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Our Hearts Feel No Pain

Location: Home of Tears - Royal Canopy Club
Starring Primrose and Sectonia
Word Count: 13865 (+14)


After exiting the sanctum and stopping briefly to catch those who'd stayed behind up on the current plan (and to help Rika crush some items), Primrose and Sectonia made their way over to the Royal Quarter. Pretty quickly after arriving they directed their attention to the Royal Canopy Club, the most likely place to find the target they were after. Primrose plucked a poster advertisement for the club from a light post as they went.

"The way I see it, we have two options," she said. "We find Cornelia and tail her until we find an opening. However..." Primrose glanced at Sectonia, her majestic figure the exact opposite of subtle. "...it would be unlikely we won't be spotted before we can get her alone.

"The second option is to strike while everyone is distracted; Cornelia and the people around her."


Normally that would seem like the more difficult option, but if what she was reading about the Royal Canopy Club was true then it just might work. Performances by the famous and talented were always sure to turn heads. And Primrose herself was quite curious about the nature of the competition.

Sectonia could only huff at option 1. Primrose had a point, but she didn’t like it. ”if I wasn’t a ‘mercenary Queen’ as it were, just my name and kingdom would be enough to get an audience… ” Primrose could see Sectonia wasn’t happy about her plan, but understood it was necessary. ”... If we go with plan two, how would we even pull that off? If direct conflict is going to happen, the best distraction we have is the Koopa King. He would be up to causing chaos too…” Sectonia thought a bit to herself, trying to think of how this would go. Normally it would be the whole ‘poison in the wine’ trick, but she doubted that would work here.

”Really getting her to come out seems like the easy part. Getting rid of her without making it a huge mess… is the problem.”

"We'll have to see what the inside of the Canopy Club is like. I've been in plenty of opera houses and entertainment halls, if it's anything like those there are seats reserved for the owner and their prestigious guests called boxes. Enclosed on each side, hence the name, with a window to watch the show. Many times the boxes are set away from the common audience. If Cornelia is in one of them during performances, she'll be cornered." As she spoke, Primrose did her best to illustrate her explanation with her hands.

"Of course if she is on stage instead, that changes things." It would be a lot harder to handle for one, and it would probably be impossible to catch her alone backstage. "But our first matter of business will be getting in, hm?"

”I suppose. Lets go about collecting information to see what that whole place is about. Perhaps something will enlighten us. IGV there wasn’t much help.” Sectonia said, dismissively waving a hand back at the Soul Sanctum.

When they reached the Royal Canopy’s opulent entrance, they found one annoying issue straightaway: the line. A great many well-dressed bugs and monsters stood queued outside the front door between the red-velvet ropes, and at the very front, fastidiously examining each and every would-be patron for the correct credentials, was a well-dressed mighty mechanical man with a bow tie and little bowler hat. He positively towered over just about everyone at almost ten feet tall, and he wasn’t the only one taking security very seriously. A few members of the city’s mermaid guard stood by on lookout, their tridents much in evidence as they kept an eye out for any trouble. At least the line lay beneath the shelter of a gold-trimmed burgundy awning to keep the rain off, although it was a little cramped for Sectonia.

Waiting in the line took a good ten minutes, which gave the two a chance to look into whatever they could find in their surroundings. In addition to the queued-up club members in front of and behind them, they might notice the posters outside the Royal Canopy. The ones spread throughout the Royal Quarter came in all kinds of varieties, but these ones were uniform and united in purpose. They depicted a smiling Cornelia from the jaw down in the background, her hands cupped rather conspicuously in front of her chest beneath a spotlight, and in the palms of her hands stood an elegant, fluffy moth striking a dramatic pose. The tagline was simply Cornelia presents: Mothiva, and the main event was slated to begin in just about an hour’s time. There were a couple slight variations on this ad, but they were all pretty similar. It seemed like a major marketing push for this one bug’s debut performance.

”Hm… This ‘Cornelia’ has something about her that looks ‘off’. Like at any point she is going to bite your head off but in a crazy way. ” Sectonia commented, looking at the poster of their target. ”She has natural beauty, but chooses to use it to look more monstrous, what a waste. ” Sectonia then looked at the newcomer, a moth girl that wasn’t too out of place for all the insect themed members of this town. ”This one at least looks like she is trying to look beautiful to be beautiful.”

"You think so?" Primrose tipped her head gently, following Sectonia's gaze to one of the posters and trying to see what the queen saw in Cornelia. The little bug in her hands did appear to be very elegant, no less than Cornelia herself, but Primrose didn't quite see what the shame was in her using her looks for promotion, or for intimidation. Was it so different than using any other skill one possessed? Then again, Primrose knew Sectonia did have some very particular views about beauty.

"Well, there could be any number of reasons she chooses to do that," the dancer said. Reasons I won't look into, considering our goal is to kill her.

She changed the subject. "It may be that Cornelia will be on stage after all, as an opening or closing act for Mothiva." She was hard to tell what exactly was to go on inside the club. Were the dueling acts all part of a larger competition and Mothiva was just one performer vying for the number one spot? Or was it a separate event that would play out at some point? And what of the proprietress herself? Once they made it inside hopefully they'd find the answer to those questions. But this line...

"Hopefully we won't have any problems getting in. I've no idea what exactly they're checking for."

”Possibly. And if there is some competition going on, your skills will help.” Sectonia said, thinking about what exactly might be going on here, but not entirely sure. And with what Primrose noted at how long it took for people to come in and get checked, Sectonia gave her thoughts. ”If I had to guess, weapons.” Sectonia said. ”Royals have lots of enemies from both sides of the morality spectrum.”

"Makes sense." Though hopefully that was not the case, as Primrose was not going to give up her family's dagger and she'd hate to have to come back and wait in line again after leaving it somewhere safe.

Eventually the two reached the front of the line and came face-to-face with the looming bouncer, Ottomo. At least, Sectonia could; even with her newfound height, Primrose fell rather short. The machine sized them up with the harsh glare of its unblinking yellow eyes, looking over both their faces and clothes, or lack thereof. “...Dressed to kill, are we?” he asked, a hint of sarcasm in his artificial voice. He spoke in the manner of a refined English butler, albeit undercut by a slight tinny distortion. A brief pause passed between the three of them, as if he were waiting for something. “...Your names, ladies?”

”Queen Sectonia.” Sectonia said, giving a bit of a haughty laugh at the metal butler’s joke, appreciating he knew proper etiquette.

"And Primrose Azelhart, sir." The woman in question smiled, her practiced expression confident but not conceited. She was following up a literal queen's introduction, after all.

The robot’s expression did not change. “‘Queen’, goodness…” Instead, he gazed out into the distance. “Hm-hm-hm,” Ottomo muttered. “Sectonia…Primrose…Azelhart. Hmm. Dear me, and yet…” His gaze snapped to the Queen, and there came a whirring of mechanical joints as he slowly crossed his enormous, long, lanky arms. “It would seem that you’re not on the list, ‘Your Highness’...nor you, miss Azelhart. And I can see that neither of you are Gold Members…a pity then, but I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Considering how little intel they actually had about this whole place, this wasn’t unexpected. Sure, she wasn’t denied out of shows in Floralia, but she ruled there. Here, she was a traveler, and not getting a free pass, if annoying, wasn’t unexpected. ”Hmph, I will have to have a word with the man who recommended this place.” Sectonia said, saving face as you do when rejected. But now at least they understood what the holdup was.

Primrose was not as concerned with her reputation, and so she asked the doorman, "how would one go about being invited in? As an attendee or as a performer." As she asked he sashayed her hips so that the metallic accents of her outfit jingled, informing those around her of her trade.

Ottomo made a staticky sound that might have been a polite laugh, or maybe a snicker. “Hmhm. As an attendee, madam, you must’ve bought tickets of course. A week ago would’ve been a good time to start, before they sold out. And as a performer?” He turned his head in the direction of the nearest Mothiva poster. “Well, if you haven’t impressed someone important lately, perhaps you could entertain yourself on the rehearsal stage.”

At this point some of the fancy bugs in the line were getting a bit impatient. Ottomo looked down his metal nose at the uninvited guests. “Now then, if you’re quite finished?”

"Yes, yes. We'll get out of your way."

After shooing the Seekers away, the well-dressed Cur directly behind them in line stepped up, and Ottomo seemed to recognize him. “Ah, Mr. Greentail.”

“Ottomoooo!” Rukey greeted warmly, a somewhat sleazy smile on his nout. “I said I’d be back, and here I am!”

The robot crossed his arms. “Indeed, but I’m rather more concerned where you are not. Namely, the admission list.”

“Whaaat?” The gentlemanly Cur exclaimed, an astonished look on his face. “But I bought a ticket this time and everything! I was hoping to enjoy an afternoon of exquisite culture with my pal here.” Rukey produced a bottle of gleaming amber whiskey, his ears drooping with disappointment. “You’re telling me it’s gonna go to waste?”

The moment Rukey’s bottle appeared, Ottomo’s optics stuck to it like velcro. “Mmm… Mr. Greentail, you of all people should know that outside beverages are not permitted on the premises.” He suddenly held up a finger. “Oh, but I beg your pardon. It seems as though your name is on the list. I’m afraid I’ll need to confiscate this liquor, but you’re free to enter.”

“Works for me!” Rukey grinned. He handed over the whiskey to Ottomo, who stowed it in a compartment in a flash, then waltzed right into the Royal Canopy. On the way he winked at Sectonia and Primrose. “Better luck next time, ladies~!”

Annoyed, but not blindsided by this outcome, Sectonia left the line with Primrose, taking her aside to discuss plans. ”Not surprising, but it's good that we know how to get in here. Do you feel like trying a bit of a performance?”

"I wouldn't mind, but we'd need someone 'important' to impress first. Dancing right outside the club is a bit..."

Well it was in bad taste for one. They couldn't be sure it was even allowed either, they didn't know the laws of the city. Maybe they needed a permit for outdoor performances or something to that effect. Maybe security would run them off. Or... maybe there was a slim chance that a dance would take some customers away from the club, thus the staff would usher them inside instead. But it would have to be something spectacular if tickets had already been bought and paid for. Primrose closed her eyes in thought. It may be best to try getting some attention from the professionals and their attendants in rehearsal, if she understood Ottomo right. If nothing else they could always go find a bribe for the doorman.

Sectonia looked at Primrose oddly. ”Outside the club? No no, the Rehearsal stage. I have antlions for something like that.” Sectonia said, surprised that was her first thought. Was that her profession before becoming a seeker or something? "Let's see about that rehearsal stage. We'll try our luck there." Sectonia nodded, and the two girls went to find the rehearsal stage.

Built as an adjunct facility not just beside but beneath the Royal Canopy Club itself, the rehearsal theater -accessible via discreet staircase- was carefully tucked far away from the main entrance and the public eye, all to make sure that the club’s guests saw neither hide nor hair nor heard a peep from the performers as they practiced. All the hired help could be found rushing around and making preparations in that literal staging ground as well, from prop artists to costumers to aestheticians. Though a drab and unimpressive affair of wood by itself, this second-fiddle theater thrummed with activity as people undertook last-minute rehearsals and preparations. Of course, by now -with showtime hours or minutes away- any professionals should already have all their ducks in a row. However, that wasn’t the case for everyone, as the two new arrivals saw after a few minutes.

“No, no, no!” a one-wheeled machine moaned, dramatically putting the back of a gloved hand to his head. Instead of a face his front panel featured a 4x5 array of rectangular lights, but their dejected red flashes expressed his feelings well enough. He’d been standing on the stage in front of two fluffy white moths while they rehearsed a dance routine. The one on the right, light on her feet and full of poise, had been dancing gracefully, her movements smooth and natural. In contrast, the one on the left struggled to keep up, often missing the mark -even if just slightly- and then hastily overcorrecting. Anyone with a modicum of experience in this field could tell that her problem came not from a lack of skill, but a lack of familiarity; this dance was not just complicated but also fast-paced, making it tough to learn from scratch. Unfortunately, this moth’s best effort wasn’t good enough. “You two need to move in lockstep!” the robot told the underperforming insect as his favorite stood haughtily aside. “Backup dancers need to be in perfect sync, not just with one another, but with the star of the show! There’s no room for error. Come on, let’s go again!”

