Double

Disney & Dragons 5e

Hi. First off this is an amazing campaign idea that I wish I had thought of first. xD Second, if you're still accepting I'd like to offer my hat the ring. I've got tons of D&D experience, though mostly for the older editions, but I'd love the chance to better familiarize myself with 5th Edition.

World of Light

Edinburgh MagicaPolis

@Lugubrious Big Band | @Yankee Ace Cadet | @Truthhurts22 Wonder Red

Word Count: 862
Level 1 Mewtwo: 19/20
Exp: 2
NEW EXP Balance--- 21/20

Mewtwo unfortunately had no real context for what they were doing. They mentioned something about looking for a lost Seeker, but that was the extent of what he understood. He knew nothing about the missing person in question nor did he know how that one person could make all the difference. But the Pokemon had nothing better to do and so he went along with it for now. He'd have preferred to go back to Aether Paradise but the others made a valid point about L increasing the security there for the time being. They'd just have to wait for another window, as frustrating as that was.

Later that night, he found himself going out into the streets after dark. The way he understood it, skeletons of various creatures rose from the ground at night and Band seemed convinced that if they find the source of that they would also find the missing Linkle. Mewtwo wasn't really sure how he knew such a thing, but there was really no time or opportunity to question him about it. And so here Mewtwo was. Most of the skeletons didn't look at all familiar to him. But there were some that he did. The Pokemon skeletons even appeared to have the abilities they had in life, though Mewtwo wondered if they would all be considered Ghost types. If so that would mean a few good Shadow Balls would take care of them.

And so while everyone else got to work immediately, Mewtwo waited a moment and charged up up one of his Shadow Balls. Then he used Teleport to position himself above where all the Skeletons were rising it and hurled down into them. After that he flew straight down to the ground in the midst of a host of Pokemon skeletons and used Psychic to blow them all away from him in all directions. That sort of became his strategy for this particular group. He'd teleport away, charge up a Shadow Ball, let it fly downward from above and then head down to blow everything away with a Psychic. He repeated this two or three times, but decided not to push his luck on the off-chance that these things were smart enough to adapt to an attack pattern.

So from this point Mewtwo decided to focus on some of the bigger ones, namely one of Giants. For that Mewtwo would bait it into moving to strike him so that he could stun it with Disable. After that he could use Psychic to lift them up over groups of smaller skeletons and then drop them, letting gravity take care of the rest. And then something screamed by and buzzed him, nearly knocking Mewtwo out of the air. The Legendary Pokemon jerked his gaze in the direction of the flying thing that attacked him and glimpsed a figure he vaguely recognized. It was an... Aerodactyl? Or at least the skeleton of one. Maybe this was some kind of fossil that was resurrected along with the rest? Either way this particular Pokemon could be trouble. They were known for being among the fastest fliers in the Pokemon world. And for having Dark type moves like Bite and Crunch, either of which could cripple Mewtwo if they managed to connect with such an attack.

Of course, only a knowledgeable Pokemon Trainer would really know to exploit such a tactic. A wild Pokemon like this was less likely to take advantage of Mewtwo's weaknesses as a Psychic type Pokemon. And Mewtwo was proven correct as the Aerodactyl came swooping back, not with a Bite or Crunch, but with a looping Aerial Ace attack. The attack itself was a Flying type move, one that was well known for its inability to miss. But thankfully Mewtwo wasn't a type of Pokemon weak to such a move, and so the actual damage he took wasn't too bad. But if the Aerodactyl decided to to use it repeatedly in addition to something like Agility to make itself even faster? That could be trouble.

The Legendary Pokemon focused his attention on the Aerodactyl, trying his best not to let it out of his sight. When the fossil Pokemon attempted to make another run with Aerial Ace, Mewtwo was waiting for him this time. He thrust out his hand and managed to catch the flying fossil mid-attack with his Psychic. And then Mewtwo used his psychic grip to swing the big fossil Pokemon around himself and slamming it down into a crowd of Dry Bones on the ground. Between his own efforts and those of the others, some of the streets appeared to be mostly clear.

But they weren't done yet. a pair of stronger looking undead made their presence known. Mewtwo wasted no time and used Teleport to regroup with Big Band.

Current Moves/PP Balance

Psychic: 5/10
Shadow Ball: 11/15
Disable: 19/20
Teleport: 15/20
Recover: 5/5

World of Light

The Under ~ Pizza Tower

@Lugubrious Nadia | @DracoLunaris The Koopa Troop | @Yankee Primrose & Therion | @Archmage MC Sectonia | @Zoey Boey Jesse | @Scarifar Rubick | @Truthhurts22 Ichiban | @Majoraa Omori | @Dark Cloud Artorias

Word Count: 570
Level 5 Ganondorf: 11/50
Exp: 1
NEW EXP Balance--- 12/50

Ganondorf, perhaps wisely, chose to let others have their pizzas made before he did anything himself. Having no idea what the stuff even was, the Gerudo wanted to see what the most common elements of it were before making any decisions himself. From what he observed, the cheese and sauce were mandatory. Without those the food itself, which turned out to be a flat pie-like dish, lost its identity and wasn't "a real pizza" as Bowser seemed to insist. He watched others end up with pies topped with combinations of meat and vegetables. As well as Rika creating a rather disgusting-looking thing that had absolutely everything on it all at once.

Honestly it was almost enough to make one lose their appetite. Almost. When it was finally Ganondorf's turn, he settled on a combination of pepperoni, ham, and sausage. He'd risked his neck to get those meats so he damn well was going to enjoy the fruits of that labor. But having meat only seemed like too plain of a dish. And so Ganondorf chose to also add some of the peppers that Therion brought, which he was solemnly warned would make the pizza very spicy and possibly too difficult to eat.

"Ha, please." Ganondorf boasted, "I'd welcome that challenge." he wasn't about to let a little spice scare him away from the pizza he had decided on. Besides, it couldn't possibly be any worse than the mostly-bug-based dishes that Toriel had been feeding him down in the Ruins. He welcomed the chance to eat some real food for a change.

And so, a bit of time later, Ganondorf was eating a pizza pie that could be best described as a spicy meat-lovers. In fact the peppers on his pizza could be smelled by everyone around him. For some this might be a tantalizing smell. For the faint of heart who didn't like spicy food? Probably not so much. But the King of Evil himself seemed to be enjoying it well enough. Albeit he had a big glass of water next to him on standby in case things got a little... dicey.

But during this time was when the conversation turned to people telling their stories. After Bowser's explanation of being at ground zero of Galeem's attack, the Gerudo raised his hand, "For the record, I was there too when Galeem first attacked." he added. After the Koopa King said his piece Ganondorf decided he might as well elaborate a bit more on how he ended up down here.

"After Galaeem's initial attack, I was chained up down in the Ruins until you all arrived." While he initially said this with a grimace, that seemed to quickly form into a smirk, "Clearly Galeem or his Consuls must fear me to go to such lengths to keep me from rising up. For all the good it will do them in the end. I still got free, and I'll still have my revenge before all this is done. They will rue the day they made an enemy of ME."

World of Light

Sector 05 ~ Seiran Hideout

@Lugubrious Goldewis, Giovanna, Tora | @DracoLunaris Midna | @Zoey Boey Sakura & Karin | @Archmage MC Blazermate, Susie, & Roland | @Multi_Media_Man Geralt & Zenkichi | @Yankee Pit | @Truthhurts22 Raz | @Dark Cloud Benedict & Partitio

Word Count: 881
Level 6 Roxas: 40/60
Exp: 2
NEW EXP Balance--- 42/60

Roxas didn't say too much on the way back to the hideout. He was mostly just tired from what felt like an eternally long day. Thanks to his earlier side trip to a sushi bar he wasn't hungry. But he sure was thirsty to make up for it. Once they were back Roxas found himself sitting in the meeting room with everyone else sipping on two separate drinks. One was a glass of water and the other one was a bottled energy drink. And that's when all the discussion started.

First to speak up was Goldlewis, offering an explanation that he and Chaos both came from the same world. Well, at least that meant they had someone who knew how this guy thinks. That was at least something. But something about it all still bugged him. And he figured he ought to get the question out there now before it was too late to ask, "About these Consul guys. You guys are telling me they're on Galeem's side, but, well... Why? Why would anyone side with something like Galeem? What are they getting out of all this that they weren't already getting in their own world?" He shook his head, unable to fathom why any of these Consuls would be doing all of this.

And while Roxas waited for his answer, a few more things were happening at around the same time. First was Susie and Blazermate, or more specifically, Susie saying that advanced technology to could bring any magic to heel. Roxas couldn't help but offer a retort, "I wouldn't be so sure of that." He told Susie, "There was once a guy in my world who tried to do exactly what you're describing. He believed that Darkness and the mysteries of the Heart were things he could understand and control by applying science and experimentation. And do you know how that turned out for him? It ended with his entire world becoming overrun and nearly destroyed by the very Darkness he was trying to study. Some things just aren't meant to be controlled or understood."

As for the discussion about how to get to the Guardian, Roxas already knew what he was going to suggest regarding that. But not quite everyone was present just yet and he wanted to make sure everyone heard what he was going to bring up for that. Instead he focused his attention on the conversation between Geralt and Zenkichi. They were talking about the guy that the latter had asked Chaos about. And that led to Zenkichi explaining just what that Konoe guy's deal was. That made Roxas think, and recall a certain individual from his own world, "So he thinks he knows what the world needs and is willing to do any horrible thing to make it happen. Sounds like someone I remember from my own world. He was convinced that Darkness would inevitably destroy everything and so his solution was that the entire world needed to be remade without Darkness in it. I can't even begin to describe the sheer number of lives he manipulated and ruined to try and make that happen. Mine included. He was the real architect behind Organization XIII. He was even willing to travel back in time in order to recruit his younger self to help him with his cause.

"Speaking of which," Roxas added, now looking around at everyone, "I still can't figure out how the Organization fits into all of this. We had a perfectly good opportunity to ask that Consul about it but no one did." Roxas shouldered his share of the blame for that. He would've certainly used his own question to ask about that, had Chaos not claimed that he already wasted it. He was kicking himself for being too quick with his question. After all, the Organization was the reason he was even here now. And he just let what could have been his first real lead slip through his fingers.

But before he could dwell on this topic any longer, Giovanna finally returned and with yet another Turk in tow. He wasn't Galeem'd so he was probably okay. That also meant that pretty much everyone was here now. So Roxas could finally let them all in on what he was actually thinking, "Glad everyone's here, because you all need to know what I'm about to tell you." he said, almost perking up a bit at the prospect of delivering form of good news, "Getting to that Guardian won't be a problem. Doesn't matter how much they have it locked down, not as long we've got this!" At the last word he summoned one his Keyblades and gently set it down on the table, "The Keyblade, it's not just a weapon. It's a key too. One that can open all sorts of locks without fail. Any lock."

World of Light

Beneath the Mask VII

Location:The City of Glass - Vandelay Campus
Attendees: Susie, Raz, Goldlewis, Zenkichi, Roxas, Midna, Karin
Viewers: Blazermate, Tora, Giovanna, Geralt, Sakura, Pit, Benedict, Partitio
Word Count: 7139 (+8)

“And that, ladies and germs, brings us to our final question,” the moderator began. During the course of this event so far, there had been slight, gradual changes in his tone and speech, going from composed and businesslike to more casual and drawn-out, practically a drawl. The uptick in hamminess felt oddly appropriate to the almost pugnacious progression of the candidates’ debate. The moderator’s papers lay on the desk beside him, and he wasn’t looking at them. After swirling and finishing off the last of his drink, he leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, and continued.

“They say the pen is mightier than the sword, and I don’t know about all of you, but I sure feel like I just watched a knock-down-drag-out fight. A vitriolic war of words. A testament to our candidates’ conviction. President Shinra and Senator Armstrong are truly worlds apart, whether you’re talking perspective or ideologies. Enough to put not just themselves, but all of Midgar’s citizens at each other's throats. But are we really so different? In the end, they’re both vying for the presidency. The highest office in the land. And no matter which side you come from, or what ideals you espouse, the goal of the president is the same. World peace. Even if your world’s just one little city. And even though everyone wants the same thing, we’re stuck fighting each other. Living each day in fear of a stab in the back. So, gentlemen, my question is this.”

The moderator leaned forward onto his desk, his hands clasped. “Let’s say a third party hacked into the control systems for the Pillars for Sector 05 and Sector 08, and planted a very specific logic bomb, set to go off automatically. If left alone for, say, five minutes, they’ll drop the corresponding plates, destroying both sectors in their totality. And let’s say you were each given a very special button–one that can stop the bomb from going off in the other candidate’s sector. If you press it, the logic bomb will instead permanently lock the Pillars, making sure those plates can never be dropped. But if you leave it alone, the other man’s army -and all his most loyal supporters- are up in smoke. And it wouldn’t even be your fault; that third party can take all the blame. Oh…and one more thing.” Smiling, the moderator snapped his fingers.

