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[b]Word Count:[/b] 1,010
[b]Level 5 Captain Falcon:[/b] 26/10
[b]Exp Gained:[/b] +2
[b]NEW EXP Balance---[/b] 28/10

[H3]Ballyhoo’s Big Top[/h3][/center]

The freshly de-storied Captain Falcon re-entered the big top with his eleven rift tokens in tow. Now that he thought about it, Cap wasn’t sure he really needed that many tokens all to himself. As such, he found himself willing to hand a few out to others who asked for one. Of course he didn’t just give all of them away, having kept a handful for his own use. Speaking of which, the line for the Orb Machine was all but gone now that most of the Seekers had had their chance to spend rift tokens on it.

[color=1f66b2]”So… this thing will give me spirits that will make me stronger?”[/color] He said to himself as he eyed the gacha machine up and down. [color=1f66b2]”Well, may as well give it a whirl.”[/color] Cap said as he fished out a rift token from his pocket and popped it into the coin slot to activate the machine and pulled the crank. As advertised, the Orb Machine spat out what Captain Falcon assumed as a spirit. The person depicted appeared to be a young woman with long blonde hair wearing some kind of blue and white dress or uniform, he couldn’t tell exactly what the outfit was. She also appeared to be holding some kind of hi-tech looking recurve bow in her hand. So she was some kind of archer? So did that mean he could also become an archer like her? Falcon wasn’t sure he liked the idea of having to rely on weapons, but maybe there was some other use for these spirits besides combining with them.

Falcon shrugged and inserted a second coin and then pulled the crank again. As before, the Orb Machine produced a spirit that Cap held up and examined closely. This one was a man with short brown hair, dressed in some kind of business uniform. And his depiction showed him wielding an assortment of electrified blades and other weapons. Like with the first spirit, Cap wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to become reliant on weapons. But not only that, this fellow didn’t look like a very nice sort. In fact he looked almost downright villainous. How comfortable would Cap be in relying on power like that? Then again, he’d fought alongside other villains before so he supposed this wouldn’t be that different of a situation.

[color=1f66b2]”Hmm, well, third time’s the charm I guess.”[/color] Cap said with a shrug. He popped in a third token and pulled the crank. The spirit he got this time featured a sharply dressed martial arts fighter sporting a goatee and dark ponytail hair. This one made Falcon nod his head in approval. Now this was more like it. A strong looking fighter capable of throwing punches and kicks with the best of them, [i]that[/i] sounded like the kind of spirit Cap could get behind using. He’d have to make sure to ask how to use these things later since he forgot to get the details from Pit earlier.

But with only two remaining rift tokens, Cap decided not to spend them on the Orb Machine. Instead, since he knew he was about to depart on a mission, he thought it might be pertinent to check out some of the clothing items he could trade them for. After all, a spare set of clothes or two certainly couldn’t hurt to have around. He ended up buying two “costumes” which when not worn took on the appearance of a neatly packed bundle of clothes. One of them was a formal-looking 3 piece suit, black in color with white dress gloves to cover the hands. There was no headgear to this suit so his helmet and visor remained in place. This sort of thing wasn’t Cap’s usual style, but that said, having a nice suit he could change into could come in handy in the event that he needed to get into some formal event or establishment with a dress code. The second “costume” was a generic white martial arts dogi with a black belt. The outfit also replaced Cap’s gloves with white bandages tightly taped around his hands and knuckles, in addition to a white headband that replaced his helmet and was tied around his forehead. This, he figured, would be perfect for training and sparring sessions.

And with that, the last of Cap’s tokens were now spent. Sure, a few of them were given out to others. But he figured it was just as important to help the others get stronger as it was to get stronger himself. So he thought of it as an investment of sorts. Of course, now he needed to figure out what to do about the Blue Falcon. Pit mentioned they had a ship that could possibly house the machine, but he didn’t mention anything about where that ship was docked - if it even was at all.

So the only thing to do was ask about it. He recalled there being a woman who had informed the others that they needed to return to the ship because of a threat that was potentially on its way here. So Falcon figured she might be the person to ask about his F-Zero Machine. What he learned was a bit disappointing. Their ship, the Avenger, did indeed have a hanger bay with room enough for the Blue Falcon. But she said it was for air vehicles only, since they had no intention of landing the ship due to a lack of available time. They had a system in place for transporting people and objects back up the vessel, but that system was limited to a maximum of 500 pounds, which the Blue Falcon obviously exceeded.

Well, that was a shame. Falcon didn’t much like the idea of having to leave his beloved racing machine behind. But it didn’t look like he was going to have a choice. Well, he’d just have to make sure it was properly locked down where it was and hope he’d get a chance to come and retrieve it at a later date.