her unblinking eyes turned to inverted triangles. When standing next to the warlord, she wasn’t much shorter than him. “Then please allow me.” She held her palm by his cheek for a moment, creating a small golden glyph about an inch from his helmet that shone before disappearing. “There. Simply hold your pointer and middle fingers at the spot to engage the link, and repeat this action to disengage it.” Then she stepped back toward Zenkichi, waiting for Juri’s consent -or lack thereof- before she took further action.

Juri was obviously suspicious, narrowing her eyes. ”I don’t fuck with any brain shit. Is that just a magic radio?” She asked. ”Better tell me the truth. I’m not messing around on this.”

“Technically, it is a miracle,” Sandalphon clarified, though she didn’t plan to bore the irritable girl with the details. “But that is a decently apt analogy. It has no effect whatsoever on the mind. Of course, you need not opt in if the idea discomforts you. It is merely a prudent convenience.” On a battlefield with lives at stake proper communication was not optional, but for now at least, it wasn’t strictly necessary–just sensible. Still, the idea of her being more resistant to this suggestion than an avatar of darkness held a vague sense of amusement for Sandalphon.

”Forget it. I don’t care enough about winning this stupid game to let you perform any ‘miracles’ on me. Besides, I’m excommunicated.” Juri said. Sandalphon merely looked away.

”And besides besides, you guys shouldn’t be doing anything off camera. So that means sticking by me at all times. Never outside screaming distance.” Juri said.

”If we’ve got no ‘token’ or whatever, we should just get this show on the road. This place gives me the creeps.” She frowned, glancing around at the picturesque landscape. She shuddered and stuck out her tongue, before heading over to the diving bell. With one glance at Zenkichi to make sure he was ready, Sandalphon followed the team’s self-proclaimed leader toward the vessel. Inside, a choice awaited them: the Factory, the Cruise Ship, or the Tunnels.

"Hmph, speak for thyself. Thou hast no token because this is thy first game." Ganondorf corrected, "But we each hath been awarded one for playing the previous game." He elaborated, but also similarly chose to ignore the shopping kiosk in favor of entering the bell straight away. "But I hath no interest in giving up my only token for some meager upgrade that shall only be useful for the duration of this single game. I would instead save my tokens for the prizes I shall actually be able to keep and use."

Juri breathed out a laugh, amused. ”Why doth thou assume I give a shit? I’ve got tokens, dude. Hold onto ‘em if you want. Maybe you can get a gumball.” She said, looking over the options.

”Factory, cruise ship, tunnels…” Juri mused aloud. ”I like the cruise ship. Worst case scenario I can just climb around on the outside like a spider.”

That would be impressive, especially with a camera, Sandalphon thought. Having no preferences on which destination to visit herself, she went ahead and selected the cruise ship. Once someone closed the diving bell’s main door, all that remained was to crank the main lever and begin the vessel’s descent to the Old World. “Shall I do the honors?” she asked, giving one of the others the chance to kickstart the adventure if so desired.

”Aye.” Ganondorf said with a nod of his head.

Juri leaned up against the wall and crossed her arms. ”Sure, Sandy, let’s rock this rustbucket.”

Zenkichi nodded, mentally preparing himself for what was about to come. ”Go for it.”

The archangel pulled the lever, and with a sharp jerk, the team’s journey into the unknown began.

---

For some time the diving bell just descended uneventfully, the only sound the harsh but rhythmic metallic clank of the massive chain in motion, dulled by the vessel’s think hull. Without any windows to peer through, its occupants were blind to the world outside, but Sandalphon didn’t need to see out there to realize that Juri had been right about one thing. If their destination really did lay underwater, a sunken cruise ship in the benthic depths of some ocean, they would have felt the diving bell’s impact against the water’s surface. She could only imagine, given the crew’s starting point and hints about darkness, that they were descending from the sky islands through a cloud layer so thick that no light reached the world below. Luckily, she and the others didn’t have to wait and wonder for long. They could feel the diving bell slow down, then finally stop, its landing almost hard enough to knock Sandalphon down. For a brief moment the archangel flailed, unsteady.

Zenkichi immediately reacted, carefully grabbing a hold of Sandalphon’s arm to steady her, his own stance far steadier. ”You alright there?” He asked with a concerned smile.

A second passed before she seemed to find her voice. “Yes, thank you.”

When the vessel’s door creaked open, the upper deck of a cruise ship stretched out before them, albeit one cast completely in shades of murky gray. Everything from the walls to the floor to the tables and deck chairs appeared to be of the same exact material, almost like paper. Orbs of pure white light floated in seemingly random spots, divorced of any support or housing, but beyond the radius of their light it was terribly dark. Everyone could at least see the outlines of the ship itself so as to not blindly blunder off an edge, but on the other side of those railings lay only an infinite black void.



To Sandalphon, that emptiness looked far deeper and darker than even space. Some part of her -probably the part gained from Parvati and Leanne- felt a twinge of fear at that boundless darkness. If no floor lay beneath it in this simulated wonderworld, one could conceivably fall forever. She knew that she could teleport up to either Zenkichi or Ganondorf, though, and she found solace in the light of her halo. Once she exited the warmly-lit diving bell and strode down its ramp, her halo’s yellow glow provided a brilliant, unmistakable beacon in the darkness. The team had been lowered onto the cruise ship’s upper deck, but another open deck lay a short jump away, one floor down. In the other direction stood a doorway, and though it looked similarly dark inside, Sandalphon could see what resembled a bar and a set of stairs in the light of a ghostly orb.

Without saying anything, she turned to look at Juri, ready to take her cues. Her bright green power-symbol eyes said lead the way.

Juri glanced around outside. ”Woah. Wicked cool.” She admired this place. It was way cooler than the kiddy crap up top. So toxic you couldn’t even breathe? Awesome. She blew her hair up and it settled back into place underneath her big dumb helmet she hated.

”Alright. Cop and Sandy go first.” She pointed at the two of them. ”Big guy, you watch my back.” She said. Clearly, Juri enjoyed bossing people around. But she wanted to win, so she wasn’t going to get them to do something stupid. Unless it was really, really funny. Then maybe.

”If there’s anything scary, it’ll be down those stairs. Let’s go!” She took a second to get an establishing shot of the view from the inside of the open diving bell, establishing the upper floor and the staircase they were heading down.

"Tch." Was Ganondorf’s only response. Having to play bodyguard for this vulgar woman was certainly not on his list of things he wanted to do. But at the same time he offered no objections nor suggestions of his own. Maybe he just wanted to get this game over with? It was impossible to tell. He did, however, hold his right hand and clenched it into a fist. This triggered the glow of the Triforce that said hand was branded with and that glow served as a potential source of light for this dark sunken ship. He supposed the ship had to be haunted in some way, but didn’t look particularly concerned by that. The Warlord clearly had plenty of experience dealing with demons and spirits. He doubted anything they ran into down here would be all that different.

Heeding Juri’s instructions, Sandalphon advanced at the forefront of the group, taking measured steps in a long, careful stride. Each click of her heels against the floor rang out through the stillness, threatening to alert unknown horrors to her presence. Given her undiminishable light, however, the archangel could only make peace with the eventuality of attracting monsters, and be ready for when it happened. As she proceeded toward the stairs, she watched for any sign of movement, reasoning that anything aside from them had to be an enemy. This went double once she stepped into the interior where an ambush could come from any angle. With every step, the glow of her halo sent the shadows into a frenzied dance, but for now the only contours she could see belonged to tables, chairs, bottles, glasses, and ashtrays. Sandalphon was so focused on the corners and shadows that she failed to look up.

“...Ah!” Right in front of the stairwell, something wrenched her upward with terrifying speed and strength. Freakiest of all was the fact that whatever it was seemed to have a grasp on her halo, and by virtue of some unseen connection, that dragged Sandalphon into the air as well. As she rose, stunned, with her neck at a hangman’s angle, the light of her halo revealed her captor: a starfish-like creature attached to the ceiling, its color and texture indistinguishable from the surrounding material. Sandalphon struggled as she swung, vainly grasping for the monster that now had her in its grasp.

Juri turned the camera on and swung it upward to focus on Sandalphon. She hit the record button, but she wouldn’t spend too much time on this. Just a basic jumpscare, not that scary. ”Woah, oh my God! Woah! What is that?! It’s got Sandy!” She feigned, grinning.

Having followed just behind Sandalphon, Zenkichi bit back a curse as Sandalphon was yanked upwards, but the thing didn’t seem to be hurting her too badly. For the sake of the video, he didn’t immediately summon his pistols and start shooting, but instead looked around for something to throw at it. Quickly spotting a sturdy-looking bottle on a table, he rushed over and grabbed the makeshift projectile and hurled it at the starfish-looking thing to try and get it to drop her. ”I’ve got you!”” He cried, only having to ham it up a little.

Zenkichi’s not-so-magic missile worked like a charm. The moment it struck the starfish, it released its captive, though maybe its inability to get its circular mouth around the archangel’s three-ringed halo played a part. Sandalphon slowed her fall as she neared the ground, then drifted away from the danger zone, landing softly a second later. She turned, rubbing her neck, with stress marks in her pupils. Falling for a trap like that did not please her, especially once a second look confirmed the presence of (questionably real) bones scattered beneath the predator. “Lesson learned,” she remarked, her tone hard but quiet. When she glanced at Zenkichi, though, her irritation died down. “Good thinking. I am in your debt.”

Zenkichi just shrugged, waving off the thanks. ”Nothin’ to it. I’ve got your back.”

“Looking more closely, I can just barely make out some sort of dangling appendage. Highly transparent,” Sandalphon observed. She then looked around the room, counting her blessings as she realized just how bad the arrival of a second monster would have been during the disturbance. She summoned her Aether Lance. “I experienced enough strangulation to lower the hit point counter displayed in my helmet,” she reported as she healed herself, noting that this didn’t effect her assigned ‘hit points’. “I will endeavor to be more careful.”

”Would that not defeat the purpose of why we are here?” Ganondorf inquired, still so far being largely uninterested in all of this. ”We are meant to be frightened of these… things, not to defeat them.” What he said was logical but his tone and expression told a different story. Namely that he wasn’t especially enthusiastic. But he was still right, regardless.

”I mean, that’s true, but once we get the footage of ‘em…not much reason to keep them around once the camera’s off,, right? Unless we want to do some stupid horror movie cliche where we’re running away from something else and stumble into the trap, making it all dramatic and us look like careless idiots while we get our brains munched on or something.” Zenkichi had some genre-savviness to draw upon, though he didn’t entirely disagree with Ganondorf, either.

Juri had long turned the camera off. ”Nah, Sandy’s right. That was good for one. But that won’t keep being scary. That thing didn’t even get you by the neck. It’s just some stupid starfish. I can’t think of a less intimidating animal. It’s no spider, that’s for sure. We gotta avoid the lame-ass shit.” She said. She looked to keep walking, but used her body language to indicate Sandalphon and Zenkichi should still be going first.

The archangel nodded, and began to head toward the stairs leading deeper into the cruise ship. This time, however, she kept her staff at the ready. Zenkichi followed just a step behind, eyes scanning in figure-eights to make sure he didn’t miss any obvious signs this time around.

When faced with the unknown, making the right choice the first time every time tended to be impractically idealistic. More important -not to mention reasonable- was the ability to learn from one’s mistakes, and after falling prey to an unseen trap once already, Sandalphon was determined not to let it happen again. She knew that the team needed quality footage in order to complete this task, but quality footage didn’t always just crop out of nowhere. Instead it could be engineered, optimizing the safety of everyone involved. While the archangel couldn’t fathom what made for a thrilling horror movie, she knew that the four filmmakers couldn’t make any film if they wound up dead. So even though Juri asked her to take point, she hung back slightly behind Zenkichi as the team advanced into the cruise ship, providing the darkly-dressed man the light he needed to see -and intercept- whatever creeped their way.

After only twenty seconds or so, another entity appeared. Sandalphon heard it before she saw it, pausing halfway down a flight of stairs. Click-click, click-click, click-click. At the landing below, a doorway opened up into what looked like a theater, with ghostly orbs shining down on rows of empty seats. Focused on the sound, Sandalphon quickly spotted the source: a glowing red light, moving toward the doorway just erratically enough to suggest organic locomotion. Until now, this place had been wholly devoid of color. “There,” she whispered, bracing herself. This entity didn’t seem fast though, nor did it attempt to conceal itself, and a moment later it stepped into the light. With four jointed, tube-like legs holding up a body shaped -and the size of- a stack of dinner plates, it appeared to be no more threatening than the average crab, except for one thing: that red light positioned atop its center mass, housed in a smooth disc that very much resembled a button. That, combined with the shape of its body, gave Sandalphon the unmistakable impression of a walking landmine.

“Careful. Don’t touch it,” she hissed. If the four allowed it to, the spider mine would scuttle right up to them, stop, and just stand there. Waiting. Tantalizing.

”Oooh I don’t like that…” Zenkichi muttered. He knew that was bad, and he was pretty sure he knew what it would do, but he was absolutely not going to touch it and find out for sure.

Juri frowned, unimpressed by the little robot. Still, she turned the camera on, and seeing Sandalphon’s extreme reaction to the little guy, she grinned. ”What, you mean don’t do this?” She stuck her hand out and aimed to smack it down towards the button, before stopping her hand short of actually pressing it. For a split second, Sandalphon’s pupils cycled between a half-dozen different symbols, finally settling on stress marks. Her expression remained unchanged, but reading her emotions wasn’t hard.

Juri snickered. ”You’re too funny, Sandy. Blblblblbleep!” She shook her head around to mimic the pupils, and flicked off the camera.

”C’mon, let’s ditch this hunk of junk.” Juri said. She once again indicated someone go before her so all the scary stuff could happen to them and she could film it. Wary of the walking landmine that insistently hounded the group, Sandalphon pushed ahead once more.

Juri kept moving forward, not wanting to go down into the lower levels. If one of her teammates wanted to go, they could speak up. Juri was interested in what turned out to be a theater. ”There’s gotta be somethin’ good in here. HEY!” She yelled, trying to get something’s attention.

”Okay, that’s definitely not gonna come back to bite us in the ass…” Zenkichi muttered, already ready to deal with a horde of freaky things. At least that was his specialty!

Her shout, which also managed to startle Sandalphon a second time as she hadn’t quite regained her composure after that prank, evoked an immediate response from inside the theater. There came a burst of childlike laughter, which sounded like the product of a cheap speaker on a wind-up toy. Sandalphon scanned the rows of seats, but she couldn’t see any movement, even as the laughter continued in short spurts and the sound of little footsteps grew louder. After a moment, a pint-sized bedsheet ghost charged out into the aisle and hustled toward the Seekers, carving knife at the ready. Though the archangel reflexively readied her Aether Lance, she held her fire as she stepped to the side, giving Juri a clear shot. “Stay sharp. There’s more than one,” she advised, her voice a whisper.

When Juri pointed her camera down the theater’s main aisle, however, she spotted something that wasn’t a bedsheet ghost. On the stage, all by itself, stood a thin man that only she, with the aid of the camera, could see.

Juri turned the camera on, and let out a bemused giggle at the bedsheet ghost. ”What the hell? That’s not a ghost, that’s just some psycho with a knife! Isn’t it?” She started to back up. Juri was locked onto the camera, so she wasn’t sure what to make of the Thin Man that suddenly appeared in her view finder.

”Huh? There’s something up on stage!” She called out. Due to backing up away from the bedsheet ghost, the Thin Man went in and out of the camera's vision. She flicked off the camera for now, to yell out:

”Someone go get chased around by that thing!” She called out, pointing to the bedsheet ghost. She eyed the stage, sneering at the missing thin man. Did it only show up in the camera?