Multi-layered magic circles blipped into existence on top of the bewildered candidates’ pedestals, each consisting of a heart ringed by crosses, a little bigger than a dinner plate. Magic screens manifested behind both candidates, covering most of the stage. They transmitted images of two massive support structures, one in Seiran, and one in Detroit. “...This isn’t a hypothetical.”

“W-what!?” Shinra stammered. “What is this!?”

Armstrong grinned in amusement, his brow furrowed. “What’re you playing at?”

“World peace,” the moderator announced. “Ready in just five minutes. Press it, or don’t. That’s up to you. I guess what I’m trying to say is…do you believe in world peace?”

As ripples of fear spread throughout the people, both security teams leaped to their feet. Even Sundowner heaved a sigh of relief and stood, towering over everyone around him. “Finally!” As the citizens remained seated, paralyzed with uncertainty and confusion, the guardsmen readied their weapons with Roland donning his distortion mask. Some moved to check one other, but most of them -led by Sundowner and Penance- turned on the moderator. Before they could take action, though, their left eyes began to glow red, and they stopped in their tracks. Suddenly all the soldiers stood still as if confident they had the situation under control, the tentative but tense peace maintained so that the candidates could consider the choice laid out before them.

”Goddesses” Midna cursed, simply lost for words for a moment as she watched this all unfurl from a raised vantage point. Bystander syndrome locked her in place until everyone else went still, and the fact that she could still move while all of the Galeeming could not kick her out of being an observer and into being an active participant, one that started shadow hopping towards the stage as fast as she could.

She wasn’t the only one. Roxas sprang forward and tried pushing his way through the audience. He couldn’t just stand there and let the moderator get away with this! Of course, the crowded audience didn’t exactly make that easy. In fact Roxas honestly couldn’t get anywhere really. The audience was just too packed and too frozen with fear to move.

”Why aren’t they doing anything?” Raz asked, sitting up in his seat. ”Just press the buttons!”

By this point Goldlewis was already on his feet, the same question on his mind. Surely these men weren’t actually considering letting their opponents’ plates drop? Despite what the moderator claimed, the optics on this situation would be horrific. They couldn’t actually be wondering if the sight of their opponent completely crushed would be worth this absurd loss?

Well before Midna reached the stage, however, the candidates made their choice. Armstrong hammered his button first, and after a very poignant second, Shinra did too. The giant cross-eyed happy faces blinking on both Pillars went dark, and their green lights were restored. A moment later, the screens fizzled out.

“Congratulations,” the moderator said, clapping. “You just made your world a safer place.” He fixed his attention on the camera. “And that, everyone, is the end of tonight’s event. I hope you’re all feeling informed and confident for the election next month. For now, from the Vandelay Campus, thank you and good night!”

The audience moved fast, vacating the theater as quickly as they could. Even faster were the security teams, covering their candidates from all sides as they escorted Armstrong and Shinra from the premises in different directions. Roland, being an intel gathering sort at heart, gave a signal to Penance that was what he was going to do, before he got into a hiding position to listen and observe on what was going on here. Thanks to his distortion mask and gloves, his stealth prowess was enhanced as he made no sound as he moved and he was forgotten about almost instantly when not observed.

”Okay that… that felt weird.” Raz hopped up onto his seat, tossing his ‘disguise’ to the floor. ”Like I’m glad nobody exploded and fell, but what was the point of that?” He lifted his goggles enough to peek at the moderator. ”I’m gonna try to follow that guy, see what’s up with him.” The moderator, however, did not go anywhere. Ignoring the security personnel that riddles him with looks that could kill, the man seated himself on top of his desk, casually waiting.

”C’mon!” Roxas exclaimed, ”We can’t just sit here, we’ve gotta do something!” and he tried once again to push his way forward toward the moderator. Maybe with the crowd now actually moving he’d have an easier time reaching his intended target. Raz was right behind him, using his smaller size and acrobatic training to hop over the seats, making a beeline to the moderator, as best he could through the fleeing crowd.

Zenkichi turned to Goldlewis, confusion on his face. He felt so close to figuring something out, but there was a more pressing matter at hand. The veteran just nodded at him, assuming that the detective was asking should we follow them? If it seemed like this Udo was going to play ball, neither man could afford to miss what would happen next. Goldlewis pushed out of his row and headed down toward the front of the theater. When you were as big as he was, people tended to clear the way. Zenkichi followed the human battering ram, silently thankful he didn’t have to try and push past anybody. ”Jeeze, kids, wait up!” He called after the part of the group that had gone ahead.

Karin stood up too, and made sure her shirt was tucked in. ”H.C, Udo, you devil. Who are you, really?” She asked herself. As Raz and Roxas rushed forward, concern flashed across her features.

”Be careful, gentlemen, he isn’t going anywhere.” She said, running and vaulting over the seats to follow after. Susie decided to stay further back for now, keeping an eye on the exits and the flanks, as something didn’t seem right here.

”We can’t be sure of that!” Raz called over his shoulder. The two reach the moderator first, with Raz doing a frontflip over his head, landing on his desk. ”Hey, you!” Raz said with a sharp turn to face Udo. ”What is it you want with us?”

“Milpico.” The moderator was smiling. In his hand he held a glass, and though he’d emptied it during the debate, it seemed to be full again, its top half all crystal-clear water, and its bottom half opaque white. “My favorite,” he elaborated. “But, you see, if you let it sit, the water and syrup separate. Here, see?” Holding it up from the top, he suspended it in front of his face and peered through the water at Raz.

“People are just like Milpico.” He held up his other hand and pointed it at the glass. “The syrup is the all-human desire, and the water is their survival instinct as living beings. Just plain old water would be bland, and syrup on its own would be too thick. But when you mix them together…” Swirling it around, he turned the disparate halves into an evenly distributed blend. Then he drank it all down in one gulp. “Mm-mm. Perfection.”

He tossed the glass up and down in his hand like a ball. “That’s just how people are. As for me, I’m…more than one hundred percent pure undiluted syrup.” Suddenly he hurled the glass upward. At the apex of its arc it exploded like a firework, and glittering dust rained down. When the Seekers looked back at Udo, the same man wasn’t sitting there any longer. He’d been replaced in an instant by someone wholly new. A wiry man with dull blue skin, messy gray hair, and short, impish horns. He wore orange glasses, each lens in the shape of an X, two leather holsters with sleek black guns, and a gray suit overlaid with cherry-red armor from the waist down. The rest hung around his waist, leaving his upper body bare. A row of orange crosses circled around his shoulders, and in the center of his chest lay a black heart, dripping, with golden teeth. A spiked black halo floated behind his head, and as the sparkles descended around him he smiled terribly wide.

“Happy Chaos.”

That was all Roxas needed to see. He summoned both his Keyblades and pointed the tip of Oblivion squarely at the devil person, "Enough mind games! Who are you? Really?" he was no longer in the mood for innuendos and doublespeak. He wanted answers, and no matter what he was going to get them.

“I just told you,” he laughed, unfazed. By this time the others had arrived, spreading out around him to listen. “My name. Happy Chaos! If that’s too much though, you can just call me C. I can be anything you like or nothing at all. But… I do exist.”

---

Though the details escaped him, Pit managed to grasp what the question was asking. He sat there rather perplexed by both some of the terminology and the question itself, since wouldn't the answer be obvious? Surely if someone had the power to save people at the press of a button they would. When the moderator revealed his gambit and showed that the situation wasn't imaginary the angel jumped to his feet in alarm, bar stool clattering to the ground behind him.

"What! The bombs are real?!" The concept of a "logic" bomb was completely unknown to him, and getting to either of the affected sectors in time was probably impossible, but even so he declared, "we have to go stop them!"

Sakura perked up again, staring at Pit and the TV.

Giovanna’s head swam from the revelation. “Five minutes…” she murmured, her voice lost in the fearful hubbub that filled Penguin Sniper. She glanced at the door, her mind racing. She was fast–incredibly fast, if mounted on Rei. If the worst case scenario came through and both candidates decided to let this happen, she might be able to make it in time. But making it wasn’t the main issue. Why weren’t the candidates doing anything about the moderator, now that he’d revealed himself as some sort of terrorist? More to the point, the Seekers had people right there. Giovanna hated inaction as much as anyone, but if anyone could do anything about this, it was the part of the team in attendance. “It’s in their hands,” she said bitterly.

Geralt had stood up, a frown on his face and his clawed hands clenched, but he did nothing. For once, he actually believed two men in power would do the right thing, if only because not doing so would be so painfully idiotic that they’d likely be slaughtered by the group right in front of them. And if they somehow walked away, there would be no coming back from it. No, Geralt knew they’d push those buttons. It just remained to see if they actually did anything.

”I don’t think there is anything we can do but watch. Can any of you teleport there and disarm them before they go off? I don’t think so, right?” Blazermate said, looking a bit annoyed and almost bored with the situation. Mostly because there really wasn’t anything they could do, so they could only see what happened next.

The situation ended up resolving itself quickly, with the candidates hitting their buttons and the moderator declaring peace. Pit still looked like he wanted to head out into the city, his fists clenched and wings spread. "Huh? Wait, so...? Is everything okay after all?"

He had no clue, since the monitor had stopped showing the broadcast; cutting to an outro and whatever scheduled programming was on afterward.

“What was the point of that?” Giovanna asked, her question as rhetorical as it was angry. “Nobody in the world could be put in that position and not press that button. The others wouldn’t have let it happen, and even if nobody in the whole theater lifted a finger, they’d probably end up fighting to push the other man’s button anyway.” She threw up her hands in helpless frustration. “Whoever that mod was, this whole thing was one big set-up. He played us all for fools–the hell does he want?”

Of course, her vehement questions wouldn’t accomplish anything. That task fell to those at the venue, if they managed to find the man of hour and get a hold of him.

”...It-” Sakura began. ”It’s your turn, by the way, Giovanna-san.” As soon as she said it she looked sheepish.

A second or two passed by in almost stunned silence as Giovanna looked back at her darts partner. Then she cracked an incredulous smile. “Hah. I guess it is.” Now that it had transitioned to general media coverage, the TV wouldn’t be giving out any more information. It would be a few more minutes before they needed to head out to meet up with the others, probably. Might as well finish the game.

Geralt just sat back down, a frown on his face. Giovanna was right: what was the point of that? A power play? A test of some sort? They had no idea what was happening in the hall now, and that was frustrating, but they had to trust the others to get answers and get back to them. Part of him wanted to rush over and try and make something happen, but that would probably end very poorly.

”Honestly that looked like some mad jester kinda person just screwing with everyone to me. There was a clown medabot that did that in combat. Didn’t make his acid any less deadly though.” Blazermate said, trying to diffuse the situation. Still, if that was real, that moderator was some huge, huge player in Midgar for sure. If not, then her theory held water.

Within the next few minutes, Giovanna and Sakura finished their last game. Though a little spooked by the bomb scare and what the odd behavior of the debate’s moderator could mean, the two managed to focus in on their darts and sync up. The two might have come from wildly different worlds and backgrounds, but at the end of the day they weren’t so different as quick, offense-oriented, primarily close-range martial artists with just a hint of lightning. By setting one another up they could pass the baton effectively and, with the street fighter’s final shot, get their cumulative score to zero exactly to score a win. They celebrated with a spirited double high five; even Tora found it within himself to offer them some applause. After going out on that high note, they and the other Seekers joined the steady stream of people leaving Penguin Sniper in order to link back up with the rest of the team. Though it was starting to get late, Giovanna moved with pep in her step. Whatever the others had gleaned from their in-person attendance, she did not want to miss.

---

”Your eyes are normal,” Raz noted. He pushed his goggles up, as if showing the similarity. ”And you didn’t answer my question. You did this for, I dunno, for fun? Why rope us into it? How do you know about us?”

“Hehe…yup,” Chaos replied in the brief instant before someone else spoke.

”C.” Karin said, flatly. She moved her hands from her hips into her combat stance. ”Like S. A Consul, then? That would explain his eyes, Raz.” She explained. ”He works for Galeem. How disappointing.”

Roland didn’t understand some of the words being thrown out. Some of them seemed… Hm.. are they dealing with a Distortion here? It made sense then if Roland couldn’t understand some of his words. But still, this was super dangerous, especially if he went under Shinra’s radar.

C leaned back on his desk, the palms of his hands pressed against the wood for support. “Yeah. That’s the idea, at least. Don’t get me wrong, though. I don’t care who wins or loses. I’m just here for the drama.” He shrugged, still completely at ease and seemingly devoid of fighting intent.

“I know just about everything there is to know, but only on a technical level. The choices people make to get what they want, their emotions, responses…that’s what keeps things interesting. And you -the protagonists- are the most interesting of all. This world is in stasis, but thanks to you, we’ve got tasty little plot cooking. So, as your antagonist, I figured I’d…stir things up a little. Spill some beans. Why waste time chasing loose ends when we could get straight to the good stuff?” He chuckled, crossing his arms. “So. I figured, since I asked seven questions, it’s only fair you seven get to ask questions too. Oh, but…” C grinned at Roxas, Raz, and Karin. “You three already asked yours, haven’t you? That just leaves you guys.” He pointed at Zenkichi, Goldlewis, Susie, and despite any attempt to hide in shadow, Midna. “Think carefully, now.”