“Ugh. Forget it.” With a sigh of exasperation and disgust, the moth reached up, took hold of a silver tab at her neck, and pulled it down. The white fluff fell away to reveal a hair demon known as a Yomotsu-Shikome. Looking royally pissed, she shrugged off what turned out to be a convincing moth costume and tossed it toward the director bug before slinking off. Mettaton clapped both hands against his head, which sent a ripple of red across his yellow lights. “Another lost cause! How many is that, three? Four? You just can’t get good help these days!”

A well-dressed spectator ant nearby adjusted his hat, his antennae drooping and a defeated look on his face. “Two.”

“What matters, dear Anton, is that we bring in number three!” Mettaton decreed as he wheeled around, his segmented arms on his ‘hips’. “Come now, surely you must have some extra talent around here somewhere, Mr. Casting Director?”

“Look, I can ask around again, but everyone’s already busy,” Anton snapped. “And even if they weren’t, the routine is too complicated, and the pressure’s too high! Nobody’s going to stick their necks out. It’s a miracle Shiko even tried!”

Mettaton wobbled back and forth on his wheel as if about to faint, his palms pressed against the side of his head in shock. “Nobody!? Do you have any idea how much is riding on this performance!? How much Cornelia spent promoting her new rising star!?”

“Not my problem,” Anton insisted, crossing two pairs of arms. “This is Mothiva’s fault for insisting on Silk Moths as dancers. And yours for encouraging her.”

The criticism seemed to affront Mettaton. “Hello? The group is called ‘Mothiva and the Sugarpuffs’. Only Silk Moths will do! …Or a skilled stand-in in a Silk Moth costume. And yet there are no stand-ins to be found, let alone skilled ones!”

Anton rubbed his head, sick and tired of this whole ordeal. “Ridicule all you want, it still won’t get you a replacement. Why not just go with Mori?” He jabbed his mouthparts at the actual Silk Moth. “Or no backup dancers! Mothiva’s good enough to stand on her own feet, isn’t she?”

Mettaton gasped at the proposal. “This is why you’re backstage and not on television. You can’t have a diva without backup dancers, first of all. And there needs to be an even amount of them, split evenly on either side so as to compliment the star, not distract from her! That’s showbiz, baby!” With Mothiva’s performance less than an hour away, however, and no spare performers on hand to literally fill the role, it looked as if Mettaton’s goose might be well and truly cooked. “Look, go after Shiko, will you, Anton? Tell her I’ll pay double. Triple! I can try to simplify the choreography! We need somebody!”

Well, it seemed there was some opportunity here. While not much for the whole ‘preparing a show’ thing, as that wasn’t a Queen’s role at all, announcing her presence was. Giving a flutter of her wings to block Primrose, Sectonia said. ”Looking for another in your show? Luck would have it that my performer is looking to be in a show.”, and with her showmanship, lowered her wing to reveal Primrose. Catching on quickly the woman in question struck a simple pose as she was unveiled, though it ended up being a moot point given how desperate the robot was. ”It sounds like you're in need of dancers, and as it so happens, my dancer here is looking to be in a show. Quite serendipitous. ”

Mettaton’s lights blinked excitedly. “Yes, yes, I heard you the first time. That’s marvelous news, provided she’s up to snuff!” He scooted right to the edge of the stage to get a good look at Primrose. “A human? How quaint! Still, it takes all sorts, as Lady Cornelia can attest! If you can fit the costume and dance worth a damn, you’re hired!”

Meanwhile, Anton looked taken aback. “Wait, hold on a second. I know you’re desperate and all, Mettaton, but I’ve never seen these people before. This seems way too convenient. Shouldn’t we vet her first?”

“There’s no time!” If the robot had eyes, he would’ve rolled them. “If she can’t cut it, I won’t send her out.” Bundling up the moth costume, Mettaton hurled it at Primrose. “Desperate times, Anton. Desperate times.”

After catching the costume and unfurling it to estimate if it was indeed her size, Primrose glanced at the room's occupants. She and her "agent" had not discussed a thing since walking in and witnessing the dramatic scene of a dancer quitting, but Primrose thought she had an inkling of what Sectonia was thinking. Either way they could talk about it after getting their "in."

"Show me the steps once before I change," she said, striding forward. "It will be a lot easier to see them when I'm not wearing a costume head over my eyes."

Given her profession, she’d noted the two dancers and watched their movements when she Sectonia had first arrived. A complex routine to be sure, but one she should be able to replicate after seeing it properly up close. She hadn’t played the role of a backup dancer for a long time, but so long as she could match her partner’s pace - or if she can match mine - it should work out.

She stepped up onto the rehearsal stage and paid close attention as the choreographer Mettaton laid out the steps and the moth dancer performed them. Then, with her brow furrowed in concentration, she duplicated the dance.

“Excellent! Stupendous! Astonishing!” Despite lacking an expression, Mettaton seemed incredibly relieved. “We’re saved!”

“You’re saved, you mean,” Anton muttered.

It’s doable. And better still she wouldn’t have to worry about schooling her facial features with that big head on. "Which way to the changing room?"

“Can’t you just put it on over that…erm, ‘outfit’ of yours?” Mettaton waved a dismissive hand at one of the rehearsal theater walls, which featured a number of small, unimpressive rooms. No doubt the big stars got dressed elsewhere. “Have your pick. But hurry back, we’re going to be rehearsing ‘til it’s time. Everything must be just right! Which reminds me.” Suddenly, all of Mettaton’s lights turned red as he regarded Primrose. “You’d do well to remember one thing. I know I lavished praise on you a moment ago, but keep in mind that you’re a backup dancer. Don’t get a big head, and don’t deviate from the script. If you do anything to upstage Mothiva…” Mettaton slapped his ‘knee’, breaking the tension. “I’ll be the least of your worries!”

She blinked at his aggressive warning. Was he implying that if she made trouble, someone higher up the chain of command would see to her? Most likely that wasn't the point he wanted to get across, but Primrose nodded all the same. She turned away and beckoned Sectonia to follow her so that they could squeeze into one of the empty rooms. There, the two of them quickly discussed their plans while Primrose shucked the bulkier of her items and suited up. While Primrose rehearsed here and eventually made her way on stage, the queen of Floralia would get into the Royal Canopy Club herself. Once inside she'd pass anything she learned onto the dancer, who'd then do her best to draw some attention to herself - the exact opposite of what the choreographer cautioned against.

With Primrose having her in and her plan as a ‘distraction’ able to occur later on possibly, Sectonia gave her a silent and quick thumbs up before making her way out of the little room and to the club itself. Seeing as her dancer was rehearsing right now, she didn’t have a ‘free pass’ into the theater through the proper channels. But through improper ones, it wouldn’t be too difficult to sneak inside. Or that is what she would be saying if she wasn’t so large. She couldn’t just blink through the front door, as that would be far too obvious. So she’d have to find another way in. At least her flight made surveying the rest of the building not that difficult.

Using haste and her own blink ability to not give too much attention to herself, Sectonia found a few ways to enter the building. There was the main skylight, but that would be quite the foolish way to get in there. There were a few other windows along the building, but they also led to crowded hallways and suddenly appearing inside one of those could cause issues as well. It would take her some time to find a proper time to teleport in with one of these higher up windows, and she really didn’t like this whole ‘stealth’ thing. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to do it too often…

Using her blink ability and her haste ability, Sectonia found a good time to teleport inside, and did so. Finding a time to join a crowd walking to the next show wasn’t too difficult, although finding a spot that worked with her sensibilities wasn’t an option with this method. At least there was a place for flying bugs like her to hover and watch the performances. And another small aside, at least these were noble bugs so it wasn’t too bad…



Even if the Royal Canopy’s aesthetic didn’t quite gel with Sectonia’s personal tastes, she had to admit one thing: it was opulent. In the middle of a vaulted, domed ceiling of golden grandeur, its arches arrayed like beams of light radiating outward from a glass facsimile of a starry night sky. Ornate lamps and chandeliers of gilded glass illuminated luxurious crimson tapestries, larger-than-life statues decked out in illustrious attire, and the faces of the impeccably-dressed guests. She’d reached the grand main atrium in the middle of a performance. Elegant classical music swept through the hall, played by a full orchestra of ghostly musicians, and though little more than empty black suits and dresses suspended in the air behind the main stage, their symphony was one of haunting beauty. The limelight lay not on them, however, but on two equally faceless machines engaged in an intricate two-person ballet dance. Though towering in stature and forged from heavy metal, the twins -indistinguishable but for one’s glittering golden jacket- moved with remarkable fluidity, grace, and power. Their stunning performance left the audience enchanted, and the last few minutes of their act flew by like seconds before the two finally whirled together, clasped hands, and took a bow.

Once the uproar of applause died down, the spotlights turned to highlight the best seat in the house, a raised circular lounge directly ahead of the stage where the occupants could not only take in the performances, but be seen by everyone else. Basking in the spotlight as if she’d been born in it was a drop-dead gorgeous woman that by now Sectonia surely recognized. With wavy peach-orange hair, an irresistible smile, and a figure to die for clad in the finest burgundy silk dress and aristocratic plumage money could be, Cornelia drew every eye as she took a microphone in hand. “My my, another cutting-edge performance by the Royal Canopy’s very own Twins, Left and Right!” she sang out. “It’s shaping up to be a delicious evening! And as you all know, we’re due an encore performance as the Twins put their best feet forward against their challengers. Please welcome back to the stage after their breakout performance earlier, the Gruesome Twosome, the Heralds of Halloween… Skid and Pump!”

From behind the curtains between the two halves of the orchestra, two ghoulish little guys emerged. They spotted the Twins straight away, each of them easily twice the pair’s height once stacked together, let alone by themselves. They gulped at the sight of their competition, clearly nervous, but the applause of the audience seemed to steady them. While many of the club-goers rooted for the Twins, entranced by them in more ways than one, plenty still wanted Skid and Pump to win. Being the underdogs against a well-established staple of the club for whom victory had become rote garnered them a little bit of an advantage, at least. They put on a brave face and advanced to the stage to join the Twins, who stood with one hand on a hip apiece staring at the newcomers impassively. The possibility of getting shown up in such a public venue certainly justified some nervousness, but from the way their knees shook Sectonia couldn’t help but wonder if something other than first place was on the line.

With a wide, almost hungry smile, Cornelia snapped her fingers. “Hit it!”



As one, the orchestra began to play, unleashing a wave of sound through the atrium. As it rippled across the floor and along the walls, patterns on the red carpet and lines on the walls lit up, peaking like the bars of an equalizer. Their music could be identified as an altered, punchier, more artificially resonant version of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, at least in part. On the wall above the rear curtain, a wide bar began to glow, its left half orange with an icon of Skid and Pump, its right half gold with an icon of the Twins. Then the icons slammed together in the middle, the opening concluded, and the face-off began.

The Twins advanced like ballerinas, quickly stutter-stepping on their tiptoes or making long, floaty, graceful jumps with one leg stretched forward and the other back. With the action amplified by the stage, each step sent out a ripple of golden energy, and each impact a stronger wave. Moving on every other beat, they quickly closed the distance on their competition. They kicked, danced, pirouetted, and fluttered their feet in time with the music, and in turn it punctuated their deadly flourishes with physical blasts of sound. Unable to withstand the Twins’ assault at close range, Skid and Pump boogied away as fast as they could, and though speedy enough to move on each beat, their shorter legs covered much less ground. As they struggled to find the beat, they tried to keep the Twins at bay by beatboxing with their mikes, dipping and dodging together in a peppy, catchy dance. With each beep and boop an amplified soundwave shot out like an arrow, flying at the Twins from different angles. At first it seemed like their foes had them on the ropes, and the slide of the icons towards the left as the Twins pushed them back indicated as much, but slowly Skid and Pump managed to synchronize, not just with the beat of the unfamiliar song but with one another, they began to take control. Speedy, brief notes stacked up between the beats of the orchestra’s song, livening it up faster than the Twins could overpower them. Their arrows flew swifter and stronger, and they kept up their almost taunting side-to-side dance all the while. Soon their icon pushed back toward the right on the display, and not long after it regained the midpoint the Twins changed tact.