Ganondorf had just stood there with arms crossed all this time. Even if he did volunteer to go get chased around, he had a hard time believing anyone watching to believe that a big and imposing man like him could be frightened around by these rather unfrightening looking creatures. Of course that didn’t mean he couldn’t contribute something to the effort. After a moment of thought he dismissively waved his hand and summoned a squad of Moblins. Maybe he wouldn’t make for a very believable victim, but the moblins conceivably could. And so one Moblin put itself in the crosshairs of the charging ghost and led it around on a chase for Juri to record.

The sight of a bedsheet ghost chasing around a tall, lanky carnivore four times its size gave the ensuing antics a more comedic bent than anything, but Sandalphon kept her composure. Unlike Juri, who laughed for a few seconds before stopping the recording. ”This sucks!”

”Honestly, yeah, that…nah, that wasn’t freaky or creepy at all.” Zenkichi begrudgingly admitted. It might help break up some tension, but given that this delve hadn’t exactly been a high-octane adventure so far, there wasn’t much tension to break.

Unless that little knife-wielding gremlin packed the punch of a Tonberry, it could be safely ignored. The same couldn’t be said of the other entity Juri reported, since no matter how carefully the archangel scrutinized the stage, nothing seemed to be there. “I don’t see anything,” she murmured, her voice raised over the ghost’s manic giggles. With any number of monsters lurking among the rows of theater seats, she couldn’t settle down without some semblance of a secure position. After looking around, Sandalphon vaulted into the air, throwing the light of her halo across the theater as she landed in the upper gallery. Right away she spotted a second and third bedsheet ghost laying in wait to ambush anyone who walked down the main aisle. “Two more specters hidden in the chairs,” she reported to Ganondorf and Zenkichi through their connection. She did not get to see any more than that before a giant bedsheet ghost as tall as Goldlewis emerged from the shadows behind her, its deep voice sending chills down her spine.

”...Heeheehee”

Juri was interested in this thing that only appeared in her camera, but the giant ghost? ”Shit, there we go!” She pointed the camera at the giant man-shaped creature and made sure to get Sandalphon in the frame. ”Run away, Sandy! The monsters like you!”

Zenkichi quietly thanked Sandalphon for the warning, looking up to see the giant bedsheet ghost menacingly standing behind her, and freezing stock still for a moment. His eyes narrowed and he made a break for it, climbing over the seats in the stadium to avoid the ones lying in wait, and made himself another target. ”Over here!” He called to Sandalphon. ”I’ve got your back!” He let a little note of panic slip into his voice, though in the back of his mind he knew that whatever happened here, they’d be dumped back on the floating island above, safe and sound.

Thanks to Zenkichi’s efforts, the smaller bedsheet ghosts went after him, but their super-sized ringleader had only one target in mind. His carving knife glittered in the light of Sandalphon’s halo as she whirled around. The huge specter loomed before her, his drawn-on bedsheet little more than an afterthought across his enormous frame. But Sandalphon’s face betrayed nothing, her pupils shaped like crosshairs. She'd expected something like this, after all. Juri said the monsters here liked her, but the opposite seemed more plausible: that these denizens of the dark abhorred her, and the divine light that crowned her head. So when the terror attacked, the archangel was ready.

She swung her Aether Lance as if to club the big ghost’s head. It easily caught the weak blow, giving Sandalphon the chance she needed to enact her real plan. With a thrust of her palm she struck the ghost with a Frost Lock, freezing him solid. Then she jumped back over the railing into the open air, slowly drifting down into the theater. She watched as the first bedsheet ghost severed the moblin’s Achilles tendon, which dropped it to the ground in a heap, then turned her attention to Juri. “It may be wise to make our escape.” Her Frost Lock would hold for only a second or two more.

Throughout all of this, no one kept a colder stone-faced expression than Ganondorf. At this point he wasn’t even entertaining the idea of pretending to be scared, mostly because he was convinced no one would believe it given his size and imposing stature. Even when the larger bedsheet ghost appeared, Ganondorf could tell that he dwarfed it in height still. Under most circumstances he would just slay the thing and be done with it. But those were not the rules of this particular game. And he had begun to wonder how much of their oxygen they had used up by now and whether or not it was a good idea to take their leave. So he fell back at Sandalphon’s suggestion, although the remainder of his moblins stayed behind. They didn’t exactly have oxygen of their own to begin with, and they’d be more useful as a distraction anyway.

But before he exited the theater he used one of his newly acquired warframe abilities to sanctify the ground around the theater’s exit. The Hallowed Ground wouldn’t remain for more than a few seconds, but that was still a few seconds of the ghostly enemies being potentially held back by constant radiation damage that could make them think twice about giving chase. Of course, when the freshly-thawed big ghost slammed down directly in the Hallowed Ground a moment later and didn’t so much as bat an eye, that threw something of a wrench in the works. Thankfully there were still some Moblins around to grab its attention and district it for a few moments.

Juri was backing up out of the theater, filming the chaos. The big medieval guy was so annoyed she was trying not to laugh. As she backed up she elected to focus her film on the mysterious invisible Thin Man that had watched all of this unfold without moving a muscle. ”Woooo~” She made a scary noise, zooming in on him.

Relying on the moblins to be tantalizing targets, Sandalphon and Zenkichi hustled out of the theater as well. They pushed through Ganondorf’s radiation zone and split to either side of Juri as she took her parting shots of the theater and the bedsheet pandemonium within. It all made for an effective escape scene, but when Juri focused just a little too long on the haunting visage of the lone phantom on stage, she got more than she bargained for. The then man lunged forward, less like a predator and more like someone riding a zip line. It flew straight through the theater toward Juri, fast enough that she only had about two seconds to react.

”Woooo haha, nyaha- OH FUCK!” Juri shouted, the camera shaking wildly as the ghost lunged towards her. Juri stumbled backwards and kicked wildly where she thought the invisible creature would be. Her foot impacted something she couldn’t see, and when she panned over the area in a frenzy, she could see no sign of her would-be attacker at all.

At the sudden exclamation, the three who’d already reached the staircase turned to look back. Of the other members, though, Ganondorf remained the most nonplussed, and in his eagerness to get this chore over with he continued to climb the stairs. His heavy boot came down on something that wasn’t a step, however, and at a distinct click sound the warlord looked down to discover the spider mine from before, splayed beneath his heel. Beep, beep, beep, beepbeepBEEPBEEP!

Sandalphon’s pupils became exclamation marks as she made her choice. She, Zenkichi, and Ganondorf were all in the splash zone. Only immediate action would save them. “Get down!” she commanded, throwing herself into Zenkichi. The warlord could only try to launch himself back with a bullet jump. It kept him from taking a lethal blast, but didn’t prevent damage entirely. The next instant, the bomb went off with a deafening fireburst, demolishing the entire section of stairs. Though Juri was the furthest away, it still threw her back toward the theater. Zenkichi took enough damage to be stunned, and when his senses returned, the light of Sandalphon’s halo had disappeared. As for Ganondorf, he had taken quite the hit. But he was big and sturdy enough not to be killed outright at least. He was, however, not in the best of shape - both physically and by the fact that his hit points were now hovering at around 25% remaining. With what strength he still had, he staggered over to Zenkichi and Sandalphon. The angel looked like she was down, and in that case the job of healing would fall to his shoulders. He’d have to spend whatever remained of his warframe energy, but Ganondorf could use Renewal to allow himself and the others to regenerate a chunk of lost health, enough to hopefully get Sandalphon back up on her feet and continue the healing should she deem it necessary.

Even with the ambiguity of the darkness, however, it quickly became apparent that his efforts had no effect on the archangel. With her hit points depleted by the blast, Sandalphon had been eliminated, and the body that remained behind -its helmet dark- was nothing more than a prop. Ganondorf’s Renewal healed up Zenkichi’s body, but his hit points (displayed inside his helmet) remained unchanged; another hit from basically anything at this point would eliminate him, too. And with the moblins freshly exterminated by the bedsheet gang, all three Seekers were cornered against the damaged stairwell.

Juri scrambled to her feet, back in the theater. ”Get off me, loser!” She complained loudly, crushing a bedsheet ghost to the floor. Still filming, she panned her camera around to search for the Thin Man. When it was nowhere in sight, she let out a sigh of relief. Then she growled in frustration, having actually gotten scared by this stupid gameshow! She ran to meet up with the others. Now her camera was the biggest light source, which cast itself over Sandalphon’s ‘corpse’ as Juri took in the sight.

”Freakin’ idiots!” She shouted. ”I’m sick of this stupid place, I’m getting the hell outta here.” She started heading up the stairs, moving around the hole. Zenkichi bit back a retort, cast one last unsettled look at the prop Sandalphon left behind, and hurried after her. Ganondorf did as well, noting that healing did not restore any of the lost hit points their helmets were displaying.

Juri had memorized the way out, and it wasn’t like they had gone all that far. That was when a wad of web shot out from the darkness and exploding, entangling her. ”God damn it!” She swore, the camera turning back on in her hand.

”I’m stuck! Wait-” She looked, and saw the giant split-faced spider lumbering towards her. ”What the hell kinda spider is that?” Juri said. ”That’s not a species I recognize!” She captured the spider drawing closer as she started pulling free of the webs.

”Looks like something out of Australia… ” Zenkichi muttered, definitely a little freaked out by the thing.

”It’s head is all weird! No chelicerae, no fangs, the face shape is all wrong, the head is way too big for the thorax. For fucks sake, it doesn’t even have the right number of legs! What a rip off!” Juri noticed her health was going down just from being in the web, so she planted her feet and pushed free on the other side. The entangled webs were spread all across the hallway that was leading back to where they came from, but there was probably a way around, not that it mattered to Juri.

Rather than go around, Zenkichi cut through, using his heavy greatsword. Its size and weight proved enough to tear away any webs it didn’t manage to cut through, though some also stuck to its edges. And then there was Ganondorf who decided to execute a more… heated solution. He summoned a fresh squad of Moblin Archers to burn away sections of the web by shooting at it with fire arrows. It wasn’t a solid path, but this provided patches of safe ground that Zenkichi could cut his way toward like waypoints, meanwhile the warlord was able to leap directly to them by using his warframe bullet jump. Together, the two managed to outpace the spider’s chomping maw, escaping through the bar’s entrance into the open air just as another web ball burst behind them. With the diving bell just a few hundred feet away, they hurried after Juri, Ganondorf bullet-jumping ahead while Zenkichi brought up the rear. As a last ditch tactic, Ganondorf summoned Phantom Ganon to go charging back in to take on the spider. Whether the Phantom could defeat it or be bested by the webs didn’t matter. All that mattered was distracting the spider from continuing to give chase. And maybe it would give Juri something to film at the end.

Juri filmed the very last of their escape. ”C’mon, it’s closing!” She said, a tinge of glee in her voice as she set her hand on the lever and began to slowly pull it down as the other two joined her in the diving bell.

"Thou art lucky this is only a game." Ganondorf grumbled.

”Seriously! You couldn’t wait another two seconds? Jeeze…” Zenkichi complained, but the shrug that came after betrayed his lack of actual hard feelings. If anything happened, he would just pop up on the surface with Sandalphon while the diving bell ascended.

Juri laughed, and turned on the camera and put it on selfie mode again to film the group with her own face up front. ”That’s basically it for today, so subscribe if you aren’t a total moron.”

"Yes, insult the people we are trying to appeal to." Ganondorf responded afterward with some biting sarcasm.

”See, that guy isn’t subscribed.” She said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder and turning it to get a better angle on Ganondorf. Instead her camera caught the Thin Man from before, standing in the midst of everyone, its hands closing around Juri’s neck. The woman shrieked, tossing the camera in the air, before her face port went dark and she dropped face first to the floor of the diving bell.

”Woah, holy shit!” Zenkichi screeched, jumping back from Juri’s ‘corpse’ as it slumped -and the camera clattered- to the ground. ”That was screwed up, dude…””

”Ha ha ha!” Ganondorf laughed, ”I say she had it coming.” He reached up and pulled the lever to activate the bell so it would take them back up to the surface.

---

Juri found herself in the medical shed, flailing her arms and hands around. There was an indecent amount of very loud swearing, and she kicked a hole in the wall. She ripped that stupid helmet off her head and threw it to the ground. The stupid rules were the only reason why she didn’t turn around and break that monster in half!

After appearing rather abruptly inside the completely empty ‘medical shed’, Sandalphon had promptly made her way toward the diving bell to wait. After standing there for a few minutes, though, her attention had wandered, and she ended up perusing all the tutorial text she could find to familiarize herself with the tech. She managed to get absorbed enough by the reading material that she jumped in surprise when a lot of pissed-off yelling rang out from the direction of the medical tent. That could only mean that Juri had been eliminated as well. “Hmm…” she murmured, hoping that the others hadn’t been wiped out in her absence. By her count the team still had about forty seconds of oxygen left though, so if Juri had returned alone, the mission wasn’t lost just yet. And sure enough, a moment later the big chain began to retract in order to pull the diving bell up from the depths. Zenkichi and Ganondorf were finishing the job. Her pupils became carets, and she went to meet with the others.

Stepping out of the diving bell, Zenkichi gave Sandalphon a thumb’s up. ”We made it! Not sure what happened to Juri, but…camera’s okay!” He confirmed, holding up the valuable tool.

After returning Zenkichi’s thumbs-up, Sandalphon directed the team toward a machine by the island’s main house, which featured a perfectly camera-sized receptacle. “I believe we should deposit the camcorder in there to extract the footage.”

Juri stomped out onto the grass to reunite with the others. ”I coulda fuckin’ taken that thing! It only got me because I agreed to put the stupid helmet on!” She points at all of them, emphasizing her point.

Sandalphon glanced at her for a moment, not sure if the martial artist would respond well to consolation. She decided against it.

”And I could have slain every single creature down there, if I wanted to.” Ganondorf said back to her with some biting sarcasm in his voice, ”But such is the rule of the game. Deal with it.” Although as he said this, he also took off the helmet and tossed it aside as well.

”Did the rules of the game make you step on a giant glowing red bomb? No, that was just you being a blind idiot!” She shouted.

”At least I survived.” he retorted back at her, even gesturing toward the prop corpse she had left behind in the diving bell for emphasis.

”Yeah, for now!” Juri said. ”Doesn’t take much to trick you, chump!” She kicked the dirt and stormed off into the house.

Once Zenkichi fed the camera to the editing machine, the extraction process took only a moment, after which it churned out a silvery disc. To the archangel, it looked tantalizingly futuristic, though to others the CD was already an antique. She then directed everyone inside the house to the living room, where she’d learned they were supposed to insert the disc and then watch the premier along with the audience. After such a tense adventure, the all-important moment had arrived: the results. Standing by the couch with her arms crossed, Sandalphon watched as the video went live.

Juri was in a sour mood, sitting with her arms crossed and face down. The video began with her brief intro in the sky garden, and already the comments were pouring in.

Ooh, nice garden
Amateur hour already?
O****, this girls kinda cute
Big brat energy already
…still totally would.
Whos the big guy in the back
Tall woman???
Dork? Me??? Never!

When the playback reached the cruise ship’s bar, Sandalphon narrowed her eyes in anticipation of what she knew would come. Sure enough, the footage showed her already snatched up by the starfish, since Juri hadn’t been preemptively recording when she got caught. Seeing herself caught in such a horrific and undignified situation made her wince once again at her obliviousness. “I looked like a hangman in a noose,” she remarked, looking over at the comments section.

Something got her!!!
Noo, pretty lady!
Lol, rookie mistake
I swear, ppl never notice the tentacle. its not that hard my guy
Y aren’t they helping her???
Suit guy to the rescue!