That certainly stabbed a spike of ice through Midna’s heart, her dark blanket of obscuring safety ripped away by a simple gesture. She had to take a few moments to squash that fear, before rising up out of the shadows, holding an oversized golden spear in her hands. She considered pointing it at the Consul for a moment, before deciding that that could wait and instead ending up putting the butt of her weapon to the ground even as she floated above it.

”If we are going to play this game, let’s be strategic about it, and consider what we really need to know, together” she suggested, tone laced with the restrained anger she felt towards C, anger she’d deliberately fed to thaw her fear frozen heart ”With a balance of what we need to know now, against what would help overall”

”Mine was a rhetorical question…” She complained under her breath, turning to Midna. ”If he really wanted us to skip to the interesting things, he’d tell us who and where this area’s Boss is.”

”Though, several of our allies suffer from terrible ailments. If he knows how to cure them, we could ask that.” Karin said. ”Galeem’s goals and methods are so asinine, well…” She muttered.

”We were also invited here specifically to help with the ever crisis, so even if we did cut through everything else and go straight at the guardian, we’d still have that and a dozen other injustices to contend with here” Midna pointed out, before suggesting that ”something that knowing how to help our friends would also help to address” because it was not as if Peach and Poppi where the only ones afflicted by their respective conditions.

”That’s a good point…” Zenkichi answered, having remained silent once he and Goldlewis caught up to the younger, faster Seekers. ”Lots of questions to ask, only a few will be most efficient. Find the Guardian, help our friends, solve the Ever Crisis. But…many ways to do those things.” Zenkichi was careful not to ask any questions in his brainstorming, just in case. ”We could ask what the Guardian is, where it is, we could ask how to cure Peach and Poppi. We could ask how to hunt the source of the Ever Crisis. I’m not sure.”

”We need to know where Peach was taken,” Raz said, talking right past C. ”If we go poking around Psych-OSF for the rebels we’re bound to raise some alarms. But if this guy can tell us where she went then we’d find her and have a direct line to them, and maybe a way to deal with the Other side of the Ever Crisis!”

”There is also a question that we can ask that, if he is being truthful, would benefit us beyond Midgar as well.” Susie said. ”I will take that one. And seeing as he seems to be a showman, asking mine last might be prudent. Someone should ask about our missing friends though.” Susie had heard of the word or rank of “consul’ before, but she had never met one until now or knew what they could even do. And from the looks of it, they could control the galeem’d. Considering they were called servants of Galeem by her allies, it made some sense they could control them.

Roland, being a bit too far away to hear the whispering among the seekers, could only catch every few words by reading their lips. Even then he never put too much stock in lip reading, especially with how some of them didn’t even have one. What was more concerning about this group was the strange fire haired girl that seemed to rise out of the shadow of one of those group members. He’d need to observe these people either way as they seemed to know who this moderator was, in some way… There wasn’t much choice on his end, he had to get closer to hear everything.

Susie’s claim made Goldlewis frown. He’d been wracking his brain to try and come up with the perfect question, and with so much potentially on the line, someone else being both presumptuous and vague wasn’t contributing much to this team effort. “Well, spit it out then,” he urged her. “This ain’t an opportunity we can take chances on. We gotta deliberate and make the most of it.” Keeping calm, he smoothed back his quiff. “For instance. The Guardian’s location ain’t a bad idea, but what if we asked how to get to it instead? That oughta tell us where it is, too.”

”Oh, potentially.” Karin said. ”Or he’d say something like ‘you walk.’”

”Unless the answer is some actual thing we have to do,” Raz speculated, ”like how we had to ring the bell on top of the mountain to reach that Guardian. Then he might just give us the last step. Man, this is hard.” Raz looked at Happy Chaos again. ”Can someone ask him if he’s going to answer for real or not?”

“You can bet your britches that tricky li’l sumbitch would count that as a real question,” Goldlewis pointed out, almost as exasperated by this chicanery as Raz. “We’ll just have to take everythin’ he says with a grain o’ salt.”

”If you're curious as to what my question would be Goldlewis, it would be something as simple as ”What are the common powers every Consul has.” or “What are your plans?” or even “tell us all the information you have on the organization's thirteen members.” Learning about these people could open many new windows of opportunity we never knew existed. They obviously have some great power, as with just a mere thought they managed to effortlessly control all the guards of Shinra and Armstrong, alongside the two candidates. “ Susie said, not withholding her plans as per Goldlewis’ request.

Having said her piece, Karin folded her arms and chose to keep her eyes on Happy Chaos instead. She imagined he found all this rather amusing.

Goldlewis nodded, appreciating the robot’s candor. “Well, that last one ain’t a question. The other two…not bad, but there’s so much to ask about the Consuls, a question like that might barely scratch the surface.”

“Wow, you guys sure are overthinking things,” C called over, drumming his feet against the sides of his desk. “As much as it tickles me pink, I’m also kinda starting to get bored. You gonna quiz me, or what?”

The veteran gave him an annoyed look, then turned back to his team. “...We gotta ask somethin’, I suppose. In the end it’s your question, Miss Susie.”

At this point Roxas was starting to tap the ground with his foot. He’d kept quiet, not really having anything else he thought was worth adding to the discussion. So instead he kept his focus on Chaos. He glared at the demon person intently. He still held his Keyblades in his hands and was still pointing Oblivion’s tip at the being. Their cryptic nature reminded him a lot of Luxord and Xigbar - both of whom were fond of talking in riddles. Personally Roxas just found that sort of thing frustrating. He’d rather just, as Chaos put it, “skip to the interesting part”.

”I’m going to go with an ever crisis question that helps our friends then, if there aren't any objections” Midna said, glancing around to see if there were any objections. Raz tilted his head to the side at Happy Chaos, a silent ‘go ahead’. He didn’t want to make the guy more bored, ‘cause who knows what he’d do.

”Good” she said when she got only confirmations, silent or otherwise, before turning to demon, pausing to mull over her phrasing, and then stating ”The three parts of the ever crisis, they all have ways to turn victims into new soldiers: Redshifting, that machine virus, the way the regime turns people into others” before asking ”How do we cure those affected, how do we bring them back to normal and out of the crisis’s clutches”

C scratched his neck idly. "I know, you don't need to explain." Shaking his head, he suppressed a chuckle. "Took a while on that one, huh? You might regret asking it though. Redshift can be cured by Blueshift up until the point of aberrating, but after? The data's corrupted. Not even formatting the spirit would work after that."

"The logic virus can't be cured. It burrows in so deep that it becomes you. Other than formatting, your only option is restoring to an uninfected backup. And for Others…well, the best you can do is a very special serum, distilled in the Supernatural Life Research Facility. In the end, you either accept the new normal, or throw 'em out and start again. Or go back in time and stop it from ever happening. Sucks, eh?" C shrugged, his face impassive.

Goldlewis swallowed, uneasy. The Seekers couldn't be sure that the Consul spoke the truth, but his word was all they had to go on. Supernatural Life…Midna and Raz discovered that name just this afternoon, so it really did look like C knew things others didn't, barring the possibility of espionage. Still, he couldn't know for sure. Not until they found out the truth for themselves, and to do that, they needed the next three questions to count.

Karin raised an eyebrow. ”Formatting a spirit?” She looked at the others. ”I’ve never heard of that. Like resetting a computer?”

”That's what I assume. ” Susie said. Thinking about it for a moment, she then said. ”It has to be something with the friend hearts. I remember you all telling me about them. Pinkie always had weird powers.” Susie concluded.

”But we’ve already freed her … unless it's also re-corrupted her or … wait … what exactly else can these things do?” Midna muttered mostly to herself, before trying to make use of the rather dower news she’d received for her question, mulling it all over in her head as the rest of the questions rolled in.

”My question. What are the powers of the Consuls and what can you all do?” Susie said, seeing her turn was up to ask her own question. While not beneficial to the group at the moment, it could be some valuable information.

C cracked a smile. "Now we're talking. This should keep things interesting when you run into the others, huh? Well, for starters, us Consuls can all warp around. Gets us from A to B, but not really usable in a fight. We can drain life, especially from Flame Clocks, and change into our Moebius forms, but not everyone likes it. And last but not least, we can change the perception of those who aren't destoried." He tapped his temple with his index finger. "Not bad, huh? But we also get a unique, 'consummate' ability. One apiece. Those are the real kickers."

So far Roland had heard quite a bit of interesting information so far. Although all the talk about the red shift and ever crisis stuff seemed pretty standard, the way this guy said it reminded him of the blue sicko. At least this guy wore what he was on the outside. Then the question the pink haired robot lady asked got some interesting words out of this guy. A couple more words he couldn't understand, but one thing he said did confirm Roland’s suspicions. This guy was a walking cognitohazard. Roland would have to be extremely careful around him, just so he wouldn’t forget this information. That additional info about time travel meant that… Did he used to work for TimeTreck?

Zenkichi cradled his chin in one hand, thinking hard as his foot tapped against the floor. The Supernatural Life Research Facility was as good a place as any to start investigating to find Peach. As for his question, he frowned and shrugged. Midna was right in that they had a lot to do before going after the Guardian here. And frankly…he needed to know. ”What is Konoe planning? I’m sorry, guys, but…I need to know. And frankly, with how deep his fingers have been in this Administration…I’d be shocked if he didn’t know a lot more than he was letting on.” Part of Zenkichi was a little ashamed that he’d let his personal vendetta get involved in their goals, but he’d made it clear that the man was a threat on his radar when they started working together. Ignoring him when he had this golden opportunity wouldn’t be right.

“Hehehe. You sniffed out just the right person to ask, detective.” C drew his legs up onto the desk, crossing them, and put an elbow on one knee in order to rest his head in the palm of one hand. “Konoe…plans to create a utopia. Without conflict or crime, where evil is paid unto evil, until evil is no more. Of course, this would’ve never happened on its own, not under Shinra, who to Konoe seemed the very embodiment of the status quo, plodding, ineffectual, motivated solely by greed. So a while back, I let slip a dirty little secret. What spirits are, and what they can do. Then Konoe had an idea. A way to achieve his desire, but to do it, he needed two things.” C held up fingers as he explained. “Powerful allies, and absolute power.” Snickering, the Consul leaned back on the desk. “So he made some friends. Kale Vandelay, his fellow multi-billion tech superstar who needed just a little favoritism to kickstart his technological empire, and Yoseph Calvert, commander of Peace Preservation, including Neuron Task Force. Though, you can just call him ‘Y’ for short, hehe…”

“Quickly making himself indispensable to the Administration as head of Public Security, Konoe began to amass power, consolidating everything under not Shinra’s, but his control. All in a bit to make the Administration's leader nothing more than an empty suit. First was Peace Preservation, freeing up Y to focus on Neuron. Then was Psych-OSF, courtesy of a clever little infiltration. With these forces under his control, he began to beef them up. Vandelay’s Project HOLLOW to make more people, and Hojo’s Project ADVENT to make obedient psionic soldiers. General Affairs was a thorn in his side, thanks to one man: its boss, Rufus Shinra, ambitious but seemingly loyal to his father. But Konoe still managed to bloat it up. With the G-men, his loyal little Shadows, infinitely useful and replaceable. So now Rufus barely has a grasp on…well, anyone, eh?” C grinned at Zenkichi. “And now, the only piece on the board is DespoRHado. Its bosses would never play ball, so it’s going the way of the dinosaurs, and who better than Konoe’s old buddy Vandelay to take up the slack?” He held up his hands. “And when Midgar’s in the palm of Konoe’s hand? Personality Rehabilitation, Kale’s Project Armstrong, and Y…hoho, well, let’s just say that Konoe’s plan is nothing less than the eradication of the masses’ free will.” C glanced around, interested to see everyone’s reaction. “How d’you like them apples?”

”Yeah, that tracks.” Zenkichi replied simply. It all lined up with how Konoe worked earlier. If C was to be believed, he was the real brains behind the corruption in Midgar. How accurate that was, given that Konoe was working, albeit unknowingly, for the Demiurge, was slightly up for debate, but he was still a high up enemy to be dealt with. Unfortunately, this time, he didn’t have the same kind of backup in Public Affairs to protect him, especially given that Konoe was his boss. He did, however, have an idea of who might be willing to protect him if he were able to convince them of this: Armstrong. That, however…came with its own set of problems.

”While the details are different, he was the same way last time I dealt with him. He has…some issues, to put it simply. I can explain more later, but Konoe’s psyche basically depends on viewing himself as a righteous hero, otherwise he may very well fall apart.” While psychological manipulation wasn’t beyond him, directly exploiting Konoe’s worst memory…felt a bit low. He’d have to explain to the others what he and the Phantom Thieves saw, and hopefully it would engender some sympathy from them.