They posed together, hands clasped like dance partners, and stomped the ground, sending out a soundwave that knocked Skid and Pump down. “Oho!” Cornelia called out, laughter in her voice. “The Twins are throwing down the gauntlet! Can the dynamic duo keep up?” After waiting a couple of beats for their cue, the Twins orchestrated a sequence of moves. Clap, spin, clap, spin, clap, spin, dip!

A beat later Skid and Pump’s cue came, and they did their best to match the Twins’ pattern, even the paired dip. Their efforts were a little off-beat, however, and their icon began to slide backward as the Twins’ next sequence came. Left, right, spin, spin, jump, spin, dip! That one went even worse for the little monsters, who struggled with the paired jump. Adrenaline pumping, they redoubled their efforts for the next sequence. Clap, clap, clap, spin, spin, spin, dip, jump, clap! That one went a bit better, but by the time the Twins finished five sequences, Skid and Pump’s icon lay at just 25%. But then their turn to lead came. They struck back with a vengeance, their moves much simpler but much faster than their opponents’. Left-down-right-right, up-right-down-right-right-up-left, yeah! The Twins were not ready for such quick, inelegant motions, and bungled it almost completely. Up-right-down-left-left-down-up-right-left, down-left-down-right-down-left-right-yay! After five sequences, they’d made double the progress of the Twins and pushed them all the way back to the 75%, not to mention inflicted a bunch of sound damage.

Another battle phase began, but that's when Skid and Pumps’ luck ended. The orchestra launched into a transitory bridge section of the song, and during it the Twins transformed themselves. Sharpening their fingers and heels into blades, they added new steps to their dance, Left with spider-like movement along the ground and Right by flying in the air. Both could extend their fingers for extra reach, and augmented their ballet with a laser lightshow. No longer able to escape their reach, Skid and Pump got knocked out before even reaching another rhythm duel. The Twins’ performance left them soundly beaten, both metaphorically and literally; while the robots took a bow, a couple of ready-and-waiting staff members carted the losers away. The audience, however, reacted as if nothing were amiss, some groaning but most of them applauding the victors. “Bravo!” Cornelia crooned. “Our brave little monsters certainly had speed, but it’ll take more than beatboxing to steal the show! Congratulations to the Twins, Left and Right. Now, for our next performance…” The show continued, inching closer and closer to Primrose’s time to shine.

With an intermission, Sectonia took this time to exit with a few of the other bugs who were getting refreshments for the next show. Seeing as Primrose would be up soon, it would be best to relay what she had seen. Leaving the venue was much easier than entering it, as no one batted an eye when she went down a more empty corridor and teleported out of the window, using her haste to make her way back to the rehearsal stage.

What Sectonia had seen... She really didn’t fully understand. But considering how frightful it seemed the one team was… was this some kind of bloodsport but with dancing? Considering the attack waves going out, that could very well be the case. But if this ‘sorceress’ needed to rely on such cheap tricks to get anywhere, she was even uglier than Bowser.

Finding her way to and re-entering the rehearsal stage wasn’t too much of an issue. Sectonia didn’t have to wait long for the current rehearsal to be over to ‘have a chat’ with her client, something Mettaton couldn’t refuse considering Primrose was saving him. And from what Sectonia had seen, that might just be literal. Once having a bit of privacy with Primrose, Sectonia told her what she had found out. ”So… It seems like this whole ‘dancing show’ is just a dancing bloodsport. Two sides compete dancing to the rhythm, with the one that is more accurate and aggressive dealing damage to the other side. Things keep on going faster and faster until one side collapses from either taking too much damage, or sheer exhaustion. And this is visually represented to the audience as some sort of ‘tug of war’ bar.” Sectonia said, relating what she had gotten the feel of, considering this wasn’t something she had seen before.

"Ah...?" It was hard to visualize exactly what the queen was saying, but Primrose thought she got the gist of it. With her costume head tucked under her arm for their chat, she wiped the sweat from her brow as she absorbed the information. A dance battle in the literal sense, is it? Sounds kind of fun, she thought.

She was confused on one point though. "When you mention damage... were they attacking each other on stage while performing? Blades, magic…?"

”It came from the dancing itself. As if you kept to the rhythm, you did ‘damage’ to the opponents whenever you finished a ‘segment’ or something like that.” Sectonia clarified, not entirely sure what was going on fully, but stating the best she could about what she saw.

She then continued. ”It seems who ‘wins’ fights the next group in some sort of tournament bracket thing. The losers… From what I can tell, don’t lose. Cornelia seems to like the losers a bit too much, and not for any good reason I’m sure. From the looks of things, some of the dancers know what's going on, and are terrified of losing. ” This made Sectonia pause and think if Primrose somehow lost. ”... I suppose some good news about that is that our target is always on stage, or just off to the side as they announce the winners and losers, so attacking her wouldn’t be difficult. But I doubt that will go over well. A last resort perhaps.”

Primrose laughed at that. "I think not going over well may be an understatement. That's alright though, if we know where she is we can figure something out."

Unafraid of whatever consequences may come of "losing" after seizing the spotlight from the main act and intrigued by the whole premise, Primrose thanked Sectonia for the information and re-donned the cutesy, silly moth head to squeeze in a little more practice. It was a good way to warm up for the real thing.

Primrose and Mori the silk moth had been practicing together for the better part of an hour before the appointed time was nigh. Mettaton hadn’t driven his precious dancers too hard with the rehearsals, since he couldn’t afford to exhaust them before their big moment. After a certain point, in fact, he didn’t drive them at all, needing to rush off to a different part of the Royal Canopy to manage something or other. That gave the two room to breath, although it still worked up a sweat. While not too uncomfortable inside the moth costume, it was rather hot. In contrast, Mori’s attitude was chilly, and rather than speak a word to Primrose beyond criticism and correction she kept things strictly professional. Eventually Mettaton returned, zipping into the room and making a beeline for the dancers. “It’s time, it’s time!” he exclaimed. Grabbing both by the wrists, he pulled them along enough of the rehearsal theater and down the hall past the upscale dressing rooms. “You two had better hurry, it’s a long way to the stage! Miss your cue, and you are dead.”

After what Sectonia told me, I have the feeling he may not just be saying that… Harried and hurried, to the main stage they went. Speaking of the bee queen, she had moved to find a good spot to watch the show… and possibly influence both sides with her spells in the most subtle manner she could. Thankfully she didn’t have to use her staves to cast her more ‘support’ oriented spells.

In the Royal Canopy’s grand atrium, following the dramatic conclusion of the current bracket’s final showdown, Cornelia stepped up to make her announcement. “What a thrilling conclusion! Our sincerest thanks to all the talented performers who made today’s competition so heart-stoppingly spectacular! Everyone, put your hands in the air!”

After another round of cheers and applause, Cornelia put on an eager smile. “And now, for our final performance. An insect who by now needs no introduction, but ah, to hell with it! Please welcome to the stage, for their much-awaited debut performance: the talk of the town, the rising stars, the Royal Canopy’s very own, Mothiva and the Sugarpuffs!”

The curtain rose to reveal the upper half of a giant feminine-shaped automaton, flanked on either side by the two month dancers, who’d just barely arrived at the stage on time. The cupped hands descended to lay down on the ground, and from their palms rose the bug of the hour. Mothiva stood to her full height with a flourish, the orchestra’s music swelled, and the dance began.



“Ohohoho! Are you ready for a splendid performance?” Mothiva stated to the crowd, cheers of her name coming from some of her fans. With that being said, she began her routine. Being more of a singer than a dancer, her moves, while very in beat, weren’t all that flashy as she was more the singer type. They consisted of more simple moments with snappy movement that didn’t interfere with her singing.

Professionals in their own right, the 'Sugarpuffs' kept up with Mothiva. So far they'd been model back-up dancers, accessories to the main star's performance made to make her shine all the brighter. Despite being a last minute addition, Primrose performed even better than she had in rehearsal once they'd all taken the stage. This was a far grander venue than she would usually find herself dancing in, but even so the lights beaming down and the excitement of the crowd was a familiar feeling. It put Primrose into the right mindset. For her, dancing had originally been a means to an end after her father's death. Back then she'd expected to hate it, and in some ways she had early on, but the art of dance had grown into something she genuinely enjoyed.

She took solace in it. She was damn good at it. And now she was really going to strut her stuff.

She did not start subtle. As the music thrummed Primrose shifted her foot, suddenly out of step with the other back-up. It was a large enough move to draw the curious eyes of the audience as they wondered if it had been a mistake. She felt the eyes of Mori beside her, judgemental and cold. In front of her, Mothiva seemed unaware - though she would catch on when the crowd's eyes began to shift away from her, and murmurs rippled throughout the seats.

Up in the recording booth, one of the astute camera-bugs noticed the discrepancy straightaway. “Wait, what’s going on with Left Moth?”

“Left Moth?” Mettaton whirled around and clasped his gloved manipulators on the box’s gilded railing. His links began to blink at a fever pitch. “Oh, no. Oh no!”

Primrose's next move deliberately set her apart from the other two on stage. She spun away to capture the eyes of all those present before beginning her own performance in earnest. The music was fast and peppy, easy to dance to. She stepped in time to the beat, shimmying in a way that made the fake wings of her costume flutter. Tap tap tap tap. One long leg extended, pulled back in, mirrored movement on her opposite side, her arms swaying rhythmically in the air in front of her. At the moment she was a rogue moth, challenging the queen. She didn't reveal her true self just yet - Primrose was a performer, and knew just when to act to really capture the audience.

To her credit Mothiva went as long as possible to have her show go on, but the trill of the crowd would no longer allow her to ignore the dancer soaking up what should have been her spotlight.

“Ugh…. Who does this backup dancer think she is? Trying to upstage ME?” Mothiva thought, her detestment on her face as she watched Primrose trying to upstage her. She wasn’t a moth that liked her fame and spotlight taken, and she’d show that upstart her place. As the song picked up, Mothiva picked up her pace, her dancing improving but not her singing.

Ah ah ah, it won't be that easy. Primrose smiled within her costume, boldly flowing forward until she drew even with Mothiva on the stage. Each step was in time with the music, one foot over the other or forwards and back until she was dancing nearly beside the singer while she showed her up. At that point it was clear to the entire auditorium what was going on.

The added bonus of invading Mothiva’s personal space, and practically pushing her to the sidelines, only added further salt to the wound. Being challenged was one thing, and this wouldn’t have been the first time Mothiva needed to rise to the occasion, but as the burgeoning bit player flipped the script she couldn’t help but notice that the audience was eating it up. Though originally taken by surprise and thrown for a loop, the spectators were getting into it, both amused by the backup dancer's audacity and impressed by her unexpected skill. When this dawned on Mothiva, her focus flew to pieces, leaving her mental state in shambles. She staggered as if physically struck by this mere peon’s brazen one-upmanship, holding the back of a hand to her head like she was about to swoon. “This can’t…this can’t be happening!” she cried.

Her gaze locked onto the announcer’s box, and the look she saw on Cornelia’s face made her shrivel up like a raisin. While at first the celebrity showrunner had been just as shocked as everyone else, she’d fully expected her protégé to put this shameful upstart in her place. Instead, Left Moth was stealing the show, and Mothiva was letting her get away with it. Cornelia wasn’t just livid–she was disgusted. The sheer, scornful disappointment writ plain on her face was the bucket of ice-cold water Mothiva needed to snap out of it. She couldn’t let this happen!

“Zasp!” she cried, and into the air leaped a tall orange wasp with a nasty-looking stinger and scary, scarred face. Up in her box, Cornelia gave a quick and discreet command, willing to give Mothiva this final chance to make things right. A moment after Zasp landed on the stage, the orchestra redoubled its efforts, and an equalizer wave spread across the stage. Above the curtain appeared the two-toned bar marked with a white Left Moth icon on the left and an orange Mothia & Zasp icon on the right, heralding the start of an impromptu sound-off. Captivated by the unusual turn of events, the audience shifted to the edge of their seats, many standing or leaning on the rails as they gawked at the unannounced contest. The question on everyone’s mind was what is going on?, and Primrose was about to show them.

The Seekers' own dancer was not as surprised at the turn of events given Sectonia's warnings earlier. The stage itself remained the same, but now the rules had changed as the show runners moved to catch up with the performers. Primrose had been taking the initiative so far, and now was no different - she danced to the beat of the music, stamping her feet and twirling across the floor while one of the spotlights followed her. When she came to a stop she flung her arms out to her side; her left hand beckoned the audience to cheer with a curl of her fingers, and her right swept forward in front of her to gesture the same way to Mothiva and her companion in a playful taunt.