One comment from user SA-KU-RA: OMGZ!!! D: Sandalphon-san on Spooktube??

The initial shot of the theater with Juri’s momentary glimpse of the thin man seemed to generate a disproportionate amount of buzz. It certainly intrigued Sandalphon since she’d never seen it herself. The solitary gaunt figure standing stock-still only appeared for a brief moment, which made it all the more impactful.

What was that? U guys see that??
Omg i cant watch
These guys are so screwed lol
Seriously a creep, how lucky are these guys
Ogod that was a cam creep
I missed it, what happened>
Dumbass that was obviously Big Slap
Blind streamer
Uh no??? Big Slap doesn’t spawn on this map *******
<comment deleted by moderator>
<comment deleted by moderator>
No love for ghosts :<
Neck snap incoming

Sandalphon watched with mild interest until the part where Ganondorf triggered the mine. If his carelessness resulted in casualties in the real world, she would certainly not look kindly upon him, but she couldn’t assume he’d be so blasé in a real scenario either. Nor did she expect him to feel particularly bad about the team kill. Still, the sight of her own corpse -even as a prop- left her with chills. From here, everything in the video was stuff she hadn’t been able to see for herself, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t curious about what got Juri in the end.

BA-BOOM!
Omg, he actually pressed it? What a troll!
Friendly fire! LMAO xD
Wow something finally happened :pogchamp:
This cliche sucks, always the hot one that goes first or second
Best part of the video right here.
All those ghosts and it’s the mine that gets em lol
She sacrificed herself for the glasses guy! Sooo cute!!!
Literally fell to my knees at PokeMart

During the spider chase, a comment came in from user happiestchaos: I cant even roman cancel to this, I just burst immediately. Cleanup on aisle Lars Canyon!

Where’d he get that sword from!??!?!
LEET HAXOR LMFAO
Just got here guys, whatd I miss?
No but like srsly did they add new items?
Freaky dude was literally summoning lanky bois and ur worried about a sword lolk
Hey, woah, wow :/ das a big spider boi
Heh, hope you’re not arachnophobic, yeesh…

Someone also apparently noticed a certain pattern to Ganondorf’s actions throughout the video: wait has he just been sending people in to die in his place? #evilbastard And while that ruffled his feathers somewhat, Ganondorf couldn’t exactly deny that accusation either.

Eventually they reached Juri’s rather abrupt and terrifying (or depending on who you ask, humorous) end, and it happened in the diving bell no less. Well, Ganondorf had found it amusing anyway. All that attitude and big mouth of hers and Juri more or less got assassinated at the last possible minute. It got a chuckle out of the warlord if nothing else.

That scared the literal piss outta me
HOLY HELL
They actually found a cam creep?
**** that actually got me ngl
I literally forgot about that cam creep they found until now, holy ****!
Bahahaha, so much for all her shit-talk!
Right? Lol, get wrecked, noob!
I KNEW it was gonna come back
Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?
I spat out my soda all over my keyboard, thx guys :/

Then the video concluded, and a popup appeared with the team’s ad revenue. It looked like an awful lot, considering what little Sandalphon knew of the content creation business back in Midgar, but what mattered was how it compared to the earnings of the others. Hopefully all the hubbub around the ‘cam creep’ would give the team’s video the spike it needed. “Good job, everyone,” she told the team.

”Yeah, you’re welcome.” Juri said. She chucked a lamp at the TV. Its screen shattered. ”You’re lucky I can sell a scare.”

”Selling it, right…” Ganondorf said with an incredulous tone. ”I’m sure that’s all that was, yes.”

”I’m the leader, I found the rare monster, I filmed it, and I made the scariest thing happen by far. It’s AWESOME to have me be the leader. I’m the fucking best.” She concluded, shooting out of the couch and slamming the door behind her as she left.

With the minigame finished, all that remained was for the wonderworld to collapse and the overall placements to roll in.

Try as Falcon might, he couldn’t force his way out of the slime. He could only wait as he gradually passed through it, approaching its rear end. With its captive trapped inside its viscous body, the creature sped away from the stairs and into the underground Factory. The scenery passed the Captain by as an indistinguishable grayscale blur, making it almost impossible to keep track of the route, but after about ten total seconds he finally popped out. He tumbled across the floor as his abductor zoomed away into the gloom, and when he looked up, he found himself inside a dark, grim-looking labyrinth of metal and industry, alive with the noise of busy machines that masked the telltale sounds of unknown threats.



Back at the entrance, Nadia finally landed at the bottom of the massive spiral staircase with a grunt. Her method of dropping, embedding her claws into the wall to slow her fall, and then dropping again had spared her some fall damage, but combined with her fit of laughter her pursuit had gotten off to a slow start. And with how fast that slime moved, every second counted. By the time she stood up from her landing with her claws sharpened, she found no sign of Captain Falcon or which way his kidnapper might have taken him. “Well, crap,” the feral muttered with a frustrated smile. Her ears swiveled this way and that, but she couldn’t hear anything over the steady rumble of motors and gears. Maybe this factory wasn’t as dead as it looked, but if monsters swarmed Falcon while he and the others were separated, the team could very well lose its most famous member. “Looks like we’re capt-in for it now.”

”I know where Capt. went. We can go pick him up and get more footage along the way.” Blazermate said, pointing in the direction Falcon went.

Nadia peered in the direction Blazermate indicated. “Oh.” She stared down the dark corridor, squinting, and wondered how the medabot knew. She didn't waste time looking a gift horse in the mouth, though. “Lead the way then, I guess!” The feral bowed, gesturing for her companion to take point.

Blazermate led as best as she could, since while she saw which direction Falcon went, she wouldn’t know the oozes took corners or anything. With a strict time limit in play, the team moved quickly. Nadia had expected a scene of eerie silence and stillness, so an environment with lots of noisy machines with moving parts came as something of a relief, even if the distracting wheels and noises offered opportunities for unknown threats to sneak close. After only about thirty seconds, the Seekers rounded a corner and just about ran into their second creature: an ungainly humanoid snail, which turned to lurch toward Blazermate with sticky mitts outstretched.

Blazermate sidestepped the creature in the air with her superior mobility, but got a shot of it leaping at her as it moved around the corner. ”Ooh, jumpscare footage!” Blazermate said as the snail fell behind the group.

As that went down, Nadia just stood with her hands on her hips, an almost pitying smile on her face. “That wasn't much of a jump,” she remarked, chuckling as it struggled to get up. From her point of view, the mannish mollusc hadn't even gotten off the ground. “Or a scare for that matter. What's he gonna do, bore me to death?” She led the snailman around, letting it get almost close enough to grab her before slipping away. “Ooh! Oo-ooh! Almost got me there, champ!”

On the third time, though, she got careless. The snail grabbed her arm and stuck its mouth to it like a vacuum nozzle. This ignited Nadia’s phagophobia for a brief moment, making her jump hard enough that her arm detached on camera. Left frozen and wide-eyed, Nadia blinked a couple times, then tried to salvage the situation. “Aaaah, aaaaugh my arm, ow! Owwieeee!” She blasted out an absurd amount of blood from her bicep stump, then dramatically fell over. At that point she pretty much realized that this whole segment, comical overacting included, couldn't possibly be scary in the slightest, so just for good measure she blew herself up, body parts propelled by jets of blood in all directions.

Roxas was getting increasingly lost on what he should do. Nadia at least had something going for the camera, but he had no ideas of his own at the moment. This resulted in him just standing in what probably looked like dumbstruck fear or something. Although after Nadia had effectively “killed” herself off, and with Falcon nowhere around, Roxas knew he had to step up and do… something. So he led the snailman toward himself and then pretended to slip and fall from a puddle of Nadia’s blood. "No, no no nonono stay back!" Roxas begged as he frantically pushed himself back and away from the approaching snailman like someone who was about to become the next victim - and also hoping that Blazermate was getting some useful footage out of all this.

And that was when Falcon came almost literally blazing onto the scene. From his position further away he could hear Nadia’s scream and had evidently come running. He figured it was something they were filming, but it was best not to take chances. And besides, maybe their video could use some kind of moment of rescue for the sake of drama or something. "-PAAAAWNCH!" His voice boomed as his fiery fist made contact with the creature. It wasn’t a full punch, not by a long shot. Just enough to knock away the snailman and with just enough fiery flare to look nice and dramatic for the camera. He also made sure he was the one facing the camera so that anyone watching the video feed wouldn’t see what he was looking at.

"There’s, there’s too many of them!" He stammered. No, there weren't actually any other snailmen but he figured this little camera trick plus his acting could convince viewers that he was looking at an incoming swarm of them.

“Huh? Where!?” Nadia’s head twisted around, searching for the monsters Falcon reported. Though his escape from the speedy slime’s clutches relieved her, she could only imagine based on his sudden entrance that a pack of monsters were right on his heels. When she pulled herself back together and stood up, however, she couldn’t see much of anything. Her eyes narrowed at the Captain as he stood over the fallen snailman, trying to lead the camera away. “Wait, is this a bit…?” she muttered. Everyone seemed to be performing their own skits, without any planning or coordination with one another, and Nadia was just as guilty.

Then, with a jolt of surprise, the feral realized that something else had shown up–just not in the direction of Captain Falcon. It was big, about as tall as Ganondorf, so dark in color that for a moment she thought she’d been seeing things. It slid in near-silence from the darkness on a trunk like a caterpillar, its hulking torso endowed with two brawny arms and a head somewhere between a seven-eyed mutant and a skull. With Roxas so focused on his own bit, he did not notice the larve before it reached him, gripped him with massive fingers, and lifted him to throw at Blazermate.

"Look out, Blazermate!" Roxas managed to shout out as a warning. Only thing he could hope for was that she was quick enough not to let him crash into her. Instead of diving out of the way though, she caught Roxas and spun in the air with him a bit until she could get him back on the ground. Blazermate was mildly affected by the motion, but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been for Roxas. She then descended with him as she got a good shot of the monster… Only to step on one of her purgatory cracks as she landed and sent out a ghost that screeched before it dove at the creature, exploding in a big bloody mess… all of which she recorded.

”Uh… Whoops.” Blazermate said as the blood cloud still lingered in the air, seeing what happened to the creature. It emerged from the cloud without visible injury to slide across the floor toward the team, intent on repeating its strategy. Between the bulky larva aggravated by Blazermate and the newly-recovered snailman still going for Falcon, the Seekers had a couple things to keep track of, but neither posed too much of a threat. Neither would be likely to grab someone again unless they allowed it. For a moment Nadia floundered, unsure. At this point, she really couldn’t tell if they’d managed to get anything scary on tape, and she wasn’t sure what to do next.

One thing was for sure, though: too much of anything was a bad thing. The team probably wouldn’t get anywhere wasting the rest of their tape on these two. “C’mon, let’s give ‘em the slip and try somewhere else!” she called, jogging toward Falcon. The Captain had just punched away the snailman a second time. And Roxas was now back on his feet again after the timely save from Blazermate.

"Yeah, let’s get outta here." Cap and Roxas both said at the same time, with Cap offering his trademark thumbs up. Both were getting a little weary of this particular scene and agreed that they should look around elsewhere.

”Well lets go people! We’ve gotta find something good. Right now I don’t know how scary our video is going to actually be…” Blazermate said, drifting above the other 3 like the video drone she was at this moment.

The four sprinted through the factory corridors, putting enough distance between themselves and their invertebrate pursuers that the monsters seemed to lose track of them. That left them with just the ambient clamor of spinning turbines and clanking gears. At one point Nadia got Blazermate to film her jumping into one of the wheels, which flung her across the room like a ragdoll in a decently funny -and painful- fashion. She proved less eager to try her luck with the laser walls, which started turning up to partially block hallways.

For Roxas, getting past those lasers was no challenge at all. Flow Motion made him spry enough to get through them without too much effort needed. Falcon, on other hand, would have a harder time of it. He was athletic, sure, but he was also taller and more broad-shouldered than the other members of his current team. But maybe he wouldn’t be completely up the creek, because Roxas was struck with an idea. "Let’s try this." He said as he channeled the necklace he wore in order to summon a structure of virtual cubes. They took the shape of a doorframe of sorts and he was hoping the glassy consistency of the blocks would allow them to reflect the lasers away and provide a safe passage for Falcon and Blazermate to duck through. "Just be careful not to touch the blocks!" Roxas warned. "Or they’ll damage you." Unfortunately, glass did not make a mirror in and of itself, so the lasers quickly started burning into the cubes. The others would need to move fast.

That, of course, was no problem for the Captain as he blazed on through the rapidly decaying virtual doorframe. Blazermate attached her healing beam onto the speedy Capt and flew right behind him, matching his pace perfectly with hers thanks to the speed matching properties of her medi beam.



Just after crawling beneath an array of the lasers, Nadia triggered an automatic door that slid open to reveal an open area of barred catwalks above labyrinthine rooms. “Ooh, in here!” She waved the others to follow her, difficult as that would be with the lasers. Then she turned to the new area itself. “Alright, we’re pretty deep in here. C’mon, factory! Give us all the freaks you got, bar none!”

”Your really tempting fate huh? Well, let's hope we don’t run into mis-fortune.” Blazermate said, trying to emulate Nadia.

Nadia grinned. “I’m right here, so if you run into me, you better pay a visit to the a-eye doctor!”

With the feral in the lead, the four set off into the new area, sticking between the high railings of the upper level to have a better view of their surroundings. They didn’t get far before a new sound overpowered the now-distant rumble of factory machines: a deep, guttural groan. A malformed mass floated through the shadows above, a hideous sea slug longer than a car and lighter than air. When it shook its body, viscous globules flew from its polyps, and wherever they landed a snailman arose from the ground near-instantly.

“Ee-yuck!” Nadia yowled, backdashing away from the fresh crop of molluscs. “Slugly son of a bitch! It’s just…spawning those things!” In no time at all, a half-dozen snailmen stood directly in front of the team, and more would arrive when those that landed below found a way up. “C’mon, let’s escargo somewhere else!”

When she turned to flee, however, she found another problem. A monster like a long-legged nightmare turtle climbed to the top of a ramp not far behind the Seekers, took one look at them, and opened its jagged maw to breathe out a stream of fire. The team was pincered on a barred bridge, with snails in front and flames to the rear. “Urk!” Nadia gritted her teeth in a smile. “Well isn’t this shell-alrious.”

"You just had to tempt fate." Roxas said to the feral in reference to her earlier callout.

Seeing this horror, Blazermate decided to get some good pictures of this new monster adn the ones before it, and soon found her Camera shutting off with a “out of film” error message, which she relayed. ”Hey guys uh, I’m out of film now. We should get going…” Blazermate said, letting everyone know they were out of film.

The Captain, on the other hand, was more concerned with solving their current dilemma. "Then I say it’s time we head back topside!" He decided. If they were indeed finished filming, then he had no reason to hold himself back anymore. He dashed up to the fire-breathing turtle monster, then suddenly went into a fiery sliding kick. "Falcon KICK!" his voice boomed as he was flying forward along the ground and into an incoming stream of fire breath. He figured if the turtle was the only thing blocking their path back, then all he had to do was knock it off the catwalk with a solid hit to its long legs - and that would give them a clear way outta there.

If nothing else this got him past the turtle and onto the other side of it. But in the Captain’s zeal to push through, he had forgotten about the lasers and the fact that he needed Roxas’ virtual cubes to slip past them in the first pass. In fact, his Falcon Kick had sent him careening right into the wall of lasers, which instantly knocked out all his hit points and rendered him as a lifeless prop imitating a dead body.