"Weeeeell," Raz piped up, a little sheepish, "I might be able to help with that…"

While he might have taken issue with Zenkichi using up an invaluable question to inquire about a personal enemy of his, Goldlewis could scarcely do so now that he’d managed to turn up a treasure trove of information. Though aware of Konoe’s reputation as a clever, ambitious, and wealthy justiciar, he would never have guessed just how deep his involvement went into Midgar’s current state of affairs. C’s exposé also dropped the names of a handful of top players, and while Goldlewis knew a little about Vandelay, it was the other that interested him. “Y…” he murmured. Based on what Karin said earlier as well as precedent, this Y sounded a lot like another Consul. That made at least two present and active in Midgar, and it seemed like C had revealed the true names -or perhaps former names- of both. By now, the veteran’s head was just about spinning from everything he’d learned tonight. But there was still one crucial answer the team needed.

He stopped forward, his wide frame and heavy footfalls drawing C’s gaze. “Evening, Mr. Secretary of Absolute Defense” the Consul greeted casually. “Been a while, eh? Y’know, I’m kind of sad we never met face-to-face when I visited the White House. You’re an interesting man. A walking contradiction.”

Goldlewis crossed his arms, his face humorless. “I should’ve realized earlier. Thinkin’ back on it, the stunt you pulled tonight was just like the one from back then. ‘Cept with less nukes. You’re a mighty capricious feller, Chaos. But I guess we oughta be grateful, considerin’ what you could do. I reckon only helpin’ us ‘cause it’ll make things more fun for you later on.”

“Sooner rather than later, but yeah, basically,” C shrugged, then smiled. “I know you don’t like wasting time, Mr. Secretary. So I figure there’s only one question on your mind. I’ll answer it, too, so go ahead and ask.”

After taking a deep breath, Goldlewis did. “What are the step-by-step directions we oughta follow in order to reach this region’s Guardian?”

“And there we have it. Listen close, ‘cause I don’t like repeating myself.” C rolled off the desk and stood to his feet behind it in dramatic fashion. “First, you reach the Shinra building. Any side will do, but you might get a kick out of the entrance in Suoh. Then, you go down.” He pointed his index finger toward the floor. “Way, way down. To the city computer, Arahabaki, the home of Psynet. Make it through, and descend still further through the Twinning. At the very bottom lies the Cornice, and there you’ll find the being you seek.” C shrugged. “Of course, it won’t be easy. If it can, the Administration will throw everything it has at you the minute you breach the Shinra Building. Plus, the way from Arahabaki is one hundred percent impassable unless you have the right privileges, and only five people do: Shinra, his son, Konoe, Zanotto, and the head of the Time and Space Division–Binah.”

Roxas said nothing, but a tiny smirk appeared on his lips. Impassable? We’ll see about that. Roxas had a certain… trick up his sleeve that he had yet to demonstrate to any of the others. And it sounded like this supposedly impassable path was going to be the perfect chance to show it off.

“So it’s a tough road, but…” C grinned. “Complicated stuff like this has a way of working itself out, right? So really, your first step is juuust…to wait. For tomorrow morning. Midgar’s a pot that’s been simmering for a while, and thanks to tonight, it’s just about to boil over.”

”Well that’s ominous…” Zenkichi muttered. He was just glad that he was right about Konoe, though Shinra and Armstrong gave some pretty hefty ideas regarding his involvement in far too many places. Raz had been quick on the draw, jotting down everything Happy Chaos said about reaching the Guardian in the notebook he always canonically had. ”What are these Consul guys again? I don’t think I was around for that meeting…”

“We’ll talk later,” Goldlewis told him. For now there was an elephant in the room, and his name was Happy Chaos. The veteran narrowed his eyes at C, cognizant of his coffin’s location nearby. With the turn this night had taken, he couldn’t guess what might come next. “That’s all seven questions, partner. What’s next on the docket?”

C gave a theatrical bow. “That’s all I had planned, folks. For now at least. And what an interesting night it turned out to be, hm? A lot of cats out of the bag. I hope you all make good use of them.” He shrugged again, throwing his hands up. “As for me, it’s about time I exit stage right, don’t you think? Lots to do, and so little time.”

”We’re going to tear everything Galeem has built down, C. I’d recommend you sit the rest of this conflict out in the bleachers.” Karin said. How helpful his advice was had yet to be seen, but he was still a Consul. The most he had earned was a warning that she wouldn’t be caught off guard by any attempt of his to ‘make things interesting’ in the other direction.

In reply the Consul just gave a mock salute, then surrounded himself in purple particles in order to disappear. Roxas tried to attack, and almost to his surprise his Keyblades connected in time. C slumped backward like a puppet with his strings cut and fell flat on his back, seemingly dead as a doornail. Then a hand just like his own emerged from under him and rolled him over, revealing a second C that climbed up from the ground beneath the original. As he stood, the first one fizzled away. “Aw, be a good sport, would you? The bad guy always gets away in moments like these. Makes for a more climactic showdown later.” He rolled his eyes, then proceeded to teleport again, much faster this time. Within a matter of seconds, only the Seekers -and a certain enterprising Turk- remained in the debate hall that had minutes ago been a throng of humanity, swirling with barely-suppressed emotion.

”Argh! I hate it when they do that!”

Goldlewis sighed and heaved his coffin over his shoulder. “We got a lot to talk about,” he drawled. “But we’d be better off doin’ it back at base. Let’s find the others and hustle on outta here before anythin’ else happens.”

”Yeah.” Raz tapped the notebook page with his pencil a couple of times. ”Jeez, talking to Lili just got way more awkward.”

Seeing as these people seemed to be the only lead he had to exactly what was going on with this weirdo, Roland tagged behind keeping himself out of sight. These people seemed to be immune to whatever cognitohazard that monster was using, perhaps they had more info on exactly what was going on.

World of Light

Edinburgh MagicaPolis ~ Grammeowster's Kitchen

@Lugubrious Big Band | @Yankee Ace Cadet | @Majoraa Frisk

Word Count: 395
Level 1 Mewtwo: 18/20
Exp: 1
NEW EXP Balance--- 19/20

Mewtwo was the last one to wake up. When he let out a frustrated cry, "Mew! Mew, Mewtwo!" The cry was verbal, that in itself a rarity for him. But it was also a good thing there weren't any other Pokemon present who could hear him. They'd probably be staring at him in horror due to the... colorful language... he'd just used. Then he took two or three deep breaths and was able to regain some of his composure. He also started using Recover at the same time, needing to heal some of the bad injuries he'd been inflicted with by N.

As he was healing he overheard some talking between Red, Cadet, Band, and some others that Mewtwo didn't recognize. It wasn't until he heard mention of the two human children that Mewtwo finally joined the conversation. <The human children are not here. I was not able to bring them with me when we were taken away from Aether Paradise.> The Pokemon gritted his teeth with frustration.

<And on top of everything else, L got away from me!> Yeah he wasn't really taking this particular defeat well. Odd that he could keep his composure in the face of Alcamoth falling, but not quite over this. That Consul, everything she spoke of, stood for. It hit way too close to home for the Legendary Pokemon. He was no stranger to humans treating Pokemon as objects. The very people who created him did so for the sole purpose of creating the world's most powerful Pokemon. And almost certainly it was so they could use Mewtwo as a weapon to bludgeon enemies with. And yet L, she was almost the opposite but also even worse. Wanting to keep those Pokemon and children preserved like that. Unable to move, unable to eat, unable to sleep. She claimed that was allowing them to live forever. But that wasn't living. It honestly sounded like some kind of hell.

<I cannot allow those children and those Pokemon to remain in that state. I will free them, and I will make that wretched woman answer for her crimes.>

World of Light

City of Glass ~ Regatta Bay

Word Count: 515
Level 6 Roxas: 2/60
Exp: 1
NEW EXP Balance--- 3/60

Roxas had been awfully quiet during the whole trip to get to this place. The whole thing with Poppi was still weighing on him heavily. But at least by now he took the black coat off and returned to his other attire. He was only wearing that thing earlier because of the rain, but now that rain had was pretty much gone so there was no longer a need for it at this time. That and he recalled someone suggesting that he change clothes and appear a bit less conspicuous.

But it was only now, after all this time, that Roxas realized he hadn't eaten a single thing since that morning. And he missed the drinks and meal at Seventh Heaven so his stomach was pretty rumbly right now. Well there was plenty of eateries to choose from. But it quickly became apparent that even the food in this place was high-class, much like how the citizens themselves were described. Many places were selling things like crepes and gelatos. But Roxas wasn't really finding himself to be in the mood for sweets. That was when a sushi bar caught his eye. Roxas recalled seeing sushi as an option at the restaurant he ate dinner at last night, "May as well give it a shot."

Inside was a very clean and almost sterile looking establishment. A white bar with light wooden countertops surrounding it and black wooden stools to sit on. The establishment was being manned by a knife-wielding sushi chef wearing a white culinary coat and hat. Roxas sat at one of the stools and ordered a simple salmon nigiri dish. The chef went to work, chopping and slicing the fish with speed and precision like she'd been doing this for years. She served Roxas a dish with an oval of rice topped with a thin slice of salmon held together by a thin band of seaweed. On the side was pair of dipping sauces, one soy and the other wasabi. Roxas dipped the nigiri in the soy sauce and took a tentative bite. His face lit up, "It's delicious, thanks!" he told the chef before proceeding to munch down the rest of the nigiri.

With another grateful thank you, Roxas waved the chef goodbye and left the sushi bar. A bit later he found himself on the boat with the rest of the Seekers that he came with. He wasn't super clear on where the boat was going, resulting in Roxas wishing he'd around during the discussion at Seventh Heaven. Oh well, there was nothing for it now. And wherever they were going, it was probably important. It had something to do with that upcoming debate everyone was talking about, Roxas at least knew that much. But beyond that, he may as well have been a tourist.

World of Light

City Escape

Word Count: 2,378
Level 4 Ganondorf: 34/40
Exp: 3
NEW EXP Balance--- 37/40

It wasn't hard to spot the beacon that caught Omori's attention. And according to the boy, it was a signal intended to gather everyone in one spot. So between this and Sophie's earlier rudeness, Ganondorf wasn't going to get a chance to stock up on any more potions just yet. Well, regardless he followed the beacon for now anyway. It didn't seem like something someone would do lightly, so chances were good that something important had come up.

And come up it had. The Gerudo's blood began to boil at the sight of the Consul. Yet another brat pretending to be a ruler, it seemed. Well perhaps they would just have to teach them the same lesson they taught P. It didn't matter to Ganondorf either way. He wasn't interested in F's speech. Personally he preferred to skip the boring pleasantries and cut to the real reason why they were all here. But the Consul revealed he wasn't keen on making it that simple. First they all heard voices murmuring, then numerous familiar figures emerged from the rainy darkness. The townspeople, some of whom Ganondorf had even personally interacted with, had come to act as the Consul's army as it were.

But if the Consul honestly thought that this would be enough to stay the King of Evil's hand, then he was about to be sorely mistaken. Ganondorf had no compunctions whatsoever about doing what needed to be done. Even to these townspeople. If he could have it his way he'd transform and burn them all to ash right here and now. But that option was not in the cards at the moment. And so for now, the Gerudo had little choice but to play the Consul's little game... for now.

The first thing that happened was the familiar form of Riptor leaping through the air and attempting to pounce Ganondorf right from the start. But the towering man was not so easily moved. With his immense strength he was able to stop the mechanical dinosaur from knocking him over and then managed to fling her away from him with only some scratches from her claws for his troubles, "Seems somebody is still sore about losing to me the other day." He gloated as he clenched his fists and readied himself for a fight.

That was when Ganondorf heard the shambling footsteps of a skeleton lunging at him from his flank. He was able to sidestep the attack in the nick of time and now stared down a second opponent in addition to Riptor. The skeletal figure was unfamiliar to the Gerudo, and yet... familiar too, somehow. He looked very much like the stalfos that inhabited Hyrule's graveyards. And yet the stalfos had clothing and weapons that were clearly not of Hyrulean origin. But if he was anything like the stalfos that stalked the lands of Hyrule at night, then this kingly-looking stalfos probably shared their weakness to light. And so the Gerudo's hand went for the hilt of the white sword and he drew it from the scabbard so that he could cross blades with Igos du Ikana, while also staying wary for the inevitable attack that would come from the nearby Riptor.

A few clashes of their swords, and Igos du Ikana was proving to be a decent enough opponent. Of course, the mechanical raptor stalking nearby made things more difficult than they otherwise would be. Ganondorf and Ikana would be trying to take swings at each other only for Riptor to come leaping in with an attempted ambush while Ganondorf was distracted. He definitely would have to do something about this because sooner or later one of them was bound to get a more lethal attack in if he didn't.

The perfect chance came when the massive white whale was summoned in the water. It provided a much needed opportunity for Ganondorf fall back and start putting a little distance between himself and the town. He retreated into Crumble Cavern. A tunnel system would make dealing with multiple opponents a bit easier to do. It wasn't a striking or decisive difference, but Ganondorf would take whatever advantage he could get. But while he saw that both Riptor and Ikana had pursued him into the cave, the Gerudo realized he'd lost track of Riptor. Maybe she'd take another turn somewhere or pursued someone else? Or... maybe she was hiding in the cover of darkness waiting to strike the moment her prey let his guard down.