With her reliable partner Zasp in the mix, Mothiva could concentrate on her singing more than her dancing. Normally, this might’ve been a bad thing, but Zasp and his lightning fast movements could make up the difference. While Mothiva had a slower dance with her singing voice keeping up with the beat, Zasp kept moving at the pace of the song, often letting out a loud buzzing sound when he was really amping up his speed, moving so fast as to be very difficult to follow as he seemed to just rapidly appear and vanish. This occasionally led to a sharp bit of musical energy shooting at Primrose, akin to Zasp’s dart attack. Mothiva, being able to focus on singing meanwhile, had her song notes manifest as she kept to the rhythm, with large song notes launching at Primrose as well.

Sectonia saw that this fight was 2 on 1 as Primrose had managed to upstage Mothiva and catch Cornelia’s attention. Although she couldn’t reveal her hand too much just yet, she was getting a feel of how this whole thing worked. And now, so was Primrose.

There must have been something special about the stage that caused the movements to generate shock waves. The first few that the wasp created hit their mark, pushing the meter above the arena in Mothiva's favor. She and Zasp seemed to be veterans of this type of dance off, so they had the upper hand... for now. Primrose had a trick or two up her sleeve.

The steps of her beneficial dances were not set in stone; they could be modified, but they tended to follow a general flow. The Panther Dance needed a quicker step than what the orchestra was playing, but Primrose did her best to match it to the rhythm of the music. The attacks that were generated were weak, but it hadn't been the point. After speeding herself up in order to challenge Zasp, Primrose got back in rhythm. She danced across the stage, grinning in delight as her movements, now perfectly in time with the music once more, began to generate waves of energy that launched themselves towards her opponents. Watching from the audience, Sectonia used this chance to summon some backup dancers of her own, one of each of her Antillions. Sure their armor made their motions simple, but they only had to match a beat and exemplify Primrose’s actions, not be actual dancers themselves.

Spinning out of the way of Mothiva's music notes, and the Antillions cutely spinning with her, Primrose posed dramatically when her turns came to a stop. The audience was sure to enjoy a comeback, so Primrose went on the 'offensive' by dancing around the minions Sectonia lent her. They were elegant steps over and through the little ants, demonstrating her skill as she hadn't disturbed a single one as she moved. Every tap of her foot against the floor sent a shockwave across the stage.

Due to her focus in singing, Mothiva had a much more difficult time dodging the waves sent out by Primrose. However, every time Mothiva got hit by those shock waves, Zasp became more and more enraged, moving faster and his occasional wave hitting harder as he vented his rage at seeing Mothiva get hit. Mothiva herself had been going at Primrose at her full power however due to fear of what Cornelia would do to her, and could only throw the occasional note, but mostly focused her efforts on supporting Zasp, the wasp being able to step it up a notch further with his rage at seeing Mothiva struggle and get hurt.

As the song went on and the performers on stage kept the show going, the bar overheard gradually began pushing further and further in Primrose's favor. The talents of a professional dancer were a notch above what the singer and her bodyguard could produce, especially when her and Sectonia’s magic was added to the equation. The only leg up they had was their familiarity with the club's dance battle system in play which gave them a fighting chance... until the orchestra hit its crescendo.

It was here that the battle really reached its turning point. As Primrose, Mothiva and Zasp turned dance steps into energy and duked it out the musicians put their all into their playing, and when the music swelled just before coming down Primrose peeled her costume off. She did have her dancer's outfit on underneath, and though it had changed as much as she had it still held much of its original appeal. The bulkier items like her headdress had been removed, and now she unfurled from the fluffy moth skin like a flower in bloom with her dance fan in hand.

The response from the crowd was immediate - shocked gasps, excited cheers, all while Primrose made a little show of shedding the last of her costume and used the momentum to shower Mothiva and Zasp with the shockwaves created by her dance. She stepped and kicked, drawing her arms in front of her in elegant weaving motion, and when the song came to a close she struck a dynamic pose. Hip popped to one side, one leg extended, a hand on her chest and the other above her angling the fan down toward her face.

While they tried to keep up with Primrose, not being specialized in dance like she was, and thanks to the magical aid of Sectonia, who had been trying to be subtle with her antlions (And only using them, for now.) the explorer team couldn’t keep up. Mothiva went down first, which greatly enraged Zasp. But even his enraged steps couldn’t keep up the beat as well as the song sped up and got more complicated, eventually with the bodyguard going down as well. While Mothiva was dignified when standing up, both her and Zasp didn’t look all that remarkable on the ground. Zasp looked ashamed of himself for not being able to help Mothiva, who herself was more livid with the whole situation than anything.

When the two fell, a shocked hush washed over the Royal Club, hanging in the air for a tense couple second. Then the grand atrium shook from the resounding chorus of their adoration, going beyond polite applause into outright cheers. Surprised, astonished, confused, then suddenly enchanted, and finally captivated by this mystery insurgent’s grand reveal, the audience loved it. While Primrose being an objectively better performer than Mothiva -as proved by the sliding scale- was one thing, the drama of the whole situation helped to elevate the dancer’s stunt to a whole new level of intrigue and appeal. No doubt this moment would be talked about for weeks to come, and this would be a day that lived in infamy.

Not if Cornelia had something to say about it, though.

“That’s quite enough!” She boomed, stopping the guests’ idolatry in their tracks. Explosions of dark magic went off under the Antlions on the stage, instantly killing them. Stepping up to her box, Cornelia planted one leg on the rim and leaned forward, resting her elbow on her knee with her other hand on her microphone. The elegant lady’s lip twitched in barely-suppressed anger as she treated Primrose to a look of utter disdain.

“Is this what’s become of high society?” she asked, her venomous tone laced with a potent blend of condemnation and disappointment. “A little drama, and suddenly the ladies and gentlebeasts of the Royal Quarter are hooting and hollering like common barroom knaves? And you…” Her gaze fell upon Primrose. “You’ve got some guts. And you’ve managed to give the more impressionable fools here a tantalizing taste of the exotic. I’ll give you that. But you’re out of your element.” Standing up straight, Cornelia put her other hand on her hip and glared haughtily down. “Just look at you. A bizarre, motley outfit with neither grace nor cohesion, decked out with jangling, gaudy baubles, and stretched out over that ghastly, swollen body.” Smirking laughter filled her voice. “I’d have pinned you for an alley dancer, flashing the goods at passers-by for loose change, or perhaps a cut-rate courtesan, but with those ungainly muscles a construction site suits you far better.” The audience began to adjust their collars, scratch their heads, and look away. Using her own authority and the guests’ pride, Cornelia was convincing them they’d been suckered in by a cheap trick.

Her words, though powerful and biting, only affected the audience. Still bathed in the spotlight and breathing deeply after her performance, Primrose grinned up at Cornelia with her head held high. She'd probably heard hundreds of comments comparing her to a common whore, but none of it had ever put a dent in her pride. Neither did it now, and the dancer spoke loud and proud when she answered Cornelia's antagonizing.

"Spit your venom if it makes you feel better. I stand unashamed." No matter what her body was put through, it was worth it to accomplish her goals and protect her companions. Primrose raised both of her arms high, displaying her full person and letting the mage's comments roll off of her back. "And besides Lady Cornelia, you alone are proof enough some beauty is only skin-deep."

Cornelia turned up her nose with a huff. “Talk is cheap. Your triumph over Mothiva only reveals that she was an abject failure. So before you get a big head, let’s do away with the smoke and mirrors. Ottomo?”

“I am here, my lady,” a synthesized butler’s voice replied. It came from right behind Sectonia, and when the big wasp turned around, she found not just the mechanical bouncer, but the mechanical ballerina twins, too. The three towering machines stood around the box where Sectonia positioned herself, not taking action but nevertheless significant for their presence. Sectonia just let out a “tch” sound as she saw these three, not all that worried about them but knowing their presence.

“Did you think that I, the mistress of magic, wouldn’t notice your friend’s interference?” Cornelia snickered. “I think it’s high time we put you in your place. See what you’re really made of.” “Ladies and gentlebeasts. It would seem that you’re in for a special treat today. I, Cornelia von Arnim, will give you a much needed-reminder of what beauty and class truly look like!”

In a flash of magic, Cornelia warped down from her box onto the stage. As the band began to play, black-feathered mechanical wings unfurled from her back, spreading wide as she struck a grand pose with both arms in the air. The pose instantly amplified the stage, and a final sliding scale appeared above the curtain with Primrose’s icon in brown, and Cornelia’s in red. With a sneer the mistress of magic beckoned to her opponent. Come and get me.



The afternoon had certainly taken a turn that neither Primrose nor Sectonia could have predicted. But they were too entrenched in the Royal Canopy Club's rules and atmosphere to do anything else but play along. The dancer glanced out into the crowd, finding the queen bee flanked by metal enforcers, and the two of them shared a look. They were both strong enough to look after themselves- and invigorated by this kind of battle after getting a taste of it, Primrose was ready to challenge the woman in charge of it all. Accepting Cornelia's invitation Primrose sauntered forward until the two women were properly squaring off, and she started things off by simply tapping her feet.

She opened again with her Panther Dance, not only to enhance her own speed but to push herself into a proper second wind. This time she weaved the dance steps into the music much better than before, starting the rhythm battle off with some bold movements of her hands and legs to send shockwaves rippling across the stage toward Cornelia.

But Cornelia had taken to the air. With majestic flaps of her ink-black wings in time to every other beat, she flitted twice to the right, then twice to the left. Impact waves along the ground wouldn’t reach her up there. While her wingbeats created pressure waves, they fell well short of Primrose as well, though Cornelia didn’t seem to care. Instead, she performed a midair pirouette and raised her arms above her head, where silvery light began to gather. As the audience gazed on in awe, an arcane moon took shape over her head. Cornelia smirked, then struck a series of four midair poses in quick succession, each not only creating a flashy sparkle of moonlight around her, but also sending four moons down to rain on the stage, suspiciously close to Primrose. Upon impact each cast of Luna Λ burst into a big silvery splash capable of nullifying the Resistance of anyone in the way, dealing damage based on the full value of the caster’s impressive Magic stat. The audience only oohed and aahed over the somewhat blatant attack however, as if it were all just part of the performance.

Sectonia noticed these attacks, and knowing magic for what it is, wasn’t impressed. She found it even humorous that this sorcerer would have the audacity to call her out on spell casting when she herself was doing it to win a dance fight as well. Although with the robots nearby, there really wasn’t a super amount she could do right now… Well, she could give herself a Chaos Shield, knowing eventually the group would be fighting her. All they would see is Sectonia having a bit of a rainbow shimmer, but if they found that grounds to attack, she had ways to deal with them, and fairly subtly too as most of the crowd was looking at the dance off. Seems like she’d need to interfere here shortly, and these robots wouldn’t like her counter attack should they attack her.

Back on stage, Primrose twirled away from the last couple of Lunas, regaining her footing and groove after the wave of the first two washed over her. Very quickly she too realized what was going on. So it's like that, is it? This wasn't just a dancing duel, it was an actual battle in its own right. Cornelia had caught her off guard with those spells, but now that she was onto the game it wouldn't happen again.

The Peacock Strut saw her own magic power strengthened. She kept on tempo as the orchestra's pace increased, her quick steps taking her back and forth across her side of the stage. This was still a show for the audience after all, keeping up appearances was as important for Primrose as it was for Cornelia. From that point of view her dark magic, when compared to the light of Cornelia's Luna, might paint her in the role of a villain. It was one she was happy to perform, and hopefully reverse by the end of the show.

Primrose swept her hand up from left hip to right shoulder, arcing gracefully over her head as she danced. She repeated the action with her opposite hand, performing the Moonlight Waltz. Shadowy circles of magic formed below Cornelia, and they sent blasts of darkness up at her with every well timed tap of Primrose's feet on the stage. She pushed it further by Boosting, her body taking on a glow as energy swirled, swelling the spell so it had a greater chance of hitting its target.