It happened so fast that Nadia didn’t even clock it, especially given her own exit strategy. Though neither slim nor small enough to squeeze through the catwalk bars, she could still use Charge to blitz through them in the form of a lightning bolt. Doing so put her at a safe distance from both the fire turtle and snail spawner, and from there her blood jets could take her the rest of the way. When the door slid open to admit her, she spotted Falcon’s body and cackled. “Hah, dumbass!” Then a laser clipped her head as she slid through and she dropped dead as well.

"Just us now," Roxas shouted up to Blazermate, "Cap cleared us a way so let’s get out the way we got in!" And he dashed forward while the fire turtle was still recovering from Cap’s Falcon Kick - with Blazermate in tow thanks to her medi beam. It wasn’t until he got through the sliding door that he spotted what happened to Nadia and Falcon. Both of them must have made a mistake with the lasers. But since he got them through the first time around, Roxas could easily just repeat the same tactic to get himself and Blazermate past them again.

Once on the other side he dismissed the virtual cubes and then set up a wall of them on his side of the lasers in a checkered pattern so that they would cover as much area as possible while still obstructing the way. Any pursuing snailmen or whatever would have to contend with the lasers and his wall of cubes if they wanted to give chase. From here he had to rely on Blazermate and hope she remembered the way out because he certainly didn’t.

Blazermate while being a robot didn’t have the same memory as one might think, but it was good enough at least. She would get confused at some split passageways as they retreated, but she had some context clues on where to go to get out, only tripping up on an upward stairwell that the slime had taken Falcon before. Still, she could guide Roxas out as they hadn’t been that deep into the factory, and it was laid out pretty…. Well it wasn’t intuitive, but it wasn’t maze like either.

Soon they were out of the factory and back out into the junkyard. That meant that the diving bell was just a stone’s throw away. Getting there shouldn’t have been hard, provided nothing else jumped out at them along the way. Meanwhile the diving bell - aka their ticket out of here - was just up ahead. With the whir of the machinery behind them, an eerie silence reigned, but the runners could already hear the sounds of whispers and skittering footsteps around them. They ran and didn’t look back.

And finally, at last, Roxas and Blazermate made it back to the diving bell. "Yes, we made it!" Roxas celebrated while he reached for the lever to activate the bell. The door swung closed and the diving bell began its ascent back up to the surface.

”Phew, these minigames are getting pretty ridiculous.” Blazermate said as they ascended. ”I wonder how the others did.”

---

Falcon seemed to jerk awake. It was almost like waking up from a nightmare, but given his surroundings he knew what had actually happened. He’d “died” down there, and as a result appeared to reawaken on the surface in this, what, medical shed or tent? Though even that seemed like a rather generous description, as the structure was pretty much empty. Clearly it was just a place for “killed” players to respawn at. Cap sighed, "All that effort and it was my own blunder that did me in." He said with a tone that sounded like he was disappointed in himself, which he was. But he still quickly followed that up with a short chuckle, "Just goes to show even I can make mistakes. Haha!" So even though it was kind of an embarrassing blunder, Cap was pretty clearly a good sport about the whole thing.

"Nothing to do but wait for the diving bell, I guess." He said as he stretched his muscles and walked back out to where the diving bell was currently suspended.

Just a few seconds into his trip, an anguished yowl resounded from the medical shed behind him. “Ahhh, maaaaan!” Nadia jogged up behind him a moment later, a wry smile on her face once she pulled off her helmet.

"Hm?" Cap looked over at her with intrigue, "Don’t tell me, you too?" He asked, shaking his head. It certainly would be a shame if they all got killed and lost their footage, but since neither Roxas nor Blazermate were reappearing he could only assume they must have made it past the lasers just fine. Hopefully. "Well… I guess we just wait, now."

The feral grinned at him, her eyebrow raised. “Well at least I didn’t, like, y’know die from running into lasers like you did, haha. How embarrassing that woulda been.” She nodded officiously. “Yeah, it was right after the lasers. Turns out there was this crazy monster just, uh, laying in wait back the way we came. Really big, lots of…teeth. Anyway, I pretty much had to sacrifice myself, y’know. For the mission and all. No big deal.” She shrugged off her heroics, turning her nose up with her eyes closed to make sure Falcon knew just how routine good deeds were for her.

Falcon and Nadia didn’t have to wait for too long before the diving bell came up with Roxas and Blazermate in toe, ”Go figure the environment was worse than the monsters!” Blazermate said as she saw Falcon and Nadia. ”I don’t know how you're supposed to make a scary movie from the stuff down there, it's more an attraction than anything as long as you don’t get zapped by lasers.”

“Or eaten by monsters!” Nadia added, before changing the subject just as quickly. “Well, nothing for it now. How do we show people the film, again? I don’t see any theaters around. Or moviegoers, for that matter.” It quickly became clear that as far as edits and uploads went, the cat burglar wouldn’t be any use at all.

”Uh, we probably plug the camera in somewhere and do some editing. I only know how to do the first part though. Brass had the editor.” Blazermate said, looking around to figure out what to do.

Eventually it was Falcon who spotted the machine sitting outside of the house and pointed to it. "I think this is it." He said, then lightly jogged over and inspected it a bit more closely, "Yep, there’s an input space for the camera, so just put it here and I guess this machine does the rest."

Finally, after some trial and error, the team delivered the disc to the big tv in the house’s living room. If seeing the silver screen miniaturized in someone’s home took Nadia by surprise, the sight of footage in color left her speechless. Floored by the technological marvel beyond her time, she barely even noticed the comments rolling on as the team’s video played through. Their upload began without an opening or establishing shot of any kind, with the first thing Blazermate recorded being the slime as it made a beeline for the group around the top of the Factory’s spiral staircase. “Wow, you totally just let it grab one of us, huh?” Nadia chuckled.

Huh? Did I miss the intro?
Who r these ppl?
Jelly right at the start, classic

Nadia watched with bated breath as the slime snatched Falcon, enjoying his distorted yell all over again. Once the Captain got whisked away, Blazermate panned over to record a second or two of the feral’s helpless guffawing.

Easy pickins
Wait wait wait was that captain falcon??
Wow, didn’t know he was on SpookTube
Ur laughing? Your friend got kidnapped by a jelly and ur laughing?
Catgirls rule!
so we’re just gonna NOT help him, then? with friends like these…

Next was the medabot’s footage of the snail, complete with commentary from both her and Nadia. The viewers didn’t seem too impressed, some even criticizing the team’s attempt to oversell the snailman’s scariness especially once Falcon burst into the scene, but Nadia’s bloody display got the conversation going.

Wow a snail, how original :sleepy:
Oh I guess he’s back already
That plot sure didn’t go anywhere
Holy **** thats a lot of blood
It got her arm!
No way snails can do that, I call ********
I think she’s dead!
Oh, thats gore. Gore of my comfort character
She exploded? Thats gotta be against TOS

After the brief encounter with the burly creature commenters called a ‘larva’, there came some establishing shots of the Factory depths, including the lasers. Those who noticed Nadia alive and well again in the footage shared their thoughts on the video’s nonsensical progression. It all culminated in the double encounter with the snail spawner and the fire monster in the maze, but the film ran out and the video cut off right before the action began, resulting in an anticlimactic cliffhanger. As a result, the upload ended on something of a sour note, and the amount of ad revenue earned did not impress.

Lol what a waste of time
This was honestly hilarious :cryinglaughing:
The **** is this editing style???
No way the real Falcon would star in something like this
yeah probably just cosplayer or something, didn’t look like he was wearing the right colors lol
I had a good laugh but it wasn’t very spooky
Cmon guys, it was funny at least. I hope they get another chance
It’s so over

Blazermate saw the comments and could only agree with them. ”this reminds me of a comedy movie I saw once. It was this thing with this masked machete zombie man in space.. Although we’re missing the sleeping bag.” Blazermate said, scratching her head. Guess she didn’t know how to make a scary movie, but then she was more into healing and playing games and fighting, not making movies. Still, it was kinda fun.

Nadia leaned back in the couch. “Uh…well, I’m not sure what that all means, but I had a good time.” She clasped together her hands and put on a show of excessive wholesomeness. “And thaaat’s what matters~”

"Looks like we made them laugh more than we made them scared…" Roxas chimed in with a shrug.

"We definitely oversold it." Falcon said, appearing to take the criticisms in stride, "And we didn’t film a proper intro or outro, either. Not everyone likes a cliffhanger ending, after all."

”Well, I don’t think some people on the other teams know how to even use a camera, so I know we didn’t get last. I don’t know how well in general we did though.” Blazermate said, feeling a bit bad about losing but overall being ok with it since it was just for fun.

Unless the bar was insanely low, Nadia did not feel good about the team’s performance based on the feedback. But once all the results were tallied, maybe they’d get lucky in the end. And so all that was left to do now was to wait for the minigame to be over so they could all see the final results.

Roland manipulated the diving bell so they could go down, down into the old world being the only one with any knowledge of how to vaguely use it. Upon reaching the ground, there was nothing to do but step out into the world. Unlike what Therion had feared, there was no water. Instead it was just pitch blackness all around besides the windows of the metal factory in front of them, and no monsters about.

The pyromancy flame flickered to life in Primrose's hand. She figured out the flashlight fairly quickly and clicked it on, as did Therion, shining the lights around the area. The outside of the factory was completely devoid of color, everything a monotone shade of gray wherever the dark shadows didn't blot it out completely. While there was debris of various things scattered everywhere there was only one building, directly ahead of them but still a little ways off. Much closer by was a circular hole in the ground, lined with stone and a metal staircase descending downward. Another entrance, or something entirely unrelated?

"Any tips from the 'horror master', or should we just pick a direction and go?" the thief said, casting a glance Roland's way.

Roland shrugged, saying. ”We have no clue what we will see down there, so just picking a random direction and going there sounds good to me. Just remember things like to ambush you from the shadows.” Roland said. ”I’m the camera man, so I can’t take point for this. Anyone wanna offer?”

Sectonia waved her hands, and while for a second Roland thought it was her offering, a few pink portals appeared and out popped light blue ant-like creatures. ”My antlers will take their initial attention.” Apparently these were the things that she said she’d summon, and thus Roland nodded. ”Alright, why don’t you choose where we start Mr. snarky?” Roland said, gesturing to Therion.

The snarky one ignored the comment, but he did survey the area a little more closely so that he could find a suitable direction. The outside looked devoid of life entirely, so inside or underground it was. With the helmet on it was a little harder to listen for anything they couldn't see, but there did seem to be faint noises coming from both directions. Steady methodical sounds, nothing that seemed like it was alive. After a moment Therion sighed and nodded towards the factory building. "Might as well head there."

"Then I'll go ahead with the little antlers," Primrose said, amusement in her voice. The antlers would lead the way with the dancer close behind, and with Roland at the back filming Therion and Sectonia could go wherever they liked, either in the camera's view or outside of it.

As they approached the building, and subsequently entered and descended a separate set of stairs, the noises Therion had picked up became louder. Now everyone could hear creaking, groaning, the turning of metal, and various other noises that wouldn't be out of place in a modern industrial factory - not that any of them save for Roland knew that for sure. There was also another, very distinct noise that reached all of their ears. It was... shouting?

The shouts and yells were muffled behind walls of solid concrete, so it was hard to tell which direction they were coming from. Undaunted, Primrose continued forward with the antlers leading. The underground factory was just as dark as expected, with only small areas of light scattered around from hanging - or sometimes even free floating - bulbs. The flashlights they held barely penetrated the shadows, but they did help somewhat.

"Sounds like someone else got here first," Primrose said. She supposed if multiple teams chose the same destination, they may meet up. Which made the possibility of cheating once again an option, which Therion pointed out. "We could always snag someone else's camera if comes down to it."

”oy oy, aren’t they your friends? Although its not a bad idea…” Roland said, looking for something to film.

”Probably one of the other groups. I wonder what they came into contact with…” Sectonia said, summoning some ice antlers to walk in front of the group.

”Hey, don’t we need to dedicate 20 seconds of our 90 second video with these sodas being drinken? One of each flavor within the 20 seconds? I’m not really in the mood for pop myself.” Roland said, pointing out their sponsorship deal that would earn them some bonus rewards at the end of this if they fulfilled it. Sectonia commanded her antlers to grab a flavor each, satisfying the need to drink this product while being attacked by a monster.

Eventually the shouting stopped, and around the next corner came a little guy. It was hardly bigger than Sectonia's antlers, with short limbs and a wide mouth. It spotted the four of them at the same time they spotted it, and it stopped walking only to stare at them.

”Huh… I was expecting something more horrifying down here. That's almost cute looking.” Roland said, Sectonia looking at the fixer, then the creature, then Roland with a look of mild disgust. Roland snapped back. ”What? I did say almost!”

Primrose agreed with Roland, at least on the first point. The large mouthed creature stood still while the antlers surrounded it all with drinks in hand. Now would probably be a good time to get the "sponsorship" out of the way, since the little monster didn't appear to be aggressive. She turned to the cameraman.

"Should we 'record' with the antlers no—"

Nearest to the monster, the moment the dancer's back was turned it opened its mouth and let out a blood curdling screech. It startled Primrose, and she whipped around with intent to burn the thing to a crisp. However, after clamping its mouth shut it moved, running a little distance away before stopping, peeking at the team of four, and then not so stealthily trying to run around behind them.

"..." Primrose closed her fist and snuffed the spell. Therion snickered at her, but picked up where she left off while pointing to the thing. "You wanna get this guy or look for something else?"

”Hm…. I have an idea…” Roland said as he directed the Antlers to start to hold their soda, sip it, and mill around. He got some starting footage of them chilling around and about the factory walls, acting like nothing was amiss. (Although Sectonia had to give those orders, Roland couldn’t really do it himself) and after a bit of a start, Roland used the next scream of the mouther to end the scene with the Antlers looking a bit startled.

”And there we go, there's some footage and a bit of a start. And some of our ‘sponsorship deals are done. I’ve got a couple other ideas but let's continue onwards.” Roland said, gesturing to move forward.

The four of them went on, followed by their monster tag-a-long for a little bit until they got tired of continually looking over their shoulders to prevent more screaming. Primrose gave up her lead to forcefully shoo it away. It skedaddled back up the stairway leading outside, finally leaving the group alone - though they wouldn't be for much longer.

It could have been any number of things really; the unknown number of other teams stirring up the factory's inhabitants, the screams of the little big mouth attracting other monsters... or maybe the monsters of this minigame were just high in activity to make for good video... either way, the team was beset by another monster before getting very far at all. This one blended perfectly into the dark, nearly invisible unless one was looking right at it. It was quick, and made a bee-line right for the easiest targets: Sectonia's antlers.

The monster reached out with its long arms and snatched one of the little minions, then began dragging it away into the dark. Roland had his camera on the antlers and started recording as they had been dragged away, 2 of the three antlers finishing their sodas in a vain attempt at the ‘special’ power listed on the soda to save them in trouble. The third being dragged off of, drinking the blue soda, had this happen though as they vanished in a whirl of waves much to the confusion of the creature dragging it away. Roland meanwhile had to put the camera away after that, having gotten what he thinks was enough sponsorship footage, as he struck at one of the creatures going for him and his camera.
”Hey, hands off. This is my camera!” Roland said as Sectonia offered him some support by striking the creature with her light beam. It dissipated as soon as she did, and the Travelers’ flashlights warded off any others. ”Hmph. We should probably move forward and find things that are more scary and less annoying.” Sectonia said, summoning a green antler and a couple blue ones for more fodder.

Primrose and Therion had a better grasp on the objective after watching Roland do his thing a couple of times. With new understanding, they had better insight into the game itself, and concurred with Sectonia - watching cute little ant monsters get harried by bigger, less cute monsters wasn’t very scary.