That would have to be dealt with later. For now, Ganondorf had to focus on Igos du Ikana. He'd chased the King of Evil into the cavernous tunnels, keen to finish the battle with Ganondorf. The two crossed swords as Ganondorf fell back deeper into Crumble Cavern. The more narrow passages made it a bit harder for both combatants to swing their weapons given their size. But it seemed like Ikana had the rougher time of it, since he was also carrying his big square shield in addition to his blade. Ganondorf at least had the option to switch the white sword between hands whenever the terrain called for it. But Ikana wasn't without his tricks. When it became apparent that his sword alone wouldn't be enough, he appeared to take a deep breath and then exhaled a gout of purple flames in the Gerudo's direction.

Ganondorf had no real way to block an attack like this. Instead his only option was lunge backwards and keep out of the flame's range. That brief pause gave the King of Evil a good opportunity to summon his Moblin squad. They were spear wielders, who could thrust their weapons down the passage and attempt to keep Ikana from getting close. And it was good thing the Gerudo did this, because moments after he was set upon by the cyborg raptor pouncing him from the shadows of the cavern. This time Riptor was more successful in catching Ganondorf flatfooted and briefly had him pinned to the ground. She repeatedly tried biting at his face and throat, only to be held back by the Gerudo King's free arm. Thankfully Ikana was preoccupied with the moblins, otherwise Ganondorf would have been in serious trouble. Calling on the strength of the Triforce, the King of Evil managed to wrestle the raptor of him and drive her back into the shadows which she struck at him from.

With Riptor repelled for the time being, Ganondorf could return his focus to Ikana who had already taken down three of the moblin spearmen. Instead of charging in, Ganondorf fell back. It wouldn't take long for Ikana to finish off the last Moblins, but Ganondorf could use that time for a short reprieve and to summon some additional reinforcements. The Gerudo found himself in a more open chamber and decided this would be a good spot to continue things. He could already hear the footsteps of the approaching stalfos and immediately set about summoning Phantom Ganon.

As soon as Ikana entered the open chamber room he was set upon by Phantom Ganon crashing down on him from above with his three-pronged spear. And that gave Ganondorf himself a chance to lunge in with the white sword. The gambit resulted in Ganondorf landing a solid strike on the stalfos. The holy light of the white sword seared the bones of Ikana causing him stagger back with a shudder. Down in here the darkness of the Under, he hadn't expected to encounter such a light. The holy nature of the white sword had clearly caught him off guard.

But just like any proper annoyance, Riptor came screaming back into the fray. She attempted to leap down onto Ganondorf from an elevated tunnel entrance that she had been hiding in. But this time, it was Phantom Ganon whom caught her attack. He began to try and fight off the mechanical predator so that Ganondorf could continue focusing on Ikana. And that's what he did. Ganondorf lunged forward with a warlock punch that ended up crashing into the stalfos's shield. But the raw might of Ganondorf was still a strong enough impact to send Ikana slamming into the cavern wall. He followed that up by lunging forth and plunging the white sword into the stalfo's body and practically pinning him to the wall. He was stopped from doing anything further when Riptor came pouncing on him from the side. She'd apparently managed to defeat the phantom and once again had her sights set on the man himself.

And so while Igos du Ikana writhed in pain against the wall, Ganondorf once again found himself struggling to keep the mechanical dinosaur from ripping his face off. After several attempted bites and a few successful claw attacks, Ganondorf finally managed to grab the dinosaur's mouth with both hands and with his own immense strength hold her back and then wrestle himself free of being pinned down. When his legs were freed he gave the dinosaur a good kick to momentarily keep her at bay. And that was when something latched onto his shoulder and bit down. It was Ikana, or more specifically, Ikana's head. The stalfos's body was still pinned to the wall by the white sword but his head had apparently popped right off and flew over to attack Ganondorf while the latter had been occupied with Riptor. But it was only a simple head, and so Ganondorf had little trouble pulling it off his shoulder and neck with his strength. Then he used it as an improvised weapon to hit Riptor with as she attempted to lunge at him again, managing to slam the skull of Ikana into the raptor's own head to momentarily disorient her.

Ganondorf then threw the skull against the cavern wall and turned for the pinned body of the stalfos. But rather than go for the sword, he left stabbed into the thing's body while he instead ripped the shield off the stalfos's arm and put it on just in time to use it to block an incoming pounce attack from Riptor. Now that he had a physical shield, Ganondorf could more easily keep his footing against the charging raptor and then proceeded to bash her head with the shield's edges. This was particularly effective due to the shield's square shape and extra sharpened corners. Finally it looked like Ganondorf was making some progress in taking down this mechanical monstrosity. That was when he realized that Ikana's head had returned to its body and once it did the stalfos tried to spew another gout of purple flame at the Gerudo. Ganondorf simply lifted the shield and let it protect him from the flames.

As for Riptor. She was back on her feet, but noticeably not in good shape. Some of those earlier shield bashes managed to get her in her head area and so she was still a bit disoriented from that. But she attacked again nevertheless, but at this point all three combatants were beginning to lose steam. With the shield, Ganondorf was able to block her attack and throw her aside. Then he turned around and used the shield to push forward through another breath attack from Ikana and inched his way closer. Once within reach, Ganondorf stretched out his hand and grabbed the hilt of Ikana's weapon. While he could have grabbed the white sword, the Gerudo figured it was better to leave the stalfos pinned to the wall. He then whirled around in time for Riptor to once more crash into the shield and be shoved aside onto the cave floor. But now that Ganondorf was armed he was quick to launch a counterattack and thrust the blade deep into the raptor's side before she could get back on her feet. It was highly unlikely she would be getting back up from this.

Then Ganondorf had to block yet another breath attack from Ikana, although this one was noticeably shorter than the previous ones. He too was running out of steam it would appear. Then the Gerudo dropped the sword he took from Ikana and let it clang on the ground. He then reached out and grabbed the hilt of the white sword. With a mighty pull he freed it from the cavern wall as well as Ikana's body and then proceeded to lay into the stalfos. All that time pinned to a wall by a holy weapon had not done the skeleton any favors and he could do little to stop the King of Evil's onslaught. And finally, after several strikes on Ikana and literally having to bash Riptor's skull in... both of the Gerudo's pursuers were defeated and... well dead, unfortunately.

Ganondorf breathed heavily as he returned the white sword to its scabbard. The next moment he realized that both Igos du Ikana and Riptor had now become Spirits. Knowing that these two were particularly tough opponents, Ganondorf was quick to pick up and claim them. They'd make for strong additions to his growing power. After that he drank one of the Health Over Time Potions he'd received earlier from Sophie. That would gradually heal some of the injuries he'd been inflicted with. After that he drank the Swiftness Potion so that he could use the newfound speed boost to run through the Crumble Caverns and catch up to the other seekers.

By the time the Gerudo had finally caught up with the rest of the Seekers at the great stone tower, the effects of both potions had worn off. The health potion had taken care of some of Ganondorf's wounds, but a few scratches and bruises remained. He was also noticeably in possession of a square-shield that he did not have previously. It was the shield he snatched from Ikana during the fight, Ganondorf having decided to keep it in case he wanted to switch to a more defensive fighting style. It also might have served as a visual indicator of what he ended up having do during the escape from Home of Tears.

World of Light

Co-Starring: @Majora Omori

Help Urgently Cnided

Word Count: 2,220
Level 4 Ganondorf: 31/40
Exp: 3
NEW EXP Balance--- 34/40

Something must've happened.

For some reason or another, Omori wasn't there for Consul P's defeat. That was probably fine, all things concidered. The kid needed a break. Besides that, he still had to keep an eye out for any familiar faces that might have ended up down here too. But something must've happened while his allies were busy.

Why else would he suddenly end up poisoned, among other pain-ridden ailments?

Luckily someone had admitted him to the local clinic _{(There was no way he was going back to that dreadful hospital.)} where he remained until he was well enough to head back out again. He made sure to thank Dr. Natasha beforehand for keeping an eye on him.

...So now what? If he and his team were staying at the Home of Tears for a bit longer, might as well see if he can help with anything. He and Mewo could he seen standing in front of one of the commission boards scattered around town.

The King of Evil's route was still largely aimless. His pace was slow, he would occasionally reach up with a hand to rub his aching head. Was he even still in the Downtown district? He wasn't even sure. But eventually he did catch sight of a familiar monochrome figure. Omori was standing in front of some kind of notice board, appearing to be reading something.

"What are these? Requests of some kind?" he asked when he was close enough to read some of the notices himself. They all looked like rather menial tasks, but they promised payment in exchange for them. Honestly, the only one catching the Gerudo's eye was something from someone who was apparently a witch, "Spells and Elixirs?" he said, pointing to the request for Cnideria toxins, "Looks easy enough, and we might be able to get her to give us some healing potions. I'm getting rather tired of having to rely on those Koopas or that insect to heal me."

"Hopefully." Omori tiredly agreed. Enduring so much injuries was really starting to irritate the boy. He didn't know what these Cnideria things were, but the other job that he'd want to take didn't allow humans. Besides, at least he wouldn't be alone in this if things go screwy.

"Should we head over there then?" He glanced back at Ganondorf.

"Yes, let's." Ganondorf agreed. Directions to the witch's shack were included in the commission and Ganondorf made not of them before beginning to walk, "It shouldn't be difficult to find. The commission board said to find her at her cottage, so a cottage is what we should be keeping an eye out for."

After a few minutes, the Gerudo spotted something that looked like what they were looking for. A shack constructed from a combination of timeworn wooden planks and rough-hewn stones, giving it a rustic and earthy apppearance. The exterior contained patches of moss and lichen here and there, and roof made of a patchwork of mismatched shingles and chimney smoke occasionally wisping upward into the air. The walls were adorned with arched windows with wodden shutters that were currently closed.

Ganondorf approached the door and knocked on it, "Huh? Who's out there? I'm busy, go away!" called out a grumpy feminine voice from within. Ganondorf simply rolled his eyes and spoke up with a reply.

"We're here about your... request... from the commission board?"

"My what? Oh, right! Well what're you waiting for? Come inside!"

With a shrug, Ganondorf opened the door. The door itself was pretty small, fitting for the ramshackle abode, and the King of Evil even had to duck down in order to actually enter through it. Inside, the shack exuded a certain... cozy atmosphere. An armchair was sitting in the main living space nearby a shelf of tomes and a cauldron for brewing potions. Right next to the door was a small little counter where business could be conducted, and standing behind that was the author of the commission, Sophie.

An Ixi with with emerald-green fur and long hair of a darker shade of green. She wore a patched-up-looking brown witch's hat on her head and matching brown dress with a similarly patched up skirt. The witch herself had an impatient look on her face.

"Your request mentioned something called 'Cnideria'. Can you provide any further details about them?" Omori spoke up first, noting the expression on the witch's face.

"Yes, yes, they're slimy, rubbery creatures that look like toadstools with tentacles, and they glow." Sophie supplied. She reached into the wet-looking sack propped up against her counter and withdrew the last of the specimens she collected, which she plopped down on top of what looked like a cutting board. Its tentacles splayed out across the surface limply, and she took grate pains not to touch them with her bear hands. "These things. Every second they're out of the water their drying up, the precious compounds going to waste. Now that you're here, you can take over collection while I handle preparation." Deftly she worked the invertebrate with a sharp carving knife, removing the Cnideria's cap and then slicing up its tentacles to carefully deposit them in her cauldron for dissolution. Every drop of poison spilled on the board or into the wood was wasted. "Take some gloves and some bags and head to the market. Don't let their tentacles touch your skin. Their toxins are incredibly narcotic--knock out a full-grown Skeith in seconds." She looked up from her work with a perplexed expression, as if the pair's continued presence here confused her. "What're you waiting for? Quick, before they're gone!"

Omori nodded, grabbing two bags and pairs of gloves. He slipped one pair on and passed the other to- Wait, would they even fit on Ganondorf's hands? He paused to consider this, before handing the gloves and a bag to him anyways. They'll figure it out.

Ganondorf, well, the gloves were indeed too small for him. And yet he took five pairs of them nevertheless. And also five bags. As if the King of Evil was going to directly perform this task himself. Of course not, that's what subordinates were for. Once they reached the market it was as simple as summoning his five Moblins, and giving them the gloves and bags so they could collect the Cnideria's for him. Let the grunts do the work, it's what they were there for, anyway.