Her magic sprang forth in magnificent plumes of inky, oil-black prominence, like splashes of the night sky itself. Cornelia did not attempt to dodge, instead focusing on a lighter-than-air dance number on the wing. But, amped up by her opponent's buffs as well as her attunement with the orchestra's jazzy melodies, the Moonlight Waltz hit such a crescendo that Cornelia felt it even through her own potent Resistance. Her mechanical wings got it worse, however, and for a frightful moment they seemed to be on the verge of malfunction. She huffed, raised her microphone, and sang.

"It's not secrets, it's not lies if you don't know.
It's not such a vicious guise if you don't know.
You can't get hurt by the things that you don't know.
You don't kno-o-o-o-o-ow!"


As she sang, Cornelia performed a backflip and swooped down, then dove in a glittering corkscrew back and forth. Moving in a five-pointed star pattern on every other beat, she happily struck anyone too slow to get out of her way as she left a trail of moonglow in her wake. On the tenth beat she finished the star, and on the twelfth she dive-bombed its center to make the whole area erupt in a blast of silver light.

Primrose weaved out of Cornelia's path, one step ahead on the off beat. She made her movements look elegant and effortless even though she was concentrating hard on both keeping the rhythm and avoiding the hostile magic. Each pass the pompous mage made across the stage crowded Primrose until she was inside the shape's middle. Center stage - just where I want to be, she mused, hands wreathed in magic as she continued to dance. When Cornelia came shooting down towards her the magical explosion ripped through Primrose's Baldur Shell. The dancer stood tall in the aftermath thanks to what damage it reduced before breaking, letting the last of the shimmery light fall around her. Her counter attack was a circle of fire, the Black Flame in one hand and the Flame Fan in the right as she danced a quick, tight circle around her opponent. Every note of the orchestra's horns and beat of their drums saw Primrose kick or twirl, the swaying of her hair and hips carried by the music. The fire swirled together closing in on Cornelia before her inevitable escape.

For a moment it looked as if the sorceress’s plunge landed head-center on her opponent, but Primrose emerged mostly unscathed thanks to some sort of protective shield. In a sensational pyrotechnic display the two-tone vortex of flame closed in on Cornelia, but after a painful moment spent burning she cut through with rays of moonlight. Her tenacity and pride wouldn’t be incinerated so easily. ”Myyyyy heart feeeeeeels nooooooo pain!” A critical Luna Λ moon had blossomed above her head, casting its many-faceted glimmer all around the atrium like a giant disco ball, and now streaks of silver radiance carved through the stage like laserbeams. In unison they swept up, then down, then up again while revolving, all perfectly rhythmic.

Getting out of the way while keeping in time to the music was easier said than done, even for a professional. Primrose managed somewhat, eyes wide as she took in as much of the stage as possible while continuing to dance. Swift steps took her out of harm's way, but not every time. When she did get caught by a moonlit streak of magic, she recovered by turning each stagger into a dance step. Falling to one knee she swept her opposite leg out into a low spin, continuing to turn as she stood up again. Her eyes flickered up to the spell shining overhead. She danced closer to it, and after performing another wide spin with a flare of dark magic, she struck a pose with one hand held up defiantly towards the false moon. A shadowy lance formed above it, the Rite of Termination slicing down and popping through the Luna as if it were a bubble. The dark pillar spread its own waves of magic over the stage.

Of course, the nebulous spear piercing Cornelia’s celestial orb meant it hit the sorceress directly beneath it, too. “Agh!” She flew backward toward the curtain, her wings out of commission for the time being, and only barely salvaged her fall with a backflip handspring. She slid to a stop in a crouch, her hair and dress in disarray as she breathed heavily, but only for a moment. “Not bad,” she admitted, straightening up -and straightening out her appearance- in the blink of an eye. Overhead, the icons were almost neck and neck; Cornelia had been putting on more of a show, while Primrose had been landing more attacks. It was time to put her foot down. “Let’s see what you’re really made of.”

With one hand on her hip, shaking to the beat, she began to snap her fingers, creating small purple flashes. After a brief moment more snaps joined the mix–yellow, green, blue, white, and red. Out from behind her sidled five familiar figures, their skin of polished plastic and their hairdo’s hard and shiny as rock candy. Wordless they began to groove along with Cornelia in sync, two to either side of her and one directly behind. The sorceress smiled. “Can’t have a diva without backup dancers,” she announced smugly, equipping a cross-shaped staff. “Shall we?”

Primrose used the short reprieve to catch her breath while Cornelia recovered. It must have been a spectacular show for the audience so far, and even with as intensely as the two women had been going at it Primrose got the feeling things were only just getting started. She unfurled her ornate fan with flourish when the back-up dancers appeared.

"Time for the main event," she said, and Cornelia's song continued.

”You spun your web, put your lies, thought I didn’t know…”

Left, right. Left, right. Left, right, spin.

The tempo of the song picked up, spurring Primrose into action. She did her utmost to mirror Cornelia's dancing; a one-two step to her left, another to right, a jazzy little sequence ending in a quick turn.

“Saw through your mask, and your glow, ‘cause I had to know…”

Spin, left. Spin, right. Lift, plant, spin.

The turn became a longer twirl as she sailed to one side, stopping only for a brief moment to strike a daring pose with the fan held coyly in front of her face, and then she was spinning back to the right hand side. The movement became a jump, one leg rising before the other in one smooth movement. She landed with her arms rising around her, hands up as she span once more.

“No more secrets, no disguise, puttin’ on a show…”

Left-right-right, left-right-right, spin, spin, spin.

Cornelia was talented. If it wasn't apparent enough to the people watching, her skills in song and dance were better than any Primrose had seen. But I'm better, she reminded herself, breathing deeply to keep her stamina up and follow the routine she was being challenged with. Left, right, right. Her feet crossed over each other as she danced across the stage, matching the shimmy of her shoulders. She snapped her fan closed and made an X shape with her arms in front of her chest, fingers tilted almost daintily upward as she went into a triple turn.

“You played your games, parlor magic, let your hand show…”

Plant raise raise, plant raise raise. Burst!

She came to a dramatic stop with one leg extended, fan flicking open again and fluttering in front of her. Even with no back-up dancers or support (as any movement from Sectonia risked drawing the ire of the guards around her), Primrose was keeping up. A little momentum saw her legs kick up with the rhythm of the music. She made a short leap, landing with her feet turned toward one another as she swept her hand through the air before going into another kick and leap. A more exciting display followed as the Flame Fan made another appearance and joined her dancer's fan, scattering glowing embers around the Seeker as she raised it overhead after sticking the landing of her jump.

“You can’t get hurt by the things that you don’t know…”

Plant-spin, left-right-left, right-left-right, burst!

Primrose kicked off the stage, going into a fast one-legged spin while her spell still shined. The arm holding the flame was tucked close to her, drawing up and down as she span to create a hypnotic display as the fire trailed behind in mesmerizing motion. The turns ended but she didn't come to a stop; taking deep, heavy breaths through her nose she went into the next steps. Left, right, left. She danced, and at the end she threw her arm up and let go of the spell, letting it burst above her.

This kind of battle, pushing the limits of her skills as both a dancer and a mage, was unlike anything Primrose had done before. It was exhilarating. There was a smile on her face, one that clearly said she was enjoying herself despite the way this confrontation had started. She was having fun, but she didn't forget the reason she and Sectonia had come here in the first place. Framed in falling embers and spotlight, she raised the dancer's fan and fluttered it at Cornelia.

"I hope you're not finished yet," she said, her smile turning to a taunting grin.

Breathing heavily, the sorceress paused for a moment. This time Cornelia’s glance at the scoreline wasn’t quite as well hidden. Seeing it brought her no solace, either, for Primrose’s icon had perceptibly pushed her own back to the right. Impossible, she thought, floored by the revelation. As the dancer taunted her she clenched her teeth, forced to recognize that this woman had real talent. No more messing around, then. “I’m barely getting started,” she replied, her weariness replaced by haughtiness. “Let’s raise the stakes.” With a narrow smile she clapped her hands. “And turn down the lights.”

A wave of darkness spread across the stage as she cast Death Γ, blanketing it in blackest pitch. When the overhead lights snapped off as well, Primrose could see everything beyond the stage, but not a single thing in her immediate vicinity. Then, five spotlights appeared, slim enough to accommodate just one member of 1010 each, surrounding her. Rather than attack they continued to dance, trying to distract her, until after a couple moments the red-haired robot turned to reveal Cornelia behind him, who posed with him in a dramatic dip. A massive dark magic flare went off under Primrose’s position the next moment. As she continued this strategy three more times, it would be up to the dancer to interrupt Cornelia before she could complete the attack.

On her guard when darkness descended, Primrose's eyes shifted between the robot dancers. Tension was high, and as Cornelia reappeared leaning in deep Primrose danced away from her. She felt the swell of magic and in trying to avoid it, her back hit the yellow-haired robot. "Uhff." He pushed her forward into the spell, her steps faltering when she took damage before she corrected herself. Cornelia repeated the pattern, but this time Primrose fought back with her own darkness. She twirled in the center of the ring of dancers, letting her Moonlight Waltz carry her through. Her own spell came to life whenever Cornelia emerged from the darkness, staggering the woman's chosen dance partner and throwing off both her groove and her attack. By the time the fourth round of this began, Primrose switched tactics and cast her Night Ode, the wide area of effect erupting in a circle around her large enough to engulf all of the metallic boy band, though Cornelia herself had escaped to the air.

The lights switched on, and newly-manufactured replacements for the lost members of 1010 sidled out. There was a brief lull in the orchestra which Primrose was quick to take advantage of, flowing into the beginning of a new routine when the music came back to life. "Eyes on me," she purred.

An ethereal voice from the orchestra took over the singing. ”Me in the palm of your hand and you think you'll never lose in the game of love…”

She began with a simple tap of her foot, and then she was off. Left, right, left, left. A half turn, her foot drawing a crescent before she danced back the way she came. Right, right, left, right. Her arms shifted with every movement, tracing the line of her hips and flowing over her head.

Recognizing the challenge, Cornelia landed back down on the stage, her staff ready as 1010 drew up around her. “Simple,” she murmured, moving in sync with her backup to replicate the steps exactly.

“You spread your pretty wings and try as you might - you'll never fly fly fly…”

Her opponent rose one leg high and turned once, twice, then went into the more complicated steps. Left, forward, back, back, right, forward; all with a sway of her hips in time to the beat of the music.

Cornelia’s face tightened. Despite all the advantages in her corner, she had almost too much going for her. These moves, elegant in their simplicity, demanded less from her bag of tricks and more from her raw ability. She managed to match the pattern, but 1010 wasn’t smooth enough to keep up. They were getting out of sync.

“Stopped listening to the sound of the beating of your stone cold heart…”

A calypso style leap saw her twist in the air before she came down to the stage, dropping low and turning again before snaking her body back to stand at her full height. A quick one-two and then she rose off the ground again, coming down to land on one leg and spin. A forward step, her legs crossing over each other as she sailed across the stage, left, right, back, forward, forward, left, right. She struck a dazzling pose with her fan fluttering up from her stomach to her face.

Rather than jump on her own Cornelia deployed her wings for an extra flourish, but the drag slowed her down. She fell short, then overcorrected too fast. She matched Primrose’s strut, but half a beat behind. After the flutter-step she posed by twirling her staff and then planting it in a burst of darkness for the pose, but it didn’t match her opponent’s gracefulness. With a strained whine of frustration she hurled her staff away as if it was to blame, which bowled over the faltering members of 1010.

“You spin, and spin, and spin, me out of your life.”

Now that the performance had returned to just the two women on stage giving their all to a duel of dance, it seemed the competition was reaching its finale. Unwilling to let Cornelia turn this around, Primrose didn't slow down, keeping her steps to rhythm and pouring all of her energy into the display.

She threw her arms behind her and arched her back, her head falling backwards as she drew one knee up, holding the pose for a moment before extending her leg and falling forward. Her weight shifted, bringing her into another one legged stance as she spun in place. She twirled low, muscles in her legs supporting her as she sank and rose again. Transitioning swiftly into a complex step pattern with her hands at her hips, Primrose danced her way across the floor. A series of short hops and turns took her to center stage, where with the light of Warmth making her very hands glow she started gracefully toward the front. Left, right, forward, forward, right, left, forward, forward; her arms swayed across her body as they followed the path her feet were making across the area. She ended her dance with a wide spin, coming to a stop with one leg extended behind her, toes touching the stage while her chest was pushed proudly forward and her arms spread to either side to welcome the applause of the audience.