"Mayhaps a damsel in distress could make things scarier," Primrose suggested as the group continued on. Now that they were getting deeper, the factory was getting darker. Primrose looked at Therion when she followed up with, "any volunteers?"

"No," he said with a roll of his eyes.

They walked through winding concrete hallways that branched off into more and more hallways, punctuated by large steel doors. Rarely their path was blocked by lines of bright, hot lasers whose purpose was obvious to all of them, but otherwise they could freely go as deep as they wanted.

With the factory being mostly featureless, when they came upon a different looking room it was almost a relief. Though it wasn’t terribly big, it was wider than the hall they’d come from by far. The ceiling had collapsed, exposing a pitch dark hole above them and rubble on the ground in front of them. A new sound could be heard from here, almost like a disjointed accordion.

Therion tipped his head to listen to it. It was definitely getting closer, but the echo-y nature of the building made it hard to pinpoint. "Sounds like something’s coming. If it’s not scary enough for you, we can figure something else out."

Though he’d grown to like it somewhat, his Junicorn was pretty freaky looking. And Sectonia’s glowing face in the dark was most likely unnerving to those who didn’t know her. As long as their presentation was “scary,” it probably didn’t matter if it was authentic or not.

”Why are you looking at me like that…” Sectonia said as Therion was looking her over as if she was a monster. Roland meanwhile was keeping an eye out on this ‘newcomer’. While his hopes weren’t high on it being exciting, he didn’t want something to try to take the camera from him again.

While they stood around speaking, the harsh noise continued to get louder. Eventually it was loud enough to be near deafening, which is when the next creature appeared. From the hole above them, a silhouette just barely visible appeared. It did not have the comical or animalistic profile of the monsters they'd already encountered - this time, it seemed like they were looking up a man. Already it made Therion's hair stand on end, and Primrose to clench her fist in preparation. Without hesitation the dancer angled her flashlight up, revealing it.

It was indeed more like a man than anything else. He didn't appear to be nude per se, but instead it looked like his body was made of almost the same material the environment was made of. His face was shadowed, especially the sunken black pits where eyes would normally me. His body was very tall, and much too thin for a human. He held his arms up in front of him, his large hands and long fingers opened almost placidly. Every little step he made was accompanied by discordant musical notes. Although realistically any of the four of them would easily be able to handle such a foe, within the confines of the minigame and deep into a dark factory, this thing was definitely scarier than what they'd already found.

It stared at them for a second, enough time that if this really were a horror movie the fear would be able to sink in. Then it moved again. Realizing its intent, Primrose attempted to warn her team. "It looks like it's going to—"

Its arms unspooled, stretching more than three times its own body length. Being above them it immediately reached for the nearest person, the large queen bee, and grabbed her. To her credit, she wasn’t really into this whole thing at the moment, having seen disappointment after disappointment. The underground had way worse things.

Having little to grab on from above, the creature fell and grabbed Sectonia where it could get the most purchase, around her midriff. Sectonia, not too pleased by the now very loud sound near her and getting grabbed in such a manner, teleported away with an indignant and angry look on her face. Roland got everything, including her yelp of surprise, on tape much to her annoyance. As well as the retaliating sword floor that came up to greet the creature in retaliation.

However, like the minigame before, damage seemed to be turned off - for the monsters. The spikes didn’t harm it in the slightest, and it didn’t even notice them as its long arms began reeling Sectonia closer. She would be able to see that the “HP Bar” displayed on her helmet’s screen was going down.

"Are you alright?" Primrose called to her. She stood ready to defend the queen, but between the filming and not being able to see the 'damage' she was taking, neither she nor Therion were sure if they should intervene yet.

At this point Sectonia had freed herself from its grip, saying. ”I’m fine…” Sectonia was more flustered than anything. And this wasn’t the only monster here. As if being lured by this thing’s music, another creature, an old looking man, appeared around the corner. At first it seemed a bit odd, but harmless. That was until it opened its mouth wide enough to swallow a human whole, and it roared before it dashed at the one of the Antlers as the rest of the group had gotten away from the creature after seeing it take down Sectonia’s HP. Once it reached one of Sectonia’s antlers, much like its mouth suggested, it devoured it whole. Roland had gotten a bit of that as he ran, with this new creature now going after the other Antlers Sectonia left behind as a distraction and doing the same to them before going after the group, the Arms following behind being a lot slower.

Things were ramping up quickly now that they were suddenly faced with two dangerous monsters. It would be a good thing for their video, if they could make it out with the camera.

Their head start saw them down a new L-shaped hallway. When they turned, the path narrowed enough that the humans could just barely walk shoulder to shoulder. Being their cameraman, and thus at the back of the group, Roland could get a good view of the large mouthed man dashing toward them. Although there wasn’t too much film left now.

"It's catching up," Therion pointed out. And with nowhere to dodge or run to, the group's only choices were to fight or sacrifice one of themselves. Sectonia was first through the corridor, followed by Primrose, leaving the two men at the back. And since Roland was the cameraman... it sort of left things up to him.

With a sigh Therion skidded to a stop and spun around, about to summon his striker. Ending things on more monster battles would tie the whole video together, but unfortunately for him it didn't turn out that way. The former monk monster was upon him in moments, giving Roland a good shot of the creature catching up to, and eating Therion. Well… Roland didn’t know what to think about that. He had to deal with dying all the time in the library, although he never remembered any of it, and apparently this place had the same power, but still that looked very painful. And if that wasn’t the case, he’d have some choice words with the mascot character running the show… Still they all had to make a run for it, and as the creature made another roar, Roland got the message “Out of Film”, relaying he had finished recording everything. With that being said, Sectonia summoned a golden antler to allow them to escape back to the diving bell, the old man unable to get its large mouth around the even larger golden antler now bonking it on the head with its mace and the creature attacking the antler with fire.

The three of them remaining hurried through the complex, finding a ramp leading up. Primrose looked back, an urge to put the monster down making her hesitate to leave, but eventually she had to will herself to let it go. This was just a game after all. As the team ascended, they found they got lucky: the ramp led to the outside right next to their diving bell, and the entrance they'd seen at the start but neglected to take. Once they were inside, she closed the door and the bell lurched, pulling back up to the island in the sky.

---

As they arrived on the diving bell, Roland’s fears were put to rest as Therion was there by the shack. ”Hey, glad to see you're ok. Hope getting eaten wasn’t too painful.” Roland said, not actually remembering ever having gone through that pain, although Angela did tell him that that did happen once.

Therion had removed his helmet already, his ears twitching in lieu of a greeting when the others returned safe and sound. "It wasn't. I just showed up back here."

He wasn't upset about being sent back to base, seeing as he'd hardly wanted to go down there in the first place.

”Oh huh. Thats nice.” Roland said, still getting used to how easy things seemed to be. ”Glad to hear it wasn’t bad at all.” roland said, giving Therion a thumbs up.

Well, all that was left was to figure out how to upload this video. It took Roland a bit to fiddle around with the kiosk, but he figured out how to upload and turn his video into a playable disc, which had its own dedicated slot so the video could be uploaded and viewed. He wondered how this thing would turn out since they didn’t edit anything, although in his experience nothing was all that scary minus the thing near the end.

Now they could watch their film back, and see what it looked like to outside eyes. Their video began with a cold open, seemingly showing a small community of ant-like creatures chilling with each other outside of a spooky abandoned factory. They all had the sponsored drinks in hand, and were completely unsuspecting of the Mouthe creeping into frame. It screamed, its voice violently cutting through the ambient silence of the first part of the video and startling the antlers.



The next shot was of the antlers in peril once again, with dark entities tugging them away into the blackness. The escalation from the little minions getting spooked to them being spirited away titillated the audience, though ultimately they were still just looking at mild monster on monster violence.



The next cut was the appearance of the long armed monster. With Roland's steady hand he captured its reveal, its fall, its capture of Sectonia and her escape, as well as the spikes she raised and its indifference to them. At that point he'd backed up, getting as wide a shot of the room as possible and including the Orsterrans and the sudden appearance of the second monster.



And finally, the last chunk of the footage was the pursuit. The camera jostled slightly as the team ran, adding to that found footage vibe as the long armed monster and the large mouthed monster chased them down the hall. Eventually the long arms was lost, unable to keep up with the rest, but its haunting accordion music could still be heard echoing in the background of the final moments of the video. The fallen monk charged forward in a blaze of fire, swallowing Therion whole. The video cut out very soon after that.



When it was over the screen they'd watched it on darkened, showing the option to replay it. At the bottom was a counter for views and ad revenue, as well as another marker for the extra revenue they'd earned thanks to taking on a sponsorship. With absolutely no frame of reference for the numbers, most of them didn't know if they'd done well.

"I suppose once every one is finished, we'll be back with the host and learn who won," Primrose surmised.

”Yep. Honestly it was pretty boring besides the end. I’ve seen scarier things on a day to day basis.” Roland said, scratching his neck. ”I have no frame of reference myself, but there were far, far worse things in the under.” Sectonia commented.

She was completely right. All four of them had seen horrors far beyond what the minigame offered, but then again it was only a friendly video-making competition. Not to mention they didn't know how their video was going to be graded. Maybe these mildly scary monsters and the gradual escalation of spookiness would make the cut, or the other groups got unlucky.

Without further ado, the bug-eyed monster lunged forward, lashing out with scythe-like arms like those of a praying mantis. Goldlewis performed a backdash to get some distance, then turned to go, trying not to obstruct Junior’s line of sight. Realistically, he towered over this critter and, contrary to Geralt’s exclamation, didn’t think it would be difficult to fight. But they both knew by now that trouncing these creatures would not be in the spirit of the competition, so it was time to give their hypothetical audience a show. If this gawking beast chased them into the bowels of the ship, their relief from escaping would give way to ominous tension–it was a perfect way to provide buildup, as long as the Seekers didn’t actually lose their way.

After noting the monster’s speed, Goldlewis set off at a brisk jog, just fast enough to continuously build up distance between himself and his pursuer. “C’mon, this way! Stick together!” he hollered, loud enough to convey a sense of urgency. While he considered keeping quiet to avoid alerting more monsters, he figured that more freaks would make a better film, and that the team could handle whatever came their way. So he fled, he made a big show of pulling down cabinets and toppling piled objects to try and trip up the eye beast. How effective it was didn’t really matter; it just needed to look frantic and dramatic. In fact, accidentally crushing the critter posed a bigger issue. Of course, all this theatricality came at a price, and the team’s mad dash through the depths of the cruise ship quickly got more dangerous.

Despite having stubby short legs and an equally short body, Jr was more than capable of keeping up with this, the prince even leaping over obstructions with impressive bounds. Still, running away from something and filming it turned out to be rather trickier than doing the 400 meter hurdles. This led to a dramatic moment where Midna grabbed Jr by the hand and physically hauled him out of the way of the leaping beast with an ”I got you!” after the prince stumbled on some loose debris while backstepping away from it.

The princess then parried a scything talon using the boom mic of all things, before they both broke off in a sprint again to try and get some ground.

Geralt kept an easy pace with the others, sometimes allowing them ahead of her, other times taking the lead in the ‘frantic’ chase with the monster. She was ahead of the group when the thing caught up to the group, and with Midna keeping Junior out of harm’s way, she grabbed a chair to toss behind them to try and trip the thing up. “Go, go!” She called, turning around only to stop short when she saw what looked like another Seeker, only wearing a lot of equipment. “Looks like somebody spent a lot of tokens.” She mumbled, before rolling her eyes. “We ran into another group.” Geralt told the others, “Not sure where the others on their team are, though.”

Behind her, Goldlewis slid to a stop, glancing over his shoulder. It looked like the four had managed to lose their bug-eyed pursuer. Either that hurled chair from Geralt did the trick to dissuade, or the lack of light in its eyes made it lose interest. Regardless, it was still around here somewhere, so the team would need to be more careful about where they pointed their flashlights, if the batteries weren’t spent after their sprint through the cruise ship’s belly. After making sure he couldn’t see the monster anywhere, Goldlewis turned his attention toward the person Geralt pointed out up ahead, trying to tell who it was. After dashing through the cluttered cargo bay, they’d wound up in an area dominated by towering shipping containers that obstructed the sight lines. Having heard the Witcher’s voice, the lone wanderer seemed to be heading over. The darkness obscured the details, but Goldlewis could see a standard-issue diving helmet and a glowing face within, though the features looked unrecognizably simplistic. Just as the veteran was beginning to wonder, a series of sounds echoed through the cargo corridor that dispelled all doubt.

BLEEP! ”Looks like we got one!” BLOOP! The voice was loud, harsh, heavily distorted by static, and bookended by alarming technological tones. BLEEP! ”Whoa, a whole crew of ‘em! How about a hundred, chat? Hundred likes each? Yeah, let’s get ‘em!” BLOOP! Then the stranger brandished a hefty rod, which came to life with a violent electric crackle. In its light, Goldlewis could see the stranger fully, a juggernaut as big as he was in a heavy suit with three oxygen tanks and a camera trained on his targets. The emoticon face in its helmet wore a fixed expression of gleeful malice as the stream sniper stomped forward. BLEEP! ”You’re MINE!” BLOOP!

Goldlewis gritted his teeth, raising his fists. Unfortunately, this assailant wasn’t the only problem drawn by all the ruckus. As he prepared to fight, or take cues from Junior, he became aware of another sound: the increasingly loud whir of a blender. Whatever the source was, it was only seconds away.

“Junior! Might have to fight our way out of this one! What’s the call?” Geralt asked, looking around for the source of that horrid noise, ready to knock it away with Aard if Junior told her to.

”uhhh, the other player is fair game, keep avoiding the monster?” Jr suggested, before preparing to flick on the camera once they were sure as to what they were doing.

Minda at least was up for it, saying that the steam sniper ”Seems more obnoxious than scary” before opening a portal and summoning up her Darknut minion to do battle for her while she kept operating their boom mic. At her mental command, the armored undead put itself squarely in the path of the sniper, shields raised, putting both a steel bulwark and an energy barrier in between it and them.

With all the cargo containers around the team was already dealing with the cruise ship’s cramped confines, but once the Darknut arrived it almost completely occupied what little open space they had. “Gah, what in the-” Goldlewis tried to distance himself from the behemoth so that he wouldn’t end up as collateral damage once it took action, but luckily it only attempted to bar the interloper’s way. It worked well, not budging beneath a flurry of blows from the stream sniper’s shock stick, but the Darknut’s mere presence amongst them left the Seekers completely separated.

With the Darknut taking the Stream Sniper’s attention, Geralt refocused her efforts on trying to find the unseen new monster, with little success.

After a moment, their assailant gave up. BLEEP! ”Hah, these guys are no fun. Don’t worry chat, we’ll be back before they know it.” BLOOP! By the time the undead roadblock removed its shields, the stream sniper had disappeared, but the filmmakers had something else to worry about. From a narrow gap between two cargo containers dashed a mannequin with a whisk for a head, its beaters whirring at high speed. It sped toward Junior, charging in a fast but perfectly straight line. Separated -and practically pinned down- by the Darknut, neither Goldlewis nor Geralt could get over to help him.

No way back, no way to the sides, it seemed like the prince was about to become blended roadkill. Yet rather than panic or fear, he, of all things, ran towards it. As he did, he formed a spear of metal, seemingly trying to counter charge it, only to drive said spear into the ground at the last moment, and using it to pole vault over the whisk faced freak. It wasn’t a clean jump, the whisk struck and ate his vaulting pole, causing him to botch the landing, landing on his spiky back and losing grip of the camera, which went tumbling across the ground away from him.