Luckily, the market wasn't far. Against the backdrop of the Home of Tears' forlorn pillar-like towers, the most iconic feature of the Collection stood out like a shining beacon of livelihood and activity. At the market's very center, beneath the perennial cloud of inky airborne letters in the rain, stood an immense archway like an upturned book. In its shelter stood rows of stalls hewn from paper, together making up the all-important seafood market. Right now though, that wasn't the Seekers' main concern; as a result of the Cnideria shower, the marketplace rows surrounding the book featured almost as much marine life, albeit of the distinctly inedible and toxic variety. With how vertical and multi-leveled this part of the Collection was, navigation through it would take some doing, but there were jellyfish practically everywhere the newcomers looked, ruining the merchants' business and wares. There were even a few monsters laying unconscious on the ground, accidentally exposed to the narcotic toxins. Ganondorf and Omori needed to get to work, and fast.

It didn't take the Gerudo long to put his plan into motion. He summoned forth the squad of Moblins and to their confusion tossed the gloves and bags he'd brought with him. "Fill those bags with as many of those jellyfish as you can find and bring them back to me. Don't let the tentacles touch your skin. Go!"

"What a mess." Omori quietly said, moving quickly to start collecting as much of these creatures as he could. As much as cutting their tentacles off was tempting, he didn't think Sophie would like them tampering with the Cnideria. With Ganondorf summoning a small group of minions, maybe this'll be a breeze?

It turned out to be less than a breeze, actually. Oh things went smoothly most of the time, but there were occasional incidents where Ganondorf had to step in and assist due the too-often incompetence of the Moblins. One such incident involved a Moblin jumping in place repeatedly in an attempt to grab a tentacled creature that was up on a high roof until Ganondorf grabbed the minion and literally tossed him up with an exasperated roll of his eyes. In another incident, one of the Cnideria nearly snuck up on an unsuspecting Moblin only for it to be smashed under Ganondorf's boot. That one in particular was especially annoying for the Gerudo, both because of the toxin he had to clean off of his boot and because it wasted a perfectly good Cnideria.

There was the occasional unconscious monster that Omori plucked some Cnideria off before the boy struggled carefully dragged who he could to a safer side of the area. There was also one instance as he was collecting the ones littering the stalls, one of the Moblins had the funny idea of trying to steal his bag while his back was turned. A murderous glare at the minion's direction once he felt something yanking at it was enough to make it take a hint. However that didn't deter Omori from stepping in to help them with harder-to-reach places, or helping pick up the Cnideria that spilled when one Moblin clumsily fell over. The boy gradually made his way upwards, despite his bag's increase in weight.

The Moblin-related incidents didn't stop there. In one case two of the Moblins were fighting over who had found a Cnideria first, but they shut up pretty quickly once they noticed Ganondorf's shadow looming over them and glaring down at them to knock it off. But after several irritating minutes of having to occasionally play the micro-manager, Ganondorf's Moblins did at last manage to fill their bags with Cnideria.

"Hmph, looks like my Moblins are just about done." Ganondorf called over to the monochrome boy, "If you've been faring well yourself then maybe we can head back?"

"Yeah." Omori answered back, making his way back down with his bag hoisted over his shoulder. "I think this is enough."

Eventually the two found themselves back at Sophie's shack, and with quite a nice haul thanks to the extra help from the Moblins - in spite of the many incidents they caused while collecting them. When it came time to receive payment, Ganondorf only had a single request, "If it's all the same to you, I'd like most of my payment in healing potions if you can. I've been sorely lacking in such a resource lately, loathe as I am to admit it." Ganondorf then realized that he still had quite a bit of money left still from his share of the loot from P's stash and quickly added, "In fact before I leave I think I'd like to purchase some extra healing potions from you as well if that's acceptable."

After receiving the bounty of jellyfish and quickly stashing them in a cooler, Sophie went to present her helpers with the rewards. Loathe to prolong any social interaction, the witch had prepared them ahead of time in the form of two small satchels of dark, scratchy hide with a slight but still noticeable musk. Inside were carefully arranged racks of potion vials, eight apiece. After taking a moment to process Ganondorf's request, Sophie popped open the satchels and quickly rearranged their contents, skewing the distribution of restorative elixirs toward Ganondorf. He received two splash potions of healing, two strong instant healing potions,two health over time potions, a jumping potion, and a swiftness potion. That meant Omori received one swiftness potion, one for jumping, two for night vision, two for stamina, and two defense-boosting brews.

After that, however, Sophie turned them loose. "This is my house, not a grocery store," she told them, unwilling to engage in any more trade for now. "I've got lots to do and barely any time to do it, so go on, shoo!"

Ganondorf grumbled as he took the satchel. He'd hoped to buy more but apparently this witch didn't like the idea of being paid money. Well it was her loss, then. He also didn't bother to say anything else to her. If she wanted to be rude, then he'd just be rude right back to her. Golden Rule and all that.

A quick glance over his rewards and a nod in thanks towards the impatient witch, and Omori was out the door.

And luckily, just in time to see something quite dreadful in the sky. The same infinity symbol in the sky S summoned, here, caught his eye. The boy tensed up. "We need to head back. NOW."

World of Light

It’s About Time

Location: Aether Resort - Edinburgh MagicaPolis
Ace Cadet’s @Yankee, Red’s @TruthHurts22, Mewtwo’s @Double, Big Band
Word Count: 7,193

Exp: +8

While they were dealing with the Aether Foundation trainers, Mewtwo was able to spot a lucky find. One of them had an ether among their meager supply of Pokémon medicine, and Mewtwo quickly grabbed it and sprayed the medicine on himself. It wasn't a full restore of any kind, but that at least gave him a good bit of his PP back, which he knew he would need for the upcoming confrontation.

Once he and the Seekers had entered the museum-like room, they began overhearing snippets of a conversation between L and someone else. They didn't sound like they were in agreement, and the stranger mentioned something about a "Flame Clock", whatever that meant.

But Mewtwo began to slowly realize that what he thought were statues or wax figures of Pokémon, weren't actually that at all. They were real as if frozen in place somehow. And Mewtwo's blood began to boil. Right about then was when their presence was noticed.

<Did you really think I wouldn't follow you here, Consul?> He asked, projecting thoughts to L for the first time since he met her. Mewtwo generally preferred not to communicate except with Pokémon or humans that he trusted. But for this vile human, he would make an exception.

Wonder Red stayed back, letting Mewtwo take the frontline for the encounter. This was all more personal for him, it seemed. Not that Red had spent much time with Pokémon, but seeing your kind put up as display would shake anybody, certainly.

”Head of the Aether foundation, Consul L,” Red began in a lull between Mewtwo and herself, ”before we come to blows, please elucidate for us what your Consulate has against our organization. Enough to declare war and siege on our headquarters?”

“Do you not intend to dethrone Galeem?” N raised an eyebrow, though it lay hidden beneath his helmet. “Your merry little band’s been killing Guardians, after all. Which means you intend to destroy the world. Our world. Our ‘endless now’.” He spoke those last three words in little more than a reverent whisper. “So naturally we will fight to protect it.”

"Why?" the Cadet asked in confusion. The very fact that they could mention Galeem meant they weren't under its spell. They had to know that the world they were all living in now wasn't natural or normal. "What are you all getting out of this? Whatever it is, it can't justify keeping the whole rest of the world hostage!"

N snickered in a most smarmy fashion. “Getting? Why, just everything we could ever want. That’s the beauty of total domination: an entire universe of secrets to unravel and master. Not to mention infinite test subjects. Like your little friend, what was her name? Hmhmhmhmhm.” He let out some sadistic laughter through his nose. “Either way. A pretty sweet deal, wouldn’t you agree?”

“So gauche,” L sniffed. “You may think of me as a curator, if you wish,” she told the Seekers with an air of nonchalance. “There is so much ugliness out there, and lives are worth so little. Here one day, gone the next. My role is one of passionate archival.” She looked around at the room, a proud light in her eyes. “What you see here is merely the…tip of the iceberg, so to speak.”

The hunter was stunned. Such a blasé outlook on other people's lives already told him that they'd probably never see eye to eye with the Consuls if their goals were truly so selfish. When the Seekers had to take the lives of people in their way it was for a greater purpose, and most still struggled with it. Reducing people to experiments and art pieces was beyond the pale.

“Psychos,” Band muttered. He readied himself to step forward, only to be struck by the sheer anger radiating from one of his allies. After a glance at Mewtwo, he gave the Consuls a knowing side-eye. “Y’all done funked up now.”

<How dare you…? These were innocent Pokémon! Trainers who treat their Pokémon like this… deserve no mercy!> And then he started attacking. Mewtwo used Psychic to start grabbing anything and everything around him and hurling it all straight at L. The only things he didn't throw were the frozen Pokémon.

The Consul didn’t move an inch. Before the thrown objects could hit her, they came to a dead stop in the grip in the brawny arms of a brolic Ultra Beast. After absorbing the force it gently set L’s furniture down by her sofa, careful not to tarnish the expensive items. “All trainers treat their Pokemon like this,” L deadpanned. “Much worse, in fact. Insatiable, they collect more Pokemon than they could ever need or want. Some even strive to ‘catch them all’. Do you know how many there are? Over one thousand! And what becomes of all those Pokemon, save a half-dozen favorites?” She shook her head sadly. “Left to rot in their balls and boxes, never again to feel a human touch, or see the light of day. Then favorites and prisoners die, and turn to ash, and precious memories fade away.” She cast her hands around the room. “But not my precious pets. Rather than suffer in isolation, I preserve them in all their beauty, never to crumble and fade away, safe in my loving arms…”

Her eyes drifted proudly to the statues that flanked the room’s entrance on either side, unnoticed by the Seekers as they came in. There stood the frozen bodies of a young girl and boy, both blonde with green eyes. They weren’t alone, either; there seemed to be at least a half-dozen of each, no two quite the same. Though L’s face was hidden, from her voice one could get a sense she was smiling. “...Forever.”

Now that Mewtwo had begun an assault, and realizing that debating these Consul was going nowhere for them, Wonder Red braced his knees, raised his fists, and stepped ahead of the rest. ”Team, diplomacy has failed,” he stated, keeping his eyes on the two Consul. ”We’ve come this far, and we can’t let them continue this reign of frozen terror! Stick together!”

It had been pretty wishful thinking that diplomacy would have worked in the first place. Both Consuls gave the Ace Cadet the creeps. And those statues - were they really people? Such villainy had to be brought to justice. His ship’s rigging was already unfolding from his armor faulds in preparation to take the two armored Consuls on.

“Yeah, I think we’ve heard enough.” Band took a ready stance, his brows lowered and his eyes cold. “I seen some bad apples in my day, but none half as a rotten as these. I’ll see you two prosecuted…” He deployed both Brass Knuckles and slammed one fist into the other’s palm, releasing a hard, flat burst of sound. “To the full extent of the jam.”

Resting her head in her hand, L closed her eyes. “Maybe once I’ve touched myself up with the Flame Clock. For now, you’ll have to satisfy yourselves N.” She set her wine glass down, and as she stood, her Ultra Beast disappeared into a wormhole. “Try not to break anything.” The next moment she teleported away in a burst of purple energy.

With an amused smile, N turned his attention to the Seekers. “Well then. Shall we take this outside?” Then he teleported, too.

Mewtwo lagged behind a moment. L’s disappearance really only served to infuriate him further. He used Psychic to grab ahold of some furniture and flung them at the walls in his anger. Without L’s Ultra Beasts here, nothing was going to stop them from exploding into splinters up on impact. He wanted to tear apart the entire resort in an effort to search for L. But that was when something else caught his eye.

These human children, could they be…? If he was right about them then the entire premise of this room really only disgusted him further. Doing this to one’s Pokemon was bad enough. But to their own children? It was sickening, but this did give Mewtwo an idea.

Band gave an annoyed grunt and turned around to head back the way he came, through L’s mansion and away from her frozen collection. Out front, standing smack dab in the center of the bridge back to the Aether Resort proper, he and the others found N waiting for them. “About time we got down to brass tacks,” he called at the Consul. “You ready to get beat?”

“I’m afraid that if anyone’s on the clock, it’s you,” N told the team. “Once you have a taste of my latent power over time, you won’t be back for seconds!” He raised his staff and upended it, facing its tines toward the ground. When he struck them against the path beneath him, a white, omnidirectional pulse emanated from his position. Ping. The ring expanded across the whole area in no time, but its only discernible effect seemed to be a returning, lower-pitched pulse from the four Seekers a moment after the first wave touched them. Po-po-po-pong. “Connection established,” N snickered, turning his fork to grasp in both hands. “Let us begin.”

N wasn’t the only one prepping for the fight. Wonder Red’s Striker appeared beside him, twitching in place, though Red held off on making it scream. ”Control over time?” He asked while readying his newly-acquired gun. Call it professional curiosity. ”Are you responsible for the statues in there, then?”