For it was indeed a moment of complete and utter triumph. In the moments that followed, Cornelia held on as long as she could, vying to follow suit with her whole being–as if she wanted to prove that, with all her tricks stripped away, that she could still steal the show. But she could not. For her, dancing had been a pastime, a fun diversion and a means of stoking her own ego. And even if the Agarthan once known as Cleobulus allowed her mask to become her true face, and her vanity her true allegiance, in the end this wasn’t who she was. When the moment passed she’d fallen to one knee, her muscles unable to emulate the feats Primrose performed, her privilege-softened body wracked with fatigue. While she languished in the remains of her dark magic, Primrose stood beneath the golden glory of the audience’s adoration, polite applause thrown to the wayside as their roaring voices cheered for her and her alone. Cornelia, chest heaving and hair askew, didn’t even bother looking at the scoreline. The knowledge that she’d been defeated weighed down on her harder than any burden. She thought about venting all her raw emotion out in the form of Death Γ against Primrose’s back, but try as she might Cornelia couldn’t lift a finger. Instead she fell down on forearms with a muted cry. It was over. It had never been more over than it was right now.

At some point Primrose had let her eyes drift closed, savoring the praise being lavished upon her from the crowd. Her limbs were on fire with the strain of a job well done. It had really been the performance of a lifetime.

Primrose turned, looking down at Cornelia. Though she didn't know the woman beyond the bit of deadly fun they'd had, at the end of the day Cornelia was a potential obstacle in the Seeker's path to free the world from Galeem, however tangentially related to the campaign she was. Primrose and Sectonia had come here for one reason, and the dancer was going to carry it out. But first, the end of the show.

Primrose let out a deep breath, then went to Cornelia's side. She took hold of the Agarthan's bicep and helped her stand. Her hand found its way to Cornelia's wrist and she lifted both of their arms before the two women bowed to the audience, Cornelia catching on and trying to save what face she could. While the people's eyes were on them, Primrose's Makami was summoned off to the side where it drifted up to pull the curtain of the stage closed.

When no one could see them any longer Cornelia wrenched her hand from Primrose's grip.

"I hope you enjoyed your final performance," Primrose told her, voice dark. She had never been a woman of mercy, even before her transformations in the World of Light. The dancer performed her encore, one final Moonlight Waltz to close the curtains of Cornelia for good.

In doing so she just barely dodged what would have been a full-force Luna Λ to the head. The moonlight blazed on past to blow apart a panel of the wooden backstage, while the darkness struck true. Cornelia perished with an ugly scream, and as its echoes faded away she left behind only her spirit, her facade of immaculate beauty preserved within.

With Cornelia being dispatched by Primrose, not needing much in the way of help from Sectonia, the bee queen left her box, blinking away from the robots that ‘supervised’ her involvement with this show and gave her own stage presence and announcements, seeing as the former club leader Cornelia had been dispatched. ”To the winner of the final dance of the evening, the spoils. And with that, the show has been concluded.” and hastily closed the curtains to the two of them some privacy

Turning to Primrose, Sectonia said. ”That was a good show. Glad to see my faith in your abilities was not misplaced.”

Primrose looked over at Sectonia as the bee approached, a small but genuine smile on her face. "I'm happy to hear that. Praise from a queen is high praise indeed."

Sectonia looked from the dancer then to the spirit of Cornelia laying on the ground. ”You can choose what you want to do with that. She had a few interesting spells at the end of things, but you did all the work so the fate of that spirit is up to you.”

Primrose nodded, collecting the Agarthan’s spirit. With a wave of her fan the ashen remains - and the evidence of what they’d done - was scattered away.

Now the issue of keeping this place up and running without its socialite running it anymore, at least until Consul P was defeated, arose. And even then, Setonia would be bereft of herself if she was to let such an attempt at opulence fall into obscurity. Perhaps finding that Mothiva that Primrose had to upstage and convince her to take over could be of benefit if she wasn’t allied with Consul P. Now where did those two go…


Level 11 Blazermate (Holding 2 level up) - (86/110)
Location: Sector 05 Seiran
Word Count: Less than 750


Thanks to the efforts of everyone teaming up on the slippery chinny, it was soon turned to dust. But Blazermate hadn't managed tot urn it into a zombie, since it was more metal than flesh. Likewise the Wirey Chinney got squashed by a train, which didn't leave much of anything to be reanimated. The loss of two probably fun zombies was a bit sad, but hey, the group had these two weird monster spirits which Midna picked up.

Healing everyone up before they continued on, they found themselves in a weird room with a platform they all had to get on that, when they all stepped onto it, started to move down a tunnel that had just opened up with quite a bit of range to it. Thankfully with Blazermate being on healing duty, everyone entering the tunnel had overheal and Blazermate her shield. Seeing they needed a ranged option and defense, Blazermate summoned her engineer spirit to add to the ranged damage with his pistol and sentry gun Although he would soon be dismissed as it was soon apparent that they had to jump from platform to platform as occasionally the one they were on dipped out of sight.

Benedict, being a bit older, had issues with his jumping agility, and requested that Blazermate carry him as she had no issues dealing with something like this. "Yeah sure. Make a lady feel like a hero instead of a princess why don'tchya." Blazermate said, swooping to pick up Benedict as he asked for extra mobility, giving him a teasing giggle as the medabot carried the grown man in her arms. This limited her healing a bit, but she still had her drone and could give some burst heals when needed. Overall this platform thing didn't seem all that bad. Overall damage here was a lot lower than with the Chinnery's especially if people rotated who got hit and who didn't.

-------------------------



Level 4 Susie - (34/40) - (Holding 1 level up)
Location: Sector 7 Slums
Word Count: Less than 750


Well, perhaps these robots were a bigger threat together. She was expecting them to come and help each other in some regard, although not to this degree or be this tough. Although them having a weakness to missiles was a good thing to learn, since it seemed the melee attacks of her business suit weren't doing much against these things. Something to note for later as Susie used her transporter to fly out of her cockpit as the business suit was getting ravaged from all angles in an instant from robots that weren't anywhere nearby her. But they were more concerned with her suit than her, being the bigger chunk of metal, so Susie flew back to the group as the robots tore into the business suit, taking awhile to get past some if its plating and soon finding that it was all for naught as the business suit just de spawned with its rider having been away from it for too long.

Well at least from her aerial viewpoint she could see the others fighting and taking down some kind of giant spider robot using a nearby crane. Strange that brute attacks worked on it without robots swarming them, perhaps this meant that there were different types of robots, some that helped each other, some that didn't in this robot crisis? But then if that was the case, how would one know which is which, or better yet, what was controlling them all, but had a need for such a strange cast system like that?


Level 11 Blazermate (Holding 2 level up) - (75/110)
Location: Sector 05 Seiran
Word Count: Less than 750


While her plan with Goldlewis didn't finish off the bulky Other, it did make it panic and maim itself to defend itself with surrounding itself with electrified water. Of course this also exploited the fact that almost none in their group had ranged ways of dealing with these things. But either way, it just sat there zapping whatever got near it with electricity so it wasn't really an issue at the moment unlike the sneaky one.

Midna had set the area on fire as she shot handfuls of sand at the sneaky one as Blazermate's drone healed everyone. Seeing as the Wirey Other wasn't doing anything of note besides guarding, Blazermate went over to heal that group, her drone aiding her as she healed up the group. She'd have to regather her abilities, but all the healing and overhealing did almost give her another projectile shield.

Seeing as there were a ton of people on the Sneaky other, and yet it still hadn't gone down, Blazermate saw an opportunity. She wouldn't be nearby it for long, but she zoomed overhead it and slammed her shield down onto it in order to bite it, before retreating with a stunning screech as it tried to retaliate, having an awful time as everyone else dealt with it. Maybe she'd get a zombie out of it to deal with the other creature...

============================



Level 4 Susie - (34/40) - (Holding 1 level up)
Location: Sector 7 Slums
Word Count: Less than 750


Giovanna wasn't a huge fan of Susie's plan. Well, what was she going to do anyway? They had absolutely no leads and were just 'spinning their wheels' so why not get a bit of a side benefit as well? Considering these robots are a problem, it was obvious the tech of Midgar was lacking, but perhaps she could make something useful out of it. With that in mind, Susie in her business suit revved it up before dashing it at the robots that seemed to be what the other bots used to store scrap, plowing into them with the suit's arms spinning like sawblades and crippling them after looping around to hit them again. This also had the effect of smacking or destroying any of the smaller robots that got in her way.

With the scrap collector robots having been dealt with, Susie swapped to her rocket launchers to handle the other robots that approached her, but for the most part her initial charge had done a huge amount of damage to them and she didn't have too much to clean up. And with the scrap hoarder robots disabled, Susie began to look at what they had, both in the means of scrap, and in the means of intelligence. Considering they were part of the robot's means of logistics, they probably had some interesting information on them.


Level 11 Blazermate (Holding 2 level up) - (74/110)
Location: Sector 05 Seiran
Word Count: Less than 750


These little bomb guys were kinda annoying. Sure, Blazermate had 3d movement and all that, but since she was the one flying above everyone that also made her a fun target for many of them even if she could see them. She could keep them away from herself though fairly easy, and if she was ever in a position where she was starting to get surrounded, she could stun them all with a loud shriek from her shield arm. It didn't take long for Karin to get rid of them though, using very unorthodox stuff to get them to blow up safely away from everyone.

"Not being able to touch these guys is so annoying. We're like, all melee!" Blazermate said, huffing. Still, the fight was over, and the next room they entered, which was more of a transit room to the next big fight was filled with these annoying water spitting guys. At least thanks to Blazermate's overheal, almost no one took any real damage from them but Blazermate gained full ubercharge and her shield from them.

The third room was the room with more powerful Others. Two big ones, one that seemed more brutish with electricity, and another that soon turned invisible. The invisible one Blazermate could track, having seen it before it turned invisible, so she could inform others if it got close, although that tended to be hit or miss with how much Midna wanted to be a brawling tank and separate herself from the group as she dealt with it, with Geralt following suit. Seeing as it seemed no one was really dealing with the bulky one except Goldlewis, Blazermate used her stuff to deal with that, or at least slow it down as well as she could.

Her engineer spirit would be useless here, so really all she had was her own combat abilities and her energy shield. That did help though, as the Winery Chinery had its attacks aimed at Goldlewis blocked, or slowed down by Blazermate's energy shield. A few of its electric attacks did get through the shield, but not all of them which felt a bit odd, but this shield had to have a weakness somewhere. Both Chinery's had little balls of light glowing on them, revealing the invisible one and telling Goldlewis where to strike with his as Blazermate healed him and zapped the thing with her energy shield. Its friend dealt with by Midna and Geralt, so Blazermate could only offer drone healing for those two, but the energy shield was doing lots of damage and slowing the Winery Chinery down.

Using a new ability of hers, or a striker? Whatever it was, Midna unleashed some weird bear thing that covered the nearby area in... sludge? Blazermate really wasn't sure what was going on there, but it made the invisible Chinery noticeable by everyone. Still, she was pretty hurt and using her little thing as a distraction, made her way towards Blazermate, which Blazermate could only offer drone healing for at the moment as she Ubered Goldlewis when her shield was going down, allowing him to go crazy at attacking it. Blazermate, getting in a pincer formation, flew over it and came at its back, jamming her suffering shield into its back to hold it in place and injecting it with copious amounts of zombie infection as Goldlewis went to town on the squirming thing.

--------------------------------------------------------



Level 4 Susie - (33/40) - (Holding 1 level up)
Location: Sector 7 Slums
Word Count: Less than 750


There wasn't too much to talk about on the truck ride there. Pit offered what little he could, but Susie quickly picked up on the fact that he wasn't much of a thinker. He'd make a decent bodyguard from what he had mentioned, but Susie wasn't into skinny guys like him. He needed more... edge and coolness, or muscles. Still, she could probably fix his 'flying' problem later anyway.

When the trucks eventually stopped, Susie noticed that their truck had gone much further than the rest of the team, leading to some unfinished neighborhood with various robots patrolling about. Remembering that they had to 'hack' these trucks later, Susie went about doing that as the others stepped off to begin their scavenging, remembering the original route but breaking into and reprogramming this rudimentary computer so that she could control the truck when the time came.