”Down with you” Mida commanded as this occurred, sending her darknut back down into a portal and freeing up the gents to move once more.

“Grab Junior!” Geralt shouted as she exploded into a sprint, skidding to a stop before the mannequin and casting the Sign of Aard, an explosive burst of telekinetic force launching it backwards. “Good thinking with that spear, kid.” She commented, backing away from the whisk-faced mannequin monster, hand still up in a wary posture.

The moment the Darknut got stowed away, Goldlewis took action. Firing his shotgauntlets behind him, he reached the fallen Koopa with a burst of speed, then reached down and unceremoniously flipped Junior back into his feet. Next on his list of priorities was the camera, but he glanced at the group’s attacker first. Luckily, the whisk monster appeared to be very clumsy, good for hurling itself in straight lines and not much else. Geralt’s Sign had flung it against a cargo container, and it still had yet to pick itself up.

“You good, kid?” Goldlewis patted Junior on the head, then turned to collect the camera. It lay a few dozen feet away back toward the cluttered area, blinking with a teal light. Trusting in Geralt to have their back as the whisk geared itself up for another charge, he went over and stooped to retrieve the device, not noticing it was still on and wasting film. “Got it!” He held it out for Junior to take, not noticing the hole in the ceiling nearby, nor the large, dark figure standing up there.

Jr gave an insistent ”I’m good” followed by a ”Thanks” with a thumbs up as he got the camera back. He settled it back into his hand, did a little hiss of an inhale at the amount of tape that must have been wasted staring at nothing, and then happened to pan up and catch a flash of light on what looked to be a pair of glasses adorning the figure staring down at them.

Midna meanwhile turned at a sound that was approaching her and Geralt and let out a gasp as she came face to face with the stream sniper. Its electrical weapon lunging towards her, the momentary spike of fear letting it slip past her guard, the stun prod jamming straight into her gut- to absolutely no effect as her body earthed the lighting with no harm to her.

”Still getting used to that” Midna said after blinking in surprise while the stream sniper recovered just a moment later BLEEP! ”Hah! Caught you off guard, didn’t I?” BLOOP!

”Big words for someone about to taste their own medicine” she retorted, as the boom mic flared to electrical life, and she swiped back to deliver her own stunning strike. The moment it took her to charge however was enough for the stream sniper to step away from the improvised weapon

BLEEP! ”And this is why I built all my gear custom chat!” BLOOP! it said as a parting shot, before slipping away again.

”That arrogant psychopath!” Midna seethed, itching to go after him, but that was right when Jr called out ”Watch out!” as the dark bespectacled figure shot a harpoon down at Junior, only for Goldlewis to lunge forward and shield him with his own body. The next instant, the spear struck him and began to reel him up into the air.

“Hurrk!” the veteran gasped in pain, dragged upward by his own suit jacket. Even after his fusions shrunk him down a touch, Goldlewis was a mountain of a man, and to haul him off his feet like that took monstrous strength. As he swung his arms, grasping for the cable attached to him, he caught only a fleeting glimpse of the creature who’d snared him: a bulky figure in a rumpled, scratch coat like a huge burlap sack, with only two fearsome red eyes visible inside its hood. The hefty harpoon gun in its grasp creaked and groaned in protest as it lifted Goldlewis higher, inch by inch. “Grrrrhhh…help me already, doggone it!”

Of course, it was right then that the two snailmen reappeared on the scene, practically walking arm in arm as they neared Junior’s position.

”That is the worst timing!” Jr complained, forming and firing metal shards at them, only for the light impacts to hardly slow them down at all, forcing him to backpedal as he rapidly tried to come up with a solution to the situation. Midna meanwhile stepped into a shadow and then appeared out of one to the harpooner, promptly driving the butt of boom mic into it, discharging electricity she’d attempted to spend on the stream sniper and causing thunder to clap deafeningly through the cruise ship. The blast flung the ghoulish thing into the wall and knocked the harpoon gun from its nerveless hands, causing Goldlewis to fall.

Down below, Geralt had jumped in to help Junior with the snails while the koopa fumbled with his gear in order to disentangle his paintbrush from its straps. Far from the most dangerous creatures the witcher had dealt with, Geralt could push them back with swift strikes from her long limbs at no real danger to herself. Still, they provided a deadly distraction, and once Midna disappeared from view the team’s dogged harasser emerged once more. BLEEP! ”There goes miss shockproof and here are three juicy targets! Let me see some tasers in the chat!” BLOOP! Right after Goldlewis fell, landing on top of one snailman, the stream sniper struck.

He slammed his baton into Geralt as she turned, and despite her defensive posture, the shock stick walloped her with a massive payload of electricity. It sent her sprawling, momentarily paralyzed, and the sniper erupted with distorted laughter. BLEEP ”Hahaha, got ‘er good! Pogs in the chat, guys!” BLOOP! Rather than press the attack, he looked up at the pad dangling from his rig, his expression gleeful in its electronic light.

Goldlewis got to his feet, albeit with the snail he’d seemingly crushed not just alive and well, but holding tight and actively draining his life. He hooked his hands beneath Geralt’s arms and quickly dragged her backward away from her assailant. The sniper himself, he left for Midna, straight from one bailout to the next.

The boom mic came lancing down from on high, striking the sniper like a javelin, though, bereft of charge as it mostly just knocked them off balance for a moment. That was all jr needed however, as he swiped his paintbrush at the streamer, coating his camera’s lens with neon blue electrical goop.

Unseen to him, but very alarming to the steamer, the monitor it was using to, well, monitor its own stream showed a combination of blue goop and static as the slime and shocks played havoc with its equipment. BLEEP ”Just some minor technical difficulties chat! Don’t go anywhere I’ll fix it stat!” BLOOP! the streamer almost begged as his viewer count started going down. With his hands full of camera and shock stick, and with both royals presenting too much of a threat for him to consider disarming himself to wipe the camera clean, the only option it had was the one it took: bailing to find a safe spot for camera maintenance.

”Yeah that’s right, run!” Jr called after him, making sure to get the beasted stream sniper on film, its humiliating response to having its footage interfered with having been perfectly picked up and amplified by Midna’s tossed boom mic.

”Don’t know what you did, but that sounded like you hit them where it hurts” Midna said as she appeared from the shadows once more to retrieve her very mistreated boom mic.

After helping Geralt to her feet, Goldlewis got her help to pry the annoying snail off his butt so they could kick it after the retreating stream sniper like an oversized football. That left one more ready to cause problems, though, and who knows what else on its way. “I think we got what we came for!” he barked, no longer feigning his urgency or worry. “Let’s hightail it back to base!”

”Gonna save the last little bit of film then” Jr replied, before cutting off their one very long running take ”Now let’s pull out the stops and get out of here!”

The team got moving as fast as they could, hurrying away from the danger-filled shipping zone back toward the cluttered cargo bay. Given the size and openness of the area, they didn’t need to worry too much about getting lost. In the distance, the distinctive warm, yellow glow of the diving bell’s interior light guided them onward. All they needed to do was get through the labyrinth of car wrecks, crates, and fences with the snails and the whisk behind them. Goldlewis and especially Geralt had both lost hit points, but they could still move unassisted, while Midna had to choose between sticking with a slower group or slipping through the shadows to get ahead on her own. If he hadn’t been so focused on the task at hand, the veteran might have thought to tell the princess to take the camera to safety, since its contents matter more right now than any one of them. Their oxygen was low, and their flashlight batteries were even lower; when the one belonging to Goldlewis ran out, he tossed it aside.

Midna didn’t really think of this either, because she associated the camera too hard with Jr in her head. As a result her plan was to move Jr faster, which she did by summoning her wolfos and having the prince get up onto its saddle. One hand on the handle, the other on the camera jr complained ”Why didn’t we do this in the first place!” because it made keeping on the move while filming a breeze.

About halfway through the junkyard maze, Geralt’s flashlight beam landed on a familiarly horrible shape. When the sputtering cone fell on the monster’s bulging eyes, it charged at the Witcher with a shriek, taking her by surprise. Its scythelike limbs gouged deep into her gear, taking advantage of her newfound weakness to slash damage to turn an opportunistic strike to a brutal wound. She stumbled with a curse and tripped over an engine block as she tried to dodge away. Her Aard sign blossomed in the darkness before the photophobic freak could finish her off, but the trip across the room wouldn’t stop the monster for long. Goldlewis slowed down, turning around. “Geralt!?”

BLEEP! ”Hehey, whoever sent that donation message, you were right on the money! Let’s f***ing get ‘em!” BLOOP!

The witcher winced as she tried to stand. “Go! I’ll hold them off!”

For a moment, Goldlewis froze. On a real battlefield this would have been a decision with deadly consequences, but if this was all just a game, he didn’t actually need to worry. Still, the fact that this game just about triggered his PTSD left him shaken. “If you say so, hoss. See ya on the other side!” he called back, hoping that Junior was capturing this drama.

As the distance grew and the lights faded, the last things the team running back to the diving bell saw from Geralt were a burst of incandescent flames, and the electric-blue tinge of the Streamer’s shock stick. A moment later, another set of deranged cackles echoed from where they had been, betraying Geralt’s fate.

Midna cursed under her breath, but the princess wasn’t affected particularly much by this. Jr meanwhile got a whole pile of flashbacks to the Maw and had to fight down an urge to go back for his fellow survivor. Had he not been sat atop Midna’s wolfos, he’d have slowed to a halt and been caught out, but as it stood, the twilight princess merely needed to stabilize him to keep him on her steed’s back, and let it do the rest.

With a burst of speed, the beast burst out of the ship and across the rickety bridge, followed a moment later by Midna and then, finally, Goldlewis, whom Midna slammed the door behind, right in the face of the scything eyeball creature. The veteran cranked the lever, and the Seekers were on their way.

---

When the diving bell’s climb came to an end and the door swung open, Geralt was already there, waiting for the others. Though he’d known that anyone eliminated down in the Old World would reappear up here from the beginning, Goldlewis still sighed in relief. “Heh. We weren’t separated all that long, I guess, but it’s good to see ya on the other side.” The Witcher hadn’t been the first comrade he’d been forced to leave behind, after all. He could only hope that all the others had wound up somewhere beautiful far above the clouds, as well. Returning from the crushing darkness below to this vibrant sky garden was a real breath of fresh air, and it helped drain away the tension and adrenaline pumping through him.

”That was, perhaps, a little too real at the end” Midna said as she pulled off her oversized helmet and let her hair flow free, her main magical asset having been constrained the entire game.

”I- yeah” Jr replied, before coughing a few times and asking ”anyway, we’re dead out of footage, so, now what?”

The team had no choice but to look around and figure it out. After reading the tutorial whiteboard inside, they found their way to the editing computer and through trial and error, managed to obtain a gleaming disc they could take to the TV set in the living room. Once Junior stuck the disc in the player, it uploaded the footage to both the big screen for them to watch and SpookTube, resulting in a cascade of live comments as the video played through. Goldlewis, totally at odds with this newfangled (or in his case, very oldfangled) technology, could only stand back in bafflement and watch as the video played through.

When the scuffle with the very first snailman started, a few comments reacted positively to it, but a lot poured in with a derisive tone. Apparently these critters were common fare, so widely recorded that every SpookTube veteran knew just how harmless they were. Everyone’s attempts to really sell the threat earned them some mockery.

Snail zombie! A Snailbie!
Ive heard they eat people :scared:
Not scariest I have seen but definitely snail
Wow these guys r makin a really big deal of it
Huh?? Its just a snail tho??
-2
Vod watchers skip this part
Next bit already
Scrubs lmao

Geralt blinked owlishly, then sighed. “Guess we’re not made for theater after all.” She joked, shrugging. “Though once we get to the end I wonder how they’ll feel.”

Goldlewis took a less self-deprecating approach. “How in the hell were we s’posed to know?” he grumbled. The viewers seemed to get a bit more excited when bigger threats appeared, at least.

thats more like it think they’ll get ganked?
Ngl running is prolly smart against the scythe bois
Oh shit stream sniper
Ugh snipers are the worst hope they kick his butt!!
That’s def ThunderThrasher, guys a ******* menace
Oh hey I watch that dude! He’s kinda a jerk tho

”Good, not just me who can’t stand that one” Midna commented

”Should have just taken him out on camera if people on here would have been happy to see that” Jr sad, hindsight being 20 20 and all, before snapping his fingers and going ”Rats, I could have just welded the monsters we didn’t like to walls”

Where’d that knight come from?
Yeah that’s it stonewall that jerk
Why didn’t they use that before? Throwing for content
Def throwing, boxing the others in
Look out its whisk head! Whisky business!!
Wait what, did he vault it?
There goes the camera
Did he get blended?
What kind of a name is junior lol
Oh good, there he is
point the camera at the action stupid, I wanna see the sniper fight!

At some point in their recording, the team had managed to attract so many monsters that the viewers couldn’t dismiss them any more. With snails, the stream sniper, the whisk, and the harpoon shooter all attacking at once, their video turned from a staged exaggeration to a frenetic fight to survive. As the battle turned into a chase to get back to the diving bell, the view count continued to climb, culminating in Geralt’s heroic sacrifice.

Omfg the sniper’s back
THUNDERTHRASHER RAID :electricity: THUNDERTHRASHER RAID :electricity:
Whaaaat? They’re just leaving her??
This sucks, why not the old fat guy
THUNDERTHRASHER RAID :electricity: THUNDERTHRASHER RAID :electricity:
THUNDERTHRASHER RAID :electricity: THUNDERTHRASHER RAID :electricity:
<User removed by moderator. Reason: spam>
Big woman too good for this world
Get up stupid!
Not fair, it shouldve been me
Get dunked on spammers
Eye guys are crazy overtuned
Did she die??? :brokenheart:

Goldlewis caught sight of one comment in particular from user PyraBestGirl: Nooo, friend Geralt! Even if just video, seeing friend left behind make Tora weep like babypon, meh. Poppi sad too! How could friends do this to Tora and Poppi??? His eyebrows went up as he recognized the names and linguistic style. “Wait, was that Tora? Who in sam hill gave that kid internet access?”

”Wait, so there’s people out there who are actually watching this and think its real?” Midna asked, having assumed this part of it was all an illusion as well

Jr was more confused, and frankly delighted, by the fact that Tora had a wifi connection up in the sky ”Who cares about that, the ship you came here on has internet!?”

Overall, despite the shaky start, things ended pretty well in terms of fear factor and emotional impact. Hopefully their earnings would stack up well against the others

The Troop (and Pit) headed into the factory right through the front doors. The inside of the free standing building wasn't any less dismal looking than the outside of it, but it was a little brighter. Light sources were haphazardly hung, making pockets of light here and there. That remained true once the group descended a spiral staircase into an underground industrial complex, the only way forward they could see.

They could hear the sounds of machinery whirring a couple rooms away. Besides that there was some ambient creaking and shifting, something very unusual for what was supposedly an old abandoned building.

"I wonder why all the lights are still on? Who's running the factory?" Pit questioned as they continued through a set of large, automatic sliding doors. Power was obviously still being supplied to this place.

”The monsters, whatever they are? Maybe they are making more of themselves down here” Rika suggested as she scanned the touch she was holding between two fingers around the room

”Well, our host, technically” Kamek replied, before he pointed out that ”this is more of a stage than a real place after all”

”It’s good for the atmosphere, so don’t ruin that by pointing it out” Bowser grumped, giving Kamek a light poke for his immersion breaking ways

They continued a little deeper in, passing metal grates, broken equipment, and random junk. The chug of whatever machines the factory featured masked the approach of the first monster drawn in by the group's loud introduction. It was a little thing, shorter than most of them with a bulbous body and dopey face, but it toddled directly toward them from the direction they'd just come from.
Rika spotted it first thanks to the little toy sized scout plane she’d set to hover above her, spinning around and pointing her palm mounted rifle at it while calling ”Something behind us”

Bowser went ”Huh?” before stomping around to take a look, and then when he did, giving a snort of a laugh at its appearance. ”Where’d this goofball come from?”