<Namely, these statues?> Came the telepathic projection from Mewtwo. Just then, he appeared among the Seekers via a teleportation, but he wasn’t alone. Levitating on either side of him were the statues of the two children, held aloft by Mewtwo’s physic powers. Mewtwo narrowed an icy glare at the Consul before them. <I’m curious, Consul, how willing you are to go through with this confrontation at the risk of harm coming to these two human children. Are you willing to risk incurring the wrath of your partner?>

Beneath his helmet, N’s lip curled. Even after that dramatic intro, perfect to start a fight with, these fools just couldn’t find it in them to get down to business. The topic of their whinging didn’t concern him in the slightest, but the idea that he was beholden to L in the slightest incensed him. “I don’t give a damn about that batty old woman’s frozen ash,” he sneered, holding up his staff. Its ends began to glow with pearlescent blue energy. “Allow me to demonstrate.” Whirling his weapon, he began to hurl orbs through the air two at a time. Though not fast, they automatically homed in on the nearest targets. Several dozen flew out before he started thrusting his staff instead, sending beams of the same roiling plasma across the ground as columns and through the air horizontal bars.

Band grunted and began to move. “Maybe y’all weren’t payin’ attention back there,” he huffed as he charged into the storm of projectiles. “These two clearly ain’t on the best of terms! So put a sock in it, and focus on sockin’ this clocksucker instead!”

The closer he got as he approached, however, the more he got a sense that something was off. While not the most agile, he could slide fast enough to dodge the first few orbs by a decent margin, yet somehow he felt their heat -and heard their ominous crackling- as if they just barely missed. Them being crazy strong would make up for that laughable speed, he thought. Still, before getting close enough to N he got cornered by a handful of orbs and beams. As he went to jump over a horizontal beam sweeping across the road, something happened–a slight, sudden snap, barely noticeable, and through no physical motion of his own. To his surprise the beam clipped him, knocking him to the ground in a fresh surge of burning pain. “Nngh!” he grunted, gritting his teeth. “What!?” That should’ve more than high enough. Taken by surprise and left hurting, he faced a pair of incoming orbs, and hopped to the side in a last-second attempt to evade them. For a split second he thought he cleared them, but to his surprise both hit him head-on, staggering him. “The hell’s goin’ on?” he growled as he deployed his cymbals to block. Forced into full defense mode and pinned down in blockstun by constant projectiles, he could no longer move forward.

“Whatever’s the matter?” N laughed. “Lagging behind all of a sudden? I thought you were going to hit me!”

Mewtwo didn’t show much of a reaction - either to the Consul’s response or his opening attacks. Two of his orbs homed in on him, but Mewtwo was able to continuously keep them away from him by using Teleport. First he teleported a safe distance away from the Consul - both of the statue’d children in tow - and placed them on the ground in a spot he was hoping was far enough away to not be caught in the crossfire. He used his power to fly around, wanting to get those pair of orbs to lock onto him again. When flying though, he sensed something strange. Like his body was… heavier than normal. But he paid it no mind for now. Even if he flew a bit slower, for the time being his Teleport was roughly unaffected so he could just use that if he felt he couldn’t outrun the orbs.

But then he got an idea. He teleported himself directly in front of N, then used Disable to attack with psychic flash-bang before immediately teleporting away again hoping to “trick” those orbs into hitting the Consul should he be successfully stunned by the Disable. That was when he noticed Band in a spot of trouble, as well, and he went to teleport again.

However, he did not account for the Disable failing. “There you are!” Immune to petty status effects, N raised his staff, surrounding it in a pillar of plasma. Ever since the Pokemon played this card, the Consul had been waiting to see if he’d use it to get in past the storm of projectiles. Though not quite fast enough to strike Mewtwo before the Disable, he would happily punish him afterward, especially since his orbs didn’t track nearly well enough for Mewtwo’s complicated gambit. When the Pokemon teleported to Band, he watched the energy bash physically miss. And yet his position seemed to adjust, a subtle snap, and the pillar struck Mewtwo instead. As if reality had been instantly amended in the Consul’s favor. Mewtwo gave out a cry of pain upon being struck. It wasn’t apparent to him what had gone wrong with the teleport just yet. But he still had enough wherewithal to complete his teleport.

The Pokemon teleported to Band, then used the same move again to teleport them both out of that rough spot.

<He’s done something to us. I’m still able to teleport for the most part, but my levitation feels… heavier somehow. Disable did nothing to him, so it sounds as though strategies like that will prove meaningless against him.> he telepathically projected to Band and to Red. One advantage to his form of communication was that he could pick and choose who to project thoughts to, so anything communicated to his allies would remain unheard by their enemies.

Up until this point the Cadet had initially hesitated to go on the offensive. Whatever that "connection" had been at the start of battle gave the hunter a bad feeling. In the back line he dealt with the barrage of energy beams sent their way either by shield or evasion and watched the fight unfold in front of him. It was clear that something weird was going on, but the Cadet didn't understand what it was yet. Attacks that by all rights should have missed their targets were instead direct hits on the Seekers in the front line. Did this Consul really have control over time itself, and was that what he was using to alter the battle?

The answers wouldn't come from standing around speculating about it. Might as well throw himself at the problem and see what information he could get, or what diversion he could cause. It was then that the Cadet made his approach, heading toward N with the mini cannons of his rigging firing, testing the range of N's abilities even as he got closer. The location N had chosen had no cover for the projectiles, but undeterred by how Band's charge had ended up the Cadet relied on his shield and shelling to break through.

With N’s focus on shooting at Mewtwo and Big Band, the Monster Hunter’s approach caught him somewhat off guard. His first few on-target shells burst against the Consul’s armor like cherry bombs, instantly getting N’s attention. So the red-haired warrior joined the fight, did he? It would take more than a couple seconds’ observation to see through this. “Hmph.” The next moment the barrage stopped hitting him, and though ostensibly due to moving laterally to avoid them, the first few actually passed straight through him like he wasn’t there. Then went on to blow up against the side of the Aether Resort’s main building, shattering a window or two in the process. N struck the butt of his staff against the ground, then held it laterally. Spark orbs appeared in the air around him, bolts of electricity connected them, and the lightning links began to move. In a matter of seconds, a constantly-shifting labyrinth of lightning surrounded him.

The maze slowed the Ace Cadet's advance, nearly putting a stop to it altogether. Its sudden appearance first saw the hunter run right into the electric chain that formed its walls, the shock paralyzing the hunter just long enough for one of the energy shots flitting around to smash right into him. The Cadet shook off the hit, but whatever advantage he'd initially had evaporated. Maneuvering around the shock orbs and the lightning bolts connecting them all while blocking the rest of N's attacks was an uphill battle.

"You think we won't fulgur this out and take you down?" The Cadet called out, trying to pick his way through the shocking, shifting paths in one piece.

Given a moment to breathe, Band stepped up to lend a hand. So far, N had been fighting defensively, polluting the air with different projectiles and hazards to wear the Seekers down as they fought to get in on him. It was a kind of fight the detective knew well, as much as he hated it. Nimble, trigger-happy opponents just loved big, slow targets like him. But that had given him plenty of experience. Band deployed his enormous kick pedal. “Impression!” he shouted out as he unleashed his Giant Step. Rather than knock N down, however, the tremor passed harmlessly beneath him. Bug-eyed for a moment, Band noticed for the first time that the Consul seemed to be floating barely inches off the ground. No shortcuts then. He groaned and got a move on, sliding over the ground in stream of sound.

As he worked his way in, avoiding and blocking the orbs, beams, and lightning links that turned the battlefield into one big, agonizing obstacle course, he considered what he’d seen so far. Mewtwo had mentioned a strange heaviness, but that didn’t explain everything that had happened. Somehow N was hitting his attacks when they should’ve missed, and dodging the Seekers’ when they should’ve hit. It wasn’t perfect, though. When he didn’t see Ace’s shots coming, a handful of them struck home. And how did all this relate to time, which N said he could control? Band’s mind buzzed with questions. If only he had the time to answer them.

On the dangerous road to melee range, Band took shock after shock, and more than one errant orb flying in from out of sight. “I’m too old for this crap!” Just as Band was finally getting close, N turned his attention the big man’s way. “Tsk, tsk.” The Consul used his staff to create a square of lightning links and sent it straight at Band, who narrowed his eyes in anticipation. No way over, and with more links and plasma pillars to either side, no way around. If he blocked this he could easily get locked down again, though, so he knew he had to push through. “...Lay back!” At the last moment, Band jumped and pulled off a massive drop kick, turning himself horizontally so he could fit through the gap.

He landed heavily on his back the next moment, but forward-teched with a blast of sound from the instrumentation on his back to fly back to his feet. Without a second’s hesitation he launched himself at N, his huge Brass Knuckle extended to pound the smarmy projectile enthusiast right in his smug face. He armored through a whole bevy of last-second shots, then punched straight through N’s head, though not in the way he would have liked. His fist sheared through without resistance, like N wasn’t even there, and N slid off to the side a second later. “Too late!” he chuckled. Forming a beam of plasma around his staff, he struck Band like a baseball and sent him flying. The detective felt the impact a brief moment before it actually hit him. “You just missed me!” A flurry of orbs flew after Band to chase him down.

For a time, Wonder Red stayed back along with Ace Cadet, seeing the frontliner’s methods and effectiveness while avoiding the slow onslaught of projectiles. Unlike the brutish angel that N sent after them the previous day, Wonder Red wasn’t taking too many chances against him, being a Consul with control over time, or so he claimed. Seeing it in action, however, was certainly helping to back the statement up. Attacks that the team would have perfectly cleared any other time suddenly hit, as if Band or Mewtwo never made moves to avoid them to begin with. Not to mention the matter of actually striking N, as that appeared to be the inverse problem, where their attacks went right through him as though he wasn’t there.

All these were things the others were well aware of by now, but it always helped to take a peek into a person’s mind, right?

Having managed to avoid most of the space-shifting shenanigans N was causing (due to not being engaged), Red had his Striker shriek, piercing the battlefield with its shrill, dazing cry, summoning a handful of Hollow from the stonework beneath them. Red wasted no time in constructing Unite Sword, slashing it ahead of himself as he made his advance. With the projectiles being static and lightning, they would be absorbed by the Morph’s unique conductive properties.

”Mewtwo!” Wonder Red called to the Pokemon, pointing to his own head when it looked at him. Hopefully its telepathic powers worked both ways, since Red was strategizing in a way N couldn’t trace: with his thoughts. ”On me - if we can strike in tandem, we might be able to beat out Consul N’s method of dodging!”

With the tactic (assumedly) passed along, Red pushed ahead with renewed aggression, swinging and stabbing his Sword to clear a path, and to hit N with.

Mewtwo offered a silent nod in response, but he mentally projected a reply to his ally. <Worth a try.> But rather than immediately move, Mewtwo kept his distance and began charging a Shadow Ball. He’d hang on to it until he saw Red make his move. Only then would Mewtwo use Teleport to put himself right behind N to try and hurl that Shadow Ball at point blank range.

With Band dispatched for the time being, N returned his focus to the others. Though both a juggernaut and a powerhouse in his own right, Ace had run into trouble when faced with the electrifying array of lightning links and plasma beams. His lateral movement was being blocked at every turn, and he couldn't go up and over it with nothing to grapple to nor a way to pole vault. While he could take quite a high voltage, the repeated shocks due to dodging projectiles and ending up too close to the electric chain was wearing on him. Instead of risking sudden movement he blocked as much as he could, but a shield couldn’t block projectiles that hit him from behind. The bevy of damage he’d taken while trying to weave his way in forced him to disengage and focus instead on stopping the pain train bearing down on Band. That left Red and Mewtwo. While the former charged straight at him, the latter stayed far away, building up power in a projectile that couldn’t conceivably hit from such a distance. N wasn’t stupid. He took his staff in both hands, projected a huge, bat-like pillar of plasma from it, and took Red’s challenge head-on. Their almost comically large weapons slammed together again and again in a colossal sword fight, every impact a reverberating burst of energy particles. As he fought N rose higher into the air, giving himself a positional advantage as he waited for his chance.

There! An instant before Mewtwo even seemingly disappeared, the Consul turned off his beam, allowing Red’s mighty swing to hurtle by unimpeded and send him off balance, hopefully into some nearby lightning links. He transitioned his own swing into a backward thrust using the blade on the end of his tuning fork’s shaft. From his perspective, the Psychic Pokemon would appear behind N and unleash the Shadow Ball, unaware that what he was seeing did not represent reality. In truth, N had all the time he needed. A split second after Mewtwo thought he blasted N in the back, he found himself stabbed in the middle instead, his Shadow Ball never released. At the sight of him reeling in shock and pain, N couldn’t help but gloat. “So predictable!” he laughed. “You should’ve said ‘nothing personal’, just for good measure. At least that cliché won’t be the last thing…” Power built up between the forks as he aimed his staff at Mewtwo’s noggin. “...to run through your head!”

N’s confidence, while earned, was more than a little misplaced, thinking that a simple missed swing would stagger Wonder Red for long. A moment’s distraction to diffuse the lightning barriers nearing him, Red turned to see Mewtwo at N’s mercy, though the Consul’s back was facing him. Seizing the opportunity, Wonder Red de-morphed, letting his Strikers touch the ground as he leapt forward, through the air so he didn’t make a noise on approach, and the moment he was close enough to N…

”Wondeeerrrrrrrr PUNCH!”