With that done, she joined the others in the scavenging, looking for stuff that would be useful. It was then she noticed the other area that Zenkichi mentioned, an area full of robots that he said looked like animals. Robotic animals... Did the Robotizer fall into someone's hands and do all of that work? No, because the ground would also be roboticized... hm... Asking what to do, as Zenkichi wasn't sure but was gung ho for dealing with the animals, Susie replied. "Simple, we're here for scrap right? Well those things..." Susie said, pointing at the Shellwalkers "are what the other robots are collecting scrap for. So they should have all the good stuff. So I think we go after them primarily. No doubt the other robots will protect them, but we can deal with them if that happens."

With that said, Susie summoned her business suit and gestured for the others to assist her as she made her way over to attack the Shellwalkers and claim their goodies.


Level 10 Sectonia (holding 4 level up) - (19/100)
Location: City of Tears
Word Count: Less than 750


These... medical abomination brutes were quite... brutish. No grace to their attacks, but getting hit really hurt and they could take quite a bit of punishment. Thanks to her antillions though, it didn't take long for reinforcements to come about in the form of Bowser and Kamek. Being the court mage he was, Kamek used his magic to buff the king koopa to allow him to plow through the area, clearing a path for the others to follow. Seeing as Sectonia didn't want to touch these vile things herself and the big turtle man was the brute he looked to be, Sectonia decided to help him rampage about with a bit of haste, but keeping the Chaos shield for herself.

When grouped up, these abominations were annoying and hurt, but if isolated, they went down fairly quickly as if stabbed fast enough or hit hard enough, they seemed to recoil in pain allowing Sectonia to capitalize on their death. Still, with how durable they were and how little desire she had to stay in this area, she only scooped up two spirits for her efforts, taking a hit or two before deciding to use her Chaos Shield to brute force through them a bit herself.

What lay ahead was both better and worse. White goopy creatures that seemed to vaguely even recognize the presence of the seekers as they moved past. Some wanted to play, in the case of this weird blobby dog looking thing, some were violent and thus thrown out the window, and some were just confused and lashed out randomly as it summoned various amounts of its own head to throw at people. This latter one Sectonia tried to engage, but it was obvious very quickly that it was immune to anything she could do besides move it. And getting an idea from the same koopa king, she decided to follow his lead by summoning her red antillions and have them toss the strange creature out of the window as butterflies flew out of nowhere and attacked the poor bulbous creature. Now there were more than one of these things, and Sectonia wasn't going to stick around and left her red antillions to 'play' with them, or rather, toss them out of the building as best as they could before they got defeated.

Having made her way through the room of... things... the person named IGV showed himself. Sectonia listened to his plans of assassination of Consul P. Considering how annoying Consul F was, she wasn't surprised to hear Consul P was a brat as well. And from the sound of things, he himself was weak, only using his position to surround himself with those with actual strength. A horrid showing, a leader needed to be both strong and beautiful, not weak and piggish.

"Well, it seems I will need to deal with the one in the Royal Quarter. I do not care for the games of nobles, but I know how to handle them." Sectonia said, rolling her eyes at needing to play a game of subtly. "I would prefer to just crush this sorceress, but I suppose subterfuge will work as well. I will have to find some place to figure out what enemies she has and all of that wonderful political maneuvering business..." Sectonia said in a huff. Out of everyone here, she figured she'd be the best suited for handling the Royal quarter. Kamek might be able to aid her as he seemed to understand noble edicate, but Bowser, therion, Jr. Rika didn't seem like they understood nobility speak and she wasn't sure about Omori, Ganondorf, and the new one.

"I assume trying to speak of these plans, you have some idea of where it would be best to collect information without shewing our hand?" Sectonia asked. She also crushed the spirits of the two brutish abominations she had gathered, to see what they may give.

----------------------------------------------------



Level 11 Blazermate (Holding 2 level up) - (68/110)
Location: Sector 05 Seiran
Word Count: Less than 750


Having been one of the group who was confused as to why they had even gone to the reservour in the first place, Blazermate couldn't help but agree with Goldlewis. "Well, we did learn they can affect me, but I'm very resistant to their mental effects. And Ubercharge makes you immune to everything psionic they do." Blazermate said, trying to at least trying to help Goldlewis and his stress. She'd also be helping him descent later down a zipline, the guy worried the line would break or something on him. Maybe he was just the paranoid sort?

The tunnel they were going to enter was a bit of a mess, with what was outside it seeming to be the rotting decay of half dead creatures. Not wanting to tarry in this depressing area any longer than she had to, Blazermate made her way to the tunnel and inside what greeted them first was some half dead creature that seemed to puff out smoke, which had Goldlewis remind the bot to mark thugs with her scan, since smoke didn't really bother her. "I always do that! You guys just gotta pay attention to the marks and call outs!" Blazermate had an idea with the poor thing, but Midna beat her to it. Welp, no easy zombie for her, but she doubted it'd be useful anyway.

Further down the tunnel, they ran into these 'Others', which seemed to just be walking bomb boxes or something rushing at the party. "Aw man, I wanted more zombies!" Blazermate said as she was informed that this deadly red shift came from one of the walking exploding bomb bag things, which meant it would be best to keep everything at range. Although unlike the others, her methods of ranged attacks were quite lacklsuter so all she could do was overheal people and hover over the battlefield. It would be nice if her medical drone thing could attack like the sentry gun from the engineer striker...

---------------------------------------------------



Level 4 Susie - (32/40) - (Holding 1 level up)
Location: Sector 7 Slums
Word Count: Less than 750


Susie had been spending most of her time on the lookout and just observing things, and occasionally making deals on her PDA like she did. She did catch the fact that Roxas had met a group that he was familiar with, but they weren't with him. No doubt a coincidence of the Gleeming thing. And while the girl didn't look all that tough, the man with her looked dangerous, as well as a good amount of eye candy. Oh, if only she could make him a bodyguard... but that'd have to wait. One of the mechanics seemed very interested in Tora, with Tora being someone who never shyed away from expressing his mechanical acumen. Susie wasn't a slouch in that area either, but she preferred the business side of things than the raw mechanical side.

But since she was the other mechanical genius of the group, she took the other truck that Tora and his new friend didn't take. With word that she'd have to eventually hack the other truck, something she would be fine with doing, but doing it before it was time could lead to issues. And her idea of seeing where the scrap went ended up being their plan, although not in the way she was planning it.

------------------------------

As they drove by a ruined cityscape, Susie asked those that were in her truck, Pit, Roxas, and Giovanna a question. "Do you three think there will be any decent scrap for us at this place, or is it just going to be low quality slag?" Susie said, glancing at the ruined city scape. unlike some of the others in the other truck, this sight didn't bother her much. After all, it just meant an area she could revitalize later for a profit. "If we are going to be fighting a large amount of robots later, it would be best to arm some areas with H.W.C. tech. Even just stationary defense turrets would be better than what we saw at that border town..."


Level 10 Sectonia (holding 4 level up) - (18/100)
Location: City of Tears
Word Count: Less than 750


Even with their little morning jog, the royals were one of the firsts up and firsts to arrive. Having a royal disposition made them punctual at the very least, or at least, stopped them from sleeping in as much as some of the others. Although considering the absolute barrage of puns Nadia was letting loose, it was probably best that some people had came in late, instead of enduring the excessive amount of puns. Sectonia could only sigh at the puns she put out for Teemo and especially Rubick, the former being a new addition Bowser's group had picked up. The puns continued until Omori came back from his morning jog having some sort of... creepy balloon thing following him. Something about it didn't feel right at all, but Sectonia couldn't put her finger on it.

Still, with the arrival of everyone else, a discussion about the whole flame clocks, lifelight, and the Consulers was had. Sectonia had already heard this from the koopa family, so this wasn't new information to her. But it was decided that these Consulers had to go, as they were in the way. Sectonia wasn't bothered with removing these cretins if they were going to be in the way of her plans, and from the sound of things, she could easily take over their hordes of followers considering it sounded like many people just downright hated them. Either way, with a vague goal of seeing this IGV guy, the party was off.

---------------------------------------------

The collection, a section of the city that held the Soul Sanctum, looked not nearly as pleasant as the city itself. Much like the rest of this world, it was a mish mash of ideas that were vaguely themed together. and not a crystal in sight. Still, it didn't take long to find the Soul Sanctum. Sectonia was immediately suspicious of the place when it was cordoned and sealed off with only a small entrance to the place available. Considering the size of herself and Bowser, Nadia having gone first would get a decent amount in until Sectonia could enter. Using her red antillions, which were quite large now thanks to that item she had found in the basement, she opened up the passage to move through with the antillions moving ahead of the group.

The place held a bit of a creepy atmosphere, with the voices of what Sectonia could only guess as the damned whispering and never quite settling down in this vacant building. And soon her metaphor became reality as various blobs of... something, came out of the walls, floors, and other places and glided or slithered towards whoever was closest, starved of souls. Sectonia, having had her fire antillions lead, commanded them to clean up this rabble, which they did using their flamethrowers. While numerous, these ghost blobs were not that durable nor fast, so the red antillions kept them at bay fairly well. Sectonia summoning some extra antillions to help some of the others when she got the space to do so. While the green ones were more keen to bash heads with their maces, the blue ones spat out cold just like the reds spat out fire.

"Such pathetic creatures. My antillions can keep them at bay." Sectonia said, giving a haughty chuckle as fire and ice was flung, popping husk after husk.

It wouldn't take long to notice that these were endless hordes, so while Sectonia used her antillions to keep them suppressed so they wouldn't bother her or the others, she moved along the soul sanctum. It didn't take long for the next horde of enemies to appear, bulbous weird abominations with medical equipment and tentacles, which they used to attack. Due to Sectonia needing to have her antillions suppress the little ones, she had to deal with these abominations herself. That being said, she did have that cactus bird striker she hadn't used yet, which she summoned and watched as it started to blast these creatures with rays of concentrated sunlight. Sectonia herself not having as much time as she'd like to just blast them away and being forced to attack them with her swords.


Level 11 Blazermate (Holding 2 level up) - (67/110)
Level 4 Susie - (31/40) - (Holding 1 level up)

Location: Despirado Area
Word Count: 772


Susie could only give a laugh to Midna's plan, although due to her cute exterior it was difficult for anyone to discern if she was for the plan, or against it. "If what I've heard about the seekers is true, that will come to pass at some point. Blazermate could only shrug, scratch her head, and kind of agreed with Susie, unaware of what Susie meant. "I mean, shes not wrong. Things tend to end up in huge fights and that isn't going to be any different here..." Susie dismissively rolled her eyes, enjoying the banter just the same. She'd prefer to just infiltrate Shinra and take them out that way, but that plan was already shot down. Well, if she had her way and the Access Ark, she'd just robotize the city and be done with it. No more issues with the Ever Crisis if the full power of Haltmann Works was on display after all.

It was here the two robot girls went onto different groups. Due to feeling the pain of no healing, Goldlewis asked Blazermate to join them, which the medabot had no arguments with. She knew medabots were in the city, and that was her goal, so she only had to inform that grup about medabot things if they were to come up seeing as Tora and Poppi were going with Susie to deal with the robot menace. The pink businesswoman curious to see if these robots were savage tech, or could be put to work at Haltmann Works.

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As the groups were on the initial train ride, there were talks about Avalanche, some rebel group trying to take down Shinra. Hearing this and how dismissive Goldlewis was, once they were in Seiran and the group was more isolated Blazermate asked the simple question. "Why would running into them be a bad thing? They seem like they're our allies if they're trying to bring down the big bad. And from the sound of things, they are successful as they haven't been beaten. So they are either really strong, or Shinra is really weak."

Blazermate then looked at Midna fidgeting, which she had been doing all morning. Blazermate could tell she was on caffeine, but considering how badly it was affecting her Blazermate had to ask. "So Midna, are you allergic to caffeine or something? you'd be been super antsy all morning and most people I know who drink coffee don't get nearly as excitable." Blazermate did have to make sure everyone was ready to go and everything before they had to fight... whatever they had to fight. Blazermate only had a few ideas about what little she heard. Then a thought occurred to her.

"I know you guys asked for a healer on this one, but I just have one question that just occurred to me. This is a psychic sorta operation right? Well, I'm a medabot. Is that going to be a problem?"