”Not sure, but should we record it? We only have so much time to use the footage and get out” Kamek asked

"It's not really that scary," Pit pointed out as he got closer and squinted at it. "We should look for something bigger! With sharp teeth or something."

The monster did not stop its advance while the team talked, nor did it even seem to notice Rika's weapon trained on it. It continued to plod along until it was right in front of the minigame players, all grouped together to look at it. And then suddenly, violently, its body filled with air. It ballooned in size like a pufferfish, its abdomen punching out with more force than a car's airbag and sending most of its observers flying. It turned out that damage actually was turned on for this game, and though the blowfish monster's attack was unlikely to get through some of their actual defenses, it did take a chunk of their "HP" for the game away.

”Gah, like a fart filled bob-omb” Bowser complained, entirely unaffected due to mass and durability, before glancing to and fro at where his team mates had been with another ”Huh?” Failing to find them out as he turned back around, to find Kamek face down on the floor, while Rika had merely been knocked back and Pit getting to his feet halfway across the room.

”You all good? The camera good?” he asked his face down mage, receiving a groan from Kamek as he picked himself and the recorder up off the ground, and dusted both off.

The monster deflated, stayed put, and prepared to expand again. It wasn't intimidated by the king's immovable stature - it didn't really feel much at all, just going about its thing, which was rapid expansion. And with its low speed it had nothing else going for it.

"See? Not scary," Pit reiterated. Surprising, sure. Spooky? Not so much. Although neither he nor his team noticed at this point that they'd technically been injured "in game."

”Yeah that thing was a real joke. Only reason it got to do anything was because it was so puny looking” Bowser agreed with a nod, only to ”Huh?” and started turning for a thrift time when Rika called out ”It’s getting back up papa!”

Rather than let it do whatever it was doing this time, RIka just shot it. To no effect. Undeterred, she reeled back a punch and promptly vaultbreaker smashed into it, knocking the foe into the air. The gas bag rose, fell, and then was promptly slammed in the face by a kinetic strike module empowered punch from Bowser right before it hit the ground, launching it out the door and back the way it had come from.

”And that’s what you get for messing with the Koopa troop” Bowser declared, only to groan as it promptly came stumbling back out the door again.

”Damage is indeed disabled once again it seems” Kamek noted as he remounted his broom and floated back up into the air.

It plodded forward single-mindedly, one slow step at a time. At this point the group could tell it ran on a simple pattern of approach, inflate, and repeat; and since their retaliation hadn't put a stop to it, it was likely to just keep coming... but unlikely to catch up with them if they moved on.

On that point, Pit piped up. "I just thought of something! We're playing a game, right? So this must be like a first level monster. And there's probably a lot of them around the entrance. I bet if we run really far in, we can find a higher level one!"

”Know what, that checks out. You can't just pop all the good stuff at the start of a level after all” Bowser agreed, nodding with unearned sagelyness as he did so.

”Running time then?” Rika asked as she shot the floor with some sticky goop to slow the pufferfish like foe down as they talked.

"Yeah! Let's go!"

The goop worked like a charm, sticking the monster nearly in place as it wiggled, but by then the troop was long gone. They ran into the dark depths of the factory, passing huge revolving wheels connected by belts, vents placed randomly along the walls, and pipes that ran from floor to ceiling. They knew they were heading deeper in when they found a ramp leading down, and they followed it to a dark, wide open room dotted with parallel pillars. On either side of that room were large doorways that opened up to show a series of maze-like metal catwalks lined with iron bars, and an even lower area beneath them.

It was there that the group was heading, traipsing through the catwalks until they found another ramp. Here, the sounds of the machinery had all but faded away - but the sound of skittering took its place, along with the echoes of their footsteps.

Initially leading the group, Pit pulled back so that he was closer to the others. This part of the factory definitely had a spookier feel to it, especially combined with the knowledge that their diving bell was now much farther away.

”We did keep track of the way we came, yes?” Kamek asked, putting words to that concern

”Yeah yeah yeah, left, right, stairs, easy peasy” Bowser replied, and then commanding ”Now bring out some minions and lets flush out those freaks from wherever they are hiding”

”Of course sire” the mage replied, not particularly put at ease, before giving a command of his own: ”Up and at them, dry bones!” With an a wave of his wand that summoned a small horde of undead koopas that began to fan out around the area, click clacking about like gormless fools while Rika had her scout plane do some actual proper reconnaissance to try and spot whatever might be down here with them.

"The skeletons really fit right in," Pit commented. He drummed his fingers on one of the bars while the undead koopas scoped out the area. He did his own searching too, though only with his eyes.

If there was one thing that the monsters of this minigame had in common, it was that they seemed to prefer a direct approach rather than a stealthy one. So it didn't take very long for the first of the drybones to run into something. The minion turned a corner, a whoosh and a crunch sounded from where it had gone, and it didn't return. When Rika's plane flew over to see what happened, it could just make out a shadowed, multi-legged creature trying to consume it.

And it wasn't alone. Drawn by the general nosiness of the group, shapes moved in the dark and began to pick off the drybones on the outskirts of the room.

”I believe we have company. A lot of company” Kamek said as the taken down dry bones started to draw a bit more mana from him in order to reform, a fact Rika very much confirmed with her scouting plane’s more concrete sighting of a spook.

”Then hit record and let's get some juicy footage already!” Bowser commanded, which received an affirmation from Kamek and then the little green light on the camera lit up as he declared ”and action!”

It was perfect timing, as the monsters crawled out from behind their various cover to chase after anything and everything around them. Two creatures, with body shapes that brought arachnids to the mind, bore down on the drybones - though when Pit shined his flashlight on them to get a better look and illuminate them for the camera, they saw something much more monstrous than a typical spider.

"That's more like it!" The angel said. Spiders were creepy, that was just a fact of life - and these things were even creepier. They were almost as tall as Pit and Rika, and both longer and wider than they were tall. When the light fell upon their many eyes, the arachnids turned in the troop's direction. Their movement was part scuttling, part lurching, and their wide heads split apart vertically down the middle to show off two rows of flat teeth for grinding their prey. "Whoa... freaky!"

Pit was still physically among the troop, so he didn't feel all that threatened. Even if he wasn't, he had a plethora of weaponry to call on; which he did when the arachnids began to shoot thick strands of webs from their mouths. The Guardian Orbitars poofed into existence, flying around Pit and his team (so long as they were close enough) to block the sticky projectiles. Naturally the shields started to slow down the more hits they took, making Pit grimaced. "Ew..."

”You try and sticky slow us, I’ll sticky slow you” Rika declared as she pointed a palm at the floor between them and the spiders, and started splattering it with shocking goop to ward them off ”I mean I was gonna do anyway but still”

Not the brightest of creatures, one of the spiders walked right into the slime. It didn't appear to even notice that it was getting stuck, just continuing to crawl towards them at a much slower pace with its jaw snapping open and closed. The other used the trapped one as a bridge and trampled right over it (which the first also didn't seem to notice) to get nearer to its prey.

While all this was going on, the catwalks behind them rattled with the sound of something moving along them. It was loud enough that Pit turned around, brandishing his light like it was a sword. "Another one!"

He expected a third spider to join the first two, but this was a different beast. About the same size, with multiple limbs, but a much rounder shape. In contrast with the arachnids, this thing had no eyes to speak of. Yet it sensed the group of four amateur film makers somehow, and waddled toward them. It came to a stop at the catwalks' exit, blocking the ramp back up.

”That might be inconvenient, we do need to get back to the diving bell again after all” Kamek noted

”Yeah, move it you squiggly thing, or I’ll make you move!” Bowser demanded, stomping towards it while punching his palm with his fist.

It moved, but not out of the way. With Bowser's approach the barnacle ball-looking creature reared up on two of its tentacles and coughed out a plume of some powder-like substance at him.

The king made no move to avoid this, gawfing ”Dust! Ha!” at the mere thought that it could hurt him, only to get an eyeful of the stuff and go ”Gah, It stings!” before roaring ”you're gonna pay for that!”, dropping to all fours charging half blind towards the pest, tusks bared and prepared to give it a goaring.

It had no self-preservation instinct, simply meeting Bowser's charge with its lashing arms. None of the monsters tried avoiding danger or protecting themselves at all, because as the group had already discovered with the pufferfish earlier, they didn't need to. Unable to truly be harmed, their singular purpose was to down the game's players in increasingly frightening ways.

The king's tusk drove into the barnacle but failed to penetrate the tough outer shell. In return he was whipped by its tentacles before his King’s charge launched it up into the air. It crashed down behind him a moment later, unharmed, and immediately started to walk towards the rest of the troop, prompting an ”Uh, woops” from Bowser who had successfully moved it out of his way, but not out of everyone else's.

Meanwhile one of the two spiders was still struggling in the goop, retaliating by shooting its webbing, while the other accosted the team from the opposite of the barnacle. Pit fired upon it by habit with the Orbitars, but the shots did nothing. Oh, right! he thought. They weren't actually meant to be beating these things, just making a scary home movie. He hoped backwards once to avoid the monster's teeth, and once more as the Orbitars swiveled around and blocked another web strand headed his way. By now the two shields were stuck together, limiting their defensiveness.

The spider turned on Rika, and Pit glanced up at Kamek who was getting a bird's eye view of the situation. Did it look good from up there? Pit's torchlight had been a little erratic, but surely the small glow from Rika and Bowser was helping with the lighting. Could the camera pick up the weird, gurgling noise these things were making? "How's it looking!"

”Most concerning, I do believe you are surrounded” Kamek said, drawing attention to the barnacle now closing in behind them. In a similar move to Bowser, Rika proceeded to pull back her gauntlet, and then charge forward with it, the vault breaker punch bumping the spider up in the air and letting her pass under it, leaving only Pit surrounded by the strange beasts, and Kamek hovering just a bit above him.

That lined up with Pit's typical luck. He looked between the two monsters, wondering what he should do here. Escaping would be pretty simple, but maybe he could pretend to be in actual danger for the video? "Oh nooooo," he cried, though he wasn't the most convincing actor. He leaned away from the arachnid, not wanting to even pretend to get bit by it, and so was greeted with a tentacle slap.

"I'm in trouble~ !! Ow, wait, I really am in trouble!" Pit yanked himself away from the barnacle, almost tripping over the spider as he flapped his wings and bounded backwards and out of immediate harm's way. He hadn't really noticed what was being subtly displayed on the inside of the helmet until he saw the bar on one side going down. He was savvy enough to quickly come to the correct conclusion: it was a health bar, and his was already halfway gone. "I took damage! Kind of!"

At that point the second spider had wiggled itself free and scurried forward to hunt, while the one evaded by Rika and Pit turned to spit up at Kamek.

”Ack, well now, that’s disgusting” Kamek complained as he wiggled free of the web, before saying ”Still, these foolish creatures can’t harm me, so keep on your toes you three” before being proven wrong.

The barnacle, rather displeased with the way the troop and Pit were spreading out and escaping it, hunkered down and acted to bring them back together. It raised its tendrils up, swirling them around so fast it created a vortex that began to drag them all in.

Bower was frankly much too heavy, and Rika used her grappling hook to get away, but the unanchored arial Kamek could do little to nothing but get sucked into that blender of spinning tentacles.

When he was pulled close he was met with a lashing of its multiple limbs, putting a stop to the tentacle tornado but dropping the poor koopa's hit points all the way to zero. The screen of his helmet went completely dark and his body was flung away, along with the camera.

Pit had nearly been sucked in too, but managed to grab hold of Bowser's shell and cling on until the pull stopped. He landed on his feet when he fell to the ground, noting that the few leftover drybones had disappeared. Their cameraman was officially out of the game, and this area was littered with webs.

Rika leapt to catch the ejected koopa with one hand as the camera bounced away with an ”I got you” before landing in a power slide. She then dodged out of the way of a web as she held up the unresponsive mage and asked”Kamek?” before shaking him in alarm ”Kamek! Wake up!”

”Grab the camera and we’ll get him to that medical tent” Bowser called out, not believing the elder Koopa was dead more on blind faith than any logical deduction about how that wasn’t what death in the WoL looked like.

”Got it!” Rika called out, glancing around and then grapple-hooking the camera into her other massive hand. Then she ran, but all the monsters were in the way. Unable to vault breaker with her hands full, all she could do was duck, dodge and weave. Burdened by kamek, she was unable to do so perfectly, getting nipped and webbed but looking like she would make it, only to be clipped by a tendril right before she was home free.

She fell, helmet dark, payload tumbling to the floor. Bowser cried out in alarm, lunging forwards and grabbing both his kin in his claws, leaving the camera to bounce on behind him once more.

Since the camera and its film was their win condition, Pit chanced grabbing it while the monsters swarmed. He dove towards it, snapping it up and rolling to his feet. The health bar they were given for the game really wasn't all that big, since he was now down to about a fifth and Rika had been downed by several small attacks. At some point even the slow pufferfish they'd left behind seemed to have found them, as it toddled into the chaos. "Let's go before they take us out too!"

They ran back the way they'd come, onto the metal catwalks. In their haste (and not quite recalling which direction they'd entered from), they picked a random direction and sprinted down it. While moving, Pit grabbed the Orbitars out of the air and yanked them apart. The now separated shields whirled around quickly, back to near-automatically blocking projectiles. They hustled out of the room, avoiding the worst of the webbing as they fled. Luckily the creatures were pretty slow, and with some distance put between the monsters and them, it looked like they'd successfully escaped. From the whooshing sounds behind them it seemed like the barnacle might have tried its tornado again, but at that point it too had been left in the dust.

Which brought Bowser and Pit immediately to their next dilemma: how were they going to get out of the factory and back to the bell?

"Umm..." Pit tilted his head, shining the dim flashlight down the three routes available to them. They were just exiting the catwalks into a wide, featureless square room. On all sides were open doorways leading to dark halls, with no marks of any kind to differentiate them. Far behind them the sound of footsteps on metal echoed around the maze, though they already knew it was too 'dangerous' to go back the way they'd come.

For all of the previous times the angel had raided the Underworld, or navigated criss-crossing interiors in alien ships, or generally traversed Overworld, he still wasn't exactly confident in his sense of direction. Almost every time he was on a mission, he had the Goddess of Light's guiding voice in his head. Even if it came as a whisper such as when she was taken prisoner by Medusa, it was still there nudging him in the right direction. Without it, he wasn't sure which way to go. Well, except for the obvious.

"We just have to find a way that takes us up!" he said.

”Right.. Uh. ” the king replied, peering up at the ceiling at first as he took this quite literally.

They moved on quickly, with the camera tucked sort of safely under Pit's arm. With both of their hands full, the Orbitars remained rather than being replaced by a stronger weapon. If they were ambushed, they could still do their thing. The second, often forgotten consequence of delving too deep too fast was rearing its head now. With both Rika and Kamek gone, there was no way the two remaining boneheads would be able to retrace their steps or otherwise find a way back out without a minor miracle.

And there was one other thing too.

"Hey Bowser," Pit said, glancing up at the king. He'd been sticking pretty close, not wanting to get separated or taken by surprise if another monster showed up. "Did you see this other bar-thing on our helmets? It's smaller than the health bar. I just noticed it's been going down this whole time."