Mewtwo was pulled from N’s clutches, safely within one of Red’s Unite Morphs, and in the very same nanosecond the hardened knuckles of Unite Hand slammed into N’s back with all the force Wonder Red could muster.

Just as a massive barrage of plasma orbs, at least forty strong, burst forth in the mother of all scattershots, N’s target got whisked away. Before he could ponder what happened, N took a gigantic wallop to his back, and with a guttural exclamation of surprise he was sent flying. He hit the ground once, tumbling, but managed to buoy himself up with his levitation before another impact. By the time he slowed himself completely he floated only a few meters from the edge of the Aether Paradise building. With narrowed eyes he straightened up and turned to face the heroes. “Thought I’d let you have that one. A nice little confidence boost,” he sneered as he descended. “After all, it’s no fun if you lose hope too quick-!”

“GIANT STEP!” The moment N touched the ground, so too did Band’s enormous pedal. Ever since the Consul unknowingly avoided the first, the detective had been biding his time until he could use it properly, and now his moment had come. Knocked off his feet by the shockwave, N landed on his front, the wind punched from his lungs. “Spread out now, and all at once–get ‘em, boys!” Without a second to spare, Band began to slide forward, quickly closing the distance. As unbeatable as N’s ‘adjustment’ power felt, the team had taken him by surprise so far, and the extent of his ability seemed limited to that of his focus.

Growling, N got to his feet and floated into the air, his staff tucked under his arm like the butt of a rifle. He let loose a torrent of tracking orbs to wash away the incoming heroes. Band couldn’t dodge them and continue to advance, but he could do something. He deployed his cymbal, betting everything on it, and to his delight was able to parry the first projectile to hit him. “Uh-huh,” he snickered, parrying orb after orb as he closed in. Each one moved him a little bit forward, keeping up the momentum.

With Mewtwo safe from N’s assault, Wonder Red freed him from the Unite Morph. ”Are you okay, Mew Two?” He wanted to be sure the Pokemon was in well enough form to continue fighting. Before advancing on N, Wonder Red took out Artemis, and fired it off sporadically on approach, hoping to keep N’s attention divided with staggered shots.

Weakened and in pain, Mewtwo could only think of one way to deal with the storm of projectiles. He used Psychic to tear off a large section of the floor in front of him and erected it vertically to serve as a makeshift wall. Then he slowly pushed forward, letting the wall absorb the projectiles and shield him from any further damage.

Any homing shot that got by Band or Mewtwo's shield would be deflected by the Cadet's as the hunter moved up close with the others, making it all around easier to defend against the orb assault. The Cadet was singed by taking dozens of hits already, but he was still eager to get up close and personal to give this enemy of justice the comeuppance he deserved - the mini-cannons of the Cadet's rigging were swiveling forward already, ready to deliver it.

With the Seekers perilously close, N gritted his teeth. He whirled his staff overhead, then slammed the ground, letting loose a huge wave of white energy. The effort left him doubled over and hyperventilating from fatigue, however. Reacting quickly, Band and the others leaped into the air once more utilizing Red’s Wonder Jump, soaring right over the pressure wave. Ready to seal the deal, the detective deployed his cymbals once more for a deafening clash.

With the incoming energy wave, there was really only one strategy Mewtwo could employ. He started charging up his Shadow Ball, while still being obscured from view behind the makeshift wall he’d erected. Just before the energy could crash into him or his makeshift barricade, he put the attack on hold long enough to thrust his hands forward in a motion to hurl his erected wall straight at N. Then he Teleported.

Mid-air from the jump, Wonder Red aimed Artemis again, this time charging it to full, unleashing its full, delayed blast. ”Uniiiiiiite SWORD!” Uniting his Strikers into Unite Sword, Red rushed down N, spinning through the air like a sawblade - running right through the Consul and touching down behind him, just as the Artemis shot homed in.

As for the monster hunter, he kept things simple. The blade of the Master Bang hadn't gotten a chance to leave so much as a scratch on the Consul's armor, but he was looking to change that. He was almost in range, a little more and he could use his Crush Shot and start a Sword Dance and put the pressure on N. So close to closing in, the Cadet didn't stop to think about using a lifepowder or anything of the sort, just going in for what he hoped would be the kill.

"Try getting out of this one!" he taunted, bravado reignited.

If this all worked out, then the consul would be unaware of Mewtwo’s charged up attack. And furthermore he should in theory be too distracted with dealing with the section of floor being flung at him to notice Mewtwo’s teleportation and subsequent reappearance near his flank in an attempt to unleash another fully charged Shadow Ball at point blank range.

A cymbal, a slab of metal, a shot, and a supersized swordblade, all descending toward N like judgment from on high–the situation looked grim.

Unacceptable.

As the heroes closed in, a bubble of power welled up around the Consul, crimson and unstable. “BEHOLD!”

The pulse struck the heroes, and a bizarre phenomenon took place. Each stopped as if frozen in place. In their individual perspectives, everyone else began repeating actions on a split-second loop. Band’s cymbals swung together, but never met, instead jittering back to their original positions to swing towards one another again. Red’s swordblade jerked back and forth as if he couldn’t decide whether or not to swing; the shot from Artemis didn’t move through the air, but its energy continued to fluctuate and stream as if still in flight. Ace ran furiously in place, the metal on his person and in his hands glinting as they moved back and forth. Mewtwo’s torn-out chunk hung in the air, and the Pokemon himself fluctuated in the startup of releasing his charged Shadow Ball. Worse still, the sounds were stuck, too.

“SWORD-SWORD-SWORD-SWORD-SWORD-SWORD-SWORD-!”

“-HOLD-HOLD-HOLD-HOLD-HOLD-HOLD-HOLD-HOLD-HOLD-HOLD!”

Band struggled, trying to deploy instruments, swing his arms around, anything at all, but he seemed completely stuck. Of course, it looked like N was too. This had to be his doing, but what was he doing? His mind raced, trying to figure out what was going on and how it benefited the Consul, but in a state of confusion and panic he couldn’t determine anything. The seconds ticked by. Five, six, seven, eight, nine…

Ten.

Suddenly, everything changed. A cacophony of unintelligible sound slammed into him like a freight train, but the next instant it was gone. In a blink, Band found himself standing on the ground. His Brass Knuckles were out as if he’d been punching with them like he planned, but he never got that chance…did he? Red stood ahead of him, his sword embedded in the wall of the Aether Paradise building. When did he get there? Way behind Band, Mewtwo’s Shadow Ball violently exploded against the front of L’s mansion in a burst of ghostly power. That was the last thing he noticed before pillars of plasma blazed across the battlefield, and a lightning storm swallowed him up. Everything else gave way to a horrible maelstrom of searing, electrocuting, agonizing pain.

After a few seconds the punishment subsided, and with a groan Band fell to his knees, then slammed down on his stomach. Everything hurt, and his mechanisms weren’t responding, though he could scarcely find the strength to call upon them anyway. He couldn’t look around very well, but the gasps and moans told him the others all fared much the same.

“Hehehehe.” N’s laugh was slow, sinister, and drawn-out with relish. He was standing in the middle of the group of fallen heroes. Band wanted nothing more than to punch the smug sonuvagun’s lights out, but all the fight had drained from his body. “Well? What do you think? Or are you too awestruck by Amy power…no, my mastery…ohh, my unbeatable dominion over time?”

For once even Wonder Red’s energy was sapped. In the figurative, physical sense, as well as the energy of his suit’s battery, inexplicably run dry. It was clear that N wasn’t a Consul to be taken lightly. So why humor them for the fight? In between breaths Wonder Red tossed out a question. ”What… what did you do to us…?”

“Oh? Curious, are you?” N was clearly loving this. “Since you’ve got only a few seconds left, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to clue you in.” Snickering, he planted the butt of his staff and leaned on it. “I’m a scientist, you see. I love unraveling new things, and twisting them to suit my own ends. A little mad science here, a demonic ritual there, I’m always finding ways to keep myself…hmhmhm, busy.” The Consul waved his hand dismissively. “But nothing tickles me quite as much as the one power that I can truly call ‘mine’. The power to manipulate one of this world’s most erudite, underpinning phenomenons. Once I’ve established a connection…” He reached out a hand toward Red. “I can delay incoming actions. In the end, the reality you’re experiencing…” With an unseen grin, he closed his fist, as if crushing the superhero in his hand. “Lags just a little bit behind.” He then placed his hand on his chest. “Of course, as the host I enjoy certain privileges. Keeping me one step ahead. And it doesn’t stop there, oh no.” His shoulders shook from his mirth. “What you saw and experienced just now? Nothing more, and nothing less, than the complete and utter obliteration of time, and all memories formed therein. Your intentions are laid bare, locked in, and erased–all that remains are the consequences. And I alone may act upon them!” Suddenly serious, he took his staff in both hands, preparing to cast. “This is the power of Latency. The power of Consul N!”

"Pompous pain in the Astalos..." the Cadet hissed, starting to pull himself together to stand again. The 'connection'... so from the start none of them had a chance? That couldn't be true, he'd seen some of their attacks land. There was no way the Consul had let it happen, not this kind of jerk who seemed more likely to want to rub in their faces that he hadn't taken a hit.

It had to be possible to beat him, even with such a disadvantage. It looked like everyone was just about down for the count, and the Cadet regretted not trying to mitigate the damage done earlier. He could do it now if they stopped whatever the Consul was about to unleash. But the question was how? The echoes of pain from the N's bombardment made the Cadet's mind sluggish, he struggled to think of something. Blocking the Consul's sight might work, but there was no telling if a paintball would do the trick if he even managed to throw it accurately after the damage he'd taken. The only other option he could come up with was to strike fast enough that the man wouldn't see it coming, which would also be asking a lot due to the state he, and the others, were in. However the Ace Cadet was overcome with the feeling of needing to do something once more, and so with his hand wrapped tight around the hilt of his sword he lashed out with his fading strength. It was an attack of defiance if nothing else.

As enjoyable as overdone theatrics were, they did confer one important drawback: a tendency to focus on the wrong thing. In the moment before N, flourishing and waving his staff as he erected pillar after pillar of plasma in preparation for his climactic finishing move, the Monster Hunter somehow found it within himself to make a last-ditch attempt. “What!?” N, taken by surprise at the height of confidence in his imminent victory, stumbled backward with a hand clamped down over the fresh gash on his chest. There stood Ace, an almost gleeful look on his face as he fought to stay standing, full of hope that he’d managed to stop the big bad’s all-out attack just in the nick of time.

If only N had been one hit away from defeat.

“You heroes. So stubborn.” He gave a wry laugh, more annoyed with himself than anything. “You never know when to QUIT!” With a snarl he swung his staff, enveloped in a beam of energy. His baseball swing sent Ace flying, tumbling him along the ground until he came to a stop against the side of the Aether Paradise building, farther away than the others. Then N span his staff one final time. “Hmph. It’s been fun killing time with you, but I’m on the clock, so enough tocking. It’s high time we bring this little sideshow to a close.” He swung his staff, and the pillars of plasma blazed forward, raking across the ground without barely any space between them. They bore down on the Seekers like satellite lasers, promising to be the last thing that any of them ever saw. “Time to die!”

Gritting his teeth, Band squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn’t move or fight back–this was the end. But death never reached him. When he lost consciousness, a mysterious Felyne rescue crew whisked him away on their crude wooden cart, disappearing with him into the ether as they bore him back to base. The same went for Red and Mewtwo, saved from certain destruction and spirited away to safety. That just left Ace, with no charges for his Rescue power remaining and only a couple seconds until the pillars swallowed him up too.

He pushed himself up onto his elbows, eyes wide. They'd been thoroughly beaten due to N's insane ability, but at least the Seekers would live to fight another day - he'd seen the Felynes cart the other three off. And that just leaves me, the hunter realized with a start as the beams of energy closed in. Spurred by incoming death he searched through his satchel of tricks, looking for anything that would save his life. His hand wrapped around something that had sat there for a few days now, and when his harried grip closed around it the bone splintered. Light enveloped the hunter, surprising even himself, just before he completely vanished from the area.

When the light died down and the energy faded, they left melted furrows in the surface of the Aether Resort, but try as he might N couldn’t find any trace of ash. Could he have annihilated the poor fools so utterly that not even the faintest traces remained? No…whether spirits, or the itemized leftovers of destroyed spirits, something would’ve surely been left behind. He wrinkled his nose, a frown spreading across his masked face. Somehow, during the time he’d been blocking his own vision with his needlessly large laser array, the heroes had escaped.

Disappointing. After a moment, though, N gave a hmph and banished his staff. He couldn’t see his adversaries anywhere, nor any sign of them, but such a trivial thing wasn’t about to stop a good monologue. “Run all you like, weaklings. You can grasp for power, amass more lambs for the slaughter. The power of Latency renders all resistance futile. Sooner or later, you’ll wind up in my clutches again, and this time I won’t let you go. It’s just a matter…of time.”

Result

Party: Ace Cadet, Big Band, Wonder Red, Mewtwo
Encounter Reward: 13 EXP