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The ride to Sector 7 wasn't all that eventful with Susie doing business work on her PDA as the others looked about the area until they came to a stop. Giovanna explained the area and where they would possibly have to go, which got Susie to put away her PDA. "Well, lets hope there is something valuable with these robots. I am still in need of a bodyguard." Susie said, giving a very quick glare at Poppi for taking the giant metal monster they had fought yesterday which would've made an excellent one, before clasping her hands together and taking a look at what was a fairly dreary looking area.

"Although from the looks of it, if this is where these robots attack, I wouldn't assume anything they have is going to be worth anything... Otherwise sections like this wouldn't exist." She then scratched her chin thinking for a moment before getting an idea. "But if there are valuable components, we should see if someone is going to 'pick them up'. Jumping them could lead to all sorts of valuable intel and components if what I just thought of is true."

Still, she looked at the rest of the group. She hadn't worked with half of these members before, so she wasn't entirely sure what they could do even if most of them were at the demonstration at Twilight Town. Still, she didn't forget to ask that they pass some of their elemental power over to her if they got into a fight. Thinking about that, she should make a device that stored that energy so she didn't have to ask for it every time.


Level 11 Blazermate (Holding 2 level up) - (65/110)
Level 4 Susie - (29/40) - (Holding 1 level up)

Location: Despirado Area
Word Count: Less than 750


With the battle over, Blazermate made sure to heal up everyone who needed it, giving a sigh that it was over. "I was confident Tora could deal with all of that Poppi. He is a tanky boy and I can see how much damage people are taking." Blazermate said, affirming why she helped Susie before ubering Poppi to finish off the big horrible monster. Although she wasn't sure about Benedict and Giovanna, but they did well and weren't too hurt. Overheal helps a lot though, especially for frontliners. If only she had this when she did robattles, it would change the outcome of so many fights....

Susie meanwhile came up to Poppi, saying. "I could make use of that Chemtrail spirit. Having a big destructive distraction like that would help. For some reason my business suit is acting a bit differently than it normally does. Its annoying to adapt to, but I suppose the trade off has been helpful." Susie said, not so subtly hinting that she would prefer a striker to take the heat off of her when in a duel so she could be more offensive, not defensive, with her business suit. With her cockpit exposed, she has had to guard herself more than attack like she preferred which was more than a bit annoying.

Still, they all had to get out of there, and the two bots followed Giovanna back to the base, where they got some rest. Although the two robot ladies not needing much time to rest at all, Susie got to doing some work on her PDA. Considering how this city had a network and everything, at some point she would need to hack into it to get some information. Blazermate meanwhile made sure the other group who had come from their excursion with the psychic ops were healed up and all of that.

As the group discussed what they were going to do, having met the various factions of the city and the ever crisis, A few ideas were thrown around. The main one being they should all just make their own agency. While there were agreements on this, Susie had to put a damper on those plans. "That was my original plan Roxas, but Giovanna told us that there were many permits and systems you had to go through in order to make that work. Stuff that would take a very, very long time to get done. How would you all suggest we get around that red tape?" Susie waited a bit for some ideas or replies before giving her own.

"Considering this place runs on technology, I could perhaps hack into it and see what is going on. Perhaps find a way to expedite the process. Could clear up the whole mess that we were involved in yesterday or shift the blame while I'm at it, if Its possible. All I would require is an access point."

Blazermate really didn't have too much to add to the conversation. She was more of the 'fight or heal' type of girl. She did ask something that was on her mind though. "Say, about that whole 'walking on eggshells' sorta thing. Is there like, some secret police or something that would investigate two turks going missing or something in a single day? Couldn't that be a huge issue for us? Like someone way above the G men? They don't really seem like a threat when they aren't turning into those demon things, so there has to be some really big fish somewhere, right?"

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Level 10 Sectonia (holding 4 level up) - (9/100)
Location: City of Tears
Word Count: Less than 750


With the closure of the circus show Sectonia had caught, she grabbed the knight as it was getting late. Having not eaten since yesterday aside from the snacks on offer at the theatre, Sectonia stopped to grab something to eat. Being a city of bugs, she could easily find fruits, honey, and other sweets to munch on as she moved through the city, finding a tasty honey glazed doughnut that was said to be imported. If it wasn't so late, she would have preferred to visit a store before turning in for the night, but only the seediest of stores and the pawn shop were open at this hour, so she decided against it.

There were a few hotels Sectonia passed by, but for a queen of her stature, she would only take the biggest one. (Plus she doubted the smaller ones could even accommodate her, but she wouldn't say that out loud.) Those walking alongside her would see a rare sight, Sectonia practicing. Sure it was just her seeing what shapes she could make with her new power over fire and seeing if she could make some beauty out of the falling rain and her new fire, but it was something. If she remembered right, she had fused with a spirit that made fire horrid. It was a good thing she wasn't fused with that now, otherwise acquiring her fire breath power would've been far more painful than it already was.

Finding the biggest hotel in the city, Sectonia had found that Nadia had already signed in. The girl knew what was up, but how did she find the money? Last Sectonia knew, she was totally broke. Well, either way, Sectonia paid for her own room and got some beauty sleep, hopefully forgetting about the horrid horrid trial she had endured not a few hours ago. Still, she wasn't greeted with great dreams thanks to that.


Level 11 Blazermate (Holding 2 level up) - (64/110)
Level 4 Susie - (28/40) - (Holding 1 level up)

Location: Despirado Area
Word Count: Less than 750


Blazermate didn't think this weird mish mash of metal was going to be as big of a threat as it looked. But then she wasn't as good of a medic as she looked so... Well this wasn't the time to think about that as Blazeramte dodged the massively damaging cannon shots aimed at her, this creature very aware of what she was doing to the others. At least it wasn't all that fast... But its shots hurt really bad when it landed one on her shield arm, causing enough damage to cause it to almost shut down entirely. And if it did that to a defensive part on a deflection hit, well... best not to think about that, especially since it had debuff powers on top of that which slowed everyone down, reduced their damage, and even put Poppi to sleep. While Benedict got into position to defend and try to awaken Poppi, Blazermate could use the drone around her to hit her with a revive, cleaning the sleep debuff from her. At least that debuffing attack wouldn't do anything with Blazermate on the job. But even with the thing's weak point glowing for all to see thanks to Blazermate's scan, it seemed it would be a tough nut to crack in general.

Susie wasn't having as much luck either. While her business suit could out muscle Loup, his speed made it annoying to do much other that block his hits. And she could tell the demon was more or less toying with her, waiting for her to make a swing before launching at her in the cockpit which was a bit annoying. But that plan of attack could also be predicted, and since her mech's hands were large enough to obscure her for the most part, Susie had a bit of a plan since from the sound of things, that other G man was giving everyone else trouble.

Blazermate meanwhile thanks to all the rapid damage and debuffs going out from this monstrosity, was gaining her uber and shield relatively fast. That was a huge upside to heavy hitting foes at least, it got her stronger abilities up and running very quickly. And seeing as Geralt had at least more or less won his fight from the looks of things, with his opponent rambling on while he ignored him, all that was left was these G men. And if Susie could deal with hers, it would just be the big metal one left. Using her fully charged projectile shield, Blazermate used Tora distracting it, swapping her drone to him as she moved to aid Susie as she did her trick.

Susie, having enough of this Loup-Garou's jumping around, pulled out the cow mangler she had bought. Calculating his movements, she loaded it up and began to overcharge it, making a sweep with her mech's hands and exposing her cockpit, but in a way that when Loup did his coutnerattack, he'd be jumping right into a charged rocket shot. What Susie didn't expect was Blazemate to be there, her projectile shield clipping into Loup and slowing him down as he leaped at Susie, allowing a much easier and safer rocket hit and sending the demon straight down into the ground at insane force, allowing Blazermate to follow up with a few hits from her ubersaw and a bite from her suffering shield as he got back onto his feet.

The damage to her business suit had started to take its toll though, and thanks to absorbing the splash of that rocket, Susie had to send it away as it being a damaged state like that wouldn't aid them against what was to come. But she still had her blaster and knew how to fight outside her business suit, even if she preferred not to. With a full uber and Susie's opponent being weakened, Blazermate gave her a bit of overheal before flying back to Tora and Poppi, ready to give them that all fun invincibility. Susie having her blaster out to deal with Loup if he still wanted to fight.

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Level 10 Sectonia (holding 4 level up) - (8/100)
Location: City of Tears
Word Count: Less than 750


Sectonia, getting quite tired of the rain of this city after a little while, stopped by an open store to buy an umbrella and unload her 'spoils' from the dungeon they had just been through. She wasn't surprised the masks she found wouldn't sell for much, but she figured that a city full of masked bugs might offer a bit more than another place. Overall after buying her parasol to shield herself from the rain and selling her masks, she gained 50 geo from the transaction. She could've gotten more, but she wasn't going to go around with any old parasol, grabbing a fancy one to befit her status.

It seemed it would take longer than she thought for her allies to get their effects in order from that fight, as it had gotten fairly late all things considered. She had hoped that, while her stress had melted away, that they would enjoy a bit of fun at the amusement park. However all she could find was the Knight, the little bug walking about the city with that blank stare of curiosity it always wore. It seemed the others were predisposed with whatever they were doing, probably resting if she had to guess, so while she'd take any others that she found, she decided to head to the amusement district with the Knight in toe. On the way there, Sectonia, remembering she had taken an item that gave her control over fire, began to play with that power. It became quite clear it was only a fire breath, no conjuring fire form her staffs or anything, but unlike that large bumbling king koopa, she would control something like this with more elegance and grace, soon making fancy fire spirals from her fire breath in small artistic patterns as practice. If this had any power in combat had to be tested however.

A bit of a shame that many of her allies were indisposed all things considered. While she wasn't much one for the cheap thrills of amusement rides; many things paling in comparison to the power of flight and teleportation, nor the scams that were the games, at least she could find enjoyment in the foolishness of clowns and the other carnies that engaged in acts of slapstick. At least unlike the royal district, things here weren't nearly as expensive, including admission, so it didn't cost much at all for Sectonia to pay for herself to view the comedy of the big tent, while the others got a bit of money to do whatever they wanted to do to unwind. There was still the matter of the It Lives spirit that had to be dealt with, but considering what everyone had just gone through, that could wait for the next day.

Sectonia's antillions, having been given an order by their queen, went out through the city to look for the scattered currency they had once looked for at the metro. However unlike the metro with its flowing pons, here, there wasn't much in the way of currency. A few loose bits of geo here or there, but that only totaled up to 15 which Sectonia would find in her wallet upon collection. Meanwhile the rest of the city saw these ant soldier looking creatures moving around almost like mindless bugs, ignoring others staring at them as they looked in in whatever areas they could look in with their larger frames thanks to the item Sectonia had gotten earlier. They seemed weird, but weren't hurting anyone or anything, so besides a few curious looks they were mostly ignored. Some might think they were guards looking for something? Although the actual guards might have an issue with a notion like that.


Level 11 Blazermate (Holding 2 level up) - (63/110)
Level 4 Susie - (27/40) - (Holding 1 level up)

Location: Despirado Area
Word Count: Less than 750


Well, there went a bit of time to relax. Guess thats what happens when turks clash and their G men want to get some of that action. blazermate, having had none of the pizza was up and ready for a scrap, joining Tora and Poppi with dealing with the G men as Benedict and Geralt handled the hostile turk and his summon. Susie joined those outside shortly after, but spent a bit of time cleaning her face with a napkin before pulling out her remote to call her business suit.

Blazermate, like she started all of her combats, latched onto Tora to buff the tankypon with lots of extra HP, with her new healing drones hovering around Poppi. Being able to heal two people at once was pretty awesome, although she was only gaining uber and shield form Tora. Shame she had already used her engineer spirit to 'fake eat', with Dell only making a single level one sentry before poofing out of existence. Still, at least she could heal, and heal well as long as Tora protected her. And knowing Tora, that wouldn't be too much of an ask.

Susie meanwhile dealt with the werewolf looking G men she had seen before. Considering the two frost looking G men, a bit of fire would be great here, and hopefully Poppi would oblige. But at least right now Susie's business suit let her handle Loup-Garou with its mechanical strength and durability, Both sides grabbing each other's attack and pushing against each other before Susie blasted the G men in the face with her blaster, breaking the two of them up and putting them back in a neutral position.
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