He tried to tap the area it was displayed on the helmet's face screen, but just bonked the front of his helmet with the torch. "What is it?"

”Uhhh. Wait. Didn’t that guy say something about air?” Bowser replied, right as the bar hit zero.

---

The two veteran Smashers had run out of time, ending up in a heap inside the medical shed back on the island they started the game on. The shed was small and narrow, so when Bowser spawned in his bulk pretty much obliterated it, smashing the wooden walls out so that the whole thing collapsed. Unharmed by the wreckage, Pit crawled out from under the wood and hopped to his feet, dusting himself off and then, realizing he was no longer holding anything, patting himself down.

"Aw man! Did we lose?" He turned back to the remains of the shed, shoving wooden planks aside and peeking around the king's large frame, but there was no camera to be found. "Nooooo, come on!"

His frantic failure to find the camera was accompanied by a pair of groans from the Koopas, and also Rika asking the question that was probably on a few minds, namely ”People do that for fun?”

With a hard time limit in effect, courtesy of the oxygen system, none of the teams who finished their filmmaking challenge needed to wait around for very long. Just after the last quartet’s upload finished and they received their earnings, all of the sky gardens began to warp and dissociate just like the mountainside had in the first minigame. This fascinating new wonderworld, a sharp juxtaposition between idyllic islands and nebulous nightmares, quickly collapsed, and all eighteen Seekers found themselves shunted back to the game lobby alongside their two new acquaintances.

This time, they found Ballyhoo already on the scene when they arrived, eager to deliver the final results. “Welcome back, everyone! Enjoy your time chasing down cryptids in the Old World’s dismal depths? Whenever you’re done playing, make sure to rate our minigames on a scale of one to five stars, so we know what to keep in rotation! And now, without any further ado, THE STANDINGS!” He gave Balan his cue, and the green-haired mystery man sounded off a crisp drumroll from a drum set he’d manifested for just this occasion. “In third place: Bowser Junior, Geralt, Goldlewis, and Midna! In second place: Roland, Sectonia, Therion, and Primrose! And finally, in illustrious first place…Juri, Ganondorf, Sandalphon, and Zenkichi! Congratulations, everyone!” He snapped his fingers and a huge stack of rift tokens piled up atop his palm like pancakes. “And if you didn’t make top three, never fear, ‘cause at least you’re not leaving EMPTY-HANDED! TOKENS FOR EVERYBODY!” His other hand moved at a lightning-fast speed, dealing out rewards like a clay pigeon launcher. After only a moment, everyone had received their just desserts, and it was time to move on to the next step.

By now, everyone knew this song and dance, so Ballyhoo wasted no time in getting straight to it. For a third time the massive roulette wheel spun to life, the ivory-white ball rattling around its wooden circumference again and again until it finally grew tired and began to seek shelter. Nadia watched, a fresh neon green drink from the robotic fridge in hand, as the ball found itself a home in pocket number two. “Wow-ee!” Ballyhoo sang, beside himself with excitement. “Looks like you’re all in luck, because you just won the grand prize: our most popular minigame, KOOKY CABBIES!”

The words exploded in the air behind him as he announced the name of the game. After posing in the air, the gamemaster launched straight into his typical explanation. “This one’s nice and simple! You’ll take on the role of a taxi driver in a big city where LOTS of people need to go PLACES, and FAST! It’s your job to pick them up, drive them there, and drop them off as quickly -and nonlethally- as you can to earn that sweet, sweet MONEY! You’ll start with just ninety seconds on the clock, but you can earn bonus time too, so the better you do, the better you’ll…FARE! AHA! AHA! AHAHAHA!”

Eyes narrowed and arms crossed, Nadia flicked her tail back and forth. “I don’t get it.”

“Passenger difficulty is divided into easy, medium, and hard,” Ballyhoo continued. “Which you’ll see by the color of their markers: green, yellow, and red! Take on harder passengers to get bigger payouts, or do stunts en route to earn extra dough! Whoever’s got the biggest haul when everyone’s out of time, WINS! Ladies and gentlemen, START. YOUR. ENGINES!”

He and Balan began flying circles around the Seekers, posed as if driving invisible cars. As the latter worked his magic, the players’ worlds began to spin as well, and after a moment everything melted away in the surreal centrifuge.

---

When everything finally stopped spinning, the contestants found themselves spirited away once more to a brand new wonderworld. This time it took the form of a sprawling city spread across two islands connected by a handful of bridges, one a sprawling brick-and-asphalt metropolis of elevated highways and highrises, and the other a tropical island with houses not too unlike Carnival Town’s arrayed around a towering volcano. The sun setting on the oceanic horizon cast everything in gold, from the sparkling water to the clouds in the royal blue sky. This time, everyone appeared separated, scattered across the conjoined islands. Unlike the previous two minigames, it looked like this one would be a free-for-all. However, the competitors weren’t totally alone, either. They all received one stalwart companion: a custom convertible taxi cab tailor-made to their dimensions, bright yellow with black and white checkered stripes.

For once, Goldlewis was in luck: out of all the black tech he’d been obliged to use while in Midgar, cars were the only non-magic machines that tended to gel with him. Even in a brand new world, he’d never be able to dispense with that critical aspect of Americana. Figuring it was finally his time to shine, the veteran jumped in to find a key already in the ignition, and when he turned it the engine roared to life. Conversely, Sandalphon surveyed her ride with much less enthusiasm. She tended to prefer public transportation, so even if she could intuit this vehicle’s operation without too much trouble, she doubted that she possessed the skill or the daredevil energy to ace this challenge. Still, the archangel was nothing if not zealous, so she put herself behind the wheel with the resolution to wield this vehicle like a weapon of war.

And of course, Nadia didn’t have the faintest idea how to work an automobile, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying, or failing, or trying again. Everyone in that boat would have to learn as they went, since after just a couple seconds, Ballyhoo’s voice blared through the city’s storm sirens.

“Welcome to Grapital City! Are you ready to RUMBLE? Then put your pedal to the metal, ‘cause it’s ready. Set. GO!”

Both Zenkichi and Geralt were pleasantly surprised with their results. Geralt wasn't terribly surprised her, Junior, Midna and Goldlewis didn't pull off a victory, especially given the frosty reception their video got at the beginning. Zenkichi, on the other hand, celebrated a bit, happy to have trusted Juri to direct their film, and he waved to the woman and said as much. "I'd like to thank our wonderful director, Juri, for this award!" He joked, mimicking the style of an American celebrity receiving an award. "But seriously, thanks. I don't think I could've done half as good a job behind the camera."

Rewards and thanks out of the way, all there was to it was to wait to see what was next. When Ballyhoo announced the name of the game, something tickled in the back of Zenkichi's brain. That was...strangely familiar, but not quite right. Almost like a sense of deja vu when you knew that what you were experiencing couldn't have happened before. The explanation only furthered the feeling, but without much time to think on it, they were transported to the next game.

---

"Oh my god it's Crazy Taxi. Wow, I haven't played that game in years. Since college, I guess." Zenkichi sighed at the memory, half-drunkenly playing with his friends on the coveted Dreamcast, yelling at the current player to distract them and try to get the best score. Good times.

Hopping into the taxi, he chuckled a little and shook his head. "Man, this isn't even fair. I bet most of these guys had never even seen a car until a few days ago. I'm gonna smoke 'em." He knew that a local famous racer was around, but other than that, he wasn't afraid of the competition in the slightest.

On another island, Geralt stared at the vehicle in disbelief. Shaking her head, she quickly climbed inside and took a seat. Her eyes widened at the sheer number of displays staring at her, but looking around quickly found her an instructional booklet entitled 'KOOKY CABBIES FOR DUMBIES'. Glaring at the insulting pamphlet, she nonetheless opened it and started scanning for ways to operate this thing. "Turn the key and hold? These things use keys, huh? Simple enough, I suppose." Searching for, and easily finding, the key to the ignition, she turned it, cringing a little as the engine started rumbling. "Okay, now...right pedal accelerates, left brakes. Easy enough. And the wheel steers. Stop at the marks to pick up fares, then bring them to the indicated positions. Let's try this, then." She was resigned to her inevitable fate, but would at least attempt to partake.

Pushing her right foot down on the accelerator, Geralt lurched as the taxi's tires squealed, launching her directly into a palm tree as she attempted to correct course. She grunted at the impact, before frowning. She was stuck. Quickly grabbing the pamphlet, she started flipping through it viciously.

Zenkichi, meanwhile, had picked up a medium fare and was already well on his way. He wove in and out of traffic, though the unrealistic physics of the Kooky Cab took some getting used to. Still, he was having a blast, hooting and hollering as he launched the car off the 'ramp' of a vehicle-transporting truck, just like the movies. His fare let out an enthusiastic 'O-kay!' to signify that he landed the jump right. Oh, man, was this nostalgic! After a short, hectic drive, Zenkichi drifted into the drop-off zone, already looking for the next fare. He barely registered his fare shoot up, the customer offering a tip for 'speedy service.' Nodding gratefully, he decided to go for a real challenge: a red fare. He was going for gold here, and if it didn't work out, he still already had six chips between his win and the first mini-game, so he was pretty okay with that.

This fare, unfortunately, didn't want to go very far, and Zenkichi held back a groan. This was practically gonna be a waste of time. Still, he did what he was here to do, and put the pedal to the metal, crashing into a car that was zooming by in his blind spot. His fare berated him, but Zenkichi just shook his head and focused on the road. It was just a game, and the other car recovered quickly and drove off as well.

Geralt, having finally figured out the gear shift, put her cab in reverse and lightly tapped the accelerator, inching away from the palm tree with a groan. She turned the wheel to the side to extricate herself from the position she was in, slowly freeing her vehicle before looking for somebody to drive. Finding a passenger with a green marker, she shifted back into drive and approached them, going just a little too slow. When she finally stopped, the passenger strode up to the car and got in, asking to be driven to the other side of town.

This was going to be a long game...

”What? Third! We were robbed!” Jr complained, arms thrown up in outrage before kicking his heel and grumbling ”Stupid stream sniper. Stupid people on the internet who don’t know art when they see it”

Midna, second time third placer, meanwhile was of the opposition that it was a respectable position, and at the very least glad she’d gotten a return on her investment on the silly sound amplifying stick. Shame she didn’t get to keep it, it had been amusing, but she supposed it was as fake as the monsters.

The rest of the troop collectively agreed to keep their non finishing position under wraps, thankful that there apparently wasn’t going to be any kind of joint viewing of the recordings. That would have taken a while anyway, and instead it was right into the next minigame.

Rika was not exactly hopeful this one would be any good either despite its spouted popularity, the totally out of her depth ship girl only kept from going full grump by shoveling confectionery into her mouth in between rounds.

True to her expectations, things did not, it had to be said, start well. Dumped into a taxi cab that was fit for her body, yes, but not to her oversized mechanical hands. Those made trying to open and read the manual rather tricky, and using the key to start the car straight up impossible, forcing her to waste valuable time while she disarmed her right hand so that she could actually use all the machine.

Still, once that was done, she had a fairly easy time turning the ignition and fiddling around with the stick a bit before she slammed the gas pedal to the floor and launched herself into oncoming traffic.

”ohhhh nonononono” she stammered in a panic as hand large and small gripped the wheel, spinning it too and fro to swerve widely around the incoming cars, before veering down a one way road the wrong way. Faced with an oncoming collision with a bus of all things, a panicking Rika let go of the wheel with her gauntlet, reeled it back, and then let it fly.

A moment later she came vaultbreaker blasting out of the other end of the one way street, drifting sideways, bus having been knocked sky high, and skidded to a halt in a conveniently open parking space.

”I, ok, phew. That was actually kinda fun” she said to herself. Unfortunately she now had to get out of the parking space, which saw a far more well versed in this Jr blasting past her frustrated attempts at an improvised 3 point turn.

”Hi sis!” he called out, waving his paintbrush at her as he snuck in and stole the customer she’d been intending to take after unparking, before putting the brush back to the road, calling ”bye sis” and going tire squealing off towards the dropoff point. As he drove, the brush he was tapping to the ground left a gradually building criss-cross of goopy trails across the street, marking where he had been, making a big ol mess of everything, and also presenting a hazard to anyone who was unfortunate enough to cross his path.

Or worse, end up on the same one as him, as Midna found out when finding herself going along the half nelson highway in the same direction as him, and as soon as the slime slicker realized this, he started veering back and forth to paint the road in her way.

”Junior what the heck!” she yelled at him as she tried and failed to avoid his slicking ways. Indeed the attempts to do so making things worse as, as it turns out, turning on a slippery surface is not a good time, causing her to promptly spin out with an a ”ahhhh!”

”You’re just lucky there’s no item boxes, or you’d all be doomed!” the prince called back, and then a moment later he and his dinky little taxi were gone.

”How old even is that child” the princess complained as she, rather than bother with trying to reverse properly, just reached out her shadow hand and shoved herself back from the highway’s central barrier.

She was just about on track to get going again when there came a rumbling and a call of ”Make way for the Koopa King!” giving her just enough time to glance down the road, curse with ”Oh for the goddess’s love” before being rammed out of the way by the titanic taxi that was Bowser’s ride. It had, after all, scaled up to him and boy did that make it big.

Maybe a bit too big, as the king found as he tried to take the tight looping slip-road down off the highway, and promptly started scraping both front and back of his car against its outer edges, and the opposite center against the inner wall. Then he had to duck under the highway, horns and shell spikes grinding against its underside.

”Yeah yeah quit whining we’ll get there when we get there” he growled at his passenger who he then had to try and squeeze up the thin windy roads of trophy heights.

The way he inevitably lost a wheel off the side, and had to get out and haul it back onto the road got an ”oh dear” with a silent ‘not my problem fortunately’ from Kamek as he drove on by. Had this been a few years back, the mage would have been a bit out of his depth as much as some of the others, but as things stood, he’d recently joined in on the royal’s number one form of interkingdom friendly competition, and so actually had some Kart racing under his belt.

As befitting his age, the mage was taking a slower and steadier pace to winning this race, peddle maxing out at about 2/3s to the metal, eyes peeled for other vehicles as he made careful turns and sensible crossings. He was also, unlike the other two Koopas, actually trying to make a mental map of the city rather than just blazing blindly in his destination’s general direction.

This general increase in awareness meant it was hard to miss how Rika was struggling when he happened to end up on the same road as her. Well, to be fair, the way she was reversing across it to turn herself around and try and actually deliver her first customer when many were on their second, third, or more, was rather hard to miss.

”How are you faring, young mistress?” he called over, more to check her mental mood than her, well, point’s scoring position.

”It’s kinda fun when I get going, but stuff keeps hitting me or I hit other stuff and then the fun stops” she replied evenly, even as she slammed the pedal to the metal and rammed into the opposite building rather than manage to turn out into the road again. ”Plus that timer going down and down is really annoying” she complained as she shifted into reverse, clearly feeling the pressure of the time limit.

”I know it being a race means you feel like you need to go as fast as you can, but performing smoothly and safely has its own speed. Doing something right the first time is better than doing it twice fast” The mage lectured as Rika bumped into a van while reversing, prompting her to retort ”But if can’t do it right, then fast is all I have”

”Well then, here, let me see if I can give you a pointer or two so you can” Kamek replied, pulling up beside the frustrated girl, pulling himself out of his car and popping onto her lap

”But what about yours?”

”Don’t worry about that now, I’d rather pass down a skill than just use it for my own benefit” the mage replied, waving her concern off, before saying ”Now then, let’s see if we can give you a driving lesson or two, shall we?”

The ship girl furrowed her brow in thought for a moment, before nodding her head and smiling happily, thinking maybe this game would live up to its supposed popularity after all.